Chocolate ganache cupcakes by Ina Garten

Hello lovelies! Been a while I know! We at Life and Cooking It are really trying to improve on the frequency of our posts...still work in progress though! Forgive us! So recently, I was able to go home and spend some time with my family, which was awesome! And while I was there I came across this awesome chocolate ganache cake recipe  by Ina Garten.
By the way I hardly watch TV...and really the only time I get to sit behind a TV, hold the remote and watch whatever, is when I go home to visit family...and that is not so often, unfortunately. So when I do eventually get the chance, I'm almost always tuned in to The Food Network 24/7...Lol.
And this was how I came across this awesome recipe by one of my favourite chefs, Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa. This cake is soooooooo chocolatey, it's unbelievable!

You will need (makes 12 cupcakes)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups Hershey's chocolate syrup 
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp instant coffee (this is optional, but it really does help bring out the chocolate flavour) 

For the ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

• Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (gas mark 3)
• Line cupcake pan with paper liners
• Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy, then add eggs, one at a time, mixing through continually.
• Add chocolate syrup, vanilla extract, and mix in
• Next, add flour and coffee and mix until just combined. Do not overbeat, as this would make the cakes tough.
• Scoop the mixture into the lined cupcake pan, and put in the oven to bake for about 30 minutes (a skewer put in should come out clean when cake is baked). Don't overbake!
• Allow to cool thoroughly.
  

  

  
  
• For the ganache, what I did (which was slightly different from what I saw on TV), was to heat the cream in a saucepan on very low heat so it did not boil over...then I added the chocolate chips and kept on stirring occasionally till smooth.
  
  
• Otherwise you could do this in a heat resistant bowl over simmering water - mix cream and chocolate chips till you get a smooth chocolate mixture.
• Now dip your cupcakes (just the tops, of course) in the warm ganache and you're done! Do not refrigerate. Cakes can be kept at room temperature.
  

  

  

  

  

  
  

Enjoy your cakes...really are the yummiest! Decadently chocolatey!!!

my life and cooking it...

Hey guys! Been a minute huh? So sorry there haven't been any recent posts from us...no excuses! So how's everyone doing? Currently doing my trauma/orthopaedics rotation and it's been a wee bit stressful, but still hanging in there!
So last month I had a well-deserved vacation and was lucky to have attended a cooking class organized by Home Cooking New York. It was so much fun and I think anyone who has the chance should definitely attend! The instructing chef was so nice, and everyone had so much fun cooking, and eating, of course. I took so many pictures someone asked if i was covering for a magazine! lol
So this post is dedicated to that...just a few pictures
(just so you can feast your eyes! lol) Hope you enjoy!

Hungry eh??? lol...till next time! 

Granny's Banana Cake

Looong time, but your exotic guest blogger isn't lost! Today I'm back with an awesome Banana Cake! My best friend's wedding will be coming up in August and she asked me to do this banana cake from my grandma for her. I was like... ahhhh.... oh okay! My granny always said this cake was difficult to do, so I never tried doing it. She was always the one who baked it.
I knew I had to do this cake at least 2 times before the wedding. This weekend, I was off work and decided to try. I was kinda nervous ... I don't know why.  But...
.... lets see! :D

So what do we need???

For the batter:

• 4 eggs
• 180g powdered sugar
• 1 pack vanilla sugar (about 2 teaspoons)
• 150g flour (about 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder/soda
• 4 tablespoons lukewarm water

Topping:

• 5-7 bananas
• 1 pack Vanilla pudding to cook
• 12 sheets gelatine or about 60g of powdered gelatine
• 1 litre whipped cream
• 200g baking chocolate

Also, you will need a cake ring to put around the cake for the cream. If you don't have one you can also use the ring which is around the cake pan.

Now let's start with the batter...

1. Separate the yolks from the egg whites. Add the vanilla sugar, powdered sugar, flour, baking soda and the lukewarm water to the yolks and mix until it is a smooth mixture.

2. Beat the egg whites until fluffy. You can add a dash of salt to it, it helps to let it rise nicely.

3. Next, fold in the whisked egg whites into the batter mixture. But be careful here! DO NOT USE A MIXER, it will ruin the texture and the batter won't be nice and fluffy. Also, don't mix it too much, or too fast. Only so much that the batter is nicely mixed.

 Can you see the "fluffiness" :D







The cake pan should be 28cm/11 inches. It could also be slightly bigger. A smaller one will make the cake too high though.

4. Fill the cake pan and place inside the oven for about 15-20 min at 180 C / 350 F. Check on the cake at 15 minutes.

Consider your own oven... :) For me I had to turn the pan around because our oven does not heat evenly. The cake is ready when it is golden-brown or a toothpick comes out clean after inserting it in the middle of the cake!

5. Now you have to let the cake cool down first before you can continue.... in the meantime you can whip the whipping cream and put it in the fridge.

Guess you know the trick to check if the whipping cream is ready. But for those of us who just discovered their baking and cooking passion...I will tell you the secret. Whip it and test with a knife. When you slice through the cream and it remains stable, then it's fine. A second trick which I prefer is to whip the cream for  as long as you think is enough, and then put the bowl upside-down. If the cream stays inside you can be sure it is right. If it comes off you had bad luck and you need to start all over again :P. And please don't overdo it! If you whip it for too long the cream will curdle, which is not nice and you will still have to start all over again :(

6. After the batter is cool, peel the bananas and cut into two longitudinally. Place them on top of the cake so that it is completely covered and then put the cake ring around it.

7. After that, you start with the Vanilla pudding...but you have to be quick, otherwise the bananas will brown.

8. Cook the vanilla pudding. I simply used a instant pudding pack. Yeah... i can hear you groan - shame on me! :D Unfortunately I don't have a good pudding recipe yet. I've tried some before, but none of them was awesome. So, sorry guys.... But however you do your pudding it should be 0,5 litre.

9. When you finish cooking it, it has to cool down. But you can't just put it inside the fridge though, you have to stir it until it is cold! Its helpful if you put your bowl with the pudding inside a bigger one with cold water to speed it up. Don't forget to stir!

As for the gelatine it depends on which gelatine you use. If you have sheets of gelatine you have to add it when you are cooking the pudding. For me, i used the powdered gelatine which you can add to cold things. I added it when the pudding was lukewarm.

10. When the pudding is cold, you add part of the whipped cream ( 600 ml) and mix it with the pudding...so it becomes Vanilla pudding cream. My looked like that...

11. When you finish mixingspread it on the cake. Make sure it has the same thickness everywhere.









Now you are almost done!

12. Take the baking chocolate and let it melt in a heat-resistant bowl over boiling water. When it's melted, take out and stir until almost cold.


I know I have a whole lot of pictures in this post but I couldn't resist to share with you these yummy pictures!

13. Add the rest of the whipped cream to the almost cold chocolate. Its a bit tricky to find the right temperature...because if it's too cold, the chocolate will get hard again, and if too warm the cream will melt.
But I'm sure you will make it!

I just love these two ingredients coming together!

14. Next, spread the chocolate mixture on top of the vanilla pudding cream.

             
   15. Put it inside the fridge for 1-2 hours.

When you remove it from the fridge you have to remove the cake ring carefully.
You can use a knife to loosen the cream from the ring. I didn't like the way the top of the cake looked like so I used a fork to make some wavy design. But it's up to you...

My cake was a bit too high because I used a small cake pan.

And this is how the cake turned out!!!

 

And now lets start enjoying this cake :D

Oh, and by the way, this cake tastes much better the next day when the flavour of the bananas has gone through the cake and the cream! *_* See you

Healthy Choices Episode I

Most people ask the billion cedi question; “How can I eat and maintain or lose weight.” Others even ask a more expensive question; “How can I eat anything I like and still look good naked.” Well, all those asking are in luck because am here to allay all doubts and put all misconceptions to rest. From these two questions three topics arise; Nutrition, Training and Fitness and Lifestyle Change. I am definitely not going to discuss all three topics in this article, I will making it a series and the first episode will be on, you guessed, Nutrition!

One of my followers on my Facebook Fan Page popped a chat with me to ask for a request from Life & Cooking It. She is one of the many people who is trying hard to lose some pounds and get in shape (apparently round is a shape #humour) but keeps hitting her head on a wall. Her request; "I want a tasty and healthy meal for those of us still trying to lose weight. Even if possible, a smoothie”. Since my profession requires me to dedicate my life to helping people and I have a strong passion for staying strong and fit and to make people achieve their fitness goals I accepted the request.

In this episode I am going to talk about Nutrition. This is going to be an in-depth discussion on the intricacies of nutrition. No stone will be left unturned and all misconceptions will be attended to.

just pics...

Decided to put up a post of just pictures...things we've made over the years. The idea is to get you guys motivated enough to try out one of the dishes, especially those with the recipes on the blog. So, here we go!!!

meat pies... www.lifeandcookingit.com/search/label/meat%20pie

birthday cupcakes

Geli's jollof spaghetti...http://www.lifeandcookingit.com/2013/04/gelis-jollof-spaghetti.html

Iced tea...http://www.lifeandcookingit.com/2013/02/iced-tea.html

Carrot muffins...http://www.lifeandcookingit.com/2012/11/carrot-muffins.html

Peanut butter n choc chip cookies...http://www.lifeandcookingit.com/2012/12/peanut-butter-n-choc-cookies.html

Guinness braised beef stew with mashed potatoes...http://www.lifeandcookingit.com/2013/01/guinness-braised-beef-stew.html

Akara, aka Koose, aka fried bean cakes?

more cupcakes!

ok, so this is obviously not a dish...lol...moving on!

Geli's Pine-Mango smoothie...http://www.lifeandcookingit.com/2013/02/gelis-pine-mango-smoothie.html

Peanut butter pork chops served with bacon n cheese potato rounds

chocolate cake...http://www.lifeandcookingit.com/2013/04/a-chocolate-cake.html

Fried rice

well, that's it for now...(bet you want more huh??? lol) 

Later guys!!!

a smoothie for breakfast?

hey guys! how's everyone doing? as most of you are aware, i've been on a smoothie craze for a while now...trying different fruits, discovering new recipes, making stuff up...and i must say, it's been sooooo much fun!

I have some recipe apps on my phone and I stumbled upon this recipe sometime last week, and because I was in such a hurry to go see my patients (yes, i was playing with my phone on the ward, sue me! lol)...anyway as I was saying, I was in such a hurry and just scribbled down the ingredients on a prescription sheet and put the phone away. Now, unfortunately, I can't find where I found the recipe...and I don't know who to give credit to! I can't even remember which of the apps I was using at the time!

Well, if you happen to come across this (the person who came up with the recipe), I'm sorry for not giving you credit, it really is an awesome recipe, and thanks for sharing!
I think this is really awesome because you can actually have this as a quick breakfast! You'll soon see why.

You will need

• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup oats
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• Ice-cubes

Directions

Well, it's kinda just one direction! lol. Put all ingredients into a blender, blend away!

Serve chilled.

Look how smooth it looks!!! lol

I find this recipe to be pretty 'packed', and that's why i think it's pretty cool for a quick breakfast...bananas, oats, milk...definitely very breakfast-ey if u ask me! Plus you can always make it the night before and keep in the fridge...and it takes barely minutes to prepare. So go ahead and try it! Don't forget to keep us posted on how it goes! Enjoy!!! (I've gotten mine all ready for tomorrow!)