Hi all,
I'm very glad to see that there's a 'dessert' section on here as it's probably my favourite course! I grew up baking with my mum and regularly love baking cakes and other sweet treats.
Last weekend, I decided to 'level up' my chocolate brownies and tried my hand at making caramel (dry method). I have to say, it was tough but so worth it. These taste as good as they look however the texture of the caramel will need some adjustment as it's too chewy. Hope you enjoy the pictures - and if you like the recipe, it's just below the picture!
Ingredients
3 large eggs
320g caster sugar
170g dark chocolate (as dark as you can handle)
170g butter (not salted)
120g all purpose flour
45g cocoa powder (best you can get)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
For the topping
600g caster sugar
400g double cream
200g butter
250g cornflakes (or cereal or choice)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Whisk the eggs and sugar until doubled in size - If using a stand mixer, this takes around 5 minutes but it's hard to overwhisk so keep going until it's very pale and looks fluffy. While this is going, melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (Google "bain marie") and stir until fully mixed and even in texture and colour. You'll want to let this cool for about 5 minutes before slowly adding to the egg and sugar mixture whilst whisking - I gently pour the mixture into my stand mixer while it runs on a slow speed as the aim is to incorporate it until even in colour. Sift the remaining dry ingredients into the wet mix and gently fold or whisk until fully combined - smallish lumps, if they appear, are not going to be a problem in the final product.
Pour into a lined/greased 10 inch tin - the mixture will spread thin but bear in mind that you're going to be having caramel cornflakes stacked on top! I baked at 170 degrees Celsius (about 340 in Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes. The test is to shake the tin and see that it's mostly rigid - if it's still moving in the middle when you do this, it just means you're going to have really 'fudgy' brownies so cook it for longer if this is not desirable. Take out of the oven and let cool before topping.
I won't go into too much detail with the caramel as your best bet is to measure all of the ingredients and then Google "dry caramel method" which involves heating the sugar in a pan on a medium heat without any other ingredients until melted, and then adding cream whilst stirring, then add butter, vanilla and salt all at once and stir before letting it rise to 180 degrees Celcius. You will want a thermometer to measure this and any normal probe will do. Once it reaches temperature, take off the heat and immediately stir in the cornflakes until they're fully coated. Pour them onto the brownies and spread evenly, then let set for at least an hour.
One thing I would say about making caramel is that you need to resist the urge to stir the sugar unt you start to see a copper-coloured liquid form around the outside edge - you can then gently pull in the sugar from the edges to the middle and let it incorporate again. The trick (and it is tricky) is to stop it from burning by stirring it gently but not stirring too much in case you crystallise it accidentally, which is when you end up with caramel containing undissolvable sugar crystals. It took me a while to learn how to do this and many failed attempts so I wish you luck!
I'm very glad to see that there's a 'dessert' section on here as it's probably my favourite course! I grew up baking with my mum and regularly love baking cakes and other sweet treats.
Last weekend, I decided to 'level up' my chocolate brownies and tried my hand at making caramel (dry method). I have to say, it was tough but so worth it. These taste as good as they look however the texture of the caramel will need some adjustment as it's too chewy. Hope you enjoy the pictures - and if you like the recipe, it's just below the picture!
Ingredients
3 large eggs
320g caster sugar
170g dark chocolate (as dark as you can handle)
170g butter (not salted)
120g all purpose flour
45g cocoa powder (best you can get)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
For the topping
600g caster sugar
400g double cream
200g butter
250g cornflakes (or cereal or choice)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Whisk the eggs and sugar until doubled in size - If using a stand mixer, this takes around 5 minutes but it's hard to overwhisk so keep going until it's very pale and looks fluffy. While this is going, melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (Google "bain marie") and stir until fully mixed and even in texture and colour. You'll want to let this cool for about 5 minutes before slowly adding to the egg and sugar mixture whilst whisking - I gently pour the mixture into my stand mixer while it runs on a slow speed as the aim is to incorporate it until even in colour. Sift the remaining dry ingredients into the wet mix and gently fold or whisk until fully combined - smallish lumps, if they appear, are not going to be a problem in the final product.
Pour into a lined/greased 10 inch tin - the mixture will spread thin but bear in mind that you're going to be having caramel cornflakes stacked on top! I baked at 170 degrees Celsius (about 340 in Fahrenheit) for 20 minutes. The test is to shake the tin and see that it's mostly rigid - if it's still moving in the middle when you do this, it just means you're going to have really 'fudgy' brownies so cook it for longer if this is not desirable. Take out of the oven and let cool before topping.
I won't go into too much detail with the caramel as your best bet is to measure all of the ingredients and then Google "dry caramel method" which involves heating the sugar in a pan on a medium heat without any other ingredients until melted, and then adding cream whilst stirring, then add butter, vanilla and salt all at once and stir before letting it rise to 180 degrees Celcius. You will want a thermometer to measure this and any normal probe will do. Once it reaches temperature, take off the heat and immediately stir in the cornflakes until they're fully coated. Pour them onto the brownies and spread evenly, then let set for at least an hour.
One thing I would say about making caramel is that you need to resist the urge to stir the sugar unt you start to see a copper-coloured liquid form around the outside edge - you can then gently pull in the sugar from the edges to the middle and let it incorporate again. The trick (and it is tricky) is to stop it from burning by stirring it gently but not stirring too much in case you crystallise it accidentally, which is when you end up with caramel containing undissolvable sugar crystals. It took me a while to learn how to do this and many failed attempts so I wish you luck!
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