Tagged: chocolate

Desserts / Photo Gallery / Recipes

Banana Cocolate Chip Muffins

I’ve never thrown out any more old “Bananas” since I began making these muffins. They’re easy to make and delicious. The chocolate chips add and extra layer of flavor. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 stick melted margarine

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1  (6 to 8 oz.) container Vanilla yogurt (any brand)

2  mashed ripe Bananas

1 cup of mini semi sweet chocolate chips

2 cups flour

1 cup low fat milk

1 cup Biscuit mix (any brand)

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Streusel topping:

1/2 cup instant oatmeal

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon  flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons melted margarine

1 teaspoon  cinnamon

 

Instructions:

Step 1:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Make streusel topping first, by mixing all ingredients in a small bowl until a crumble forms.

Sift all dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Step 2:

In  a large mixing bowl, mix margarine with sugar until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Step 3:

Incorporate the mashed banana mixture into the eggs and yogurt mix. Add milk, flour and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Step 4:

Pour into large, greased 12 muffin pan or into 24 muffin pan. Top with the streusel topping.

Bake 25 – 30  minutes until golden or when a toothpick comes out clean.

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This flourless chocolate cake is very simple to make. It’s very light and moist and I promise your guests will love it!

I adapted it from Sarah Carvey. Here’s the link to the video which is part of the Martha Stewart video collection. My daughter Lisa and I made it yesterday and we were very pleasantly surprised at how easy this is to make. We served with fresh strawberries and real whipped cream.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

8 ounces dark chocolate chips (at least 50% cacao, the more the better)

6 large eggs (room temp and separated)

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of instant espresso (optional)

Pinch of salt

Sweetened whipped cream for serving

Chocolate shavings (optional)

strawberries (optional)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and set it aside.

Place the butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl over a pan of water on your stove on medium heat. Don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.

Reduce the heat to simmer making sure the water does not boil. This is a slow process but be patient and keep stirring until completely melted.

Let the chocolate cool slightly and then whisk in egg yolks until completely absorbed into the chocolate.

Beat the egg whites in a large bowl until semi hard peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to over beat.

Whisk some of the egg whites into the chocolate and then fold in the remaining egg whites very gently.

You may notice some white streaks in the batter but that’s OK since you don’t want to over mix the egg whites which may make them collapse.

 

Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake 50 minutes on the center oven rack until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan.

 

 

Cool the cake completely and remove the sides of the spingform pan.

 

Let the cake sit for a few hours before serving because the chocolate gets richer as it sits. Serve with either dusted confectioners’ sugar or with whipped cream and strawberries as pictured below.

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery / Portuguese Christmas

Chocolate Flan Cake – Bolo de Chocolate e Pudim Flan

You won’t believe the magic that happens when you make this cake! It’s very easy to make and perfect for a party.

This cake is a Mexican recipe, but it has become very popular in the last few years because it’s like having two desserts; chocolate cake and caramel flan all in one bite!

You can use any cake batter such as vanilla, lemon etc. so be creative if you want!

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 Package of Devil’s Food chocolate cake mix

3 eggs

1 cup of water

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

 

Caramel sauce glaze:

1 cup of any jarred caramel sauce or make your own sauce (recipe below)

 

Flan:

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk 

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
1/2 cup of cream or half and half
 
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Note: You will need an extra large bundt pan for this recipe

Preparation:

Prepare Caramel glaze first:

Place 1 to 2 cups sugar in a large heavy skillet. Continue stirring while cooking on med heat until the sugar melts and begins to turn caramel colored and thickens like corn syrup (probably 5-8 min depending on your burners). Note: if you smell a burnt smell, start over because the sauce has burned. 

Pour 1/2 cup of the caramel topping evenly in bottom of bundt pan gently rotate the pan to coat bottom and up 1 to inches up the sides.

Flan preparation:

Mix all flan ingredients in a blender or in a mixer at high speed for about 45 seconds.

Cake Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heavily grease a large 12 cup bunt pan with cooking spray or margarine.

Mix cake mix with water, oil and 3 eggs in a large bowl, with electric mixer for about 3 minutes on medium speed. Pour cake mix gently and evenly into the bundt pan covering the caramel sauce.

Slowly pour the flan mixture over the chocolate batter.

Note: The flan mixture will be very runny over the chocolate batter. Don’t worry if you think this is not right. Magic happens as the cake cooks the flan sinks to the bottom and the chocolate cake rises to the top.

Cover the cake with heavy foil that has been coated with cooking spray and  place in a deep roasting pan big enough to hold the cake pan in 2 inches of water.

Special Note: I used my large Turkey roasting pan which was big enough to hold and cover the cake pan and it came out perfect! This is optional and you can use any deep roasting pan but be sure to cover the cake pan very tightly with the foil if you don’t use a roasting pan cover.

Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Here is what the cake will look like after it’s baked.

Place the cake still in the roasting pan on the counter and let it cool for at least 2 hours or more to completely cool.

When the cake is completely cooled gently loosen the sides with a thin knife. Place a large serving platter over the pan and invert the cake.

When you invert the cake, it will come out with the chocolate cake on the bottom and the flan on top.

Pour any remaining caramel from the pan over the flan.

If you want to serve the cake the next day, place it in the refrigerator overnight and invert the next day since this will keep the cake moister.

Add the remaining 1/2 cup of the caramel sauce and whipped cream before serving if desired.

 

Find this recipe in my new cookbook!

 

 

 

 

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Desserts / Photo Gallery / Recipes

Nutella Torta – Nutella Roll

This is my daughter’s recipe for Nutella Torta – Nutella Roll. This dessert is perfect to impress your “Nutty for Nutella” and chocolate loving friends. It requires only 6 ingredients and takes only 30 minutes to prepare and cook!

Ingredients:

5 room temp eggs (separated)

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking  powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup of Nutella or any Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

 

 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (Pam spray or margarine) and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder in a bowl.

In a large bowl beat egg yolks with 1/4 cup of sugar until lemony. Add flour and beat for about 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar gently into the whites until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold the egg whites into the eggs with a rubber spatula.

Pour into the sheet pan spreading evenly. Cook for about 15 minutes or less depending on your oven. The cake should be golden light brown in color.

Place a clean linen white kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar.

Slowly flip the cake pan onto the towel with the sugar.

Peel the parchment paper off the cake, then roll up the cake with the dish towel and let it sit for 5 minutes for the cake to cool.

Unwrap the rolled up cake let sit for a few minutes and gently spread the Nutella with a light coating evenly over the cake. *The warm cake will melt the nutella making is easy to spread smoothly.

Gently roll up the cake without the towel leaving the edge on the bottom.

Sprinkle more granulated or confectioners sugar on top of the Torta if desired. Let it cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!

Desserts / Holiday Recipes / Photo Gallery / Recipes

Triple Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Triple Chocolate Raspberry Cake

This recipe is for the chocolate lovers in your family!

Last week after I posted the recipe for Birthday Pistachio cake it had over 10,000 views and received a great response so I decided to post this cake recipe.

I created this recipe after I saw an amazing Chocolate Raspberry Cake in a Gourmet Pastry Shop and I knew that I had to try to replicate it.

Happy Birthday Chocolate lovers. I hope you enjoy it!

 

Ingredients:

 

1 package of Chocolate cake mix

1 small package fresh or frozen raspberries

6 oz raspberry Jelly

1 package semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup heavy cream

Fresh raspberries for garnish

1 can of Chocolate frosting

1 cup finely Chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds

 

Instructions:

Prepare the round cake as per package directions and let cool down completely.

Meanwhile, cook the raspberries with the Jelly in a small saucepan letting the raspberries reduce to a thick puree and let cool.

Slice the cooled cakes into 2 layers layers.

Spread the raspberry sauce between layers. Frost the cake with the Chocolate frosting.

Sprinkle the nuts on the sides of cake and pat them into the frosting with the palm of your hand.

Prepare the chocolate sauce by placing the chocolate chips and cream in a double boiler and mix until creamy.

Let the melted chocolate cool down a minute and pour the chocolate sauce over the cake. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Place in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or more to let the cake get firm. Enjoy!