Chocolate Hot Fudge Pudding Cake & Steamed Chocolate Piggy Baos

Finally, school holiday is here! A little breather after the hectic schedules from the first half of the year. But again, there's quite a number of things lined up in the month of June. Father's day coming in a couple week's time; My elder child's birthday, which means I need to whip up a special cake for her; Friends....good friends to be specific, are coming to visit me from Malaysia! Not one but 2 separate groups of friends. :)) Excited? You bet I am, lol! So I didn't really plan for any get away trips this time. For I know I'm gonna have a blast when my girlfriends are here. :)

Back to today's post. I figured it's already the end of May now. So why not have the excuse of baking something chocolate to post the last submission to Aspiring Bakers for this month, heehee. :D But frankly speaking, I have so many chocolate recipes to share, just doesn't have the leisure to post them this month. *sigh* Anyway, I decided to post something really simple to whip up, yet so chocolaty, gooey good that is sure to melt any chocolate lover's heart. :)

I got this simple recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book which I bought awhile back. In fact I have been holding back to bake this for awhile now since my child was having cough earlier. Now that she's all better...yoohoo! Baking time! :) 15 minutes after its out from the oven, I topped it with a scoop of Rum & Raisin ice cream....and it's all good! :D Wanna give it a go? Here is the recipe, but I modified it to slightly less sweet:

Ingredients for Hot Fudge Pudding Cake: (makes about four/ five 6 oz ramekins)

2/3 cup (2 ounces) Dutch Processed cocoa powder (I used Valrohna)

6 tbsp (6 ounces) unsalted butter

2 ounces quality bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa or higher), chopped coarse

3/4 cup all purpose (3 3/4 ounces) )

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup granulated sugar ( 5 1/4ounces) (Original calls for 1 cup)

3 tbsp light brown sugar (Original calls for 1/3 cup)

1/3 cup whole milk

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk, room temp

1/4 tsp salt

1.5 cup weak coffee (i just used a packet of instant coffee mix + 1.5cups water)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease five 6 oz ramekins and set aside for use later.
• In a saucepan, add in butter, 3/4 of the cocoa powder (1&3/4 ounces) and chopped chocolate and heat over low heat. Stir well and mix. Then turn off the heat once everything blends together. Set aside for now.
• In a small bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder together. Then in a separate bowl, combined 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder and the light brown sugar. Stir to mix well and break up any lumps. Set aside for later use.
• In a large bowl, whisk the remaining granulated sugar, milk, vanilla, egg yolk, and salt and stir to combine. Then whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the flour mixture. Divide this batter equally into the ramekins. Sprinkle 1 heaping tbsp of coca powder mixture into each ramekin, follow by 3 tbsp of the coffee solution. Repeat till all the ramekin is filled.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes till bubbly and puffed. Note that you shouldn't over bake this, else the gooey effect will be gone. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes and serve while warm. Bon Appetit!

I love this chocolate pudding cake! The method may sound really unorthodox, as it doesn't mix in all the ingredients into the batter. But trust me, that sprinkle of cocoa mixture and coffee really create pure magic in the pudding. These "loose" ingredients form sort of a fudge sauce in the oven and, after the cake is baked, the sauce winds up underneath the cake....yum!! If you are chocolate fanatic like me, please don't miss out on this. :) I believe this is quite a wonderful desert to serve after dinner, just top it off with some creme fraiche / whipped cream or even better, some vanilla ice cream!

Before I finish this post, I would like to share with you all something fun I made a couple weeks back. It is actually the same bao recipe that I was raving about. Super soft and delicious even on its own. But this time round, I shaped the chocolate baos into cute little piggy heads and filled it with peanut butter paste. Yum? Yummy good! :))

Frankly speaking these piggies are cute enough to have their own post. But I really don't have that time to do that, so I have to do this combine post again. :P

Again the recipe turned out wonderful, soft and yummy, even days after. So even if you made a big batch, just chill in the fridge up to 5 days or freeze it up to a month, no problem. ;)

The peanut filling was really good, but it might have been a little on the dry side. Will improve it and make this version again as I love peanut butter more then red bean paste, lol! How I made the peanut paste was using roasted ground peanuts, peanut butter and some melted butter plus powdered sugar to taste.

As mentioned, I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted. I LOVE CHOCOLATE!

Hope the cute piggies have lightened your mood a little. ;) It sure did for me and best part is it filled my tummy too, lol! :D Okay, folks, have to leave you all for now and will post again when I get some free time. Have a nice day!!

Chocolate Banana Chiffon

I have been itching to bake another chiffon cake lately but was procrastinating because of the choice of flavors to use. But when my MIL gave me half a bunch of ripe bananas over the weekend, it kind of solved the problem. :) That's because ever since I saw 茄子's post on 香蕉巧克力戚风 Chocolate Banana Chiffon, I told myself I should definitely try this out! Why? Well, firstly those tempting photos from 茄子's post is enough to convince me. Secondly...who doesn't like chocolate and banana combo? Here's my cake:

I have to say I have much success with this chiffon recipe, it was easy to prepare and it turned out tall, super soft and delicious! Thanks so much 茄子! But I did make some changes to the recipe, mainly to make a bigger cake and also to add more chocolate flavor to it. :) Who can say no to more chocolate? Here is my version:

Ingredients for Chocolate Banana Chiffon (fills a 21cm or 22cm tube pan):

Egg yolk Mixture:

5 egg yolks

20g caster sugar

50ml vegetable oil

40ml fresh milk

160g mashed ripe banana flesh

90g superfine cake flour

15g unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrohna)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Egg White Mixture:

6 egg whites

70g caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

• In a mixing bowl over double boiler, beat the egg yolks and caster sugar from the egg yolk mixture together. Continue to whisk till mixture is slightly thicken and the sugar has completely melted.
• Add in vegetable oil and mix well. Then add in the mashed banana flesh and stir well again. Sift in the cake flour plus the cocoa powder and mix till everything is incorporated. Lastly add in the milk and mix till well combined.
• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• In another mixing bowl, add in the egg whites and cream of tartar and beat till foamy. Then gradually add in the caster sugar and beat at high speed till stiff peaks.
• Gently fold in the white to the yolk mixture in 3 separate portions, making sure there is no visible egg white.
• Pour the batter into the tube pan and bake in the preheated oven for 36 to 40 minutes.
• Remove from oven and quickly invert the cake to cool completely before removing from the tube pan.

Besides those holes, this cake is really an absolute delight! My 2 kids gave a taste test and said they loved it! So this is definitely a family favorite from now onwards.

Needless to say, I will submit this to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted. Thanks Doris!

Hope everyone has a great week ahead! Cheerios!