Chocolate Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

Double Birthday! Recipe comes from The Big Book of Cupcakes: 150 Brilliantly Delicious Dreamcakes

Ingredients:

• Cupcake
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups superfine sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 16 oz powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• Bar of chocolate

Directions:

1) Combine cocoa and 2 cups boiling water in a large heatproof bowl, stirring until blended and smooth.
2) Let cool.
3) Preheat the oven to 350F/176C






4) Beat butter with a mixer until creamy.









5) Add sugar slowly, beating until blended.








6) Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition.








7) Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.









8) Add to butter mixture alternating with cocoa mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
9) Stir in vanilla extract.

 10) Place paper baking cups in cupcake pans and coat with cooking spray.









11) Spoon batter into cups, about 3-4 spoonfuls each.
12) Bake for 12-15 minutes.

13) To make the frosting, mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt until creamy.







14) Combine powdered sugar and cocoa.
15) Add to the cream cheese mixture alternately with cream, beginning and ending with powdered sugar mixture.
16) Beat at high speed 2 minutes or until creamy.







17) Poke a hole in the top of the cupcakes.
18) Fill the cupcake with the frosting and then frost the top.






19) Microwave the chocolate bar for 20 seconds.
20) Use a vegetable peeler to make curls.
21) Place on top of the cupcakes.

 Special Birthday Cupcakes

 

Millionaires' Shortbread Bars

Taken from here and frozen to make them even better (and the caramel to hold...). Its in place of National Butterscotch Brownie day because I couldn't make them in Ireland. And my boyfriend wanted me to make them.

Ingredients:

• Bottom layer
• 250g all-purpose flour
• 75g sugar
• 175g butter, softened
• Middle layer
• 100g butter
• 100g light muscavado sugar (even after going out of my way to buy it, I used regular sugar...)
• 800g condensed milk
• Top layer
• 200g chocolate, chopped up

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 180C.
2) Grease a pan.
3) Mix the flour and sugar together







4) Mix the butter in slowly, by hand, until it resembles breadcrumbs, then dough.








5) Press into the base of the tin.
6) Prick with a fork a few times.
7) Bake for 20 minutes.







8) Let cool in the pan.








9) Make the caramel by adding all those ingredients into a pot.
10) Bring to a boil.







11) Bring down to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes until it thickens (mine didn't thicken and I blame using the wrong sugar).







12) Pour over the shortbread.








13) Leave to cool.
14) Met the chocolate.








15) Add to the top of the caramel.
16) Leave to cool again.

Banana Bread

Taken from here

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
• 1/3 cup + 2 TBSP butter, softened, plus more for greasing
• 1 ½ cup wholemeal self-raising flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cup mashed banana (about 3 bananas)
• ½ cup almonds
• 1/2 cup chocolate chunks
• 1 tsp brown sugar 
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon powder

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 180⁰C/160⁰C fan forced. 

2) Grease 14 cm x 21 cm loaf pan. Grease the other two sides with butter.

3) Add the lemon rind into a small bowl with the softened butter.

 

 

 

 

 

4) Sift flour and cinnamon into a large bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) Add rind, butter, sugar and eggs to the cinnamon-flour mix and combine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6) Stir in banana, almonds and chocolate.

7) Spread mixture into pan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8) Meanwhile, mix the brown sugar and grounded cinnamon to make the topping. Sprinkle over the bread mixture in the pan.

9) Bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. 

10) Stand bread in pan 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

 Pac Man

Triple Fudge Oreo Cookies

I owe a friend some baked goods for their help with SPSS (and if you don't know what that is, youre probably lucky). It's also the hiking weekend starting tomorrow, and we need something to keep us going!

Recipe from here but with minor alterations (i.e. I didn't measure the chocolate chips or Oreos, just did a package)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• chocolate chips or chunks
• Oreos, roughly cut into quarters
• white chocolate chips

Directions (blogger won't let me add pictures in the middle, but if you look at past baking I'm sure you can figure it all out):

1) Preheat oven to 375F

2) Grease baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.

3) Mix together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

4) In another bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and, salt.

5) Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture.

6) Add in the chocolate chips and Oreos

7) Scoop into 2 TBSP sized balls

8) Place on a baking sheet 2 in apart and flatten with your hand

9) Bake 9-11 minutes

10) Let cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes and then remove. 

Irish (Car Bomb) Brownies

St Paddys Day is tomorrow and I live in Ireland. Enough said.

But really, an Irish Car Bomb Drink is a layered shot of Baileys and Jameson dropped into half a pint glass of Guinness. I was recently informed by an English person that this shot should be dropped into some British Ale, but the drink has already been created and we'll move on from there. Irish Car Bomb Brownies have Guinness and Jameson in the Brownie part, and Baileys in the Cream Cheese Part.

Since I am in Ireland I don't feel it is necessary to put the clovers on like they do here, we kind of see enough of them this time of the year.

Ingredients:

• Brownie
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
•  1/2 tsp salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 TBSP vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP Guinness Extra Stout (but who measures)
• 4 TBSP Jameson Whiskey (but, again, who measures)
• Cheesecake Layer
• 1 egg
• 1 TBSP vanilla extract
• 12 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup Bailey's (but, who measures) 

Directions:

1) Line a 9×13 pan with foil.

2) Spray with baking spray

3) Preheat the oven to 325F/162C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) Sift flour, coco powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5) In another bowl, add butter and granulated sugar in a bowl and cream until smooth.

6) Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.

7) Add the flour mixture and combine.

8) Add the Guinness and Jameson and combine.

 

 

 

 

9) Pour batter into prepared dish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10) Bake for 25 minutes, until a fork inserted comes out clean.

11) Let cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12) Add all the cheesecake ingredients into a bowl and mix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13) Spread on top of the brownie layer and bake for 25 minutes, until set.

14) Let cool.

 

I didn't let them cool....

On another note: mmm, dinner