Delicious "lighter" Chocolate Cakes

This recipe is so easy and so so good, and it definitely doesn't taste "light".

1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup a.p. flour
1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush either eight 8 oz ramekins or one 8"X8" pan with oil. Set aside for later. In a medium sized bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda and salt. In a separate larger bowl, whisk together sugar, applesauce and oil until smooth. Whisk in egg white and vanilla. Add flour mixture and stir just until moistened.
Pour batter into the ramekins or pan and smooth the tops with a spatula. If using ramekins, place on a rimmed baking sheet before baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool. Serve with chocolate sauce, chopped nuts or fruit and ice cream.

Cupcakes!

I can't post the recipe for these because it's my own little secret, but I did want to post some pictures because they're just so cute! The boutique I work at had a Valentine's Day party last week and I made these cupcakes for the event.

These are only 2 of the many cakes that have been baked and madly consumed over the past few weeks. I'll post recipes for some of the other cakes soon, for now we can let the pictures speak for themselves.

From Scratch

A few nights ago I made brownies from scratch...for the first time!!! I kind of can't believe I've never done it before. It was SO easy. The recipe is from Everyday Food and it was pretty good, but I cooked it too long-even though it was 10 minutes less than the suggested time (I'm beginning to suspect our oven cooks a little hot and a little fast)and it absorbed some of the flavor from the cast-iron skillet I baked it in. But they were still quite good! They had a much more "chocolaty" flavor than from-the-box brownies. I may never go back.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 cup vanilla sugar (or regular granulated sugar)

3 eggs

1 cup flour
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
8 oz chocolate chips (or bittersweet baking chocolate...add 1/4 more sugar if using bittersweet) + 4 oz more chocolate chips to add later

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until well combined. Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
In a non-stick (or cast-iron in my case) skillet over medium heat, add heavy cream and heat until simmering. Add in chocolate chips and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes.
Pour chocolate mixture into eggs and stir until combined. Gently fold in flour mixture until just incorporated and pour brownie mix back into the skillet. Add in chocolate chips (or whatever you want...pecans, peanut butter chips, walnuts, etc) and place in oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes "or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean"...whatever dude. I like gooey brownies! 25 for super gooey and anywhere in between for whatever your specific preference is.

We also added a simple icing to the top:

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2-4 Tbsp milk

Stir until smooth and the consistency you like (ours was a little thinner than Elmer's glue). Poke holes in the top of the brownies with a fork and drizzle lots icing over the entire brownie.

Best eaten while still warm.

Pear Tart

I made this for new year's eve. It wasn't very good, but I'm putting it on here because I think with a few alterations it could be much better. The recipe is from Real Simple and the idea is wonderful, but it was pretty dry. Bake it for 5-8 minutes less than the recommended cook time, and make sure the pears you use are really tasty. Also, this would be best served with a vanilla custard or vanilla bean ice cream.

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vanilla or regular sugar

1 egg

3 Bosc pears, peeled, halved and cored

2 tsp cinnamon + 2 tsp vanilla sugar (mixed together)

1/4 cup apricot jam + 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Butter a round or rectangular tart pan and set to the side. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the egg and beat thoroughly. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until just combined...you will have a very wet dough. Dip your fingers in flour and pull the dough from the sides of the bowl. Place it in the tart pan and using your fingers, push the dough on the bottom and sides of the pan to make an even crust. Place pears cut side down on crust and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake 35 minutes or until almost (but not quite!) golden. In a small sauce pan (or a bowl in the microwave) heat the jam and lemon juice until liquidy and gently brush over the entire tart. Let cool slightly and serve with ice cream.

Original recipe here

Cherry Raspberry Tart with Walnut Streusel

For the Streusel Topping:
-1/2 cup white flour
-6 Tbsp unsalted butter
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup oatmeal
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 cup minced walnuts

Combine first 5 ingredients, cutting butter in with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Cut in walnuts and set aside.


For the Cherry Filling:
-1 can cherry pie filling
-1/2 bag frozen raspberries
-1/4 tsp vanilla
-Zest of 1/2 a small orange
-1 Tbsp fresh orange juice

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Mix gently and set aside.

For the Tart crust:
I am not going to list the recipe I originally used for the crust because I didn't think it was any good, and was really more like a cookie recipe. Instead I am going to put a link to a very exciting sort of tart crust that I'm going to use when I make this again tomorrow (for an early Thanksgiving dinner with friends).
David Lebovitz's French Tart Dough. The French are so crazy!

Once you lightly bake off the dough in the tart pan, pour cherry mixture over dough and sprinkle with the oatmeal crumble, making sure the entire tart is covered. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, or until crumbles are melted and beginning to crisp up. Remove from the oven and let rest 20 minutes or so before serving.
This would be really delicious with vanilla bean ice cream and a little espresso on the side :)