Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

This mud cake is not a heavy cake but it is rich. So get the milk ready as a side. I know it sounds strange to say that it's not heavy but it isn't. The cake is really light in texture.  It was so good that the Sous Chef had a second piece and you know the Sous Chef is not one for ooey gooey stuff (although he lied and said it was still his first piece - he "was just eating slow"). Chocolate Mud Cake (Adapted from JoePastry ) 8 oz butter (2 sticks) 8 oz semisweet chocolate 1 c flour 2 t instant espresso powder 1/2 c cocoa 1/2 t baking soda 1/4 t salt 2 c sugar 4 eggs 1/2 c buttermilk 1 t vanilla 1 t chocolate extract Grease a 9" springform pan. Line the bottom with a round of parchment. Combine the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Melt them in the microwave stirring every 15 seconds or so.  Stir until completely smooth. Sift and combine flour, cocoa, espresso, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir in sugar.  Whisk eggs and b...

Glaze pools in the center - yum! This cake made me realize a few things: 1.  I need a new bundt pan. 2. When a cake sticks to the pan (see item 1), chocolate sauce hides a multitude      of sins. 3. Patience is a virtue I don't possess - waiting for this cake to cool seemed an     eternity. 4.  If you gave me some cold milk, I could probably eat this entire cake by      myself. So what is this marvelous cake? It is the Tunnel of Fudge Cake from Cook's Country. I changed it up a little-slightly.  I saw this suggestion after I had the cake in the oven. Mixing 1T of butter with 1T of melted butter and coating the pan. This might have helped me with item 1, but I still think I need a new pan. It is a good brand pan (Nordic Ware) and a pretty fleur de lis design. I see they now offer it with a different coating. Chocolate cakes seem to stick worse than yellow cakes. My pan has a black coating and I'm wonder...

Brownies packed in a tin - all ready for travel Usually when the eldest visits from the UK or we visit her, I try to send home/bring her some baked goodies.  She was a little concerned about luggage weight this time since she was bringing back a bunch of books. I probably should have done cookies because they are lighter, but I decided to make brownies instead.  The boyfriend is a big chocolate fan too and I thought these would work. They are just ooey and gooey - the way brownies should be.  I hate brownies when they are cakey.  If you want cake, eat cake.  If you want brownies, they have to be gooey or they just aren't brownies. I've made this recipe for brownies many times before using peppermint patties as the recipe calls for but I didn't have them. I thought perhaps I would do some chocolate chips.  But then I remembered I had some dinner mints and thought those would work. Peppermint Brownies (adapted from Martha Stewart) 1 stick butter 8 ...