Double Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

 

   I saw this recipe made by a friend and it looked sooooo good I immediately wanted to make it myself. I got hooked on the chocolate and raspberry combo but I decided to switch the shape from regular brownies to muffins because they look more appealing. 

  Conclusion? This recipe is definitely worth making! The muffins are decadent, sooo tasty and super eye candy! Lots of people have asked me for the recipe and the ones who tried it were wowed by the taste:D

   So, here's what you need to know:

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

- 180g butter

- 180g dark chocolate chips A (60-70% cocoa content)

- 215g white sugar

- 150g eggs (3 medium eggs)

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 130g all-purpose flour

- 2g salt

- 80g dark chocolate chips B (60-70% cocoa content)

- 80g fresh raspberries

Note! I bought special chocolate chips for this but at the end of the day your favourite dark chocolate works just as well. 

Steps:

1. Combine the butter and chocolate chips A in a bowl. Place over a hot water bath and melt until smooth and even.

2. Remove from heat and allow to cool down for 10 minutes then stir in the sugar. Mix well.

3. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing well. Stir in the vanilla extract.

4. Add the flour and salt and mix until combined.

5. Spoon the batter in a cupcake tray.

6. Sprinkle in the chocolate chips B and the raspberries.

7. Bake in the preheated oven at 175C for 20 minutes.

8. Allow to cool down completely before serving. Bon appetit!

Sour cherry brownie bundt

   What do you first think of when I tell you ”sour cherry dessert”? My answer: always a brownie. I just love love loooove chocolate desserts so it's understandable why I chose to bake this for International Chocolate Day a few days after I had picked my own sour cherries :D 

   I found this recipe online on a Romanian blog I follow quite often for new ideas. It always delivers and I'm never disappointed. Today I chose to bake this brownie in a bundt pan because I wanted a smaller quantity and I also wanted it to be pretty. So? Shall I tell you how to make it? Don't worry about the many steps, it's actually quite easy to make, trust me! :D

Ingredients 

*I used half of the original recipe for this bundt, but if you want to bake a whole rectangular 35 x 25 cm pan, double the quantities

- 3 eggs

- 100g sugar

- 25g dark chocolate

- 25g butter 82% (and some butter for the bundt pan)

- 15g cocoa

- 40g of flour

- a pinch of salt

- 1 packet of vanilla sugar

- 300 g pitted sour cherries

Steps:

1. First of all, preheat the oven to 170C with ventilation (medium stage for gas ones). Then melt the chocolate and butter on bain marie (bowl placed over the pot in which the water boils). Leave to cool.

2. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites well with a pinch of salt. (You can use an electric mixer like I did.)

3. When the foam is hard, add 100g of sugar and continue beating until you get a hard, dense and shiny foam (if you turn the bowl over your head, the foam doesn't fall on your head :P).

4. Mix the yolks separately with 100g of sugar and vanilla sugar. Mix until you get a foam. 

5. Add the melted chocolate and butter (which has cooled a bit and no longer burns) and mix until smooth.

6. Sift the flour and the cocoa through a sieve. It's very important to do this if you want a perfect, fluffy brownie.

7. Add the flour and cocoa over the egg yolk and chocolate mix.

7. Then gradually add the egg white foam and mix lightly with a spatula. Be careful not to crush the egg whites. 

8. Spread butter all over the inside of the bundt pan so that your brownie won't stick when it's ready.

9. Pour the composition into the bundt pan and smooth with a spatula.

10. Place the sour cherries on the dough one by one. Mix them with the dough slowly, using a spatula. If you don't want sour cherries in your bundt, you can leave them on top. I like mine to be all over the brownie when I bite into it :D

11. Put the bundt in the preheated oven at 170C (heat up + down + ventilation) respectively the middle stage in the gas ovens. Bake the cake for 25 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 150C and bake it for another 15-20 minutes.

12. When it's done, let it cool for a bit, then turn your bundt upside down and ta-ra! Here's your cake!

13. Serve with ice cream! Yummmmmm! 

Bon appetit! :D

Oreo Chocolate Strawberry Cake

   You know that moment when you see videos of uber delicious recipes online that you drool at by just looking at them and then you dream them at night until you put them into practice. This recipe is one of those :))

   I think I can pretty much sum it up into: Oh My God! I haven't tasted something this good in a while! I really expected it to only look good in a video and that's all, but this time it also worked wonders in real life too. Might have helped that I followed this recipe closely so I used good quality chocolate and the exact amounts as specified. Either way, YOU GO TRY IT! It's Dana approved!:D

Ingredients for 10-12 servings:

Crust

330g Oreo cookies

110g butter, melted

Chocolate Filling

200g milk chocolate

100g bittersweet chocolate

200 ml heavy cream

Topping

300g fresh strawberries

chopped nuts (almonds, pistachios, etc) - optional

Steps:

1. Place oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and blend until crumbs form. 

2. Add melted butter and pour over the crushed cookies. Process until evenly moistened. 

3. Press cookie mixture with the back of the spoon and your fingers where necessary  into the bottom and edges of a rectangular 5x14 inch (12 x 36 cm) tart pan or a regular round tart pan. 

4. Freeze until you prepare the filling, just for few minutes.

5. In a small saucepan, place cream over medium-low heat for a few minutes to get hot. No boiling or simmering needed. 

6. Remove from heat, pour over chopped chocolate and let rest for 1-2 minutes. 

7. Stir until dissolved.

8. Pour chocolate filling over oreo crust. 

9. Top with fresh strawberries and chopped nuts.

10. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight before serving.

Bon appetit! :)