I love cooking, but baking, well that is a different story. Not only do I not enjoy it as much as cooking, I am no where near as good at baking. To be honest I’m not the hugest dessert lover, if cheese and crackers are on the menu I would usually pick that. But my other half loves a bit of dessert (diet starts Monday), and as part of a bit of a surprise treat I decided to give the old Great British Bake Off a go!
Dark Star Espresso is a straight up British classic! The first time I had it was on cask in a Wetherspoons and I remember that crazy hit of coffee. Like chewing a coffee bean! With massive coffee flavours and dark chocolate on the nose I thought it would be a perfect beer to bake into a brownie.
Soon after moving into my house I found out that there was an allotment plot about 2 minutes walk away, my other half is a bit of a green fingers so I got a plot as soon as I could. Melbourne Allotment site is lovely, really friendly people and some great plots, we were lucky enough to not only get a plot right away but it had previously been a community plot, meaning the soil was perfectly kept and ready to go straight away. We’ve had a bit of trouble with slugs and lost a few things but one thing that has been growing by the carrier bag load are strawberries. We have about a draw full in the freezer and we have been passing on as many as we can to people to enjoy. I love them! Of course chocolate and strawberries are a dreamy combination so I thought they would go perfectly.
I have no idea about baking though, for all I know I have done this all wrong, used the wrong baking trays or anything! But one thing I do know is that it tasted great.
170g of melted butter
425g of dark sugar
250g of hot chocolate powder
½ tspn of salt
2 large eggs
160ml Dark Star Espresso (Or any other sweet or coffee stouts, porters or quads)
255g of plain all purpose flour (and a bit more for sprinkling)
Strawberries
200g of melted dark chocolate (there will prob be a bit left for spoon licking)
Preheat oven to 165.
Boil some water and in a glass bowl and melt the butter above the boiling water. Add the melted butter, sugar, hot choc powder and salt in a large bowl.
Once well mixed add the eggs and the Dark Star Espresso and mix well till completely combined. Sprinkle some more flour on top and fold in.
Grease up a baking tray with marg or butter and put the mixture in.
Chuck it in the oven at 165 for 35 minutes, check the mixture and when the top is hard to tap bring it out the over. Then let it cool down completely.
Melt some chocolate in a glass bowl above boiling water like you did with the butter, cut and prepare the strawberries. Place them on the top off the brownie and pour over the chocolate. Let the chocolate cool down and harden before you slice it up.
Crack open another bottle of the classic that is Dark Star Espresso and enjoy with a big slice of cake and some vanilla ice cream.
Disclaimer – I bought my bottle of Dark Star Espresso from M&S, Dark Star have no idea that I was doing this and hopefully they give it ago and love it!