Chocolate University Online Blog
Plain chocolate cake is downright delicious, but at times, it can become such a bore. (Did I really say that?) And what better way to give it more oomph than putting in additional ingredients. Case in point: carrots.
One of the most sought-after nutritional benefits you can get from carrots is the beta-carotene that gets converted into vitamin A, helpful for eyesight. But aside from that, carrots have been proven to lower the levels of cholesterol in the system and also aid in combating heart attacks and cancer.
However, there are people who just aren’t big fans of carrots, or vegetables, for that matter. If you’re one of them, fret not because the carrot-y taste is not gonna outstand the chocolaty taste. Instead, the carrot will just enhance the overall flavor of the chocolate cake.
You can serve this cake to your kids who hate vegetables with passion, and they will never even know it has carrots while getting all the nutrients carrot offers!
Chocolate Carrot Cake
• 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
Pre-heat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine carrots, sugar and oil. Pour water over the mixture. In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients. Add to the carrot mixture and mix well.
Pour into a non-stick or lightly oiled 8-inch square pan. Bake for 35
minutes. |
Enjoy!
Categories: chocolate recipes
Tags: carrot cake, carrots, chocolate cake, vitamin A
Everything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or fattening, or so they say. Butterfinger Cake can be cold hard (and yummy!) proof to that, but so be it. After all, it’s not so bad to indulge once in a while in something that you know can’t do your figure any good.
Butterfinger® is a candy bar made by Nestlé which has a crumbling and orange-colored center that can be compared to crisp caramel and peanut butter and it is covered in chocolatey coating. It has been around for decades and is a darling to many.
This cake recipe is such a guilty pleasure most especially to those who love Butterfinger candy bar per se.
Butterfinger Cake
• 1 box German chocolate cake mix
• 8 ounces butterscotch topping for ice cream
• 2 large Butterfinger® candy bars
• 1 large carton whipped topping
• 1 cup pecans, chopped
Mix cake according to package directions, and bake in a 9×13-inch pan. While cake is still hot, pour butterscotch topping over cake, poking small holes in cake so that topping can soak in. Cool completely. Crush Butterfinger bars. Reserve 1/2 of one bar and mix the rest into a large carton of whipped topping along with the pecans. Spread over cooled cake, and top with reserved Butterfinger. Refrigerate until ready to serve. |
Enjoy!
Categories: chocolate recipes
Tags: butterfinger, candy bars, chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate candy, peanut butter
The brownie, one of the most loved baked treat, was believed to be “invented” in America. Some references imply that brownies were originally made in New England at the beginning of the 20th century. Albeit the facts that it is basically cake-like and baked in a cake pan, brownies are considered as bar cookies rather than a cake.
Brownies can either be “cake-style” or “fudge-style”. Cake-style is that with the consistency of a cake, only richer and denser. On the other hand, fudge-style is more like, er, fudge than cake. It is the richer, denser, and creamier version of the brownie. What determines the style of brownie is the ratio of flour to chocolate and/or cocoa.
I hate to state the obvious but it’s apparent brownie derived its name from its dark brown color. But just like almost any food, the origin of the “brownie” is covered in myth. One of the legends told is that a chef added melted chocolate to biscuits by mistake. Another one states that a cook was baking a cake but didn’t have enough flour and baked it anyway, thus, making a brownie.
The most famous legend, however, says a housewife in Bangor, Maine, who was making a chocolate cake, failed to add baking powder. When the cake didn’t rise, she just cut it and served pieces of the flat cake.
Several tales indicate that the first known published recipe appeared in the Sears, Roebuck Catalogue in 1897, but that was a recipe for a molasses candy only called brownies. Nowadays, brownies are baked with either cocoa or melted chocolate or a combination of both.
Although the first few brownie recipes were published and modification to it started in the beginning of the 20th century, it wasn’t until the 1920s that brownies became a darling in the department of baked chocolate treats, and it never ceased.
Categories: chocolate education, fun chocolate facts
Tags: brownies, cake, chocolate cake, chocolate history, fudge, invent
After dinner or in the evening of a hot day, you have that urge for something chocolate. But you just don’t want something heavy.
How about a nice chocolatety angel food cake? Angel food is light and fluffy as well as having little fat and fewer calories than other desserts.
You could have a big piece and still have very little. Good chocolate flavor without filling you up. That makes it a perfect dessert for a summer night.
Chocolate Cinnamon Angel Food Cake
• 1 1/2 cups egg whites (10-12 eggs)
• 1 cup sifted flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup sugar
Bring egg whites to room temperature, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, sift flour, cocoa, powdered sugar, and cinnamon together three times. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on high speed until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a larger bowl if needed.
Sift about 1/4 of the flour mixture over the beaten egg whites. Fold in gently. Repeat, folding in the remaining flour mixture in fourths.
Pour into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake on the lowest rack in the oven at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until the top springs back when touched. Immediately invert cake (leave in pan); cool thoroughly. Loosen sides of cake from pan; remove. |
Enjoy!
Categories: chocolate recipes
Tags: chocolate cake, chocolate dessert, cocoa
OK, I posted a bit of a tease on Monday with the Mug of Chocolate Cake article without actually including the recipe.
I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. Here is the recipe:
1 Minute Chocolate Cake in a Mug
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon PLUS 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon oil
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and cocoa in a small bowl. Then add milk, vanilla, and oil, mixing well. Spray a microwave-safe medium-sized coffee mug with cooking spray. Then pour the batter into the cup. (The cake will rise a little so don’t fill a small mug to the very top.)
Put the cup in the microwave oven at full power for 1 minute. The cake is done when the middle springs back after a light touch with your finger. (Depending upon the strength of your oven, you may need to cook the cake longer. Try 15 second increments if needed, but don’t overcook or it will turn out rubbery.) |
Enjoy!
Categories: chocolate recipes
Tags: chocolate cake, cocoa powder, microwave
A couple nights ago my teenage daughter had a craving for chocolate cake. Although this sounded good to me too, we had one big obstacle in our way–no working oven. Our oven called it quits one week earlier and we had not replaced it yet.
The next day, with chocolate cake still on my mind, I looked up dessert recipes for the crock pot, microwave, grill, Nesco Roaster, anything that did not require baking it in an oven. To my surprise, I found A LOT of recipes out there using alternate cooking devices.
Eventually, I found a recipe for a one-minute microwaveable chocolate cake in a mug.
The recipe is simple, fast, and you can customize it any way you want. You just mix up the basic ingredients in a medium-sized coffee mug, microwave for one minute, top with whatever toots your horn and EAT!
The chocolate cake had excellent texture and flavor, although the chocolate impact was a bit too mild for my liking.
Instead of trying to figure out how to make the cake more chocolatey, I concentrated on the toppings and that took care of the problem! My daughter chose chocolate ice cream sprinkled with chocolate chips and I chose mint chocolate chip frozen yogurt. Both were absolutely outstanding choices, and we highly recommend them.
Needless to say, we completely satisfied our craving for chocolate cake.
Curious for more?? Make sure you come back to read Wednesday’s blog where I will reveal the recipe!
Categories: chocolate review
Tags: chocolate cake, microwave
Here’s a delicious sour cream chocolate cake recipe. The sour cream not only helps make this a moist cake, but the added fat also enhances the chocolate flavor in your mouth.
I’m also including a chocolate sour cream frosting recipe that you might want to use on top and between layers.
Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 4 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate, cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two 9-inch layer pans. Combine all ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Mix 1/2 minute on low speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes on high speed, scraping bowl occasionally.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake each layer 30-35 minutes or until top springs back when touched lightly with finger. Cool.
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
Beat sour cream with sugar and vanilla until smooth. Mix in melted chocolate. Spread over cake. |
Enjoy!
Categories: chocolate recipes
Tags: chocolate cake, sour cream, unsweetened chocolate
I remember a certain look on my babies’ faces after they finished filling their tummies with milk. Their sleepy smiles were a mixture of deep satisfaction and complete happiness. Life was good.
 I think I had a similar look on my face one evening while enjoying a molten chocolate lava cake for dessert. After finishing our meals at a local restaurant (D Mo’s Pasta & Chop House at The Clarke Hotel), my husband suggested we try this dessert. Ah, life was good.
Chocolate lava cake, or molten chocolate cake as it is sometimes called, is a flourless cake/soufflé/hot fudge creation sent down from heaven.
Actually, the credit for who invented the chocolate lava cake is in dispute. A U.S- based chef that claims to have at least popularized it, says he pulled a chocolate sponge cake from the oven before it was done and found that although the center was still runny the texture and flavor were excellent. I love it when mistakes like that happen!
As you can see (your mouth is watering), the chocolate is dark, decadent, and flowing with warm, liquid chocolate from the middle. (Well, you can’t see the liquid chocolate in the photo, but you can imagine it.)
The chocolate cake is a perfect combination of dense and springy texture. Surrounded by whipped cream, a chocolate drizzle, strawberry on the side, and a mint leaf with a dusting of powdered sugar on top, it was simply an unforgettable experience.
I forgot to mention that my husband and I split the chocolate lava cake. That’s a choice that I vow never to do again.
Next time, the whole thing is mine!
Categories: chocolate review, fun chocolate facts
Tags: chocolate cake, chocolate dessert
Sometimes you just need to have a good home made cake, with chocolate in it, of course.
Here’s a recipe for a chocolate marble cake. After it cools spread some chocolate frosting on the top and you’ll be all set!
Chocolate Marble Cake
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream the 1/3 cup butter and sugar together, add the well beaten eggs and mix well. Sift flour and baking powder and add alternately with the milk to the first mixture. Melt the tablespoon of butter together with the chocolate. Put 1/3 of batter into a separate bowl and add the chocolate mixture. Blend well. To the white batter, add the vanilla. Drop white batter, then chocolate, by spoonfuls into a well-greased, deep cake pan. Bake at 350° about 40 minutes. |
Enjoy!
Categories: chocolate recipes
Tags: cake, chocolate cake
This cake is neither green nor lucky, it is simply enhanced with Irish Cream Liqueur.
Irish Chocolate Cake
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar (don’t pack it down when measuring)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup Irish Cream liqueur
• 1/2 cup water
Butter and flour a Bundt pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, stir together the buttermilk, eggs, oil and vanilla, and pour this into the dry ingredients. Beat with an electric mixer on a medium setting for 2 minutes.
Combine the Irish Cream liqueur and water and in a microwave safe bowl, heat on high for 50 seconds. Or, warm on the stove, but do not boil.
Using a low speed on the electric mixer, add the liqueur mixture slowly to the chocolate batter. The batter will be quite thin.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes.
Check the cake after about 45 minutes. If it’s done, a toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean. If the toothpick is sticky, bake another 5 minutes, and check again.
When the cake is done, set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.
Place a cake plate over the top of the pan. Holding both pan and plate together (careful, it’s hot! use oven mitts) turn them over, and lift the pan off the cake. |
Enjoy!
Categories: chocolate recipes
Tags: chocolate cake, chocolate dessert
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