Cakes n bakes

chocolate cupcakes

Well the word chocolate itself is mouth-watering to me! And I bet there are many chocoholics out there. I have tried many versions of chocolate cupcakes and I am very sure I will stick with recipe from now on. These cupcakes are so moist that you feel like having more of it. I had taken these cupcakes for a potluck party at my workplace and it was no doubt a great hit 🙂 All thanks to joy of baking which had this wonderful cupcake recipe which I fell in love with. Just changed the original recipe a bit for my taste buds and here I present the recipe to you all…

Ingredients:

1/2 cup – Dutch processed dark cocoa powder

1 cup – boiling water

1 1/3 cup – Sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 cup room temperature unsalted butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup – Granulated white sugar

2 – Large eggs

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Frosting:

4 ounces – Unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup Unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups – Sifted powdered sugar or icing sugar

1 1/2 tsp Pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F Line 16 cupcake liners and keep it ready. Whisk all the dry ingredients like salt, baking powder and all-purpose flour, keep aside. In another bowl mix the hot water and cocoa powder until smooth and bring the mixture to room temperature.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, use a hand mixer or an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time and beat in vanilla extract.

Slowly add the flour mixture until everything is incorporated. Finally add the cocoa mixture and mix everything well.

Add the mixture to the cupcake liners until they are 2/3rd full.

Bake for 17-19 minutes until tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Do not over bake the cupcakes as they will lose the moistness. Remove from oven and cool them on a wire rack.

Once the cupcakes cools,you can smear the frosting on the cupcake using a spatula or if you have a piping, use a large 1M thick open star tip to make the swirls on the cupcake.

Frosting:

Melt the chocolate pieces in the microwave or place the heat proof bowl with chocolate on a saucepan of simmering water. Mix it until it melts and forms a smooth texture.

In another bowl beat the butter well, add the powdered sugar and beat again. Mix it until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the melted chocolate, beat until smooth and glossy for about 3-4 minutes.

Smear or add into the piping and decorate the cupcakes as you like!

Cakes n bakes

Banana, Walnut Bread

My aunt had visited me two years back from Mumbai and she bakes awesome cakes and bread. She actually was the one who taught me the baking tricks with lot of good tips. She baked this bread while she was in my house and since then I have baked it too many times. I always wanted to blog about it but never really got a chance to take some pictures, which I finally did yesterday. A perfect bread to have with a hot cup of tea or coffee in the evenings

Ingredients:

All purpose flour-2 cups

Powdered sugar– 1 cup

Bananas- 3 (fully ripened and big ones)

baking soda-1 tsp

walnut-1/4 cup (chopped into small pieces)

olive oil– 1/4 cup

Preparation: In a large bowl mash the bananas really well and add powdered sugar and mix well. Add olive oil and walnut, mix until it has incorporated well into the mixture. Sieve all purpose flour along with baking soda. Divide the flour into 3 to 4 batches and add each batch of flour to the mixture slowly and mix. Make sure to have mixed the flour in one direction to avoid uneven mixing. Grease and flour the baking pan (I used 9 inch loaf pan) and add the mixture evenly. Preheat oven to 350°F and bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes clear when inserted in the center. Cool it for 5-10 minutes, Make sure the edges of the bread are clear from the pan (Insert a blunt knife and make it clear, making sure not to touch the base of the pan) before inverting. Do not keep the bread out for too long as it might loose its softness.