Chocolate Avocado Brookies

by giraffescanbake // July 25, 2014 // 41 Comments

Super moistly and chocolatey brookies – a cross between a cookie and a brownie, the best of both worlds!

Okay, I have a confession to make. These weren’t intended to be brookies, I was trying to make chocolate and avocado cookies but they turned out more like brownies. But these chocolate avocado brookies were amazing and way better than I had originally imagined, so it was definitely a successful mistake! In hindsight, the fact that the “dough” was more a batter than a dough should have been my first clue, and I should have just spread it in a brownie pan. But I do like the rustic look of these and after I baked the first tray and realised how sticky the batter was, I decided to use a mini muffin pan and make brookie cups, which are adorably bite sized.

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America Cheesecake!

by giraffescanbake // July 4, 2014 // 39 Comments

Today is 4th of July, and in America that means Independence Day (fingers crossed for no aliens), and since I am in America at the moment I shall be celebrating. And the only way I know how to celebrate is to bake!

It is also Steve Rogers’ (aka Captain America’s) birthday today! So this America cheesecake is dedicated to him!

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Chocolate and Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats

by giraffescanbake // June 27, 2014 // 56 Comments

It’s Friday and what better way to celebrate than with super tasty and super easy treats? You can have these in your tummy in 30 minutes!

It’s also Fiesta Friday so you don’t even need to make up an excuse to enjoy these, it’s party time! I missed last week’s FF because I was sick and busy and life just kind of got in the way of baking, I missed it a lot though! So I’m making up for my absence last week and bringing these amazing treats. These chocolate and peanut butter rice krispie treats are like rice krispie treats for royalty, because rice krispie treats are yummy enough just as they are but add the chocolate and peanut butter and you’ve made them star studded! These treats definitely belong on the red carpet of tasty land!

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Brown Sugar & Pecan Caramel Bundt Cake

by giraffescanbake // June 13, 2014 // 61 Comments

Oh my god you guys, Oh. My. God. It’s is Fiesta Friday #20 and I have brought something really special! This brown sugar & pecan caramel pound cake, it is amazing. You NEED to try it. It’s a pound cake but it’s so, so light and moist, and the brown sugar combined with the toffee and caramel is to die for. I will be making this cake again, several times.

Leah’s mum has been asking me to make her this cake for a while now after she saw a photo of one on Facebook and I finally got around to doing it for her. I wish I hadn’t waited so long, so many missed opportunities to enjoy this cake. Luckily for me I made enough batter for two bundt tins so I got to have one too!

There is a lot of sugar in this cake, mostly brown sugar. And it has chopped pecans nestled inside and lots of yummy heath toffee bits! Then it’s topped with a very generous helping of caramel sauce. So much sweet, caramel flavour in this cake it’s like heaven… and definitely not for the health nuts! But everyone deserves a treat every now and then right?

Father’s day is this weekend too, and if this isn’t a perfect father’s day cake I don’t know what is! Who needs hallmark when you have this much caramel to indulge in!

And the best part? It’s so easy to make! You just beat the butter, cream it with the sugar, beat in the eggs and add the dry ingredients and the milk. Stir in your pecans and toffee and bake! Then the caramel sauce is just as easy to make, just heat the condensed milk with sugar, whisk in the butter and vanilla and you’re done. You want to pour on the caramel sauce while it’s still hot as it does harden a little as it cools.

I’m not sure what else I can say about this cake that isn’t just me gushing about how much I love it! So instead I’ll let you guys try it out for yourselves. It is Fiesta Friday after all, this week’s is co-hosted by Fae and Suzanne so make sure you go check them out! And, of course, a big thanks to Angie for bringing us this wonderful party every week!

I recently updated this recipe with new photos and made it gluten free, make sure you check it out here!

[recipe title=”Brown Sugar & Pecan Caramel Pound Cake”]
Ingredients

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup caster sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1 bag heath toffee bits (8oz)
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

For the caramel sauce:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 160C/325F. Grease your bundt pan(s) well.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside
Beat the butter until pale and creamy. Beat in sugars until fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined.
Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively, starting and ending with the flour. Beat until just combined.
Stir in the toffee bits and pecans.
Spoon batter into pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, until skewer comes out clean. After 50 minutes of baking, lightly cover with foil to stop it browning too much at top. Leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack.
While cake is cooling make the caramel sauce. In a medium saucepan, combined condensed milk and brown sugar and bring to the boil over a medium high heat, whisking often. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes, whisking often. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Leave to cool for 5 minutes
Pour the caramel sauce over the cooled cake, you want to do this while the sauce is still hot as it hardens slightly as it cools.
Garnish with more pecan halves, serve

Notes:

Make sure you grease your pan well as this is a very moist cake and it can be a bit of a pain to coax out without breaking! I use this home made pan release and it’s great.
This cake is great eaten right after you’ve added the sauce, when it’s all warm and gooey (be careful the sauce isn’t too hot, don’t want any burned tongues!)
This recipe will make one 12 cup bundt pan cake, or almost two 6 cup bundt pan cakes (I had one slightly smaller one)
Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days

[/recipe]

Chocolate Avocado Muffins with Lime

by giraffescanbake // June 6, 2014 // 38 Comments

I have a confession to make, up until a few months ago I thought I didn’t like avocado. It’s kind of mushy and I thought it was bland and I was like no thank you, ma’am. Then I had some guacamole and I was like “hey this is super yummy!” and my love affair with avocado started there. And for a while now I’ve wanted to bake with it, it’s also been a long time since I’ve made muffins so these chocolate avocado muffins happened this week! I added lime to the mix because I love to slather my avocado with lots of lime.

These muffins are packed full of chocolate and have avocado instead of butter, I love the texture that gives them. They’re super moist and have lots of chocolate chips to keep you satisfied. They’re also filled with home made lime curd, giving them an extra tangy zest and really make them stand out from your regular chocolate muffins

I’ve always had trouble getting good muffin tops, they always come out pretty flat. And while they taste good they don’t have that great muffin look and the chewy muffin top! After trying a few different techniques I finally got myself some good muffin tops! They’re puffy, spilling over and just the right amount of chewiness! To finally achieve my muffin milestone, I filled the cups to the top and then baked them at a higher temperature for the first 10 minutes, then lowered it for the remaining baking time and voila, perfect muffins!

I love these muffins a lot, so I am bringing them along to Fiesta Friday 19 – Hope everybody enjoys them. Along with Angie, this week’s FF is being co-hosted by Sue and Prudy. So break out your party hats, it’s gonna be a fun one!

[recipe title=”Chocolate Avocado Muffins with Lime” servings=”12″]
Ingredients

For the Lime Curd

1/3 cup caster sugar
1.5 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 egg, beaten

For the Muffins

2 3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large, ripe avocado
1 1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup plain natural yogurt
2 eggs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tbsp lime zest

Method

For the lime curd, put the sugar, butter, lime juice and lime zest in the top of a double boiler on a high heat until the butter is melted. Mix a tbsp of the lime mix into the egg and whisk. Reduce the heat until the water is lightly simmering, add the egg mixture to the lime mixture and whisk. Cook over the low heat until curd is thickened – about 20 minutes. Leave to cool while you make the muffins.
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F and line a muffin tray with paper cups
Whisk together the flour, oats, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Using a blender, process the avocado, milk and yogurt until smooth. Pour into a bowl and whisk in the eggs.
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry, making sure it is all fully combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and lime zest.
Fill the muffin cups half way with muffin batter, then add a tsp of lime zest and top up with more muffin batter. Fill the muffin liners up full.
Bake in the oven at 220C/424F for 10 minutes. The reduce the heat to 190C/375F and bake for 10 more minutes, until skewer comes out clean
Cool on a wire rack

Notes

Store in an airtight container for 3 days
Great served warm!
Don’t tell weirdos who think avocado in muffins is gross, they won’t notice!

[/recipe]