Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting

Did you have a nice Easter weekend? My family were coming to visit on Easter Sunday as my aunt, uncle and cousin hadn’t seen our house since we’d moved.

So they came up from Arbroath, with my mum, to pay us a visit. I say us, but we had been out the night before and Disneyboi was feeling a little tender so slept off his ‘headache’ in the spare room.

I made a small buffet for us, the usual nibbles, some sarnies, crisps, sausage rolls, pasta salads that sort of thing.

But, as goes without saying now, I made a cake. And as I knew my relatives liked chocolate and peanut butter together, I decided to make a fudgy chocolate cake with a creamy peanut butter frosting.

I adapted a couple of recipes together and came up with this triple layered cake which was very simple to make. It had cocoa powder to give the chocolatey flavour and a dash of added golden syrup for a little je ne sais quoi!

I’m beginning to master my fierce furnace of a Smeg oven and it baked in no time at all. I let it cool completely then set about making the creamy, buttery peanut butter frosting. This recipe makes ample frosting to the layers and the sides.

To finish the cake off, I wanted chocolatey drips. I’ve seen them on a lot of cakes recently and set about trying to replicate it myself. The answer seemed to be making something akin to ‘Ice Magic’. We used to have this stuff growing up. It’s a chocolate sauce which you pour on ice cream and it sets as soon as it touches the cold.

image source

This dripping sauce part of the recipe works well for a 'chilled in the fridge' cake. It set perfectly just as it was dripping down the sides of the peanut butter frosting. I made a random pattern on top, but if you are doing this, there is plenty in the recipe to cover the entire top of the cake too.

My family loved the moist chocolate cake and deliciously gooey peanut butter frosting – oh they loved our house too!

I had some cake leftover which I kept in the fridge and it seemed to get better the next day. The cake got more dense and moist and the frosting firmed up even more.

All chocolate and peanut butter nutters out there – you are going to love this cake!!

Here’s how I made it…

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Fudgy Chocolate Cake with Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting

by S Vettese March-30-2016

A moist and dense chocolate cake with a sweet and creamy PB frosting to compliment it.

Ingredients

• 260 grams self-raising flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 225 grams granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 225 ml vegetable oil
• 285 ml semi-skimmed milk (or milk of your choice)
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 225 grams unsalted butter softened
• 250 grams smooth peanut butter
• 450 grams icing sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 100 grams dark chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C) and line and grease three 8” cake tins.In a bowl sift together the flour, bicarb, salt and cocoa powder. Stir in the granulated sugar and make a well in the centre.In a jug, beat together the eggs, veg oil, 225 ml of the milk and golden syrup.Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix well with a spoon or spatula until smooth and all the ingredients have combined.Divide the cake batter equally between the three cake tins and place into the oven for 20 to 25 minutes.The cakes will be baked when a toothpick comes out clean from the centre.Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tins, before turning out on to cooling racks and letting them cool completely.To make the frosting, beat the peanut butter and softened butter together until smooth in a food mixer or with a hand held mixer.Add 50 grams of the icing sugar, the remaining milk and vanilla and beat to combine. Add the rest of the icing sugar gradually until the frosting is smooth and slightly thicker.Spread the frosting on each layer of the cake and place on top of one another.Coat the top and sides with a thin layer of the frosting and refrigerate for at least half an hour, to let the frosting firm up.Remove from the fridge and coat the top and side of the cake more liberally. To achieve a clean finish, heat your palette knife up (either over a gas burner or with some hot water) before smoothing over the frosting.Place into the fridge for at least an hour to cool completely.To make the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a bowl over a simmering pan of water.Let it cool slightly before spooning over the cake or placing it in a piping bag and piping it over the top of the cake. Go close to the edges so the chocolate drips. It should chill and go solid before getting to the bottom of the cake.Chill until ready to serve.Enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 1 hour 20 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 1 hour 45 mins Yield: 8 servings

Lemon Cookies with Drippy Blueberry Icing

It’s very spring like out there and this is what inspired me to make these citrus infused cookies. Bursting with lemon flavour from lemon extract and lemon zest, they taste incredibly fresh.

I then thought of making a scrummy blueberry filling for the cookies and making them into sandwich cookies. Blueberries and lemons go incredibly well together and I knew the flavours would pop.

I made my lemon cookies from a recipe adapted from realhousemoms.com. The bits of lemon zest give the cookies a real zingy bite. They’re lovely and crackly on top, crisp on the outside and slightly chewy in the middle as I prefer my cookies.

I then set about making my blueberry icing. This did not go so well and it was a very loose concoction. It was made from fresh blueberries and cream cheese, with a bit of butter and LOTS of icing sugar.

It tasted of sweet, fresh blueberries and spread on the cooled cookies well. But it seemed to have a mind of its own. The icing just wanted to leak out. This made for an extremely flavourful cookie, but a very messy one also.

I tried freezing the icing, which did firm it up and piped on the cookie well. It held its shape a bit better. Perfect as a kind of ice cream sandwich, but it didn’t hold its shape for long and the blueberry mix went south once more.

Still, if you don’t mind a bit of mess then this is the one for you. Or forgo the icing and just enjoy a tantalisingly zingy cookie, perfect at this time of year, or anytime really.

Here’s how I made them…

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Lemon Cookies with Drippy Blueberry Icing

by Stuart Vettese March-24-2016

Zingy lemon cookies with a blueberry cream cheese filling that oozes a bit!

Ingredients

• 225 grams unsalted butter, softened
• 400 grams granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract
• Zest of 1 and a half lemons
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• half teaspoon baking powder
• half teaspoon salt
• 300 grams plain flour
• 100 grams full-fat cream cheese
• 25 grams unsalted butter, softened
• 75 grams fresh blueberries, mashed with a fork
• 250 grams icing sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and line two cookie sheets with greaseproof paper.In the bowl of a stand-mixer beat together the 225 grams of butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.Add the egg and beat until combined. Add the vanilla and lemon extract and zest and mix until combined.Sift together the bicarb, baking powder, salt and flour and add to the wet mix. Stir by hand until no dry streaks are seen.Drop 1 tablespoon amounts on to the cookies sheets, slightly apart as they do spread a little.This batch makes around 48 cookies, so I baked two sheets twice, getting 12 on each sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.Allow the cookies to cool completely.To make the icing, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth.Add the mashed blueberries and stir through until combined.Add the icing sugar until the mix is thick. Add more as necessary.Chill the filling for at least one hour.Spread a little onto the underside of one cookies and place another one on top, pressing together gently.Enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 40 mins Cook time: 12 mins Total time: 52 mins Yield: 24 sandwich cookies

I'm entering these cookies into this week's Bake of the Week, hosted by Sarah at Maison Cupcake and this week Helen at Casa Costello.

Easy Snowball Bunnies and Other Easter Treats

This is a really quick and easy recipe for an Easter treat (more a craft really) which kids will love to make and eat.

It’s so simple, all you need are a few shop bought ingredients and you are good to go. Snowballs are made to look like little bunny rabbits with the addition of some foam bananas and a pink jellybean or Skittle. I actually got something called Vimto Skidaddles(?) or similar, which were exactly like a Vimto flavoured skittle.

You can plunge the banana into the top of the snowball, or like I did, cut a little bit off the end and insert half a toothpick into the ‘nana. Leave a bit of toothpick sticking out and use that to attach it to the snowball.

For the nose, I used the end of a teaspoon to make a little whole for the pink sweet to go in.

That’s it really. You could attach eyes, but I like the ‘abstract’ look.

Remember, if using toothpicks, take them out before giving to children to eat.

I'm entering these Snowball Bunnies into this month' Treat Petite, hosted by Kat, The Baking Explorer. The theme this month is Easter and Spring.

Here are some of my past Easter treat ideas for you.

Fried Egg Meringue Cookies

'Italian Easter Bread' Cookies

Easter Egg Teacakes

Bunny Lollichops

Double Chocolate Easter Eggy Puppy Chow

Happy Easter when it arrives.

Fry's Chocolate Cream Stuffed Fudgy Brownies

Hands up who remembers Fry’s Chocolate Cream? To be honest, I had completely forgotten all about the chocolate bar until I saw them recently in a shop – 3 for a pound. Bargain I thought!

For those who have never had one before, Fry’s Chocolate Cream is a bar of sweet white fondant surrounded by dark, dark chocolate. It tastes a lot better than you would imagine. They are very delicious and have a very distinctive taste.

 I remember them, and different variations, when I was growing up. There were peppermint fondant ones, which I think you can still get. You also used to get orange ones and many years ago, which I vaguely remember, was a five centre bar. Research shows (thanks Wikipedia) that the five flavours were orange, strawberry, raspberry, lime and pineapple.

Seeing these in the shop, I immediately bought a pack and then thought that they would be very tasty baked into some fudgy gooey brownies. The dense chocolate of the brownie and the sweet sugary fondant together would be a taste sensation.

I adapted a recipe, used by Thomas Joseph on the Martha Stewart Youtube channel, who explains the difference between fudgy brownies and cakey brownies. It's down to the fat content mostly and a few other tweaks.

 Personally, I think if you get a cakey brownie, it’s just a flat piece of chocolate cake really. Whereas a brownie is moist and dense, fudgy and almost tastes under baked. This recipe makes the brownies that way. You could incorporate any mix-in you like, but I used 4 bars of Fry’s Chocolate Cream chopped into segments, which I dotted through the batter.

I had visions of great photographs with the cut brownies revealing the white fondant inside. Sadly, the white fondant must have melted into the brownie batter as it was nowhere to be seen. But all my tasters, Disneyboi and colleagues at work all said you could definitely taste the Fry’s bar. So this was a big, big hit with everyone and you will love it too!

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Fry's Chocolate Cream Stuffed Fudgy Brownies

by S Vettese March-17-2016

Gooey fudgy brownies loaded with Fry's Chocolate Cream Bars

Ingredients

• 113 grams unsalted butter, chopped into cubes
• 170 grams plain chocolate
• 340 grams granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 25 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
• Half a teaspoon salt
• 70 grams plain flour
• 4 Fry's Chocolate Cream Bars

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and line a 9”x9” square baking pan with greaseproof paper.In a bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate.Remove from the heat and beat in the sugar.Add the eggs one at a time, stirring in between each addition.Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into to the wet mix. Stir until everything is fully combined.Spread half the brownie batter in the baking pan and dot with the Fry’s Chocolate cream pieces. Add the rest of the brownie batter and smooth over with a knife.Make in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. The top will begin to crack and a toothpick inserted in the middle will have some brownie batter on it.Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for an hour. Remove carefully from the pan and let it cool fully.Carefully remove the greaseproof paper and cut into squares.Enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 25 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 24 pieces

I'm entering these brownies, into this month's We Should Cocoa hosted by Choclette at Tin and Thyme and this month Linzi at  Lancashire Food. The theme this month is butter.

Disclosure Statement: I have not been paid by Fry's Chocolate Cream people for this post. I simply saw them in the shop and bought them!

Super Bloody Blue Smoothie

Since we moved house, it’s been a case of seeing where certain kitchen equipment fits. We’ve moved from a smallish flat to a house with a lot more space. It’s been good to have the room to store all my baking equipment away. In fact we have a floor to ceiling cupboard in our utility room which is now literally crammed with all my baking items, christened the ‘Baking Cupboard’.

We also have a cupboard in the kitchen, which the previous owner of the house referred to as the ‘gloryhole’ when we came to view it. We kind of like that name and it has stuck...

Some of my other kitchen equipment has ended up resident in the gloryhole such as the food mixer, food processor and Optimum 9400 from Froothie, which you may remember me using in the past.

I decided to get it out of the gloryhole, to give it a whirl in it’s new kitchen. And I wanted to make a smoothie for my breakfast on Saturday morning.

Sometimes with smoothies, I find you are dictated by what fruit and veg you have leftover from the week. This weekend I found some baby plum tomatoes and blueberries in the freezer. I also had some bananas and soya milk in the fridge and it was as easy as that!

I popped the frozen tomatoes in the Optimum 9400, along with the frozen blueberries, banana and 500 ml of soya milk (which I had in the fridge, any milk would be fine)  and gave it a whirl.

The resultant drink tasted of freshness. No wonder with superfoods tomatoes and blueberries in there. It was naturally sweet from the sweetness of the tomatoes and banana, so there was no need for any added sweetener.

As for the name I’ve given it? Bloody as in Bloody Mary (minus the vodka of course) with the blue of the berries.

This was a great drink to wake up to and set me up for the morning. It was filling and tasty and gave me loads of energy for the day ahead.

I used frozen fruit which the Optimum 9400 blitzes through effortlessly. But unfrozen works just as well.

Here’s how I made it;

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Super Bloody Blue Smoothie

by S Vettese March-14-2016

Baby plum tomatoes and blueberry smoothie

Ingredients

• 225 grams baby plum tomatoes
• 150 grams blueberries
• 1 medium banana
• 500 ml soya milk (or alternative)

Instructions

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth.Pour into glasses and enjoy.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: Total time: 5 mins Yield: 2 large glasses

Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links. I received the Optimum 9400 free to use in recipes. I have not been paid for this post.

Hummingbird Cake Swiss Roll

It was Mother’s Day there at the weekend, as I’m sure you’ll know (if not, go and buy her something NOW and apologise!). Mum was coming up for dinner and I wanted to make her something special for dessert.

I always like to incorporate some of her favourite ingredients into cakes I make for her. At her birthday I like to do some carrot cake variation as you may remember.

She loves pineapple, so I was thinking along the lines of a hummingbird cake. Hummingbird cake is a sweet tropical treat, incorporating pineapple and banana. There is also cinnamon and pecans going on in there too. I’ve also seen coconut in some variations.

 I decided to turn the cake into a swiss roll, making a sponge a bit like when I made the carrot cake swiss roll for her birthday a couple of years ago. That was adapted from the Carrot Cake Swiss Roll from Crazy for Crust and this was too.

I blitzed up some banana and crushed pineapple to add to the cake batter, which I poured into my cookie sheet. It measured about 10” by 15” and has a rim all around, so the batter didn’t leak everywhere. I lined the tray with foil which is backed with greaseproof paper, ideal for this recipe.

As soon as it was baked, I inverted it onto a clean tea towel, dusted with icing sugar and peeled the paper/foil away. I then rolled it up tightly in the tea towel and allowed it to cool for several hours. This way, the cake will hold itself in a roll shape a lot easier.

For the filling I combined cream cheese, sugar and double cream and added some desiccated coconut and chopped pecans. I spread this on the cooled unfurled cake and rolled it up again. I wrapped the tea towel around the cake tightly, then unwrapped it ready to be devoured.

Mum loved the cake, the flavours of the fruit came through well, and the cinnamon was a lovely warming note. Plus the creamy coconut and nutty filling was a big hit.

Swiss rolls, I’ve decided aren’t half as scary as I thought. As long as you wrap and roll as soon as it’s out of the oven, you are good to go. If you have any questions at all on how to make this, please do get in touch.

Here’s how I made it…

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Hummingbird Cake Swiss Roll

by S Vettese March-10-2016

Pineapple and banana roll cake with a creamy coconut and pecan filling

Ingredients

• 3 medium free-range eggs
• 150 grams granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 100 grams plain flour
• 1 medium sized ripe banana
• 150 grams crushed pineapple
• 110 grams full-fat cream cheese
• 60 grams icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 250 ml double cream
• 30 grams desiccated coconut
• 30 grams chopped pecans

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and line a 10"x15" tray with a rim, with greaseproof paper.In a mixing bowl beat together the eggs, granulated sugar, vegetable oil and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla until smooth.Sift together the salt, baking powder, cinnamon and flour and add to the wet mix. Fold in until no dry mix is visible.Mush the banana with a fork and mix with the crushed pineapple. Measure the mixed fruits in a measuring jug up to the 250ml mark (or a 1 cup measure).Add the fruit mix to the cake batter and fold in until combined.Pour the batter onto the prepared baking tray and place in the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.whilst baking, take a clean tea towel and sprinkle with icing sugar.When baked, tip the cake onto the tea towel, and peel off the greaseproof paper. Quickly roll the cake up tightly from the shortest (10") side.Leave the cake to cool completely and in the meantime make the filling.Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, double cream and vanilla until thick. fold in the coconut and pecans.Carefully unfurl the cake from the towel and spread the cream mix on top, evenly to the sides. Roll the cake up again and wrap the outside with the towel.After 10 minutes, unwrap the cake and cut into slices to enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Yield: 6 servings approx.

I'm entering this bake into this month's Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom at Belleau Kitchen. This recipe contains free-range eggs and is simply eggcellent (in my humble opinion!)

Death by Muddy Bunnies

The title is strange I know, but there is good reason.

This is a non-baked treat which Gill at the work makes for charity bake sales. It is heavenly but lethal (hence the death part of the name). It is chocolate with more chocolate and is so divine. I wanted to make it for my friend Claire who was visiting us at our new house for lunch one day, so Gill kindly passed me the recipe.

Claire is a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk fiend, she loves the stuff. Her brother literally sends her boxes of Cadbury’s chocolate at Christmas time. I knew Claire would love this particular treat as it is best when made with Dairy Milk. You could use other chocolate, but it really wouldn’t be the same.

Usually you make it with added Maltesers, but I wanted to ‘Easter’ it up a bit so used the Malteaster mini bunnies (hence the muddy bunnies bit) that are out at the moment and some micro eggs. These sadly weren’t Cadbury’s but you could use their Mini Eggs too for the full on effect.

I plonked the bunnies upright in the bath of chocolatey ‘goodness’ where they settled quite nicely. When Claire and her son Matthew came to visit us the following day, I made some sandwiches and other bits, but the ‘piece de resistance’ finale was the ‘Death by Muddy Bunnies’. Claire loved the wee bunny ears sticking up and thought they made a perfect handle with which to grab the pieces by.

Give this a try with or without the bunnies and mini eggs. If you are making this outwith Easter time, simply substitute 300 grams of regular maltesers, which you can halve or just pop in whole.

Either way this is a decadent ‘traybake’ which would be sure to go down well at your Easter bash or guaranteed to make a few bucks at your next bake sale!

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Death By Muddy Bunnies

by S Vettese March-7-2016

A chocolate tray'bake' set in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 110 grams unsalted butter
• 4 generous tablespoons golden syrup
• 700 grams Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate
• 225 grams Digestive biscuits
• 3 packs Malteaster Bunnies
• 100 grams Micro Eggs
• 300 grams Maltesers
• 2 Cadbury Flakes

Instructions

Line a 9”x9” baking tray with foil or greaseproof paper.In a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt 300 grams of Dairy Milk, the golden syrup and the butter together.Once melted add the crushed digestives and stir to fully combine (if just using maltesers, add them at this point).Transfer to the lined baking tray and press down firmly.In another bowl, melt the remaining 400 grams of Dairy Milk over the pan of simmering water.Pour the melted chocolate over the digestive chocolate mix and add the bunnies and mini eggs.Finally crumble the Flakes over the top.Place in the fridge for one hour. Remove and cut into pieces then return to the fridge for another couple of hours, or overnight.Once set, remove from the tray and watch everyone enjoy!

Details

Prep time: 30 mins Chill time: 3 hour Total time: 3 hour 30 mins Yield: 9"x9" slab cut into pieces

I'm entering this recipe into this month's Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and this month Janey at The Hedgecombers. The theme this month is Easter and Spring.

Disclosure Statement: I have NOT been paid by Cadbury's for this post!

Maple Syrup and Smoky Bacon Crisp Cookies

I’m back! Did you miss me?

We have moved home and are settling in fine. I'm getting to grips with lots of new things including, most importantly for me, a new oven. It’s a powerful beast and seems to cook and bake food very fast. One minute it’s fine, the next burnt to a crisp. I shall persevere!

I wanted to try something relatively simple for my first post back after my hiatus (a huge thanks to Lisa at United Cakedom for hosting Treat Petite in February for me btw!!).

Cookies are normally quite a straightforward recipe, but I still wanted to pack in as much flavour as possible, so I opted for something reminiscent of a favourite breakfast of mine -  maple syrup and bacon (minus the pancakes). But I didn’t go for real bacon pieces, which I have incorporated into cookies before. Instead, I went for smoky bacon flavour crisps (or potato chips depending on where you are in the world). I’m not even sure that smoky bacon crisps are available around the world, so apologies if you are reading this somewhere, where you can’t buy them (I’m sure you can pick them up online if not).

Crisps (or potato chips) in cookies seem quite popular after scouting about the internet, so this wasn’t too weird a combo to try. And there are plenty of cookies with maple syrup in them of course (mines was adapted from Allrecipes.com). To get the crisps in there, you just crush them up and fold them in at the end, so they are dotted through each cookie, giving you a sweet/savoury and smoky hit in each bite.

The cookies are thin and delicate and need to be fully cooled, so that they don’t fall apart. You can see the pieces of crisps fleckled through them, so you get an idea of what is inside. I used three bags of crisps, but you could easily use 4 or 5 to get an even more bacon(y) hit.

Here’s how I made them;

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Maple Syrup and Smoky Bacon Crisp Cookies

by S Vettese March-2-2016

Cookies made with maple syrup and crushed bacon flavour potato crisps

Ingredients

• 225 grams unsalted butter, softened
• 190 grams light brown sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 250 ml good quality maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 400 grams plain flour
• 3-4 bags smoky bacon crisps

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and line two cookie sheets with greaseproof paper.Sift together the flour, bicarb and salt in a bowl and set aside.In a food mixer, beat together the butter and brown sugar until smooth and creamy.Add the egg and vanilla, beating until fully incorporated.Add one third of the flour and beat until no raw flour is seen. Add one half of the maple syrup and stir this through.Repeat with another third of the flour, the last half of syrup, then the last part of flour.Transfer the crisps to a food bag and crush them, but not to tiny smithereens. Gently fold the crushed crisps into the cookie batter.Scoop out dollops of the dough with an ice cream scoop or regular spoon and space them well apart as they do spread. Slightly flatten the ‘dollops’ to help them on their way.Bake them in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until they turn golden amber in colour.Transfer the greaseproof paper with the cookies on them to a cooling rack and allow them to cool fully. Enjoy your smoky, sweet and salty cookie!

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 12 mins Total time: 32 mins Yield: 20 approx.

I'm entering these cookies into this month's Alphabakes hosted by Caroline at Caroline Makes and Ros The More Than Occasional Baker. The letter this month is C - which stands for Crisps or Cookies!