Cakes, Cookies and Warm Puddings
Cooking Skills: Chocolate 1
Chapter 6 · Cakes, Cookies and Warm Puddings
Skill goal
Bake cookies, a cake and two warm puddings, and learn how to tell when each is done.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Three families of chocolate bakes in one chapter, each with a different method: creaming (cookies), whisking (the one-bowl cake) and timing (warm puddings, where the middle is the point). Learn the sign that each is done, because minutes alone are not enough: every oven is different.
The method
- Cookies: cream the butter and sugar until pale, mix the flour in gently, and take them out while the middles look under-done.
- Cake: the batter can be thin. Test with a skewer, and cool before icing.
- Saucy pudding: pour the boiling water over the back of a spoon, and don't stir.
- Fondant: butter and cocoa-dust the ramekins, bake until the edge is set and the middle wobbles, and turn out after a minute.
- Check early and keep a note of what your oven does.
| Bake | Method | Oven | Done when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cookies | Creaming | 180°C (160°C fan), 10 to 12 minutes | Golden edges, pale soft middle |
| One-bowl cake | Whisking | 180°C (160°C fan), 30 to 35 minutes | Skewer clean |
| Self-saucing pudding | Batter and sauce | 180°C (160°C fan), 30 minutes | Risen, springy, sauce below |
| Fondant | Whisked eggs and melted chocolate | 200°C (180°C fan), 10 to 12 minutes | Set edge, wobbly middle |
Raw batter, hot oven and soft centres
Raw batter: don't eat raw brownie, cake or cookie mixture. It contains raw egg and raw flour, which can carry harmful bacteria. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, wash your hands after handling raw egg, and bake it fully.Hot oven: use oven gloves, open the door away from your face, and put the tin on a heatproof surface. Don't leave the oven unattended, because chocolate bakes go from perfect to dry quickly, and every oven is a little different, so check early.
Soft centres: a fondant or lava-style pudding is deliberately not fully set in the middle, so the egg is only lightly cooked. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, and check current FSA advice before serving it to pregnant women, babies, older people or anyone unwell. For them, bake it 3 to 4 minutes longer until set.
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Chocolate chip cookies
Creaming butter and sugar traps air for a tender cookie, and the two sugars give chewiness and crisp edges. Take them out while the centres still look pale and soft: they firm up as they cool.
Ingredients (12 portions)
- 115 g butter, softened
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 Lion-marked egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 190 g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 150 g chocolate chunks (dark, milk or a mix)
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and line two trays. Beat the butter and both sugars for 2 minutes until pale and fluffy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
- Stir in the flour, bicarbonate and salt until just combined, then fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Roll into 12 balls, space them well apart (see the box) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are golden and the middles pale. Cool on the tray for 5 minutes.
Raw dough, hot oven, spacing and allergens
Raw batter: don't eat raw brownie, cake or cookie mixture. It contains raw egg and raw flour, which can carry harmful bacteria. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, wash your hands after handling raw egg, and bake it fully.Hot oven: use oven gloves, open the door away from your face, and put the tin on a heatproof surface. Don't leave the oven unattended, because chocolate bakes go from perfect to dry quickly, and every oven is a little different, so check early.
Spacing cookies: put the dough balls at least 5 cm apart on a lined tray, because they spread. Bake one tray at a time on the middle shelf, and let the cookies firm up on the tray for 5 minutes before moving them.
Allergens: chocolate contains milk (except some dark), and often soy (lecithin) and sometimes nuts or traces of them: check the label and the 'may contain' line. Cream, butter and many coatings are dairy, and cookies and biscuits contain wheat and often egg. Dairy-free dark chocolate and coconut cream can replace the dairy in many recipes, but the texture changes.
Level 2 · Whisk
One-bowl chocolate cake
A moist, dark cake with no creaming and one bowl. The batter is thin, which is right: it bakes into a tender crumb. Cool it completely before the ganache glaze goes on.
Ingredients (10 portions)
- 150 g plain flour
- 150 g caster sugar
- 35 g cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 Lion-marked eggs
- 100 ml flavourless oil
- 150 ml milk
- 100 ml hot water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 batch pourable or glaze ganache (Cooking Skills: Chocolate 1, chapter 3)
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Grease and line a 20 cm round tin. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate into a bowl.
- Whisk in the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla until smooth, then whisk in the hot water. The batter will be thin.
- Pour into the tin and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool completely, then pour over the ganache glaze and leave to set.
Raw batter, hot water, hot oven and cake testing
Raw batter: don't eat raw brownie, cake or cookie mixture. It contains raw egg and raw flour, which can carry harmful bacteria. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, wash your hands after handling raw egg, and bake it fully.Hot oven: use oven gloves, open the door away from your face, and put the tin on a heatproof surface. Don't leave the oven unattended, because chocolate bakes go from perfect to dry quickly, and every oven is a little different, so check early.
Testing a cake: a skewer pushed into the middle should come out clean or with a few dry crumbs. Don't open the oven in the first 25 minutes, or the cake can sink. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then on a wire rack.
Keeping: store baked treats in an airtight tin at room temperature for about 3 to 4 days (general guidance), or freeze them wrapped for up to about a month. Anything with a cream cheese or cream filling belongs in the fridge.
Level 2 · Saucy
Self-saucing chocolate pudding
A sponge batter in a dish, with sugar and cocoa on top and boiling water poured over. In the oven the sponge rises to the top and the sugar and water sink to make a glossy sauce underneath. It seems backwards, but it works.
Ingredients (5 portions)
- 100 g plain flour
- 75 g caster sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 120 ml milk
- 40 g butter, melted
- 1 Lion-marked egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 75 g light brown sugar, for the topping
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder, for the topping
- 250 ml boiling water
- 1 1.2 litre ovenproof dish, buttered
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Mix the flour, caster sugar, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl, then stir in the milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla until smooth. Pour into the buttered dish.
- Mix the brown sugar and cocoa for the topping and scatter it evenly over the batter. Pour the boiling water gently over the back of a spoon on top. Don't stir.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until the sponge is risen and springy with sauce underneath. Rest for 5 minutes, then spoon out, with the sauce, onto warm plates.
Boiling water, hot oven, raw batter and hot dish
Boiling water: the self-saucing pudding is topped with boiling water. Pour it gently over the back of a spoon with the dish on the oven shelf or a stable tray, never carry a full dish of hot liquid across the kitchen, and keep children away.Hot oven: use oven gloves, open the door away from your face, and put the tin on a heatproof surface. Don't leave the oven unattended, because chocolate bakes go from perfect to dry quickly, and every oven is a little different, so check early.
Raw batter: don't eat raw brownie, cake or cookie mixture. It contains raw egg and raw flour, which can carry harmful bacteria. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, wash your hands after handling raw egg, and bake it fully.
Allergens: chocolate contains milk (except some dark), and often soy (lecithin) and sometimes nuts or traces of them: check the label and the 'may contain' line. Cream, butter and many coatings are dairy, and cookies and biscuits contain wheat and often egg. Dairy-free dark chocolate and coconut cream can replace the dairy in many recipes, but the texture changes.
Level 3 · Fondant
Chocolate fondant
A small, rich pudding with a crust outside and a warm, molten middle. It is all about timing: a minute too long and the centre sets. Make the batter ahead, bake straight from the fridge, and practise on one first.
Ingredients (4 portions)
- 100 g dark chocolate (about 70%), chopped
- 100 g butter, plus extra for the ramekins
- 2 Lion-marked eggs
- 2 Lion-marked egg yolks
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder, to dust the ramekins
- 4 ramekins (about 150 ml each)
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Butter four ramekins thickly and dust with cocoa. Melt the chocolate and butter gently and cool for 5 minutes.
- Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar until thick and pale, then fold in the chocolate mixture and the flour.
- Divide between the ramekins on a tray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are set and the middle wobbles. Rest for 1 minute, run a knife round, turn out onto a plate and serve at once.
Soft centres, hot ramekins, hot oven and melting
Soft centres: a fondant or lava-style pudding is deliberately not fully set in the middle, so the egg is only lightly cooked. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, and check current FSA advice before serving it to pregnant women, babies, older people or anyone unwell. For them, bake it 3 to 4 minutes longer until set.Ramekins: butter them thickly and dust with cocoa so the pudding slides out. Stand them on a baking tray and handle them with oven gloves, because the china stays hot for a long time.
Hot oven: use oven gloves, open the door away from your face, and put the tin on a heatproof surface. Don't leave the oven unattended, because chocolate bakes go from perfect to dry quickly, and every oven is a little different, so check early.
Gentle heat: chocolate scorches easily and turns dull and bitter. Melt it in a heatproof bowl over (not touching) barely simmering water, or in the microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring each time. Take it off the heat when it is mostly melted and stir until smooth. Milk and white chocolate burn faster than dark, so use lower heat for them.
Experiments
Experiment
Cocoa or melted chocolate
In the cake.
- Make half the cake batter with cocoa as written, and another half with 50 g of melted chocolate swapped in for 15 g of the cocoa and a little of the oil. Compare.
Look for: The cocoa cake is lighter and more cakey; the melted-chocolate one is denser and richer. Both are good: cocoa for a light cake, chocolate for depth.
Experiment
Oven temperature
Hot or lower.
- Bake one tray of cookies at 180°C (160°C fan) and another at 160°C (140°C fan), watching the time.
Look for: The hotter tray gives crisp edges and soft middles; the cooler gives flatter, even, crisper cookies. Choose by the texture you like.
Experiment
Resting the dough
Straight away or chilled.
- Bake half of the cookie dough at once and chill the other half for 1 hour before baking.
Look for: The chilled dough spreads less and tastes deeper; the fresh dough spreads wider and is thinner. Chilling is worth the wait.
Experiment
Fondant timing
9, 11 and 13 minutes.
- Bake three fondants for 9, 11 and 13 minutes, and turn each out after a minute.
Look for: The shortest may collapse as a puddle; the middle one flows; the longest is set all through, like a small cake. Find your oven's number.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate chip cookies | ||||
| One-bowl chocolate cake | ||||
| Self-saucing pudding | ||||
| Chocolate fondant | ||||
| Cocoa or melted chocolate | ||||
| Oven temperature | ||||
| Resting the dough | ||||
| Fondant timing |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Flat, greasy cookies | Butter too soft or oven too cool | Use softened (not melted) butter; chill the dough |
| Hard cookies | Overbaked | Take them out while the middles look soft |
| Cake sinks in the middle | Oven opened early, or underbaked | Keep the door shut for 25 minutes; test with a skewer |
| Dry cake | Overbaked | Bake until the skewer is just clean |
| Pudding has no sauce | Water was stirred in, or poured too hard | Pour gently over a spoon; don't stir |
| Fondant won't turn out | Ramekins not buttered and dusted | Butter thickly and dust with cocoa; rest 1 minute |
Raw batter, soft centres and allergens
Raw batter: don't eat raw brownie, cake or cookie mixture. It contains raw egg and raw flour, which can carry harmful bacteria. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, wash your hands after handling raw egg, and bake it fully.Soft centres: a fondant or lava-style pudding is deliberately not fully set in the middle, so the egg is only lightly cooked. Use eggs with the British Lion mark, and check current FSA advice before serving it to pregnant women, babies, older people or anyone unwell. For them, bake it 3 to 4 minutes longer until set.
Allergens: chocolate contains milk (except some dark), and often soy (lecithin) and sometimes nuts or traces of them: check the label and the 'may contain' line. Cream, butter and many coatings are dairy, and cookies and biscuits contain wheat and often egg. Dairy-free dark chocolate and coconut cream can replace the dairy in many recipes, but the texture changes.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can cream butter and sugar and bake a cookie.
- I can make and test a one-bowl cake.
- I can make a pudding that sauces itself.
- I can bake a fondant and turn it out.
- I know the sign that each bake is done.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Chocolate 1, chapter 7 is A Chocolate Gift Box: making, packing and labelling a box of treats.