Baking for Nightshift- Chocolate Mud cake

In the last Canvas magazine was a selection of Chocolate cakes by Donna Hay. So far I have made two of them (the next one to be posted once I photograph it). I find her recipes a bit hit and miss sometimes. I love her photography and food styling however so still subscribe to her magazine on the ipad even though I rarely cook from them. Both of the cakes I have tried have been right off with the timing. In fact this one I baked for a full 20 mins less and I feel it was still a little overcooked. It was, however, rich and delicious and very easy to make. It's probably more suited to a dessert as it could have done with some cream on the side but the girls still managed to eat it all over the busy night shift we had. As you can see in the photos above the ganache was still pretty runny but who cares....chocolate is chocolate is chocolate!

Chocolate Mud Cake

250 g butter, chopped
200 g dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/3 c milk
1 1/2 c caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 c plain flour, sifted
1/4 c self raising flour, sifted
1/4 c cocoa, sifted

Preheat oven to 150C and lightly grease and line a 22 cm non stick pan.

Place butter, chocolate, milk, sugar and vanilla in a pot over a medium heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

Add eggs and whisk to combine. Pour into a large bowl and add the flours and cocoa and whisk until smooth. Bake about an hour but check after 50 mins or so until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool completely in the tin.

Either dust with extra cocoa powder or else ice with ganache for an over-the-top chocolate hit.

Ripe's Quinoa Fruit Cookies

I know you are looking at these photos and wondering what the hell I made these for. I know they look pretty ugly and unappetising but looks are deceiving as these biscuits are pretty bloody delicious. You can even justify eating them because the are reasonably healthy....except for the butter. Quinoa seems to be the next best thing and rightly so for it's health benefits. I only made half the recipe and got about 20 good sized biscuits out of it so the whole recipe would give a pretty good yield. The uncooked quinoa gives them a lovely crunch and the mix of dried fruits and flavours makes them taste like a zhooshed up Anzac biscuit. Yummy!

Quinoa Fruit Cookies (Ripe Recipes- A Fresh Batch)

1 c quick cook rolled oats
1 c wholemeal flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 c quinoa, uncooked
1/2 c desiccated coconut
1 c sultanas (I used raisins as I prefer them)
1/3 dried dates, finely chopped
1/4 c dried apricots, finely chopped
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp hot water
180 gm butter, melted
3 Tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 180 C and line baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl combine oats, flour, sugar, spices, quinoa, coconut and dried fruit.

In a medium bowl dissolve the soda in the hot water. Whisk in the melted butter, golden syrup and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.

Place heaped tablespoons onto trays leaving space for them to spread. Flatten lightly with a fork.

Bake 10-15 mins until golden. Remove from the tray and cool on a rack.