Mere Bear’s Black Forest Brownie

I got this recipe from my sister Meredith, aka ‘Mere Bear’ – I thought with it’s dark colour and ‘Black Forest’ as the special ingredient it would be the perfect treat to enjoy while we watch the ALL BLACKS who are playing in the World Cup final, kicking off in about an hours time!

Ingredients:
200 grams butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
1 cup cocoa (sifted to remove lumps)
3 eggs
½ cup standard white flour
200 gram block of ‘Black Forest’ chocolate cut thinly – almost grated looking

Method:
Preheat your oven to 150°C and grease and line a 20x20cm square baking tin.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar then add the cocoa and continue to beat for 3-5 minutes until creamy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in flour and fold gently before adding the finely cut chocolate.
Transfer mixture to a greased and lined 20cm square baking tin.
Bake at 150°C for 1 hour or until the surface of the brownie appears cracked. The centre should appear almost uncooked.
Cool in the tin.
Cut into squares. Just before serving, dust with icing sugar.

The brownie is decadently rich and delicious! You can taste the jelly bits from the chocolate throughout the brownie giving it a unique taste. Fingers crossed that the AB’s win the cup tonight and you can all give these a go as celebratory baking.

GO THE ALL BLACKS!

Rugby Fever Hits Baking

The Rugby World Cup kicked off in New Zealand on Friday and it seems most of the country has caught rugby fever!  Max turned 7 months old yesterday so as promised here is his (rugby themed) cake.  I really need need to fork out for some gel colourings if I am going to use fondant for things in the future as your standard liquid food colouring from the supermarket only creates pastel type colours.

 
It is quite difficult to get pictures of Max with the cakes at the moment (unless I hold him and his grabby little hands), so here is a picture of him taken right before we left for a trip to the Auckland viaduct (with approximately 200,000 other people) to celebrate the opening of the tournament.

 
Unfortunately there is no new recipe to share today – it is just an ‘Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake’ hiding under there.  But I should have something new for you in the next week.