Everybody has a different description of the best chocolate chip cookie that is their absolute favourite. That's normal. My best chocolate chip cookie won't necessarily be your favourite, and vice versa. Describing any food as "best" is highly subjective and up for interpretation. It can depend on your age, your history and what you grew up eating, where you live, your friends....

Your favourite chocolate chip cookie will evolve with time. Some days, all you may want is raw cookie dough straight from the mixer bowl, or a super gooey, under-baked cookie that is soft and melty. Other days, you might crave a thin, crispy, dry, even sandy textured chocolate chip cookie. Lately, I've fallen in love with chewy chocolate chip cookies. But actually, when they are freshly baked, they have a crispy edge and raw middle. When you store them they mature, and they develop a chewier texture that I find highly addictive.

I'm not here to tell you that this is the best chocolate chip cookie, but I would like to discuss how to take your favourite recipe and adapt it to suit your needs, or your dietary restrictions, or a national shortage of all-purpose flour. How do you swap one flour for another? What do you do if you are stuck with a gluten-free flour to work with that isn't a pre-mixed blend to replace all-purpose, cup-for-cup. What if you want a cookie that spreads thinner as it bakes, or a cookie that is more gooey?

Tools and Equipment

These are tools, equipment, and bakeware that I use when I make chocolate chip cookies. If you plan to make cookies often or bake more regularly, these are some of the essential baking tools you might want to consider investing in. These items make baking sessions easier and more successful!

• Kitchen scale: I cannot stress enough how much easier it is to measure out ingredients by weight. If you are interested in making the switch to a digital scale, I like this OXO Good Grips kitchen scale available on Amazon. I use it all the time and it takes standard AAA batteries which you probably have on hand most of the time. Make sure to do your mise-en-place, the French baking term for measuring out all your ingredients before proceeding to make the recipe.
• Electric hand mixer: most of us used to make cookies with a good old wooden spoon, but now I don't have the stamina, the arm strength, or the motivation, honestly. I have used an electric hand mixer from Braun (Multimix HM5100 available on Amazon) to make these cookies and it works well. I've also used the KitchenAid Artisan mixer. Both work!
• Large bowl with a rubber or silicone grip on the bottom: if you are going to make cookie dough with a hand mixer, invest in a GIANT 8 quart stainless bowl with a rubberized bottom so it is stable on the counter and this way, the bowl won't dance around as the mixer runs. This set from Amazon will do the trick. Or buy a stainless bowl without a rubberized grip and nest it in a damp towel to stabilize it while mixing. 
• Cookie scoop: this style of cookie scoop comes in a variety of sizes. Some call it a "disher" and it's the most reliable scoop I've found (available on Amazon). They can handle firm doughs without breaking because the release mechanism is separate from the handle! This gives you a better, firm grip on the handle, without the risk of breaking the leaver.
• Baking sheets: invest in large baking sheets, also known as half sheet pans, with the following dimensions: 13"x18". The larger the better, but make sure they fit in your oven before investing in bigger sheet pans. I like the Nordic Ware sheets (available on Amazon) and they come in a variety of sizes (quarter sheet, half sheet, big sheet). You can also find cheaper pans. Just make sure you opt for light Aluminum pans, not the pans with a darker finish because cookies on darker pans will brown/burn more quickly on the bottom!
• Parchment paper to prevent sticking: I prefer to bake cookies on Aluminum pans lined with parchment paper. I have baked with Silpat and silicone baking mats in the past, but I much prefer baking with parchment. Silicone is insulating and this will have an impact on how long it takes to properly bake the cookies and this will reduce browning as well. If you like gooey, underbaked cookies, silicone mats like the Silpat are your best bet (available on Amazon). If you prefer chewy cookies, opt for parchment paper—I use the Kirkland brand roll available on Amazon.

Basic Ingredients

Most will use the Nestlé Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie as the reference for the quintessential chocolate chip cookie, and they use the recipe on the back of that yellow bag we have all seen at the grocery store. Others now refer to Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookie recipe published in the New York Times years ago. But all chocolate chip cookies combine the same basic ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, chemical leaveners, salt and, of course, chocolate. With these base ingredients, there are a seemingly infinite number of ratios to explore, but also ingredient variations.

Butter

Most recipes call for unsalted butter, but some may recommend salted butter, in which case the recipe may omit any other salt from the ingredients. The butter can be softened (room temperature), melted and cooled, but some may even ask you to brown the butter to bring out those toasted nut flavours by browning the milk solids in the butter. This will add a ton of flavour, but at the expense of water, which evaporates as you heat the butter.

Softened butter allows you to cream the butter with the sugar(s) in the recipe, allowing you to incorporate air at this stage, which is a method to lighten the cookie dough so that it's not so dense. The creaming method is important to achieve the right texture. 

Melted butter can't trap air the way softened butter can. So making chocolate chip cookies with melted butter will result in a denser cookie. The same goes for brown butter. If you like a denser cookie, opt to work with melted butter or brown butter. 

Regardless of the butter you use, remember that more butter will lead to more spread, and less butter will lead to thicker chocolate chip cookies.

Sugar

Classic chocolate chip cookies call for a combination of white and brown sugar (light or dark). The sugar is essential for preserving the cookies after they are baked, for locking in moisture so that they don't dry out as fast, and also the sugar is key if you are using the creaming method to incorporate some air.

Granulated sugar (regular white sugar or caster sugar) gives a more crispy texture to cookies, while brown sugar gives both flavour and more softness along with some chewiness too. Another thing to note is that sugar promotes cookie spread as they bake, especially granulated sugar: cookies made with 100 % granulated sugar and no brown sugar spread more than the same recipe made with brown sugar exclusively. That's because brown sugar is a little more acidic than plain white sugar, and so that brown sugar will react with the baking soda in most recipes, helping the cookies to rise up rather than spread out. If you like thicker cookies, use more brown sugar than white sugar. 

Another thing to note when choosing what type of sugar to bake with: brown sugar lends a ton of flavour to chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies made with only granulated sugar tend to have a more eggy flavour, which some might not like. I prefer to bake with a mixture of white and brown sugar, if not with only brown sugar. In fact, lately I've been baking with dark brown sugar to add as much molasses flavour as possible to cookies.

Eggs

The classic recipes for basic chocolate chip cookies will call for whole eggs, usually 1 large egg for every 125 to 190 grams (1 to 1.5 cups) of flour. There are some recipe writers that may recommend to add extra egg yolks to cookie dough to provide more richness, and a more chewy or gooey texture to the baked cookies. More egg whites will contribute to a more crisp texture. Personally, I don't want to separate an egg when I'm making chocolate chip cookies. I can't be bothered. 

Too much egg can cause your chocolate chip cookies to taste eggy, especially if there's not enough brown sugar, butter, flour, and vanilla to mask the eggy flavour. Too much egg will also cause the cookies to spread more, so if you want thicker cookies, use less egg (relative to the other ingredients).

Flour

The classic Tollhouse recipe is made with all-purpose flour, the bleached plain flour you find at most grocery stores. On the other hand, the Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies call for a combination of bread flour and cake flour. The bread flour brings a lot more protein to the cookie dough, which means more gluten and more chewiness in the baked cookie. Cake flour is lower in protein and higher in starch, so it's finer and will give a lighter texture. None will provide much flavour and the role of these flours is mostly structural.

The amount of flour affects the texture and shape

Too much flour will make very thick cookies that hardly spread at all as they bake. The more flour you add, the dryer and harder your cookies will be, especially if you don't compensate with more butter, sugar, and eggs. Conversely, less flour will make cookies spread more as the butter melts and the cookies heat up in the oven. If you want to bake thick chocolate chip cookies, add more flour, but not too much (as compared to the other ingredients in the recipe)!

The type of flour affects the flavour, texture, and shape

All-purpose flour has that name for a reason: it's a pretty easy flour to work with, it's readily available, you can use it to make most recipes, and it's not overly flavourful. Whole wheat all-purpose flour has more flavour than bleached white all-purpose flour, and cookies made with whole wheat spread a little more than with all-purpose, but not so much so that you have to fiddle with the quantities.

On the other hand, rye flour has a ton of flavour (grassy is how some would describe it) and it's lower in gluten and can lead to denser baked goods (rye flour is commonly used in bread making). Bake a chocolate chip cookie with rye flour and it will be thicker and more chewy.

Spelt flour is very fine and soft, with a texture similar to cake flour. For this reason, it leads to a softer cookie with a lighter texture. Oat flour is also very fine and soft, adding a sweeter flavour to cookies. Corn flour behaves much like spelt and oat flour, and it is the sweetest of them all. The flavour of corn flour is very interesting in a chocolate chip cookie. Give it a try! With spelt, oat, and corn flour, you have to add slightly more than you would all-purpose to achieve similar results.

Buckwheat is another flour with a ton of flavour that is very polarizing: some love it, others hate it. Buckwheat is described as nutty, vegetal, and earthy, and it has a very fine texture. To make chocolate chip cookies with only buckwheat flour, you have to use much more than the other flours, especially if you want a thicker cookie. 

Chemical leaveners—Baking soda vs baking powder

Baking powder, made up of baking soda plus an acid (or two) is a complete chemical leavener that requires water and heat to react and nothing more. Baking powder added to cookie doughs will open the crumb, leading to a lighter middle but also to crispier edges.

Baking soda added to cookie doughs will still react because the sugars added to cookie doughs provide a little acidity. But still, the baking soda won't all react and its presence actually contributes to the faster browning of the cookie (Maillard browning, specifically). Baking soda helps the edges of the cookie to brown in such a short baking time. Without it, your cookies may end up looking pale, and not as appealing.

Salt

In the cookie dough itself, most recipes will call for either table salt or fine kosher salt. Remember that table salt is twice as salty as fine kosher salt (like Diamond Crystal) so make sure you use the salt the recipe recommends, or adjust the amount according to the type of salt you are using.

Some recipes, those made with salted butter, may not have any other salt added to the dough and the butter provides all the salt. The problem with this is the salt content of salted butters can vary from brand to brand, so it's hard to judge if there will be enough salt in the recipe if you bake with salted butter.

Many will add flaky sea salt, Fleur de sel, or Maldon salt to garnish the balls of cookie dough before baking. The salt will stay intact as the cookies bake, and give a little salty crunch, which helps balance the sweetness.

Vanilla extract

Most recipes call for pure vanilla extract, but you can substitute imitation vanilla for vanilla extract and your cookies will still taste like the real thing. In fact, using imitation vanilla (also known as vanilla essence) in a recipe like this is actually what might lead to a more pronounced, striking vanilla flavour. 

Chocolate chip cookies are not a place for precious, expensive vanilla beans. Save those for a vanilla bean pastry cream, vanilla bean panna cotta, or your favourite ice cream. The beans would be wasted in cookies because there's no step that involves extracting the flavour to infuse your dough. Stick with extract or essence, here. If you really want to bake with the beans, I'd suggest using vanilla bean paste, teaspoon for teaspoon, in place of the vanilla extract.

If you are out of vanilla and need a substitute: add some whiskey or bourbon instead of the vanilla!

Chocolate Type and Chips Versus Chunks

Obviously the Nestlé Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies call for Nestlé Tollhouse chocolate chips, which are a semi-sweet chocolate chip. There's nothing wrong with chocolate chips, but sometimes, especially if you add a lot of chocolate chips to your cookies, you may notice the chocolate chips are too sweet for your cookies. You might actually want to use a different chocolate type for making chocolate chip cookies.

These days, I prefer to bake my chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate, preferably with a 70–80% cocoa content that is bittersweet, not sweet. A chocolate like Cacao Barry Ocoa, which is a 70 % dark chocolate would be perfect. Cacao Barry's Saint Domingue would also be great here. You could also opt for Lindt Excellence 70 % dark chocolate which is sold in 100 gram bars in most grocery stores these days and also isn't sweet. It's the perfect balance for the sweet-salty cookie dough.

The idea is to provide contrast in flavours and a bittersweet chocolate that is at least 70 % cocoa will provide a good amount of bitterness to balance out all the sugar in your recipe.

If you aren't working with chocolate chips, you will have to chop the chocolate to incorporate it in your cookie dough. How you chop it will have an impact on your cookies. For example, you can use a food processor to make finer shards of chocolate for your cookies, as I did when I adapted the Jacques Torres recipe in these chocolate chip cookies: you can see that the dough is darker because the finer shards of chocolate melted into the cookie dough. I loved that effect and the flavour was great!

Another thing to note when baking with dark chocolate as opposed to chocolate chips: chocolate chips are formulated to keep their shape as they bake, without melting, even in a hot oven. On the other hand, most quality dark chocolate is not formulated for this and will melt as the cookies bake, creating puddles or pools of chocolate on top and throughout the cookie. Make sure to give ample time for the cookies to cool and for the chocolate to set again before packing them, otherwise, they may stick to each other. 

To Chill or Not to Chill

Chilling dough is really important for cutout cookies and pie dough. There have been countless blog posts and newspaper articles about how chilling improves flavour and texture, but honestly, most of the time, I can't be bothered.

When I'm making chocolate chip cookies, I want them now, not in 24 to 48 hours, or worse, 72 hours! Still, you can absolutely take cookie dough and chill it overnight (or for longer). You can even freeze scoops of cookie dough and future-you will be ever so grateful! 

Gluten-free flours often take longer to hydrate and absorb surrounding oil and humidity. When you don't give them enough time to do so, the cookies will inevitably spread fast as soon as they hit the oven. For this reason, chilling is important, though still not essential. I found with oat flour especially, the flavour was much improved by chilling the balls of cookie dough overnight in the refrigerator before baking. But that being said, it's optional and you can absolutely bake the freshly made cookie dough right away. No stress! 

With many of the alternative flours (buckwheat flour, oat flour, corn flour, and spelt flour), you have to add more flour to the cookie dough in order to be able to bake the freshly made cookie dough right away without compromising the thickness and the chewiness of these cookies.

Baking Temperature

The temperature you preheat your oven to is entirely dependent on the type of baking sheets you are using, but also the type of chocolate chip cookie you want to make.

I bake with light-coloured, standard restaurant-style sheet pans from Nordic Ware. These half-sheet pans are made with aluminum and because they are lighter in colour, they don't absorb as much heat as darker sheet pans and so browning/burning doesn't happen too quickly. This is a good thing.

If you are using darker sheet pans, you will have to drop your oven temperature by 25 ºF compared to what the recipe recommends. Darker sheet pans absorb more heat and cause cookies to burn on the bottom if you don't adjust the temperature of your oven to compensate.

If you bake your cookies on a sheet pan lined with a silicone baking mat, your cookies will take longer to bake and they will be softer. The silicone mat is insulating, which means the cookies won't brown as much on the bottom. This leads to a softer cookie than on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Bakeware aside, if you are baking with standard sheet pans, if you want your cookies to spread more and bake thinner, and crisper, bake them at a lower temperature (try 325 ºF or oven 300 ºF) and let them bake for longer. The lower oven temperature allows the butter to melt and the sugar too, which will cause the cookies to spread, and because the oven temperature is lower, the exterior of the cookie takes longer to set, allowing the cookie to spread out more.

If you want a gooey chocolate chip cookie that is soft on the outside, try baking at a lower temperature, like 325 ºF and don't over-bake your cookies. They should still be quite raw in the middle and very delicate when you take them out. 

I like thicker cookies that are really "meaty" and to achieve this, besides adding more flour to my recipe, I also like to bake the cookies at a higher temperature, 375 ºF or even 400 ºF. This way the exterior of the cookie heats up faster, setting and creating a crust before the butter has time to melt. The cookies will end up thicker for this reason, held together by the crispy set exterior. This is the way to achieve thick cookies that have a crispy exterior and a gooey interior.

In the case of very thick cookies, the outer crust of the cookie may crack or crackle as the interior melts and expands under the crunchy exterior. For thicker chocolate chip cookies, bake them at 375 or 400 ºF.

Regardless of the temperature you bake them at, remember that your chocolate chip cookies will continue to bake on the sheet pan as they cool. Given this, you can now understand why the time the cookies spend in the oven is so brief!

Storing Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

If you decide to chill your cookie dough to let the dough "cure" and for the flavours to develop, I prefer to roll the raw cookie dough out into 50-gram balls. You can place them in a zip-top bag or even in a closed plastic container. 

Freezing raw cookie dough and how to bake them later

If you decide to freeze your portioned out cookie dough unbaked, I like to place it in an air-tight zip-top freezer bag, being careful to remove all the air before zipping the bag closed. Then you can store them in the freezer for several months. 

When you are ready to bake the frozen cookie dough, simply place them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet to bake from frozen. Let the cookies defrost for 10 minutes at room temperature, while you preheat your oven. The cookies will inevitably take longer to bake, look for the tell-tale signs that they are done: the edges should begin to brown and the surface should look like it's beginning to set, without being baked through.

Storing Freshly-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once the baked cookies have cooled completely (emphasis on the completely!), I store my freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in a sealed container. As you store them, in the first few days, you will notice they will dry out just a little and become even chewier. I find they hit peak chewy on day 2. After that, the cookies will really start to dry out more.

Also, there isn't much hope for conserving the gooey freshly-baked texture when you store chocolate chip cookies, unfortunately. If that's the texture you look for in a chocolate chip cookie, you are better off storing the raw cookie dough than the baked cookies. This way you can bake them when the craving strikes.

To keep them moist, you can try the same tricks you would use to keep brown sugar fresh and moist:

1. put a marshmallow in the container with the cookies
2. put a slice of bread in the container with the cookies
3. put a slice of apple in the container with the cookies 
4. put a hydrated terracotta brown sugar keeper in the container with the cookies

Freezing freshly baked cookies and how to defrost them later

Most people aren't aware that chocolate chip cookies freeze beautifully. You can do so in a zip-top freezer bag, being mindful to suck all the air out of the bag before placing in the freezer. Then when you want a cookie, take one out and gently reheat it in a low oven (250 ºF) for around 10 to 15 minutes to achieve a warm chocolate cookie that's as good as freshly baked. Future you will be very thankful for that stash of frozen baked chocolate chip cookies on those late nights when you have a craving for freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies that you can't ignore! Trust me.

By the way, you can also chop up extra cookies into small pieces and freeze them to churn into a batch of homemade cookie ice cream!

Flour Substitutions

Things can get quite tricky if you want to use a different flour instead of all-purpose in your favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe. All-purpose has roughly 10 % protein, which gives cookies structure, preventing the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. The ratios used in the classic recipes were developed for all-purpose flour. For this reason, you can't just replace all-purpose flour with another and expect the same results. Even worse, if you want to work with gluten-free flours, most of which have significantly lower protein content and no gluten for structure. You will inevitably have to make adjustments to your recipe. Here's how:

The chocolate chip cookie recipe below can be adapted in the following ways with a variety of flours:

• replace the all-purpose flour with:
  • whole wheat flour: 190 grams (1.5 cups) whole wheat flour to make whole wheat chocolate chip cookies—note that at 190 grams (1.5 cups) of whole wheat flour, the cookies spread out more than they would with the same weight of all-purpose, but they are still on the thicker side so I don't think you should add more flour than this.
  • rye flour: 190 grams (1.5 cups) rye flour to make rye chocolate chip cookies (basically replace with the same amount)—any more rye flour makes the cookies too thick and way too chewy, and less rye flour results in a much thinner cookie that spreads out. Also note that chocolate chip cookies made with 100 % rye flour will be quite chewy, even freshly baked.
  • spelt flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) spelt flour to make spelt chocolate chip cookies— at 250 grams of spelt flour, the freshly baked cookies are quite thick, with a crispy light exterior and a gooey interior. Use just slightly less if you prefer you cookies a little more spread out (so 30 grams or ¼ cup less)
  • oat flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) oat flour depending on how thick a cookie you want (note you can also replace the chopped chocolate with raisins to make them gluten-free oat flour raisin cookies )
  • corn flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) corn flour, depending on how thick a cookie you want
  • buckwheat flour: 310 grams (2.5 cups) buckwheat flour to make gluten-free buckwheat chocolate chip cookies—less works, but the cookies spread quite a bit!
• add oats:
  • add 95 grams (1 cup) of rolled oats, along with peanuts and swapping milk chocolate for dark chocolate to make these thick chewy oatmeal cookies with milk chocolate and peanuts

Other Variations and Substitutions

Feel free to modify this recipe to make your version of the best chocolate cookies. Here are some ways to adapt this recipe:

• Add nuts: when you add in the chocolate, also mix in 110 grams (1 cup) chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, or even peanuts or pistachios.
• Add seeds: when you add in the chocolate, also mix in 110 grams (1 cup) sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
• Add sprinkles: if you want a funfetti chocolate chip cookie or a "birthday cake" style cookie, mix sprinkles in with the cookie dough. I like adding rainbow jimmies to cookie dough.
• Add peanut butter: when you cream the butter with the sugars, you can add 125 grams (½ cup) of all-natural peanut butter because the recipe below is VERY similar to this recipe for classic peanut butter cookies.
• Add cocoa powder: replace 60 grams (½ cup) of flour with 45 grams (½ cup) of cocoa powder to create the best chocolate chocolate chip cookies
• Change the chocolate: I love to make chocolate chip cookies with chopped dark chocolate that is preferably 70 % cocoa and not too sweet, but you can also use milk chocolate, white chocolate, or a combination of the three. Make sure you stick to the same total quantity of chocolate though. Try adding toffee bits, butterscotch chips, or even peanut butter chips for a completely different flavour.
• Replace the chocolate with chopped dried fruit: you can replace the chocolate with raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried sour cherries, chopped crystallized ginger, chopped dates, etc. Substitute cup-for-cup, or do a mixture of chocolate and dried fruit. Up to you!
• Add in something crazy: take inspiration from Christina Tosi's Milk Bar compost cookie recipe and her compost pound cake and throw in some salty potato chips, chopped pretzels, coffee grinds! I've added oats, white chocolate, and blueberries to the same cookie dough base to make these gorgeous blueberry white chocolate cookies
• Garnish: you can't go wrong with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt which will help balance out the sweetness of the cookie dough.

Troubleshooting

If you tried this recipe for the best chewy chocolate chip cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

📖 Recipe

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Thick Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here's a recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies that are super chewy and salty-sweet, including tips for adapting this recipe with different flours (whole wheat, rye, spelt, and even gluten-free flours like oat, corn, and buckwheat).

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 14 minutes minutes

Servings 14

Calories 258kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Sheet pan
• GIR spatula
• 1-⅓oz scoop

Ingredients

• 190 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt or 2.5 mL (½ tsp) table salt
• 2.5 mL baking soda
• 115 grams unsalted butter
• 150 grams dark brown sugar
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 1 large egg(s)
• 10 mL pure vanilla extract
• 175 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content) chopped (approximately 250 mL or 1 cup), or 250 mL (1 cup) dark chocolate chips

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400 ºF (200 °C). Line two large sheet pans with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer, cream together the butter, the granulated sugar, and the brown sugar until it's very light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and the vanilla, and mix well until the mixture is light and fluffy again. Make sure to clean down the sides of the bowl as needed with a big spatula.
• Dump in the whisked dry ingredients, and incorporate them either with the hand mixer on low, or by hand with a big wooden spoon.
• Mix in the chocolate. The dough should be quite thick.
• Scoop approximately 50 gram portions of the dough, rolling them into balls.
• Place 7 cookies per cookie sheet, being sure to space them apart and stagger them.
• Bake the cookies one sheet pan at a time until the edges just begin to brown (this takes about 12 to 14 minutes). You might want to rotate the pan partway through the baking to make sure the cookies brown evenly.
• Let the cookies cool completely on the sheet pan while you bake the second pan.
• Store in an airtight container.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• replace the all-purpose flour with:
  • whole wheat flour: 190 grams (1.5 cups) whole wheat flour to make whole wheat chocolate chip cookies—note that at 190 grams (1.5 cups) of whole wheat flour, the cookies spread out more than they would with the same weight of all-purpose, but they are still on the thicker side so I don't think you should add more flour than this.
  • rye flour: 190 grams (1.5 cups) rye flour to make rye chocolate chip cookies (basically replace with the same amount)—any more rye flour makes the cookies too thick and way too chewy, and less rye flour results in a much thinner cookie that spreads out. Also note that chocolate chip cookies made with 100 % rye flour will be quite chewy, even freshly baked.
  • spelt flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) spelt flour to make spelt chocolate chip cookies— at 250 grams of spelt flour, the freshly baked cookies are quite thick, with a crispy light exterior and a gooey interior. Use just slightly less if you prefer you cookies a little more spread out (so 30 grams or ¼ cup less)
  • oat flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) oat flour depending on how thick a cookie you want (note you can also replace the chopped chocolate with raisins to make them gluten-free oat flour raisin cookies )
  • corn flour: 220 grams–250 grams (1.75 cups to 2 cups) corn flour, depending on how thick a cookie you want
  • buckwheat flour: 310 grams (2.5 cups) buckwheat flour to make gluten-free buckwheat chocolate chip cookies—less works, but the cookies spread quite a bit!
• add oats:
  • add 95 grams (1 cup) of rolled oats, along with peanuts and swapping milk chocolate for dark chocolate to make these thick chewy oatmeal cookies with milk chocolate and peanuts
• If you want to add nuts: when you add in the chocolate, also mix in 110 grams (1 cup) chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, or even peanuts or pistachios.
• If you want to add seeds: when you add in the chocolate, also mix in 110 grams (1 cup) sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
• If you want to add sprinkles: if you want a funfetti chocolate chip cookie or a "birthday cake" style cookie, mix sprinkles in with the cookie dough. I like adding rainbow jimmies to cookie dough.
• If you want to add peanut butter: when you cream the butter with the sugars, you can add 125 grams (½ cup) of all-natural peanut butter because the recipe below is VERY similar to this recipe for classic peanut butter cookies.
• If you want to change the chocolate: I love to make chocolate chip cookies with chopped dark chocolate that is preferably 70 % cocoa and not too sweet, but you can also use milk chocolate, white chocolate, or a combination of the three. Make sure you stick to the same total quantity of chocolate though. Try adding toffee bits, butterscotch chips, or even peanut butter chips for a completely different flavour.
• If you want to replace the chocolate with chopped dried fruit: you can replace the chocolate with raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, dried sour cherries, chopped crystallized ginger, chopped dates, etc. Substitute cup-for-cup, or do a mixture of chocolate and dried fruit. Up to you!
• If you want to add in something crazy: take inspiration from Christina Tosi's Milk Bar compost cookie recipe and her compost pound cake and throw in some salty potato chips, chopped pretzels, coffee grinds!
• If you want to garnish: you can't go wrong with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt which will help balance out the sweetness of the cookie dough.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 258kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 122mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 227IU | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 2mg

The post The Science of Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

This tart is sinfully good and a welcome change from the usual rhubarb recipes with its unusual pairing of dark chocolate and rhubarb. Of course, if you don't love rhubarb, make the tart without it, replacing it with another jam or layer some homemade salted caramel on the bottom before topping it with ganache!

If you would prefer milk chocolate, try this raspberry chocolate tart, which is filled with a milk chocolate ganache and topped with fresh raspberries before serving.

What You Need To Make A Dark Chocolate Tart With Rhubarb

There are three major components to this chocolate dessert that you will be making: a sweet chocolate cookie crust (like a sablé dough), a dark chocolate ganache filling, and the roasted rhubarb garnish. For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted, though salted could work here!
• icing sugar (also called powdered sugar)—icing sugar will yield a more tender crust, though granulated can work in this recipe too and yield a crust with a more sandy texture
• cocoa powder—use Dutch-processed cocoa powder for the best flavour. Natural cocoa will give the crust a more muted appearance and flavour.
• egg yolks—to help bind the dough together and make the crust a little more tender
• flour—bleached all-purpose though unbleached will work as well
• water or whole milk (3.25 % fat)—to bind the crust along with the yolk
• 70 % dark chocolate—I like to use Ocoa dark chocolate from the brand Cacao Barry. It's not as sweet as some other dark chocolate products
• whipping cream (35 % fat)—please use full-fat whipping cream
• fresh rhubarb—trim the leaves and use just the stems
• granulated sugar—to roast the rhubarb. Natural cane sugar can also work for this step
• rose water or vanilla bean paste to flavour the roasted rhubarb, optional but adds a lovely flavour to the fruit layer

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Remember to please use good-quality chocolate for this recipe because ganache is half chocolate. Get the best type of chocolate you can with a relatively high percentage of cacao that isn't overly sweet. That will make the ganache taste so much better. I used 70 % dark chocolate from Cacao Barry. Ocoa chocolate works great in this recipe, for example!

Substitutions And Variations

The chocolate cookie crust for this rhubarb chocolate tart is similar to a pâte sucrée, but where part of the flour is replaced with cocoa powder. It's baked in a tart pan with a removable bottom. If you want an easier crust, consider making a baked graham cracker crust from graham cracker crumbs, as in this Earl Grey chocolate tart. You will have to adjust the recipe to factor the change in tart pan size.

If you prefer milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate, use the ganache from this milk chocolate ganache tart recipe made with a 41 % milk chocolate.

You can replace the rhubarb compote with rhubarb jam, either homemade or store-bought. You can also use raspberry jam if you prefer, or even caramel sauce.

How To Make A Rhubarb Ganache Tart

There are three major components to this recipe with a few steps to each. You will be making:

1. chocolate tart dough that you chill, then roll out to make your tart shell, which you will blind bake
2. homemade rhubarb compote to fill the tart (but you can replace this with jam!)
3. dark chocolate ganache

Here's how to make this tart:

Step 1—Begin by making the chocolate tart dough by first creaming together the butter, icing sugar, and cocoa powder (image 1) before adding the egg yolk (image 2) and then the flour (image 3). Flatten the dough into a disk to chill it because it is too soft to work with at this point (image 4).

Step 2—After chilling the dough, you can roll it out between parchment paper sheets with a rolling pin (image 5). Line your tart pan with the dough and trim it to fit the pan (image 6). Dock the pastry with a fork to create air vents (image 7), then bake it until completely baked through (image 8).

Tip: To unmold the crust, check out my tips for how to remove a tart from a tart pan.

Step 3—While the dough is chilling (or when the tart is baking), make the rhubarb compote by combining the chopped rhubarb with sugar (image 9) and heating it until it boils and forms a thick compote (image 10). Let cool completely before using.

Note: you can also make the compote in the oven by roasting rhubarb with sugar, but make sure to heat it enough until the compote is thick and the water has mostly evaporated, otherwise your tart will be watery.

Step 4—Make the dark chocolate ganache when all the other components have cooled, combining chopped chocolate in a small bowl (image 1) with hot cream and emulsifying with a stick blender (image 12).

Step 5—Assemble the tart by placing the baked chocolate tart shell on your serving plate, then filling it with compote (image 13) and chocolate ganache (image 14), using a mini offset spatula to smooth it out (image 15). It doesn't have to be perfect (image 16). Chill the tart in the fridge until the filling has set.

I like to dust the tart with cocoa powder and dried rose petals to decorate it.

Tips For Perfect Dark Chocolate Ganache

Because of its high cocoa content and low sugar content, dark chocolate can be tricky to transform into ganache and to work with. Here are some tips:

• Use one type of chocolate to make ganache: What I discovered from making this tart is that, though it was very convenient to use a mixture of dark chocolates to use up the odds and ends in your cupboards, the combination of chocolates makes it more difficult to achieve a perfect ganache and the ganache may split or break if you use a mixture of chocolates. 
• A 1:1 ganache is the easiest ganache to make: if this is your first ganache, make it a 50/50 ganache that is half cream, half dark chocolate, by weight. You will have an easier time melting the chocolate and emulsifying the mixture than a ganache with a higher ratio of chocolate.
• Do not overheat the cream and chocolate: if the cream is too hot, the ganache will likely split. Don't heat the cream above 80 °C and make sure it is below 80 °C when you pour it over the chocolate
• Dark chocolate with a high percentage of cacao solids and low in sugar is prone to splitting when you make ganache. This is normal. To avoid the ganache splitting, you can add 15 grams of glucose to the cream. The sugar will stabilize the ganache and help the emulsion form. This is optional but helps a lot!

Tip for what to do if your chocolate ganache breaks or separates: if you make your ganache incorrectly, you will find that as you stir it, the fats begin to separate from the creamy chocolate mixture and it just won't look right. If this happens, the emulsion of the ganache is broken, but you can fix it! Simply add a couple of tablespoons of cold milk (or even water), stir, et voilà: silky smooth chocolate ganache. It works. Trust me. This tart is proof!

Other Rhubarb Recipes

If this rhubarb tart seems like a lot of work, but you still want to bake with rhubarb, you can always make these rhubarb recipes:

• strawberry rhubarb crumble muffins
• rhubarb muffins with streusel
• rhubarb jam without pectin
• mini strawberry rhubarb crumbles 
• blueberry rhubarb crisp
• rhubarb crisp

If you tried this recipe for the best rhubarb chocolate tart (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Roasted Rhubarb Chocolate Tart

A decadent rhubarb chocolate tart filled with a layer of roasted rhubarb compote and topped with chocolate ganache 

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 371kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• Tart pan
• GIR spatula
• Hand blender

Ingredients

Chocolate dough

• 84 grams unsalted butter cut into small pieces
• 63 grams icing sugar
• 25 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 1 large egg yolk(s)
• 170 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 15 mL milk

Rhubarb compote

• 225 grams fresh rhubarb washed and trimmed, and cut into 10 cm lengths
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL rose water optional
• 5 mL vanilla bean paste

Dark chocolate ganache

• 260 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content) chopped
• 250 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)

Decor

• Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder for dusting on the finished tart before serving
• dried rose petals for decorating the tart

Metric - US

Instructions

To make the chocolate dough

• Cream together the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until smooth and well mixed.
• Add the egg yolk and mix it in, then add the flour and salt and mix the dough to form a crumble.
• Add the milk and mix it in to bind the dough together.
• Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm.
• Roll out the disk of dough between two pieces of parchment until it is 3 mm thick.
• Line a 9-inch removable bottomed tart pan with the dough and work it into the corners and edges. Trim and neaten it up.
• Chill the unbaked tart for half an hour or until very, very cold.
• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) while the tart base chills.
• Dock the pastry with a fork to allow steam to escape (make sure to cut all the way through).
• Place the tart on a baking sheet and blind bake the tart shell for about 20–25 minutes until the pastry is fully cooked and appears dry (not glossy). Watch for air bubbles forming under the pastry. If this happens, take a fork, a thin pairing knife, or even a cake tester to poke through the pastry, gently pressing it back in place. Once the crust has set, air pockets won't form anymore.
• Remove the tart from the oven. Let it cool before unmolding it carefully and placing it on a plate.

To make the rhubarb compote

• Combine the chopped rhubarb and sugar in a small saucepan and heat it over medium–high heat to melt the sugar and soften the rhubarb. When it boils, let the compote boil for several minutes to cook the rhubarb and boil off as much of the water as possible. Set aside to cool.

To make the chocolate ganache

• Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it is steaming hot (just below 80 °C or 175 °F), then pour it over the chopped chocolate.
• Wait two minutes for the heat to disperse, then begin to stir it from the middle, out, until you obtain a smooth, silky ganache. Use an electric stick blender to ensure the chocolate is all melted and the mixture well emulsified. (If all else fails, see above for my ganache saving tip in the notes!).

To assemble the tart

• Line the bottom of the baked tart shell with an even layer of the rhubarb compote.
• Top with ganache, smoothing it out from edge to edge. Let the tart set in the fridge for a couple of hours.
• When you are ready to serve the tart, dust the top with some cocoa powder to make it pretty and decorate with dried rose petals.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the dark chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate.
• When making dark chocolate ganache with a high percentage of cacao and low in sugar, the ganache may separate. This means the fats begin to separate from the creamy chocolate mixture. It just won't look right (might even be lumpy and greasy looking) and when you chill it, you will notice white cocoa butter drops on the surface of the ganache.
  • One way to stabilize dark chocolate ganache and prevent separation is to add a little glucose (corn syrup or even honey) to the cream. Heat the cream in this recipe with 15 grams of glucose (or corn syrup or honey) to melt it in. This should help you achieve a more stable ganache that is less prone to separating. 
  • I like to use a stick blender (hand blender) to combine the cream and chocolate. I find my ganache doesn't break when I use the stick blender.
  • Don't overheat the cream - if it's too hot, your ganache may split! Make sure it is under  80 °C before adding it to the chocolate.
  • If your ganache splits or breaks, the emulsion of the ganache is broken, but you can fix it before pouring the filling in the tart shell! Add a couple of tablespoons of cold milk at a time (or even water), stir a lot and repeat this until it comes together, et voilà: silky smooth chocolate ganache!

Nutrition

Calories: 371kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 63mg | Potassium: 281mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 534IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 4mg

The post Rhubarb Chocolate Tart appeared first on The Bake School.

S'mores are a campfire treat enjoyed in the summer and fall in North America. There are three key ingredients to perfect s'mores: graham crackers, chocolate (traditionally Hershey's milk chocolate), and marshmallows (preferably toasted).

To make s'mores, you need a campfire, which most of us city people don't have access to (and in my case, it's actually illegal to build a fire in the city). So this version of the classic dessert is s'mores for city people, in bar form, for people like me who don't have access to a campfire. Another s'mores-inspired dessert are these no-bake milk chocolate pots de crème which are topped with toasted marshmallows and graham cracker crumble.

I used to make these with a baked graham cracker crust, but the base was not super sturdy. So I've updated this recipe and switched the base to very sturdy, soft and chewy graham cracker blondies (which are blondie bars made with graham cracker crumbs and brown butter). The resulting s'mores bars are easier to serve and less messy (though it's still a pain to slice through the marshmallow layer if we are being honest. C'est la vie!

Ingredients

The beauty of making s'mores indoors is that you need the same basic ingredients with a few extras to make the s'mores bars more sturdy. Here's what you need:

• butter—the graham crackers blondie base for these s'mores is made with browned butter to enhance the nutty, buttery flavour of the graham cracker layer. The brown butter was enhanced with milk powder to increase flavour
• sugar—use dark brown sugar if you can to create a more flavourful base to go with the milk chocolate and toasted marshmallows, but any sugar will work (granulated or light brown)
• egg—use large eggs. I added an egg to the base to ensure that these bars are sturdy and hold together well, unlike a graham cracker crust that can be more crumbly
• flour—another key ingredient to help the base hold together, use either all-purpose or whole wheat (which would enhance the flavour of the graham cracker layer in these s'mores)
• Graham cracker crumbs—either store-bought crumbs or grind your own in a food processor. You can also use homemade graham crackers if you prefer!
• leavening—a little baking powder added to the dry ingredients opens the crumb of the blondies so that the graham cracker base is not so dense
• vanilla—I bake with real vanilla extract (from Costco or homemade vanilla)
• salt—the salt in the graham cracker cookie crust is very important to balance out the sweetness of s'mores. I use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt. If using table salt, add half the amount to avoid the bars being too salty.
• chocolate—for the sake of nostalgia and tradition, I used classic milk chocolate Hershey's chocolate bars for the chocolate layer. For a more sophisticated dessert, try Alunga milk chocolate by Cacao Barry, which is a dark milk chocolate and less sweet.
• marshmallows—I used mini marshmallows for a thinner marshmallow layer. Just enough to toast and add flavour without overwhelming the other components of the s'mores. Use more or less depending on how you like your s'mores

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and substitutions.

Substitutions And Variations

• chocolate—I used Hershey's milk chocolate, which is what I would use for s'mores outdoors with a campfire. You could replace it with dark chocolate or white chocolate if you prefer. Dark chocolate would be a nice contrast to the sweet marshmallows!
• graham cracker crumb crust—I opted for a graham cracker blondie base, but I've also tested a baked graham cracker crust (with graham cracker crumbs, sugar, butter and salt). Make sure to bake the crust so it's more sturdy, but also because you need the residual heat of the base to melt the chocolate. You could replace the graham cracker crumbs with crushed speculoos cookies, chocolate wafer crumbs, or even ground social tea biscuits.
• marshmallows—some people like to use colourful marshmallows in their s'mores. I would not go this route, but to each his own! If you have access to a fancy candy maker who makes gourmet flavoured marshmallows (like maple marshmallows, cinnamon marshmallows, or coconut marshmallows!), I'd definitely opt for those in this dessert!

How To Make S'mores Without A Campfire

Step 1—Start by whisking the dry ingredients in a small bowl (image 1) to ensure they are well mixed. Then, mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl (image 2) until smooth (image 3).

Step 2—Pour the dry ingredients on top of the wet ingredients, switching to a wooden spoon (image 4) and stir them together (image 5) until you have a clumpy cookie dough that is very thick (image 6).

Step 3—Transfer the dough for the graham cracker blondies to a prepared brownie pan (image 7) and spread it out into an even, smooth layer (image 8). Bake until set and the edges are golden brown (image 9).

Step 4—Take the graham cracker blondie bars out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack, then layer the chocolate on top of the hot base to create an even layer (image 10). After a couple of minutes, use a mini offset to smear the chocolate and smooth it out (image 11). Scatter the mini marshmallows over the melted chocolate when it is still warm to anchor them in place (image 12).

Step 5—When the bars have cooled completely and the chocolate has set, unmould the bars, removing the parchment paper. Set the bars on a board and use a kitchen torch to toast the surface of the marshmallows (image 13) to your liking. I like mine quite well done, as you can see, but I leave some that are less toasted (image 14).

Tip: Unmould the bars from the pan and remove any parchment paper if you used it to avoid setting the paper on fire. Keep the torch moving constantly at a distance from the marshmallows to toast them more evenly.

Top Baked S'mores Tips

If you don't have a kitchen torch, you can broil the tops of the marshmallows instead. If you choose this option, do not line the pan with parchment paper that overhangs. Instead, just line the bottom. Otherwise, the paper will catch fire under the broiler.

Make sure that your pan is heat-safe at 500 °F if you decide to use the broiler to toast the marshmallows, or else you may damage your pan. Some non-stick pans (like the OXO pan I use) are not safe at such a high temperature. If you are unsure, heat the bars at a lower temperature for longer to brown the marshmallows.

Cutting the bars is tricky because of the marshmallows, which are very sticky. I like to warm the knife up under hot water, pat it dry, and then brush it with a very thin layer of neutral oil (like canola oil) to prevent the mini marshmallows from sticking to the blade. Clean the blade if anything sticks (use hot water, and again, oil the blade after wiping dry). If any mini marshmallows stick to the blade, simply return them to their original position. All you can do is do your best to make it work!

Other Summer Baking Recipes

S'mores are a classic summertime treat and fairly easy to make, even if you don't have a campfire! Here are a few other desserts to try:

• raspberry shortcake
• ice cream strawberry shortcake
• fruit tart
• strawberry cream tart

If you tried this recipe for the best s'mores bars(or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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S'mores Bars

Learn how to make the best s'mores bars with this easy recipe: graham cracker blondies with milk chocolate and toasted mini marshmallows on top. These are s'mores for city people without a campfire!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Calories 208kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• 9x9-inch pan
• Kitchen torch

Ingredients

• 150 grams graham cracker crumbs
• 65 grams bleached all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour
• 2.5 mL baking powder
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 85 grams browned butter cooled, made from 80 grams unsalted butter browned with 15 grams of milk powder
• 100 grams dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 225 grams Hershey’s milk chocolate bars broken into squares
• 100 grams mini marshmallows more or less

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line a square 9x9 pan with parchment paper with overhangs. Set aside.
• In a small bowl, whick together the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powdr, and salt.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the cooled browned butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract.
• Pour the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and stir them together until a cookie dough forms.
• Transfer the graham cracker cookie dough to the prepared pan and press it out evenly until smoothed out from edge to edge.
• Bake until set and the edges begin to brown (about 20 minutes).
• Take the pan out of the oven and set it on a cooling rack. Carefully place the pieces of chocolate over the hot blondies, scaterring them across in an even layer. Let them sit for a few minutes, then use an offset spatula to smear the chocolate across the entire surface of the blondies.
• Scatter the marshmallows over the melted chocolate in an even layer.
• Let the bars cool completely then unmould them from the pan, removing the pachment paper and setting them on a cutting board.
• Use a kitchen torch to toast the tops of the marshmallows as much or as little as you like.
• Use an oiled knife to cut into 16 equal squares.

Notes

• To make the brown butter for this recipe, I melted and browned 80 grams (⅓ cup) of unsalted butter in a small saucepan, then stirred in 15 grams (0.5 ounce) of non fat milk powder and continued stirring the mixture on low heat until the milk powder browns too. Then I let it cool slightly in my mixing bowl before adding the egg so it doesn't cook.
• For the sugar in the blondie bars, you can use any brown sugar (light or dark). I chose dark brown sugar to maximize the flavour
• For the graham cracker crumbs, you can use store-bought or homemade, or replace them with ground speculoos cookies or Teddy Grahams, or even chocolate wafer crumbs (for a different flavour).
• I bake with Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt. If using table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty. 
• For the chocolate, I went with the classic Hershey's milk chocolate bars, like I would use in campfire s'mores. You could replace it with dark milk chocolate (like Alunga by Cacao Barry) or if you prefer dark chocolate or white chocolate for a different take on this dessert.
• You can also make these s'mores bars with a baked graham cracker crust. 
• If you don't have a blow torch for the marshmallow layer, you can set your oven to broil and brown the marshmallows this way. If you opt for this method, be sure that your bakeware is oven safe at a high temperature (500 °F) and also, when you line the pan with parchment paper, do not use a parchment overhang because it will burn in the oven. Just line the bottom of the pan in this case.

Nutrition

Calories: 208kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 140mg | Potassium: 90mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 148IU | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Easy S'mores Bars (Without A Campfire) appeared first on The Bake School.

Ingredients

To make chocolate brownie ice cream, you need the ingredients to make a chocolate custard base. You will obviously need pieces of brownies too!

• Milk and cream, preferably 2 % fat or even 3.25 % fat whole milk and whipping cream with 35 % fat. You can play with the amount of fat in this recipe, but less fat will have an impact on the final texture and flavour. The ice cream may taste a little more watery with less fat and have more ice crystals.
• Egg yolks to make the crème anglaise, which act as an emulsifier and a thickener in this recipe, providing body, as well as colour and flavour.
• Sugar, specifically granulated sugar though brown sugar would work fine too. Don't skimp on the sugar or your ice cream may end up too icy and the texture won't be as nice.
• Fine kosher salt, which dissolves easily and provides a little depth of flavour, helping the flavours in the ice cream stand out more.
• Vanilla extract enhances the flavours in the custard base making a more complex-tasting chocolate ice cream.
• Dutch-processed cocoa powder—do not use a natural cocoa powder because the flavour is too mild! I used either Cacao Barry Extra Brute or Cacao Barry Plein Arôme cocoa.
• Chocolate, specifically 70 % dark chocolate that isn't too sweet—I used Ocoa from Cacao Barry, which is not sweet and has a strong cocoa flavour with roasted and bitter notes.
• Brownie pieces—I used leftover Brownies with walnuts that I cut up and froze to make this ice cream, but you can use any brownies, even made from brownie mix. Use store-bought brownies from your favourite local bakery if are short on time!

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Instructions

There are four major parts to making chocolate brownie ice cream:

1. Blooming the cocoa powder and melting the chocolate to make the chocolate base
2. Making a crème anglaise
3. Combining the chocolate base with the crème anglaise
4. Chilling, churning, and folding in the brownies before hardening the ice cream.

Blooming the cocoa powder

Blooming the cocoa helps the cocoa powder better incorporate into the ice cream so that it doesn't have a powdery mouthfeel in the end.

Start by heating most of the cream and cocoa powder—this is called "blooming" the cocoa powder

Once the cocoa and cream are hot, you can add the dark chocolate and it will melt.

Making a crème anglaise

Please read about how to make a crème anglaise if this is your first time. Unlike pastry cream filling, crème anglaise is cooked low and slow for a longer period on the stove at a low heat setting.

To make the crème anglaise, you start by whisking the egg yolks with the sugar, which is a French pastry term called "blanchir" (which means to whiten or lighten").

The egg yolks should become a pale pastel yellow and the sugar should begin to dissolve.

Heat the milk until it's almost boiling, then pour it onto the whisked egg yolk mixture to temper the eggs.

After cooking the custard on the stove on low to thicken it, the crème anglaise is strained to remove any bits of cooked egg that would ruin the texture of your ice cream.

Combining the chocolate base and crème anglaise

The chocolate base of melted chocolate, cream, and cocoa powder doesn't easily combine with the crème anglaise. You have to use a stick blender to get the two components to mix properly (or use a whisk, but this will take some effort).

Use a stick blender (electric hand blender) to combine the chocolate base and the crème anglaise.

Chill the chocolate custard in an ice bath to speed up the process. You should then chill the custard overnight in the fridge.

Chilling the custard and churning the ice cream

In order to churn the ice cream fast enough before the freezer drum melts, the ice cream base has to be chilled thoroughly in the refrigerator. Taking the time to do so will prevent the freezer drum from heating up too quickly as it churns. You will have more time to churn the ice cream so that it freezes properly with a nice creamy, light texture.

Before chilling overnight in the refrigerator, the chocolate custard will have a lot of bubbles.

After chilling the chocolate custard in the fridge overnight, it will be thick like pudding.

Tip: Don't forget to chill the freezer drum for at least 24 hours before churning your ice cream. I usually put it in the freezer 2 days before I will make ice cream. Otherwise, the freezer drum may not be cold enough: you may not be able to churn your ice cream fully. This could lead to it melting too fast during the process. The ice cream may be dense or icy.

Churn the ice cream in an ice cream maker for about 20 minutes or until it has the texture of soft-serve ice cream.

To make the best homemade ice cream, I highly recommend getting an ice cream machine. When you are shopping, you have three choices:

• a freezer bowl attachment that is compatible with your stand mixer, like this KitchenAid freezer bowl compatible with the Artisan stand mixers);
• an ice cream machine with a freezer bowl that has to be frozen for at least 24 hours before using the machine—this basic Cuisinart machine that has great reviews on Amazon;
• an ice cream machine with a built in compressor so you can make ice cream any time of the day and all day long if you want, without worrying about pre-freezing the bowl. This Cuisinart ice cream maker is the machine recommended by professionals.

Ice cream makers with compressors are the most expensive category of ice cream makers on the market. However, if you like to make homemade ice cream, you might want to consider one to make your life easier! The Cuisinart ice cream machine with a compressor built into it has over two thousand reviews on Amazon.

Adding brownies to ice cream

The volume of ice cream plus brownies will likely too big for your ice cream machine to handle. You have to do this step by hand.

Once you have churned the chocolate ice cream, turn off the machine and fold in the brownie pieces by hand. Or you can layer them in your storage container with the ice cream (my preferred method).

Spread a thin layer of soft chocolate ice cream at the bottom of your container to anchor the brownie pieces.

Distribute an even layer of brownie pieces, pressing them into the soft chocolate ice cream.

Keep alternating layers of ice cream and brownie pieces until you've filled your storage container.

Note: I use the Tovolo ice cream tubs to store my ice cream. This is what you see in my photos. The total volume of the tub is 1.5 L. Between the ice cream and the brownie pieces, you may need a second smaller 250 mL (1 cup) container to store the leftovers. The final volume depends on the overrun and how much your custard volume increased in the ice cream machine.

Storage

I highly recommend investing in a freezer container for your ice cream. I have a Tovolo ice cream tub. It has an elongated shape, giving you ample room to drag the ice cream scoop more easily! The base is non-slip, so you have more traction when scooping and it's double walled for better storage.

Top Homemade Ice Cream Tips

Homemade ice cream freezes hard. That's completely normal. Here's how to make serving homemade ice cream easier:

• Take it out of the freezer 10 minutes before you plan to serve it to help soften it a little.
• Dip your ice cream scoop in hot water to warm up the metal, then dry it off quickly and use the warm scoop to portion out the ice cream more easily.
• Use a disher or an ice cream scoop with a release to be able to scoop and release the scoop cleanly with the press of a button

Hardening is inevitable, and it's also an important step when making homemade ice cream. If you don't properly harden the ice cream for several hours in the freezer after churning, the ice cream will be less stable, and prone to melting fast.

Some ice cream makers will add a little alcohol to their ice cream base so that it is softer once frozen. You can try this but be careful: too much alcohol and your ice cream won't freeze and will be too soft to serve!

If you tried this recipe for the best chocolate brownie ice cream (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream

Learn how to make the best homemade chocolate brownie ice cream with this easy recipe.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Chill time 12 hours hours

Total Time 12 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 537kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Wooden spoon
• Ice cream maker

Ingredients

• 310 mL whipping cream (35 % fat) divided
• 18 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 130 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content)
• 5 mL vanilla extract
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 200 grams granulated sugar divided
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 440 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)
• 220 grams brownies chopped into small pieces and frozen in a freezer bag to store them

Metric - US

Instructions

• Freeze the ice cream drum in the freezer for at least 24 hours before attempting to make ice cream.
• In a small saucepan, combine half the cream with the cocoa powder.
• Bring the mixture up to the boil, whisking constantly, then lower the heat and simmer the cocoa mixture for 1 minute.
• Take the pan off the heat. Add the dark chocolate to the pan and let it stand 1 minute, then stir it in to melt it completely.
• Add the rest of the cream and the vanilla, then transfer the chocolate base to a 1 L (4 cup) measuring cup or a large bowl with a pouring spout. Place a strainer over top for later. Set aside.
• Prepare an ice bath that can accommodate the measuring cup or bowl with the chocolate base.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar and the salt, until the mixture has lightened.
• In a medium saucepan, whisk the rest of the sugar with the milk. Heat the mixture until it is very hot and almost comes to a boil.
• Pour the hot milk mixture over the whisked yolks to temper the eggs. Whisk continuously until the mixture is homogenous, then transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Switch to a wooden spoon and, stirring constantly, heat the mixture on the stove over medium—low heat until the custard has thickened and has reached 83 °C (181 °F). The goal is to slowly thickened the custard.
• Pour the mixture through the strainer set over the chocolate base, pressing the custard through gently, if needed.
• Use a stick blender to combine the strained custard with the chocolate base at the bottom of the bowl (or measuring cup). The mixture should be thick and homogenous.
• Cover with plastic wrap and place the bowl in the prepared ice bath to cool it down faster. Refrigerate the chocolate ice cream base for several hours to cool completely (overnight is best!).
• Place the frozen drum on the ice cream maker, and churn the custard according to instructions. It can take about 15 to 20 minutes to churn the ice cream.
• When the ice cream is the texture of soft serve, turn off the machine and disassemble it.
• Layer the frozen brownie pieces with the chocolate ice cream as you transfer the ice cream to your storage container. Place in freezer for a few hours to harden before serving.

Notes

• Chocolate—For the dark chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate and for the cocoa powder, I used Dutch-processed. You could try black cocoa powder, which is even darker, though the flavour will be quite different (not necessarily better in my opinion).
• Sugar - instead of granulated sugar, you can use a mix of it and brown sugar, which will add some really interesting molasses notes to it.
• Salt—This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Cream and milk - I use a combination of 35 % whipping cream and whole milk, you could consider replacing the total volume of cream plus milk with something like half and half or coffee cream (that is usually around 10–20% fat) and it could work well.
• Raspberry brownie - gently press a handful of raspberries on your next pan of brownies before baking, and fold the baked brownies with raspberries into freshly churned chocolate ice cream.
• Blondie - replace the brownie pieces with pieces of these toffee blondies for a real treat!
• Cookies - chop up these chocolate chip cookies with pecans to make the chocolate version of this cookie ice cream.
• Mint brownie - infuse the milk for the crème anglaise with fresh mint leaves or add a few drops of mint extract before chilling the custard overnight. Checkout this mint chocolate chip ice cream recipe to find out how much mint to add.
• Double chocolate brownie- drizzle a thin stream of melted dark chocolate to make chocolate ice cream with chocolate flecks or layer in some of the chocolate fudge sauce that I used to make this banana split cake
• Lactose-free variation - if you can't have lactose, this recipe will work with lactose-free milk and cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 537kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 230mg | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 381mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 44g | Vitamin A: 1111IU | Vitamin C: 0.3mg | Calcium: 167mg | Iron: 3mg

The post Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream appeared first on The Bake School.

Financiers are small almond cakes made with brown butter, ground almonds, and egg whites. The combination of ingredients gives them a nutty flavour and crispy edges.

Financiers are easy to make and can be flavoured in many ways, replacing all-purpose flour with an alternative (like in these chestnut financiers) or replacing the ground almonds with a different ground nut (like in these pistachio financiers) or even coconut (in these coconut financiers). You can also top them with fruit before baking, like in these berry financiers.

Before making these chocolate almond financiers, read about how to make beurre noisette (the French pastry term for brown butter) if you've never made it before.

What You Need to Make These...

The beauty of financiers is that they are made from a very simple list of ingredients and you likely have them on hand if you bake fairly often!

• butter—I used unsalted butter, but salted will work fine. You may reduce the salt if you are worried that the cakes will be too salty.
• sugar—traditionally, financiers are made with powdered sugar but I usually use granulated sugar
• flour—bleached all-purpose is what I use, but unbleached will likely work fine
• ground almonds—you can buy ground almonds (also called almond flour) at most bulk stores and grocery stores with the nuts and baking products
• cocoa powder—use Dutch-processed cocoa powder for a rounder flavour
• egg whites—be sure to weigh the egg whites to make sure you have the right amount since the size of eggs can vary. Feel free to use boxed egg whites for this recipe if you prefer!
• salt—I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt which is less salty than table salt. If using regular salt (or even Morton's kosher salt), you may like to use half the suggested amount
• cocoa nibs (optional)—I like to garnish financiers before baking them and for chocolate financiers, cocoa nibs bring a ton of chocolate flavour and a little crunch.

Please see the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions

Variations

Instructions to make Chocolate Financiers

This might be one of the simplest cake recipes to make. The mixing method is a two-bowl method, where the dry ingredients are mixed in one bowl and the egg whites are whipped separately before combining the two.

Step 1: Start by melting the butter in a small saucepan because you will need to give it ample time to cool down later.

Step 2: Brown the butter until it smells nutty and the milk solids have browned and caramelized.

Step 3: Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the sugar, ground almond, flour, and cocoa powder.

Step 4: Use a whisk to make sure there are no lumps. If the mixture is too lumpy, use a sifter to smooth it out.

Step 5: In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites and salt.

Step 6: Whip the egg whites until thick and foamy using a balloon whisk.

Step 7: Once the dry ingredients are evenly mixed and pretty much lump-free, you are ready to add the whipped egg whites.

Step 8: Pour the whipped egg whites over the dry ingredients and work the two components together with a whisk.

Step 9: The chocolate almond batter will be quite stiff and thick at this stage.

Step 10: Whisk in the cooled brown butter.

Step 11: The chocolate almond batter will be glossy and thick.

Step 12: Cover the bowl of chocolate financiers batter with plastic wrap and chill it for 1 hour until cold.

Step 13: Use a ¾ ounce disher to divide the batter evenly among the greased cups of a mini muffin pan.

Step 14: You can use the back of a spoon to flatten out the mounds (optional but helpful if garnishing with cocoa nibs).

Step 15: I live to garnish financier cakes with a "little something" before baking to make them extra special. Since these are chocolate cakes, I garnished them with cocoa nibs.

Another great option would be a few mini chocolate chips, or chopped almonds since the batter is made with ground almonds.

Step 16: Chocolate financiers should look quite even before baking.

Step 17: After baking, the financiers have puffed and are set. The batter loses some of its shine as they bake.

Tip: Use a cake tester to check if the cakes are done baking.

Storage

Store chocolate financiers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I actually prefer to freeze them in a freezer bag to keep them fresh for up to 2 months. These cakes are small and defrost quickly when taken out of the bag and placed on a plate at room temperature. It takes about 30 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

Financiers are served with tea and coffee as a treat on their own, as you would cookies. In fact, financiers are often referred to as a cookie in French pastry and taught alongside cookie recipes and madeleines.

Financiers Recipe FAQs

Other Financiers Recipes To Try

Looking for other financier recipes like this? Try these:

If you tried this Chocolate Financiers Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know you like it in the 📝 comments below.

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Chocolate Financiers

Learn how to make chocolate financiers with this easy recipe. These little chocolate cakes are made with ground almonds and brown butter, which create a sweet, nutty chocolate cake!

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 16 minutes minutes

Chill time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 36 minutes minutes

Servings 24 mini cakes

Calories 92kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Mini muffin pan non-stick
• ¾ oz scoop

Ingredients

• 115 grams unsalted butter
• 90 grams ground almonds
• 150 grams granulated sugar
• 42 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 32 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 115 grams large egg white(s)
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• cacao nibs

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and continue cooking it until it turns light brown in color. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the brown butter to a small bowl to cool down sllightly. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, sugar, flour, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, combine the egg whites and salt. Whisk them until they are very frothy and foamy.
• Pour the frothy egg whites over the dry ingredients. Whisk vigorously to mix everything together, then add the cooled brown butter and whisk the batter more to completely incorporate it. The batter will be quite stiff.
• Wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the batter for at least 1 hour until cold.
• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Butter a non-stick 24-cup mini muffin pan.
• Divide the batter among the 24 wells of the prepared pan. Sprinkle the tops of the financiers with cocoa nibs to garnish them.
• Bake the chocolate financiers until the centres are set. This takes about 16 minutes. Use a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of them to verify they are baked through. Let cool slightly before using a mini offset spatula to unmould them.

Notes

Here are a few substitutions and variations you can explore:

• Sugar—instead of granulated sugar, you can try icing sugar or a combination of the two. Brown sugar will also work, but watch for lumps!
• Nut-free—instead of ground almonds, you can try ground sunflower seeds for a nut-free version
• Gluten-free—for a gluten-free version, you can test the recipe with an alternative flour. For example, millet or sorghum flour should work well, but I've also successfully made gluten-free financiers with chestnut flour and even white rice flour! Buckwheat flour would also be a really interesting option here.
• Cocoa—you can try natural cocoa powder instead of Dutch-processed in this recipe, but the flavour and colour of the chocolate tea cakes may differ with a different cocoa powder.
• Salt—This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 92kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 59mg | Potassium: 31mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 120IU | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 0.4mg

The post Chocolate Financiers appeared first on The Bake School.

These chocolate raspberry cupcakes are proof that you can flavour American buttercream with a fruit purée, as long as you are smart about it.

Ingredients And Substitutions

Normally, I'm an all-butter kind of girl, but I find with chocolate cakes, butter-based recipes, sadly, can be a bit dry. Oil makes a great baking substitution in cases like this because it provides a little more fat and because it's liquid at room temperature, oil gives baked goods a more moist texture. So, this cake recipe calls for oil, not butter, but it yields a light, moist cake that everybody loves and its texture makes up for the absence of butter. Of course, if you have a moist all-butter alternative for me, do send it my way! I'd really appreciate that. In the meantime, here is an easy moist chocolate cupcake recipe that works every time.

There are a few things to note about the ingredients in these dark chocolate cupcakes:

• cocoa—I bake with Dutch-processed cocoa powder. I like to use the cocoa powder from Cacao Barry on Amazon
• salt—If you are using regular table salt instead of Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt, add half the amount to avoid the chocolate cakes being too salty.
• coffee—You can use warm coffee, espresso, or water for the cake batter.
• buttermilk—If you don't have buttermilk, you can make buttermilk from milk and vinegar (1 tablespoon (15 mL) of white or cider vinegar for every 1 cup (250 mL) of milk.
• oil—Use a flavourless, neutral oil like canola or grapeseed oil. Avoid extra virgin olive oil unless you want to taste it! Melted butter would also work in this recipe, but oil creates a more tender, moist cupcake. You can do half butter, half oil to get the flavour of the butter with the moist texture from the oil.
• butter—Use softened unsalted butter for the frosting. Salted may work, or preferably semi-salted butter to avoid making the raspberry buttercream overly salty.
• raspberries—you can use fresh or frozen raspberries to make this raspberry frosting. The berries are cooked to release the water trapped inside, which is then boiled off so it doesn't matter whether the berries are fresh or frozen.

Please see the recipe card for a complete list of the exact ingredients and quantities.

How To Add Raspberry Flavour To Frostings And Buttercreams

The trouble with fruit-infused frostings is the fruit. Fruit and berries (like raspberries) have a high water content. The flavour is rather weak if you stir the raw fruit directly into a frosting or buttercream (or cake batter). For a strong flavour, you would have to add a ton of fruit to properly flavour the buttercream, but that would curdle the frosting because berries contain so much water. So, how do we make raspberry-flavoured frostings and desserts?

There are a few ways to make raspberry-flavoured frosting without compromising on texture or taste:

1. Emulsions and extracts: Just like vanilla extract, you can buy fruit emulsions, flavour oils, and extracts. For example, there's a raspberry emulsion you can for flavouring baked goods. These provide an easy way to add flavour without having to add tons of fruit. Extracts and emulsions can be added in the same way as vanilla extract, in teaspoon amounts.
2. Cooked purées and jams: if you bring the mashed fruit to a boil (with or without sugar), you can cook the mixture to reduce it and remove much of the water. The cooled fruit concentrate or jam can then be added to a buttercream or frosting, without affecting the texture too much. Concentrated fruit purées and jams are a good way to add berry flavour to buttercream. For this method, both fresh and frozen raspberries work very well.
3. Freeze-dried fruit powders: this is another great way of adding flavour without adding water. Freeze-dried fruit are sold whole or in powder form. I'd get the powder if I had a choice. With a freeze-dried raspberry powder, all you have to do is add it to your buttercream recipe by the spoonful. This is a great way of adding raspberry colour and flavour to a frosting.

How To Make Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

The moist chocolate cupcake recipe (adapted from  Martha Stewart one-bowl chocolate cupcakes) is what I refer to as a cake mix cake recipe. Well, it's a cake mix made from scratch, of course. It is the easiest chocolate cupcake recipe you can make and doesn't require a mixer! You combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Combine all the wet ingredients in another bowl. Then mix the two together. Very easy.

Step 1—Sift the dry ingredients together (image 1) then whisk them well to ensure they are properly incorporated and evenly mixed (image 2). I like to use a Danish dough whisk.

Step 2—Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl with a spout (or a large liquid measuring cup) (image 3) then pour them over the dry ingredients (image 4).

Note: If you are feeling lazy, you can even just measure out the wet ingredients and place them directly into the bowl with the dry ingredients, in a one-bowl process. Super easy. You can do this with a mixer, but a spoon or whisk will also do the trick. This is the same mixing method as for muffins.

Step 5—Whisk them just until mixed but do not overmix (image 5). At this point you can use this batter to make layer cakes, full-size cupcakes, or mini cupcakes (which is what I did), dividing the batter among paper-lined mini muffin pans. Bake them until a cake tester comes out clean and the surface is set.

Step 6—While the cupcakes are cooling, you will cook down the raspberry purée, first straining it to remove the seeds (image 6) so that you can concentrate the raspberry juice by cooking off the water in a saucepan.

Step 7—Pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes. I like to use a Wilton 1M tip or a large star tip to create a cute swirl.

Frosting Alternatives

Other Chocolate Recipes

If you tried this recipe for the best chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

These moist dark chocolate cupcakes are very easy to make and are so cute topped with a raspberry-flavoured buttercream frosting made with real raspberry purée.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 50 mini cupcakes

Calories 103kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Mini muffin pan
• Mini paper liners
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• 1M piping tip
• Piping bags

Ingredients

Chocolate cupcakes

• 300 grams granulated sugar
• 195 grams bleached all-purpose flour sifted
• 69 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder sifted
• 7.5 mL baking soda
• 3.75 mL baking powder
• 3.75 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 2 large egg(s)
• 178 grams buttermilk (1 % fat)
• 178 grams warm coffee or warm water
• 45 mL canola oil
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract

Raspberry frosting

• 340 grams fresh or frozen raspberries
• 115 grams unsalted butter softened
• 400 grams icing sugar sifted
• pink sanding sugar optional

Metric - US

Instructions

To make the chocolate cupcakes

• Line two 24-cup mini cupcake pans (cupcake pans from Amazon) with mini baking cups (also available on Amazon) Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 °C).
• In a large bowl with a whisk, or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the sugar, flour cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, coffee (or water), canola oil, and vanilla.
• Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients in the mixer bowl, and mix them on low until the batter is liquid, glossy, and without lumps.
• Pour it into each of the liners until they are evenly filled to about ¾ the height of the liner. Don't overfill them because we don't want too much of a muffin top!
• Bake the cupcakes for about 12–15 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out completely clean. The cakes should spring back when tapped lightly.
• Let the cupcakes cool partly before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat the process of lining the pan with more paper liners, filling and baking the cupcakes until you've used up all of the chocolate cupcake batter.

To make the raspberry frosting and decorate

• In a small saucepan, heat the raspberries on low to extract the raspberry juice, mashing with a potato masher or the back of a spoon.
• Strain out the seeds and fruit pulp using a fine-meshed sieve and transfer the strained juice back to the pot. Save the raspberry pulp for breakfast!
• Heat the juice on medium to cook it down to about ¼–⅓ cup (60–80 mL). Let cool completely before using.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with about 230 grams of icing sugar. Cream them together on low, then add the concentrated raspberry juice.
• Adjust the consistency of the frosting with the last 170 grams of icing sugar, beating well to make sure that it is smooth.
• To decorate: fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip (like a 1M tip you can get on Amazon) with the frosting. Pipe a rosette of frosting over each mini cupcake. Top with a pinch of sprinkles if using. Please note that the frosting will change colors slightly as it sits.

Notes

• I bake with Dutch-processed cocoa powder. I like to use the cocoa powder from Cacao Barry on Amazon
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can use warm coffee or water for the cake batter.
• If you don't have buttermilk, you can make buttermilk from milk and vinegar (1 tablespoon (15 mL) of white or cider vinegar for every 1 cup (250 mL) of milk.
• Use a flavourless, neutral oil like canola or grapeseed oil. Avoid extra virgin olive oil unless you want to taste it!

Nutrition

Calories: 103kcal

The post Chocolate Cupcakes With Raspberry Frosting appeared first on The Bake School.

This chocolate banana bread recipe is a great way to use up extra-ripe bananas when you are craving something chocolaty. It's a variation of my favourite moist banana bread recipe without baking soda.

Ingredients

You likely have all the ingredients you need to make this chocolate-flavoured banana bread recipe on hand. Here's what you need:

• bananas—for the best flavour and texture, use very ripe bananas that have a darker, blackened peel and are very soft.
• butter—this banana bread is made with unsalted butter. If you prefer to bake with salted butter, you may reduce the amount of added salt
• sugar—you will need both granulated and brown sugar (preferably dark brown)
• eggs—this recipe was tested with large eggs. If you use eggs that are either smaller or larger, the results may be slightly different
• vanilla extract—use pure vanilla extract to make this recipe. Artificial vanilla extract is more potent and you may add less of it to achieve the same flavour
• flour—use bleached all-purpose flour, though unbleached should work just fine
• cocoa powder—this recipe was tested with Dutch-processed cocoa powder, specifically, the Extra Brute cocoa powder from the brand Cacao Barry
• chocolate chips—dark chocolate chips will give you the best chocolate flavour

See the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

This chocolate banana bread is a simple recipe with little room for variations. Here are a few to consider:

• Sugar - you can make this recipe with all granulated sugar, all brown sugar, or a combination of granulated and brown sugar
• Salt - I bake with Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. If you prefer to bake with regular table salt, please use half the amount
• Chocolate chips - I prefer to use dark chocolate chips, but milk or white chocolate chips would work too

How to Make Chocolate Banana Bread

The batter for this chocolate-flavoured banana bread is made using the creaming mixing method.

Step 1—Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (step 1). Cream them together until light and fluffy, scraping down the beater and bowl whenever necessary to make sure all the butter and sugar mix together well (image 2). While the mixer is running, you can sift the dry ingredients together (image 3) and mash the banana with the vanilla extract (image 4).

Step 2—Add the eggs to the mixer bowl, one at a time (image 5), making sure to mix each egg into the batter very well. Whip the mixture for several minutes until very light before adding the dry ingredients (image 6), alternating with the mashed banana (image 7), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Once you've mixed in all the dry ingredients and banana, add the chocolate chips (image 8).

Step 3—Prepare a loaf pan by buttering it and lining the bottom with a piece of parchment paper (image 9), then transfer the batter to the pan, smoothing it out with an mini offset spatula (image 10). You can insert an oiled bench scraper down the middle of the batter in the loaf pan to encourage any cracking down the centre of the loaf as it bakes.

Step 4—Bake the loaf cake on the middle rack of the oven until the edges are set and pulling away from the pan, and a thermometer inserted into the center reads 209 °F (98 °C). This takes about 80 minutes in my oven.

Hint: Use a fast-reading digital thermometer to measure the internal temperature of the cake to ensure it has baked completely. Banana bread should be baked to an internal temperature of 209 °F (98 °C) to ensure the cakes don't collapse or have a gummy line of underbaked batter towards the bottom of the loaf.

Step 5—Let the banana bread cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes (image 14) before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely (image 15).

Testing Notes for Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

While developing this chocolate banana bread recipe, I discovered a few key ingredients and steps that make this recipe perfect:

1. Use 300 grams (1-¼ cups) mashed banana—not more, not less. If you use too little, your banana bread may be a little dry. If you use too much banana, the loaf cake may collapse and you will end up with a line towards the bottom that is mushy/underbaked.
2. Use both baking powder and baking soda. Baking powder alone doesn't have enough oomph, likely due to the slight acidity of the mashed banana.
3. Bake the banana bread to 209 °F (98 °C). Otherwise, your banana bread may collapse, and you might see a layer of collapse or some gummy texture towards the bottom.

For more on this, please read about how to make the best banana bread for key information and troubleshooting tips and tricks.

Banana Bread Baking FAQs

Other Loaf Cakes to Try

If you tried this recipe for chocolate banana bread (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Banana Bread

Learn how to make the best double chocolate banana bread with this easy recipe using very ripe bananas, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips.

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Calories 425kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Loaf pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Braun mixer
• GIR spatula

Ingredients

• 220 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 30 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 10 mL baking powder
• 5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 2.5 mL baking soda
• 175 grams unsalted butter softened
• 150 grams dark brown sugar
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 2 large egg(s) room temperature
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 300 grams mashed banana roughly 3 medium–large ripe bananas
• 175 grams dark chocolate chips

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175 °C). Butter and flour an 8½ x4½-inch (21.5x11.5 cm) loaf pan OR a 9x5-inch (23x12.5 cm) loaf pan, then line the bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
• Mash the banana with the vanilla using a fork.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer), cream together the butter and sugars for at least 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl often to make sure the mixture is evenly whipped.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition.
• Add the mashed banana. Mix well, scraping the bottom and sides to incorporate everything.
• Add the whisked dry ingredients alternately with the mashed banana, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf cake pan. Smooth the top to even it out.
• Bake until the edges are set and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean. This takes about 65 minutes for a 9x5" loaf or 75 minutes or more for an 8.5"x4.5" pan/

Video

Notes

• Make sure the bananas are very ripe (with a blackened peel).
• Please weigh the mashed banana. Too much banana will cause your banana bread to collapse and it will be slightly underbaked towards the bottom of the loaf
• If you are using frozen bananas for this recipe, please make sure do the following:
  • defrost the bananas
  • peel the bananas and place in a strainer set over a bowl
  • press very gently to squeeze out the liquid
  • either discard the banana liquid OR place the liquid in a saucepan and boil it down to a couple tablespoons, stirring often so that it doesn't burn. Add this banana concentrate to the bananas and proceed with recipe.
• If you want to make any substitutions or variations on this recipe:
  • use any type of chocolate chips (white, milk or dark) or chopped chocolate —use the same weight as in the recipe. You can also skip the chocolate but I find the dark chocolate chips enhand the flavour of the cake
  • add 250 mL (1 cup) chopped walnuts or chopped pecans instead of the chopped chocolate
  • add 5 mL (1 tsp) ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients
  • add 10 mL (2 tsp) ground cardamom
  • you can make this recipe with all granulated sugar, all brown sugar, or a combination of granulated and brown sugar
  • I bake with Diamond Crystal Kosher salt. If you prefer to bake with regular table salt, please use half the amount
• Use a thermometer to check if your cake is done baking and the internal temperature should register around 209 ºF or 98 ºC when it's done.
• If you don't have eggs or are allergic, try this eggless banana bread recipe

Nutrition

Calories: 425kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 314mg | Potassium: 425mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 506IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 127mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Chocolate Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips appeared first on The Bake School.

Some people love crispy oatmeal raisin cookies, and others prefer soft and chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. These banana oatmeal cookies are for those who prefer a cakey oatmeal cookie that is somewhere in between. They are kind of like a hearty version of these banana oat muffins but in cookie form!

Ingredients

These banana chocolate chip cookies are easy to make and call for a simple list of ingredients that you probably have in your pantry already!

• butter—this recipe was tested with unsalted butter. If using salted, you may want to reduce the salt added to the cookie dough
• sugar—I like to use a combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar. For the brown sugar, dark brown sugar will give you the most flavour, but light will also work
• eggs—use large eggs. The cracked egg should weigh 50 grams
• banana—use a very ripe banana and weigh it after mashing. This recipe calls for 110 grams of mashed banana, which is usually equivalent to 1 large banana. Make sure to have extra bananas in case your bananas are smaller. Make sure the total weight of banana added to the cookie dough matches the recipe card, or else your cookies may be too dry or too wet
• vanilla—use pure vanilla extract if possible, or add less if baking with artificial
• oats—this recipe was tested with large flake oats, which are sometimes called rolled oats or old fashioned oats. Don't use steel-cut or minute/quick oats as these will greatly affect the texture
• flour—I used bleached all-purpose flour, but unbleached flour should work fine here
• leavening agent—these banana oatmeal cookies are made with baking soda, not baking powder. Read about them if you are unsure of the difference between baking soda and baking powder.
• salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If you are using table salt, add half the amount
• chocolate chips—any of your favourite chocolate chips will work here
• nuts—any chopped nuts will work here, but I prefer walnuts or pecans

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

Instructions

Like any drop cookie recipe, these banana oatmeal cookies come together quickly. The cookie dough doesn't require any chilling or resting!

Step 1—Toast the nuts on a small sheet pan (image 1) before you begin making the cookie dough. Meanwhile, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking soda, salt) with a Danish dough whisk (image 2).

Step 2—Combine the butter and sugars in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 3) and beat until fluffy and well-mixed before adding the egg (image 4). Add the mashed banana and vanilla after (image 5) and beat it in. At this point, the mixture may look a little curdled.

Step 3—Stir in the whisked dry ingredients (image 6), followed by the chocolate chips and chopped toasted nuts (image 7) to form a thick, sticky cookie dough that you will portion out using a medium cookie scoop (image 8).

Step 4—Place the scoops of cookie dough on a half-sheet pan lined with parchment paper. I like to bake 6 cookies per pan. Use the back of a spoon to press down and flatten out the scoops slightly (image 9), then bake until golden brown and set (image 10).

Hint: Oatmeal cookies don't spread very much in the oven when baked. This is why you need to press the scoops of dough with a spoon or your palm to flatten them out slightly before baking to help them spread, like in this recipe for apple oatmeal cookies.

Other Drop Cookies to Try

Other Banana Recipes to Bake

If you tried this recipe for banana oatmeal cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Banana Oatmeal Cookies

These banana oatmeal cookies are thick and cakey, flavoured with dark brown sugar, chocolate chips, and toasted nuts.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes minutes

Total Time 32 minutes minutes

Servings 20 cookies

Calories 222kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Danish dough whisk
• 6-quart KitchenAid Pro mixer
• GIR spatula
• Sheet pan
• 1-⅓oz scoop

Ingredients

• 90 grams walnuts chopped
• 200 grams rolled oats (or large flake oats) also called old fashioned oats
• 125 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 3.75 mL baking soda
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 155 grams unsalted butter softened
• 100 grams dark brown sugar
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 1 large egg(s)
• 110 grams mashed banana approximately 1 very ripe large banana
• 10 mL pure vanilla extract
• 160 grams dark chocolate chips

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment.
• Place the walnuts on a sheet pan and toast them until golden brown (about 10–15 minutes). Set aside to cool completely then breka them into smaller chunks.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugars for about a minute or until properly blended and smooth, then add the egg, scraping down the bowl as needed with a spatula.
• Add the mashed banana and vanilla and stir them into the dough. The dough will likely look curdled at this stage.
• Add the whisked dry ingredients to the mixer, on low, until the cookie dough is just starting to come together, then add in the chocolate chips and toasted nuts.
• Portion out the cookie dough using a 40 mL (1-⅓ oz)and place 6 per prepared baking sheet. Flatten the scoops down with the back of a spoon or your palm. You can moisten your palm with water so the dough doesn't stick.
• Bake the cookies until set, about 12 minutes, depending on how well done you like them. Personally, I leave them until the edges turn golden brown.
• Let the cookies sit on the sheet pan to firm up before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

• Store these cookies in an airtight container.
• If the cookies dry out after a few days, you can soften them with a soaked terracotta brown sugar keeper. Blot it dry after soaking, and then place the brown sugar saver in the cookie container and close the lid. After a day, the cookies will have softened. They will remain pleasantly chewy but won't be as hard and brittle!
• If you'd like to add spices to your banana cookies, consider adding 5 mL (1 teaspoon) of cinnamon along with the dry ingredients.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) in order to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 222kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 126mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 207IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Banana Oatmeal Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

Everybody needs an easy chocolate layer cake recipe that you can stir together in minutes. This chocolate cake is made without eggs, and yields three layers of fluffy cake, perfect for making a chocolate birthday cake.

What You Need to Make This Chocolate Layer Cake

To tackle this recipe, you will need two sets of ingredients to make the two components: the eggless chocolate cake and the thick cream cheese frosting. While the list of what you need seems long, you actually don't need anything special, and you likely already have all (or most) of the ingredients in your pantry and fridge!

• For the chocolate cake without eggs:
  • milk, non-dairy beverage (like soy milk), or even water will work in this recipe
  • vinegar, either plain white vinegar or cider vinegar, to react with baking soda to help the cake rise as it bakes
  • all-purpose flour to give the cake structure
  • baking soda to help the cake rise. Do not use baking powder here.
  • cocoa powder, preferably a high quality Dutch-processed cocoa powder like Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder, which is my favourite
  • salt, preferably Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
  • sugar, specifically brown sugar, either light or dark, or even granulated sugar
  • neutral-tasting oil like canola oil, vegetable oil, or a very light-tasting olive oil. Don't use extra virgin olive oil which has too much flavour for this cake
  • vanilla extract to enhance the flavour
• For the cream cheese frosting:
  • butter, preferably unsalted butter since the cream cheese in the recipe has enough salt
  • icing sugar, also called powdered sugar
  • cream cheese, preferably full-fat Philadelphia brand cream cheese. Make sure to buy the cream cheese in block format that is firmer than the whipped kind.
  • vanilla extract to enhance the flavour

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

• For the chocolate cake recipe
  • Milk—This eggless chocolate cake recipe is made with milk, so it's vegetarian, not vegan, but you could replace the cow's milk with your favourite non-dairy beverage, like soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk, if you want a vegan chocolate cake.
  • Vinegar—I usually use regular white vinegar but you could also use apple cider vinegar. You need the acidity of the vinegar for the baking soda to react. Do not omit the vinegar or else replace the milk+vinegar with buttermilk (see next bullet point).
  • Buttermilk—You can replace the combination of milk and vinegar with 1 cup (250 mL) of buttermilk. This will allow you to skip the vinegar but still bring that acidity necessary for the leavening agent to react.
  • Sugar—The brown sugar can be replaced with regular granulated sugar or granulated cane sugar. Either will work great! Do not use turbinado or a coarse sugar, which won't dissolve properly and will have a negative impact on taste and texture.
  • Oil—I always bake with canola oil, but you could replace it with a light olive oil or grapeseed oil.
  • Cocoa powder—I bake with a Dutch-processed cocoa powder. This recipe will likely work with natural (non-Dutch-processed) cocoa powder.
• For the frosting—use the best quality cream cheese you can. I prefer Philadelphia brand full-fat cream cheese. If you want to use a different brand of cream cheese, I can't make a suggestion because I've found the texture and taste of Philadelphia brand cream cheese is unmatched. Other brands I have tried had an impact on taste and texture, so I only recommend Philadelphia.

How to Make It

This chocolate cake couldn't be easier to make because it uses the two-bowl mixing method (also called the muffin mixing method). It's the same method as cake mix, actually, where the wet ingredients are added to the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stirred together to combine them.

Step 1—Whisk the wet ingredients together in a large measuring cup, including the sugar (image 1). Sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl (image 2).

Step 2—Pour the wet ingredients over the dry (image 3) and mix the two together to form a smooth chocolate cake batter (image 4). I like to use a Danish dough whisk for this task.

Step 3—Divide the cake batter between three buttered and floured 6-inch cake pans (or dusted with cocoa powder) (image 5). Make sure the cake batter is level in the pans by briefly spinning them on the counter. Band them a couple of times on the counter to release any big bubbles (image 6).

Step 4—Bake the cakes on the middle rack of the oven (image 7), checking them with a cake tester to ensure they are baked through. Set them on a cooling rack to firm up before unmoulding with the help of an offset spatula.

Once the chocolate cake layers have cooled completely, you can prepare the frosting. For the frosting, I use the same technique for thick cream cheese frosting, adding the cream cheese last to the creamed butter and sugar. This way, you use less icing sugar, but can still achieve a thick texture. This frosting is so thick you can use it for decorating and piping.

Step 5—Combine the butter and icing sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 10) and whip them together until light and fluffy (image 10).

Step 6—Add blocks of cold cream cheese to the bowl of butter and sugar (image 12) and continue whipping the mixture until smooth and thick (image 13).

Step 7—Level the cake layers using a large serrated knife once completely cool (image 14). This creates a flat surface for more stable stacking. Pipe a quarter of the frosting onto the top of the first layer of cake set on a cake stand (image 15), then smooth it with a mini offset spatula (image 16)

Step 8—repeat the frosting and stacking for all three layers of cake, then smooth the frosting on the exterior to create a thin crumb coat (image 17). Refrigerate until firm before frosting the sides and top with a final layer of frosting (image 18).

Step 9—I like to decorate this cake with chocolate sprinkles so that it is clear from the outside that the cake is chocolate.

Cream Cheese Frosting Alternatives

If you don't like cream cheese frosting, you can replace it with:

• chocolate fudge frosting (made from butter, icing sugar, melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and sour cream)
• Italian meringue buttercream (made from egg whites, soft ball sugar syrup, and butter)
• American buttercream (made from icing sugar, butter, and vanilla)
• peanut butter frosting (made from peanut butter, butter, and icing sugar)
• white chocolate cream cheese frosting (made without icing sugar but still very thick!)

Layer Cake Storage

Given this chocolate birthday cake is made with cream cheese frosting, it's best to store it in the fridge. If you've cut into the cake, just cover the cut edges with pieces of parchment to prevent them from drying out. Place the cake in the fridge until the frosting is firm and cold, then cover the whole thing with aluminum foil. You can store this cake for up to a week, or freeze slices for later.

For a detailed explanation, read about how to store cake.

Serving Suggestions

Serve this chocolate layer cake with ice cream, either vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate ice cream, or cookie ice cream.

If you tried this recipe for the best chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Chocolate Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

This chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting is made from layers of eggless chocolate cake and thick cream cheese frosting for the best chocolate birthday cake.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 503kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• OXO balloon whisk
• Mini offset
• Ateco turntable

Ingredients

Eggless chocolate cake

• 185 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 37 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 7.5 mL baking soda
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 250 mL skim milk (fat free)
• 200 grams light brown sugar
• 60 mL canola oil
• 15 mL white vinegar
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting

• 218 grams icing sugar
• 173 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 500 grams Philadelphia cream cheese (full fat, regular) cold
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• chocolate sprinkles optional

Metric - US

Instructions

For the cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 °C). Prepare three 6x2-inch (15x5-cm) round cake pans by brushing the bottom and sides of each pan with butter (softened or melted), then line the bottoms with a round of parchment and dust the sides with cocoa powder. Set aside.
• Sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
• Combine the milk, brown sugar, vinegar, canola oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Stir, then let it stand for a few minutes so that the sugar dissolves. The milk may curdle and thicken, and that's fine!
• Add the wet ingredients to the sifted dry ingredients and stir until combined.
• Pour the batter in the prepared pans and bake until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean (about 30 minutes but keep an eye on it after 25 minutes).

For the frosting

• The order of these steps is very important! First, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the icing sugar and butter until it is smooth.
• Then, when the butter and sugar are nice and smooth, add in the cream cheese, and beat until you get a creamy, fluffy frosting, for at least 2 to 3 minutes, if not more.

To assemble

• Trim the cakes to level them with a large, serrated bread knife.
• Place the bottom layer on a cake turntable (find it on Amazon) or cake stand, and pipe on about ¼ of the frosting, smoothing it out with an offset spatula. Top with the second layer of cake, frost, and repeat with the third layer. Smooth the last of the frosting on the sides and top of the cake. Decorate with chocolate sprinkles (optional).
• Store in the refrigerator, letting the cake come to room temperature for about an hour before serving.

Notes

• I used Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder - Extra Brute, which is a very dark cocoa powder
• You can also bake this recipe in one 3-inch deep 6-inch cake pan. It will take 60 minutes to bake and make sure to check if the cake is done baking in the middle before taking it out of the oven or else there's a risk that the cake collapses.
• For the chocolate cake recipe
  • Milk—This eggless chocolate cake recipe is made with milk, so it's vegetarian, not vegan, but you could replace the cow's milk with your favourite non-dairy beverage, like soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk, if you want a vegan chocolate cake.
  • Vinegar—I usually use regular white vinegar but you could also use apple cider vinegar. You need the acidity of the vinegar for the baking soda to react. Do not omit the vinegar or else replace the milk+vinegar with buttermilk (see next bullet point).
  • Buttermilk—You can replace the combination of milk and vinegar with 1 cup (250 mL) of buttermilk. This will allow you to skip the vinegar but still bring that acidity necessary for the leavening agent to react.
  • Sugar—The brown sugar can be replaced with regular granulated sugar or granulated cane sugar. Either will work great! Do not use turbinado or a coarse sugar, which won't dissolve properly and will have a negative impact on taste and texture.
  • Oil—I always bake with canola oil, but you could replace it with a light olive oil or grapeseed oil.
  • Cocoa powder—I bake with a Dutch-processed cocoa powder. This recipe will likely work with natural (non-Dutch-processed) cocoa powder.
  • Salt—This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the frosting—use the best quality cream cheese you can. I prefer Philadelphia brand full-fat cream cheese. If you want to use a different brand of cream cheese, I can't make a suggestion because I've found the texture and taste of Philadelphia brand cream cheese is unmatched. Other brands I have tried had an impact on taste and texture, so I only recommend Philadelphia. 
• Where I live, Philadelphia cream cheese is sold in 250 gram (0.55 lb) blocks.

Nutrition

Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 350mg | Potassium: 298mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 905IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 102mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Chocolate Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting (Without Eggs) appeared first on The Bake School.

I love layer cakes, and to me, this is the perfect cake: alternating layers of moist chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting, then topped with a mountain of berries. The cake layers are chocolaty, and the frosting tastes like cheesecake. Together, they are made even better when paired with slightly tart, fresh seasonal berries. I also paired a flavourful cake with cream cheese frosting and a tart element in this moist gingerbread cake recipe topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting and tart homemade lemon curd. These chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting are another example of combining berries and chocolate cake.

What You Need

The chocolate cake recipe is based on this eggless chocolate cake that is so easy and the batter is mixed in one bowl, just like a cake mix. The cake is made with cocoa powder instead of dark chocolate so that it has a more pronounced, deep chocolate flavour.

• Cocoa powder: Make sure you use Dutch-processed cocoa powder, which has a deeper more pronounced flavour and darker colour than natural cocoa powder, which has a flat taste and a red colour. If you aren't sure about the difference, you can read all about the types of chocolate used in baking.
• Oil: Use a neutral, flavourless oil like canola oil. Olive oil would impart more flavour unless you use a light olive oil.
• Vinegar: You need the vinegar to activate the baking soda. You can use regular white vinegar or even apple cider vinegar.
• Milk: I use cow's milk (sometimes skim or low-fat milk, but use up to 3.25 % fat to create a more moist cake). You can also replace this with non-dairy milk, like oat milk or soy milk with great results!
• Salt: I bake with Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the cake may be too salty.
• Cream cheese: Use full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese if you can. I prefer the taste and texture of this cheese. Use the block form of cream cheese. Do not use whipped or spreadable cream cheese.
• Butter: Use unsalted butter for the frosting preferably because cream cheese is already bringing a lot of salt to the recipe.
• Berries: Use whatever is in season (or on sale). I love to combine strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, but you can also try red currants, blackberries, or even gooseberries. You can keep the stems on many of these for a more whimsical look. In the winter months, you can top this cake with chocolate curls or even slices of orange. And if all else fails, you can always sprinkle liberally with sprinkles!

Please see the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantities.

How To Make This Berry Cake

This dark chocolate cake starts with an eggless chocolate cake recipe, which is baked in three pans and layered with thick cream cheese frosting and fresh berries. Here's how to make this recipe:

Step 1—Whisk the wet ingredients together in a large measuring cup, including the sugar (image 1). Sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl (image 2).

Step 2—Pour the wet ingredients over the dry (image 3) and mix the two together to form a smooth chocolate cake batter (image 4). I like to use a Danish dough whisk for this task.

Step 3—Divide the cake batter between three buttered and floured 6-inch cake pans (or dusted with cocoa powder) (image 5). Make sure the cake batter is level in the pans by briefly spinning them on the counter. Band them a couple of times on the counter to release any big bubbles (image 6).

Tip: Take the time to prepare the cake pans before baking, by buttering the pans, lining the bottom with parchment, and dusting the sides with flour. This way, your cakes will slide right out of the pan, without any resistance.

Step 4—Bake the cakes on the middle rack of the oven (image 7), checking them with a cake tester to ensure they are baked through. Set them on a cooling rack to firm up before unmoulding with the help of an offset spatula.

Tip: I baked the cake in three 6-inch cake pans so that it was easier to handle. The three layers bake faster separately than one tall cake that you would split into three equal layers after cooling. 

Step 5—Combine the butter and icing sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 10) and whip them together until light and fluffy (image 11).

Step 6—Add blocks of cold cream cheese to the bowl of butter and sugar (image 12) and continue whipping the mixture until smooth and thick (image 13).

Tip: It is very important to start by beating together the softened butter with the icing sugar first, before adding in the cream cheese after. Otherwise, you will end up with a soupy mess. This is the secret to making thick cream cheese frosting that's pipeable even though it has less than half the icing sugar of most recipes.

This cream cheese frosting also tastes great on a poppy seed cardamom cake with cranberries.

Step 7—Level the cake layers using a large serrated knife once completely cool (image 14). This creates a flat surface for more stable stacking. Layer each cake with frosting in between, setting the cake on a cake stand and smoothing it with a mini offset spatula (image 15). Smooth a layer of icing on the outside of the cake as well (image 16). Top the cake with a mound of fresh berries (image 17).

Variation—Another option for a thick cream cheese frosting is this white chocolate cream cheese frosting that is sweetened with melted white chocolate instead of icing sugar!

Storage

Given this berry chocolate cake is made with cream cheese frosting, it's best to store it in the fridge. If you've cut into the cake, just cover the cut edges with pieces of parchment to prevent them from drying out. Place the cake in the fridge until the frosting is firm and cold, then cover the whole thing with aluminum foil. You can store this cake for up to a week, or freeze slices for later.

Take the cake out of the fridge at least 30–60 minutes before serving to give time for the frosting to soften. For a detailed explanation, read about how to store cake.

More Chocolate Recipes

If you love chocolate (who doesn't?), here are a few more chocolate dessert recipes to try:

If you tried this recipe for the best berry chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

📖 Recipe

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Berry Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This berry chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting is made from layers of eggless chocolate cake and topped with berries.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 35 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 503kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• OXO balloon whisk
• Mini offset
• Ateco turntable

Ingredients

Eggless chocolate cake

• 185 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 7.5 mL baking soda
• 37 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 15 mL white vinegar
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 250 mL skim milk (fat free)
• 60 mL canola oil or your favourite neutral oil
• 200 grams light brown sugar

Cream cheese frosting

• 218 grams icing sugar
• 173 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 500 grams Philadelphia cream cheese (full fat, regular) cold

Toppings (optional)

• 225 grams fresh strawberries
• 225 grams Fresh raspberries
• 225 grams fresh blueberries

Metric - US

Instructions

For the cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Prepare three 6x2-inch (15x5-cm) round cake pans by brushing the bottom and sides with melted butter and dusting it with cocoa, then lining the bottom with a round of parchment. Set aside.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa into a medium bowl and set it aside.
• Combine the milk, vinegar, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Stir, then let it stand for a few minutes so that the milk curdles and thickens.
• Whisk in the oil and brown sugar.
• Add the wet ingredients to the sifted dry ingredients and stir until combined.
• Pour the batter in the prepared pans and bake until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean (about 30 minutes but keep an eye on it after 25 minutes).

For the frosting

• The order of these steps is very important! First, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the icing sugar and butter until it is smooth.
• Then, when the butter and sugar are nice and smooth, add in the cream cheese, and beat until you get a creamy, fluffy frosting, for at least 2 to 3 minutes, if not more.

To assemble

• Trim the cakes to level them with a large, serrated bread knife.
• Place the bottom layer on a cake turntable (find it on Amazon), and smooth on about ¼ of the frosting. Top with the second layer of cake, frost, and repeat with the third layer. Smooth the last of the frosting on the sides and top of the cake.
• Top the cake with a tall mound of the berries.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• I used Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder - Extra Brute, which is a very dark cocoa powder
• Where I live, Philadelphia cream cheese is sold in 250 grams (0.55 lb) blocks. Do not use whipped or spreadable cream cheese.
• I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt. Add less or the cake may be too salty.
• Vinegar: You need the vinegar to activate the baking soda. You can use regular white vinegar or even apple cider vinegar. Do not omit the vinegar.
• Milk: I use cow's milk (sometimes skim or low-fat milk, but use up to 3.25 % fat to create a more moist cake). You can also replace this with non-dairy milk, like oat milk or soy milk with great results!
• If it's not berry season, you can top this cake with chocolate curls.
• You can also bake this recipe in one 3-inch deep 6-inch cake pan. It will take 60 minutes to bake and make sure to check if the cake is done baking in the middle before taking it out of the oven or else there's a risk that the cake collapses.

Nutrition

Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 29g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 350mg | Potassium: 298mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 905IU | Vitamin C: 32mg | Calcium: 102mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Berry Chocolate Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting (Eggless) appeared first on The Bake School.