Homemade biscuits

I've got a stamp!

Recipe from: 

http://www.cakesandcatwalks.com/2014/09/recipe-super-chocolatey-ganache.html?spref=pi

                                          Fresh out of the oven...

Ganache filled - waiting to be eaten...

Fab with a coffee!

Chocolate and nut donuts

These were such fun and so easy to make.

The recipe comes from... http://bakerbynature.com/double-chocolate-cake-donuts/

Just finely chopped nuts to spice up the decoration a bit.

Mmmmmmm!

Sprinkles!

One of the kids helped me with my baking today...

Mini chocolate cupcakes

• Ingredients
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup boiling water

       Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180.
2. Place cupcake liners ion a tray.
3. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk together well.
4. In a separate bowl combine milk, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla; mix well. 
5. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix together until well combined. 
6. Carefully add boiling water to the cake batter, mixing well for about 30 seconds. 
7. Evenly distribute cake batter into the prepared molds; each cupcake liner should be about 3/4 full.
8. Place pan in the oven and bake 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
10. Ice with chocolate frosting, then decorate.

Adapted from bakerbynature.com recipe

Then the fun really started...

Chocolate friands for afternoon tea!

One of our friends bought us back a friand tin from Aus, so that, plus scoring some imported
frozen raspberries, made for a decadent afternoon tea...

(Look what's underneath!)

Recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Friands

Makes 6

100g butter
1/2 cup white chocolate buttons
3/4 cups ground almonds
3/4 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
2 tbsp. cocoa
6 egg whites
6 raspberries

Preheat oven to 150 C fan bake. Melt butter and chocolate together over a low heat. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the egg whites and mix until smooth with an electric beater on low speed.  Stir in melted chocolate mixture until combined.  Fill greased friend moulds or a muffin pan and top each one with a raspberry.  Bake for 25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.  Cool before removing from moulds.

The Ultimate Chocolate Cupcake!

I was looking on the internet for a "portable dessert" to take to some friends.  The name and the picture made me choose these!  They totally lived up to the name and looked pretty impressive too...

ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES RECIPE

For the Ganache Filling:
 56 grams bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar

For the Cupcakes:
 85 grams bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
⅓ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¾ cup hot coffee
¾ cup flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Frosting:
1 1/3 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Make the Ganache Filling: Place the chopped chocolate, heavy cream and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Heat in the microwave on high power until the mixture is warm to the touch, 20 to 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth, then refrigerate until just barely chilled, no longer than 30 minutes.

2. Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard-size muffin pan with liners. Place the chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the mixture and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate mixture for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl; set aside.

4. Whisk the oil, eggs, vinegar and vanilla extract into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

5. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin pan cups. Place one slightly rounded teaspoon of ganache filling on top of each cupcake. Bake until the cupcakes are set and just firm to the touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on the wire rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

6. Make the Frosting:
Soften the butter then gradually beat in the icing sugar and cocoa with the milk. Add vanilla, then beat until light and fluffy.

(I've adapted this from the recipe at Browneyedbaker's website)

The exciting part is when you cut into it the ganache has formed a gooey centre.  A chocolate lovers dream!

I don't like chocolate... I LOVE it!

Chocolate Transfer Sheets and Making Chocolates...

I've messed around with making truffles before, but percentage wise, I've eaten a lot more chocolate than I've ever made.  I saw a TV show quite a few months ago where someone was making gorgeously decorated chocs. There began my mission to have a go at going to the next level!  Had to do a bit of research on the whole process and had to wait for an overseas trip to get these cool transfers...

I cut them to the size that I wanted to work with.

A lot of internet explanations said it is easy to use these. It kind of is but the tropical humidity took the stress up quite a few notches. Here's a useful site for anyone interested in having a go...

http://candy.about.com/od/phototutorials/ss/sbs_transfers.htm

Had to temper the chocolate before I could spread it on the transfers.

(http://www.cadburykitchen.com.au/kitchen-tips/view/tempering-chocolate/13/)

Was a bit of a process but not too bad.

Once the chocolate sets a bit, (took nearly 3 hours in the heat here -

one site said it should take 5 minutes!) I cut the shape of the shards:

It was unbelievably exciting to peel off the first shard to see how well it worked...

Then I made a truffle filling to be piped into some square shards

that I made into the shape of a triangle and used the angled shards

as decorations on top... 

Chocolate bread (Petits Pains Au Chocolat A L'Ancienne)

We're crazy about chocolate croissants...

But since we can't get them here, I was very happy when I came across this recipe from another blogger..

Here's the link: http://lafetedeemily.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/petits-pains-au-chocolat/

And here's my version:


(Fresh out of the oven - had to decorate and eat one straight away!)


Each one has lavish amounts of chocolate in the middle, so you have to make sure they are warmed up if you eat them later, as you want the yummy gooey chocolate middle to explode in your mouth!

Fantastic with a good latte!