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chocolate frosting

Easy Orange Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

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Orange Brownies

After my last post (the incredibly detailed Chocolate St. Honoré Cake), I decided it was time to make something simple but tasty. Enter Easy Orange Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

They could have been a little easier without the frosting, but Bret really likes frosting on brownies and I’m nothing if not a good frosting wife. OK, I’ll stop saying frosting now.

These are easy because you start with your favorite fudge brownie mix. I use Duncan Hines, but use whatever you like or whatever’s on sale.

Orange Brownies

Make the brownies as usual, substituting a pureed orange (yes, including the peel) for the water. Pour it in the pan, bake, and there you go. You don’t have to make the frosting, but I think it complements the brownies nicely. And what’s not better with buttercream frosting?

You’ll end up with dense, moist orange-flecked brownies slathered with that nice chocolate frosting. Grab a glass of milk or your favorite coffee or hot tea and dig in. What could be easier?

Orange Brownies

Orange Brownies

Orange Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Yield: 16
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 37 minutes
Inactive Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 27 minutes

Thick, chewy brownies with a fresh orange flavor. Easy and tasty. 

Ingredients

  • 1 pkg Fudge Brownie Mix
  • 1 small seedless orange
  • For the Frosting:
  • 1/4 C butter, softened
  • 1 C powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 tbsp milk

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line an 8" square pan with aluminum foil with extra foil at two of the ends so you can pull out the brownies easily after baking.
  2. Cut a small slice of the orange from one of the ends and set the orange with the cut end down.  With a sharp knife, carefully run the knife down the curve of the orange to slice the peel away.  Try to make sure there's as little pith (white spongy part) attached to the peel as possible.  After the outer peel is cut away, cut as much of the remaining pith away from the orange as you can. 
  3. Cut the remaining orange into quarters and put in a food processor (or blender) along with the outer orange peels (throw the pith away - it's bitter).  Process/puree the orange until fairly smooth - 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
  4. Prepare the fudge brownie mix as instructed on the package, substituting the pureed orange for the water it calls for.  Stir by hand until completely combined and pour into the prepared pan.  Bake for 34-37 minutes.  Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then pull out by the aluminum foil and let cool completely on a rack (30-45 minutes or put in the refrigerator to cool more quickly).
  5. Prepare the frosting:  Combine the softened butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl and mix until blended (will be kind of powdery).  Add the cocoa powder and mix on low for 10 seconds.  Add the vanilla and a pinch of salt.  Add the milk, 1 tbsp. at a time until desired consistency.  Spread on completely cool-to-the-touch brownies.  

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Remove as much of the pith away from the orange as possible, but don't worry if there's a little left here and there.  I also removed a few of the bigger veins on the inside of the orange.

These are thick and moist and rise a little more like a cake than brownie.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1 brownie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 73Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 10mgSodium: 44mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 0gSugar: 8gProtein: 0g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© sblades
Category: Bars

Cloud Forest Chocolate Cake

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The cake I chose for this month’s Cake Slice Baker’s challenge is called Willie Harcourt-Cooze’s Cloud Forest Chocolate Cake. Quite a name for a cake, but Willie Harcourt-Cooze was the guy who came up with it.

Apparently Mr. Harcourt-Cooze moved from Britain to Venezuela so he could immerse himself completely in world-class cacao (aka cocoa beans). He built a farm in the cloud forest and began experimenting with and harvesting cacoa. Sounds like quite an adventure, doesn’t it?

When a local sugar plantation gave him raw sugar cane, he used it with his cacoa and a few other standard ingredients and created this decadent chocolate cake.

The original recipe has ground almonds in it, but I used an equivalent amount of flour instead. When I baked it, the cake swelled on one end like an ocean wave – it was really strange! I’ve never seen a cake do that. After it was finished baking though, I gently pressed down the high side and it settled into a normal-ish looking cake. Not sure if the flour instead of almonds had something to do with it, but it’s fine now!

Be sure and prep your ingredients before starting this cake. It looks pretty straightforward, but it takes a little time to chop up that chocolate.

Oh, and about that chocolate. It required 100% cacao bar and I could only find a ten dollar 99% bar. Ten dollars! Yikes. I went ahead and got it, though, because I was curious to see what a difference it would make.

The chocolate definitely made a difference. Bret thought it was a little bitter and I agreed, mainly because I’m not used to that deep dark of chocolate. The icing is heavenly made with it, though, and I would use it on a number of baked goods (vanilla cupcakes come to mind).

I find that Europeans seem to prefer drier cakes than the U.S. and I did find this one to be a little dry, but that’s entirely subjective since I substituted the flour for the almonds.

I’ll be cleaning chocolate out from under my fingernails and scraping it off of the counter for awhile, but I enjoyed this challenge. It was the first time I’d used a springform cake pan and I look forward to making a cheesecake in it sometime soon!

If you like chocolate, you might like this cake and I highly recommend the icing.

Cloud Forest Chocolate Cake

Cloud Forest Chocolate Cake

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Very chocolate, chocolate, chocolate cake and icing.  The icing is to die for, but the cake is a little dense.  

Ingredients

  • 6.5 oz. 100% cacao, finely chopped or grated
  • 1 C butter
  • 6 eggs, room temperature
  • 1/4 C light brown sugar
  • 2/3 C granulated sugar
  • 1 C all-purpose flour, (original recipe - 1 C finely ground almonds)
  • pinch of salt
  • Icing
  • 1 C heavy cream
  • 1/4 C sugar, plus 2 tbsp sugar
  • 3 oz cacao, finely chopped or grated

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°.  Grease and line a 10" springform cake pan with parchment paper.
  2. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl is not in contact with the water.  Remove from the heat and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugars together until pale and doubled in size. Slowly add in the cooled melted chocolate mixture to the eggs and mix until well combined.  Fold in the flour and salt and gently stir until blended.
  4. Pour the batter evenly into the springform pan and smooth the top.  Bake for 30 minutes or until slightly risen and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  5. Remove the cake from the oven and set on a rack (in the pan) to cool completely.
  6. Meanwhile, make the frosting by putting the cream and sugar into a pan over low heat.  Bring it just to the point of boiling and remove from the heat.  Stir in the 3 oz. of grated/chopped chocolate and stir until thoroughly combined.  (About 5 full minutes to actually get the chocolate incorporated.)  Set aside to cool until desired consistency.
  7. Remove the cake from the pan and peel off the parchment paper.   Put the completely cooled cake onto a cake stand or plate, and smooth the frosting on the cake, top and sides.  
  8. Keep the cake at room temperature until ready to serve.  If you refrigerate it, the frosting will harden too much.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

If I ever made this again, I would use a smaller pan - maybe a 9" round cake pan, so it would be a little thicker.

I'm told it would definitely be more moist with the ground almonds instead of the flour.

Four stars for the frosting!

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 464Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 156mgSodium: 181mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 5gSugar: 24gProtein: 9g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Willie Harcourt-Cooze
Category: Cakes

 

Lunch Lady Brownies – My Version!

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If you’ve been on Pinterest for at least ten minutes, you’re probably familiar with the popular Lunch Lady Brownies posts. It began on a site that’s long abandoned called SaltBox House Creations, and has blossomed into a Pinterest megahit.

The photos are amazing and people get excited to recreate the brownies from that elementary school cafeteria lady back in the day. I don’t remember brownies, but I do remember those fluffy, buttery rolls they made (I’ll try to find that one, too!).

I’ve never used frosting on a brownie – just a preference because they’re usually gooey and sweet and don’t need it. Bret doesn’t think a brownie’s a brownie without frosting, so I knew he’d like these.

Even though there are 2 cups of sugar in the brownie, it’s not particularly sweet.

The frosting is sweet, but not overwhelmingly so, and complements the barely sweet chocolate brownie. I think these are a great special treat!

Lunch Lady Brownies are thick and soft, but not gooey – kind of bendy if you know what I mean. The frosting is fluffy and smooth and just right for these brownies.

You frost them while they’re still warm and it creates kind of a glaze right on top of the brownie and then the rest of the frosting gets that kind of cracked look. Almost like you get on a Coca-Cola cake. So very, very good.

We’ve enjoyed these brownies and Bret gave them a thumbs up, reminding me once again that brownies aren’t complete without frosting. I think I may agree.

Brownies

Lunch Lady Brownies - My Version!

Yield: 30
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Outstanding brownie with frosting - a throwback to the good old days and as good as you remember!  

Ingredients

  • 1 C butter, melted
  • 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 C all-purpose flour
  • 2 C granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • Chocolate Frosting
  • 1/4 C butter, softened
  • 1/4 C evaporated milk
  • 1/4 C plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 3 C powdered sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with foil, on the bottom and up the sides so you can lift it out after cooled.  Spray foil with non-stick spray. Set aside
  2. In a large bowl of an stand mixer, combine the butter and cocoa powder.  Blend until smooth.  Add the flour and sugar.  Beat together then add the eggs, salt, and vanilla.  Mix until completely combined, but don't over mix.  Batter will be thick.
  3. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan and spread out evenly.  Bake 25-28 minutes, checking at 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes away with a few crumbs.  Remove brownies from oven and let the pan stand on a rack for about 20 minutes.  The brownies will still be warm when you frost them.
  4. For the Frosting:  Beat together all of the frosting ingredients until completely smooth (about 4 minutes to blend powdered sugar in completely).  Pour and spread over the warm brownies.  Let cool completely before lifting the brownies out by the foil ends.  Cut and serve with a cold glass of milk.

Notes

Don't over bake them. They won't be gooey, but will be thick and "bendy."

When you lift the brownies out they will bend a bit so put your hand under the bottom to steady them.

Don't worry about the wrinkled frosting - it gives them character!

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1 brownie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 220Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 99mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 1gSugar: 26gProtein: 2g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© sblades
Category: Bars

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (Mary Berry)

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The Great British Bake-Off and The Great American Baking Show are two of my favorite baking shows. I love that the judges don’t yell at or deride the contestants and the contestants don’t talk dirt about each other (ahem…Top Chef…).

They’re mostly home bakers, vying for the title of greatest baker and seem to have a good time. Plus, they do some incredible baking and it inspires me to pull out the cookbooks and get going!

Mary Berry is the constant between the two shows. She’s the classy, gentle judge who has a special way of telling the contestant that their baking is maybe a wee bit dry or might need 5 more minutes in the oven, without making them cry. Unfortunately, Mary is off of the show the last few seasons and we miss her.

I finally bought one of Mary’s cookbooks (I think she has over 80 published) called “Baking with Mary Berry” and have tried a couple of recipes from it, including these Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting.

I’ve made many chocolate frostings/icings in my life, but this was different from any of them. It’s simple, but delicious and deeply chocolate. I like the way it set up on the cupcakes and since it’s very sweet, it complements the barely sweet cupcakes.

I find the cupcake to be a touch dry, but it seems to me that the Brits prefer a drier baked good than we colonists do.

Next time I’ll add a bit more butter or maybe a tablespoon of oil to make them more moist. If you get a bite of frosting along with the cupcake, though, they go very well together. Don’t forget the coffee or cold milk to go along with these Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting!

Looking for another good chocolate cupcake? Try Chocolate Beet Cupcakes (I promise you won’t taste the beets…)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Yield: 12
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Inactive Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 57 minutes

Mary Berry, from Baking with Mary Berry.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 C cocoa powder
  • about 1/4 C. boiling water
  • 3/4 C margarine, (I used butter)
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2/3 C granulated sugar
  • 1 C self-rising flour
  • Frosting:
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1/3 C cocoa powder
  • 3-4 tbsp milk
  • 1 3/4 C confectioner's sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
  2. Sift the cocoa powder into a large bowl, pour in the boiling water, and mix into a thick paste. Add the remaining cake ingredients and mix with a hand-held mixer (or beat well with a wooden spoon).
  3. Divide the mixture equally in the muffin pan, about 3/4 up the side of the liners. Bake for 12-14 minutes (don't over bake!) until springy to the touch. Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack before frosting (about 30 minutes).
  4. To make the frosting, melt the butter, then pour into a bowl. Sift in the cocoa powder and stir to mix. Stir in the milk and then sift in the confectioners' sugar a little at a time to make a glossy, spreadable frosting. Spread the frosting thickly on the cupcakes and let set.

Notes

Tips and Stuff: 

I will add another tablespoon of butter or so to make the cupcakes more moist next time.  

I added a little more milk to make the frosting a little thinner.  

There's a lot of frosting, so slather it thickly onto the cupcakes.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 cupcake
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 331Total Fat: 17gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 181mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 1gSugar: 28gProtein: 4g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© sblades
Category: Cakes