The story goes like this.. One of the first things that attracted me to cupcakes were the little 'thingies' that adorned the frosting. They looked so beautiful and added the much need element of colour and fun to plain ole chocolate cupcakes. Hence, when I decided to make my first ever cupcakes (vanilla), I wanted those sprinkles (yes, by then I knew what they are called) for my cupcakes too. I bought all the ingredients needed to make the cupcakes but the sprinkles eluded my sight and me and the good ones available, were way to expensive to fit my pocket. At that time, I didn't think I'd ever make my own.
The original recipe calls for oil. I just cannot get myself to use oil in any cake; I've tried once but the attempt was such a failure, I've never mustered enough courage to try again. You know what the secret ingredient is?? Coffee, Black Coffee. And the best part is, the cake doesn't taste like coffee one bit! In fact it helps the chocolate to really shine through! Also, I like to add buttermilk, I think it adds to the whole texture and makes the cakes incredibly moist.
This is my go-to brownie recipe and believe me when say, it is THE BEST BROWNIE RECIPE EVER!!
I'd first tried these when I was new to baking, not that I'm any less a newbie now, but this was my first experiment with the oven. This is Nigella Lawson's recipe from her television series. I fell in love with the brownies when i saw them on television..they look SO good and taste even better. You'll reach brownie heaven in just one bite. They're so heavenly, consuming them should be a sin.
I could go on and on and on about how good these brownies are. I've never tried any other recipe because everyone loves these so much. And my foodie friends at college, who I took a few for this morning, loved them too. So, you see, I haven't had the need to turn to any other brownie recipe..hehe. You should really give these lovelies a try.
I made marshmallows after so so long! I'll tell you why. Earlier when I used to make them, they never really turned out all nice and fluffy like they're supposed to, that's because I'm too lazy to actually beat them too hard..its a lot of hard work, you know! And so, I waited for the perfect day to buy myself one of those electric whisks..I had my eyes set on a KitchenAid, but who was i kidding?! A KitchenAid easily available in India?? Well, lets just hope that happens soon. But yeah, I finally got my Mumma to buy me a Philips Hand Whisk! And now I've finally put it to some good use! I made some OH-SO-FLUFFY, MELT-IN-THE-MOUTH MARSHMALLOWS. These clouds of heaven are sure to take you to Marshmallow Heaven!
You need just four ingredients to make the marshmallows! And its so very easy to make them. Also, you don't even need to use a candy thermometer. Just carefully observe while the sugar melts or else what you could also do is, take a small bowl and fill it with some cold water, just when the sugar melts, take a little of the syrup and drop it into the bowl of water. Collect the syrup into a ball in the cold water; if it holds its shape and is soft, the syrup is ready to be taken off the heat. In case it's hard, then it means that you've overcooked the syrup and if it doesn't form a ball and just falls away, it would mean that you need to cook the sugar a bit longer. But keep checking after 10 seconds and don't let the sugar overcook. Just be very observant!
I was nice and cozy in a blanket reading an Agatha Christie book and I wanted some hot beverage. Coffee seemed like the obvious choice but then I thought of chocolate and how nice it would be to have some hot chocolate..not hot cocoa ..hot chocolate!
I've never been to a coffee shop that serves hot chocolate which tastes as good as their menu promises, except Theobroma, they serve some awesome hot chocolate! But that isn't close to where I reside. It was time I made my own Hot Chocolate..with Real Chocolate not Cocoa.