Hot Chocolate Fudge Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream, Drizzled with Chocolate Sauce All Over

I've got this wonderful recipe from RecipeTin Eats. Link over if you would like to see the original post. I basically followed exactly what she instructed on the website, and I think it's nice to see how the original recipe turned out from a regular housewife's hands.

Hot chocolate fudge cake with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce all over - 

Ingredients (about one 8-inch/20-centimeter round pan)? 

Dry:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet:

• 1 large egg (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup whole milk (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup drinkable hot water (boiling ok)
• 75 grams unsalted butter (melted but not too hot)
• 1 tablespoon avocado oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate sauce:

• 125ml heavy whipping cream
• 100 grams semi-sweet chocolate chips (dark chocolate ok)

Other:

• Some vanilla ice cream (green tea sounds good too)

How?

Try to find something close to 8-inch/20-centimeter round baking pan. I used a bit larger sized pan and later on had to fix up another smaller pan, otherwise I'll end up with a thin layer of cake, too thin to enjoy.

Line the bottom of the baking pan with parchment paper. You can fold the paper and give it a rough measure. 

I also line up the side too, just in case the cake won't unmold nicely after all that hard word. Better safe than sorry.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt the butter first. Also remove one egg and 1/2 cup of milk from the fridge, so both of them can come close to room temperature when needed.

Whisk all the ingredients listed under the "dry" section to a big container. 

Add in all the ingredients listed under the "wet" section except the hot water.

Mix till evenly blended. I used a plastic spatula for that purpose. Lastly, pour in hot water and mix till incorporated again.

Pour the batter to the round pan. 

Into the oven for 40 minutes. Once ready, turn-off the heat and let the cake sit in the oven for another 10 minutes. After that, remove the baking pan from heat, let it rest in room temperate for 10 minutes before unmolding.

While the cake is still baking, it's a good time to start making the chocolate sauce. Pour the heavy whipping cream to a medium pot and slowly heating it up using low heat. Wait till the cream is hot and just about to bubble, turn-off the heat immediately.

Add in the chocolate chips and let it sit untouched for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, start folding the chocolate into the cream. Keep folding till all the chocolate has been melted and blended together with the cream. 

Put the chocolate sauce aside. Only need to fold again when about to drizzle onto the cake.

So when the cake is finally ready, slice and serve with some ice cream. I'd say vanilla works the best, but green tea brings in a fun twist too. Drizzle the chocolate sauce all over then hurry and dig in.

The cake was wonderful, though not as moist as I would hoped, but still very delicious. Since it's just me and Mister, we can't finish all the cake at once, and it's hard to keep the chocolate sauce under room temperature for extended period of time.

So I simply poured all the chocolate sauce to the sliced cake and stored in the fridge. The sauce will harden just a wee bit, but overall still velvety. 

Other dessert recipes:

• Manuka honey cookies 
• Foolproof rustic lemon cookies
• Caramel popcorn with pecans

Braised Potato Chunks in Asian Sauce 紅燒馬鈴薯

Such a comforting ingredient, I mean potato. I haven't met anyone who doesn't like potato, but instead many are actually addicted to it. Especially fries or buttery mashed potatoes. However, all the more well-known potato dishes are often western, so this time I'm going to do something Asian with it, and hoping that I'll also get a "wanting for more" result in the end.

Braised potato chunks in Asian sauce 紅燒馬鈴薯 - 

Ingredients?

• 2 to 3 medium potatoes
• 2 stalks scallion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 to 2 red chilies
• Some olive oil

Sauce mixture:

• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon aged Shaoxing wine
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

 

How?

Premix all the ingredients listed under the "sauce" section. 

Peel the potatoes and cut into medium small chunks.

Peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem and chop the red chilies. Destem and chop the scallion. Save a small amount of chopped scallion greens for garnish in the end. 

Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan and switch to medium heat. When the oil warms up, add in the potatoes and sear till slightly golden. It'll take a few minutes. Once ready, scoop out the potatoes first.

Still use the same pan, add more oil if needed, we'll need enough oil to coat the pan. Transfer chopped garlic, red chilies, and nearly all the scallion over. Stir-fry till aromatic but not burn the garlic bits.

Pour in the sauce mixture and cook till thickens a little. Transfer potatoes back to the pan and mix till evenly coated with the sauce.

Plate and garnish with chopped scallion greens we saved earlier.

Hopefully the slightly sweet yet savory sauce sticking onto the potatoes will make you wanting for more. If not, potato's semi-hardened edge paired with fluffy center should do the trick too.

Other potato recipes:

• Korean braised potatoes (gamja jorim)
• Hash browns - breakfast fav that never disappoints
• Smashed potato pizza with pepperoni and mozzarella