Tag: chocolate

Leftover Cake Pudding
Stylemesisteradmin
July 19, 2019

No this is not an April Fools joke. Recently we had THREE cakes to mark the youngest child’s 6th Birthday and when you have that much cake sometimes you have leftovers. And when you have leftovers they can be somewhat drying.

When we think leftover cakes we think Cakepops. But this time I wanted to make something less laborous (we all know I like shortcuts).

So after a bit of experimenting I opted for this….Cake Pudding…like Bread and Butter Pudding but with leftover cake.

This is amazing. I know I’m biased but it really is amazing!

To make enough Pudding to serve 4 you will need:

1/2 a double layered 20 CM cake. Ours was Chocolate flavoured and was ‘filled’ with Caramel flavour frosting.

500 ml milk

2 eggs

50 grams castor sugar (plus an extra TBSP for sprinkling).

100 grams chocolate chips

Optional: a tub of Caramel or Chocolate Frosting (we didn’t add any extra as the cake already had a layer in it OR about 3 heaped TBSP of Nutella or other chocolate based spread.

1) Remove the icing/frosting off the cake. Slice the cake up. Generally the thinner the slices the better. Just don’t make them too thin or they’ll fall apart.
2) If you wish to use the optional ingriedent of Nutella/Caramel spread it on half the slices. Then make ‘sandwiches’. So one slice of nutella’d cake with 1 slice of non-nutella cake.
3) Place the cake in an ovenproof dish (I used an old fashioned rectangular tin). I placed them so the point of the rectangle was at the top (and would be a bit crispy when I sprinkled on the sugar).
4) Whisk together the eggs, milk and sugar. Pour over the cake slices.
5) Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.
6) Place in the oven at 170C/Gas Mark 4 for 35-40 minutes.
7) Remove from the oven and serve with cream…ice-cream or whatever takes your fancy.

Alternative: if you wish to make a ‘chocolate’ custard mixture you could add the nutella to the milk mixture and whisk it in. Or if you want even more chocolate you could still apply nutella to the cake and also make the chocolate ‘custard’ mixture too.

Chocolate Concrete Cake
Alliyah Dawud
October 19, 2017

Chocolate Concrete Cake

So if you were an 80s baby in England and attended mainstream public school there’s a huge possibility you will remember hard slabs of cake like substance served with colourful custard. The cake was fondly knows as concrete cake a nod to it’s hard texture and make up. But once you left it in lashings of custard it turned into this soft delectable delight. My old School could cut it into rectangular slabs (and sprinkle on some extra granulated sugar).

Recently my oldest asked me about my memories of School. The one thing that was apparent was I blocked out a lot of stuff (perhaps due to the constant bullying the Schools chose to ignore) but what I can remember is the delectable desserts (I was a foodie in the making from a young age). So recently we tried a few recipes and this one below in my opinion smells and tastes like the retro School dinner classic.

Don’t forget to serve it with colourful custard. I used instant custard with a bit of food dye added. Yes this is a treat so I didn’t mind injected my children with nasty food colours.

Preparation time:
10 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

Servings: 8 slices (easy!)

I used a 20 cm shallow pie dish to bake the concrete cake. You can use a sandwich cake tin if that’s what you have on hand. Grease the tin with butter/oil.

Ingredients:
200 grams plain flour (shifted)
200 grams granulated sugar (that’s right-granulated!) plus a little extra for sprinkling on top
60 grams cocoa powder (shifted)
110 grams butter (or substitute that is suitable for baking). softened. You could soften it in the microwave if you wish.

1) Mix together the flour, sugar and cocoa powder.
2) add butter. Stir. The mixture will start to look like breadcrumbs. Stir until all the ingredients are thoroughly.
3) Now tip the mixture into the greased baking dish. Pat down.
4) Bake in the oven at 180 c for 30 minutes on the middle rack.
5) Take out of the oven and either: allow to cool down completely (which is what I do). Or cool enough to remove from pan, slice and serve (warm). Don’t forget to sprinkle on the sugar.

I allow the concrete to cool over night. I then remove from the pan and slice. Serve with some bright coloured custard. And enjoy the walk down memory lane.
PS: if you do end up with any leftovers store them in an airtight container and you’ll be good for 4 days.

OMG OREO BROWNIES
Alliyah Dawud
October 12, 2017

Easiest Oreo Brownies like ever

Hands up who likes a good brownie. I see some of you are in denial. Well I ain’t going to lie to any of you. I love brownies. Maybe because they are easier to put together than a cake that needs decorating. Or maybe because I can adjust the flavouring ingredients to reflect what I have in my leftover chocolate jar (yup there is such a thing).

I love one bowl recipes because of the lack of post clean up required. If you have baking these for a bake sale you can even use foil disposable trays/containers so you don’t need to worry about losing your favourite platter plate post event.

I’ve used the original flavour of oreos for this recipe. Let me know if you try other varieties and how they work out.

Ingredients:

9 whole oreos (to make the stuffed oreo brownies)
3 oreos chopped up (optional to decorate your brownies)
150 Grams butter/other solid fat suitable for baking (I personally use Stork or store brand) Softened/melted. You can use the microwave to blast it.
225 Grams Castor Sugar
65 Grams Cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla flavouring or extract
2 eggs (large)
60 Grams plain flour

1) Preheat your oven to 325 F (160C). Line a 19 by 19 cm square pan (the easiest way to line one I found was to basically take a roll of foil and place it in the pan and leave excess foil on both ends so there’s overhang. Then repeat the process to cover the other two ends. Again leave excess to create overhang. It will look a bit like a cross. Yes there won’t be foil lining right up in the corners however that’s fine. You won’t be removing the brownie until it’s cooled so it’s fine. Don’t worry!

2) In a large bowl beat together the margarine, sugar, pinch or salt and cocoa powder. As you beat it (anyone else hear MJJ song right now?!) you’ll notice it looks grainy and well not very brownie like. Don’t worry. It’s normal.

3) Add the eggs and beat further.

4) Now add the flour and vanilla. Beat to encorporate the ingredients in.

5) Now take half the mixture and pour it into the pre-prepared pan. Now add the oreos. Cover with the remaining brownie mixture and smooth over with a bread knife/palette knife or other suitable kitchen utensil.

OPTIONAL: You can scatter the crushed/chopped oreos on top if you are using them.

6) Place the brownie on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 30 minutes (please note: I like my brownies sticky but not gooey. So 30 minutes does that. If you prefer gooey ones take the brownies out earlier around 25 minutes).

7) Once the brownie is baked take it out of the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

If you’ve lined the pan as I do (using two pieces of foil) you’ll need to gently lift out the brownie using the handles.

8) Remove from the pan and slice into 9 pieces.

Voila. Job done.

If the calorie count isn’t enough for you you could warm the brownies and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Enjoy!

NOTES:

You can easily double this recipe.

These brownies freeze well for for 8 weeks. Wrap individually in greaseproof paper, and then wrap in foil and place in a zip lock style bag or airtight food box.