Chocolate & Date With A Hint Of Orange Blossom, Star Shape Brownie 'Cupcakes'

As-Salamu Alaykum,

These 'cupcakes' aren't really cupcakes at all but rather mini star shaped brownies! Baked in my new silicone star shaped cupcake cases (I'm such a big kid when it comes to bake ware) the 'cupcakes' tag had to be added to the end of the longest blog title ever or it just wouldn't be right in my cupcake lover eyes.

 

Created when I had a desire to bake brownies after so many years of one not passing my lips, since high school which was like 10 years ago! to hand I had a bar of very dark (90% cacao) chocolate that even the kids won't eat so perfect for me to take and use in brownies but just one thing my husband is not a big chocolate lover so I had to think how I can make these brownies more to his taste and we all know Algerians like dates and orange blossom right?

Love the Name!

Au natural dates are rare to find in the UK, most are coated in glycerin, glucose syrup or both which is a shame because dates last a very long time without any preservatives at all.

Orange blossom water is a light background note in these brownies that is easily missed if you can't distinguish it's floral slightly bitter taste from all the dark chocolate in it's way i won't blame you and it can easily be left out all together or replaced with some orange zest and freshly squeezed orange juice because let's face it chocolate, dates and orange just work and I was right (for once) masha'Allah hubby liked how the brownies weren't overly sweet (they definitely needed the light coating of icing) and he liked the sticky date slightly fudgy texture of them too.

No worries if you haven't got the star shaped cases, you can still bake these brownies either in regular cupcake cases or as a sheet of brownies but remember cooking times will vary than those stated in recipe.

In the past I haven't been so overly impressed with silicone bake ware, I have 2 round cake pans made of silicone which I still have to line the bottoms of or my cakes stick but as you can see I had no problems removing the brownies from these cupcake cases I wonder why?

I thought about it and maybe it's because I placed the cases on a lined cookie sheet before baking which I don't do for my big cake pans and I felt was necessary on this occasion as I didn't want any of my stars falling between the bars of the oven rack. I may just have to bake a cake to test my theory and of course I will give a full report and recipe in sha Allah.

If your set on buying the Sweetly Does It Silicone Star Cupcake Cases like I was and your in the UK you can get them here I've also seen them on Amazon and noticed they do heart shaped ones too, how cute!

A little side note.tip: for those who photograph food with a digital compact in their Kitchen while the washing machine is on, DON'T DO IT the noise seriously affects the quality of the photos.

Chocolate & Date With A Hint Of Orange Blossom Star Shape Brownie 'Cupcakes'

Recipe adapted from Joy Of Baking and inspired by Cook Republic's Chocolate & Date Fudge Brownies

Ingredients

For brownie 'cupcakes'

• 85 grams / 3ounce Dark (90% cacao) Chocolate, broken into small pieces
• 113 grams / 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
• 100 grams / 1/2 cup Brown sugar (I used Demerara sugar as that's all I had to hand but any will do even white)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon Orange Blossom Water
• 95 grams / 3/4 cup Plain Flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 100grams / 1/2 cup plus 2 Dates, pitted and roughly chopped

For Chocolate & Orange Blossom Icing - adapted from Easy Milk Chocolate Frosting for Brownies

• 1 1/2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 94grams / 3/4 cup Icing Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Water or Milk
• 1 tablespoon Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Orange Blossom Water

You will need approximately 2 dates,  pitted and chopped for decoration.

Method

 

Pre-Heat Oven to 180C / 160C (Fan) / 350F / Gas Mark 4 and place rack in centre of oven.

 

Place Star Cupcake Cases on a lined baking sheet, set aside.

 

Sieve the Flour and Salt together into a medium size bowl and set aside.

 

Chop dates, place in a bowl and coat in a pinch of your flour from above or place the  chopped dates in the flour bowl and gently toss!

 

Melt chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, remove from the heat and stir in sugar then let cool for a few minutes.

 

Add the eggs, one at a time mixing well between each addition then add the orange blossom water and mix again. Add the flour/salt mixture and chopped date and stir until well blended.

 

Evenly divide the brownie batter between your 12 cases, about 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter per case. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the centre has moist crumbs.

 

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

 

Once the brownie cupcakes have cooled make the icing: melt butter in a saucepan oven medium heat, add cocoa powder then remove from heat and stir in icing sugar, water/milk and orange blossom water until smooth.

 

Spread icing over brownie cupcakes and decorate with a piece of date.

 

*Tip: If you want to display the brownies out of their cases then remove brownies from cases before spreading on the icing or when you come to remove them from the cases the icing will slightly crack at the edges as pictured below.