Profiteroles

I've made these a few times before and have become one of my favourites! First time was at school last year and that was the best recipe for them that I've found. Unfortunately, I turned out to be allergic to the chocolate I had for the topping. At  least I found out before I put the sauce all over the entire batch! See? There are benefits to eating your ingredients! Luckily, we already had posh chocoate spread in that worked perfectly as the topping for a few of the them.

I often have probems with the choux being a little too soft. I made a point of baking them for longer than I have previously. They seemed much crisper when they came out and were still better than previous batches but were still slightly on the squidgy side. I'm not sure why. I think I cut a big enough hole to let the steam out so I'm not sure if it was the cream that was the problem. Does anyone know when exactly you should put the cream in? (as soon as they're cool or right before serving?) Also, should they go straight into the fridge after they've been filled?

Despite being a little on the soft side and causing an allergic reaction, not bad! Yummy pudding!

(Apologies that the photograph isn't up to the usual standard, they're not the most photogenic of desserts!)

Chocolate Cupcakes

Another improvised recipe today. Starting with a basic cake recipe, I replaced some of the flour with cocoa powder. I was making pudding so only made 4 and the quantities of cake mixture and butter icing were pretty much perfect but 6 squares of chocolate was too much to make the chocolate decorations (3-4 squares would probably be about right).

 I cheated a little with the chocolate and melted it in microwave, then put it in an icing bag with a small, round nozzle and piped various shapes onto a piece of baking parchment... then cheated again by cooling them in the fridge. Melting the chocolate in the microwave didn't make much of a difference but cooling them too quickly did take the shine off the chocolate. Slightly annoying but not a huge issue if you're a little short on time. Don't be put off if you think you can't draw, I can't either and the messy/rustic look works pretty well! However, I wouldn't recommend spirals or similar shapes because they're not strong enough structures to stand up with out breaking. Even some of the hearts were a little precarious!

After making the butter icing, I put about a third of it into a piping bag, then added a little cocoa powder to the remainder (turned out the right proportions of each).  

I'm really pleased with how these have turned out! I've never tried to make things with chocolate before and I think they look pretty good (and yes, they taste nice too!) I don't usually write out recipes but this was semi-made up so thought I'd include it today.

Recipe (makes 4):

• 2oz caster sugar
• 2oz butter
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 oz self raising flour
• 1oz cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Butter icing and decoration:

• 2oz icing sugar
• 1oz butter
• 1/4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 4 squares dark chocolate

(Baked at 170 for 15-20 minutes)