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Black-Bottom Cupcakes

Posted in Chocolate, Cupcakes, Dessert, tagged , , on March 15, 2019| 3 Comments »

Swirled Black-Bottom Cupcake

Black-bottom cupcakes are seriously delicious and super moist, hence no frosting needed at all on these little babies. Funny name though and think it comes from the cupcake originally having the cream cheese encased in chocolate, sort of like a peanutbutter cup. Here I made half of the cupcakes with the  cream cheese center and the other half with a swirling effect. You pick what you like the best and enjoy.

Making Black-Bottom Cupcakes

Black-Bottom Cupcakes, makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients

For the filling:

8 oz cream cheese, low fat, at room temperature (226 g)

1/3 cup sugar (75 g)

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 oz semi-sweet chopped chocolate or chocolate chips (60 g)

For the cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (195 g)

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder(33 g)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (190 g)

1 cup water (225 ml or 2.25 dl)

1/3 cup vegetable oil (75 ml or 0.75 dl)

1 tablespoon white or cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 12 cup muffing pan with cupcake liners, set aside.

Make the filling:

Beat together cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) and set aside.

Make the cupcakes: 

In a large bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl mix together brown sugar, water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and stir in wet ingredients. Stir only until smooth, careful not to over-stir.

Fill each cupcake liner half-way with chocolate batter, leaving a small amount of batter in the bowl which you will need later on. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese batter into center of each cupcake, trying to not let cream cheese batter touch the sides of cupcake liner. Divide cream cheese batter evenly among all 12 cupcakes. Using the remaining chocolate batter, spoon batter over cream cheese to seal it off. Cupcakes will be 90% full which is ok. If you wish to swirl the batter, insert a butter knife only about 1/2 inch into each cupcake moving the knife around in an abstract pattern to create the swirling effect.

Bake for 25 minutes until the cupcakes are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.

Black-Bottom Cupcake

Source: Smitten Kitchen via David Lebovitz

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Sarah Bernhardkager – Sarah Bernhard Cakes

Posted in Cake, Cookies, Danish, Pastry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2016| 4 Comments »

Sarah Bernhard Kager

Sarah Bernhardkager

Sarah Bernhardkager are famous danish cakes developed by pastry chef Johannes Steen in Copenhagen, Denmark back in 1911. The cakes are named after the famous french actress Sarah Bernhard who visited Copenhagen in connection with her book release and so the cakes were created in her honor. The Sarah Bernhard cake is a macaroon cookie topped with a rich genache, covered with melted chocolate and the original cake was decorated with a small candied violet flower. The cake is a decadent treat.

Making Sarah Bernhard Cakes

Making Sarah Bernhard Cakes

This recipe makes approximately 40 macaroon cookies. The extra cookies can easily be stored in a cookie tin with a tight fitting lid and used later. The process for making the cakes is long, but fairly easy. I would advice to break up the process into two days, either make the cookies on day one and then make the ganache and assemble cakes on day two or vice versa. I also simplified the chocolate coating by using Ghirardelli dark melting wafers which is so much easier than tempering chocolate and it taste eaqually wonderful. If you cannot find the Ghirardelli wafers in your local store it can be bought online.

Sarah Bernhard Cakes – makes 15 cakes

Ingredients:

For the Macaroons:

150 gram hazelnuts (5.3 ounces)

300 g sugar (10.6 oz)

approx 3 egg whites, at room temperature

For the Ganache:

4 deciliter heavy whipping creme (13.5 fl oz)

250 g dark chocolate, with about 66 % cocoa content (8.8 oz)

For chocolate coating:

300 g Ghirardelli dark melting wafers (10.6 oz)

Directions:

To make hazelnut macaroons: Preheat oven to 340 degrees F (170 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a food processor combine hazelnuts and sugar and process until you have a fine crumble. Lightly beat egg whites with a fork to break up whites  a little. With the processor going on low speed, slowly add egg whites until you have a smooth, thick mixture. Drop spoonful’s of hazelnut mixture onto baking sheets, no more than 4-5 cm (1.6 to 2 inches) in diameter, beware that the mixture will spread out. Bake for 13-14 minutes or until they start taking on a golden color. Allow to cool slightly on baking sheet before moving cookies to a cooling rack. Once cooled down, store in a cookie tin until ready to use.

To make ganache: In a small saucepan, heat whipping creme until it just starts to simmer. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, chop chocolate finely and place into a bowl. Pour whipping creme through a sieve and then back into saucepan, heat to simmer once again and remove from heat. While stirring chopped chocolate in the center, pour creme in a thin stream into chocolate and continue to stir until you have a smooth, shiny chocolate. Refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Assembling cakes: Remove ganache from refrigerator and stir until smooth. Spoon a small amount of ganache onto a macaroon cookie and using a small icing spatula or a butter knife shape the ganache into a rounded cone shape. Set cookie aside and repeat with remaining macaroon cookies until ganache is used up. To cover cakes with melted chocolate, place melted chocolate into a microwave bowl and microwave chocolate in 10 seconds increments, stirring chocolate in-between each heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Careful not to overheat, as chocolate will then burn and it become nu-usable. Over the bowl of melted chocolate, place a cake onto a fork and spoon melted chocolate over the Sarah Bernhard cake. Once covered, gently tap fork to allow excess to drip off. Place cake onto a piece of foil or parchment paper and allow chocolate to set. Repeat with remaining cakes. If melted chocolate starts to harden, place back into microwave for 10 seconds to soften back up. Once the chocolate has hardened on all cakes, store cookies in a container with a tight fitting lid in the refrigerator. Cakes can be served cold or at room temperature. Enjoy!

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Black Magic Chocolate Cake

Posted in Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Frosting, tagged , , , , on May 1, 2016| 1 Comment »

Black Magic Chocolate Cake

Black Magic Chocolate Cake

I have been reading a lot about this cake on social media and it got so much praise that I simply had to give it a try. And I have to say that the rumors about this cake is true. This is an outrageously super duper delicious chocolate cake, and what’s more, it is pretty easy to make, and what’s even more, you can easily make and assemble this cake the day before you intend to serve it.

Just a note about springform pans. If the batter is thin, like the one in this recipe, the springform pan can leak a little. To prevent a mess you can a wrap a little foil around the outside of the pan, or you can simply just lay foil on the baking rack below the pan.

Black Magic Cake (serves 8-10)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

275 g all-purpose flour (9.7 oz or 4.5 dl)

425 g sugar (15 oz or 5 dl)

90 g unsweetened cocoa (3.2 oz or 2 dl)

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla sugar

2 eggs, at room temperature

8.5 fl oz fresh brewed cooled coffee (2.5 dl)

8.5 fl oz milk (2.5 dl)

4.2 fl oz vegetable oil (1.25 dl)

For the frosting:

17 fl oz heavy whipping cream (5 dl)

185 g sugar (6.5 oz or 2 dl)

52 g unsweetened cocoa (1.8 oz or 1 dl)

1 tsp vanilla sugar

Directions:

To make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray two 9 inch round spring-form pans with baking spray and line bottom of pans with parchment paper, set aside.

Sift together all dry ingredients and set aside. Combine eggs, cooled coffee, milk and vegetable oil in a bowl and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, start mixer on slow to combine and then increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, dough will be very thin.

Divide dough into two equal portions and pour dough into prepared pans. Bake pans one at the time, or if baking both at the same time, rotate pans halfway through baking. Bake on middle rack for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into middle of cake comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely in pans.

To make frosting: combine cream, sugar, cocoa and vanilla sugar in a bowl and beat until you have a thick mousse consistency.

Assembly: remove cooled cakes from pans. If cakes have a slightly curved top, you can level cakes by cutting tops off using a serrated knife. Place one cake onto serving dish and spread half of the frosting out over the cake. Place second cake on top and spread out the remaining frosting. Place cake in refrigerator until ready to serve. Cake can easily be baked and assembled 1 day ahead of time. Enjoy!

Source: frydlearning.dk

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Chocolate Chili

Posted in Autumn, Beef, Chocolate, Comfort food, tagged , , , , on November 9, 2015| 5 Comments »

Chocolate Chili

Chocolate Chili

I have been improving on my chili recipe and I am really pleased with the outcome. I add just a tiny bit of soy and teriyaki sauce, but most importantly, I add chocolate which gives it a warm and slightly sweet background flavor. This recipe got big praises from my husband and son and it is now officially my “go to” chili recipe.

Ingredients:

2 lbs (0.9 kg) ground beef

1 small onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

15 oz (440 g) can tomato sauce

14 1/2 oz (428 g) can diced tomatoes

10 oz (295 g) can Rotel diced tomato and green chili, original

16 oz (473 g) can Navy beans, drained and rinsed

30-40 pieces (30 g) bittersweet chocolate chips

2 dashes soy sauce

2 dashes teriyaki sauce

a pinch of sugar

salt to taste

Directions:

Dice onion and green pepper, set aside. Puree diced tomatoes, set aside. Brown meat until almost cooked thru, drain fat. Add onion and green pepper, continue to cook meat until cooked thru. Add remaining ingredients, except salt, and cook covered for 1/2 to 1 hour. Season with salt as you go. Enjoy!

Source: My Danish Kitchen

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Gitte’s DD – Ding Dong

Posted in Cake, Chocolate, Dessert, Frosting, tagged , , , , on July 27, 2015| 5 Comments »

Ding Dong

Ding Dong

These cakes taste a lot like the famous Ding Dong, minus the chocolate covering. I must admit that the cakes were taste tested repeatedly and that they passed the “delish” mark. The chocolate cake is soft and moist and the cream is a silky Marshmallow frosting. I also added a thin layer of jam and/or Nutella which turned out really good. The cakes are pretty easy to make. I would say the only tricky thing is when you go to punch out the cake rounds, make sure to press the cutter into the cake slowly, otherwise the cake edge will tear. Store cakes in refrigerator, but for best results, remove them from the refrigerator 20-30 minutes before serving. I know you’ll really enjoy these little tasty treats.

Ding Dong

Ding Dong

Chocolate Cake (makes one 17 x 11 inch sheet cake)(43 x 28 cm)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (265 g or 9.3 oz)

2 cups sugar (425 g or 15 oz)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (52 g or 1.8 oz)

2 sticks unsalted butter (224 g or 7.9 oz)

1 cup boiling water (236 ml or 8 fl oz)

1/2 cup buttermilk (118 ml or 4 fl oz)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Marshmallow Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (224 g or 7.9 oz)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

One 7 oz jar of marshmallow creme (198 g)

2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted (230 g)

2-4 tablespoons light cream

For assembly:

strawberry, apricot, raspberry jam or nutella

Maraschino Cherries

Directions:

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 17 x 11 inch (43 x 28 cm) baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar and salt, set aside.

In a small saucepan melt butter. Add cocoa and stir until well blended. Heat water in microwave until boiling. Add water to butter mixture, bring to a boil and continue to boil for 30 seconds. Remove from heat. While mixing, pour hot butter mixture into flour, continue to mix until combined.

Combine buttermilk, beaten eggs, baking soda and vanilla. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour/butter mixture and stir until well combined.

Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool completely before assembling cakes.

To make frosting:

In a mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla and marshmallow creme. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add confectioners sugar. Add cream and beat to combine. Scrape down sides of bowl. With mixer on high speed, beat creme for 3 to 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. If necessary, add more confectioner sugar or creme to get the right piping consistency.

To assemble cakes:

Use a cookie cutter of your choice (I used a mixture of 2 and 2 3/4 inch ovals [5 1/2 and 7 cm]). Once the cake has cooled completely, use your cookie cutter to punch out cake rounds. To avoid braking the cake edges, press cookie cutter into cake very slowly. Place half of cake rounds onto serving platter. Spread your favorite jam or nutella over cake and pipe frosting on top. Place second cake on top of frosting. Pipe a small amount of frosting on top of second cake and top with a cherry. Store in refrigerator. Remove from refrigerator 20-30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Source: Cake – Tasty Kitchen, Frosting – Joy of Baking

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Chocolate-Almond Biscotti

Posted in Chocolate, Cookies, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2015| 6 Comments »

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Making Biscotti has been on my to-do-list for years now. I love Biscotti and buy them often at the store, but knowing now how delicious and easy they are to make, I’m gonna have to try making them again real soon. This particular Biscotti is meant to be softer than your standard Biscotti and it is a little piece of chocolate heaven. I love the fact that it is softer and I must confess, I had two in one setting.

Making Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Making Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Chocolate-Almond Biscotti (makes 15 Biscotti)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour (270 grams)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (45 grams)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (85 grams)

1 cup sugar (215 grams)

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup blanched, chopped almonds (70 grams)

1/2 cup chocolate chips (85 grams)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, stir and set aside. In the bowl of an electrical mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and smooth, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at the time, mixing well in-between and scraping down sides as needed. Add flour in three increments, mixing to combine, dough will be firm. Stir in almonds and chocolate chips.

Place dough on baking sheet and shape into an approximately 12 x 4 inch flat log (30 x 10 cm). Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.

Lower oven temperature to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Place Biscotti log onto a cutting board and with a sharp serrated knife, cut into 3/4 inch slices (2 cm). Place slices back onto baking sheet, cut side down, and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.

Source: adapted from Martha Stewart

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Homemade Bounty Bars

Posted in Chocolate, Danish, Quick and Easy, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 9, 2015| 15 Comments »

Homemade Bounty Bars

Homemade Bounty Bars

In Denmark you can buy Bounty candy bars which is a coconut filling covered in chocolate. Essentially it’s like a Mounds or Almond Joy candy bar. Since my husband and I are both big coconut lovers, we have been dragging these chocolate bars across the Atlantic ocean for years. But guess what, you can make them yourself and they are so easy to make. Not to mention, they taste just like a Bounty bar. So now we can stop dragging them back to the US and we’ll have more room in our luggage for my Danish liquorice.

Homemade Bounty Bars with cracker base

Homemade Bounty Bars with cracker base

I made a little variant here from the traditional Bounty bar because Joe suggested that he would like a little crunch to the bars, so I added a Graham cracker base which turned out really good. The only disadvantage to the addition of a cracker base, is that the base do get soft with 2 days. So if you are planning on having them around the house for a week or so, then I would leave out the crackers.

Bounty Bars

Ingredients:

240 g (8.5 oz) unsweetened coconut, fine shred

396 g (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

300 g (10.6 oz) chocolate, melting wafers

4-5 sheets graham crackers (optional)

Directions:

In a bowl, combine coconut and sweetened condensed milk. Stir to combine.

If you are not using graham crackers: simply just take a small amount of coconut mixture and shape into a rectangle (mine were 6 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm or approx 2.5 x 1 x .5 inches) or whichever shape your heart desires. Place in refrigerator and chill for 2 hours.

If you are using the graham crackers: they come in sheets with four crackers. Using a serrated knife, gently saw the sheets into crackers at the perforated line. Take a small amount of coconut mixture, place on top of cracker and shape to fit the cracker. Repeat with remaining coconut and crackers. Place in refrigerator and chill for 2 hours.

Melt chocolate wafers either over a water-bath or in the microwave (10 second increments). Once melted, place each bar on a fork and holding it over the bowl, pour a spoonful of melted chocolate over, making sure sides are coated. Then dip the fork with the bar still on top of it, into the melted chocolate to coat the bottom. Slide the bar off the fork onto a baking sheet and allow to set. Enjoy!

Source: adapted from Madling

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Varm Chokolade Med Amaretto – Hot Chocolate With Amaretto

Posted in Autumn, Chocolate, Christmas, Comfort food, Drinks, Quick and Easy, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2015| 7 Comments »

Varm Chokolade Med Amaretto

Varm Chokolade Med Amaretto

When the weather turns cold there is nothing like a nice cup of hot chocolate to keep you warm. These days I like mine with a shot of Amaretto, just to warm my bones a little more. Adding Amaretto is of course completely optional, but chocolate and Amaretto is a pair made in heaven.

Homemade hot chocolate is not overly sweet, as the store-bought kind, and I love a dollop of whipped cream on top for extra creaminess. Or if you are serving it for children, marshmallows would be a lot more fun. 🙂 Stay warm out there.

Hot Chocolate With Amaretto (Makes 2 large servings)

Ingredients:

5 deciliter (or 16.9 fluid oz) milk

75 gram (or 2.6 oz) dark chocolate 60 %

2 shots Amaretto

whipping cream, optional, for topping

Directions:

If you want a dollop of whipped cream on top of your hot chocolate, whip then cream and set aside.

Chop chocolate finely. Heat milk to 85 degrees C (185 degrees F) which is hot, but not simmering. Remove from heat and add chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate is dissolved. Add Amaretto and stir. Pour into serving glass and top with a dollop of whipped cream if desired, serve immediately or store hot chocolate in a thermos for later. Enjoy

Hot Chocolate With Amaretto

Hot Chocolate With Amaretto

Source: My Danish Kitchen

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Julekonfekt – Marzipan With Nougat Confections

Posted in Chocolate, Christmas, Danish, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2014| 6 Comments »

Marzipan with Nougat balls

Marzipan with Nougat balls

Making confections is one of many Christmas activities that is popular in Denmark and it’s especially fun to make with your children, not to mention delicious to eat. To make the chocolate dipping less cumbersome I used a plastic fork and broke off the middle two digits to allow the chocolate to drip off more easily. I made half a batch with rainbow sprinkles and half without. The sprinkles add a crunch and a fun splash of color but you can use any kind of covering you like, for example, finely chopped nuts, freeze dried raspberries or coconut, just let your imagination run wild. Have fun making these.

Making Christmas confection

Making Christmas confection

Marzipan with Nougat Confections (makes 16 pieces)

Ingredients:

100 gram Marzipan (3.5 oz.)

50 gram Nougat (1.75 oz.)

200 gram chocolate (7 oz.) melted, milk or dark your choice

50 gram Rainbow Nonpareils (1.75 oz.) optional

Directions:

Melt chocolate over a water bath. Cut off small pieces of marzipan and flatten to a disc with your fingers. Place a small amount of nougat in the center of marzipan and close the marzipan around nougat to form a ball. Dip the ball into the melted chocolate, drip off excess and toss the chocolate covered ball in the rainbow sprinkles. Place on a baking sheet to cool and harden. Store in airtight tin. Enjoy!

Source: My Danish Kitchen

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Chokolade Specier – Chocolate Butter Cookies

Posted in Chocolate, Christmas, Cookies, Danish, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2014| 8 Comments »

Chokolade Specier

Chokolade Specier

Chokolader Specier is a traditional Danish Butter Cookie loaded with chopped chocolate. Danish butter cookies have been around since 1933 and I am sure you are familar with the dark blue tins of Royal Dansk Butter cookies being sold in many stores today. Usually I am not a big fan of butter cookies, but add lots of chocolate and you can count me in. These chocolate butter cookies are not overly sweet and the crumb is soft and flaky. I guess, if you stretch your imagination, you could think of these Chokolade Specier as the Danish version of the American Chocolate Chip cookie.

Scrape seeds from Vanilla bean and press into a teaspoon sugar, this will separate the seeds.

Scrape seeds from Vanilla bean and press into 1 teaspoon sugar, this will separate the seeds. Add chocolate and mix to combine. Press dough into logs, chill. Slice and bake.

Chokolade Specier – Chocolate Butter Cookie (makes 60-70 cookies)

Ingredients:

300 gram butter (salted) , at room temperature (10.5 ounces)

125 gram confectioners sugar (4.4 ounces)

375 gram all-purpose flour (13.2 ounces)

seeds from 1 vanilla bean

1 teaspoon sugar

200 gram semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (7 ounces)

Directions:

Cut open the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out. Press the seeds into 1 teaspoon sugar with the flat side of a knife, this is to separate the seeds, set aside.

Using your hands or a mixer, combine butter, confectioners sugar, vanilla bean seeds and flour. When the dough starts to come together add chocolate and mix until combined. Pour dough onto work surface, press the dough together with your hands and then roll into logs 4 centimeter (1.5 inch) wide. Try to work quickly so the warmth from your hands doesn’t alter the chocolate. Wrap logs tightly in plastic wrap and store in refrigerator for at least 4 hours before baking.

When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 degrees Fahrenheit). Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Slice dough into 5-10 millimeter (0.2-0.4 inch) thickness and bake for 8 minutes. Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight cookie tin. Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas!

Source: adapted from Kager til Kaffen

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