Work Catering #15: Not once, not twice but TRIPLE chocolate muffins

Hello all! Had a nice one week's break from work catering but I'm back to it this week :)

Finally time to bake a request from a work friend for "Dark Choc Muffins". Hope they were what you expected!!! ><" To tell the truth... I wasn't really happy with how the muffins turned out. I could tell when I was making the batter something was wrong but not too sure what it was. After baking, my sister tried one and her first comment was "This tastes weird.. something is wrong" >___<"

The ganache made it taste better

Not a good start! After tasting, the muffin was quite dense, not light and fluffy and also not very sweet. However when I brought it to work the next day, I was surprised at all the good comments and empty food tray! People commented that it had just the right sweetness and tasted chocolatey! I couldn't believe the comments so I went home and tried one again and realised they tasted much better the next day! haha! so PHEW! I can share the recipe now =p

Triple Chocolate Muffins
Recipe adapted from Baker's Corner 
(this new baking website with lots of yummy and simple recipes!^^)

Ingredients
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
100g butter, melted

Chocolate ganache
100g chocolate melts
80ml thickened cream

1. Preheat oven to 200oC. Line 36 cups of mini muffin tin with paper cases (or 12 large)
2. Sift cocoa and flour into large bowl. Stir in chocolate chips and sugar.
3. Whisk together egg, milk and butter. Stir into the flour mixture. 
4. Spoon into prepared muffin cases and bake for 12-15 minutes or until cooked. Cool on wire rack.
5. Make ganache by melting chocolate and cream in heat proof bowl over pot of simmering water. Allow to cool before icing muffins.

• 

  Glistening muffins

  

  Triple choc - 1) Cocoa + 2) Chocolate chips + 3) Chocolate ganache
  
  

  I also made Apple and Raspberry Crumble slice using the same recipe as the Apple and Raspberry Cake I made over the long weekend. The only difference was that it turned out to be thinner but still as tasty. 

Slice =)

Not so much cake but more slice

Close up of Apple and Raspberry Crumble Slice

Do you know the MUFFIN man?

Yes I know the muffin man .. He lives in Drury lane~~ =p

Here's the recipe for RASPBERRY and WHITE CHOCOLATE MUFFINS that I made for work the other day :) Great easy recipe which tastes delicious!
Recipe adapted from That's life

Makes 12

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
50g butter, melted
1 cup frozen raspberries
180g white chocolate (chips or chopped)

1. Preheat oven to 190oC and line 12 hole muffin pan with patty cases. 
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and sugar in large bowl.
3. In small bowl/jug whisk eggs, milk and butter together. Add liquid mixture to dry ingredients along with raspberries and chocolate and mix until combined (do not overbeat!)
4. Spoon mixture into muffin pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean and muffins are golden.

For my Banana and Walnut muffins, I added 1/2 cup brown sugar in place of 1/2 caster sugar. Added 3 bananas, mashed and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts to replace raspberries and white chocolate.

my FIRST work CATERING =D

Hi guys... I'm so excited to anounce I just had my first WORK CATERING experience!! I guess you're wondering how it came about.... WELL.. a friend was helping to organise lunch time seminars at work however lunch wasn't provided.. as it didn't fit in the budget >< Although there were snacks such as chips, biscuits etc. I just wondered what the budget actually was .. and found out I could actually do quite a bit with that money! So I just asked the person in charge of the food if I could help cater =D

Packing the muffins in their carry boxes ^_^

All the muffins ready to go =D

So... my first work catering experience was today! I made muffins - something nice and simple and that I could make a lot of without spending too much money! After asking others for flavour suggestions I ended up deciding on Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins.. and Banana and Walnut muffins - both simple classics~ If you get it right. The recipe is here :)

So.. did I get it right? =p You will have to ask my colleagues about that XD I took a risk and used a recipe that I hadn't tested... but thank God I think they worked out ok :) Made a total of 48~ and didn't take that long either! So maybe this is the beginning of something BIG for BakingTray! Watch this space ;P

Baking at night~~ raspberry and white chocolate muffins

Banana and walnut muffins

Plated up and ready to serve :)

Like the signs? hehe

Any suggestions on what I should make next week? =)

Back to Baking~

So I've had a little rest from baking the past 2 weeks. I haven't been baking because of a number of reasons.. I guess laziness, lack of motivation, "busy"-ness... but yesterday I baked for the first time in 2 weeks. 2 weeks is a long time for me not to bake actually XD I wanted to make something fresh and fruity but we only had frozen berries not fresh. I also wanted to make a whole cake but since I started baking a bit late at night I thought it would take too long so I baked them in smaller muffin tins. I used the same recipe as Fruit Pastry Cake but am calling these: MINI BERRY PASTRY CAKES ^____^

Can't go wrong with berries :D

You can find the recipe here.

Felt really good to be back baking!~ 

Rising in the oven ^____^

Looks like a face!! haha

Berries making funny shapes XD

Brought these to lab meeting =) hope u guys liked it~

EDIT: Since this post I've already made Orange poppy seed cake and also this morning I baked Cinnamon scrolls ^__^ BAKINGTRAY IS BACK BAKING :D :D :D

Pop Pop Pop!

Poppy seeds are a great baking ingredient! Whether they are in cakes or muffins or sprinkled on top of bread buns, they give a great texture of crunch and POP! =D One of the items on my "invisible-in-my-head" to bake list was an orange and poppy seed cake. I had been looking up a few recipes but none that I really liked (most of them used heaps of butter). Then one day a friend of mine posted a pic of some orange and poppy seed muffins she had baked! they looked perfect and she told me they didn't use butter but oil! the recipe looked quite simple so I decided to give it a go =D

Orange and poppy seed muffins
Recipe adapted from Cooking for One

Finished product =D

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil but I'm sure vegetable or any other oil is fine)
1 cup milk
1 whole orange
1 tbs poppy seeds
1.  Preheat oven to 200oC. Lightly grease 12 hole muffin tin.
2. Place orange in pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. Take orange out of water and place in another pot of boiling water for another 15 minutes. Take out orange and allow to cool down.
3. Place flour in a bowl. Stir in baking powder, poppy seeds and sugar.
4. Whisk oil, egg and milk gently in separate jug. 
5. Chop cooked orange into small pieces and use stick blender to blend orange. If you don't own a stick blender you can manually chop orange into smaller pieces (I was lazy so I did this =p)
6.Stir oil and milk mixture into dry mixture and add chopped orange. Do not overbeat or muffins will be tough.
7. Pour muffin mix into muffin pan. Bake for ~25 minutes or until skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Mmmm tastes best straight out of the oven ^_^

You can serve with cream cheese icing but they do taste quite nice just the way they are. If you don't have that big a sweet tooth, these muffins are just for you! not too sweet but lovely crunch of poppy seeds and orange flavour =)

cooling in muffin tin~

I am still looking for a good orange and poppy seed cake recipe so if you know any that you would like me to try out, just leave a comment ^__^ I'm happy to take any requests!!

Experimental bake: kiwi & coconut muffins!

Normally when I bake, I stick to the recipe to the tee because I don't want anything to go wrong. But this time I felt like being a little experimental (just like science ^^) and creative. We had quite a few kiwi fruits at home that were going a bit soft so I thought.. Hmmm.. what can I bake with them? Most kiwi recipes just involve the kiwi raw e.g. tarts, decorating on top of cakes; and not actually being baked itself. So after googling a few recipes, I decided to try and make some muffins - you can't really go wrong with muffins and fruit XD


As I was making these, I felt like a real cook XD... adding a pinch of this.. pinch of that.. if the consistency wasn't right.. add a bit more liquid ^____^" They actually turned out quite nice. The kiwi fruit's citrus characteristics added tartness to muffins and the passionfruit seeds gave it an extra crunch along with the coconut (HAHA! sounds like a Masterchef description =p).






Kiwi and coconut muffins (makes ~16)


Ingredients
2 cups self-raising flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 egg

Nice and golden brown ^^

175g passionfruit yoghurt (you can use any other flavoured yoghurt but I like the crunchiness of the passionfruit ^^)
1/2 cup milk
2 kiwi fruit, diced


To decorate:
1 kiwi fruit, sliced and quartered
Dessicated coconut


1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line muffin pan.
2. Place flour, sugar and coconut in large bowl.
3. In a small bowl, whisk egg, yoghurt and milk with a fork till combined.
4. Place wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix to combine.
5. Place spoonfuls of mix in muffin holes (~3/4 full).
6. Decorate with kiwi fruit and sprinkle with coconut.
7. Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes or till golden brown.

Finished product =D fresh from the oven :)

I've got to say the muffins taste the best when fresh from the oven because they had a slight crunchiness to the outside ^__^ Because when I brought them to work the next day they were a bit soft..

anyways... BE INVENTIVE =D you never know what recipes you might discover :D

Berry and banana muffins!

Another muffin recipe =) I found it online.. i'm guessing you guys probably won't be making this anytime soon as it involves Bananas (they are really expensive atm!!!) but I shall share anyways :)

BERRY and BANANA MUFFINS

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 ripe bananas, mashed

150g fresh or frozen blueberries (or you can use a variety of berries)

3 tbsp honey

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup caster sugar (the original recipe didn't have this but if you are a sweet tooth like me.. you'll need some sugar in this recipe because the honey isn't enough =p)

1. Preheat oven to 180oC.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Add the sugar, banana and blueberries and lightly toss the fruit through the flour (you don't want the berries to break up too much otherwise your muffin mix will be blue!!!)

3. Whisk the honey, vegetable oil, egg and milk together in a small bowl. Add this to the dry ingredients and lightly combine.

4. Spoon batter into a lined muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked inside.

Nice and golden brown :) i used mixed frozen berries~

The inside :)

Blueberry muffins - for first time bakers

I reckon muffins are one of the easiest things to bake! it just requires one bowl.. ingredients.. mix mix mix.. then into the oven :) so i'm sure anyone who says "I can't bake" or.. "I've never baked before" .. should try and bake muffins and then see if u still say that =p you can have ANY flavour u like.. be CREATIVE!! last time i think i shared Banana and walnut muffins.. this time it will be Blueberry Muffins =D

Ingredients

2 cups Self-raising flour

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tub of yoghurt

1/2 cup milk

1 tspn cinnamon

150g blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Slivered almonds for topping

1. Sift flour into a bowl and mix with sugar, cinnamon, eggs, yoghurt.

2. Add the milk bit by bit until you get a nice consistency (you may need to add more or not add it all~)

3. mix in the blueberrie

*TIP* for frozen berries, be gentle when mixing in.. coz it might turn ur batter blue xP

4. Spoon into muffin moulds and bake at 180oC for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown

so give it a try =D!!!

Mum's banana and walnut muffins

My mum doesn't seem to need a recipe when she makes muffins. She just adds the ingredients and pops them into the oven and they are a success (most of the time =p). I guess she does have a basic recipe and then adds whatever ingredients/flavours she likes. This time since we had some really ripe bananas we decided to make banana and walnut muffins.

Ingredients
2 cups Self-raising flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 tub yoghurt (~150 g)
3 ripe bananas
Handful of walnuts
Handful of sultanas
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg beaten
splash of milk

As you can see some of the measurements are really rough xD but basically you just mix it all up in a bowl and bake at 180oC for 10-12 minutes or till golden brown :)

A quick and versitile snack =)

its my camera that makes it look a lil yellow ><