Enthusiastic bakers, please help!

[mint]

I am looking for a cake or brownie recipe, using cocoa powder and oil, instead of block chocolate and butter.

If the recipe is American and uses cup measures, please give me the weight equivalents in pounds or kilos.

I have had an interest in using oil in baking cakes rather than butter.  The end products always seem lighter and the process avoids all that creaming and beating or melting or warming.

As for the cocoa powder, I have found some Van Houten cocoa powder on Amazon and will be looking for ways of using it other than for making chocolat chaud.  This brand has wonderful nostalgic memories for me as, when I was growing up, that was what we loved and used.

[fittersmate]

Hi mint - I found this recipe which might be of interest - haven't tried it myself.

https://www.food.com/recipe/the-best-brownies-54225

I also found this for conversion of "cups" :

https://www.cookingconversions.org/cupmeasurements.htm

Hope the recipe turns out ok. Let me know and I might be persuaded to try it.

[mint]

Thank you fittersmate.....for the recipe, the patience and time you have taken to find it and, most of all, for the conversion chart.

I am going to print out that chart as I often come across American recipes on the internet but am never sure about the measurements.  For example, is a cup of flour the same amount as a cup of sugar or of raisins and what about liquids; is a cup of oil the same amount as a cup of water and so on.

Sometimes, I watch the Barefoot Contessa on the TV, I like her a lot, and always feel that I am not confident enough to try her recipes.

When I have made the brownies, maybe this weekend as I am waiting for Amazon to send the cocoa powder, I will return and tell you about the results!

I am also most interested to see that there is no flour in the recipe.  I have a friend who can't eat gluten products so I will have a dessert to fall back on. 

There is a no-flour peanut cookie that I make but that is more suitable for eating with tea or coffee rather than as a dessert.

[Graham & Brenda]

Try this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_olive_oil_cake_44817

easy (according to my wife) and delicious. I like it with fresh raspberries and crème liquide

[Lehaut]

My wife uses the Van Houten powder too in many chocolate recipes. I don't do puddings, but I do like chocolate covered preserved ginger. The ginger is too sugary for my taste to eat as it is, so I wash off all the sugar, then melt 85% chocolate and add the Van Houten power to make the coating chocolate as bitter as possible to counter the sugar in the ginger. Weird I know but I really enjoy it, especially just before a cup of tea.

[mint]

G&B, YES, that looks and sounds fabulous....I love olive oil and I love chocolate, PLUS I have bags of ground almonds in the house....o la la!!!

BUT, might have to pass on the main course to eat this...enough calories in it to last a night à jeun before hospital or a blood test[:D]

Lehaut, preserved ginger, indeed, that is my absolute guilty pleasure.  I buy it in chunks from the bio coop but, unlike you, I love the sugar.  It's seriously hot though so I can't actually eat many chunks at a time.  When my eyes are watering and my tongue is hanging out, I know I have had enough[:-))]

[mint]

Fittersmate, just want to tell you that your conversion chart has opened up a whole new slew of recipes for me.

There is an American site called Jenny Can Cook....she makes everything so clear and so easy.  Her recipes and your chart make my heart soar.

Just got to get out to the shops today and do some stocking up.  If, in a month's time, I come back and ask for slimming diets, you'd know who I blame!!![:D]

[Lori]

Mint:  if you decide you want to really go crazy, you can add some of your cocoa powder to a butter cream icing recipe.  If you haven't done that it is really good.  You can also add some mint extract (or even mint syrup) to have a chocolate/mint/butter cream frosting.  Tis great on brownies among other things.

[cowolter]

The recipe Easy Homemade Brownies From Scratch  is amazing. I discovered it when I had a serious brownie craving, and only had olive oil to use as a fat. I held a brownie cook off for my co-workers making my classic recipe and that vegan recipe. No one knew which recipe was which (excluding myself, of course), and they both tied for winner. 

Edited October 15, 2021 by cowolter