Swedish Chocolate Cake

I read quite a few baking blogs.  There are some amazing bakers and bloggers out there - with incredible creativity and talent - but most of the time I just enjoy browsing and maybe one in 100 recipes I will actually bookmark for later. This represents the one percent.

This was my first experience with Swedish chocolate cake - and I am hooked.  It's like a really really big brownie with a soft, gooey centre.  This cake is best served warm, but it won't be turned down once it cools. Trust me. When we were down to the last decadent piece, my husband begged me to make another.  He was dreading the come down. I think I will have keep this tucked away in my recipe arsenal for a special occasion.

Swedish Chocolate Cake
slightly adapted from Top With Cinnamon by Izy Hossack by way of The Vanilla Bean Blog

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons salted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup, minus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted
3 eggs
2 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350. Line, grease, and flour a deep 6-inch cake pan.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients until completely combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan, and bake 30-35 minutes.  Be brave and just trust me on this.  Bakers are trained to know when our cakes are ready - through hard-won experience - but ignore your instincts this time. If the edges of the cake are hard, but the middle is soft - she's done.  We want this cake to come out now.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack, dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Waffles

I love waffles, pancakes, and french toast - which really shouldn't surprise anyone that knows me.   I love them for breakfast, for brunch, and even for dinner.  I loved them so much as a kid, that I even chose pancakes for my birthday dinner one year, much to my grandfather's dismay.  My grandfather and I shared a birthday, and he used to drop by our house for dinner.  According to my mom he ate them with a smile although he was a meat and potatoes kind of man.  I have no doubt these pancakes were chased by chocolate cake for dessert.

I recently purchased a waffle-iron - after years of wishing I had one, but never actually pulling the trigger.  I had my eye on a Belgian waffle-maker with removable plates (important).  One day the one I had my eye on went on sale and I just bought it before I could stop myself.

So we have been eating waffles quite a bit lately, trying out different recipes.  This is the best one so far, inspired by the grated apple in this cake.  I have an idea of adding whipped apple butter for an even more decadent or special occasion - but for a lazy Sunday morning, these are perfect.

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Waffles

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1/8 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup grapeseed, canola or vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 Granny Smith apple, grated

Apple Cinnamon Topping

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/4 cup water, plus 1 - 2 tbsp as needed
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Begin by peeling, coring, and chopping two Granny Smith apples.  In a saucepan over medium low heat, add the apple pieces along with the water, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  Let the apples soften without letting all the water evaporate, about 5 minutes.  Add more water as needed.  Turn down the heat to low and let simmer until the waffles are ready.

While the apples are cooking, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar in a medium sized bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  Set aside.

Preheat waffle maker to desired temperature.  While waffle maker is heating, peel, core, and grate the remaining apple.  Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture, and stir in the grated apple.  Be careful not to over-stir the batter.

Once the waffle iron is ready, dollop the batter in and cook according to the instructions.
Serve waffles immediately, with a generous serving of the apple cinnamon topping and syrup.

This recipe makes enough for two very hungry people, or 4 people as a breakfast side.  My waffle iron made 8 waffles (2 sets of 4) leaving a little batter left-over.

Maple Apple Upside Down Cake

Let's slow down.  Let's relax and live in the moment, and not think too far ahead.  It's November, and it's fall.  Breathe. Reflect. Red, orange, yellow and brown.  Fallen leaves and fallen soldiers.  It's time to remember.  Let's not get too carried away with all things red and green and sparkly - not yet.

Maple Apple Upside Down Cake is comforting.  It's simple.  It's just what we need right now.

This cake reminds me of my trip to Amsterdam - it's a combination of a Dutch Apple Pancake (left - look at the pretty blue and white tabletop - so Dutch!) and their famous Apfelkuchen (right), which I thoroughly enjoyed at the Rijksmuseum cafe.

Maple Apple Upside Down Cake
slightly adapted from Joy the Baker - Homemade Decadence

Maple Apple Topping
2 Granny smith apples, peeled and sliced into wedges
1/2 cup Canadian maple syrup
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup Canadian maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated

Prepare the apple bottom (which ends up being the topping) first. In a greased 9x2 cake pan, arrange the apple wedges, fanned out in a circle.  Using a small saucepan, heat up butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until the butter melts.  Pour about half of the mixture over top of the apples in the cake pan.  Set aside the other half.

In a separate saucepan, melt the 3/4 cup of butter and let cool.

While the butter is cooling, grate the apple. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium sized bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, maple syrup, brown sugar and grated apple.  Once the butter has cooled, add the butter.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Using a large spoon, dollop the cake batter on top of the apples in the cake pan. Careful not to move the apples out of their fan pattern.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.  Drizzle the remaining maple sauce over top and serve.  We enjoyed this cake the next day but I imagine that it is terrific served warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if you are feeling decadent.

Double Chocolate Baked Doughnuts

I have a great love of sprinkle doughnuts.  It is the one choice that is easiest in my life. Other folks might hum and haw, simply agonizing over the choice (or, is that just me?).  Not me.  I will pick the one with the most colourful sprinkles on it, every time.

I finally got the courage up to try making doughnuts again - homemade doughnuts are my nemesis. I am not talking about heating up a large pan of oil courage - I am not there yet. Maybe someday, with a fireproof suit and a fire extinguisher on hand. No - these are just the baked variety.  Now. my past troubles could be the fault of the recipes I was using - but much more likely to be user error.  So, this is my latest attempt.  Not bad.  Not bad at all.  My only issue is that they were a little crumbly - which could have contributed to (or resulted in) bits sticking to the pan.   I haven't had that problem before. Trust me, the pan was super greased.  But, at the end of the day, they taste pretty darn good. They taste exactly like...chocolate cupcakes in doughnut shape.  So why not just make cupcakes? Because, doughnuts. Doughnuts are like blondes - they are just so much more fun.

Happy Hallowee'en!

Double Chocolate Baked Doughnuts

Doughnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk (or 1/3 cup half and half and a bit of water)
1 large egg
1/4 cup or 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted until just browned
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
pinch of salt
3 to 4 tbsp whole milk or half and half
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat until it just begins to brown.  Remove from heat.  Sift flour into a medium sized bowl.  Add in cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Stir.  Add in brown sugar and mix well.  Try to break down any lumps of brown sugar that form.  (Why does that always happen when mixing flour and brown sugar? Maybe it's just me.)  In a separate bowl whisk egg and milk (or cream or any combination of the two).  Add vanilla and slightly cooled butter.  Whisk until well combined.  Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until thoroughly mixed. 

Gently spoon into a well greased doughnut pan - only fill 2/3 of the doughnut cavity (or you will get muffins with weird bottoms) and bake for 11-12 minutes at 325 degrees.  Leave doughnuts to cool in pan on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes before turning out to finish cooling on the rack. 

For the glaze, start with 1 cup of icing sugar, the cocoa, vanilla, and 1 tbsp milk or cream.  Alternately add in more 1 tbsp of milk and 1-2 tbsp of icing sugar until you reach the right consistency.  If you tilt the bowl, it should be able to start moving gently downwards, but not too quickly. Wait until the doughnuts are fully cooled, dip doughnuts one at a time in the glaze and turning a 1/4 turn before removing and placing back on the wire rack.  Once all doughnuts are glazed, shake sprinkles over top before the glaze hardens. 

Celebration Cookies

This past Monday marked my Gran's 93rd birthday. My Gran and I had a special relationship throughout my childhood and well into my mid-twenties - I was her only grand-daughter, and I was spoiled. Pretty dresses and jewelry, lunches out, and special sleepover weekends away from my brothers.  She would tell anyone and everyone that I was her grand-daughter.  We used to exchange letters - mine handwritten and hers neatly typed up as her handwriting was illegible (particularly to a ten year old).  When I stayed overnight, to help me sleep she would make me a mug of hot milk sweetened with honey.  My gran is now in a long-term care facility, and suffers from dementia.  She is blind, and has good days and not so good days.  I choose to remember her as she was in her prime.

Happy Birthday Gran - these cookies are vibrant and colourful, and always ready for a celebration, just like you.

I chose these super fun looking cookies as the first recipe to try from Joy's fabulous new book: Homemade Decadence.  I have bookmarked no less than a dozen recipes so far - the cakes, the cookies, the pies...oh my!  But back to these cookies - I have a bit of a thing for sprinkles, so it was just a matter of time.    

Celebration Cookies

slightly adapted from Homemade Decadence and here 

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a spatula. Add 1/4 cup of the sprinkles.
Pour the remaining sprinkles in a bowl.  Roll approximately 2 tbsp of dough into a ball, dip in the sprinkles and place on a plate. Repeat. Makes approximately 16-20 cookies, depending on how big you make each ball. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes or until edges just start turning brown. I recommend checking your first batch at 10 minutes just in case.  Larger cookies will take a bit longer.
Let cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Rainy Date Night Brownies

Rain, rain, rain.  This recipe is for those evenings when it's not just raining.  It's not even pouring.  When it is absolutely bucketing down.  Buckets of blowing-sideways-drenching rain in fits and bursts.

Those nights make perfect date nights.   The kind of night to stay in, wrap up in a blanket and eat comfort food while watching episode after episode of The West Wing kind of night.  I mean who wants or dares to go out on a night like that?  A darling husband, that's who.  A man who will brave the storm to pick up some cocoa when simply nothing else will do but warm brownies topped with vanilla ice cream.  And these brownies are worth it.  I guarantee it.

Rainy Date Night Brownies
from 5 degrees of prep

This recipe makes just enough for two.

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour, sifted
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Lightly grease two mini cake pans (mine are heart shaped).  I think an oversized muffin tin would work just as well, but be sure not to overfill the cups.

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl. Mix well.

Pour into cake pans.

Bake 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick or fork inserted into the brownies comes out clean.

Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream!

Note:  I have also made these with half the amount of butter and reduced the sugar by a third, and it turned out just as good, just not quite as rich.  This is a good option, especially if you are topping the brownies with ice cream.  

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Muffins

It never fails.  Each year I sadly watch the days of September wind down toward the departure of summer, but every year it doesn't take long for me to remember how much I love the autumn. Fall is like an old friend you haven't seen for a while - comforting and warm - bring on the socks, scarves, blankets, and cups of tea.  It's nice to get cozy.

Every year I seem to discover a new pumpkin recipe to add to my list of fall favourites - two years ago it was this pumpkin bundt cake with cinnamon glaze, last year it was these pumpkin gingersnap cookies - and the winner so far this year is this muffin recipe.

 Lightly spiced, they remind me of a muffin version of the pumpkin gingersnap cookies.  You can see the black dots of the ground cloves!  Semi-sweet chocolate and spiced pumpkin are a match made in heaven.  I tried to (though only somewhat successfully) capture the orange hue in the photos.  These muffins are the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea or coffee on a chilly autumn day.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Muffins
slightly adapted from Flourishing Foodie

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Makes 10-12 muffins

In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder,baking soda, spices and both sugars.
In a medium bowl combine the egg, oil, and pumpkin puree.

Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and combine. Add the chocolate chips, stir to combine, and spoon into muffin tin. The oil will keep the muffins from sticking to the pan, so no greasing or paper cups required.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Best served warm.