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

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!

DARK CHOCOLATE MOIST MUFFIN

This recipe is a MUST-keeper and definitely my favourite! Chanced upon it on Bear Naked Food blog and decided to try it one night when I had chocolate craving after lesson. Oh! This really tasted so very good! Even my old folks gave me thumbs up, and my hubby who always stayed neutral about my bakes said this was really good. Of course getting good quality chocolate would made a great difference, but Little Mouse needed to be thrifty. I could not spend a lot of money to buy Valrhona on muffins for own stomach, my lovely hubby would have his eyes popped out!

I tried this chocolate couverture in Phoon Huat which I thought was value for money. It costs about a fourth of its Valrhona cousin and tasted better than the other chocolates that I previously bought from the bakery. I would strongly recommend dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content to balance out the sweetness of the muffin. Hence Bakeway Chocolate 73.5%  is good enough for me.

Believe me, this recipe is worth a try. It is super easy, and almost fool-proof (unless you do do not follow the recipe). It took me less than 45min from prep to finish. I would be making these for parties and I know my guests would simply find them irresistible! And I would not need to worry about melting frostings!

DARK CHOCOLATE MOIST MUFFIN (adapted from Taste of Home)

Ingredients

160g dark chocolate couverture droplets, at least 70% cocoa content

Wet Ingredients

120g unsalted butter, melted

240ml buttermilk (I used 1 tbsp vinegar and fill up to 240ml mark with full cream milk, set aside for 5 min)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract (okay, I used 1 tbsp!)

Dry Ingredients

170g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

70g unsweetened cocoa powder

190g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

More dark chocolate couverture droplets for toppings (Optional)

Methods

1. Preheat oven at 170C, line muffin tray with liners.

2. Beat eggs and add all wet ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.

3. Sift flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and salt into another bowl.

4. Stir in 160g dark chocolate droplets into dry ingredients.

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir just to combine, do not overmix.

6. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tray till 70-80% full. Tap muffin tray on counter top once to release any air bubbles. You may top with additional chocolate droplets for visual enhancement (optional).

7. Bake at 170C for about 18-20 minutes. Do not over-bake or the cakes will turn out dry.

8. Remove baked muffins from tray to cool completely on wire rack.

Makes about 18 muffins (or 12 muffins plus a small loaf*)

*If you are baking in a loaf tin, baking time varies. My small loaf required 30mins bake time.

moist cake from loaf

CHOCOLATE OREO CHEESECAKE WITH LEMON SOUFFLE

Souffle, souffle! It had been on my mind. Yet I did not want to eat on its own. I wanted to be creative. Looking at the remaining cream cheese in my fridge and fearing that it would turn moldy, I gotta do something to it too! 

Questions on my mind then developed:

Why not just combine them in one dessert? Would it work? What kind of texture was I looking for? Baked or non-baked cheesecake? Meringue or souffle on top? Sweet all the way? Use others' recipes or self concoction?

After a couple of days' wracking my brain, I decided that my cheesecake would be baked, the texture should resemble ice cream, and it would be chocolatey and filled with the all time favourite, OREO! Then I thought again and decided to make tangy souffle to balance the sweetness, but with a little twist to the way souffles were normally made. I would make as I go, by sight and taste, so that the dessert was my own recipe. Not very sure if this way would work out, but with a courageous spirit, just attempt it!

CHOCOLATE OREO CHEESECAKE WITH LEMON SOUFFLE (created by Little Mouse)

Ingredients
Base crust
15 oreo biscuits, finely crushed
3 tbsp melted butter

Cheesecake
100g melted good quality semi-sweet chocolate (double-boiled method)
230g softened cream cheese
60g fine sugar
2 yolks
100g sour cream
30g full cream milk
2 tsp cherry extract
1 tbsp cake flour
1 tbsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 30ml hot water
6 Oreo biscuits, coarsely crushed

Souffle
90ml full cream milk
18g cake flour
15g butter
1 tsp lemon zest, finely grated
2 egg whites
70g fine sugar
1.5 tsp lemon juice

Method
Prepare crust:
1. Crush Oreo biscuits in food processor till very fine. Melt butter over gentle heat.
2. Pour crumbs into prepared 6" spring-form pan (I used a cake ring instead). Stir in melted butter, spread evenly and press hard. 
3. Bake at 165C for 10 min. Set aside.

Prepare cheesecake:
1. Beat softened cream cheese with sugar till creamy and smooth.

2. Add in yolks and beat till just incorporated using low speed.
3. Add in sour cream, milk and liquor. Mix well.
4. Add in melted chocolate and coffee mixture. Mix well.
5. Sift in cake flour and fold very gently.
6. Stir in coarsely crushed Oreo pieces.
7. Pour onto baked crust and bake at 165C for 40min.

Prepare Souffle (do this when cheesecake is baked for about 25min)
1. Place milk, flour and butter in a pot. Over gentle heat, stir till mixture becomes smooth. Add in zest. Set aside to cool.

2. Using low speed, lightly beat egg whites till foamy. Add in lemon juice and while beating, add sugar tablespoon by tablespoon. Beat till stiff and glossy.

3. Take 1/3 beaten whites and add into milk batter. Fold gently to mix well. Then pour batter into remaining whites and fold gently to mix well.
4.By this time, the cheesecake should be ready. Remove from oven, immediately pour souffle on top of cheesecake. Level top, tap a few times and send into oven to bake at 210C for 10min.

It would be better if I had piped in the souffle instead of pouring, so that the souffle would rise evenly without air gaps.

Souffle would definitely deflate after a while, do not fret!

 Serve warm or chilled.

It works and it is delicious!! 1

CRISPY DOUBLE CHOCOLATE DROP COOKIES

Love chocolate cookies lot lot!! Buying from the stores are quite expensive, why not make our own? I made these a few times and each time I would double the ingredients, they never lasted long as many claws would be digging into the cookie jar. However, as this recipe contains shortening (an absolute must if you want crispiness) I really only make them on special occasions and special requests.

Please feel free to add any chopped nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chunks, etc to the recipe to create make-you-happy flavours. Cocoa powder can be omitted as well if you want vanilla based cookies. More amount of chocolate chips than that stated in recipe can be added too (of course!!).

Tips:

-Best part of this recipe is that no electric mixer is needed. Just use a hand whisk or spatula to beat. Even my son can do this. Easy (^.^) 

-Do space out the cookie dough. They puff up!

-Re-use cooled baking tray for subsequent batches.

CRISPY DOUBLE CHOCOLATE DROP COOKIES

Ingredients

(A)

30g fine sugar

150g fine brown sugar

120g butter, softened
30g shortening

(B)

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(C)

220g plain flour

15g cocoa powder (optional)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp fine salt

(D)

50g semi-sweet chocolate chips

50g white chocolate chips

(E) 

Extra chocolate chips

Methods

1. Cream (A) till light with hand whisk or spatula.
2. Mix in (B) and beat till smooth.
3. Comine and sift (C) into batter. Mix in well.
4. Add (D).
5. On a lined baking sheet, drop cookie batter using spoons. Recommended to size each cookie not larger than a teaspoon. For even baking, each tray should have similar sized cookies.

   

   must help if want to eat! LOL!

6. Top with extra chocolate chips to make them look even more enticing than they already are.
7. Bake at 180C for about 10-15 min depending on cookie size. To check doneness, carefully flip up one cookie to look for air holes at the bottom.

   

   cookies are cooked when there are tiny holes at cookie bottom

8. Cookies from oven will be SOFT. Cool in tray for a few minutes and transfer them carefully to cooling racks to cool completely. They will harden when cooled.

   

   still soft on tray, wait for a few minutes

   

   transfer to cooling rack to cool completely

9. Store in air-tight containers after popping a whole lot into your mouth.