Snickers Brownies

An “accidental” creation of mine. I was planning to make peanut butter brownies but couldn’t find any peanut butter. And I didn’t feel like having plain brownies. When I saw a packet of Snickers bars lying in my room, inspiration struck! So I grabbed two bars, chopped them into pieces and tossed them into my waiting brownie mix. All my favorite things combined. Chocolate, caramel, peanuts, and… more chocolate. The combination is heavenly!

Ingredients:
125g butter
100g dark chocolate, cut into pieces
½ cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup cocoa powder + 1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted
2 regular-sized Snickers bars (I think they’re about 60g each), cut into 1cm cubes

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Line an 8cm square cake tin with baking paper.
2. Melt butter, dark chocolate and sugar in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally with a large spoon. You should end up with a smooth, glossy mixture.
3. Remove saucepan from heat. Pour in beaten eggs and mix well. Add in the sifted flour and cocoa powder, mix well with spoon. 4. Gently fold in the chopped Snickers pieces. Pour mixture into the prepared cake tin; make sure the Snickers pieces are distributed evenly throughout the tin. Bake about 25-30 minutes, unlike with cakes, don’t worry if an inserted toothpick doesn’t come out clean. Brownies are best when they’re slightly gooey on the inside =D

I spy... blobs of melted caramel... Yum!

Oat Bran Cookies

Continuing my quest to find guilt-free snacks to chomp on while studying. Oat bran is an excellent source of fiber, and there are oh-so-many articles out there proclaiming oats as a health food, being able to lower cholesterol levels, reduce the risk of heart disease, etc. Well, while all that sounds great, all I’m concerned about is that these cookies are crunchy, honey-sweet and delicious. The health benefits are just an added bonus!

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups oat bran
½ cup oats (the traditional kind, not the quick cooking one)
½ cup all purpose flour
50g butter, cut into small cubes
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons honey

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C/160 fan forced. Line baking trays with baking sheets.
2. Mix together oat bran, oats, flour, brown sugar and baking soda in a large bowl. Toss in cubed butter and rub it in with your hands till you have a fine, crumbly mixture. Add in egg and honey and knead till you have a firm, sticky, dough. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

3. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and flatten them as thinly as you can between your palms. Alternatively, you could flatten the dough between two baking sheets and cut them into neat circles, but you know me; I usually take the easier option. Lay the cookies slightly spaced apart on the baking sheets and bake for about 15 minutes. Let cookies cool completely before storing.

Sushi Pillow

Omg I want this....

Ebi Nigiri

Someone get it for me... Pretty please? With wasabi and gari on top =P

Apple Pie/Crumble

I’ve messed with this recipe so much I’m honestly not quite sure what to call this anymore; it can pass off for a cross-breed of apple pie + apple crumble. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s always well received whenever I bring it for potlucks. Really easy to throw together when you’re short of time (or struggling to make roti canai at the same time like I was the last time I made this for a potluck).

Ingredients:
(A)
170g butter, melted
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup brown sugar
1 cup oats (I’ve used both the instant and slow cooking types before, recipe seems to work for both)

(B)
½ cup sugar
1 cup water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon

(C)
2 ½ cups apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
¼ cup raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C. You’ll need an 8 inch pie dish for this recipe.
2. Mix together flour, brown sugar, and oats in a large bowl. Pour in melted butter and mix everything well with your hands till you have a crumbly dough. Set aside about one cup of the dough, press the rest evenly into the bottom and sides of pie dish.
3. Simmer sugar, water and cornstarch over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, till mixture thickens. Stir in vanilla, powdered cinnamon, cubed apples and raisins.
4. Spoon the fruit mix into the prepared pie dish. Top off with the reserved cup of dough. Bake in the oven for about 40-50 minutes, or till the crust is a nice golden brown.

Fruit bites.

I have a bad habit of eating while I’m studying. A slightly less guilt inducing snack. They’re basically mini fruit-laden scones. Need to keep the blood sugar level high to concentrate on my books! Also convenient to pack and take sneak in to the library.

Ingredients:
2 cups self-raising flour
125g cold butter, cut into small cubes
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
¾ cup oats
1 banana, peeled and diced
¾ cup diced dried apricots
¾ cup raisins
Feel free to play around with the amount of dried fruit, you can use chopped nuts too.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking trays with greased baking sheets.
2. Mix flour and sugar in a large bowl. Rub in butter with hands till small breadcrumbs are formed. Add egg and milk, mix.
3. Mix in the remaining ingredients. Drop teaspoonfuls of mixture onto greased baking sheets. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before storing.

Onion-stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

One of my favorite dishes to make. Simple, looks quite posh, and tastes great too! Firm, juicy mushrooms, filled with sweet caramelized onion and tomato, topped with golden cheese. The Portobello mushrooms can be replaced with any large-capped mushroom, but adjust the amount of filling.

Ingredients:
2 medium Portobello mushrooms, cleaned, with stems cut off
1 large onion, halved and sliced thinly
1 large tomato, diced
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil for drizzling and frying
1 cup grated cheddar/mozzarella cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Drizzle some olive oil on a foil-lined baking tray, lay the mushrooms on top, lightly drizzle mushrooms with olive oil.

*hint: the mushroom infused olive oil you get at the bottom of the pan at the end of baking makes a really nice salad dressing for a tiny salad.*
2. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Fry onions till fragrant, add sugar and tomatoes. Keep frying till onions turn light brown and tomatoes are soft. Season with salt and pepper if you like.

3. Fill the mushroom caps generously with the onion and tomato filling, but not too full till the point you can’t sprinkle the cheese on top (I like lots and lots of cheese). Coat onion filling well with grated cheese. Pop into the oven for about 20 minutes, or till the cheese is a nice golden brown.

I miss...

...Earthquake Tuesdays at Swensen's
with that special someone.
Sigh.

Snickerdoodles! =D

Cutest. Cookie. Name. Ever.

Hmm. Television can take over your life. After watching the episode of Veronica Mars where she’s discovered secretly making these cookies for Wallace, I simply HAD to find out what Snickerdoodles were. The description on Wikipedia sounded yummy enough so off I went to Recipezaar to find out how to make them. Who wouldn’t like the idea of a cinnamon coated sugar cookie? This recipe results in sweet, cinnamonny, and oh-so-addictive soft cookies.

Ingredients:
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup butter, softened (about 50g)
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar+1 teaspoon cinnamon, mixed together in a small bowl

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan-forced. Line baking trays with baking sheets.
2. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, mix well.
3. Add flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt, mix well.
4. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, roll balls into the cinnamon-sugar mix and place well spaced apart on baking trays.
5. Bake around 8-10 minutes. The cookies will seem undercooked, but the crust will harden when removed from baking sheets and left to cool. If left in the oven too long the cookies will burn. The cookies should have a crisp outer shell and a soft cake-like center.

Oww.

I've just burned my hand. For the second time today. Cooking comes with its perils. =(

Recipe Index

Baked goods:
CAKES
Apple Cake
Chiffon Cheesecake
Chocolate Fudge Cake
Peanut Butter Frosted Chocolate Cupcakes
Martha Stewart's Easy Chocolate Cake
Vanilla Cupcakes

COOKIES
Choc Chunk Cookies
Chocolate-lace Crisps
Cornflake Cookies
Oat Bran Cookies
Snickerdoodles
Vanilla Sugar Cookies

ETC
Apple Pie/Crumble
Baked Apples
Fruit Bites
Focaccia Bread
Profiteroles
Scones
Snickers Brownies
Quick Tuna Mushroom Rolls

Home-cooked food:
Baked Sweet Potato With Tuna
Chunky Dhall Curry
Fishcakes
Honey-roast Carrots
Lamb Steaks with Rosemary Sweet Potatoes
Onion-stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Roti Canai
Vegetable Soup
Veggie Kebabs

Healthy Dessert: Baked Apples

Fresh fruit instead of cakes and cookies for a change.

Ingredients:
2 green apples, halved, and cored
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 170C. Line a baking tray with foil and lay the halved apples on the tray, cut side facing up, slightly spaced apart.
2. Fill the apple cores with raisins, drizzle with honey and dust with cinnamon. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm. With a scoop of vanilla ice-cream if you have any. Well, that might defeat the healthy part but yum!

Chocolate fudge cake

Over time, you will notice a buildup of chocolate recipes on this site. Why? Because I’m a girl. Chocolate is in my blood. I’m on a never-ending quest to find the perfect chocolate cake recipe and the perfect chocolate cookie recipe. Brownies too. Hmm... Chocolate eclairs? Mmm... Chocolate… drool…

Haha… Ok, don’t mind me I’m a bit high from lack of sleep, was writing an assignment last night. But I do love my chocolate. Here’s an easy recipe for a quick chocolate fix. Moist, chocolate sponge with a chocolate fudge frosting. Recipe adapted from the Australian Women’s Weekly Cakes, Biscuits and Slices book.

Ingredients (for the cake):
1 cup water
1 ¼ cups caster sugar
125g butter, cubed
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups self raising flour
2 eggs

Ingredients (for the frosting):
40g butter
¼ cup water
¼ cup caster sugar
¾ cup icing sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan forced. Grease and base line an 18cm square baking pan.
2. Melt water, sugar, butter, baking soda, and sifted cocoa in a saucepan, stirring constantly over low heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Leave to simmer for 5 minutes, transfer mixture to a large bowl, and let cool to room temperature.
3. When mixture is cooled, add flour and eggs, and mix well till smooth. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or till toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave cake to cool for 10 minutes, remove from pan.
4. To make the fudge frosting, first sift the cocoa and icing sugar together into a medium sized bowl, put aside. Next, melt butter, water and caster sugar in a small saucepan, stirring constantly over low heat until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Pour the melted mixture into the icing sugar and cocoa mixture in 3 batches, stirring well after each addition. Refrigerate frosting till its thickened and spreadable, stir well with spoon and spread over cooled cake.

Scones.

Great excuse to gather friends together in the middle of the day for no reason at all. Best when fresh out of the oven, when they’re crisp and crumbly on the outside, and warm and soft on the inside. Serve with cream, jam or butter.

Ingredients:
½ cup milk
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup cold butter, cubed (about 50g)
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup raisins or any other dried fruit of your choice (optional, also adjust the amount to your preference)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 220C. Line baking trays with baking sheets.
2. Mix milk and egg in a small bowl, set aside. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add in the cubed butter, and rub with your hands, till you have fine breadcrumbs. Toss in dried fruit and mix.
3. Add the milk and egg mixture, reserving about a tablespoonful for glazing. Knead everything together gently into a large ball. Over-kneading will cause your scones to be dry.
4. Place the ball of dough onto a clean surface and pat gently with your palms till about 1 inch thick. Cut dough into 8 portions. (I skipped this part since I was in a hurry and just shaped the dough into 8 small balls using my hands, hence the uneven shapes.)
5. Lay portions onto lined baking trays, glaze with the remaining milk and egg mixture. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until a light golden brown.

Sunday Roast

Chicken

One of the rare things I'd eat out in the UK, the traditional British Sunday Roast, with all the trimmings. Today we went to The Playhouse, a pub with a really cool ambiance as it was once a theater, and they've tried to maintain a 'theatre-like' theme in terms of decor when they converted it into a pub. Foodwise, they have typical pub food, with a certain level of quality control, as The Playhouse is managed by JD Wetherspoon, one of the bigger pub chains in Britain. The roasts were 4.99 GPB each, drink included.

Beef

The pub interior

4 St Johns Street
Colchester
Essex
CO2 7AA

Oh, before I forget, Happy Easter everybody!

Chunky Dhall Curry

Made this to go with the results of my roti canai attempt (see previous post).

Ingredients:
250g dhall (yellow lentils), washed and drained
600ml water
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon oil
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
½ onion, finely diced
2 tomatoes, diced
2 carrots, chopped into chunks
Salt, to taste

Directions:
1. Boil dhall with water, curry powder, turn down heat and simmer till soft, about an hour.
2. Heat oil in frying pan and fry garlic and onion till fragrant. Add in tomatoes and carrots, fry for about 5 minutes.
3. Add fried vegetables to the cooked dhall, season with salt and chilli flakes, stir and leave to simmer for another hour or so, depending on how soft you like your dhall. Add water if it becomes too thick.
4. If you prefer a creamier dhall, remove half the dhall before adding the fried ingredients and blend it in a food processor. Stir everything together and simmer.

Roti Canai

Dear people back in Malaysia, the next time you go out to the mamak stall for a quick roti canai and teh tarik, count your blessings that it’s so convenient and cheap there, emphasis on the convenience part. I have discovered that home-made roti canai is no easy feat. Sigh. My "canai-ing" skills need a lot of work. Tastewise, it was pretty authentic, texture was so-so, like I mentioned earlier I had problems "canai-ing" or flipping the dough to make it thin. Well it was enough for a quick roti craving fix. Used Amy Beh’s recipe from kuali.com.

Ingredients:
400g plain flour, sifted
½ teaspoon salt
20g sugar (I used 2 tablespoonfuls)
40g margarine (I used butter instead, if you do too make sure it’s slightly softened)
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup milk
½ cup water
Oil or ghee for oiling and cooking (Or in my case lots of melted butter).

Directions:
1. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the flour. Add in the egg, milk, and water, mix together well to form a soft dough. Leave dough to rest for about 20-30 minutes (It’s important to let the dough rest, I read on some other site that this lets the dough build up its elasticity).
2. Divide dough into 10 portions, and roll into balls. Rub oil lightly over each ball and set aside.
3. Oil a fairly large, non-stick work space. Oil hands. Place a ball of dough on the workspace, and spread it as thinly as you can with your palms. If feeling brave enough pick up dough and flip it around, ala pizza-making style to make it thin. Fold edges of dough back to the center. Repeat the flattening and folding process a couple of times; it seems to make the texture of the roti canai better the more times you do this. Spread a bit of butter into the flattened dough before folding. End with flattening the dough before it goes in the pan.
4. Heat up a bit of oil on a non-stick frying pan. Fry flattened dough over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side, spread more oil over dough to create the brown markings.

I used a scary amount of melted butter for oiling and spreading the dough. (I didn’t have any normal cooking oil, I only use olive oil for cooking at my place, and well, olive oil for cooking roti canai just seemed odd). Though somehow I feel my liberal use of the melted butter resulted in my roti canais actually being kind of crispy in some parts which was nice. Sort of reminiscent of roti planta. Hehee…

Served with a chunky dhall curry (recipe in next post). Here's a tribute to all the highly skilled roti-canai flipping mamak stall workers out there!

Honey-roast Carrots

A simple side dish, made with these oh-so-very-adorable Chantenay carrots I found while grocery shopping. So small and fat! So cute! I know, I’m easily amused.

Ingredients:
250g whole Chantenay carrots, or ordinary carrots cut into chunks
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 220C/fan 200C. Wash carrots, pop into boiling water and boil for about 10 minutes or less, depending on how cooked you want your carrots. Drain carrots, toss together with olive oil and honey in a small roasting tray. Pop into oven and roast for about 20 minutes, again adjust the time to how cooked you like your carrots.

Lamb Steaks with Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

Dinner for two. Recipe adapted from BBC GoodFood magazine April 2007 issue.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lamb leg steaks
½ red onion, sliced
2 sweet potatoes, finely sliced
pinch of salt
rosemary, fresh or dried
wholegrain mustard, for basting (I used some mint sauce instead, don’t really like mustard of any kind)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 220C/fan 200C. Heat half the oil on a roasting tray, brown steaks on both sides, remove from tray and set aside.
2. Toss the remaining oil, onion, salt, sweet potatoes, and rosemary together in the roasting tray. Lay steaks on top and baste steaks with mint sauce. Sprinkle with more rosemary, pop tray into oven and roast for 20 minutes, or until steak is cooked and potatoes are softened.

The lamb steaks were tasted pretty much like well, lamb steaks, nothing special. The sweet potatoes were delicious though, with the potatoes lightly infused with the rosemary and onions.

As I love vegetables, I also made a side of honey-roast carrots to go with the lamb steaks and potatoes. Will include the recipe in my next post.

Choc Chunk Cookie.

I’ve tried numerous recipes for chocolate chip cookies but this recipe by the baker has to be one of my absolute favorites. Crisp cookies with melt-in-your-mouth yummy chocolate chunks in every bite. Made a batch with white and milk chocolate chunks to mail home to the Boy who complains I don’t feed him as part of a Valentines Day package. He claims they were drugged, that once you eat them you feel like eating more. Hmm..

Ingredients:
¾ cup butter (around 170g), softened
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
200g of your favorite eating chocolate (bittersweet, dark, white, milk), cut into chunks. If you’re using a sweeter chocolate such as milk and white like I did, you might want to reduce the amount of sugar slightly.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line baking trays with greased baking sheets.
2. Cream together butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl till smooth. Add in egg and vanilla, mix well.
3. Toss in the dry ingredients (except for the chocolate chunks). Mix well. Add in chocolate chunks and gently stir in.
4. Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets, slightly spaced apart. Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Cool cookies and eat! I personally love them fresh out of the oven when the chocolate chunks are still nice and gooey. Yum.

Mmm... look at all that chunky goodness.. Boo to chocolate chips! Although I’m sure they’d work perfectly fine with the recipe.

Raspberry Lemon Sponge

Sigh. Lost the recipe for this cake, think I got it from the Easter issue of Tesco's magazine last year. Shouldn't be too difficult to recreate though. Three layers of sponge, filled with a lemon curd and mascarpone spread mixed with fresh raspberries. Topped off with more raspberries and dusted with icing sugar.

Fresh, Yummy Seafood.

Less than an hour’s drive away from the University of Essex (if you don't get lost). *Jumps for joy* Reasonable prices too. Less than 15 GBP each for us to stuff ourselves silly with fresh seafood. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Seafood platter, around 8GPB. Sweet, juicy crabs and shrimp (both peeled and unpeeled, I felt that the unpeeled one tasted sweeter), prawns, mussels, and cockles.

Smoked salmon and smoked mackerel which came with the seafood platter (not too salty, just the way I like it)

Lobster, 13GPB. Mmm… (I like this photo too, very yin-yangish)

Grilled oyster with cheese 1.20GPB each.

Clean platter. And piles of empty shells. Also, five satisfied tummies (not in photo).

Very low frills place, they really seem to focus on their seafood. One main method of preparation; boiled and chilled fresh seafood served with fresh lemon slices. Why spoil really fresh seafood by dressing it up with sauces? Their menu also has a limited selection of hot grilled seafood, as well as salad which I’ve been told is a recent addition. As for drinks, bring your own, as well as bread if you want to. Cutlery’s provided though I don’t know anyone who would have the patience to use them. We certainly didn’t. Lol.

Now if only I had a car.. Anyone want to drive me there again? I’m too lazy to take the bus. Though I honestly think I would the next time I need a seafood fix.

The Company Shed,
129 Coast Road,
West Mersea,
Essex.
Tel: 01206 382700.

Humph. After I told my dad about this place he said he’d rather go there than come for my graduation next year.

Lemon cake..

.. with lemon mascarpone frosting

Uhm, sort of a failed recipe. In the sense that it didn't end up looking like it was supposed to. Think it's because I used a wrong sized baking pan. Was supposed to end up with a sponge cake big enough to cut into three layers, but mine was kind of flat, only thick enough to cut into two. Wasn't as 'lemony' as I expected too, next time I'll add more lemon rind into the mix. Oh well, it was wolfed quickly enough along with fresh strawberries and a bottle of wine a friend brought over. =) And the lot of leftover whipping cream I had (due to the cake being smaller than intended) was used as a spread for fresh scones the next day.

Light lunch: Fishcakes

Looked through a few recipes for fishcakes, they’re all pretty much the same. Here’s my simplified version. Makes about 8 small patties.

Ingredients:
2 medium-sized potatoes
1 tin tuna/salmon (130g)
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Breadcrumbs (for coating)
Seasoning of your choice i.e. salt, pepper, herb mixes, etc. (I used some dill, ½ a lemon, and some salt and pepper)
Oil, for frying

Directions:
1. Peel potatoes, halve, and boil in salted water until really soft, about ½ an hour. Remove and drain well.
2. Mash potatoes with mayonnaise. Drain can of tuna well, mash into small bits. Add tuna to mashed potatoes, mix well and season. Whatever seasoning you choose to add in, make sure your mixture is not too wet it’ll make the patties hard to shape later. Cover and pop into the refrigerator for a few hours, or until the mixture sets enough for you to be able to shape it.
3. Shape the mixture into small patties, about half the size of your palm. Dip patty in beaten egg and coat evenly with breadcrumbs.
4. When you’re ready to cook them, heat a small amount of oil (enough for shallow frying) in a non-stick pan. When oil is hot, pop in patties and fry for about 4 minutes on each side, until golden. Do not be tempted to flip patties numerous times it’ll only result in them breaking up and you ending up with tasty but not very presentable looking mush. (Yes, I did end up with mush on my first try.) When patties are cooked, remove, pat well with a kitchen towel to remove any excess oil, and serve with your favorite dip.

I know it seems like a lot of trouble to go through for hot fish, but hey I’m on holiday. I have loads of free time. Too much free time according to some friends. Hehe.

Oh, and if you don’t want to fry the patties all at once, you can freeze them on a tray and after they’re frozen, pack and store in the freezer. You do not have to defrost them before frying.

Martha Stewart's easy chocolate cake

Made this cake for my grandfather’s birthday dinner last year. One of Martha Stewart's easier recipes, taken from her website. You’ll end up with a rich, heavy chocolate cake.

Easy Chocolate Cake recipe

Ingredients
170g / ¾ cup butter
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sour cream (if memory serves me right, I didn’t have sour cream so I substituted this with ½ cup plain yoghurt)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 180C. Butter an 8 inch round cake pan, line with baking sheet and butter the sheet. Dust with cocoa powder, shake off excess.
2. Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together into a bowl, set this aside.
3. Cream sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, add in vanilla and beat. Next, add flour mixture and sour cream in about three batches, mixing well between each addition.
4. Pour cake mixture into prepared pan. Tap pan on counter to remove any air bubbles. Put into oven and bake about 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, remove from pan, and let cool completely on wire rack. Top with glazing of your choice.

I made a simple chocolate glaze to go with the cake. 200g of semisweet chocolate chips, a tablespoon of butter and ½ cup of double cream. Stir together over low heat until the chocolate has melted. Allow to cool until thick. Pour over cake and let it set. Dust cake with cocoa powder.