My original blog is going strong, but I kind of neglected its English brother :( School starting for the first time for my older son really took a toll on our schedule and at the end of the day, if I found any time for my blog, the original was my priority. Now with the things finally settling down a bit, we have adjusted to all te new things and I hope to have at least a bit more time to work on this site as well. Remember my witchcraft from a few months ago? The magic vanilla squares are one of the more popular posts on my blog, so I wondered ... how do you make a recipe better? Of course, with chocolate :) Let's try!

For a 25 cm x 15 cm tray:

3 eggs

110 g granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean

100 g butter

90 g flour

35 g (bitter) cocoa

375 ml milk

Separate the eggs and whisk the egg whites into a meringue. Beat room temperature butter with the sugar and the vanilla so you get kind of a nice buttercream. This technique seemed to work better for me instead of melting the butter like in the vanilla recipe.

Add the egg yolks to the buttercream and whisk so that the mixture lightens to a light yellow colour and increases in size. Add flour and cocoa or even better sift it, if you see that it has lumps in it, which tends to happen with my preferred cocoa brand. Mix thoroughly, then add 1 quarter of the milk. Mix again and add another quarter of the milk. Repeat until all the milk is mixed into the batter. The batter will be quite runny, like pancake batter. But not the american kind, I mean like our kind, so I should say it should be like a more runny crepes batter. 

Add the meringues and gently mix, but mix it well. It is OK to if there a few smaller meringue pieces left, but otherwise the meringue should be well incorporated into the batter. You'll find this may be quite tricky, but its what makes magic later.

Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake at 160° C for approx 30 - 40 minutes. Around that time mark just carefully try to jiggle the pan and if the batter is still kind of jiggly, add another 10 minutes to the baking time.

Once baked, take the pan out of the oven and let the cake cool to room temperature. Once cooled, place it in the fridge for at least another hour.

Cut the cake into squares and carefully put them on a plate. If your bake was a success, you will see 3 distinct layers, each completely different. One really soft, one custard like and one like a fudge.

And the verdict? Don't get me wrong, this is delicious, but at the same time, it is also one of those rare instances, where I prefer the original vanilla recipe. So this time ... chocolate vs vanilla = 0 : 1.

chocolate magic simple squares triple layer

november 01, 2016

Pinterest is way too addictive. There were countless times where I lost an extra hour of sleep just because I could't stop browsing through all the images. Although this pin doesn't seem particularly special at first glance, the description promises magic and truly there is magic in this dessert :)

For a 20 cm x 20 cm pan; 9 - 16 squares
4 eggs
150 g sugar
1 vanilla bean
125 g butter
115 g flour
500 ml milk

confectioners sugar for decorating

Separate the eggs and best the egg whites into a stiff meringue. Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture has significantly risen and has gone really pale. Cut the butter into cubes and melt it. Add it to the egg yolk mixture along with the vanilla seeds. Whisk for about a minute.

Sdd the flour and mix just enough that there is no flour left in the bowl. Add the milk one quarter at a time and mix thoroughly after each addition so that the mixture gradually dilutes.

If you would add all the milk at the same time you could be left with lumpy batter. The batter will be quite thin, more like crepes batter or even more.

Add the meringue and mix well, but don't worry if you get a couple of larger leftover meringue pieces. Pour the batter into a greased pan.

Bake at 160° C; baking time may vary from 40 - 50 minutes depending on your oven. After this time check if the top is golden brown and if the batter is firm yet. If it is still kind of jiggly if you gently shake the pan, increase the baking time for 10 minutes and check again. Increase baking time again if needed. If the top is getting too brown, cover with tin foil so that it doesn't burn.

Once fully baked, take the squares out of the oven and let it come to room temperature, then refrigerate to cool completely. Once still in the pan, cut it into squares and use a spatula to scoop it out of the pan.

The result is truly amazing. During baking the batter separates into 3 layers. At the top is a fluffy sponge, the middle layer is like pudding and at the bottom you get a fudge like dense and compact layer.

 

magic simple squares triple layer vanilla

avgust 16, 2016