Sour Cream Chocolate Loaf

Call me cliche, call me commercialized, I have also soaked up in the Valentine's Day atmosphere as my blogger baking friends have :) I thought for quite a while what to bake for Valentine's Day. I thought of red velvet and then thought about the red colouring *shrug* Then I thought of baking a cake in a heart-shaped pan *too common* ~shrug~

Finally I thought of this when I saw a blogger friend baked her loaf cake. You must have been thinking, awwww what is so special about the loaf cake?? You will find out soon enough :)

As my fingers ran through the index of cakes that I could possibly do for Valentine's Day from Carole Walter's Great Cakes, I thought of doing it the down-to-earth way by making something dependable and yummy which literally translate to tea cake :) Something that everyone can eat but yet have a pleasant surprise.

Ingredients:

2 tsp freeze dried coffee

1/4 cup boiling water

3 squares about 85g unsweetened chocolate, cut into pieces

200g sifted cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

113g unsalted butter

300g 200g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g sour cream
1 frozen Sara Lee vanilla pound cake, sliced and cut into heart shapes with the heart shape cutter

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius and butter a loaf pan.
2. Dissolve the coffee in boiling water. Set aside.
3. Place the chocolate in a small bowl and using the double boiling method, melt the chocolate over a pot of boiling water until smooth. Set aside.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
5. Cut the butter into 1 inch pieces and put them in a mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Soften at low speed. Increase the speed to medium high and cream until smooth and light in colour for about 1.5 to 2 minutes.
6. Add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, taking about 6 to 8 minutes to blend it in well. Scrape the sides of the bowl when necessary.
7. Add the eggs, 1 at a time at 2 minute intervals, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium.
8. Blend in the coffee, melted chocolate and vanilla extract.
9. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the sour cream, dividing the flour mixture into four parts and the sour cream into three parts, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until incorporated after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 10 seconds longer.
10. Spoon 1/4 of the batter into the prepared pan and arrange the heart shaped vanilla pound cake in a row. Remember to fit the heart shapes very closely so they will stay fixed. Pour the remaining batter all over the top of the heart shapes to fill the whole loaf pan to about 3/4 of the loaf pan.
11. Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes or until the cake just begins to come away from the sides of the pan and is springy to the touch.
12. Remove the cake from the oven and set it on the pan to cool completely.
13. This is luscious with sour cream chocolate frosting or even on its own.

This cake can keep up to 5 days in room temperature.

Check out my Sour Cream Chocolate Loaf. Ain't anything special, isn't it?

Wait till you see this!! Ta dah!!! Aww, a little special heart surprise for Valentine's Day!!. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!! 

Psst, if you are curious where I got my inspiration from, this is where. Check out the link to see the step by step on how to make the cute heart in the cake.

I'm going to submit this post to Cook-Your-Books#9 hosted by Joyce of kitchenflavours.

I'm also going to submit this post to the valentine extravaganza organized by We Should Cocoa of Chocolate Log Blog and Random Recipes of Belleau Kitchen for February 2014.

I'm also going to submit this post to Tea Time Treats organized by Lavender and Lovage and The Hedgecombers hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage for February 2014.

I'm also submitting this to Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for Valentine's Day Baking Inspiration and Bake Hop.

I'm also submitting this to Treat Petite organized by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer organized by Cakeyboi for February 2014.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Yesterday was 5 years. What about 5 years if you ask? It was 5 years since we made the promise to each other to go through thick and thin, to be with each other regardless of happiness, sickness or illness. Honestly, was it that long already? It seems like it was only just when we made our vows to each other :) Sure, we fight, we laugh, we hate, we scream but end of the day, we know that we can and will always be able to depend on each other for anything. I love myself, I love him and I definitely love us. To many more 5 years together, Mr G!!!

Below is a memory from our dear friend whom we received from on our wedding day. When we both saw this again, we just broke into smiles. Yes, you can and should always create love and romance in your lives. To all married friends!!

As part of our mini celebrations together, I decided to bake us a chocolate cake since it's such a long time Mr G ate chocolate since his health scare. After much research, I decided to make this flourless chocolate cake which is sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, paleo-friendly, dairy-free, soy-free and of course, corn-free. 

This recipe is from spoonfulofsugarfree. See my comments/modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

141g ground almonds (you can grind it yourself or buy it from the stores)
59g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1.5 cup pitted dates (if you can't find pitted dates, see here to pit dates yourself)
1/2 cup water
3 eggs
2 tbsp coconut oil (I used canola oil, it works just the same)
2 tbsp vanilla extract (I used 2 vanilla pods)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together (i.e. ground almonds, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt) in a bowl and whisk it to mix well. Set aside.
3. Place the pitted dates and water into a food processor or blender. (Note that the dates can be a tad hard in texture so if your blender is not one that is of glass, perhaps you should soak your pitted dates in water for a few hours until it is softened before you blend it).
4. Mix the date paste with the dry ingredients and using a whisk, mix it until it is all smooth.
5. Grease a 8 inch cake pan with cake spray and pour in the batter. You may to smooth the surface with a spatula.
6. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. For me, once the toothpick comes out with abit of chocolate batter stuck on it, I'll take it out from the oven as I prefer my chocolate cake to be more moist. Don't forget that chocolate still 'cooks' itself with the heat in it when you take it out from the oven.
7. Let cool for about 15 minutes or so before serving.

See my simple flourless chocolate cake that doesn't look that pretty. But remember, what's nice on the outside may not taste that nice ;P 

As Mr G is only allowed to have a small portion of the cake, this was the whole portion he had and it finished within seconds. So now you know, nice cakes need not have flour, sugar and butter. 

Psst, this is my first time making a cake with dates as the natural sweetener. I must say that the dates really make it taste good and it gives the chocolate cake different texture. Awesome recipe!

This is definitely a friendly recipe for diabetics. Best of all, it's pretty easy peasy.

I would say that for the start of my cooking/baking journey, I have nailed it for this one. For many more to come, I want to try many new cooks or bakes that I've not tried before to improve my techniques. Yay!! New ingredient I've tried for the first time too. Ok, next bake coming up soon! :)

I'm going to submit this post to We Should Cocoa organized by Chocolate Log Blog and hosted by Lancashire Food for January 2014 where the theme this month is New Year New Ingredient.

I'm also going to submit this post to Tea Time Treats organized by Lavender and Lovage and Hedgecombers and hosted by Hedgecombers for January 2014.

I'm also submitting this post to Treat Petite organized by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer hosted by The Baking Explorer for January.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

It is yet another alcoholic cake that I'm going to make. And this time, it's chocolate with guinness stout. Are you cringing your face already? I know. When I first made such a cake sometime back, I too was hesistant. Then when I tasted the final product, voila! Both flavours marry well together with each other.

So it is yet another birthday. Incidentally, it's for another chocolate lover as well :) Aww, I love it when my 'thinking' job is made easy. So I decided to make these beauties.

The recipe for the cupcakes and frosting is from Nigella Lawson's Feast. Do note that this recipe will make about 18 cupcakes.

Cupcake Ingredients:

250ml guinness stout (minus the foam)

250g unsalted butter

75g cocoa powder

400g 250g caster sugar

142ml sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius and butter/line a 9 inch springform tin.
2. Pour guinness stout into a large wide saucepan and add the butter. Heat until the butter is all melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
3. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla extract and then pour the brown buttery beery and finally whisk in the flour and baking soda.
4. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack as this is a damp cake. cupcake cases for about 20 minutes or so. Leave to cool.

Frosting ingredients:

300g cream cheese

150g icing sugar

125ml double cream

Method:

1. Lightly whip the cream cheese till smooth, sieve over icing sugar and beat them both together.
2. Add the cream and beat again until spreadable consistency.
3. Ice the top of the cupcakes to resemble the frothy top of the famous pint.

See how they look. 

Being the first cake tester as always, Mr G says it's very very nice but he wants more cream cheese frosting on top. I know right!! But this frosting gets pretty soft fast so you might want to work fast with this one.

I was pretty sad with my last picture. After cutting it into two, I wanted to sink my teeth into it so hence, the pathetic picture quality. Oh well, it was all worth it. The cupcake texture looks pretty dense but it was just the perfect marriage of guinness that brings out the better in the cocoa. I love it!! If I had to choose to make a cupcake, I'll definitely choose these. If you are a chocolate fan, try this. There is no doubt about it.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #38: Boozy-licious (December 2013) hosted by Jasline of Foodie Baker.

I'm also submitting this to Cook-Your-Books #7 hosted by Joyce of kitchenflavours.

I'm also submitting this to We Should Cocoa hosted by Chocolette of Chocolate Log Blog.

I'm also submitting this to Calendar Cakes hosted by Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes.

I'm also submitting this to Treat Petite December 2013 organized by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer, hosted by Cakeyboi.

I'm also submitting this to Tea Time Treats (December 2013) organized by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked, hosted by Kate.

Tiramisu Cake

We are already into our last month of the year. Time really flies! And I thought it was only recently that we celebrated the Chinese Lunar New Year. Now we are already into December 2013. To many of you, December is probably a special month too - Christmas, upcoming New Year's Day and the festive mood increases as you go into malls with all the festive songs jingling in the background whilst you can't stop humming to it. It is like that for me as well but even more, with a special person celebrating her birthday too ;) It's so fast to see the little kid sister growing up so fast. She already celebrated her 21st birthday just not too long ago and now it's her birthday again.

Geez, I think I'm getting all nostalgic with this. I better get on with this post before the emotions start taking over ;P

The little kid sister wanted this special cake - tiramisu cake. Yes, not just a plain boring tiramisu but a tiramisu cake. Incidentally, I found 2 recipes and one of them is from Dorie Greenspan and the other is from Tish Boyle. After studying both recipes, I've decided to use the one from Dorie Greenspan simply because of Kristin's convincing sentence "This Tiramisu cake is light, creamy and divine". I believe this would be what the kid sister would prefer. Of course, I will definitely try to attempt the one by Tish very very soon too :P

This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Cake

200g cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
141g unsalted butter, room temperature
225g 200g sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
183g buttermilk

Espresso extract

2 tbsp instant espresso powder
2 tbsp boiling water

Espresso syrup

1/2 cup water
75g cup sugar
1 tbsp Kahlua

For Filling and Frosting

227g mascarpone cheese
62.5g icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp Kahlua or brandy
240g cold heavy cream
70.8g chocolate, finely chopped or mini chocolate chips

Cocoa powder, for dusting

Method:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9×2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess, and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.
2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. 
4. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. 
5. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. 
6. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. 
7. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. 
8. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
9. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them, and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right-side up.
10. To make the extract: Stir the espresso powder and boiling water together in a small cup until blended. Set aside.
11. To make the syrup: Stir the water and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. Pour the syrup into a small heatproof bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract and the liqueur or brandy; set aside.
12. To make the filling and frosting: Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth. Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch.
13. To assemble the cake: If the tops of the cake layers have crowned, use a long serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion to even them. Place one layer right-side up on a cardboard round or a cake plate protected with strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a pastry brush or a small spoon, soak the layer with about one third of the espresso syrup. Smooth some of the mascarpone cream over the layer – user about 1 1/4 cups – and gently press the chopped chocolate into the filling. Put the second cake layer on the counter and soak the top of it with half the remaining espresso syrup, then turn the layer over and position it, soaked side down, over the filling. Soak the top of the cake with the remaining syrup.
14. For the frosting, whisk 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the remaining espresso extract into the remaining mascarpone filling. Taste the frosting as you go to decide how much extract you want to add. If the frosting looks as if it might be a little too soft to spread over the cake, press a piece of plastic wrap against its surface and refrigerate it for 15 minutes or so. Refrigerate the cake too.
15. With a long metal icing spatula, smooth the frosting around the sides of the cake and over the top. If you want to decorate the cake with chocolate-covered espresso beans, press them into the filling, making concentric circles of beans or just putting some beans in the center of the cake.
16. Refrigerate the cake for at least 3 hours (or for up to 1 day) before serving – the elements need time to meld.
17. Just before serving, dust the top of the cake with cocoa. 

I have made several tiramisus with spongefingers but never once with a cake. This is my first time and I must say, Dorie's recipe for the cake is really good. The cake alone is very good and is rather addictive. However, with the mascarpone cheese, it seems abit overpowering for me. I would probably still eat tiramisu with spongefingers for a lighter texture but I'm glad I attempted to make this tiramisu version though. I love the tight crumb of this cake. It's a tad lighter than Sara Lee's cake but tastes much nicer :P

Psst, I made this tiramisu with Bailey's and love the creamy texture of it. If you like, you can try brandy or Kahlua.

See my tiramisu cake below.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #38: Boozy-licious (December 2013) hosted by Jasline of Foodie Baker.

I'm also submitting this to Cook-Your-Books #7 hosted by Joyce of kitchenflavours.

I'm also submitting this to We Should Cocoa hosted by Chocolette of Chocolate Log Blog.

I'm also submitting this to Calendar Cakes hosted by Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cakes.

I'm also submitting this to Treat Petite December 2013 organized by Cakeyboi and The Baking Explorer, hosted by Cakeyboi.

I'm also submitting this to Tea Time Treats (December 2013) organized by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked, hosted by Kate.

I'm also submitting this to the "Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013" event that Yen of Eat Your Heart Out is hosting.