Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes &#8211; Secret Recipe!

Author: Philosophy of Yum

Serves: 14

Ingredients

240 g Granulated White Sugar
190 g Cake Flour
50 g Cocoa Powder, best quality you can find
⅓ tsp Baking Powder
¾ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp salt
55 g Egg (out of shell)
115 g Milk (4-5% Fat)
125 g Canola Oil
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ cup Water (just boiled)
FOR GANACHE: 100 g Cream (about 35% fat content)
FOR GANACHE: 100 g Dark Chocolate (at least 65% cocoa solids)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 170°C (338F) on the regular bake setting - NOT convection or fan-forced.
Line a cupcake/muffin tin with cupcake liners.
In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add in the sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the same mixing bowl.
Warm the milk in the microwave for 20 seconds to bring it more or less to room temperature. Add it to the mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
Beat all the ingredients together with the paddle attachment on a low speed for 20 seconds to roughly combine. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.
Switch on your kettle at this point for the boiling water.
Beat the batter once more on medium high speed for 2 minutes. The batter will be very stiff! As the sugar dissolves, it will become a bit looser.
Pour the ½ cup boiling water into the batter.
Mix in light pulses on super low speed to stop the boiling liquid from splashing everywhere. After a few light turns it should be safe to turn up the speed to a steady low. Mix until liquid is no longer separate.
Remove the mixing bowl from the machine and stir the batter thoroughly with a metal spoon till you have an even and smooth consistency.
Divide the batter evenly between 14 lined cupcake holes.
Make sure your oven has two oven racks inside. One rack should be in the top half of your oven, and one in the bottom half of your oven so that your oven cavity is basically divided into 3 equal spaces. Place an empty muffin tin, roasting tray or any other baking tin on the top rack. Place your cupcakes on the lower rack.
Pour about ½ cup water into the bottom of your oven to create some steam. If your oven has an element right on the bottom or if you have a gas oven, pour 1 cup of water into the baking tin on the top rack in your oven.
Bake the cupcakes for 15-20 minutes, turning after 8 minutes. Test with a skewer to see if the cupcakes are cooked. Ideally there should be a few moist crumbs sticking to the skewer… Remember, they will continue to cook for a minute or two more after you remove them from the oven.
Read below for decorating instructions with chocolate ganache.

Decorating the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes:

I love the combination of chocolate ganache and frosting! The chocolate frosting I used here is my signature ultimate chocolate frosting I use in my bakery every day. It’s the tastiest frosting in the whole world!

Place a round tip nozzle in your piping bag and fill with the ultimate chocolate frosting. Hold the piping bag directly over the top of the cupcake (about 2 cm away from the surface) and squeeze out the frosting while keeping the bag stationary.

Once you are satisfied with the AMOUNT of frosting, stop. Use a teaspoon to flatten out the surface and spread the frosting more to the edges.

Place the frosted cupcakes in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before you make the chocolate ganache.

To make the ganache, simply heat the cream till it starts to simmer and add it to the chopped dark chocolate. Allow it to stand for 5 minutes and stir till smooth & dreamy.

Just spoon the semi-runny ganache over the frosting and work it around the top till you are happy with the look. Do not dunk the frosted cupcakes in the ganache! This frosting is a lot softer than traditional frosting and it will probably fall off.

Finally, I topped my ultimate chocolate cupcakes with some beautiful dark chocolate shavings. Click here to see how to make your own!

I really hope you make these yourself at home! They are just DIVINE. If you give this recipe a go, tag me on facebook, twitter or instagram #philosophyofyum because I would LOVE to see!

Chat soon!

Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

What info are you looking for?

Do you dream of starting a home bakery, but then thoughts of self-doubt like these start flooding your mind… “People aren’t going to think my baking is worth it. All the other bakers are better than me. I’m not good enough.” Truth is pretty much ALL home bakers get these thoughts! You’re not alone! In this post you’ll learn how to beat self doubt so you can be free to pursue your baking business goals. Click through to get the tips now… #homebaking #selfdoubt #homebakery #bakingbusiness #baking

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

Share

Pin522

Email

522 Shares

← The Most DELICIOUS, Ultimate Chocolate Frosting! Pear, Apple & Blueberry Muffins →

Perfect, Fail-Proof Lemon Meringue Pie

by Aurelia Lambrechts | Recipes

Perfect, Fail-Proof Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie is HEAVENLY, but it can be a VERY tricky dessert to make…

The 3 different components (pastry, filling and meringue) require perfect execution.

One of the biggest challenges, for me, was developing a recipe that isn’t so blindingly sweet! Sheesh.

After eating a slice of lemon meringue pie you often hear that heroic phrase booming in your head “I’m NEVER eating anything sweet again!” Ha. Well, at least that’s the sentiment for the next 30 minutes post-dessert.

So, what makes the perfect Lemon Meringue Pie?

I want the slice to hold, have a zingy and buttery flavour with smooth, soft and crunchy textures going on.

No weepy liquids anywhere. Definitely no runny filling, but also not a borderline yellow rubber experience either. Crispy, buttery pastry is an absolute must!

My Journey with Lemon Meringue Pie

I avoided making Lemon Meringue for YEARS!

Someone would try to order it, but I would always find a way to unfortunately be “out of town” or “fully booked” on those days.

Truth is, I was petrified of making Lemon Meringue pie! This fear stemmed from watching The Great Australian Bake Off Season 1.

Every week the bakers had a technical challenge and in week 2 it was the humble Lemon Meringue Pie. One contestant n particular was super excited about the challenge – Bliss. She baked these pies for her Mom all the time!

On this day however, her pie was a total disaster…

My husband and I were watching the show together and we were just cringing all the way through the episode!

Thing is, MOST of the contestants were having so much drama with this challenge! I think only a quarter of them didn’t have a runny filling.

Needless to say, Lemon Meringue Pie climbed to the top of my chart of “Most difficult things to bake.”

I do believe that Bliss has baked a ton of successful Lemon Meringue Pies for her Mom, but in GABO technical challenges you have to bake the recipe they give you. You may know by now that method matters to me more than anything else when it comes to baking.

I realized however, that the success of your Lemon Meringue pie does ride completely on the quality of your recipe.

I set out on a mission.

For about 1 year I watched EVERY SINGLE Youtube video on Lemon Meringue Pie.

There had to be a recipe that doesn’t waste 8 egg whites or (on the flip side) waste 8 egg yolks.

A recipe that doesn’t require bizarre, temperamental gelatin setting excursions. In short, there had to be a recipe that is user friendly and yields perfect results!

Technical Insights

The Base:

Honestly, the base is really up to you. Some people prefer crushed cookies with melted butter which is really delicious.

I prefer pastry, because I love the crunchier result it gives you. It is also just more buttery and doesn’t crumble apart when you lift out a slice.

Another reason I love this pastry recipe is because it is firm enough to slide the entire pie onto a cake board or another serving platter!

The Lemon Filling:

I tried out all the different recipes I could find for lemon fillings and I must say that cooked lemon fillings are definitely a lot less sweet than uncooked ones. I’ve also found that uncooked filings often do not hold their shape.

So what are the options?

Baking a lemon filling in the oven is too tricky. It can so easily over bake and curdle. NOT user friendly at all. Stove top Fillings are the answer – really!

There are a few different approaches to Stove top Lemon Fillings as well. Some folks have a pure lemon curd approach (Kitchen Conundrums and Gemma Strafford), but I find the flavour is just way too intense and sweet instead of balanced.

These lemon curd fillings contain very little eggs and the only liquid comes from lemon juice which explains why the flavour is just too intense.

A BIG downer with these recipes was also that you had to strain the curd at the end… It is really thick and takes up to 40 minutes of serious elbow grease to force it through a sieve. Absolutely terrible for little, lightweight people like me.

For a while I made a lemon filling that sets with gelatin by Bruno Albouze. While the flavour was quite nice, the filling always started melting when you took the pie out of the fridge for a while! Not cool. There had to be a filling that was not so sensitive to temperature.

The answer came through The Joy of Baking.

Stephanie Jaworski makes the most wonderful Lemon Filling that uses lemon juice as well as water which makes for a balanced, yet tart lemon filling.

There are no weird or tedious methods, so all in all the whole experience is very user friendly. I do add a bit more lemon juice and lemon zest than she does, but her recipe is brilliant as well.

This lemon filling has NEVER flopped or come out on the runny side and it is so easy to make!

Another reason I love Stephanie’s video on lemon meringue pie is that she speaks about another technical issue to help the meringue adhere to the filling. The filling should be warm when you add the meringue on top. This also prevents weeping. So cool!

The Meringue:

The first video I watched on the meringue part of Lemon Meringue Pie was by Kitchen Conundrums. Fantastic video! Thomas Joseph makes all 3 of the different meringue types (French, Swiss and Italian) and tests them on top of Lemon Meringue Pie.

You can see clearly that French Meringue will end up weeping and slide around on top of your lemon filling. This is because the egg whites have not been cooked properly. I find that even when French meringue has been broiled in the oven, it will still weep.

I LOVE Italian Meringue. Some folks prefer Swiss, but my standing mixer doesn’t have a heat proof bowl so I had to revert to Italian meringue. It is such a soft and super smooth meringue – oh my!

To me it is also the least labour intensive meringue because the standing mixer and stove do ALL the work. The only way this meringue can cause weeping is if you over whip the egg whites before the sugar is added.

In Swiss and Italian Meringue the egg whites are already cooked, so you don’t need to return the pie to the oven. I use a little blowtorch to brown my meringue, but you are also welcome to broil it in the oven if you don’t have a blowtorch.

No weepy meringue, a PERFECTLY set lemon filling and a buttery crust. THIS is the PERFECT, Fail-Proof Lemon Meringue Pie! Click through to get the recipe! #lemonpie #lemonmeringue #homebaking #baking

So here we go – this is my recipe for Perfect, Fail-Proof Lemon Meringue Pie 🙂

5.0 from 2 reviews

Perfect Lemon Meringue Pie

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

Author: Philosophy of Yum

Serves: 12

Ingredients

Pastry:

180 g Flour
110 g Salted Butter
45 g Icing Sugar
1 Tbsp Ice Cold water

Lemon Filling:

82 g (5) Large Egg Yolks, room temperature (reserve the whites)
240 g White Sugar
½ tsp Salt
70 g Corn Starch
390 ml Boiling Water
35 g Unsalted Butter
160 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained to remove seeds and pulp
2 Tbsp Lemon Zest

Italian Meringue:

250 g White Sugar
80 g Boiling Water
4 egg whites
Pinch of Salt
¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions

Pastry:

Place flour in a food processor. Add the diced butter and jiggle it around a bit so that all the butter is covered in flour and not sticking together.
Process the flour and butter together on medium speed until resembling bread crumbs.
Add the icing sugar and process for another 15 seconds.
Add the ice cold water and turn the processor on for another 15 seconds or until the mixture starts clumping in the machine. Do not keep processing until all the dough comes together! It is a firm dough, so it is not as wet.
Dump all the contents (there will be many dry crumbs, don’t panic) onto a work surface and knead the dough until smooth – about 2 minutes. Do not add more water.
Flatten your pastry out slightly until it is about ½ inch thick. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
In the meantime prepare your tin. I use a 9 inch loose bottom cake tin. Spray or lightly butter the inside of your tin, making sure to only grease about 2 inches up the sides if you are using a deeper cake tin.
Remove pastry from the fridge and roll out on a large piece of baking parchment to about 3 mm thick. Rotate the parchment every few seconds so that your pastry is rolled out more or less into a circle.
Place the base of your tin face side down on top of the pastry and cut around the sides of it. Trim off the excess pastry around the base and keep to one side. Place one hand under the parchment paper and one side on top of the base. Flip the pastry in one swift motion.
Fit the pastry covered base back into the tin and fill in the sides with pastry using your thumbs. If you are using a cake tin, only take the pastry about 3,5 cm up the sides.
Freeze the pastry for 5 minutes. Remove from freezer and smooth the surface and edges with a spoon if desired. Return to the freezer for an extra 15 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Blind bake the pastry for 20 minutes using foil. Remove the baking beans and foil. Brush the inside of the pastry with beaten egg white and prick holes in the base with a fork.
Return the pastry to the oven until lightly golden brown.
Leave to cool inside the tin.

Lemon Filling:

Place a damp washcloth on your work surface to keep things from sliding around. Add all the egg yolks to a medium mixing bowl and place on top of washcloth.
Place the white sugar and corn starch in a medium sized pot and stir to combine. Gradually pour in the boiling water while whisking with your other hand.
Transfer pot to a medium heat. Keep stirring with a whisk. The mixture takes a while to heat up, but then it thickens very quickly. Let the mixture come to a low boil. Large steam bubbles will begin to form and the mixture will start to become translucent. Keep the mixture on a low boil for another 2 minutes, whisking all the while.
Remove the pot from the heat. Next you need to temper the egg yolks. Dip the whisk into the translucent goo and then whisk it into the egg yolks. Tap your whisk on the side of the mixing bowl to shake off any egg yolk. Dip it into the goo again and whisk into the yolks. Keep going until about half the goo is mixed into the yolks.
Transfer the tempered egg yolk mixture back into the pot with the rest of the goo and whisk thoroughly.
Return the pot to a medium heat once more and bring to a low boil while whisking – same as before. You need to be sure the egg yolks are cooked through, so keep the mixture on a low boil for another 2 minutes, whisking all the while.
Remove the pot from heat. Add the butter, salt, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the pot all at once and whisk to combine.
Transfer the lemon filling to a clean mixing bowl. Immediately place plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the filling to prevent a skin from forming. Start with the meringue immediately after you made the filling. Remember, we want the filling to still be warm when we place the meringue on top.

Italian Meringue:

Place boiling water and sugar into a small, heavy based saucepan and whisk over low heat till the sugar is dissolved.
Bring mixture to a simmer on medium heat. Swirl the saucepan now and then, but DO NOT STIR. If sugar crystalizes around the edges of the saucepan, brush a little bit of water (with a pastry brush) just above the crystallization. The water will run down the sides, bubble into the syrup and the steam will help break down the crystalized sugar.
In the meantime, place the egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in a super clean mixing bowl of a standing mixture. Add the whisk attachment to your mixer. Do not beat together just yet.
Once all the sugar is dissolved, turn the heat up high and insert a candy thermometer in the syrup.
When sugar syrup reaches 100˚C (212˚F), start whipping the egg whites on medium speed till soft peak stage.
When syrup reaches 118˚C (245˚F), remove from heat. Increase mixer speed to high and pour syrup in gradually, in a thin stream, into the egg whites.
Reduce speed to medium and continue beating till the bowl is cool and the meringue is stiff.
Keep mixer running and add in the Vanilla Extract.
Assembly of Lemon Meringue Pie:
Lift out the base of your tin and transfer to your desired serving plate. The pastry can be loosened and transferred easily without any breakage.
Remove the plastic wrap from your lemon filling. Transfer all the filling into your pre-baked pastry and smooth out the surface.
Working from the outside in, dollop a dessert spoonful of meringue at a time on top of the lemon filling. Be sure to cover the top all the way to the edges.
Using the tip of your spoon to dig into the meringue slightly and swirl outward and upward to create beautiful peaks. Do not use the back of your spoon.
Brown the meringue to your liking with a blowtorch.
Leave the completed Lemon Meringue Pie to stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours before slicing and serving.

I hope you give this epic Lemon Meringue Pie a try! If you have any questions or issues, please comment below because I would love to help. Thanks for reading! Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

POPULAR BAKING TIPS

Don't throw out your split chocolate ganache! You can save it and make is 100% smooth & shiny! :D Click through for all the tips you need to fix and prevent split/oily/grainy chocolate ganache. #chocolateganache #splitganache #bakingtips #bakingtipsandtricks

Want to get that thin, super shiny crust on top of your brownies? Great news is, you don't need to drop your favourite brownie recipe in search of a shiny-top brownie recipe! You can use this simple baking tip to get a shiny crust on ANY brownie recipe that contains dairy and sugar! Click through to get the step by step method for baking brownies with a shiny crust on top... #baking #bakingtips #brownies #homebaking #bakingtipsandtricks

What info are you looking for?

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

Share

Pin101

Email

101 Shares

← Grainy Ganache (Broken/Oily/Split) - SAVE it & PREVENT it! Shortcrust Pastry - Quick & Easy Recipe →

Apple, Date & Pecan Muffins

by Aurelia Lambrechts | Recipes

Photos by Alice Swan

Grand Memories:

Freshly baked muffins always bring back nostalgic memories of my childhood. My mother has always loved baking for special occasions. She went through a lot of trouble to bake us a special birthday cake year after year! I’ll never forget the epic train she made me for my 5th birthday back in 1993…

There was one other day on which she would bake, muffins in particular, for us and that day was Youth Day. She always made us her famous (and super healthy, low GI) bran muffins. Probably because muffins are her favourite food – seriously!

She goes to Mugg & Bean every Wednesday morning for her giant Date & Nut muffin with a huge cappuccino. She never misses a week. To her it is just such a satisfying treat 🙂

apple-date-pecan-1

So before Youth Day she always mixed the batter for her special bran muffins and then left it in the fridge overnight. This helped the batter thicken up and gave time for flavours to meld together and deepen.

We would wake up to the smell of freshly baked muffins every year on 16 June. Bliss!

My mother would set beautiful, individual trays for both my sister and myself, complete with a fresh flower from our garden and a wineglass of fruit juice. She is just so adorable and loving! With memories as grand as these it’s no wonder that I love muffins! To me, muffins they are the epitome of home, care and my mother.

Recipe Introduction:

I love this particular recipe so much because I have a thing for toasted pecans. They are one of my top 5 yum high inducing ingredients. Fact. The pecans toast throughout the baking process, so there is no need to toast them beforehand.

muffins recipes | healthy muffins | apple muffins

Dried dates are recommended. Feel free to use Medjool dates if you wish – they are amazing! I mostly use standard pitted dates for this recipe as Medjool dates are not as consistently available in South Africa.

Do try to find Granny Smith Apples for this recipe. They maintain their structure superbly during baking/cooking, have a distinct tartness and a strong apple flavour. It’s my go to apple for cooking and baking.

These Apple, Date & Pecan Muffins are packed with apple goodness and carry notes of spice and caramel. Absolutely delicious!

Apple, Date & Pecan Muffins

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

35 mins

Total time

1 hour 5 mins

Author: Philosophy of Yum

Serves: 10

Ingredients

230 g Cake Flour
16 g Baking Powder
¼ tsp Ground Ginger
½ Tbsp Cinnamon
1t Salt
100 ml oil
¾ cup (220 g) Buttermilk
120 g Sugar
1 Egg + 1 Yolk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
200 g Fresh Granny Smith Apple, skin and core removed
70 g Pecan Nuts
70 g Pitted Dates
1 Tbsp Smooth Apricot Jam
1 Tbsp Water

Instructions

Start by preparing the fruit. Chop the apples into approximately a 1,5cm dice (you may toss the apple in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, diluted with 1 tablespoon of water, to stop it from browning.) Chop the pitted dates into approximately a ½ cm dice.
Preheat oven to 180ᵒC (355ᵒF).
Grease and line muffin tins with individual baking paper liners (remember the recipe makes 10 large muffins).
Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger in a large mixing bowl. Mix all dry ingredients together thoroughly and make a well in the center.
In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, buttermilk, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Leave the wet mixture to stand for 30 seconds so that the sugar can dissolve. Beat wet mixture again till smooth. Pour the wet mix into the well you created in the dry ingredients. Don’t mix just yet!
Add apple and dates into the well too and mix slowly with a metal spoon until just combined (over-mixing toughens the texture!). Scape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and lightly stir to combine.
Divide the batter evenly between the 10 lined muffin holes in the muffin tin. Top with the pecan pieces.
Bake on the lower rack of your oven for 15 minutes, turning after 10 minutes. Then bake on the higher rack for a further 15-20mins or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
Place apricot jam and water in a cup and microwave for 30 seconds. Brush the glaze all over the top of the muffins. Enjoy!

Notes

These muffins keep about 2-3 days in a sealed container in the fridge. Alternatively they also freeze exceptionally well! Just leave them to thaw at room temperature for 2 hours and then pop them in the oven for 5-10 minutes to warm through and crisp up a bit.

If you make these muffins, use #philosophyofyum because I would love to see!

Also check out my other muffin recipes that I have sold in thousands to Coffee Shops and Restaurants. Seriously AMAZING muffin recipes:

Ultimate Bran Muffins
Pear, Apple & Blueberry Muffins
Pumpkin & Cream Cheese Muffins
Cranberry & Coconut Muffins

I’m curious… what is YOUR favourite Muffin Recipe?

Chat soon!

Aurelia 🙂

← Gluten Free Brownies Banana & Chocolate Cupcakes →

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

What info are you looking for?

Gluten Free Brownies

by Aurelia Lambrechts | Gluten Free Recipes, Recipes

Gluten Free Brownies

Gluten Free Brownies were totally not a sales gimmick for me. Many of my clients thought I started baking gluten free brownies because gluten free eating became a trend a few years ago. Actually, that is not the case.

Photos by Alice Swan

See, I married this incredible guy… Adriaan. When we were dating he ate all the wonderful things that any regular student eats. Pasta, pies and McDonalds. Problem is that these nutritious foods were often eaten at 3h00 in the morning.

Adriaan and I both studied architecture and all-nighters were as common as breathing. Obviously you get hungry and McD’s was the only 24 hour food provider.

Adriaan’s mother also has a highly sensitive stomach with a whole list of foods she cannot eat. Whether the poor quality of food, lifestyle or genes were to blame, about 6 months into our marriage we discovered that he is gluten intolerant. Thanks Murphy!

Wife becomes a baker, and 6 months later, husband becomes gluten intolerant.

You need to understand that my husband is my biggest fan. When I realized I want to rather be a baker and not an architect, he was so excited with me.

Even though we had nothing, were getting married, moving to a new city and had no jobs he could see the potential and my heart 🙂

One of my favourite ways to express love, gratitude or joy is through cooking and especially through baking. But now my whole baking repertoire was suddenly quite useless in our home. I had to regroup.

Adriaan had to have a baked thingy. It had to be gluten free. And I was going to make it for him.

Dark, fudgy, DELECTABLE Gluten free chocolate brownies! This is truly the ultimate recipe that's made me over $5000 in sales. They're super easy to make and don't call for any weird ingredients. My secret gluten free chocolate brownie recipe is now yours :D Click through to get it! #glutenfree #glutenfreebaking #glutenfreebrownies #glutenfreerecipes

Gluten Free Baking Begins

Gluten free brownies seemed like a good place to start 🙂 There is a wonderful chocolaterie here in Cape Town called CocoaFair! They are “Africa’s first bean to bar chocolate manufacturer founded on the principles of social entrepreneurship.”

I bought their chocolate once and I’ve never looked back. So yes, great quality chocolate is of the essence here as half the recipe is just melted chocolate!

If you don’t have a local chocolaterie, you could always order goods online. Just be sure to check the ingredients list. Commercial chocolate often contains gluten.

I adapted this recipe for gluten free brownies from a recipe by David Lebovitz. I’ve baked this recipe hundreds of times – editing and fine tuning for 3 years now. This really is my ultimate recipe for gluten free brownies. I hope you enjoy them as much as our family, friends and clients do!

This Gluten Free Brownie Recipe has earned me at least $5000 in brownie sales, so yep, I think it’s SAFE to say that they are amazing 😉

A non gluten free eater ate these brownies and commented: “This is the best brownie in the world… I want to go sit in a corner and cry now.” Lol!

The texture is perfectly balanced between fudgy and chewy…

5.0 from 2 reviews

Gluten Free Brownies

Author: Philosophy of Yum

Serves: 8

Ingredients

130 g butter, unsalted
230 g 65% dark chocolate, chopped
1 tsp Salt
180 g sugar
2½ eggs, at room temperature
1½ tsp Vanilla Extract
40 g White rice flour
40 g Tapioca Flour
¼ tsp Baking Powder
20 g milk chocolate, chopped
optional: ½ c pecans, coarsely chopped

Instructions

Spray the inside of a 17 x 27 x 3 cm (7 x 10,5 x 1 inch) brownie tin with non-tick cooking spray. Line the tin with baking parchment so that it goes up the sides and 3 cm over the rim. This makes the brownies easy to pull out once cooked and cooled. An 8 x 8 inch tin will also work just fine.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
In a medium size pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. As soon as the butter is melted and begins to simmer, add in the chopped dark chocolate and turn off the heat. Stir around thoroughly every 30 seconds until the chocolate is completely melted into the butter.
Keep the pot on the stove and stir in the sugar and salt. Leave to sit for 5 minutes and then stir very well. Remove the pot from the stove.
Beat in the vanilla and eggs.
Add the white rice flour, tapioca flour, and baking powder to the pot and then stir to combine into the chocolate mixture. Beat the batter on high speed for one minute. You’ll notice that the batter becomes silky smooth and a shade or two lighter in colour.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, making sure to spread out the batter into the corners of the pan. Distribute the nuts evenly over the mixture. Push the nuts down into the mixture with a spatula and then smooth the surface once more.
Sprinkle the chopped milk chocolate over the top of the brownie batter and allow the heat from the mixture to melt the chocolate. If your batter is too cool to melt the chocolate, use a hairdryer to melt it! Useful appliance! Smear the melted milk chocolate into the top layer of the batter, making sure to cover every inch of the surface. Don't leave any chocolate streaks - smear it in thoroughly. This creates the shiny crust on top.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, turning after 15 minutes. It is important that a skewer comes out completely clean when testing. Remove the brownies from the oven and let them cool completely before removing them from the tin. Slice them on the same day you make them. If you leave them standing overnight, they become very fudgy and stick to your knife terribly! Rather slice them just after they've cooled down. Enjoy!

Have fun with this recipe! Bask in the chocolate ambiance…

Chat soon! Aurelia 🙂

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum

What info are you looking for?

Got a question? Something to add? Let’s chat in the comments section down below! (I respond to every single comment)

Share

Pin52

Email

52 Shares

← How to Bake Perfectly Flat Cake Layers Apple, Date & Pecan Muffins →

Caramel Apple Pie Blondies

by Aurelia Lambrechts | Recipes

Salted Caramel Apple Blondies

Philosophy of Yum and Brownies:

I have a thing for Brownies. They have changed my life. I guess it’s just the gooey chewiness that gets to me on an emotional level. Then came the Blondie…

Some like to view it as a White Chocolate Brownie, which I suppose is correct, but there is more potential than that. I like to view it as a Vanilla version of a Brownie. A blank canvas receptive to an endless avenue of flavour possibilities!

Realizing that almost ANY cake flavour can be turned into blondies, has been a real game changer.

Brownies and Blondies basically just contain double the fat and double the sugar. Explains why they taste so incredible. I’ve developed a myriad of blondie flavours; Carrot Cake, Earl Grey & Salted Caramel and Red Velvet Brownies to name a few. But my absolute favourite blondies to date are the Salted Caramel Apple Blondies…

They taste like a slow-roasted Apple Pie (if there ever was such a thing)… Like an Apple Pie Brisket if you will. The Salted Caramel takes these Apples to a whole new level. Ground Cinnamon rounds off the flavour perfectly.

They bake for quite a long time, but as I’ve said before – my recipes require a lot of effort, but the result is totally worth it!

Important Notes:

In order to make this recipe, you will need some Salted Caramel. Click here to view the Salted Caramel recipe I posted last week.

Granny Smith Apples really work best for this recipe. You need an apple that keeps its shape during baking. The sharp, slightly sour flavour is also just perfect for this recipe. Other apple varieties, like Golden delicious, are a bit sad in flavour next to the salted caramel and cinnamon.

This might disappoint you, but I find that using a combination of baking Margarine and Butter really works well in Brownies and Blondies… I’m not an ingredient snob. Yumminess is the goal.

If you want to use only butter, go right ahead, but the flavour and texture are so much better when using some margarine. That’s my opinion anyway.

These Caramel Apple Pie Blondies are ridiculously delicious! They have a layer of salted caramel baked onto the bottom and the batter is made with dulce de leche. #applepieblondies #deliciousblondies #caramelapple #appledessert #dulcedeleche

Salted Caramel & Apple Blondies

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

Author: Philosophy of Yum

Serves: 8

Ingredients

80 g Salted Caramel
1 Huge Granny Smith Apple (strictly Granny Smith – it keeps its shape very well and has a potent Apple Flavour)
220 g Cake Flour
½ Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
5 g Salt
100 g Unsalted Butter
100 g Baking Margarine
80 g Dulce de Leche
120 g White Sugar
100 g Demerara Sugar
½ Tbsp Vanilla Extract
⅛ tsp Caramel Extract
2 Jumbo Eggs (135g)
1 Tbsp Salted Butter, Melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 170˚C/340˚F.
Grease and line an 18cm x 27cm (7 inch x 10,5 inch) brownie pan with top quality non-stick baking paper (Wax Paper will not suffice). Not all brownie pans are exactly the same size - an 8 x 8 inch brownie tin will also work just fine.
Melt the salted caramel in the microwave for 20 seconds till it reaches a pouring consistency.
Pour the salted caramel into the greased and lined Pan. Spread it out evenly, so that the bottom of the pan has an even layer of caramel. Set aside.
Sift flour, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl, set aside.
Melt butter and margarine in mixing bowl in the microwave for 3.5mins. It must boil before you continue.
Mix in sugars and dulce de leche on low speed with paddle attachment for about 30 seconds. Return to the microwave for 40 seconds. Mix again on low speed for 30 seconds. The sugars should stick to the paddle slightly when you lift it out of the mixture. This means the sugar has dissolved slightly.
In a medium sized bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and caramel extract. Add to butter and sugar mixture and mix for 10 seconds to combine slightly.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
Beat on low speed for about 30 seconds until the mix starts coming together into one batter. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Resume beating on medium speed for 3 minutes.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan with Caramel. Spread mixture evenly into all the corners of the pan.
Prepare the apples last – this way you don’t have to coat them with lemon juice to prevent browning. Peel and core the apples. Cut the apple through length-ways. Turn each half onto its flat side and cut thin slices of about 2 mm.
Pack the apple slices on top of the Blondie Batter, each slice overlapping the previous one. Brush the apple slices with melted salted butter.
Bake the Blondies at 170ᵒC for 45-55 minutes, turning after 20 minutes. When a skewer tests clean, they are done.
Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin. Slice and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Notes

These guys go extremely well with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream – Yummmmyyyyyy!

If you give this recipe a go, tag me on facebook, twitter or instagram #philosophyofyum because I would LOVE to see!

What is YOUR favourite Apple Dessert/Bake? Comment below!

Chat Soon!

Aurelia 🙂

← My Ultimate Salted Caramel Recipe Gluten Free Brownies →

What info are you looking for?

Hi! I’m Aurelia 🙂

I help home bakers create a Home Bakery Business with consistent orders so they never have to worry about a stable income.

What info are you looking for?

philosophyofyum