Cakes & Brownies

I just wanted to give you guys the recipe I use for Cupcakes (& 'big' cakes), frosting and brownies.

Cake:
•6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour.
•1 rounded tsp baking powder
•3 large eggs
•6 oz (175 g) soft butter
•6 oz (175 g) caster sugar
•½ tsp vanilla extract (not the essence!)
•3 tbsp milk
To make it chocolate add:
1 tbsp instant coffee granules
2 tbsp cocoa powder (Or more if you prefer it really chocolately - I just go by eye with this. Taste the mixture and judge!)

Method:
Beat the butter and the sugar until light and creamy. Beat the eggs and add vanilla extract. Gradually add to the butter mixture, putting in a tablespoon of the flour to prevent the mixture curdling.
Fold in the remaining flour (& chocolate & coffee for the chocolate cake). Spread the mixture evenly into prepared tins, or cupcake cups for cupcakes, dont overfill! Eat the remaining mixture...I love cake mixture more than cake! Bake for 20 mins or until the sponge is lightly golden and doesn't wobble. The way I check is that if you touch it, it springs back up. Leave the sponges in the tin for 5 mins before transferring onto a wire rack to cool.

Frosting...Well icing as we say in Britain(!):

5 oz (150g) Butter - softened
8 oz (250g) icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp hot water
Add cocoa powder if you want to make it chocolate - again, just judge it by taste!
Mix it all up and spread on a cold cake :)

Brownies Recipe:
(This is copied from The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook - AMAZING book if you like sweet things!)
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
175g unsalted butter
325g caster sugar
130g plain flour
3 eggs
icing sugar, to decorate
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 170C / 325F / GM3
2. Put the chocolate an butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth.
3. Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and stir until well incorporated. Add the flour and stir until well incorporated. Finally, stir in the eggs and mix until thick and smooth.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray (eat the remaining mixture - Seriously, its so good!!) and bake in the preheated oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until flaky on the top but still soft in the centre. Be careful not to overcook otherwise the edges will become hard and crunchy. Leave to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar, to decorate. I cooked mine for 20mins as the edges were burning, but the inside was still a bit raw - Really nice if you want gooey brownies. I think 25mins would be perfect.

With both the brownie and chocolate cake recipes, if you under cook them by about 10 minutes, they will be amazing desserts to eat with ice-cream...Yum!

Enjoy!! :-)

Love ShameeraXXX