This is one of my favorite cakes. The main reason it did well with wholemeal flour, the new fav choco-orange flavoring, and not the least from one of my favorite baking blog Smitten Kitchen My kids didnt give me time to make the ganache.. they wanted to cut it right away so i thought ok may be next time. It was delish even without it!

You can also find this choco-orange combo in my  Chocolate Orange marble Cake

This cake tastes better the next day!

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa Parties!

1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar – i reduced to 1 cup
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
1/4 cup grated orange zest (from 4 large oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons – changed to wholemeal flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups good semisweet chocolate chunks

Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Ganache:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.

3. Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tablespoons flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pan, set it on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.

5. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

1 C currants or raisins

In a medium bowl, combine oats and buttermilk. Let soak for an hour.

2. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 210° C (400° F). Generously grease a loaf pan with butter or margarine. Stir brown sugar and eggs into oat mixture. In a large bowl, stir together flour, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

3. Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly. Add oat mixture to dry ingredients. Stir in currants, cranberries (if using) and melted butter, and mix until well combined.

4. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake until loaf has risen and is well browned or until the skewer inserted comes out clean, about 40-45 mins.

Note: Let it cool the bread completely before you cut it, or it will crumble. It can be stored up to 4-5 days in refrigerator. It tastes best when microwave it for 10 seconds.

Oatmeal Bread

I wouldnt say these are the best cookies ever but the best healthy cookies. Kids didnt like it but dipped in milk they loved it. I guess they like cookies in any form and shape!

This recipe has been in my mail for some time. I got this from Simply.Food and i really didnt notice it was eggless till i started to make it. The final verdict i and hubby loved it. A guilt free tea time snack and very easy to bake!

i made this in bite sizes but in the pic it really looks large! Kids have been asking for cookies for a long time. Iwasnted to make a different choc chip cookie and then i came across this.

When i saw this recipe in 101 cookbooks i made it right away with my kids. Made some minor changes. My daughter suggested she wanted to add Hersheys unsweetened cocoa powder so i added 2 tbsps of it. Rest all the same but reduced the sweetness a little bit.

5 ounces good-quality semi-sweet chocolate bar

1 cup wholemeal flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup walnuts, very, very finely chopped

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)

1 tablespoon organic unsulphured molasses (blackstrap)

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat your oven to 350F degrees, racks in top and bottom third.
• Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Finely chop the chocolate bar into 1/8-inch pieces, more like shavings really. Try to avoid big lumps and chunks, which make flattening out the cookie dough later more difficult.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder,  baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats, walnuts, and shaved chocolate. Set aside.
• Using a mixer (or by hand) beat the butter until fluffy.
• Beat in the sugar and mix until it is also light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the molasses, then the egg, mixing until both are well incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice.
• Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mix and stir by hand until the ingredients barely come together into a uniform dough. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/itsy-bitsy-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe.html

This entry goes to Bookmarked recipes by Priya and Aipi, Champa’s Bake- off event, Yeastspotting.

im clearing off my drafts now.. there are loads of pictures since Jan that is when we found out about our surprise that arrived in Aug! I guess i really dont have much time to type on this muffins so i’ll just go on to the recipe straight away!

And oh.. i found these beautiful muffin cups from IKEA.

3oz / 85 grms rolled oats

8fl oz / 250 ml buttermilk

4 oz / 120g butter at room temp

31/2 oz / 100 grms dark brown sugar

1 egg room temp

4 oz / 120 grms wholemeal flour

2 tbsp brown flazseed powder

2 tbsp wheat germ

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 oz / 30 grms raisins

2 oz pumpkin and sunflower seeds

• In a bowl combine oats and buttermilk and let it stand for 1 hour
• Preheat oven to 400F/200C/Gas6
• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Beat in egg
• Inanother bowl sift flour,baking powder,baking soda and salt.
• After sifting combine flaxseed powder and wheat germ.
• Stir into the butter mixture alternating with oat mixture
• Fold in the raisins and seeds
• Do not over mix
• Fill into the muffin cups and bake until the skewer comes out clean about 20-25 mts.