h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Update Chocolate Brownie Recipes - A87759346
Author: Lanzababy - Guide Editor - Do you have a hobby? Can you write about it? - U10790805

Desperately searching for a brownie recipe last night, I realised that the Guide doesn't have one using real chocolate, and that there are far too many recipes 'out there' all claiming to be better than others. In the end I just cooked a cake with what I had available, and was pleasantly surprised by how quick and easy it was. And delicious.

I have photos...

So, this is an Update of A742682

An enjoyable read – although I must admit I'm not the most adventurous person when cooking.

*Resists the temptation to mention the Church of the True Brownie: A193754*
Perhaps add a definition of SR for people who do not know what self raising is? Or is this truly self explanatory?

You could possibly link to related articles such as:
A177059 Chocolate
A190054 Sugar
A617393 Butter and Margarine
A306271 Eggs
A87726469 Edible Nuts
A765993 Cake Recipes
A11485073 The Chocolate Chip Cookie

<BB<

Thanks for the links BB, I didn't add any yet, as my ability to proof read my own text is remarkably pathetic. You've saved me a good bit of time helping me with that!

Yes, I'll do a footnote for SR flour, as it translates to both self-raising and self-rising depending on what part of the world you come from.

You should get the headers for the two recipes to match each other. One uses black text and the other red/brown.

Yes, I particularly left the formatting like that, on purpose, to show which bits were the new part, and which bits were from the original Entry.

What I would like to hear, is whether the original Entry, which uses grams and ounces should stay like that - most modern recipes use grams only.

I think it should be tidied up?

I'd also like to hear whether you think that organic cocoa powder would really make any difference to the taste of a cooked cake? It might have benefits in other areas, such as the environment, or even possible health benefits ( less chemicals?) but as for taste? I am less convinced.
>>> Do try to get hold of good organic cocoa powder: it makes a big difference to the finished result.<<<
I'd prefer to rewrite this bit, and say 'good quality' cocoa powder.

< What I would like to hear, is whether the original Entry, which uses grams and ounces should stay like that - most modern recipes use grams only. <

Actually there is still a fairly large part of the world that still does not use or know metric, the US. To follow your recipe would require us to convert every number. I doubt many would bother to do so. in the end the site and your entry could lose readership and recommendations. This is a controversy that goes back decades, but I can guarantee that the average American does not understand grams and Celsius values and avoids or simply ignore sites that are not inclusive of all.

I am not saying what is right or wrong, The US government has been working quite hard to force the metric system, but has had very little impact on industry, and almost none in private homes.

I have no problem in including metric equivalents in my entries, and have always done so, at least when asked. With something as full of measurements as a recipe I feel both units should always be used, at least on an international site such as this.

Just my humble opinion.

FS

Thanks! that is really helpful - and just what I wanted to find out.

I'd presumed that the US use 'cups' for measurements for some reason.

Although I was taught metric at school, but tend to use imperial measurements on a day-to-day basis, so I'd agree and keep both in. This, though, would involve finding out the Imperial measurements for the first recipe.

<BB<

That's interesting BB - you're just a youngster. To be honest, I need to add in Malabarista's up and coming ( long awaited ) Entry on the Improvised kitchen, as that is what I have here. ie no scales.

I've a plastic measuring jar which roughly indicated grams of flour and sugar, but I have no idea how accurate it is. Generally I just use tablespoons as volume measurement. The butter measurement for this recipe came about because I had literally only one block of butter, and I estimated that was how much was left.

When we were children we didn't have scales either, we were taught to cook using spoon measurements and an 'eye' for how it looked before we baked things.

I just type convert gram to ounce in the search box of dear old google and get the conversion result back in a flash.
What I would do is to round up to the nearest whole ounce, or 25 grams. As long as the result is in the same proportion the recipe will work.

I've made some changes, and will add the links to this later on.

Hi Lanza.

The first three sentences of this seem to say the same thing twice, that there are many different recipes on the internet. Could you rephrase it to avoid the repetition, please?

Is "bicarbonate of soda" the generally recognised name for this ingredient? In Ireland it is called "bread soda", but then we cook a lot of soda bread in Ireland.

Melt the 200g of the chocolate bar --> Melt 200g of the chocolate bar

"When it is melted, take the bowl out of the pan and add the butter, cut into pieces and melt the butter too."

Do you add the butter to the melted chocolate, and then cut the butter into pieces in the bowl?

The sentence "If you're counting calories, read no further" was in the original entry, but it now looks out of place, as it looks as if the second recipe has far more calories than the first one. I don't think it does, given the ingredient list. Perhaps you'd remove that sentence and rephrase slightly.

Thanks Gnomon! I'll fix these. I appreciate you reading and commenting.

It also reminds me that I stumbled across a recipe by DrAnthea that would fit here too. A87758879 It was tested by another researcher (TC) recently who said it was good. I've asked DrAnthea and she is happy, so I am going to include it.

The introduction will need to be revised slightly to draw all three recipes together. It's on my list of 'Things to Do'.

Finally, finally got a moment to myself in order to add Anthea's amazing recipe to this Entry.

I think it is now finished, if anyone can do a final proof read for me please.


thanks

wonderful, and relatively easy -- remove comma

it is not a true brownie, it has been tried -- make this into two separate sentences or change the comma to a semicolon.

then stir in the melted chocolate mixture from the other bowl and then fold in the flour. -- remove the first "then"

If the icing becomes too thick simply heat -- add comma after "thick"

Thank you so much

I've made those edits, I amended the cumbersome sentences a little so they now read:

We've included this wonderful and relatively easy chocolate fudge cake recipe here although it is not a true brownie. This confection has been tried and tested by h2g2 researchers and is simply too good not to share with you.

This Update has now been processed. The new version is now the official Edited Entry at A742682. This update will be publicised on 23 July 2012.

Thanks, Lanza and Anthea, for the work you did on this.

Gnomon

Thank you very, very much Gnomon. Much appreciated