One-bite Triple Espresso Brownies

One-bite triple espresso brownies

Hello everyone!

I’m so glad to be back! I finished the biggest part of my “doctoral research project” (This is the presentation of your research for approval by a committee; what I had to deliver). I’ll do the other part soon enough, but as a reward I did a dessert and this post :D

So about the dessert, strangely enough I don’t drink coffee but love, love, love, everything with coffee in it, especially when it’s chocolaty! So I really had to try these espresso brownies!

The coffee and the cocoa I used are from Dominican Republic! It does sent me back there when I eat/smell them ;)

Have a good day :D

P.S. Have you heard about what’s going on in Quebec right now? The strike against the tuitions hikes turned into a social crisis? Yep that’s us! I know there are some demonstrations around the world in support of the students so you might have heard about it. Some things that happened are really upsetting. If you want a Quebecer’s view on the crisis, you can ask me ;)

One-bite triple espresso brownies

One-bite Triple Espresso Brownies

Chocolate Espresso Brownies 
Adapted from Pink Parsley
Yield about 44 mini brownies

  • 7 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used 77% cocoa chocolate)
  • 8 Tbs unsalted butter, cut into quarters
  • 3 Tbs cocoa powder
  • 3 Tbs prepared espresso
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • Walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini-muffin pan with cooking spray.

On a double boiler, melt the chopped chocolates and the butter. Whisk in the cocoa.  Set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, espresso, and salt until well-combined.  4walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached.  Cool on a wire rack to room temperature.

One-bite triple espresso brownies


Espresso Frosting
Adapted from Better Homes and Garden

  • 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 4 tablespoons prepared espresso (or 2 tablespoons boiling water with 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Meanwhile, for the frosting, place powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the 1/4 cup butter, 2 tablespoons boiling water, espresso and the 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed. Pipe a little frosting on each brownie.


Chocolate Glaze
Adapted from Pink Parsley

  • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 Tbs butter or vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp prepared espresso

Melt the chocolate chips and butter on a double boiler.  Stir in the prepared espresso. Drizzle over brownies. Enjoy!

One-bite triple espresso brownies

Mocha Cake, Espresso Swiss Meringue Buttercream with Chocolate Ganache

Mocha Cake, Espresso Swiss Meringue Buttercream with Chocolate Ganache

Hey everyone!

Hope you are all doing well! I’ve been in cupcake-making mode for the last 2 weeks. We had the Cupcake Training Camp in Montreal and then my sister wanted cupcakes for her friend’s birthday. I’ll be posting on these different cupcakes, but first here is a delicious mocha cake you definitely want to try at home ;)

I saw this cake at a grocery store (looks a lot like this Sweetapolita’s cake) and wanted to try it ASAP! I’m a huge fan of coffee desserts even if I don’t drink coffee.

I wanted to find a cake recipe calling for sour cream because I had some left in the fridge. This cake was heaven : very moist and great texture for a layer cake. I’m giving you the recipes I used as well as 2 techniques/tutorial I followed to achieve it. My first layer cake didn’t look that great, this one is much much better!

Enjoy!

mocha-cake2

Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake
Adapted from How to cook a wolf

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt
1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
One 8-ounce container (about 1 cup) sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon prepared coffee

Preheat to 350 degrees.  Spray or grease a bread pan.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in half the dry ingredients. Scrape. Beat in the sour cream, the vanilla and the coffee, scrape again, and then beat in the remainder of the dry ingredients.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour, or until well risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake emerges clean.

Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes and remove from pan. Let cool completely.

Espresso Swiss Meringue Buttercream

For the Swiss Meringue Buttercream I always use Sweetapolita’s recipe and I added about 6 tablespoon of cold espresso.


Chocolate Glaze
From Pastry Studio

3 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 C heavy cream
1/2 t vanilla

I took this recipe for the glaze but it turned out to be way too runny so I ended up adding a lot of chocolate chips. You may use this recipe instead : http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chocolate-ganache/Detail.aspx

Once your cake is frosted, you can drizzle the glaze/ganache.


Techniques I used for the frosting

Crisp corners: http://cakecentral.com/tutorial/how-to-frost-a-square-cake

It worked amazingly well, may take longer if you have a little OCD, but anyway the result is very satisfying!

Frost the layers : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjPPrBwj9YI piping the icing on the layers is way easier!

Good to know

  • You can cut the cake in as many layers as you want.
  • I did a crumb coating : a very thin layer of frosting which prevents the crumbs from getting in the frosting. Then, freeze the cake for about 10 minutes before frosting.

mocha-cake