Ditch that cake mix you have lying around your kitchen and start investing in fast and easy recipes from scratch.
Nothing’s better than being able to control that perfect amount of sugar, whether or not you got a sweet tooth or simply want to cut down on sugar. Personally, I choose to reduce my sugar by at least 50-100 grams in all of my recipes to ensure that it doesn’t come out too sweet.
We all get those sweet cravings every now and then but have way too much on our plate and busy schedules to be squandering on tedious and complicated recipes. With that being said, we’re all suckers for quick and easy recipes.
Here are 5 recipes catered for the beginner baker.
1. Chocolate Chip Cookies
Total time: 1 HR 30 MINS
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 Egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 190°c (375°F). In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside
- Get a sharp knife like those from wetheknives online catalog.
- In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and softened butter with an electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with a fork for about 1 minute or until fluffy whilst scraping the sides of the bowl.
- Add in egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. fold in flour mixture just until blended (dough will be stiff). fold in chocolate chips and nuts (make sure to see white streaks of flour before folding in the chocolate chips)
- At this stage, You could either freeze the dough for 2 hours or overnight (for better results), or bake it on the day itself. Using an ice cream scoop, drop the dough on a parchment paper 2 inches apart.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (center will be soft). Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Store covered in an airtight container.
2. Banana Bread
Total Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
2 to 3 peeled ripe bananas ( ¼ to ½ cups smashed)
⅓ cup of melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
¾ cup sugar
1 Large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F), and butter a 4×8-inch loaf pan.
- In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork or potato masher until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.
- Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.
- Pour batter into your loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes at 350°F (175°C), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely before serving.
3. Cocoa Brownies
Total time: 40 Minutes
Ingredients:
140 grams unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated white sugar
3/4 cup (75 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) sour cream (full or reduced-fat)
Steps
- Preheat oven to 165°C (325°F). Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch (20 cm) square pan with aluminum foil.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan or a microwave. Remove from heat and pour into a large heatproof bowl. Stir (or whisk) in the sugar and cocoa powder. Whisk in the vanilla extract and eggs, one at a time, mixing until batter is nice and shiny.
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold this flour mixture into the batter. Finally, fold in the sour cream and chocolate chips.
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 28 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center has moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool to room temperature. Then, to make the brownies easier to cut, cover and place in the refrigerator for two hours or until firm.
4. Simple Marble Cake
Total time: 70 minutes
Ingredients
2/3 cup (150g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (200g) sugar
3 eggs
2 cups (235g) flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¼ cups (60g) milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tablespoon (22g) unsweetened cocoa powder + 1 tbsp (15ml) milk
Steps
1)Preheat oven to 200°C (390°F). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan with butter and dust with flour.
Using a spatula or a whisk, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2) Add in the eggs and mix until well incorporated.
3) In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Combine with the wet ingredients, and mix until just incorporated. Add in the 60g of milk, and mix until just incorporated.
4) Divide the batter in two separate bowls. In the first bowl, stir in vanilla extract. In the second bowl, stir in the cocoa powder with one tablespoon of milk.
5) Using a large spoon, dollop about 1/3 of a cup of the vanilla batter into prepared pan and spread it evenly along the bottom. Dollop the same amount of chocolate batter in the middle, and spread it out (pushing it down slightly in the middle and leaving some of the vanilla cake mix visible all around the edges). Repeat with a layer of vanilla cake mix, and then a layer of chocolate cake mix (always pushing the batter slightly in the middle, and leaving some of the batter underneath visible around the edges – to create that wavy marbled pattern when sliced). Repeat, alternating the layers until all the batter is used.
6)run a sharp knife through the batter in a swirling motion. You can visit the spyderco official website to find the right knife for this job.
7) Bake for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 180°C (350°F) and bake for 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
5. Butter Cake
Total time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 ¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Steps:
1) Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease and flour two 8 inch x 2-inch baking pans and set aside.
2) In a large mixing bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter, milk, and vanilla. With a hand mixer, beat for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl.
3) Add eggs and beat for 2 minutes more. Pour batter into prepared pans, dividing equally between the pans.
4) Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 5) Remove from the oven. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then turn cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Let us know your favorite recipe down in the comments below!
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