Green Tea Chocolate Bundt Cake

This month's We Should Cocoa challenge is tea. Riding high on the (partial) success of my green tea biscuits (which I have yet to blog about) I decided it had to be a green tea and chocolate combination.  I also briefly pondered chocolate and chai tea but as I didn't have any chai tea in the house, I promptly threw that idea out the window.  I got some lovely matcha powder air flown from Japan courtesy of my dad who went on a business trip last year. I love the smell and colour of the tea. I was debating about chocolate cupcakes with a green tea frosting - either white or plain chocolate.  I then came across a recipe for a green tea chocolate bundt cake and knew that I had to make it.  Not least because I also get to use my brand new silicone bundt cake tin which I got last year :) 

The cake had a lovely fragrant smell and it tasted delicious.  The sponge was light and you could really taste the green tea even through the chocolate which is fairly strong.  Everyone really enjoyed the cake and I'd definitely make this again. 

 cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy 

 chocolate and milk mixture 

 adding green tea powder - I love the vibrant green colour! 

 green tea batter

 chocolate batter 

 my new bundt cake pan

 marbling the batter 

 fresh from the oven

 the cake was still hot when I added the icing sugar as I was impatient! It still tasted good though :) 

 

220g self raising flour
240g butter
250g sugar
6 eggs - separated
113g chocolate
4 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoon green tea powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Melt the chocolate with the milk and set aside. 
• Whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry and set aside. 
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy as shown.
• Add in the egg yolks, one at a time until well mixed. 
• Fold in the sifted flour and salt and mix well. 
• Add vanilla essence.
• Fold in the egg whites and mix until well incorporated.
• Divide the batter evenly into 2. 
• Add chocolate mixture into one and mix well.
• Sift the green tea powder into the other and mix well.
• Spoon batter alternately into the bundt pan.
• Bake for about 50-55mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• Cool cake in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely on a wire rack. 
• Sift on icing sugar generously if desired. (tip: wait until cake is completely cool!)

Panda Cupcakes

I made these panda cupcakes for a friend's Chinese New Year Party.  They were fairly easy to make compared to the penguin and duck cupcakes.  I made a plain vanilla sponge and vanilla buttercream frosting but might try a cookies and cream cupcake next time. 

I made these in a bit of a hurry so only managed to make 4 complete pandas. I made the panda faces with the rest of the cupcakes. I now have a mountain of crushed oreos so I feel some oreo cupcakes coming on :) 

 getting ingredients ready - crushed oreos (body), chocolate raisins (nose), chocolate chips (eyes), weetos (ears), black and white frosting 

 place mini marshmallow on the lower third of the cupcake (I didnt have any so I cut up some regular sized ones)

 Spread frosting on top, covering the marshmallow to make the muzzle

 pipe a mouth just below the muzzle with a small vertical line up to the top of the muzzle.

 pipe eye patches above and to either side of the muzzle.

 add 2 chocolate chips, pointed side in for the eyes

 and a chocolate raisin for the nose (the book suggested chocolate coated sunflower seeds)  

 press 2 weetos into the frosting on either side of the top edge to make the ears 

 spread frosting on top of the larger cupcake and  create a mound. Roll in crushed oreos to make the black belly fur. 

 place the mini cupcake heads on their sides on top of the standard cupcakes, lining the faces up with the fur bodies. Add 1/2 and oreo cookie cut side in on either side of the cupcake to make the arms. Pipe 3 small lines of frosting on the arms to make the claws. Pipe a small white highlight in each eye. 

 

Chocolate Heart cookies

Happy Belated Valentine's everyone! I know most blogs have been full of valentine goodies so I'm jumping on the bandwagon too :) In fact I can't even claim credit for these as I saw them on Joy the Baker's blog and knew I just had to make them.  It was also a good opportunity to break into my new set of heart cookie cutters.  The cookies turned out really well - strong cocoa flavour with a hint of nuttiness from the wholewheat flour and not too sweet at all. I could probably eat the whole batch myself!

 dough and heart shaped cookie cutters

 large hearts 

 medium and mini hearts 

 I forgot to add the sugar before I baked them so added them in just after they've been baked. Most of it stayed on :) 

140g wholewheat flour
57g plain flour
45g cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
113g butter
82g brown sugar
42g sugar
1 large egg

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Whisk flours, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. 
• Beat butter and sugars until well mixed.  
• Add in the egg and continue mixing.
• Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed.
• Spoon batter out onto a sheet of parchment paper and form loosely into a log.
• Chill dough for at least 2 hours or overnight. 
• Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. 
• Use cookie cutter to cut cookies and place on prepared baking sheets.
• Lightly brush the cookies with water and brush with granulated/sanding sugar if required. 
• Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. 
• Allow to rest on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Horlicks Cookies

In case you didn't know, it was Chinese New Year on the 3rd of February 2011.  It's the year of the Rabbit but I don't know how to make rabbit shaped cookies so I made these instead. They were supposed to be puppies but I think they look more like bears.  I also tried some with 'cornflake ears' to give it a slightly more doll like appearance.  The cookies themselves are extremely more-ish.  The Horlicks flavour brings back childhood memories. They smell amazing too! I love how they each have their own character. It was time consuming to make but really good fun and everyone definitely enjoyed eating them.

 definitely a bear I think 

 A doll? 

 mama bear 

 papa bear 

Makes ~ 40
180g butter
100g Horlicks
200g flour
25g cornflour
50g sugar

Decoration
Weetos cereal or cornflakes
Chocolate chips
Chocolate strands

• Preheat oven to 140C.
• Cream the butter and Horlicks for about 3 minutes at a low speed with an electric mixer. 
• Add in the flour, cornflour and sugar and beat for a further minute.
• Divide the dough into balls. 
• Insert 2 pieces of Weetos for the ears, chocolate strands for the eyes and a chocolate chip for the nose.
• Bake for about 25 minutes. 

Oatmeal Scotchies

Yet another Toll House recipe, this time with butterscotch morsels. Again, I followed the recipe on the back of the pack and they turned out quite well. The oats make them seem healthier :) Any ideas for what I can make with my remaining pack? 

205g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
227g butter
100g brown sugar
115g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups oats
312g butterscotch flavored morsels

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl,
• Beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl.
• Gradually beat in the flour mixture.
• Stir in oats and morsels.
• Drop by rounded tablespoon into ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for 7-8 minutes for chewy cookies; 9-10 minutes for crisp cookies.
• Cook on baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to cool on wire racks completely.

Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies

The cookie monster is back! I actually made these a few weeks back but have not had time to blog so there will be a series of cookie blogs from me.  I got these Toll House milk chocolate and peanut butter morsels and followed the recipe on the pack. The cookies turned out really well.  I love the colour of the swirled morsels. I only have another pack left - has anyone tried a different recipe with these? 

227g butter
150g brown sugar
170g caster sugar
2 eggs
250g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
283g Nestle Toll House Swirled Milk chocolate & Peanut Butter Morsels
1 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.
• Beat butter, sugars and vanilla extract in a large mixer bowl until creamy.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Gradually beat in the flour mixture.
• Stir in chocolate morsels and nuts (if using).
• Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown.
• Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Malteser Cupcakes

Apologies for the lack of blogging recently.  I have definitely still been baking, just not had time to blog about them. I've also baked a lot from recipes I've already blogged about previously so I won't double up.  However, I have baked some new treats including this malteser cupcake which has been on my 'to bake' list for ages. This is a really simple recipe and my favourite kind as you just mix everything together and bake.  The cake was moist with a lovely crunch from the maltesers and the frosting was light and creamy. Definitely a bake again in the future cupcake!

adding maltesers to the batter 

 blitz maltesers for the frosting 

Makes approx 30 of the size shown

For the cupcakes
275g self raising flour
275g caster sugar
275g butter
4 large eggs
2 x 28g sachets maltesers hot chocolate powder
50-75mls milk
1 box of maltesers (120g)

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Blitz all the ingredients in a food processor except the milk which you drizzle in through a funnel to form a smooth batter.
• Add a box of maltesers to the batter and mix by hand. 
• Spoon batter into cupcake cases and bake for 15-18 minutes.

Buttercream icing
135g maltesers
500g icing sugar
200g butter
40g cocoa powder
50-75mls milk

• Set aside 30 maltesers for decorations.
• Blitz the remaining maltesers until fine as shown. 
• Add softened butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder and blitz until fine.
• Drizzle in milk until you have a spreadable consistency.