Archive | June 2013

Decadent Hot Fudge Cake

The name says it all. What’s not to love about hot fudge in the form of a cake? Trust me when I say you’ll be tempted to grab a spoon and sit down in front of the couch with the entire pan and go to town. If you’re having one of those days, awesome or terrible, this is the ultimate decadent dessert—rich, gooey, and pure chocolate decadence!

I originally saw this recipe in a magazine a few years ago and when I read through it thought it was a mistake. The ingredients and instructions don’t seem to work. I was curious so decided to give it a try and boy was I wrong! So stinkin’ good! I’ve tweaked it over time to make it even more chocolatey and hope you’ll give it a try. This is the ultimate chocoholic’s cake.

Hot Fudge Cake

Decadent Hot Fudge Cake
Serves 8 (or 1 if it’s a Friday night on your own)

  • 1 cup flour
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons cocoa, divided
  • 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted (the better the chocolate, the better the cake! I go for Ghirardelli or Scharffen Berger)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 ¾ cups hot water
  • Ice cream or whipped cream, optional

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a bowl, sift flour, sugar, 4 tablespoons cocoa, and salt and mix until blended. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together milk, oil, melted chocolate, and vanilla. Add flour mixture.

Add flour

Note that it will appear quite dry and lumpy so I recommend mixing together with a potato masher or using the bread paddle on a mixer.

potato masher

Transfer to a 9” square baking dish and spread batter out with a spatula.

In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons cocoa, brown sugar, and hot water. Pour over batter but do not stir.
Pour chocolate

Bake 35-40 minutes.
Baked Cake

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream or dollop of whipped cream.

Banana Streusel Muffins

Too often, I find myself staring at sad bananas that are way past their good-to-nom date. That’s when I whip up a batch of banana streusel muffins. They are spicy, nutty and full of that yummy banana flavor that only sad bananas know how to bring to a party. The walnut streusal topping takes these to the next dimension of awesome. Did I mention they are wicked easy to make?

Banana Streusel Muffins
Makes 24 muffins

Banana Streusal Muffins

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup butter, melted
6 very ripe bananas
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Streusal Topping:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease or spray a muffin tin.

Muffin Tin

In a large bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and melted butter. Add in bananas and mix until smooth. If mixing by hand, a potato masher is very helpful in mashing up the bananas.

Banana batter

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix until the batter is moistened and the dry ingredients are all incorporated.

Finished Batter

Pour batter into muffin tin, leaving room for the streusal topping.

Streusal Topping:
In a small bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts and butter together with a fork, until crumbly.

Streusal

Scoop a small spoonful of streusal on top of each muffin.

Topped Muffins

Bake in preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool completely before eating.

Banana Streusal Muffins

Yay for sad bananas!

Sad Bananas

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

It’s been a rainy and dreary couple of days here in Charleston so perfect weather for curling up with my pugs and a book and making some soup. My Papa actually shared this recipe for Hungarian Mushroom Soup. He had it at a restaurant a few weeks ago, went crazy for it so made it at home for the family. I couldn’t stop thinking about it so this icky weather was just the necessary push to make a pot of my own. I made it for dinner and it was phenomenal! The richness of this mushroom soup really comes out with the flavors of parsley, dill, lemon and Hungarian paprika.  Definitely one to add to the recipe book for cold or rainy days.

Plated Soup

Hungarian Mushroom Soup
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons dried dill weed
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
3 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup sour cream

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat and melt butter. Add onions and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.

Onions

Add mushrooms and garlic and sauté an additional five minutes, stirring regularly.

Mushrooms

Mushroom and spices

Stir in dill, paprika, cumin, soy sauce, and broth. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Broth simmer

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and milk and add to soup.

Milk

Cover and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Milk 15 min

Turn off the heat and add salt and pepper, lemon juice, parsley and sour cream.

Parsley

Mix together until incorporated. Serve soup in bowls with a dollop of sour cream, a dash of paprika and parsley for color, and a crusty wheat or french bread for dipping.

Plated Soup

This soup is so good that you’ll start wishing for cold and rainy days! Many thanks to my Papa (@LifeCoach4Men) for another amazing recipe!