Eggless Chocolate Brownies with Pralines and Caramel Sauce

When I started baking a couple of years back,there weren't as many recipes available online and out of those which were available,only a few were reliable.I tried so many recipes from books,bloggers and friends before being able to call myself a baker :) Now the situation is completely different,at the tip of your fingers you can find hundreds of recipes and these days there are methods to bake even without an oven,isn't that great?

My next uphill task after learning to bake was to find good eggless recipes.I bake frequently for my family and both my amma and my m-i-l do not eat eggs.There are so many eggless recipes using curd,condensed milk,milk+vinegar,I've tried them all:) In fact,one of the most popular recipes in this blog is an Eggless Chocolate Walnut cake that I baked ages ago.I still get mails from people who have tried it saying the recipe works like a charm every single time.Also check out my Basic Eggless Vanilla Cake :)

March happens to be the month I started my blog 12 years ago.Yes,I know it's a long period but the last few years I wasn't consistent in posting here.I do love blogging and sharing recipes but let me be honest here,the lack of engagement in the blog(in terms of comments,mails etc)kind of demotivates me.I'm trying to keep all such thoughts aside and keep blogging,let's see how it works out this year :) For all those who still send me mails,feedback and appreciation,lots and lots of love to you :)

Let's head straight to the recipe.I made these brownies a while back for a lunch get together.It combines my love of butterscotch and chocolate and the result

is one kickass brownie :)

Eggless Chocolate Brownies with Pralines and Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

For the Brownie

Butter - 80 gms,melted and cooled

Condensed milk - 180 gms

Curd - 30 gms

Vanilla - 1 tsp

Dark chocolate - 160 gms,melted and cooled

Flour - 120 gms

Baking powder - 1/2 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Pralines - 1/3 cup,crushed(recipe below)

Salted Caramel sauce - 1/3 cup(recipe below)

Method

To make the Caramel Sauce

Take 1/2 cup sugar in a pan and let it caramelize.

When it is a deep amber colour,simmer the pan and mix in 1/2 cup cream and 1/4 cup salted butter.Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Let it cool down before storing in an airtight container.

To make the Praline

Take 1/3 cup sugar in a pan and let it caramelize.

Mix in 1/4 cup of toasted and crushed nuts(I used Cashews).

Add it to the caramelized sugar and pour on to a greased tray.Let it cool and then crush and use.

To make the Brownie

Preheat oven to 180C.Grease and line an 8" tin.

In a bowl whisk together the melted butter,condensed milk,curd and vanilla.

Add the melted and cooled chocolate and give a good mix.

Sift together flour,baking powder and baking soda and mix into the wet ingredients.

Stir in the crushed pralines.

Pour into the tray and swirl with caramel sauce.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool and cut into squares.

Step by Step Tutorial

To make the Brownie

Preheat oven to 180C.Grease and line an 8" tin.

In a bowl whisk together the melted butter,

condensed milk,

curd and 

vanilla.

Add the melted and cooled chocolate 

and give a good mix.

Sift together flour,baking powder and baking soda and 

mix into the wet ingredients.

Stir in the crushed pralines.

Pour into the tray 

and swirl with caramel sauce.

Bake for 30-40 minutes 

or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool and cut into squares.

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Arjun turns FIVE :)

If I start the post by saying..."but isn't it yesterday I shared the good news of his birth to all of you",it would be a cliche.But it's true.Time seems to have flown by so quickly that I still cannot believe he's five :)

There are a few things which haven't changed though..he's as cute,charming,smart{of course I'm his mom and I'm biased;)}kind,thoughtful and naughty as ever.His teachers from school tell me the whole class is in his friends circle and he loves going to school and playing with his friends.He has a wide circle of friends in our apartment too and I'm happy about that.

Every year,I look forward to baking his Birthday Cake.I have to say this,Arjun just like his dad,does not have a sweet tooth.He's crazy about chocolates but other than that,nothing.He likes his cakes and cupcakes to be plain and without frosting if he ever eats them,that is.So when I asked him,he said he wants a chocolate cake with lots of sprinkles and a giraffe.

I'm no fondant expert and my giraffe hardly looked like one but he loved it.

Eyes sparkling with excitement and sloppy kisses are proof of that :)

We had a small party at home with his friends and we had a blast :)

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Blueberry Choco-chip Tea Cake & A Giveaway!

Some of us were having a discussion on facebook(where else!)about the use of food processors in kneading bread dough and cleaning up after baking.I pride myself in keeping my kitchen counter clean and tidy,but you know,we all have our days.Strangely,when I have utensils to wipe dry and clean and there are stuff on the counter top to arrange in the pantry,I bake.Yes,I bake!

I find space in the chaos and start prepping.By the time the cake pan goes into the oven,I will be feeling full of energy and will clean up the kitchen in half the time it usually requires.And the prize,goodie coming out of the oven.Fair deal,right.

I had some leftover dried blueberries in the fridge after making these cookies.We had finished almost half the packet by snacking,so I didn't have much.Searched for some recipes and came across this no-fail recipe from Deeba.Have baked this cake so many times already that the recipe was stored in my head.To make up for the lesser amount of blueberries,I added a good amount of chocolate-chips which can never go wrong in my opinion.

The cake itself is delicious and very homey.With a slight tang from the lime and buttermilk,along with the chocolate chips,this makes for an ideal cake for tea-time.

Blueberry Chocolate-chip Tea-Cake
Recipe source - Deeba

Ingredients

All purpose flour/Maida - 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted butter, room temperature - 1/2 cup/100 gms
Vanilla or plain sugar - 1 cup
Eggs - 2
Buttermilk {or substitute recipe below}- 100 ml
Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Juice and Zest of 1 lime
Dried Blueberries - 1/2 cup
Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup

Method

To make buttermilk substitute at home

 
Take 100ml milk at room temp; add 1 tsp white vinegar. Let it stand 5-10 minutes. When it curdles, it's ready.

Grease and flour the sides of a 8" ring tin, or a 6" round tin. [I used an 8' round tin]Line the bottom and sides.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
 
Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Reserve.
 
Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract, lime juice and zest.
 
With beater on low add the flour and buttermilk alternately in three lots.
 
Mix in the dried blueberries and chocolate chips.
 
Bake for 50-60 minutes till golden brown on top, and the tester comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then remove the lining and let the cake cool further on a wire rack.
 
Slice and serve.

Other Variations of the cake

Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake | Mango Buttermilk Pound Cake

Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake | Coffee-Chocolate chip Bundt cake

To celebrate the occasion of Easycooking turning 5,I am giving away one(1) copy of the book Baking Favorites by Australian Women's Weekly to a lucky reader(shipping only within India).Just post your favorite recipe from Easycooking in the comment box.Or just say a hi,either will do:)

This Giveaway is closed.

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Chocolate Banana Cake

Chocolate and banana,sounds like an interesting combo,doesn't it?When whipped up into a cake with a smooth ganache on top,it definitely becomes a treat for the palates.I have quite a few Banana bakes in here,with Roasted Bananas flavored with Rum,Eggless Banana Muffins with Apples and a Plain fabulous Banana Cake but pairing it up with chocolate has never been tried before.

Despite me trying not to (over)bake with chocolate,I somehow end up with at least one chocolate post(if not more) every month.Anyone's complaining??

Just like this cake,this one's very easy to whip up too.Just two bowls,mixing dry ingredients into the wet and the batter is ready within minutes.I baked this for two kids at home now and they were relished with much gusto.Yes,the last crumb was polished off along with licking the ganache off the plate,what more could the happy baker in me want:). 

 
Chocolate Banana Cake
Recipe source - Joy of Baking

Ingredients

All purpose flour/Maida - 1 3/4 cup
Cocoa powder - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 2 cups(I pulsed the sugar in my mixer jar for 5 seconds)
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 2
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Banana,mashed - 1 cup(I used 3 medium sized bananas)
Milk - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup
Warm water - 1 cup

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.Grease and line a 9/13 rectangular pan.(I used a 9/9 square baking dish and baked the rest into cupcakes).
 
In a big mixing bowl,mix together the dry ingredients starting with flour,cocoa powder,sugar,baking powder,baking soda and salt.Whisk together with wire whisk and keep aside.  
 
In another mixing bowl,whisk together eggs,vanilla extract,banana puree,oil,milk and warm water.
 
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together till you get a smooth,lump free batter.
Tip the batter into the prepared baking tin and bake for 40-45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and finish cooling in a wire rack.

Chocolate Ganache

Semi sweet chocolate - 200gms
Cream - 200 ml
Butter - 1 tbsp 
 

In a thick bottomed stainless steel pan,heat the cream until bubbles start appearing on the sides.
Mix in chopped chocolate and stir for a while.Switch off heat and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Whisk well till no chocolate lumps appear and the ganache becomes smooth and creamy.Mix in the butter.
Let it cool down to room temperature and use as required.


For finishing off-Pour chocolate ganache over the cake and smear on the sides too.Let it sit for a while till the ganache sets(you could refrigerate the cake too!).Serve chilled.
 
Notes

• The cake remains moist even after refrigeration because of the oil and the banana added into it.Makes for a perfect party cake.Bake it in a Borosil dish and serve it straight from the pan,makes for lesser cleaning up.
• The banana flavor is quite light but makes for a perfect pairing with chocolate.

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Another exciting news I've got to share with all my readers is that Easycooking was mentioned on Indulge(Indian Express)on May 4th,Chennai edition as one of the most followed food blogs in the city.

 
Thank YOU for your constant support and encouragement!

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Eggless Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

For weeks together,we scheduled our dinner at 9 only so that we could watch Masterchef Australia together.We absolutely loved it and watched it from the very beginning till the finale.The invention tests,the team tests and the cooking challenge for the immunity pin,ah I am missing it so much!!Sadly,our Indian counterpart was no where near the Australian one and I didn't tune in to watch it at all,the TRP tricks they used were too much for me to sit through the whole episode.Here's an interesting article which explains it all.

So it was with apprehension I decided to sit through this video that a reader sent me asking me to check out the recipe.Ever since I've had success with Molten lava Cake(one of the most popular recipe on this blog)I've been getting queries for an eggless version.Many of you have also tried the same recipe replacing eggs with condensed milk and curd successfully.

Since I've been off sweets for a while and since 'anything' chocolate was a welcome indulgence,I decided to try this one out.The recipe is very similar to a basic eggless recipe,only thing,the lava here is chocolate chips and not uncooked batter.The cake baked beautifully and lava oozed out well.Though I prefer my previous recipe for Lava cake,since it is more chocolaty and rich,I wouldn't mind this one on a no-eggs day too.

Eggless Molten Chocolate Lava Cake
Recipe source- Shipra Khanna Masterchef India


Ingredients

Maida – 1 cup

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Baking soda – 1 tsp

Cocoa powder – 6 tbsp

Salt a pinch

Chocolate Chips – ¼ cup

Cherries – ¼ cup

Butter - ½ cup

Curd - ¾ cup

Caster Sugar - ¾ cup

Milk - 1 cup

Coffee powder - 1 tsp*

Method

Preheat oven to 180C.

Sift together dry ingredients starting with maida,baking powder,baking soda,cocoa powder and a pinch of salt.

Mix together cherry and chocolate chips.

Mix milk with coffee powder and keep aside.**

Beat together butter,sugar and curd till creamy.

Add sifted dry ingredients and coffee/milk alternately and mix well till you get a smooth batter.

Grease and flour muffin moulds with butter.

Pour 2 tbsps batter into the moulds and layer with cherry-chocolate filling.Pour another 2 tbsp batter on top of it.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Notes

• The size of my ramekin is small hence the batter makes enough for 6-8 muffin moulds.
• The temperature for baking differs in each oven so bake till the top looks firm but the center slightly jiggles when you shake the ramekin.
• *The original recipe calls for milk,I decided to add some coffee for an extra punch,you could use plain milk if that is what you prefer.
• Here is my Molten Lava Cake and the Cupcake version.

On a different note,Easycooking turns 4 today.Yes,can you imagine!!Thank you all of you for your support and encouragement and for being with me throughout on our journey together.Happy Cooking!!

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