Quick and Easy One Bowl Chocolate Cake and my Early-life crisis

Its been a while hasn’t it? I’ve missed you guys very much :) I apologize for the delay the past few months have been quite….hectic. I’ve been going through quite a few things in my personal life that have left me without much time or desire (gasp!) to bake and blog. But that’s all going to change now. Hopefully.

To make a big story short, my biggest problem right now is that I do not know what to do. For those of you who know me well you will know that I am the kind of girl who thinks 5, 6, 8 and 10 steps ahead. I like to have a plan. Having a plan makes me happy. And as such, I have always made and modified and perfected my ‘life plan’. Many have laughed at me, others were puzzled at this teenage girl whose got her life planned and goals set for age 30 age 40 and beyond (when many adults still do not have it figured out).

So what is this plan? Well, I’ve had it planned out since 9th grade so I can tell you quite clearly. Step 1 : Obtain really good grades in high school in order to go to  university and get scholarships (check!) Step 2: Get a 4 years degree (in law and Politics) and work your ass off to get high grades and a ‘competitive’ record. (check!) Step 3: Apply to Law School, Step 4: Go to Law School, Step 5: Get a prestigious job in one of the best Law Firms in Bay Street Toronto (Canada’s equivalent to the big shot law firms in Manhattan NYC) I could go on and on and on about how this plan I have planned oh so well, but there would be no point. I have come to the conclusion that I will NOT be pursing this path anymore!

Early this summer I ended up having not a mid-life crisis, but an ‘early-life crisis’. I’m not sure I could fully explain the thought process (and believe me there was a lot of it!) but I realized that I no longer had a desire to become a lawyer! The optimistic side of me says that perhaps it’s a good thing I realized this before going to law school, going $150,000 in debt, and THEN realize I did not like it. But I cant help feeling very sad and a bit scared about all this. It is a very scary thing to go from having a plan only to have it go down the drain. Especially considering the fact that I am in my last year in my undergraduate degree, I am so very very very close to law school and all of my dreams, but now I feel I no longer want it? So what do I want? I have no idea. And for someone who NEEDS to have a plan….this is a very scary time.

Well perhaps to say that I have ‘no idea’ is unfair…I have quite a few ideas… (that’s the problem) and the reason I am stumped. The biggest issue is that the ‘options’ are very varied – from policy analyst to diplomat to getting a MBA or maybe even medical school? Thankfully because of my efforts the past 4 years I have a good enough GPA to have options. Unfortunately options can sometimes be frustrating! :p

When you are feeling the blues as I am and are not sure at all of your future, you know what helps? Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate. And cake too. But what’s even better than chocolate cake? EASY one bowl chocolate cake. Because the last thing you want to do when having an early life crisis is to worry about washing the dishes. I found this cake to be super decadent and I decided to sprinkle on some pomegranate for decoration, but oh my god….it improved the flavor so much more! It added an excellent contrast : nice cool sour crunch with fudgy chocolate cake.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

* 150g unsalted butter

* 220g brown sugar

* 100g good quality dark chocolate
* 
50g Dutch-processed cocoa
* 
160ml milk

* 3 large eggs, room temperature

* 170g plain flour

* 1.5 tsp baking powder

* 1/2 tsp baking soda

* 1/2 tsp salt (skip this if using salted butter)


Method


Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 20-21cm square tin. (I used a 9 inch round)

In a large pot or mixing bowl over simmering water, add the butter, sugar, chocolate, cocoa and milk. When butter and chocolate has melted, remove from heat and whisk to combine. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Sift over the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt then gently stir to mix.
Scrape batter into tin and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool in tin for 5 minutes then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack. Cake will keep for a few days in an airtight container (a quick zap in the microwave will get it all warm, melty and soft again).

Chocolate Fudge Frosting
(source)


Ingredients


* 100g good quality dark chocolate

* 50g unsalted butter, softened and at room temperature

* 150g icing sugar, sifted

* Pinch of salt
* 
1-2 Tbl of milk (I ended up using 3)


Method


In a bowl over simmering water, melt chocolate then remove from heat. Beat in softened butter (make sure it is room temp. Cold butter is bad news in this case). Sift over icing sugar and salt then beat until combined. Add enough milk until it is a spreadable consistency.

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Bipolar weather and Fudgey Homemade Brownies

I swear our weather is bipolar.

In the past few weeks we have had extremely hot and humid days reaching 38C (100F), and then two days later we will have rainstorms, then a day later it’ll be 14C (57F), and then the next day, will be like today, with awful thunderstorms.

How awful? I’ll tell you how awful. Zahra was fast asleep when at 3:30 am she woke up with a start, and sat straight up in bed going “huh? What?” Yah. That’s right. The thunder storm was sooo loud it woke me up at 3 in the morning. ME. Ms.sets-an-alarm-clock-2-hrs-before-she-gets-up-so-she-can-press-snooze-20-times. Ms.litterally-slept-through-a-fire-alarm. So you kinda get a picture of just how BAD it was. Now I don’t know what’s worst - waking up like that? Or then being wide awake in your dark room with a crazy thunderstorm all around you, threatening to engulf you as your bedroom walls shake with the vibrations. I tell you, I was *this close* to running into my Mommy and Daddy’s bed, just like I did years ago when I was a kid. *this close*

Anyways, needless to say I woke up a few hours later - after somehow falling asleep after an hour of lying awake in bed - confused and disoriented and my dad asking me if I was not going to work today, since my bus leaves in 10 min and I’m still lying in bed. To make matters worst, when I finally stumbled into the office with a killer headache, (and a forgotten lunch at home) I opened my secret snack drawer and realized I was all out of teabags.

This.is.panic time.

I was already exhausted from the thunderstorm, and now Zahra the caffeine addict, the must must MUST have her tea girl….stuck…without tea?! Lets just say that this was one of those Mondays.

So when I got home, I made myself a nice big cup of dark, strong, Black tea and gulped it down. But I still needed an extra…something….so I made these delicious brownies. The perfect comfort food after one of 'those days'. They are those chocolatey no non-sensey fudgey brownies, that probably have a million calories each but you honestly dont care, because you've had 'one of those days'.

 Fudgy Homemade Brownies

 Source

Ingredients:
1 1/3c semi-sweet chocolate chips (use best quality-Guittard or Ghiradelli)
5 Tbsp butter
1tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3/4c sugar
1/4tsp salt
3 Tbsp baking cocoa
1/3c flour

Directions:
1. In a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and butter together. Stir in vanilla and set aside to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until light yellow and in the ribbon stage (you know you’ve reached this when you can lift up your whisk and the egg mixture drip down in a steady ribbon rather than in gloopy clumps). Stir in salt and cocoa and mix well to combine.
3. Stir chocolate mixture into egg mixture and combine well. Sift over flour and fold in until just mixed. Do not overmix, or you will have tough, dry brownies and I will cry for you.
4.Pour into a sprayed 8 x 8″ baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

**do not over bake and allow to cool completely before cutting*

Recipe Review: These were fudgey. I think that about somes it up. I mean just look at those pics and you just know you are in for a bite of intense, luxuriously sinful chocolatey bliss. These are on the fudgey full blown chocolate end of the brownie scale, which is exactly what I was looking for. However, if you are more in the mood for a 'cakey' brownie than a fudgey one then check out my go to brownie recipe. Overall, these were yum and I will make again! :)

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