KAHLUA CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE

Little Mouse cannot resist chocolate anything! Been trying to find a recipe for rich chocolate cake without baking soda aftertaste, and this is it!! This is Little Mouse's own version, and the cake is good even as layered cake. My kids and I love it so much that we made it again the next week. It is so simple, anyone can do this! 

You can bake in one deep round 8" or two round 8" for layered cake or half the recipe to make one shallow cake. Yumzzzzz! 

KAHLUA CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE
Ingredients
250g salted butter
200g chocolate couverture chips (dark preferred)
250g full cream milk
80g kahlua or any coffee liquor
280g light brown sugar
1 tsp salt

2 eggs

252g plain flour
5g baking powder
3g baking soda
40g unsweetened cocoa powder


Methods

1.  Melt butter, chocolate couverture chips, milk, kahlua and brown sugar over low heat. Add in salt. Let it cool.

2.  Preheat oven 150C. Line baking tins with non-stick baking paper.

3.  Once mixture is cooled, add in eggs and stir to combine well. 

4. Combine well flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder. Sift into chocolate mixture.

5.  Pour batter into tins, bake for about 80 min for single deep tin, or about 60 mins for two tins. Cake is ready when skewer comes out with a little crumb when poked in middle.

6.  Cool cake completely in tin.

7.  You may brush top of cake with cocoa powder + sugar + hot water mixture, or pour ganache over. Decorate as desired.

Best eaten before chilled

CROISSANT - EASY METHOD

Simply love croissants!! Tried to make a few times using different recipes and methods, by far this is the easiest! The only hard work is to roll out frozen dough, the rest are super easy! Try it =)

CROISSANT - EASY METHOD
Ingredients
(A)
120ml lukewarm milk (I use full cream)
45g caster sugar
7g dry instant yeast

(B)
150g butter, cold, cubed
250g bread flour
1/2 tsp salt

Methods
1.  Stir (A) in a cup and set aside for 5 min to bloom.

2.  Cut butter into flour and salt mixture till crumbly. Lumps of butter should still be visible.

3.  Mix bloomed (A) into (B). Form into a rectangular dough (NO KNEADING REQUIRED, yeah!!), clip wrap and freeze for 30 min.

4.  On a lightly floured counter top, roll out frozen dough into a long rectangle. This is the hardest part of the whole process, keep on rolling, it will work out. (Tip: place a large plastic sheet on top of dough and roll to prevent dough from sticking on pin)

5.  Fold 1/3 dough at the long side toward centre (left to centre, right to centre). Do the same for short side. (Up to centre, down to centre).

6.  Flip over. Make a quarter turn. Lightly dust counter top when necessary to prevent dough sticking onto it.

7.  Roll into long rectangle and repeat steps 5 and 6 at least four to six times. The more repetitions, the more flakier it will be. Remember to make a quarter turn each time to ensure even flakes.

8.  Clip wrap and place in fridge to chill for at least 4 hrs or overnight.

cut broader bases for bigger croissants

9.  On lightly dusted counter top, roll out dough to long rectangle again to about 3mm thick. Cut out triangles (with a broader base) and roll up each triangle from base to tip. Place on prepared baking tray, allow to proof till doubled in size.

10.  Preheat oven to 190C. Egg wash croissant (optional), bake for 8 min. Reduce temperature to 160-170C and bake for another 10 min.

HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE MINICUP (REESE'S COPYCAT)

My second son loves Reese's! He is always bugging me to get some for him, so I thought why not I try to duplicate in my own kitchen? It is basically peanut butter wrapped in chocolate, right? So this is my first attempt. Just chill peanut butter, roll into balls, and cover with melted chocolate, and chill. It's quite simple actually, except that there are a few chilling stages, that's all.

My three sons said the taste was slightly different from Reese's, yet still good on its own. They were happy to consume them, but who was not?? 

Maybe next time, I will use melted marshmallow instead of icing sugar. This might work to achieve a closer texture to actual Reese's.



HOMEMADE PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE MINICUP (REESE'S COPYCAT)
Ingredients
2 tbsp peanuts
3 heaped tbsp creamy peanut butter, cold
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp salt
200g chocolate chips

Methods

1.  Roast peanuts over small fire. Roughly chop when they are cool to handle.

2.  Mix cold peanut butter, icing sugar, chopped peanuts and salt well, chill in fridge for 20 min.

3.  With lightly oiled palms, roll peanut butter mixture into small balls. Place balls on non-stick baking paper, freeze till ready to use.

Make sure no water gets in!

4.  Melt chocolate chips over simmering water. Let cool slightly and transfer into piping bag.

5.  Pipe a little melted chocolate in small paper muffin cups. Tap the cups in smooth out the chocolate. Freeze for about 5 min.

6.  Place frozen peanut butter balls onto hardened choc in cups. Pipe melted chocolate to completely cover the ball. Tap a few times to even top. Freeze for 10 min. Transfer to fridge if not consumed immediately. Done!