My sister Aletta and I went to the Palms Market in Woodstock, Cape Town yesterday where I bought wonderful dark chocolate and Java cacao powder. The market inspired her so much that she started her own blog! Her first post is on http://nowathome.wordpress.com

I am not big on the baking thing as I am very much a “little bit of this and a little bit of that” cook and as we all know, baking is very much an exact science (at least for me it is) and I really need to be in the mood to bake, which inevitably I was due to the chocolate buying. Hilda that works for us in the week had her Birthday yesterday and it is the perfect excuse to use the chocolate and bake some brownies which will be waiting for her when she gets here tomorrow. I found the recipe on the blog of http//:kitchenbound.wordpress.com posted as “the ultimate fudge brownie” who says that she is very particular about what clogs up her arteries and I so agree. This is really clog-worthy. The recipe ingredients and method can be found on her site.

The urge(need) to bake grabbed me very early in the morning and as can be seen in the photo below, my slippers and pajamas were part of the baking process…….and so was the bowl scraping and spoon licking. Aletta gave me a brand new silicone baking sheet which I used instead of lining the baking tray-it works perfectly. The recipe is very easy and the fudge brownies are crunchy and moist. I am leaving on a business trip tomorrow (I hate leaving Cape Town, just thought I’ll throw that in there) so by the time Hilda starts tomorrow, I will be on my way to Johannesburg. Of course it gave me a good reason to have my own coffee and cake party tonight just to see if I did it all right for Hilda!