Chocolate Brownie and Meringue Cake

May and June were BUSY this year.  I took on a lot of extra days of work so it was almost like working full time again.  Good thing really since, come August, that is exactly what I am doing!  That job interview I mentioned way back in March/April? The one I thought I did terrible on and came out of crying?  Turns out I actually did great and am now a permanently contracted, full time teacher with Fife Council.  Once again, there were issues with paperwork and references and the like but everything should be sorted now and I will have a class again.  I am so excited!  Planning has therefore been taking up a lot of my free time.  I am making up a whole bunch of maths resources for myself at the moment.  Hence a lack of blog activity. 

There hasn't been a lack of baking mind you.  I have baked quite a few things in the last couple of months but have generally not been 100% happy with them.  So obviously they weren't going up on here.  The people I made them for loved them.  They always do.  But I am a perfectionist.  There's one cake I was very proud of that you guys never got to see because I hate the photos I took.  They were just awful.

But now it's the holidays and I have a lot of free time on my hands, I can get back to some regular baking for a bit.  

My main audience still remains the Hubby's RPG group in Dundee.  They are supposed to be giving me requests or ideas but they're not that great at it.  I get a lot of the same, safe things suggested and that's no fun.  Chocolate is a popular one so I keep looking for ways to make chocolate cake a bit different.  This time around I decided to include meringue.  I liked the recipe I found that cooked it as part of the layers.  It looked very effective.  I did change out the filling though.  One of the party doesn't like cream or fruit and the original had raspberries and cream in it.  I asked the Hubby if he would prefer chocolate buttercream or marshmallow fluff.  He went with the latter.

It was a good call.  I've never made chocolate marshmallow fluff before so just had a bit of a guess and added cocoa powder at the stage I would usually include vanilla extract.  It worked REALLY well.  I am not a big fan of adding cocoa powder to things.  I find it too bitter.  Marshmallow fluff is so sweet though that it balances it out beautifully.  It was so yummy I was licking the remains out the bowl.

It ended up being a very pretty cake so I was happy about that.  I was worried the brownie would be dry but it wasn't.  The meringue was perfect and didn't taste of eggs like the last time I made it.  And, as I said, the marshmallow fluff was fantastic!  Very much enjoyed by all.

Recipe - adapted from Miranda Gore Brown via BBC Food

Makes 1 x 9inch cake

Brownie:

• 200g/7oz dark chocolate
• 200g/7oz butter
• 250g/8.75oz icing sugar
• 3 eggs
• 115g/4oz plain flour 

Meringue:

• 4 egg whites
• 200g/7oz caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar  

Marshmallow Filling - adapted from Bake Me I'm Yours... Sweet Bitesize Bakes : 

• 1 large egg white
• 125g/4.5oz caster sugar
• 25g/0.75oz golden syrup
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 100g/3.5oz dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gask Mark 5 and grease and line two 23cm/9inch round cake pans.
2. Start with the brownie base.  Melt 180g/6.25oz of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water.  Chop up the remaining 20g/0.75oz and set aside.
3. Beat the butter and icing sugar together in a large bowl until pale and creamy.
4. Whisk in the eggs one at a time until well combined.
5. Add the flour a little at a time and beat in until the mixture is smooth.
6. Fold the melted chocolate into the mixture until it is evenly combined and then fold in the chopped chocolate.
7. Split the mixture between the prepared cake tins and bake for 10-12 minutes.  The top of the brownie will have just started to solidify.  Set tins aside and allow to cool slightly.  Reduce the oven temperature to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3.
8. Make the meringue by whisking the cream of tartar together with the egg whites until soft peaks form.
9. Slowly whisk in the sugar until the meringue is smooth and glossy.
10. Divide the meringue in half and spoon it over the brownie bases.
11. Bake for a further 30 minutes, or until the meringue is just starting to turn golden brown.
12. Set aside to cool completely in the tins.
13. To make the filling, put a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
14. Place everything except the cocoa powder in the bowl.
15. Whilst it is heating, stir with an electric whisk for several minutes (about 10) until you get shiny soft peaks.
16. Remove from the heat and whisk for another two minutes to thicken it up.  
17. Sift in the cocoa powder and whisk in too.
18. Allow to cool.
19. Chop 50g/1.5oz of the dark chocolate into small pieces and fold into the cooled marshmallow fluff.
20. Carefully remove one of the cake layers from its tin and place it meringue-side-down on a plate.
21. Cover with the marshmallow filling, leaving a slight gap around the edge.
22. Remove the other layer and place it meringue-side-up on top of the filling.
23. Melt the remaining dark chocolate and drizzle over the top of the cake.  Allow to set.    

Chocolate and Raspberry Heart Brownies

The Hubby loves pen and paper roleplay games.  When I met him he was a part of his university roleplay society and it was a regular feature of his week to be away gaming with his friends.  When we finished university and first moved into our flat in Fife, he would travel up on the train for games.  He wasn't really able to play with the university anymore, due to timings of trains, but his friends still did a roleplay and he would go up for that.  Back in the early days of this blog, it became traditional for me to bake something for him to take along.  His friends are very willing guinea pigs and it really allowed me to stretch my creative juices and experiment.  No wonder 2012 and 2013 were such prolific years for the blog.
  
Then the Hubby changed from being a lifeguard with casual hours to one with part time hours.  And all those hours were in the evening.  And consequently, roleplaying had to be put on hold.  I felt so bad for him because it also put a big hold on getting to see his friends in general.  After we convinced him to quit because I was beginning my probation year, it became an issue of no one having the same free day for meeting up and limited funds.  Their game has been on hold for a couple of years now.

However, now the Hubby has passed his driving test and we have access to a (devil) car he is able to travel up to Dundee much more easily, with no restrictions on when he has to leave as he's not relying on trains.  He is so happy.  And there are plans to start the game up again, with some new people joining.  So once again he'll be regularly trekking up to Dundee.

That's where this bake comes in.  Last Saturday he went to Dundee.  I did not remember him telling me he was doing this until he mentioned it the preceding Monday.  So obviously I spent the week teasing him about abandoning me.  It was fine though.  I was glad he was getting to see his friends.  And at the fact I had guinea pigs to bake for again.  My day on my own was also enjoyable (despite feeling ill).  I bundled up under a quilt with my cats and watched a lot of movies.  It was lovely. 

I thought I would do something with a bit of a Valentine's theme, being that time of year and all.  Brownies seemed a good bet.  Traybakes are good to send along to a bunch of people.  I went with chocolate and raspberry because it's a classic, romantic combination.  Plus tastes really good together.  The brownie part was a Martha Stewart recipe, so there's a LOT of butter and sugar in these.  But that's what makes a good, moist brownie!  That and a good quality dark chocolate.  I added raspberries to the brownies (more moistness wasn't going to hurt) and then found a nice and simple raspberry ganache recipe that I thought I'd be able to pull off (since, ya know, ganache is one of my nemeses).  I have to say, I like using chocolate chips, it helps things to melt quicker.  I switched milk chocolate chips out for white chocolate in my version because I wanted a nice pink ganache and because white chocolate also combines well with raspberry.

The trickiest part of this was actually cutting out the hearts.  My cookie cutter was a bit shallow to go through cleanly and come back out again.  I need a fancy one with a handle.  So instead I pushed it in part way and used it as a stencil, cutting around the inside edge with a knife.  It gives the brownies a slight roughness but for the most part, they still looked pretty cute.

I packed both the brownies and all the remnants up and sent them along with the Hubby.  There was much excitement at the prospect when he had told them over Facebook.  Apparently everyone immediately started tucking into the leftover bits, saving the actual brownies for after tea.  Any brownies that remained at the end of the evening were divided up between them.  They are a wonderfully moist brownie but weren't too heavy.  They're very chocolatey and the raspberry is strong.  The Hubby describes it, "as being punched in the nose and tongue with flavour".  A weird way to put it but I'll take it.  Everyone really enjoyed them so I was happy.

Recipe - makes 12 brownies (plus leftover bits)

Brownie - adapted from Martha Stewart

• 225g/8oz unsalted butter
• 350g/12oz light muscovado sugar 
• 170g/6oz dark chocolate
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 240g/8.5oz plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150g/5.3oz fresh raspberries 

Raspberry Ganache - adapted from Food.com

• 160ml/oz heavy cream 
• 60g/2oz butter
• 280g/10oz white chocolate chips
• 125ml/4.5oz seedless raspberry jam
• Pink food colouring (optional) 
• Sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3 and grease and line a 12x10inch, deep sided tray with baking parchment.  Make sure the parchment hangs high over the edge so that you will be able to lift the brownies out of the tray.
2. Put the chocolate, butter and sugar into a microwave-safe bowl.
3. Microwave for 1 minute and then stir.  Continue to microwave for 10 second intervals, stirring after each, until the chocolate is almost melted.
4. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, followed by the flour and salt.  Mix until just smooth.
5. Cut the raspberries in half and fold into the mixture.
6. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top.
7. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  I recommend to start checking after 20 minutes because you don't want the brownie to overcook and dry out.
8. Leave in the tin to cool.
9. Whilst the brownie is baking, start making the raspberry ganache.  In a small heavy saucepan placed over a medium heat bring the cream to a simmer then remove.
10. Add the chocolate chips, butter and jam to the cream, making sure as much as possible is covered.  Let it stand until the chocolate has melted.
11. If using food colouring, add it here.  Whisk the mixture until it is smooth.  Chill in the fridge for about an hour.
12. Whip the ganache to soft peaks then spread over the top of the cooled brownie, smoothing over and making sure it goes right to the edges.  Sprinkle decorations over the top, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge to firm up.
13. Once the ganache is fairly firm, use a 6cm/2.5inch heart cookie cutter to cut the brownies out.  (The scraps are worth keeping for nibbles).

Pumpkin Mocha Brownies

Warning: This turned into a really long blog post with much gushing.  Brownies don't even get a proper mention until paragraph...7.  

So.  Back in...I want to say early March, I was on of my jaunts in Edinburgh with my bestest bean Jess.  As is customary on our jaunts, we visited Waterstones and I came away with two books (because buy one get one half price), one of which was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.  I had heard the name mentioned here and there on the Internet but had never actually investigated.  However, Fangirl's cute cover intrigued me and the premise even more so.  Fanfiction?  And a nerdy, shy girl?  And cute romance?  I thought it might be just my sort of book.  

It was.  I LOVED the book.  The way the characters are written and the relationships and the geekery!  It was so nice to see things I associated with in a book.  Growing up my interest in anime and fanfiction and such was not something the majority of people I went to school with shared.  I felt a bit...weird.  I never liked to talk about my interests because no one I knew got it.  I lived on the internet and talked about this sort of thing with internet friends instead.  It didn't help that I was a bit restricted in what I was allowed to do after school finished for the day so I never felt my relationship with my school friends was as good as the ones they had amongst themselves.  Not that I was a particularly social person.  Still am not really.  But I will say I did notice a difference in how close I felt to people once I went off to university (the first time around anyway) where there were people who liked the things I did and I could talk about them.  Two of those people are still my friends now, despite leaving university 3 years ago (I didn't stay in touch with anyone from highschool), and I'm marrying the third one in two weeks!

Okay, I went off topic a bit there, didn't I?  My point was that I really connected with the book and it cemented Rainbow Rowell as one of my favourite authors: one who I would immediately buy any book they released.  I only have three such authors (Jasper FForde and Gail Carriger being the other two).  The fiancé did buy Attachments and Eleanor and Park for me after I finished Fangirl and would not shut up about wanting to read more, and I preordered Landline soon after that.

Right, now I bet you're thinking, well that's all well and good, Becca, but what does any of that have to do with brownies?

Well, you see, back in April it was announced that Rainbow Rowell was coming to the UK to do a book tour.  Usually I do not get my hopes up as such tours rarely ever make their way to Scotland but would you believe it, the first stop was Glasgow!  Now, I'm in Fife so it's not exactly local but it would be completely possible to do a two hour train journey to Glasgow!  It was also in July so I would be on holiday and thus completely able to go.  I was so excited!  I invited Jess along because she lives near-ish to Glasgow and it is so much more fun to go with a friend.  I subsequently got her into Rainbow Rowell's books so that was a bonus!  So that's where I was on Thursday night: in Waterstones in Glasgow enjoying an awesome author talk and signing session from Rainbow Rowell.  It was so amazing and funny!  It was made even more fantastic for me because I won the Fangirl selfie competition for this event so I got a limited edition sparkly Fangirl necklace made by Tatty Devine.

You're still waiting to know where the brownies come in, aren't you?  Okay, okay, I'm almost there, I promise!  Right, so, leading up to the event I started getting the idea to be really nerdy.  This began with wanting to reproduce the shirt Cath wears in the book, which is a Keep Calm and Carry On t-shirt (because the fanfic she writes is called 'Carry On, Simon') and has a picture of Simon and Baz on it.  I couldn't find anything that specified colour (I may just be being blind) so I decided to use the colours to match the book: mint and pink.  It turned out very well, despite me dropping the brush twice and therefore having to spend a couple of days removing unwanted paint stains.  And Rainbow certainly seemed to like it.  But then the desire to be nerdy got worse.  This is where the brownies come in.  If any flavour and scent is associated with Fangirl it is that of the pumpkin mocha lattes from Starbucks.  Admittedly, I have never seen, smelt or tasted such a thing.  This may be down to 1) I don't go into coffee shops and 2) I don't know if that's a thing they have in the UK.  As I've said before, pumpkin seems to be a really popular flavour in the US but not here.  Anyway, I had the idea that I could bake something for Rainbow Rowell, which I could give her at the signing.  And whatever that something was, it would be pumpkin mocha, which I extrapolated to be something that had pumpkin, coffee and chocolate in it.  And this ended up being brownies.

Yes, finally we get to the brownies.  I've been in a bit of a tray bake mood of late.  In part because I am completely enamoured with my adjustable cake pan.  It is going to be the pan I use to make all my cake layers for the wedding cake and so any chance to practice with it is great.  It's wonderful for making brownies in as I can set it up to be the right size and it is really deep so there is no issue with overspill during baking and makes building layers really easy.  

Okay, I seriously need to stop talking about anything but brownies, even if the pan is tangentially related.  Right, pumpkin mocha brownies.  Like I said, after researching what went into a pumpkin mocha I knew I had to get coffee, pumpkin and chocolate in there, along with spices like cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves.  At first I thought that I wanted to combine all those flavours into one thing.  So, initially I looked at how people made pumpkin mochas at home, which involved flavouring milk with pumpkin.  But no brownies I could think of were made with milk.  Then it occurred to me that it would much easier if I made a marbled brownie.  One part would be a chocolate and coffee brownie and the other a pumpkin brownie.  Both would have the spices in and I would mix them up in the tray so there was a bit of both in each slice after it was cut.  From there it was just a matter of finding (and slightly adapting) recipes for each part.  The Hummingbird Bakery came to the rescue there as I ended up modifying the brownie part of their S'mores brownies for the mocha and their pumpkin cake for the pumpkin part.  This meant adding in coffee and spices where there were none, more flour to compensate for added liquid and removing leavening agents because otherwise you end up with cake, not brownies.

I ended up with two mixtures of slightly different consistency, which made them slightly tricky to marble.  My original plan was to alternate each type when filling the pan but since the mocha was runnier, I decided I would put the denser pumpkin on the bottom then cover it with mocha.  I still attempted to marble and it sort of worked but possibly not as well as it could have done.

Ah well, the end result still turned out really well!  There's definitely some of each type in every piece of brownie, which was important.  It's possibly not as dense as it could be but that's not that big a deal.  The coffee flavour is subtle and the pumpkin lightens everything up so the chocolate isn't too heavy.  The fiancé and his family certainly liked them so I really hope Rainbow did too! Update: 14th July 2014 - She liked them!

@BeccasBaking THEY WERE DELICIOUS.

— Rainbow Rowell (@rainbowrowell) July 14, 2014

So I'm just ecstatic about that!

Recipe - inspired by Home Sweet Home
Makes 20

Mocha Brownie:

• 60g/2oz butter
• 60g/2oz dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp coffee granules
• 4 tbsp boiling water
• 100g/3.5oz light brown sugar
• 65g/2.25oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 2 eggs
• 100g/3.5oz plain flour

Pumpkin Brownie: 

• 2 eggs
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz sunflower oil
• 180g/6.25oz light brown sugar
• 215g/7.5oz pumpkin purée
• 170g/6oz plain flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark 3 and line a 20x30cm/8x12inch baking tray with foil, making sure to leave overhang on two sides to help lift the brownie out when it is ready.
2. Start with the mix for the mocha brownie.  Put the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water (without letting the bowl touch the water) and melt together, stirring occasionally, until smooth.
3. Meanwhile, mix together the boiling water and coffee granules in a small cup until the granules have dissolved.
4. Once the chocolate mixture is completely melted, add the coffee and mix to incorporate before pouring the mixture into a large bowl.
5. Add the sugars, vanilla extract and salt to the chocolate mixture and stir thoroughly to combine.
6. Add the eggs and beat vigorously until the batter is smooth and shiny.
7. Sift in the flour and spices (crush the cloves beforehand) and stir until just incorporated.  Set aside.
8. Make the pumpkin batter by putting the eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin purée into a large bowl and whisking together until well combined.
9. Sift the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the batter and then mix well until you get a smooth, even batter.
10. Pour the pumpkin batter into the prepared tray and spread smoothly so it covers the base.
11. Pour the chocolate mixture on top, making sure to cover all the pumpkin mix.
12. Take a butter knife and marble the two mixtures together by reaching down to the bottom of the mix and turning it over to bring some pumpkin to the top.
13. Bake for 35-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out almost clean and the top is slightly springy.  Leave to cool in the tin.
14. Once cool, remove from the tin and cut into squares using a plastic knife (that's a new trick I learned! The brownie doesn't stick to a plastic knife like it does a metal one and you get nice, clean slices).