Nutella muffins

Okay, I was skeptical when I read internet reviews about a wonderful recipe for muffins that requires only 3 ingredients.

However, I remembered a certain someone who drew up an Agreement for Sale and Purchase in respect of an immovable property that contained only 3 clauses so I figured that anything is possible in life.

I googled "Nutella muffins" and found many links.  What I noticed was that the recipe was almost identical in these various internet pages and I also noticed positive feedback.

So what did I do?  Well, naturally I rushed to the supermarket nearest to my office during my lunch hour on a weekday and bought the largest container of Nutella that I could find.  Judging from the reviews on the internet, I decided that I might as well buy a larger container as this recipe is sure to be a keeper.

I finally got round to baking the muffins and I was not disappointed.

I do have a caveat, though.  I personally find the muffins a little dense.  When I next bake these muffins, I will add 1/2 tsp of baking powder to the cake flour.


INGREDIENTS

1 cup Nutella
1 egg (beaten)
10 tbsp cake flour


METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Line the muffin pans with paper cases.  Set aside.

3. Sift the cake flour in a bowl.  Set aside.

4. Mix the Nutella and egg until smooth.

5. Fold in the sifted flour.

6. Fill the muffin cases till about 3/4 full.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.


TIPS

You may notice muffin crumbs stuck to it but this is alright - as the muffin cools down, the muffin will become more dry.  As such, you should not overbake the muffins.

chocolate mayonnaise cake

I will admit that I have not been updating my food blog as frequently as I would have liked.  It is not to say that I have not been baking / cooking for some time.  In fact, weekend baking has become a family affair for Princess Chickadee and me.  Ever since she started showing interest in baking, I have been encouraging her to bake.  Her bakes do not necessarily always turn out perfect but it is the process that I would like her to enjoy.  Also, there are other benefits such as bonding, learning to listen to instructions, etc.

I happened to wake up early on 1 May 2013 (it being a public holiday). My family had plans to meet at my mother's home at 9.30 am that day before we proceeded to Mount Vernon Columbaria to pay respects to my late daddy.  While waiting for the Chickadees to wake up, I decided to try my hand at baking this cake.

I have had this recipe for some time.  I cannot even recall where I obtained it from.  It is probably something I happened to come across as I was surfing the internet.  I kept the recipe because I was intrigued by the use of mayonnaise in a cake recipe.  However, as cake flour (which the recipe called for) and mayonnaise are something that I do not always have in my kitchen, I did not have the opportunity to bake this cake until now because I happened to have these two ingredients.  The rest of the ingredients are usual ingredients commonly found in cake recipes.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the cake rising in the oven.  If you look at the photograph below, you will see how evenly the cake rose.  Sometimes, when I bake cakes, the cake rises unevenly and I end up with "craters".  This cake rose perfectly.  I was tremendously pleased.

I separated the cake batter into two portions.  I baked one of the cakes in a bundt pan and I baked the other cake in a regular round cake pan.  Both cakes came out lovely.

Da ate three slices of the cake at one go that night, after a heavy dinner.  He does not have a "sweet tooth" so the fact that he ate so many slices at one go is testimony to how yummy the cake is.  I would encourage you to try the recipe.

INGREDIENTS

280g cake flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g cocoa powder
3 eggs
300g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
250ml water
250ml mayonnaise

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2. Grease and flour/line the cake pan.  Set aside.

3. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder in a bowl.  Set aside.

4. Beat the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl using a hand whisk until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla essence and mix well.

5. Combine the water and mayonnaise in a bowl.  Add to the egg/sugar mixture, alternately with the flour mixture.  Mix well until a hand whisk.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

7. Tap the cake pan several times on the table to release the air bubbles.

8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

9. Leave the cake in the pan for a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

TIPS

1. Although the original recipe called for "extra large eggs", I used the regular sized eggs commonly sold in the supermarkets.  The cake turned out fine.

2. I am very particular about the brand of cocoa powder that I use for baking.  After trying several brands, my personal view is that I would recommend Hersheys cocoa powder.  You can smell the lovely aroma of the cocoa powder while the cake is baking in the oven.

3.  I used an "entry level" brand of mayonnaise that we had in the refrigerator (which we had bought because it was stored in a plastic container instead of a glass container - it was purely for safety reasons because I did not want Princess Chickadee to hold a heavy glass container when she makes her egg mayonnaise sandwiches). Some of my colleagues have sworn that the yummiest mayonnaise is the one where there is a picture of a baby on the bottle.  I intend to hunt for this brand of mayonnaise and try it to see whether the mayonnaise is indeed more delicious.

4. The texture of this cake is more spongy as compared to the regular cakes that I am used to baking.  Notwithstanding this, the cake is moist and soft and it remained so even the next day.  I do not know whether it will continue to remain moist on the 3rd day after baking because the cake ran out by the 2nd day. :)