284: Chocolate, Rapsberry and Marshmellow Brownies

Sound nice, don't they?

I'm afraid it's another tale of cake based woe. Let me take you back to last saturday. I may have mentioned that I like to do the Great North Run, Sunday's was my 6th. This left me last saturday with plenty of time on my hands as I was neither running nor drinking in preparation for sunday. Recently a tradition has grown where several of us bake and then after the run, we all eat cake on the bus ride ride.

Again, sounds nice doesn't it? I've got time and the inclination. I knew the easy flapjack option was already taken, so I searched out a Brownie recipe and adapted it to use the fresh rapsberries I'd just picked from my garden. Very carefully I doubled all the ingredients to there was enough to go around a whole coach:

Here's the recipe I used:

• 50gs fresh rapsberries
• 50gs small marshallow pieces
• 100gs good quality dark chocolate
• 8oz butter (jeez you need to hve just run a half marathon to eat this stuff)
• 16oz Brown granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs beaten
• 4oz Self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt

Anyone spot the issue(s) yet?

Method, really easy:

Melt over a pan of lightly simmering water the butter and chocolate

 Mix everything else

 Onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper and into over @ 180c, for 25 minutes, removing while the top is springy to the touch

Other than the fact my oven seems to be a bit hotter on the right hand side. I thought this looked practically perfect. Crusty at the top, light in texture, squidgy in the middle. Just like you'd want a brownie.

However, the mistakes were:
1) What I'd actually written was 1/2 teaspoon of salt but because it was under the 2 teaspoons of baking powder I'd missed the top line '1' - all you could taste was salt, this mistake ruined it.
2) All the raspberries sank to a goo on the base, which made it very messy. This may well be why no one else even tries to make raspberry brownies
3) The marshmellows had completely melted; so something of a waste
4) I should have used plain flour, but I didn't have any - but the texture was good, so I seemed to have got away with that one

So, all in, a pretty bad waste of a fine bar of chocolate. But definately one to be repeated (sans raspberries and excess salt) for the texture was bob on.


Now, I've been accused of boasting about my Basil growing prowess. Which wasn't my intent. However *fanfare* I did manage to get under the 2 hour mark for the first time at the Great North and that I am sufficiently pleased with to boast about!

PS: Other cakes on the bus were: flapjack, lemon drizzle (excellent), brownies and a tea loaf. Good cake eating times!