Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

A recent foodie magazine printed a recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes.
A few friends have made them and have had trouble with the recipe. The cakes rose quickly and then imploded. Tasty I'm sure but not what was expected.

We have had a chat about the recipe and suggested alternative ways to make it. I have contacted the magazine who will check the recipe for typos etc and get back to me.

After looking at other recipes for brownies, including the one I make all the time, which I think may have been the first entry on this blog, I attempted the recipe today.

They worked

Left cake was a half filled case, the right cake was a three quarters filled case.

I tried two three quarter filled cases. The others were half filled as I would usually do.

This is the recipe straight from the magazine. My variations are below.

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

170g dark chocolate chopped
120g unsalted butter
1 tbs golden syrup or light corn syrup
3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup (75g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup (80g) coarsely chopped walnuts
8 small strawberries

Frosting
250g cream cheese at room temp

1/3 cup (115g) golden syrup or light corn syrup
120g dark chocolate chopped

Position oven shelf in the centre and preheat oven to 180
Line a cupcake pan with 8 paper liners.
Stir chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water) until they melt and the mixture is smooth.
Stir in the golden syrup and a pinch of salt.
Remove from the heat and set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and light.
Stir in the chocolate mixture.
Add the flour and the baking powder and stir until just blended, then stir in the walnuts.
Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners, filling them completely.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the cupcakes puff and crack on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with fudgy crumbs attached.
Remove the cupcakes from the pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile for the frosting, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with electric beaters until it is light and fluffy.
Add the golden syrup and beat for a further 3-5 minutes.
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water).
Stir constantly until the chocolate melts.
Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and beat until blended and fluffy, stopping the machine and scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the mixture is well blended.
Spread the frosting generously over the cooled cupcakes.
Garnish each one with a strawberry, then serve.

My variations

1. I used 3 eggs

2. Oven at 160C, cooked for 30 minutes

3. I used a melt and mix method.

I melted the butter and chocolate together (m/w 3mins MED)

Stir in salt, sugar and golden syrup

Stir in eggs

Stir in flour and baking powder

Stir until well mixed

Pour into muffin cases

Bake at 160C for 30mins.

They look good. We haven't taste tested yet. If there are any left they will be iced with regular chocolate icing.

Banana Bread #8

Banana Bread #8 has been deleted from the experiment. On reading it a little closer it is a recipe for a cake. So somehow it snuck into the list while I wasn't looking.

There are now four recipes left to taste test so I better have a look in the bottom of the freezer for some bananas as there haven't been many left to grow old in the fruit bowl lately.

#9 is a recipe using golden syrup
#10 is one of the most popular recipes from www.taste.com.au
#11 is from a little cook book of newspaper columns
#12 is my 'wild card' and is called banana parkin and contains oats.

A parkin, according to Wikipedia, is a soft cake made with oatmeal and molasses, originating in Northern England and most often associated with the area around Leeds.

Banana Bread #7

This recipe is from an older Women's Weekly cook book. It was selected as being a 'regular, traditional' style recipe.

I've used this recipe before and once again had the same problems with it, hence the quest for the best banana bread.

Nice looking as it comes out of the oven

But here is the problem, cakey at the top and dense and almost undercooked at the base.

This cake came out of the oven slightly too brown on the top. The recipe suggested an hour but I took it out at 50mins. The recipe also suggests icing the cake. When cut, it was cakey and moist at the top, but quite dense and almost undercooked at the base. It tasted better when buttered. The butter just added that little bit extra.

The Recipe

125g butter, chopped
1t vanilla
1/2 C caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 C mashed banana
1 1/2 C SR flour
1t bicarb
1T milk

Grease a 14 x 21cm loaf tin.
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl of an electric mixer
Beat at low speed until combined, then beat at a medium speed until mixture is smooth and has changed colour
Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour
Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

So I still have the problem of the cooked top half and the stodgy undercooked bottom half - but only with this recipe. Interestingly this recipe is the only one that uses a free standing cake mixer. All the others are mixed by hand and this one also has bicarb and SR flour, like the previous one, but no smell of bicarb overload - interesting.

Score 6/10

Looks Good, Shame About the Taste

I had high hopes for banana bread # 6.


It looked great coming out of the oven, it made a large cake so ideal for the family, but ugh!, it tasted just revolting. The bicarb taste was so strong this cake smelt and tasted like fish!

It looks great straight out of the oven

Good texture inside.

The Recipe

2C SR flour

1t bicarb

1t ground nutmeg

1/2 C brown sugar

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (not used)

1 C milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1C mashed banana

1T raw sugar

Preheat oven to 180C

Grease and line a large loaf pan

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl

Stir in sugar (and walnuts)

Combine milk, eggs and banana and stir into dry ingredients

Spoon into prepared tin

Sprinkle with raw sugar

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean

Stand 5 mins before turning out onto a rack to cool

Slice and serve fresh or toasted with butter or jam.

This one went straight into the bin. I was so disappointed as it looked so good. I wonder why they added the bicarb when the recipe had SR flour? If there is a next time, and I would like to try this one again as it was a good sized loaf, I might leave out the bicarb and maybe use buttermilk or yoghurt in place of the milk.

Score 3/10

The One That Nearly Didn't Make It

Banana bread #5 is one of those recipes that I instinctively shy away from. Anything that calls for egg whites and oil scream of healthy, low fat and generally dry and cardboardy. This recipe is from BBC Australian Good Taste magazine and is from the kids cooking section.

The Photos

Fresh out of the oven

Can you see the lumps of flour?

The Recipe

2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 large ripe bananas, mashed
¾ C brown sugar
¼ C rice bran oil
1 ½ C plain flour
1 ¼ t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
½ t bicarb soda

Preheat oven to 180C and line a loaf tin.
Combine egg whites, banana, sugar and oil in a large bowl.
Sift dry ingredients.
Fold together until just combined and spoon into prepared pan.
Bake 1 ¼ hours until a skewer comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Serve warm, cold or lightly toasted with butter or cream cheese spread.

The Results

Believe it or not, this banana loaf is the best so far. I was so surprised. It makes a small loaf and I used a smaller tin than the others so it filled the tin nicely. It cooked in 55 minutes, rather than the 75 minutes suggested by the recipe. It was crunchy on the outside, sweet and bananary on the inside. It was nice with butter or eaten plain. It toasted well, but was as nice to eat fresh.

The Score

9/10. The best by far.

Banana Bread #4

The picture


The recipe
This recipe comes from the Canadian Food Website - Food Network Canada, and is a recipe from Christine Cushing.

Banana Bread
2 or 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup/250 ml)
1/4 cup honey (60 ml)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla (7 ml)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (60 ml)
1 cup plain yogurt, full fat (250 ml)
2 tbsp vegetable oil (30 ml)
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (375 ml)
2 tsp baking soda (10 ml)
1/2 tsp salt (2 ml)
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 180C
Lightly grease a 4-inch X 8-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mash bananas.
Add the honey, vanilla, sugar, yogurt and oil. Mix with a spoon or spatula to combine.
Sift flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg onto parchment paper or another bowl. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the banana mixture until just combined.
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes, until golden and tester comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
Flip onto a wire rack and cool completely.

The results.
As you can see there is no picture of the completed loaf, I was too eager to try it.
The cake was soft and moist, with quite a cakey texture. There was very little banana or spice flavour and that horrible bicarb after taste.

The next day it was still very moist but the bicarb after taste was just too much and I couldn't eat it. Although it was soft and cakey it toasted nicely and this hid the bicarb taste. I enjoyed it toasted.

The score 4/10
Although this loaf was nice toasted it was inedible when fresh because of the bicarb taste.

This Is Starting To Look Better

Banana Bread #3
This recipe comes from Donna Hay's new book 'No Time To Cook'
It is one of four recipes on a page and is just written as a paragraph, rather than all the ingredients listed, followed by a small picture.

The Pictures.

We were into this one before I remembered to take a photo

All looked good inside

The Recipe
1 2/3 C plain flour
1 ½ t baking powder
1/3 C caster sugar
1/3 C brown sugar
1 t cinnamon

Combine the following in a jug
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
½ C vegetable oil
3 mashed bananas

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients
Add the wet ingredients
Mix to combine
Pour into a greased loaf tin 20cm x 10cm x 10cm
Sprinkle with brown sugar
Bake at 160C for 60 mins or until cooked when tested.

The Comments

As you can see from the first photo we were into this before I remembered to take a photo.

It was cooked in 55 minutes so I took it out of the oven earlier than the 60 suggested.

The brown sugar sprinkled on the top gave a lovely crunch.

The batter was very stiff and I wondered if it could do with a half cup of milk or yoghurt.

This is a delicious banana loaf and if my investigations had to stop here I would be pleased with this recipe. However I'm not sure I could stop myself giving it a little tweak, as per the above point.

It was very tasty with and without butter.

It is quite firm, definitely a loaf or a bread in texture.

It was nice toasted but I didn't think this improved anything.

The Score

7 ½ /10

I'm a bit hesitant to give it an eight as there are still a few more to go.

To be 'good', future banana breads will be referenced to this loaf.

Banana Bread #2

This banana bread is from a cook book published by an Australian company that claims to triple test all their recipes in their test kitchens. I'd like to see the results of this recipe - triple tested. This one is not good.

The Pictures

A bit too golden brown for my liking

Nice looking inside, but a very small loaf.

The Recipe

1 ¼ C SR flour
1 t cinnamon
20g butter
½ C firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
¼ C milk
½ C mashed banana (1 large ripe banana)

Preheat oven to hot
Grease a 14cm x 21cm loaf tin, line base with baking paper
Sift flour and cinnamon into large bowl, rub in butter
Stir in sugar, egg, milk and banana.
Do not over mix, the batter should be lumpy
Spoon mixture into prepared tin
Bake in a hot oven about 30 minutes or until cooked when tested.
Stand bread 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

The Taste Test

This recipe made a small loaf. It burnt very quickly and while the top was past 'golden' the inside was still uncooked. The top of the cake was burnt at the 25 minute mark.
At 30 minutes the loaf was fully cooked but by then the outside was obviously very over cooked.
Inside was very much a bread like texture and tasted much better with butter.
This bread was sweet tasting, but there was no obvious banana taste
When toasted the next morning, and all the burnt crusts removed there there wasn't much to toast but what was toasted, was very nice tasting. A nice spice flavour came through
The results from this recipe were so bad I'd like to have another go at making this loaf. Next time I would do it all in the food processor, double the recipe and add a third banana and of course bake it at a much lower temperature.

The Score 2/10

The Big Banana Bread Bake Off #1

Cake #1 - Banana and Sultana Bread - minus the sultanas


The Pictures.


The Recipe
Banana and Sultana Bread
2 C SR Flour
1 tsp bicarb soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C caster sugar
(3/4 cup sultanas)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C milk
1 C mashed banana (2 large)

Preheat oven to 180C
Line a loaf pan 23 x 13 cm with baking paper
Sift flour, bicarb, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl
Stir in sugar (and sultanas)
Combine eggs,milk and bananas in a large jug
Whisk with a fork until well combined
Using a large metal spoon, stir egg mixture into the dry ingredients until well combined
Pour mixture into loaf tin
Bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Cool in pan for 10 minutes
Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely
Slice and serve lightly buttered or toasted.

The Comments
This recipes needed an extra 5 minutes (Total baking time 50mins)
The top was hard and shiny and I had trouble getting the skewer into the cake.
When tested the cake appeared to be cooked apart from a bottom layer.
I gave it an extra five minutes, retested it and it appeared fine
When cut it was perfect looking inside.
Unfortunately when tasted it was chewy and tasteless, even when eaten warm.
It was quite 'spongy' and gel like and the crust was chewy.
There was very little banana flavour.
It was nicer with butter, but definitely bread like
The next day it was still spongy feeling in the mouth, even when buttered.
It toasted nicely, was crusty but still not very flavoursome and still retained that spongy texture.

The Rating
This is hard to rate as it is the first cake. However, based on what I imagine the perfect Banana Bread to be, this version is awarded 4/10.

A Quick Catch Up

Hello everyone,
It has been quite some time since I have written to you.

A number of things:
1. I'd like to be losing a bit of weight so trying to do less cooking and more exercise.
2. As some of you may know we have purchased some land to start a small farm.
http://howtobuildafarm.blogspot.com/
You can keep tabs on us here.

I have taken my next step in my food obsession and I'm going to grow my own and grow some so that you too can eat real, free range food, as nature intended. We will build a commercial kitchen so I can use my own fruits, vegetables and herbs to make some interesting products, as well as process the pork from the pigs we plan to free range.

I will be blogging some recipes here in the next few days.
I am starting The Big Banana Bread Bake Off.

A discussion about the perfect banana bread prompted a look through my cook books to discover over 50 recipes for banana bread. I have selected 12 as representing most styles. I will bake each recipe as it is published, taste it, comment, toast it the next morning, comment and then freeze some and invite some friends over for a taste test comparison. Then we should be able to find the Perfect Banana Bread.
Stay tuned.

Sausage Making

I so innocently went to the Farm Gate Cafe in Kettering to learn how to make sausages and came away with a desire to breed pigs! Both my kids are a bit fussy with their eating but love sausages. I dislike shop sausages, so I thought if I made my own I would know what I was eating and hopefully slip some secret vegetables into the kids.

My sausages - pork and garlic. Not to bad for a first try.

Farm Gate Cafe - the secret ingredients for Lee's sausages.


First - start with lots of well flavoured pork mince

Threading sheep intestines - sausage casing - onto the stuffer

Pumping out one big sausage.

A stuffed sausage casing.

Learning to tie sausages.

I had a go at home - my Pork & Garlic sausages.

As Lee spoke about his pigs I became more and more interested in the pigs as well as the sausages.

I have since made some sausages - pork and garlic and boy does a little bit of garlic go a long way. I was very pleased with them and will make some more soon, experimenting with chicken and vegetables. Lee suggested that after the sausages were stuffed and tied, they hang overnight in the fridge. Well not having the space, it was a cool evening so I hung mine on coat hangers from the light fittings around the house. It was quite a sight to see and unfortunately I didn't take any photos. By 10pm, the smell of garlic was making us all feel ill so the sausages went into the fridge.

So while I returned home eager to make sausages I was also ready to turn my family's life upside down - with pigs. If you'd like to follow our adventure as we set up the farm have a look here.

http://howtobuildafarm.blogspot.com/

Fish 349 - North Hobart

With friends visiting, it was a good opportunity to try another restaurant on my list. Our friends S & G are both fish fans so this was the ideal choice. This restaurant has a number of eating areas as well as catering for take away. We were quickly seated- they don't take booking for tables under 6 - read the menu and ordered at the counter.

There are two menus; the regular and a chef's special. They are both printed so the specials don't change. They are just a bit more 'up market'

Soon to be an Aussie tradition? The boys didn't think so....

Thai Fish Cakes $6.90

Crumbed Calamari $6.50

Grilled Tiger Prawns on Zucchini Fritter & Yoghurt Dressing $15.90

More like prawns in a pancake - but enjoyable.

Fish 349 $19.50
fish, scallops, calamari, coconut prawns, chips

My husband can't go past traditional fish and chips and he was happy with his meal.

Salt and Pepper Squid $15.90

with watermelon, rocket and pickled ginger salad.

This was my choice and I must admit to being a little disappointed. To me, Salt and Pepper Squid is not served in rings. Although it was fresh and hand cut you can't help thinking of the processed rings from the takeaway shop. Still, a generous and tasty serve.

Pistachio Dukkah Crusted Blue Eye $27.90
on saffron mash, asparagus and roasted red pepper aioli.

S ordered this and it didn't live up to her expectations. It just seemed to be fish and mashed potato.

BBQ Baby Octopus on a Greek Salad $19.50

This dish didn't really live up to expectations either. The octopus was in rather large pieces and didn't have that crunchy, just tossed on the grill taste. They were a little tough and chewy.

Steamed Chocolate Pudding with hot fudge sauce and vanilla bean gelati

$10.50

For a seafood restaurant they certainly excelled at dessert.

Kaffir Lime Panna Cotta with fresh mango & mint -ginger syrup

$10.50

This has to be one of the most amazing desserts I have tasted and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. The panna cotta was so smooth and rich I would hazard a guess it had been cooked like a brulee. The mango was perfect ripeness. But the finishing touch, the basil syrup poured over both the panna cotta and the mango was sweet, but herby, in a deep and meaningful way. It cut through the richness of the custard and the muskyness of the mango and blended perfectly with both.

bills - Darlinghurst

When we lived in Sydney, for some reason, I never got the opportunity to have breakfast at 'bills'. Now everyone knows of him, how he started and his famous scrambled eggs and coconut bread.

I have made the coconut bread often. I toast a slice - or two, place a generous pat of butter on top, dredge it with icing sugar, drizzle generously with maple syrup and then sit quietly by myself and enjoy the moments of bliss while I eat this divine breakfast bread.

A recent day trip to Sydney was started with breakfast at bills. While I forgot to take a photo of the beautiful deep pink juice, I did remember the large communal table and the famous scrambled eggs.
By the time we left people were standing around the walls waiting for a table.