Easy Chocolate Cupcakes with Lindt ball centres

I had plans to make this after work one day. But the two banana's in the fridge - were BLACK. Un-usable. Was in a baking mood- badly. SO thought of something i can make, with ingredients i already had at home...

It wasn't till i finished mixing the batter, & thought hm, must find something to add to these plain & boring cupcakes. Saw a big box of mixed lindt balls- hoorah!

3 tbsp butter
1 cup self raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
12 assorted lindt balls

Preheat oven to 180'

Melt butter, and mix with remaining ingredients until smooth.

Spoon into cupcake cases, add lindt ball into each centre.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, Cool.

Serve warm, or keep in the fridge to serve anytime!

These were yummy on their own. Had some velvet chocolate ooze out (while they were still warm). You could also serve with some icecream for an even MORE calorie dense dessert!

Blue Mountains Chocolate

176 Lurline Street

Katoomba, Blue Mountains

Ph: 02 4782 7071

While visiting Katoomba, we had seen this chocolate house - and just had to go in :)

We had just finished our Three Sister's walk, and weren't starved, but could do with a small snack, so we chose the brownies, and a few pieces of chocolates.

The brownie was dense, and cold from refridgeration, but slightly on the dry side. Richard liked it, but i'm more a fan of the fudgier type brownies.

I ate the first chocolate in one go, then after seeing the disappointment in Richard's face that i didn't go halves with him, i shared the other three with him haha :P

I don't remember the flavours that we had but they were all hand made. The shop has over 60 different hand made chocolates on offer. On top of that they have chocolate covered toffee and nuts, & fluffy nougat.

So here are pictures for a mini tour of the shop, enjoy!

different chocolate goodies

pick n mix!

i wanted to buy this but was scared it would break on the ride back to Syd

various chocolate moulds (vintage i think!)

assorted chocolates jams & oils

chocolate gift box sets

I left the shop with these two goodies in my bag. Chocolate buttons (milk & dark chocolate). Hoping to make some yummy biscuits with these :)

White chocolate macadamia brownies

These brownies are the most moist that i've ever had - and i prefer them moist actually! SOOO simple to make, a quick & easy foolproof brownie mix that anyone can have a go at making.

300g dark choc, chopped

115g unsalted butter, chopped

150g castor sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup plain flour

180g white choc, chopped

100g unsalted macadamias, chopped

Preheat oven to 180'C. Line a 20cm square tin with non stick baking paper.

Place dark chocolate, butter & sugar in a stainless steel bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until ingredients have melted.

Remove from heat and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Stir in the beaten eggs. Mix in the flour, then stir in the white chocolate and macadamias until well combined.

Spoon into prepared tin, bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove, cool before cutting into pieces.

I had it in the oven for 22 minutes- for a very fudgey & gooey brownies. Leave for an extra 5 minutes for a more firm but still moist brownie.

Devils foodcakes with chocolate icing

The occasion: my workmate son's birthday.

With sourcream being used, these cakes were super moist, and even having it in the icing, the sourcream taste was not too overwhelming, they just need to be regridgerated.

The icing is really glossy, so makes them seem abit.. poshy :) hehe

These were so simple to make! So here is the recipe..

50g butter (at room temp)

115g dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

115g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

25g cocoa powder

125ml sour cream

icing

125g plain chocolate

2 tbsp caster sugar

150ml sour cream

preheat oven to 175

place paper baking cases into muffin tray

put margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, bicarbonate of soda & cocoa powder in a large bowl and using electric hand whisk, beat together until just smooth

using metal spoon, fold in the sour cream, spoon mixture into paper cases

bake for 18-20 minutes

transfer to wire rack to cool

to making icing, break up chocolate into heatproof bowl. set over simmering water & heat until melted, stirring occasionally. remove from heat allow to cool slightly, then whisk in sugar & sour cream until well combined. spread icing over tops of cupcakes and leave to set in refridgerator before serving.

Chocolate Souffles

I had purchased some ramekins a couple months ago (to make some mushroom pot pies for Richard's birthday), & was wondering what else i could use them for.. and while flicking through food magazines, i saw souffles :)

While i did want to try a savoury, i thought a sweet chocolate one would be nice to make for the girls (Ann & Anita). So i invited them over to try my first time chocolate souffles!

Being all nervous, and having Ann help me as well (although she was on the phone for the 2nd half of it haha) after i placed it all in the oven & turned around - and saw the flour still sitting there >_<

I FORGOT TO STIR IN THE FLOUR!!!! arggh...

So, i had no choice but to start again (and what a waste of 4 eggs... :(

I did suggest maybe stirring through the flour but ... no, i started all over again.

I think i maybe should of had the temperature up abit more (i have a stoneage heat element oven), or maybe kept them in for a bit longer, as they didn't rise to the effect in the picture, but they did taste really nice! Soft on the top, and slightly gooey in the centre. So here is the recipe..

1 tsp butter
150g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
85g castor sugar
1 tbsp brandy/rum/whiskey
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
4 large eggs, separated
1 tbsp plain flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 190c, butter four 150ml ramekins, & sprinkle the sides with some castor sugar, place on baking tray. ( i read the castor sugar will help the souffle rise evenly, but it could be because of this that they didnt rise over the top of the ramekins)

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water

Remove from pot, cool slightly, then beat in castor sugar, brandy & vanilla essence. Beat in the egg yolks, one by one, and then the flour. Mixture should be fairly stiff.

Whisk or beat the eggwhites until stiff & peaky, then gentley fold them into the chocolate mixture.

Pour into prepared pots and bake for 10-12 minutes until well risen. They should be slightly gooey inside.

The Chocolate Room

Shop 45 Stocklands Shopping Centre

Polding Street

Wetherill Park NSW 2164

Ph: 9609 4866

I saw a '$10 off' Voucher for this place in the local newspaper, & was excited to have a 'chocolate cafe' in our area finally (Parramatta is further away, Max Brennars). Julie, Sambath & I Decided to go on a Friday night, i was in a bitter mood, & what can be better then sweetening it up with some chocolate goodness :)

It was quiet actually, i thought it would be abit more busy seeing as they opened just 2 or 3 days ago. It was roughly around 7pm so maybe.. it gets busier later in the night after people have finished dinner/watching a movie.

I noticed the girl at the registers used to do kickboxing at the gym so i said a quick hello how are you before sitting down. Its pretty much like you take a menu, sit down, then up again to the register to order & pay before sitting down again!

They have a wide range of hot chocolates (served in a cuddle cup, which sounds very much like Max Brenners "hug mug"!), i think they had about one page & a half, so it took us a while to decide on which one to get..

I finally decided on the 'coconut' from ancient origins. An intoxicating match of fragrant flakes of coconut dipped in perfumed cocoa of the ivory coast.

Julie chose 'hazelnut' select hazelnuts covered in nougat caramel & drowned in thin dutch cocoa.

Sambath chose the 'apple & cinnamon' rich smooth cocoa combined with the familiar taste of poached apple & infused with undertones of spiced cinnamon.

I really enjoyed reading through the menu of drinks, they describe each drink so intricately, it's beautiful!

We decided against ordering waffles or cakes, & chose this because it looked unique amongst everything else on the menu.

'The Chocolate Room Poffertjes". Yeah, try pronouncing it! Because i spent about 10 minutes trying hehe. Basically these were mini pancake type cakes, drizzled with chocolate (which you can see is obviously not enough!!) & served with vanilla icecream, & strawberries.

Honestly, they were abit dry, & the chocolate wasn't that great :( I think i could do a better job at home..

I'd like to think it was just a one off, i do want to come back & try the waffles & maybe take home some choccies!

KoKo Black

Bunda Street

Canberra ACT

Australia 2600

website here

On our way back down from the camping grounds at Hobart Beach (about 2 hrs past Canberra) we remembered that I had Koko Black on my to-eat list. So here we were, stretching our feet out in this 'chocolat' place.

The line was quite long, it was about 2pm, just after lunch, & it was wet outside (& very warm inside). I think we were standing in line for about 10-15 minutes before being able to sit down.

The Front table was full of their chocolates & truffles i ended up getting a gift box for Susan since her birthday was coming up in a few days..

We ordered, & got a receipt straight after. Our orders came out in about 10 minutes, so not bad!

Ann had her supposed affogato hot chocolate ($7.75) & me & Rick shared a cappuchino ($3.85), large pot of Chai Tea ($6.00), Dulce Martini ($8.95) & a cake & biscuit plate ($5.50). I think it was a fair price altogether, but how often do we get to go to Koko Black? (Many cafes in Melb and ONE in Canberra, NONE in syd).

affogato hot chocolate

I probably would of loved the affogato seeing that it had a decent amount of condensed milk :)

cappuchino

The cappuchino came with a serving of milk chocolate flakes.

cake & biscuit plate

The cake & biscuit plate had a mini chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, & two short bread rounds. Oh, and a massive chocolate swirly piece, which i didn't really like i don't like chocolate when its cold its just hard & takes longer to melt in your mouth.

dulce martini

The dulce martini was dulce de leche flavoured icecream, with chocolate sauce & caramelised coconut garnish. It was more vanilla actually, i've only had dulce de leche once and i saw none of that in this.

It was quite a let down actually i don't know. Many people have raved about this place, but i still favour Lindt as my number one chocolate pig out cafe :)

San Churros

47 Glebe Point Road
Glebe NSW 2037
p 02 9692 0119
e glebe@sanchurro.com

Came into San Churros after a meal of Mexican next door (like really, literally next door, not even 3 steps away. GREAT, how will we walk off our food before having desert hehe)


I love the atmosphere, ambience, smell, and lighting,it was warm & cosey, with nice comfy booths, wooden tables & chairs, just a really inviting feel. Displays of truffles & cakes left me, Ann & Jane drooling to order a whole bunch of things, to fulfil our chocolate cravings :) But i did the sensible thing and said 'lets not order too much, our eyes are just really hungry right now.. we just filled our stomachs with Mexicana!!)


We decided on the mixed plate, & some churros with chocolate & caramel dipping sauce.

This was even too much for 3 gals & 2 guys, on top of this was some coffees & hot chocolates.


The chocolate brownie was dry.. Ann says Betty Crocker's instant microwave choc fudge brownie was 10 times better (note:must get some at the next grocery shopping trip). The truffles were average, but then again i can't really say or compare with anything - i've never eaten truffles before. The cocoa covered balls and chocolate fudge cups were okay as well, the churros were my favourite :)


We had the churros with dark chocolate & caramel dipping sauce - delightful! Sure beats the soft bready type churros that i had at Seaworld in 2007, these were crunchy & warm, slightly undercooked says Ann, but hey it's like undercooked cookies - yummy & chewy!!


Jay found churros shaped in his initials!!

San churros beats Lindt's waffles, by far! My new favourite chocolate cafe hehe ^.*

Lindt Chocolat Cafe on Darling Harbour

We were still feeling peckish after Brunch @ Blackbirds, so me ANn & Ants headed over to Lindt Cafe (since Ann hadn't had the waffles here before i thought i'd share one with her)

Ann ordered a Mocha, she said it was really nice (i love da chocolate shavings on the top) i noticed she ate all these up plus the froth before trying the drink hehe.

Ants got the hot chocolate, which was hot milk, with a little cup of melted lindt chocolate, where she poured ALL of the chocolate into a cup of milk (you're supposed to leave some for your 2nd cup of milk! haha)

Me & Ann had the waffles with Lindt vanilla icecream & melted chocolate. These waffles are by far better then Max Brennars (but Ann doesnt seem to think so!!). The icecream here is the best i've ever had too, you can see & taste vanilla bean bits in the icecream, the melted chocolate is like liquid silk, and the waffle was nice & warm, and we ended up with a pool of lindt goodness :)

Anita chose this white chocolate mousse cake thingio with strawberry jam stuff (i'm so bad with descriptions haha). This didn't go down nicely after eating half the waffle, but it was a light, refreshing cafe that wasn't too heavy on the sweetness or flavoring.

Ants with her hot chocolate

Ann with her Mocha

Finished up really really full (brunch + desert, this totally wasted our 7KM run this morning haha) ^.^