Chocolate Torta

I made this chocolate cake today and it was delicious, if I do say so myself. It was very moist and chocolatey. The recipe is from Willie's Chocolate Bible by Willie Harcourt-Couze and can be found here.

This is a picture of my sister Ainsley with our dog Lily dressed as a bride. What a cutie!

I haven't really got any other news. Just business as usual.

Here are some links to some yummy things I would like to make:

Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart from Annie's Eats- This looks fabulous, the photography is beautiful!

Cookies N' Cream Owl Cupcakes from 6 Bittersweets- These little owl cupcakes are gorgeous!

New York-Style Soft Pretzels from the Sophisticated Gourmet- I love pretzels and would like to try and make my own one day.

Passion fruit bars from use real butter- Passion fruits are one of my favourite fruits and these bars sound delicious! I wish it was summer here!

Cinnamon Rolls from the Pioneer Woman- I got given the Pioneer Woman's cookbook for Christmas and have been wanting to make these Cinnamon rolls ever since! They look absolutely scrumptious!

I found all of these recipes apart from the Cinnamon Rolls recipe from TasteSpotting, a foodie website that lets you browse blog posts that people from all over the world have submitted. Warning: do not look at this website if you are hungry, I can guarantee you will be drooling over your keyboard!

That's all for now!

Love, Little Miss Cupcake

Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

Tomorrow is Good Friday and it is traditional to eat buns with a cross on them to represent the Crucifixion. This year I decided to make my own hot cross buns, with chocolate chips instead of fruit. They are fairly easy to make but take a bit of time. They are also very yummy!

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups warm milk


• 2 tsp dried yeast


• 1/4 cup caster sugar


• 60g butter, melted


• 1 egg


• 4 1/4 cups plain 00 flour (I used baker's flour)


• 1/4 cup cocoa


• 1 tsp salt


• 3 tsp mixed spice


• 250g choc chips


• 1/3 cup cold water


• 1/2 cup apricot jam

Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk in a small bowl.



Add a tablespoon of the sugar and combine. Set aside in a warm, draught-free place for about 10 minutes or until frothy.

Lightly whisk the egg and add to the milk mixture in a jug.

Add the melted butter and whisk to combine.

Combine 3 and 3/4 cups of the flour with the cocoa, salt and mixed spice in a bowl.

Add the chocolate chips and stir.

Oops, almost forgot the remaining sugar! Add the sugar and stir to combine.

Make a well in the centre.

Pour in the milk mixture and use a wooden spoon to stir until just combined.

Then use your hands to bring the dough together and turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Place in a warm draught-free place for 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.

Punch down the dough. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Grease a 23cm square cake pan.

Knead dough again on a lightly floured surface for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces. First cut dough in half.

Then cut each half in half.

And so on...

Roll the 16 pieces of dough into balls.

Arrange dough pieces in prepared cake pan. Leave dough to rise in a warm, draught-free place for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix remaining 1/2 cup of flour with water until a smooth paste forms.

Place paste into a small plastic bag and snip of the corner to pipe crosses along the buns. Mine were a bit wonky :s. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 180 degrees and bake for a further 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Heat apricot jam in a small saucepan, strain through a sieve and brush on buns. Eat the buns while they're fresh! Enjoy :)

Recipe from Taste.com.au

Mini Choc Bit Brownies

These little brownies are easy to make and taste yummy too. You could also add chopped walnuts or pecans as well as the choc bits or make it triple choc with dark, milk and white choc chips! You will need:

• 100g dark cooking chocolate, chopped


• 75g butter, chopped


• 2/3 cup caster sugar


• 1/3 cup plain flour


• 2 tablespoons cocoa


• 1/2 cup milk choc bits


• 2 eggs, lightly beaten


• icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C and place small paper liners into 1 x 24 hole mini muffin pan


2. Place chocolate and butter into a small saucepan and melt over a low heat. Remove and allow to cool.


3. Place sugar into a medium bowl. Sift in flour and cocoa, add choc bits, eggs and chocolate mixture. Stir to combine.


4. Spoon mixture into muffins pans and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, remove from pan and place onto a wire to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve.


5. Enjoy! :)

Recipe from Total Girl Party Cookbook

Mars Bar Slice

This slice may just be the easiest slice ever- its basically melted Mars bars and butter, mixed with rice bubbles and topped with chocolate. My great-grandma, who we called Lolly Nan, used to make a Mars Bar slice similar to this. It's really yummy!

You will need:

• 90g butter
• 3 x 85g Mars Bars (or 5 x 52g Mars Bars- I used caramel Mars Bars but you can use normal ones)
• 3 cups Rice Bubbles
• 200g milk chocolate

Roughly chop the Mars Bars.

Place in a microwave safe bowl with the butter.

Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes on medium and then stir.

Pour the Rice Bubbles into the Mars Bar mixture one cup at a time and stir.

Press mixture into a baking paper lined slice tin with the back of a spoon.

Then break the chocolate into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute on medium and stir. You might need to microwave it for an extra 20 seconds if it's not completely melted.

Pour the melted chocolate over the slice and spread evenly. Refrigerate until the chocolate hardens.

Once chocolate has hardened, remove slice from tin and place on a chopping board. Wait for it to come to room temperature before slicing it.

You can also use a cutter to cut out shapes from the slice.

This one got cracked because it was too cold when I cut it.

Easy and yummy. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from here.

Cherry Ripe Cupcakes

Happy New Year everyone! I thought I would start off the year with a sweet treat, so I decided to make choc-chip cherry cakes, or as I call them Cherry Ripe cupcakes. The recipe is adapted from a recipe in the Australian Women's Weekly Cupcakes cookbook, which uses glace cherries instead of Cherry Ripe.

Here's what you will need to make them:

• 125g butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut essence
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 1/2 Cherry Ripe bars, chopped
• 50g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup SR flour
• 1/4 plain flour
  
  
  

  Beat butter, essence, sugar and eggs in small bowl with electric mixer until combined. Next time I might add 1 teaspoon of the coconut essence because you couldn't really taste it.

Add the milk,

coconut,

chopped Cherry Ripe and chocolate,

and the sifted flours. Stir until combined.

Divide the mixture among 12 cupcake cases. I used cute Cherry ones that I got for Christmas. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees C for about 20 mins. I baked mine for 25 mins and they were a tad overdone.

For the ganache you will need 1/4 cup cream and 100g milk (or dark) chocolate, chopped. Easy!

Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan.

Pour over the chocolate in a small bowl and stir until smooth.

You can use the ganache straight away and dip the cupcakes or you can leave it to sit at room temperature and then spread it. I topped mine with fresh cherries. Delicious!

P.S. I got Pioneer Woman's cookbook for Christmas and I am going to attempt the Cinnamon Rolls I'll let you know how they turn out!