'Old Fashioned' Brownies

I'm back! I know, I've been gone soooo long. I've been consumed by a life of new hobbies. Since my last post I've been doing a lot of running, I have been baking but I've just not documented any of it so expect a lot of posts and recipes over the next few days. I've also been lapping up the fantastic weather we've had over July/August and I had taken up gardening too. My life has been a haven of therapeutic activity.  I'd never give up baking. Baking is my heart and it's done wonders for my tired mind and soul. However, it has been nice to indulge in a few other activities and for once I've chosen two new hobbies that have been helping me shed the pounds rather than pile it on lol. That's right I'm exactly 13lbs lighter (hooraaah!) I've even featured as a guest on my amazing friend Julie's blog where I wrote a piece on my relationship with running and baking, it's called 'You can't have your cupcake and eat it' on the super-successful blog 'The Fat Girls Guide to Running.'

Anyway back to everything food related. As you all know I LOVE baking for my other-half. He's one of my biggest fans! And as he is fast becoming a cigar and spirit connoisseur his new favourite drink being an Old Fashioned' cocktail, it set my mind to thinking about what flavoured sweet-treat I could conjure up and make for him. Please bare in mind that the first time I came across this cocktail was when he stumbled into bed drunk and all I could smell was Christmas breathing on the the back of my neck. An Old Fashioned is a combination of sugar, orange peel, aromatic bitters and Whisky. So not only is this recipe inspired by the hubby but also my love of all things Autumn/Winter. I got to thinking what flavours I would use and how they'd represent the flavours of a quite harsh but warm and spicy drink without it being to overpowering. So in this recipe I have used a good quality Natural Dark Chocolate (72%) because it's very chocolatey, which is essential for any brownie recipe, but with a bitter after-taste so this would represent the aromatic bitters. I've used orange zest which represents...? You guessed it! The fragrant orange peel used in the cocktail, a dash of Whisky, Ginger and Chilli Powder just for the added spice and a bit of a kick. The Chilli Powder really does give the brownies the warmth you get in your stomach after drinking Whisky, it's a little tingly on your tongue. Anyway less chatter, more recipe! I'd like to apologise to my friends and followers in the US for my measurements. Everything is in grams, I'm ridiculously hopeless when it comes to using cups and sticks but I promise I'll try next time :)

Old Fashioned Brownies

Ingredients
75g Plain Flour
200g Good Quality Dark Chocolate (65%-75%)
225g Butter
3 Large Eggs
175g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
80g Light Brown Muscovado Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
70g Dark Chocolate Chips
2 tsp Ground Ginger
4 tsp chilli 
Medium Orange
60g Chopped Walnuts
Dash of Whisky (Balvenie)

Method
-Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
-Line baking tray.
-Melt chocolate and butter together, (I melt my chocolate in a Pyrex bowl over a pan of hot water)
-Once the chocolate and butter is melted set it to one side and let it cool slightly.
-In a large mixing bowl, or mixer combine together eggs, sugar and vanilla, gradually mix in the melted chocolate. You should have a lovely, chocolatey, paste-like mixture, quite thick in texture and smooth.
-Fold in the flour, then add in chilli powder and ginger, mix again.
-Add in the zest of 1/2 an orange, 40g of chopped walnuts, dark chocolate chips and a dash of your favourite Whisky then mix together using a wooden spoon.
-Into your lined baking tray add in 2/3 of the mixture then on top of that sprinkle the remaining walnuts and grate 1/2 of the remaining zest onto the mixture.
-Add the rest of the mixture then smooth over allowing some of the walnuts to peak through.
-Place the baking tray into the over and bake for 35-45minutes.
-Your brownies are ready when a skewer inserted comes out clean.

These brownies taste AMAZING with Salted Caramel ice cream and a little bit of honey.

And obviously everything tastes better when eaten from a heart-shaped plate!

This recipe is my own so please if you repost on your blog can you reference or provide a link please. Thank you.

Heart-Shaped Chocolatey, fudge cake

This recipe is one of my own. I decided to bake this cake for my Fiance seen as how he’s super supportive of my baking madness and he shells out a lot of money for kitchen-goods which keep me very happy. So what better way to thank him than to whip up a cake using some of his favourite flavours. I think there is a lot of science to baking and not following a recipe can make things quite complicated. It's undeniable that certain ingredients won’t work together, but ideally if you have a good base I think it’s always good to experiment with flavours and you’ll find that 9 times out of 10 it’ll turn out just right. I say this all the time, probably because it's been said to me so very often, but it really is trial and error. I often feel like George from Roald Dahl’s ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ when making my own recipe. There’s usually sugar in my eyes, flour all over my face, just a mess. I jot down flavours, textures, smells and most importantly how what I’m doing makes me feel at that time. Anyway, less rambling, more recipe! Here goes:

Ingredients

For the cake

4 Large Eggs

190g Butter

150g Golden Caster Sugar

40g Brown Sugar

150ml Milk (or Elmlea double cream)

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

210g Flour

30g Caramel Syrup

30g Cocoa Powder

Pinch of cinnamon

For the buttercream

140g Butter

240g Icing Sugar

15g Cocoa Powder

4 tsp Caramel Syrup

2 tsp Milk

Method

- Preheat oven at 160 degrees

-Line mould with greaseproof paper and lightly grease with butter

-Cream together syrup, butter, sugars on a high speed until you have a nice fluffy mixture  (on my notes here it says ‘Smells lovely.’ The mixture should smell like a lovely toffee, caramelly sweetness.)

-Sift in flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and cinnamon.

-Mix on a low speed adding milk/cream until you get a nice smooth mixture.

-Spoon mixture into lined mould

-Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean and cake is springy to touch.

-Leave cake to cool down a little then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Let’s crack on with the buttercream!

Method

-Beat butter until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.

-Add remaining sugar, cocoa and milk and beat together.

-Add in caramel syrup and beat mixture until smooth and spreadable

Once the cake has fully cooled down sandwich the cake and spread a generous amount of the buttercream.

Place on top layer and sift on some icing sugar for decoration

Voila!

I got a little bit too friendly with the icing sugar!