I wouldn't say my tools are huge. Nor would I consider them puny. For my virginal do, I hope to fully utilise whatever I own for my chastity is afterall, at stake here. I sought the oracle for guidance and he bestowed upon me a (what he called) fool-proof recipe. And that marked the beginning of my first baking experience, with my first cake mixer.
I shall not re-post the full recipe here as I followed it to a tee. Ok, being a defiant student (as I always have been, even back in kindergarten), I did alter a bit here and there. For example, I :-
1) used aluminum foil instead of baking paper (where got time to find this kinda thing??)
2) used 5 eggs instead of 4 (I thought the batter looked too stiff with 4)
3) omitted the vanilla essence/extract (because I could only find the perisa tiruan type...yucks!)
4) used 6 tablespoons of cognac instead of 2 (which made my frosting too diluted, bad mistake)
5) double-boiled my chocolate frosting instead of zapping it (because I don't have a microwave oven)
I used both the systematic and scientific approaches for my baking. Everything was laid in front of me before I started the mixing process. The recipe was right next to the cake mixer. And of course, I preheated the oven. Everything went rather smoothly.
Until the batter began to take its form. Looking at my aluminum tray, I thought it was too big for that amount of batter. I panicked. Gone was systematic. Leaving the mixer to entertain the batter, I looked up and down for a container of a more suitable size. And all I found was this casserole. I quickly washed it and was ready to pour in the mixture. Right then, scientific gave me a good slap on the face. Ceramic vs metal? Heat transfer?? Engineer??? Duh???? With no other alternatives, I poured the batter (and my guts) into the tray. And surprisingly, it fitted okay. And into the oven it went. Setting the timer to 30 minutes, I whistled a tune and started clearing the table. And guess what I found? A bag of chocolate buttons which was meant to be IN the batter. At that point, I could only laugh at myself. And continued to whistle.
The frosting turned out rather well until the AA me decided to jazz things up abit by increasing the dosage of the cognac. The result? A way diluted frosting. And there was no more chocolate. As I am writing this, I wonder why didn't I think of using the chocolate buttons to thicken the frosting???
Ok, the brownie baked rather well and after cooling it for 10 minutes, I poured the "frosting" on top of it. I waited for it to cool and harden. How long it took? 3 hours only. Did I not let the brownie cool long enough?
I was pretty anxious as I cut my first brownie. My first bake. It is going to be edible? Will the excess liquor soak up the filling by now already? Will the on-looking eyes burst into a big laughter? Will my baking chastity be wasted on a brownie?
Cutting was easy as the filling was kept intact. I took my first bite.
And it was good. I mean it! The subtle taste of the orange rind/juice really made it special. It was rather moist and soft as well. The only down side being the hardened frosting. But the scent of the cognac was alluring. Despite some stains and silly mistakes, I thought my virginal do was quite satisfying. And friends & family loved it. The brownie, I mean. A happy outcome that also marks my 100th post (not that it is of any significance-lah).
So, thanks a lot, FatBoyBakes for the recipe. Will be digging for more, o' oracular one!
For the complete recipe, please click here.
