Chocolate Banana Brownie with Chocolate Frosting

2 May 2011

I like to store some of the basic baking ingredients so that as and when I am in the mood to bake, or when Jared or Jaden make some cake request, I can quickly whip up a cake for them.

Jaden is a big fan of chocolate cake. He just love chocolate ... During the Labour Day holiday, since Jared and Jaden made American breakfast for us as breakfast, I decided to bake Chocolate Banana Brownie with Chocolate Frosting for them.

Brownie is one of the simplest chocolate cake to bake.

I found this EasyMelt's dark chocolate buttons at Jaya Grocer. It is very convenient as chocolate frosting cause we do not need to buy baking chocolate and whipping cream and mix them. In addition, once we open the box of whipping cream, we must use it within 3 days and I always end up throwing the balance of whipping cream away. This buttons will be a convenient and cheaper option for me.

Melting the chocolate buttons and they melt easily.

Pour on top of brownie as the chocolate frosting. The taste was great.

I like the banana sweetness taste in the rich chocolate. Too much chocolate may cause constipation and the banana balance it.

I served this brownie with vanilla ice-cream and kids just love it. After all, which kids do not like chocolate and ice-cream.

Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups
• Granulated sugar - 1 1/2 cups (*Note : 1 cup will do if you do not want too sweet)
• Cocoa powder - 3 /4 cup
• Baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp
• Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
• Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Eggs - 2 large, at room temperature
• Bananas - 4 ripe, mashed (Pisang emas will be a good choice as it's sweet)
• Warm water - 1 cup
• Milk - 1/2 cup (full cream)
• Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup (sunflower or canola)
• Vanilla extract - 1 1/2 teaspoon

Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:

• Semisweet or bittersweet chocolate - 8 ounces (227 grams) cut into small pieces (may add about 1 1/4 cups of chocolate chips)
• Whipping cream - 3/4 cup

In my case, I used EasyMelt's dark chocolate buttons to replace the above chocolate frosting ingredients.

Directions:

1. Cut baking paper, the size of the pans, grease the pans, cover with parchment paper and grease again. Set aside. (1 square tin - 9 inch)
2. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C
3. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together, set aside. Whisk in the sugar.
4. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, water, milk, oil and vanilla extract.
5. Add the wet ingredients (egg mixture) to the dry ingredients (flour mixture) and stir or whisk until just combined. To get the best result try stirring on the same direction using a spatula; do not over mix. The batter is going to be quite thin.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Avoid opening the oven door in the first 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.
7. After the cakes reached the room temperature, remove them from the pans. If you used parchment paper, take it off. If you can't take the cakes off the pans easily, try loosening the edges with a sharp knife.
8. To make the chocolate frosting: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel or heatproof bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate brownie.
9. Cover brownie with the chocolate frosting