Baking Saga Part II

[Eve]

Hello :)

Well after a Brownie baking disaster last night (arthritic wrists = FAIL!) I decided I wouldn't be defeated and bought a cheap little electric whisk, OMG I LOVE it!

Made two halves of a chocolate sponge cake and two lots of chocolate brownies :) I'm very proud! Mind you, I have yet to try and get them out of the tins...praying that they don't fall apart! I used spread to grease the tins today instead of baking paper.

They are currently cooling in their tins though the next challenge is, well, after getting them out in one piece:

1. I have cooking chocolate to melt and put over the cake and brownies so need to make sure it sets nice.

2. Double cream to put in the middle - will save this until I get it to work maybe...Not sure if it is a little runny (not opened it yet!).

I have also smashed up disaster brownies so I can use that to thicken stuff.

Any tips welcome before I head back in the kitchen :)

[lcg]

if you have no greaseproof paper under them (different to baking paper) then you really have to leave them to cool well before removing them from the tins. if you go in while they are warm they will most likely fall apart. do your cake tins have removable bottoms? best thing i ever bought for baking - they hide a multitude of sins! but....resist the temptation to go and get your cakes just yet x

[EcclesCake]

Mmmm, not entirely sure what your questions are.....

I did pick up on a comment I saw this morning where you seemed to be leaving the brownies in the oven once you'd turned them off, did you actually do that?

Why are you wanting to pour melted chocolate onto your brownies? Be sure to keep all moisture away from the chocolate or else it may bloom.

Double cream into the middle of what? Well, it doesn't really matter if it's runny you need to whip it........I would expect it to be runny before it is whipped!

Why are you worried about getting them out of the tins in one piece, you dod line them first didn't you......

Fingers crossed for you and am around this evening if you need an online hand.......

[starone]

Can I come to help you eat them. I don't care if they are broken.

[vodkancoke]

Hey Jenna, electric whisks and mixers are god-sends to us bakers! lol

If you have a palette knife, slide that between the cake and the tin and that should loosen it a bit for you.

If you can give me what quantities you have of the cream and the chocolate, then I can talk you through making a ganache to put both on top of the brownies and in the middle if the chocolate sponge. You can do that tonight and it means less faff in the morning xx

[Eve]

No paper lining, just well greased so I will leave them to cool well before touching them. No removable bottoms, they are just cheap sandwich tins. I lined the brownie tin last night but it seemed to stop the stuff spreading to the edges properly so I tried without tonight.

Sorry Eccles, I was blathering a bit! I thought the chocolate on top of the brownies would make them a little more special but I don't need to put anything on them so can leave the chocolate off if it could ruin them.

I left the brownies in the oven for a while last night though they went really hard (though may well have been my dodgy mixing).

Ahh so I need to whip the cream, I have a little mini whisk so can take that into work with me with a little measuring jug, not sure whether to risk doing it tonight and it going wrong. I have a cake tin though it's two buses to work so I can't do anything too faffy or delicate.

I'm resisting going peeking at them again and letting them be to cool :)

[EcclesCake]

Ignore everything I say and listen to VnC, she's a far more competent pastry chef than I will ever be......

[Eve]

Ooh Vodka, that sounds great! I have three large bars of melting chocolate (3 for 2 on baking stuff at Tesco :)) at 350g each and a little tub of double cream at 150ml x

[lcg]

last night's may have been hard if you left them in the oven....they need to be crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. todays will be fine if you took them out on time....let us know how you get on. if you do bake regularly, please get bottomless tins! they are a fantastic thing and help manage all sorts of mishaps....x

[Eve]

I do fancy some :) I already had some cheap sandwich tins when I made a cake for a charity bake competition a while back so just been using them though now I have discovered the whisk I may well treat myself :)

I don't really eat cakey stuff at home but it'd be nice to make sure for people at work and more charity stuff x

[Eve]

Vodka, for size etc... I have just bobbed some photos on FB x

[vodkancoke]

Pfft Eccles, I don't think so, but thank you for saying so! lol xx

Ok, you don't have enough cream to do what I was thinking! 200g of choc and 284ml of double cream will normally fill and cover a 20cm cake.

If I were you, you could melt one of the bars of chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Once it has melted allow it to cool slightly. Lightly whip the cream and fold in the slightly cooled choc. That should be enough to sandwich your choc cake together. Melt the remaining chocolate and add a small amount of butter. Pour this over your choc sponge and let the choc fall over the sides of the cake....kind of like a choc drizzle cake! lol

As for the brownies, leave them naked....they will be lush! ;)

[Eve]

Mmmm, sounds perfect! :) I'm going to go get my outfit sorted for tomorrow's fancy dress then get myself back in the kitchen. Thanks for all your help xxx

[Eve]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay both parts of the sponge have lifted out perfectly :) :) :)

[Eve]

Hmmm, the brownies weren't quite so accomodating! Still managed to lever them out and into clingfilm.

The ganache seems ok though the melted chocolate on the top of the cake set a little faster than I anticipated and, as I was going for caution (on account of it being me) and putting some baking paper under and round to catch any bits if it all slid off it was nice and didn't slide though I now have a bit of an abstract avalanche effect going on round the edge...hmmm...

I have gone for the cake paper ruff look (aka subtefuge mwahhahaha!!!!!).

Still it's pretty much in one piece and I'm going to bed to read as had my fill of baking for tonight!

Thanks to you all for you help :) xxx