Oozy, Fudgy Chocolate-Coffee Brownie

One of the things I can't help salivating over are chocolate brownies .... especially those that just ooze over with chocolatey goodness. But when it comes to eating it, I'm quite particular. I like my brownie just to have the right amount of fudgyness whilst maintaining a good crisp top. As I'm a haphazard and unpredictable baker - some of my stuff have been pretty darn good and some embarrassingly unspeakably bad - I've only ever achieved brownie heaven at my own hands .. once. The problem relly lies in my laziness to write anything down. As I make so many changes to a recipe - yes, baking is a science but it doesn't mean we shouldn't experiment either - I promptly forget what I've done once I've moved on to the next step. Thank heavens for technology - I now lug my laptop into the kitchen with me but really .. do I want to tap away on the keyboard when my hands are covered in flour?

My latest experiment came in the form of a chocolate-coffee brownie. I love both main ingredients with an equal amount of passion - so together, they should be a little slither of heaven .. except my experimenting ways kept intefering. Better or worse I'm still not sure. On the one hand I didn't end up with the brownie that I had in mind, on the other I found the fudgiest, densest 'cake' with a huge chocolatey, coffee kick. Eaten warm with good vanilla ice cream or even better, crème fraîche (to cut through the sickening chocolate affect - yes, sometimes there is something called 'too much chocolate') or even better chilled from the fridge when the flavours have subsided and melded a little more. But for that ever elusive brownie, it's back to the drawing board.

Chocolate Coffee Brownies
120 g Butter
180g Sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
100g flour
3 1/2 tbs cocoa powder
50g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) – I used Valrhona 70% Guanaja
1 tsp coffee granules – add less or omit if you dislike coffee
a pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven at 170 degrees C.
• Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl placed over a pot of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water below).
• Once melted, add the cocoa powder and coffee granules and stir until well combined. Remove the bowl from the heat.
• Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add the vanilla and eggs. Whisk until the mixture is well combined. Shift in the flour and salt. Fold to combine.
• Pour the mixture into a lined round cake tin (or if you prefer just butter the cake tin and do away with paper lining). Bake on the middle shelf for about 20 – 25 minutes. A skewer pushed into the middle of the cake should come out slightly fudgy. Let the cake cool in the tin – I find this retains the moisture in the cake better.
• If you want to serve this warm and oozing ‘fudginess ‘, let the cake cool for about half an hour before cutting and serving with good vanilla ice cream or crème fraîche. The flavours, especially the coffee, are more pronounced when this is eaten warm. Also great (in my book – better) served chilled from the fridge. It will take care of any serious chocolate craving.

When a Girl is in Need of Chocolate ...

A little break from all my holiday eating .... the posting of which has been taking longer than expected. I would blame it partly on pure laziness and partly on how busy I've been over the last few weeks. Photos have been accumulating but I thought I would jump to the present and slowly work my way through the rest at some point. But for now....

... Chocolate is on the agenda. I have been craving chocolate for weeks and so far nothing has been able to make it go away. I've managed to feed this little craving with bits of dark chocolate and multiple cups of mocha but for today's chocolate attack, I just had to go down to the little bakery/coffee shop right below my office. I've been eying their chocolate brownie for weeks and they had recently added chocolate truffles to their display case right by the window.... always tempting me, taunting me to go in. Today I did ... chocolate truffles have, after all, been on my mind all this week but to my shock and horror one little truffle ball cost £1 each! A bit much for for a tiny cafe on this side of Holborn but the my need for chocolate had me give in. I got a single truffle and a brownie (£2.80) - the man who was serving assured me I would be back on Monday to get more. Hmmmm... confident.

Verdict? The first thought to cross my mind after I bit into the truffle was .... "soybeans?". Nothing came of the soybean thought but I would definitely say the man was a little too confident. It was a nice chocolate truffle but not great. Would I go back for more? Perhaps... it did after all put me in a much better mood after eating it. And I have decided to pull out my recipe for truffles that I made years ago - more on that at a later date :) £1 is a little too steep for a weeny bit of chocolate for my liking.

The chocolate brownie was shared with Stuart who never says no to dessert. His first comment after taking a bite was, "A bit chocolate-y, isn't it?" and indeed it was. It's a true chocolate lovers brownie. The lack of sweetness was made up in the punch of the chocolate and topped off by a thick-ish layer of cocoa powder. Little bits of nuts gave it a slight texture in the fudginess - "dry fudginess" as I have termed it because to me fudge is soft and somewhat creamy. Again this just didn't blow me away because I really wanted it to. Ahhh well, at least my craving has been satisfied ... for today, at least :)

Cupcakes, Cupcakes

I paid another visit to the Hummingbird Cafe last weekend as we were in Notting Hill. I would have happily gorged myself on cake but Stuart insisted "something a bit more substantial first". We had a very late lunch at Luna Rossa, where the food wasn't too bad but the service was awful. No photos as I was too busy shovelling the food into my mouth.

Finally, cupcakes! Yes, I had pasta coming out of my ears but wasn't going to stop me from a little bit of cake heaven. Alas, we were too late for the beautiful Red Velvet so I went for the day's special - Cappuccino. Coffee flavoured buttercream frosting on yellow vanilla sponge. There were even little specks of chocolate folded through the frosting. Really quite yummy (not as yummy as the Red Velvet though....sigh) and I really like how light the cake itself is. Perhaps a tad too sweet but I needed the sugar to cleanse my palate after all the garlic I had consumed earlier.

Stuart decided to go for a chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream covered in chocolate rice. Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. Maybe slightly over the top? Delicious nontheless!

Birthday Meatballs

Stuart asked for Beef Wellington for his birthday meal but as his birthday fell on a weekday, I suggested that the beef be served on the weekend instead. Maybe that wasn't such a great idea as I spent a great deal more time trying to come up with something to cook than it took to actually cook it. Also, not great when your boss suddenly turns around at 5PM asking you to work late! After a firm "no, I'm really sorry.... I would any other evening....." sort of conversation with my team, which left me feeling guilty for the rest of the day, I headed home in a foul mood to cook this meal. Breath........calm down.........! :)

I ended up making meatballs in tomato sauce - Stuart suggested burgers but I thought it wasn't 'birthday -y" enough ...... and meatballs are?? Haha. I managed to pick up some Aberdeen Angus beef mince, as well as some veal mince. Veal is making a rather slow comeback to this country but better than never :) Ages ago I was trying out a meatball recipe that called for veal and since I couldn't get my hand on any I ended up using a mixture of beef and pork. This time there was no set recipe. I mixed 500g of beef with 500g of veal, added whatever dried herbs I had in the cupboard - mint, basil, oregano, herbes de Provence - as well as a sprinkle of dry English mustard, a large beaten egg, some parmigiano reggiano and breadcrumbs made from 2 slices of bread (wholemeal as that's all I had on hand). This mixture probably made about 20 medium sized meatballs (enough for the both of us for dinner that night, lunch the next day and a few more neatly wrapped up and sitting snug in the freezer:)

As I was frying the meatballs to about 3/4 way done, I fried some bacon lardons, garlic and chopped up onion for the tomato sauce. When it was nicely caramelized, I added a tin of chopped tomatoes and a jar of passata. Letting it simmer (and the flavours infuse) before I added the meatballs to cook until done - another 20 minutes on a low simmer. I dished it up, topped it with some pesto I made a few days earlier using a mixture of mint, basil and coriander. I also substituted the usual pine nuts with sunflower seeds. On top of the pesto, I added grated cheddar before I popped it under a hot grill for a few minutes. Served with a salad and warmed baguette.

For dessert we had individual vanilla and chocolate cheesecake pots from Gü. I love their desserts and I haven't had one that has let me down yet. Emmm yummm!

A biscuit base topped with creamy vanilla cream cheese and finished with a 53% cocoa Belgian chocolate ganache. Quite decadent. Thank heavens it was only a little pot ;)

Food to tempt, food to lust after....

To eat to live or to live to eat? I personally live to eat. Yes, I am that dedicated to the nector of life. Always have been and probably always will be. I know not otherwise! Is this another food blog? Yes, I suppose it is. But it will be my food blog. Why now? Why not now. I live it, dream it as it is...why not drag it a notch further and write about it and have a great time doing it. This blog is more than a little about myself and be warned I am new to this. So please be generous and be patient :)