Quadruple chocolate loaf cake

Oh yeah. Words. This cake is great. So moist, thick, dense but not grossly filling. Awesomeeeeee.

For the Cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
3/4 cups soft unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (unless you'd prefer milk chocolate ones)

For the Syrup:

1 teaspoon cocoa
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 1/2 ounces dark chocolate (from a thick bar if possible)

For the record, this recipe write-up is in Nigella Lawson's words. She's a bit flowery with her language. It's like reading a nineteenth century how-to-be-a-lady book. Also, undercook this cake. It makes it extra fudgey.

Take whatever you need out of the fridge so that all ingredients can come to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 350°F, putting in a baking sheet as you do so, and line a small loaf tin with greased foil - making sure there are no tears - and leave an overhang all round. Or use a silicone tin.

Put the flour, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream into the processor and blitz until it's a smooth, satiny brown batter. Scrape down with a rubber spatula and process again while pouring the boiling water down the funnel. Switch it off then remove the lid and the well-scraped double-bladed knife and, still using your rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips or morsels.

Scrape and pour this beautiful batter into the prepared loaf tin and slide into the oven, cooking for about 1 hour. When it's ready, the loaf will be risen and split down the middle and a cake-tester, or a fine skewer, should come out clean. But this is a moist cake, so don't be alarmed at a bit of stickiness in evidence; rather, greet it like a friend.

Not long before the cake is due out of the oven (when it's had about 45-50 minutes) put the syrup ingredients of cocoa, water and sugar into a small saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. You may find it needs a little longer - what you want is a reduced liquid, that's to say a syrup, though I often take it a little further, so that the sugar caramelizes and the syrup has a really dark, smokey chocolate intensity.

Take the cake out of the oven and sit it on a cooling rack and, still in its tin, pierce here and there with a cake tester. Then pour the syrup as evenly as possible over the surface of the cake. It will run to the sides of the tin, but some will have been absorbed in the middle.

Let the cake become completely cold and then slip out of its tin, removing the foil as you do so. Sit on an oblong or other plate. Now take your bar of chocolate and cut with a heavy sharp knife, so that it splinters and flakes and falls in slices of varying thick- and thinness. I've specified a weight, but judge it by eye - when you think you've got enough to scatter over the top of the loafcake, stop slicing. Sprinkle these chocolate splinters over the top of the sticky surface of the cake.

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson

Nutella truffles

I'm supposed to be studying for my Psychopathology midterm that is Wednesday, but I haven't started. You know how people procrastinate by cleaning their rooms, doing errands, and, like, hanging out with friends? Yeah I bake. I super bake. I bake until the cows come home. It's both therapeutic and kills time.

I mean, it's actually pretty good for everyone involved. My housemates get to eat truffles, I get to eat truffles, and everyone's stress levels go way down. Obviously a win-win. As for the exam itself, we'll see how that goes. I should start that now. Slash tomorrow...

For the truffles:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup Nutella
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon instant espresso (or 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee) powder
a pinch of salt

For the coating:

1/3 cups walnuts, finely chopped
3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder

Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between each time until the chocolate is smooth and melted (heating in intervals will ensure you don't burn the chocolate). Set aside.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat together the softened cream cheese and 1 cup of the confectioner's sugar. Next, beat in the vanilla and espresso powder. Add the melted chocolate and Nutella, beat until smooth. Last, add the remaining 2 cups of confectioner's sugar and beat on medium speed until everything is combined. Place plastic wrap on top of the mixture and put in to the refrigerator to set for about 2 hours.

Once the truffles have set, use a melon baller to scoop the mixture and shape into balls. Coat a third of the recipe in the chopped walnuts, a third in the confectioner's sugar, and a third in the cocoa powder. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Recipe adapted from Friend Tiffanie by me!

Red velvet redux

I've used this exact Martha Stewart recipe before in cupcake form, but I couldn't resist posting it a second time because the cake is just so. freaking. good. I made it for one of my housemate's birthdays and- well, that's a lie. Another one of my housemates and I made it together. It was adorable. Anyways, it turned out absolutely fantastic. The cake is extra moist because it calls for oil and not butter, which is a huge plus. Oh, Martha, you never cease to impress me. Even given your incarceration...

Makes one, two-tiered 9-inch cake

For the cake:

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup hot (but not boiling) water
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons white vinegar

For the frosting:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter two 9-inch cake rounds; dust with cocoa, tapping out excess. Set aside. Whisk together flour, salt, and cocoa in a medium bowl; set aside.

Mix sugar and oil on medium speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk until combined. Add eggs one at a time; mix well after each addition. Mix in food coloring and vanilla. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with flour, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

Stir together baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl. Add baking-soda mixture to batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds. Mix in the hot water until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, 18 to 23 minutes. Let cool completely in pans on wire racks.

Once the cake is cooled, using a serrated knife cut off the convex tops from both cakes, leaving your cakes with flat tops. Crumble the discarded cake tops into tiny crumbs to be used as a garnish for later. Set aside.

While the cakes are baking, prepare the frosting. In a large bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, mix together the softened cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract. Add the confectioner's sugar in batches until the frosting comes together and there are no lumps. Let cool in a refrigerator until the cakes are ready to frost.

Frost your cake as you normally would, using about a third of the frosting for between the two layers, the top, and the sides of the cake. Finally, sprinkle the cake crumbs around the sides of the cake, spreading evenly. YUHM SO GOOD.

Cake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes

Salted chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies

Sometimes people tell me I look like Lindsay Lohan. Then they bite their tongue and say "I mean, before her cracked-out coke days." Oh, so you mean... Parent Trap Lindsay? "Y-Yes!" they say, as if I read their mind. OK, so maybe they're a little right. Me and Parent Trap Lindsay both have freckles, the same complexion, and the same nose. And the same eyes. Yeah. 

Moving on. So now I'm an official Parent Trap Lindsay doppleganger. Which pretty much means everything Parent Trap Lindsay did in the movie is something that I wanted to do as a kid. Because we're the same person. Obviously. Like eating Oreos and peanut butter. It's like the best thing ever. And we both do it, which makes both of us pretty cool. So ever since the movie came out in 1998, I've eaten Oreos and peanut butter like it's my job. Which kind of turned me onto chocolate and peanut butter in general.

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons sea salt

For the filling: 

3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon regular iodized salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat together butter, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the 1/4 cup peanut butter with an electric mixer until combined. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat well. Beat in as much of the dry ingredients as you can with mixer. Stir in remaining dry ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon. Form chocolate dough into 32 balls about 1-1/4 inches in diameter. Set aside.

For peanut butter filling, in a medium mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and the remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into 32 (3/4-inch) balls.

On a work surface, slightly flatten a chocolate dough ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Shape the chocolate dough over the peanut butter filling, completely covering the filling. Roll dough into a ball. Repeat with the remaining chocolate dough and peanut butter filling balls.

Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 12 minutes or until they're just set and surface is slightly cracked. Let cookies stand for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool completely. Save for later? No. Devour now? Yes.

Recipe adapted from The Dragon's Kitchen.

Double chocolate brownies

I'm a huge brownie connoisseur. When I lived at home we went through a period where we made at least 2 boxed brownies a week. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we had 9 people in the house... Regardless. My mom and I would take them out of the oven way sooner than the directions told us to, because we looooved gooey brownies. I was skeptical to make a brownie recipe with just cocoa and no chocolate bar base, but I have to say these are damn good. Definitely reminiscent of those boxed brownies you used to enjoy as a kid, only these are homemade, so they're like twelve times better. My biggest piece of advice with these babies is: don't overcook them. Take them out as soon as a knife comes out clean when you insert it into the brownies. Enjoyski! 

For the brownies:

2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/8 teaspoon instant espresso (or coffee) powder

2 eggs
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix together both sugars, salt, espresso powder, cocoa powder, and flour. Then, add eggs, the melted butter, oil, and water. Finally mix in the walnuts and chocolate chips.

Grease a 9'X13" pan. Pour mixture in and bake for roughly 25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into brownies.

Recipe adapted from Babble. Original recipe can be found here.