Grasshopper Slices

For some reason, my brain is struggling to put together something interesting to say for this blog entry.  On the last one, once I started talking about doughnuts the words just poured out and I had a decent read in no time.  Today though...today it's just not coming.  As a result, I guess today's post shall be a bit on the short side since there clearly isn't much to talk about.

So anyway, at some point last week there was a birthday.  The fiancé went up to Dundee to visit his friends and celebrate said birthday on Saturday.  And since the Dundee bunch are one of my favourite groups of guinea pigs because they always appreciate any baking I send their way, I offered to bake something for him to take with him.  It was a great excuse to try out a recipe I had been eyeing up in a recipe book I got for my birthday last year from my lovely sister.  It just looked so cool, okay?  I was terribly attracted to the photo as I loved the bright green against the dark brown.  So awesome!  The fact that it is chocolate and mint was a bonus as that is a well liked combination amongst this group and the fiancé.

The base is pretty easy.  It's a brownie.  Brownies are not that hard.  Oh, but the other layers.  The other layers are ganache!  As we all know, ganache is one of my nemeses!  And true to its nature, the ganache was evil because it split on me, as it always does.  Why is something with only two ingredients so hard for me to make?  Well, in part I think it's because I can be lazy and don't chop up the chocolate as finely as I should.  In all honesty, I don't chop it at all.  I just break it into its squares and leave it at that.  Consequently they are too big to completely melt before the cream has cooled.  So I then end up trying to run extra heat through and everything splits.  Which happened and the mixture was looking funny and lumpy and oily and not beautiful and smooth.  BUT!  I have learnt many things since starting this blog and one was that the oil is the cocoa butter splitting away and that this usually happens if something gets too hot.  I also learnt that you can get it to reincorporate!  So I threw the leftover cream and some milk into the mess and whisked the hell out of it!  And you know what?  It worked!  I saved it.  It became beautifully smooth and perfect and you have no idea just how pleased I was.

And it was well worth the effort.  These things were loved by everyone who had one and they were scoffed!  The poor fiancé was even being introduced to people as 'the fiancé of the person who made the cake'.  That amuses me.  And it's nice to have one's baking appreciated.

 

Recipe - adapted from Home Sweet Home

Makes 15-20 pieces (depends on how big you want to cut them)

Brownie Base:

• 200g/7oz dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
• 200g/7oz butter
• 250g/9oz icing sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 115g/4oz plain flour

Mint Ganache:

• 250ml/9fl.oz double cream
• 1kg/2lb 3oz white chocolate
•  2 tbsp peppermint extract
• Green food colouring

Chocolate Ganache:

• 125ml/4.5fl.oz double cream
• 270g/9.5oz dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3 and grease line a 23 x 32 x 5cm (9 x 13 x 2inch) baking tin with baking parchment. 
2. Melt the dark chocolate for the brownie base in a heat proof bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure to not let the water touch the bowl.  Once melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and icing sugar until it is smooth and creamy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in after each addition.
5. Add the flour and mix to combine.
6. Add the melted chocolate and stir in until evenly incorporated into the batter.
7. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth out so the batter reaches the edges and is of even thickness.
8. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a light crust has formed on the top.
9. Allow to cool completely inside the tin.
10. Make the ganaches whilst the brownie bakes.  For the mint ganache, chop up the white chocolate and place into a medium sized bowl.
11. Bring the double cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally, and then pour through a sieve into the bowl of white chocolate.
12. Leave the chocolate to melt on its own and then stir until the mixture is smooth. (If the ganache splits, do not panic!  Add a little bit of cream or milk to the ganache and then whisk the hell out of it!  Using an electric hand whisk will be quicker and easier but keep beating until the mixture reincorporates the cocoa butter and smooths out.  It will happen, just be patient.)
13. Add the mint extract and food colouring and beat until evenly distributed and smooth.
14. Cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up.
15. For the chocolate ganache, chop up the dark chocolate and place into a medium sized bowl. 
16. Bring the double cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally, and then pour through a sieve into the bowl of dark chocolate. 
17. Leave the chocolate to melt on its own and then stir until the mixture is smooth. 
18. Cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up.
19. To assemble, remove the mint ganache from the fridge and give it a quick stir.
20. Spread the mint ganache evenly over the top of the cooled brownie base, cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge to chill for 30-60 minutes.
21. Once firm, remove and repeat with the chocolate ganache.
22. Chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight, before serving.
23. Remove from the tin and cut into desired sized pieces. 

After Eight (Chocolate and Peppermint) Cupcakes

So the other week the fiancé came home with a request from my willing taste testers in Dundee: After Eight cupcakes.  Well, I like a challenge and this was a chance to get creative, although in theory this was a fairly simple thing.  After Eights meant I would be doing chocolate and peppermint.  I knew I would definitely want a chocolate cake and ideally a very dark chocolate one.  Then I would put something peppermint in the centre.  I would also make peppermint buttercream.  Originally I was going to just drizzle dark chocolate on top but then thought it would be cool to cover the buttercream completely in chocolate instead, just to give a further impression of an After Eight.  

Now I've never dipped buttercream in chocolate before so I wasn't sure how well it would turn out.  I knew I had to chill it beforehand or it would melt when it got dipped.  I also figured it would be easier to coat the whole thing if the buttercream was piped flat against the top of the cake, rather than the usual towering swirl I do.  This all worked out fine but with every cake I had gaps in the chocolate.  I did fill as much in as possible by dripping chocolate into the gaps with a spoon but still couldn't get a perfect covering.  As a result I thought it looked a bit messy.  My testers though thought they were some of my prettiest cakes and that the slightly messy chocolate top was very reminiscent of the After Eight's patterning.

I was so glad I was able to get green cases to go with these.  It really pulls the whole design together.  I really doubted I was going to have them in time but then I luckily got offered a trip out to Rejects in Kirkcaldy and they have a cookery/baking section.  So I raided the cases they had for sale and found a set of 'Buffin' cases in five colours including green.  Rather a perfect green too.  The cases also turned out to be an ideal size for the chocolate cake recipe I chose to use.  The name 'Buffin' amuses me.  Apparently it's bigger than a bun case (which I refer to as a cupcake case) but not quite as big as a muffin case.  They're quite tall and a bit narrow but very cool.  I was very pleased with them.  I had originally wanted foil cases but these ones worked out perfectly and probably looked better overall.  If you can get green cases for these cakes, I recommend doing so.

So what was the result?  Perfect.  That's what I was told.  These cakes were perfect.  A soft but crumbly cake that was really dark with the perfect amount of peppermint running all the way through.  Apparently they tasted just like an After Eight.  I was rather proud.  

Now I really wish I had gotten better looking photos.  I just could not find a way to pose these that I was happy with.

Recipe - makes 12

Cakes - adapted from Foods of Our Lives:

• 115g/4oz butter
• 60g/2oz dark chocolate (I used Bournville)
• 45g/1.5oz cocoa powder (Bournville cocoa for me)
• 105g/3.75oz plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 large eggs
• 150g/5.25oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 115ml/4fl.oz sour cream

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with 'buffin' cases (or muffin if you can't find 'buffin').
2. Put the butter, chocolate and cocoa powder in a glass bowl and place over a saucepan of gently simmering water.  Stir until the butter and chocolate have melted and the mixture is smooth.  Whisk if you need to.  Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a small bowl.
4. In a separate, larger bowl beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until pale and frothy.
5. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mix and stir in until fully incorporated.
6. Add a third of the flour mixture and stir in.
7. Now add the sou cream, mix, and then the rest of the flour.  Beat until smooth.
8. Divide the batter evenly amongst the cases.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cakes are risen and the tops are springy.  A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Filling:

• 115g/4oz icing sugar
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 25ml/1fl.oz water
• Green, blue food colouring

1. Put the icing sugar, peppermint extract, a couple of drops of green and the tiniest amount of blue colouring into a small bowl.
2. Add a tablespoon of the water and mix in until smooth.
3. Add the rest of the water a little at a time, mixing after each addition until you get a smooth but fairly runny paste.
4. Cut a core out of the cooled cupcakes and put about a teaspoonful of the filling into each one.  Replace the cores.

Mint Buttercream:

• 170g/6oz butter
• 340g/12oz icing sugar
• 3/4 tsp peppermint extract
• 1 tsp water
• Green, blue, white(optional) food colouring

1. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
2. Add the icing sugar, peppermint extract and water and beat together until smooth.
3. Add a few drops of green, one blue and a little white if using and mix until colour is evenly spread through.
4. Put the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
5. Pipe a flat spiral that completely covers the top of each cake.
6. Put cakes in the fridge to chill for 2-3 hours to allow the buttercream to firm up.

Chocolate top:

• 170g/6oz dark chocolate (I used Green & Black's 70% cocoa) 

1. Once the buttercream is firm, break up the chocolate and melt in a glass bowl placed over a pan of gently simmering water.
2. Take the cakes out of the fridge one at a time, hold by the base and dip into the chocolate, submerging the buttercream up to the edge of the case.
3. Remove and shake gently over the bowl to get rid of any excess chocolate.
4. Turn right way up and use a small spoon to drizzle chocolate into any exposed gaps.  You want to hide as much buttercream as possible.
5. Leave on a wire rack to set.

Candy Cane Cupcakes

I had been wanting to make some Christmas themed cupcakes for a while, and since I had peppermint extract and willing volunteers, I thought candy cane inspired cakes would be fun.

I probably got a bit carried away with ideas for this one.  Some of which were too big and I didn't manage to pull off, so the end result wasn't quite what I was hoping for.  But they were still very much enjoyed by the fiancé and his friends.

So what have we got?  Well, the cakes are red velvet and white chocolate marble cakes.  These are then topped with peppermint flavoured buttercream, in red and white, and then finished with crushed candy cane sprinkles.  If I had managed too, I wanted to pipe the cake mixture into the cases to get a spiral pattern, rather than marbling, but the two mixtures I used were of slightly different consistency and wouldn't co-operate.  Maybe if I'd used one of the split piping bags instead of trying to fill a single one half and half it might have worked better but oh well.  Live and learn.

I actually tried two different mixtures for the white chocolate part of the cakes but the first recipe was far too runny.  I did save it to cook as a cake on its own but, due to being ill and thus a bit cloudy in the head, I forgot to take it out the oven when the timer went off and it got ruined.  Ooops.  I'll have to try it again at some point in the future though because it sounded yummy. 

Recipe - makes about 12 (and maybe 3 or so spare red velvet cupcakes)


Red Velvet Cake - adapted from Cake Days 

• 60g/2oz unsalted butter
• 150g/5oz caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 10g/0.35oz cocoa powder
• 40ml/1.5fl.oz red food colouring
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150g/5oz plain flour
• 120ml/4.25fl.oz buttermilk
• 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

White Chocolate Cake:

• 60g/2oz butter
• 60g/2oz caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 60g/2oz self raising flour
• 100g/4oz white chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5 and line a 12 hole muffin case with cases.  
2. Put the white chocolate in a glass bowl and then place over a pan of gently simmering water to melt.  Don't let the water touch the bowl.
3. Start making the red batter by creaming the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and beat into the mixture well until thoroughly incorporated.
5. In a small, separate bowl, mix together the vanilla extract, cocoa powder and food colouring to form a paste.  Add the paste to the cake batter and mix until all the batter is red.
6. In another bowl, sift together the flour and the salt.  Add the flour to the cake batter in two batches, alternating with the buttermilk.  Mix well after each addition.
7. In yet another bowl, mix together the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda and then add to the batter.  Mix well and then set aside.
8. If the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat and place to one side.
9. For the white chocolate cake, start by beating the butter, sugar and vanilla together until creamy.
10. Add the egg and mix in well.
11. Pour in the white chocolate and mix in.
12. Sift in the flour and fold into the mixture.
13. Fill the muffin cases about two thirds full, half with red batter and half with white.  If you can, try and keep the colours split down the middle.  Otherwise fill with alternating spoonfuls.  You will probably have more red velvet mixture than you need so pour any excess into spare cases.
14. Use a skewer or toothpick to marble the cake batter.  You want to aim for a swirling, spiral pattern but don't worry if it doesn't co-operate.  Not all of mine would.
15. Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.  The sponge should be slightly springy to the touch.
16. Remove and leave to cool before decorating.

Peppermint Buttercream

• 340g/6oz butter
• 680g/12oz icing sugar 
• 2 tsp peppermint extract
• Red food gel
• White food gel
• 7 candy canes

1. Divide the butter and sugar between two bowls (so 170g/3oz butter and 340g/6oz sugar per bowl) and add 1 tsp peppermint extract to each.
2. Mix together until you get smooth and creamy buttercream.
3. Add the red gel to one bowl a little at a time and mix until you get the desired colour.
4. Do the same with the white gel in the other bowl.
5. Fit a piping bag with a large star nozzle and then fill it half with red icing and half with white.  You want the colours side by side, not one of top of the other.  It is tricky but doable.
6. Pipe swirls of buttercream on top of each of your cakes.
7. Put the candy canes in a bag and partially crush them with a rolling pin.  You want small, sprinkle like pieces but also some big chunks of candy cane.
8. Sprinkle the smaller pieces over the top of each cake, and then finish with a couple of bigger pieces.