Friday 28 August 2015

Milkyway and Malteaser Double Chocolate Brownies




Hi everyone! 

Hope you're all doing well? 

Below is a recipe for Malteaser and Milkyway Double Chocolate Brownies, the recipe has been adapted and the original recipe can be found here I always use this recipe as a base for my brownies and then add in whatever I desire, and this time it was Milkyway chocolate bars and Malteasers!

***Please note, the below recipe is the scaled down (Original) version. To make my brownies, I used a large deep set rectangle baking tray - The recipe below therefore does not produce large chunky brownies. I double the recipe to get the desired thickness for the brownies - In red are the weights for the doubled up versions***



There not burnt! It's just the filter I used! Should of used a different one I suppose ;) 

Makes 20 
(Or more depending on how big you want the squares) 

Ingredients: 

185g  Butter - 370g Butter 
185g Dark Chocolate - 370g Dark Chocolate
85g Plain Flour  - 170g Plain Flour
40g Cocoa Powder - 80g Cocoa Powder
50g - Milk Chocolate - 100g Milk Chocolate
50g - White Chocolate - 100g White Chocolate 
3 Large Eggs - 6 Large Eggs
275g Caster Sugar - 550g Caster Sugar 

You will also need: 


Spoon or Spatula 

x 2 large bowls or any mixing bowls 
A couple of big and little spoons
A large rectangle baking tray
Greaseproof paper 


Let's begin shall we? 


Step 1: Boil the kettle then place the hot water into a pan, that's on a low heat on the stove to create a bain marie. Break up 185g of dark chocolate into chunks and place into a heat proof bowl, add in the butter as well and give it a little bit of a stir. Then place the bowl onto the pan with the water in, be careful! Don't burn yourself and watch out for any water spitting out at you - try not to get any water into the chocolate. Occasionally stir the chocolate so it doesn't stick to the bottom on the bowl, once the chocolate and the butter is all incorporated, with some oven gloves or a tea towel, carefully take the bowl off the heat and place to one side to cool down for a while. - You can also do this in a microwave if you have one available :) 

Step 2: In one bowl, sieve together the flour and cocoa powder until it's all Incorporated together in the bowl. Then place to one side whilst you sort out the other ingredients.


Step 3. crack all the eggs into a jug or container and give it a whisk until it is all mixed in, then add the sugar into your other bowl, once you have done this add in the eggs.  You need to keep whisking the eggs until the mixture creams together, goes a paler colour and gets thicker.


 Keep whisking for a bout 5-7 minutes, you will know it's done by lifting your whisk or fork out of the mix and when it leaves a trail over the surface it should stay for a second. If it doesn't whisk a little more. 


See the trail from the fork? That's what you're looking for.

Step 4: Add in the cooled melted chocolate, it may still be a bit warm but that's okay! So long as it's not hot chocolate, otherwise it will turn to very sugary scrambled egg, so make sure you leave it to cool.  Very slowly mix the chocolate into the egg and sugar mix, you don't want to mess up all the work you put into mixing in the previous stage. Keep mixing until it is all combined and looks like the below picture. 




Step 5: Slowly sieve in the chocolate powder and the flour, once it's all into the bowl;. Mix with the method of plunging your spoon / spatula into the back of the mix and then drag the spoon towards yourself, the mix will slowly start to fold in on itself. 



It will start to go to a fudge like consistency like the below picture. 


Step 6:  Grease the tin with butter, sprinkle with flour then line with Grease proof paper, leaving some paper hanging over the edges so it's easier to take out of the pan once baked. 

7. Pour half the mixture into the tray and smooth out, then cutting chunks of chocolate up scatter the Milkyway and the Malteasers onto the mixture. 



Then our the rest of the mix on top, and then the rest of the chocolate bar and Malteasers!


8. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven, when the timers up check the brownies, if they are wobbling too much, place back in the oven for 10 minutes.

When you check, you're looking for a slight wobble, when you get this take it out of the oven and place on the side still in the pan and leave to completely cool. 

Once cool, cut how you desire! 
And enjoy!

Much love, 









Tuesday 11 August 2015

Vintage Victoria Sponge Cupcakes




Hey guys and girls! 

I hope you are all well this evening? 

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in a while, on any of the pages! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and on here, but if you pop over to the life page, you can find out on what is taking me so long!

Now, I don't know about you; but the weather has been going up and down like a rocket! What with it being warm one week, blistering hot the week after, then dropping all the way back down into the singles nearly! 

If you have only just got here, we we're just talking about the typical British weather! 


Recipe: 

Start by weighing 2 large eggs, whatever the eggs they come too,
weigh the same for the following ingredients: 

Self Raising Flour
Butter
Caster Sugar

You will also need: 

1 x Punnet of Fresh Strawberries
300ml of Double Cream
1 tsp Vanilla
1-2 tbsp Milk
3 tsp Caster Sugar
1tsp Baking Powder 
Cupcake Cases

Let's get started!

1. Firstly, set your oven to 170 C, 350 F, Gas Mark 4 so it can heat up in the meantime.
You can also lay out the cupcake cases into the tray. 

2. Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and give it a good whisk until the butter goes a bit more pale. Then in a cup, crack open the eggs and give a good beating, once beaten, slowly but gradually add in the eggs a bit at a time. The mix will go all runny and may look curdled, but don't worry!

3. Next, sieve the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl, once you have done this put it back through the sieve one bit at a time and gradually add it to the egg and butter mixture. I like to mix with a wooden spoon first - Just so none of the flour shoots out!

4. After gradually adding the flour and mixing in between, your mixture should be well incorporated. Once it is add in the milk and the vanilla, then mix again until soft and pale.

5. Spoon the mixture into the cases just below half, don't over fill as they will flood over the cases and we don't want that! Once you have used all the mixture, place into the oven for 10 minutes. After the 10 is up, check the cupcakes if they are still wobbling, leave them in for another 5-10 mins. 

6. Once the timer is up, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool IN THE TRAY.
DO NOT take them out of the tray, as they are still warm and can easily lose their shape. Leave them in until completely cool, then remove.

Topping

If you saw my post for the Vintage Victoria Sponge, the recipe and the guidelines for the fresh cream topping can be found on this post

If you don't want to click the link or don't have time, I have still posted a quick how to below, but it has been taken from the Vintage Victoria Sponge cake post. 

7. Whilst the cake is cooling, place the 300ml of double cream into a bowl, add 3 tsp of sugar and give it a good whisk on a medium - high speed.  
You will soon see the consistency of the cream start to change, keep going until you have soft speaks. Once you get to this stage, place some clingfilm over the top and place into the fridge to keep cool until the cake has fully cooled. 

8. When the cakes are cool, add a dollop of the cream onto each of the cupcakes, then after the strawberries have been washed and the tops are off. You can either cut them in half or place them whole on top of the cupcakes. And there you go! Once the cream is on, be sure to keep them the fridge to save the cream from going off. 

Enjoy!