Audi Owners Sydney 1 Year Anniversary

The brownies from the previous post were created for a purpose - to be eaten by the Audi Owners Sydney members at a meet up in beautiful Stanwell Park Beach just a little south of Sydney. After meeting in Sutherland (to the dismay of many bicyclists!) we drove through the Royal "Nasho" Park in a Volkswagen-Audi Group convoy - yes, it's vag for short. Vag. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day! Teddy had the time of his life and even got some sausages. Lucky dawg.

Brownies

Just a quick word before I get into this recipe - it tastes best fresh! Obviously it won't last very long after coming out of the oven - but for those of you that actually have self-control, it's best kept in an airtight container in the fridge.

I prepared this for the Audi Owners Sydney car club 1st anniversary last weekend - they got eaten over the course of 2-3 hours and while they were still irresistibly delicious, they were a little drier than when they were fresh.

BROWNIES

Make a bain-marie and melt together 1/2 block of butter with 200g dark chocolate.

Set aside to cool - use this time to gather the other ingredients.

Into the cooled chocolate mix, add 2 eggs & 1 cup dark brown sugar.
Fold in 1/2 cup plain flour, 1/4 cup self-raising flour and 2 tbsp cocoa.Finally, swirl in 1/2 cup sour cream and mix.

Chop up 100g dark chocolate and sprinkle in, before spreading it gently into a lined brownie tin.

Use a very sharp knife. I cut along the block diagonally, turn the block 90 degrees and cut diagonally again

 Bake at 160 C for about 35 minutes - whenever it feels firm

Coffee Cake

If there are 3 culinary loves I have, it's chocolate, wine and coffee. Followed very closely by caramel.

Coffee would have to be the one vice I have - I get an extreme migraine if I go for a period of time without it, and it is often the "activity" I occupy myself with to pass time.

Break in between patient appointments - make a coffee. 

Past breakfast but not quite lunchtime yet - make a coffee. 

Eating a sweet dessert - balance it with some coffee. 

Haven't seen you in a long time! Let's have coffee! 

My feet ache from shopping - sit down to a coffee.

Because chocolate takes my heart first, I don't often use my favourite caffeinated beverage in baking. But here's a recipe sure to please any ristretto lover.

I experimented with the texture to be a balance between light, soft and moist. Whipping the egg whites makes it lighter than air - while the butter and egg yolks pull it back down to Earth.

COFFEE CAKE
Extract a small cup (like about 80ml) of espresso, or prepare instant coffee.
Set aside to cool.

Cream together 1/2 a block of soft butter with 1 cup dark brown sugar.

(Save the other 1/2 block for the icing later)

Mix in 3 egg yolks one at a time.
Pour in your coffee, reserving a tablespoon or two for the icing.

Alternate the addition of 1 1/3 cups self-raising flour with 1/3 cup cream
(Adjust the amount of flour and cream according to how wet or dry the batter is)

The mixture should resemble sloppy peanut butter

In a separate bowl, place the 3 egg whites and add a pinch of cream of tartar.
Beat until strong peaks form.

Slowly and extremely gently, fold your fluffy whites into the batter.
Bake at 160 C for about 35-40 minutes - when a skewer comes out clean!

Just gorgeous.

Coffee Icing

This will make just enough icing to make a little hat for your cake. Double the recipe if you wish to cover it all and sandwich with it in the middle.

Beat together 1/4 block of soft butter with 1 cup icing sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add the leftover coffee.
Because only a small amount of coffee is added, the icing will remain a light shade of beige.
I like to keep things organic/earthy/rustic/hipster (all synonyms for what I'm really trying to say - ugly!)

So, add food colouring if you desire.

Not a big colour change after adding the coffee

Dollop onto the top and centre of your cake then gently spread, and try not to drag the cake surface or you'll get crumbs all over your icing.

I'd better try a bit. You know, to make sure it's not poisonous.

Banana Crumble Muffins

I think banana cake is the very first thing I baked as a teenager. It's so easy to put together, and you almost always have the ingredients for it at hand. I'm not one to waste food - so it's the perfect way to use those black bananas!

BANANA CRUMBLE MUFFINS

Mash 2 ripe bananas. The riper the better. These guys are probably the minimum ripeness you should use.

Beat together half a block of cubed room temperature butter with 1/2 cup white sugar & 1/2 cup brown sugar

The resulting mixture is so good I could spread it on my toast

Beat in 2 eggs, then fold in 1.5 cups plain flour and 1 teaspoon baking soda, followed by 150ml sour cream

Finally, fold in the smooshed bananas

Makes enough batter to fill a 12-hole muffin tin or a small cake tin

CRUMBLE

In a small bowl, combine 2 tablespoons plain flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and a handful of oats

Grate 20g cold butter over top then smoosh with your fingertips, creating delicious lumps

Sprinkle the crumble over the muffins

Bake at 160 C for about 25 minutes - whenever a skewer comes out clean

Try to share it with your friends...

Chocolate Cake

This is a very delayed post - 4 months late in fact!

I think cakes and what artists can do with them, are amazing. Have you ever encountered those cakes that are just "too pretty" to eat? It almost seems a crying shame to cut into them. All those hours of intricate work gone with just a slice and a bite.

As I do in May every year, I thought long and hard about what birthday cake to make my hubby. The last thing he likes is a mouth full of thick fondant, and the cake must be moist. So this year, I toned it down and kept things simple - a regular chocolate cake!

Because it's brown I topped it with some fondant finishing touches - to create Domo!

CHOCOLATE CAKE

In a bowl, combine 1.5 cups plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/3 cup cocoa powder. Set aside.

Beat together 1/2 a block of softened butter with 1 cup caster sugar until fluffy.

Add 2 eggs, one at a time, followed by 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

Fold in 150ml sour cream, followed by the flour mixture.

This makes enough for one large cake tin, but I poured it into 2 small round tins.

Bake at 160 C until a skewer comes out clean.

CHOCOLATE ICING

In a bain marie, melt 200g dark chocolate with 100g butter.

When cool, stir in the remaining 150ml sour cream. 

Add 1 tablespoon of golden syrup and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Place 300g icing sugar into your mixer.

While mixing on slow speed, pour in the liquid mixture.

It's ready when combined - but you'd better taste a spoonful just to make sure.

Either saw your one large cake in half or sandwich your two little cakes together like I did.

C is for Cookie

I always loved the cookie monster growing up. Well, mainly because I love cookies. This was probably the early start to my food cravings...?

What always bothered me about him though, was how he never actually ate any. The crumbs would just fly everywhere, falling to the floor, uneaten. What a waste.

I love cookies in all shapes and sizes, with all different toppings, nuts and other adornments. As a child I looked forward to going to the shops to get a foil bag of Cookie Man brandy snaps, fresh off the conveyor belt to devour!

Here is a basic cookie recipe, one that you can add whatever you like to at the end. Chocolate chips - milk, dark, white, sprinkles, m&m's, crushed nuts... you could even drizzle melted chocolate over the tops after baking!

COOKIES

Cream together an entire block of butter, with 1 cup caster sugar and 1 cup dark brown sugar

Add 2 eggs, one at a time and 2 tsp vanilla extract
Dissolve 1 tsp baking soda in 2 tsp hot water then add to mix
Gradually add 3 cups of plain flour
At this stage fold in whatever additions you desire - I used the small amount of chocolate chips I had left in the pantry

Drop onto a lined baking tray with a spoon and don't aim for perfection!

Leave ample space around each blob to allow for spreading

Bake at 170 C for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown

I just love how this resembles mitotic division!