Rich Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

300 g dark chocolate, chopped
150 g butter
1 ½ cup brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a 20 or 22 cm square pan, dust bottom and side of pan with flour and tapping out excess; set aside.

With double boiler, melt chocolate (I used 200 g of 70% dark chocolate and 100 g of standard dark chocolate) over low heat till smooth (about 10 minutes).

Add-in butter, stir to form smooth batter.

Remove from heat and stir-in sugar till dissolves fully; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together flour with baking powder, cocoa powder and salt.

Add the dry ingredients into the chocolate batter, stir well to mix thoroughly.

Beat-in eggs solution till the batter become thick and glossy.

Pour batter in the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes (not to over bake, toothpick inserts into the middle of brownies NEVER comes out clean).

Yield 28 squares.

New York's Style Cheesecake with Gram Crust

Ingredients:

Gram Crust:

1/2 cup gram/besan/chickpeas flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter

Cheesecake Filling:

450 g cream cheese
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 ¼ tbsp cake flour
3 tsp zest of half orange
2 tsp zest of half lemon
2 egg
1 egg yolk

Method:

To prepare the crust or base:

Base a 18 cm springform cake pan with parchment paper; set aside.

In a bowl, mix together gram flour, sugar, salt and water.

Gradually, add-in butter and mix until the mixture begin to clump together.

Pat crumbs into the bottom of the prepared cake pan.

Keep covered in refrigerator for at least 2 hours while preparing cheesecake filling.

To prepare the cheesecake filling:

Preheat oven to 250 °C.

In a large bowl, combine cheese, sugar, flour and zests; whisk till smooth batter.

Gradually, add-in eggs and yolk, whisk thoroughly till smooth and fully incorporated; set aside.

Put a tray of shallow hot boiling water into the bottom rack of preheated oven.

Pour batter into the prepared crust and bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 100 °C.

Continue baking for another 1 hour or till cake is mostly firm and center is just slightly jiggly/wobbly.

Turn-off oven and leave the cake cool completely inside the oven for at least 3 hours.

Remove from oven and chill overnight or till ready to serve.

Banana Chiffon Cake I

Ingredients:

2 egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tbsp (18 g) butter
20 mL milk
1/2 cup banana puree (from 1 banana)
1/3 cup cake flour
1 tbsp corn flour
1/4 tsp baking soda

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

In a bowl, combine together flours and baking soda; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar till frothy; gradually add-in sugar and continue whisking till stiff peaks form (I always whisk egg whites first because I use the same whisk for egg yolks mixture later without washing); set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar till pale, thick and glossy.

Add-in butter and milk, continue whisking till butter is fully incorporated.

Add-in banana puree and whisk well to mix evenly.

Fold-in flours mixtures, stir-well to form homogeneous batter.

Gradually and gently, fold the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks batter.

Pour batter into ungreased chiffon pan (6 inches) and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and immediately invert the chiffon pan on a lifted wire rack.

Leave to stand for 10 minutes or till the cake shrinks all over from pan walls.

With a flexible thin knife or spatula, loose cake from pan and transfer it from pan onto wire rack; let cool completely before cut into serving size.

Molten Dark Chocolate Cupcakes (Flourless)

Ingredients:

200 g dark/bittersweet chocolate
250 g butter
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Method:

Preheat oven to 230 °C.

Lightly grease 6 foil cupcake molds and coat surface with a thin layer of bread-crumb.

Via double boiler, melt chocolate with butter, remove from heat and set aside.

In a deep bowl, beat eggs, yolk, sugar till thick, pale and fluffy.

Fold warm chocolate-butter mixture into the eggs mixture, whisk to incorporate.

Whisk-in cocoa powder.

Pour batter evenly into prepared molds, place on baking sheet, bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cakes have risen, possess a thin crust, set at outer part and slightly jiggly in center.

Remove from oven, let sit for 1 minute with mold.

Use a plastic knives, loose cakes side from mold's wall.

Carefully invert cake onto hand then place on dessert plate.

Dust top with confectioners' sugar and serve warm immediately.

Serves 6.