For someone who proclaims that they aren’t a chocaholic, I sure seem to post a lot of chocolate recipes! Am I just in denial? Perhaps somewhere under this hardened exterior lies a sweet, gooey, intense rush of chocolate love?
Maybe I should just take a deep breath, step forward and admit it – my name is Ellie, and I’m a chocaholic.
To be honest, I’m not the world’s biggest chocaholic. I don’t find myself constantly craving it’s cocoa kiss, nor am I driven to seek it out very often. However, when there’s a freshly baked chocolate cake (or a beautiful chocolate truffle) in my vicinity, the smell enters my nose and my eyes roll back into my head with pleasure as my senses are awakened.
Anyone who knows what I’m talking about understands what I mean when I say that chocolate is a beautiful thing.
This being my very last week at my workplace (and Friday being my last day ever), I decided to treat my coworkers by making them this very special chocolate cake. I’ve made this cake for many special occasions before, so I thought it only appropriate for this to be my farewell cake, a nice way to go out with a bang and leave my friends and fans with a final touch of sweetness from me to them 
Though it is super impressive, the beauty of this cake is that it is utterly foolproof and easy enough for even the most inexperienced baker to make. Moist, fluffy, rich, and intensely chocolatey – despite all the other chocolate cake recipes there are in the world (and we know that there are as many of those as grains of sand on a beach!) I know that I need no other than this to last me the rest of my days…
Chocolate Mud Cake
Ingredients
Cake
200g butter, chopped
200g good quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped
30g cocoa powder, sifted
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
60ml (1/4) cup water
1 tsp vanilla essence
220g caster sugar
3 eggs (room temperature)
115g self-raising flour, sifted
Ganache
150g good quality dark cooking chocolate, roughly chopped
125ml (1/2 cup) thin cream
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C, then line a cake tin with baking paper (this cake is fragile and moist so you’ll need the paper to be able to remove it from the tin – greasing the cake tin is not enough).
2. Combine butter, chocolate, cocoa, coffee powder, water & vanilla essence in a medium saucepan. Whisk over low heat till smooth & well combined. Set aside mixture till it is lukewarm.
3. Beat sugar & egg together till pale and creamy. Slowly add the lukewarm chocolate mix whilst continually beating with an electric hand whisk, then add the flour and beat till combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Pour mix into prepared cake tin and bake for 55 mins, or till a skewer inserted into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it.
5. Set cake out to cool in tin for 15, then remove from cake tin and turn on a wire rack to cool completely.
6. To make ganache, combine chocolate and cream in heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (water should not touch bottom of bowl). Stir occasionally, till mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from heat and set aside for around an hour, stirring occasionally till it has cooled and thickened to a spreadable consistency.
7. Spread ganache over cooled cake. Set aside for 30 mins or till ganache is firm, then serve!
This cake is one that tastes better if slightly aged, so if you are planning ahead then try and make it around 2-3 days before you intend to serve it. You can leave the iced cake in the fridge for up to a week, and just remove it about an hour before you serve it to soften the cake and ganache and bring them to room temperature.
Technorati Tags: baking, chocolate, cakes, recipes, dessert, sweets
Others who have tried this recipe:
- Katie from Apple & Spice
- Thanh from I Eat Therefore I Am
- Rilsta from My Food Trail
Whew – what a long day!
To be honest…it does serve me right for leaving the baking of our father’s day cake to the very last minute… In Australia, we celebrate father’s day on the first Sunday in September every year, and though I always remember it, for some reason I always persist in leaving the preparations till the last possible moment – at which point I must run around like a headless chook in order to get everything ready on time!
I had originally planned on making profiteroles – they are my father’s absolute favourite dessert of all time, plus I could create a magnificent towering croquembouche with them so it had been a sound plan in my mind.
That is, till I remembered that my father’s dentures means that anything like the toffee which is used to create a croquembouche would create havoc in his mouth. Well, i could still make the profiteroles, but as a croquembouche was a no-go, another impressive cake had to be devised to sit as the centrepiece to the table.
A quick browse of my more recent cookbook acquisitions led me to this marvellous creation – dense but fluffy dark chocolate cake, stuffed with ruby red strawberries, white chocolate and whipped cream…all combined to create a decadent dessert that would still be somewhat light enough in flavour so that it would not overwhelm the tastebuds.
The resulting cake looked…well, pleasant enough, but not particularly spectacular. That was, until the family crowded around to see the first slice. And OH, what a slice it was – fluffy, light layers of dark chocolate cake, studded with glimpses of red strawberries peeking out from white chocolate cream, covered with a snow white layer of cream and big juicy strawberry halves.
With the family declaring this to be a worthwhile celebration cake, I think it’ll definitely make some repeat appearances in our kitchen in the future
Black & White Choc Strawberry Gateau
(adapted from The Home Guide to Cake Decorating by Jane Price)
Ingredients for cake:
125g cream cheese
60g unsalted butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
100g dark/bittersweet chocolate, melted
250g all-purpose flour
185g caster sugar30g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarb soda
185mL cold water
Ingredients for white choc cream:
125g white chocolate, broken into small pieces
120g cream
Additional elements for assembly:
300mL thickened/heavy cream
250g strawberries, rinsed and dried and roughly chopped
100g whole strawberries, rinsed and dried, and carefully chopped in half
Baking the cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F), line a 20cm cake tin with non-stick baking paper, then set aside. Using electric beaters, beat the cream cheese, butter and sugar in a bowl till light and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the melted chocolate till the mixture is smooth.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb soda, then use a large metal spoon (or silicone spatula) to fold it into the cream cheese mixture alternately with the water. Gently mix till smooth, then pour into the lined cake tin.
4. Smooth the surface, then bake for 45-50 minutes, or till a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the cake tin for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool.
5. Once the cake has cooled, use a serrated bread/cake knife to cut the cake into three layers. Place the bottom layer onto your plate, then cut four long strips of baking paper and place them around the bottom so that the plate is protected from potential cream drops.
6. Melt together the white chocolate and cream, then cool till it reaches a spreadable consistency. Meanwhile, beat the additional 250mL thickened cream. Once the white choc ganache has cooled, use an offset spatula to spread a thin layer on the bottom layer, then top with chopped strawberries, then carefully spread a layer of whipped cream on top of that. Place second layer on top, then repeat.
7. Clean your offset spatula, then carefully ice your cake with a thin layer of whipped cream, and garnish with halved strawberries, a dusting of cocoa powder, and serve
Technorati Tags: Jane Price, strawberries, chocolate cake, Father’s Day, celebration, baking, recipes
HAH! I am the funniest ever.
*hears the bells of corny-ness pealing in the distance*
Okay, I’ll shaddup now. Well, with the bad lyrics anyway.
The blood orange curd is still sitting in my fridge, and the butter has been put back in the fridge. I’ll do it tomorrow, I promise. And whilst you ‘tsk tsk’ away, let me show you what’s been occupying my little hands in the stead of making pastry -
Home-made ‘chapsal dduk’ with sweet red bean paste
Mom had been speaking to her friend during the week, and her friend had shared her excitement about discovering the ‘idiot-proof’ method of making Korean-style daifuku! Idiot proof? Hrmph, we’ll see!
So, we mixed and whisked and filled and patted and…
Guess what? They really are utterly foolproof!
Ingredients for Chapsal Dduk (Korean daifuku/mochi)
2 cups glutinous rice powder (sticky rice powder)
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 pinch of salt
potato starch
1. Whisk together the sticky rice powder, water, salt and caster sugar in a large, microwave-proof glass bowl. Make sure that there are no lumps at all, it needs to be completely mixed together and smooth.
2. Once it’s all mixed up, microwave it for 1-2 minutes on your microwaves ‘high’ power setting, then remove it, give it a thorough stir and mix it all up, then microwave for another 3-4 minutes, or till it has tripled in size.
3. Remove it from the microwave, and give it a good stir before emptying it onto your starch-covered tray. Cover the surface of the mochi with potato starch, then push it to the corner and pull off a small handful.
4. Using your fingers, press it into a circle with a hollow in the middle, then place a heaped tbsp of filling (in this case, we were using sweetened red beans) in the hollow, and then pinch closed the edges around it.
5. Lightly dust any sticky bits of the surface with corn starch, then quickly wrap in clingfilm as exposure to air will dry them out and make them form a rough skin.
You have to work quickly with these as you need to get them wrapped in clingfilm as quickly as possible, but it makes for some misshaps and some laughter, especially if you’re making these with someone else.
Filling - you can use almost anything, from tinned sweetened red beans, chestnut paste (not puree), sweet potato mash – or even peanut butter and nutella! They store wonderfully in the freezer, and you just need to remove them and leave them to thaw for 1-2 hours (depending on their size) before serving!
In the style of Japanese ichigo daifuku, the addition of a whole, fresh strawberry to the middle makes for a lovely & fresh summertime treat!
Proof – peanut butter and nutella mochi!
Technorati Tags: mochi, daifuku, red bean, Asian sweets, sticky rice, chapsal, Korean cooking
Sorry I’ve been so absent folks – between work and taking care of my family, I’m so exhausted that I feel pretty drained of the will to live…UGH!
Okay, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the honest truth is that spare time to blog is a bit of a rare commodity at the moment, which is why it’s been so long since my last blog post.
This particular recipe is one of those that you can literally whip up from beginning to end in less than 30 minutes, thus making it absolutely perfect for my current busy schedule – the added bonus that it is wonderfully tasty just gives you another reason why you should give it a try!
So, with thanks to Nigella Lawson, I present you with her Strawberry Shortcakes
Strawberry Shortcakes
(adapted from Nigella Lawson’s ‘How to be a domestic goddess‘)
Ingredients
325g AP flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
5 tbsp caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, frozen
1 large egg, beaten
125mL single cream
300g strawberries, sliced
1 tbsp caster sugar
250mL double cream
1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C, and line a cookie tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and 3 tbsp of sugar in a bowl, then grate the butter into the same bowl and use your fingertips to rub it in till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Whisk the egg into the cream, then set aside 2-3 tbsp and pour the remaining mixture into the flour mixture while mixing with a fork till mostly combined into a scraggly dough. Tip out the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knead to bring it together, then roll out to a thickness of 2-2.5cm (1 inch).
4. Using a floured 5-6.5cm round cookie cutter, cut out rounds and place them on the baking sheet 2.5cm apart. Roll up the remaining dough and continue to cut out rounds – you should get roughly between 8-10.
5. Brush the tops with the reserved eggy cream mixture, then sprinkle the tops with the leftover caster sugar then bake for 10-15mins, or till almost doubled in height and golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and cool slightly on a wire rack.
6. These are best when warm, so whilst they are still warm, combine the sliced strawberries and caster sugar, crushing slightly to get a little juice running. Slice the shortcakes, top the bottom half with the strawberries, a dollop of lightly whipped cream, then top with the top half and plate up to enjoy
NOTE: These can get a little dry/firm once they cooled, but can be brought back to their original glory by warming slightly in the microwave
Technorati Tags: strawberry, Nigella Lawson, strawberry shortcake, recipe, sweets, baking
There is something about the chocolate mousse that makes it irresistible.
Rich, fluffy clouds of chocolate which melt away on your tongue – it truly is one of the sexier desserts. However, the cold that is required to set most chocolate mousses means you have a muted chocolate flavour, unfortunate as chocolate really does taste best when around room temperature.
The solution seems simple enough at first – why not just serve the mousse at room temperature? Ahh, the fact that most chocolate mousses have raw/barely cooked yolks and require the temperamental stability of egg whites means that left to sit at room temperature will result in a soup rather than mousse.
Thankfully, the wonderful Ms. Alice Medrich has the solution here with a baked bittersweet mousse, a dessert that can be served cold or warm, to tantalize your tastebuds whichever your preference 
Baked Bittersweet Mousse
(from ‘Bittersweet‘ by Alice Medrich)
Ingredients (makes approx 4 cups/6 serves)
170g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup milk (or water or coffee or 1/2 cup heavy cream)
1 1/2 tbsp brandy, rum, or liquor of choice *optional*
3 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tbsp caster sugar
Double cream, strawberries and pure icing sugar, to serve
1. Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 160 degrees C.
2. Place chocolate and milk in a heatproof bowl, then place over a pot of barely simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water) and stir till the chocolate has almost completely melted, then remove the bowl and continue to stir till the liquid is completely smooth. If using a liquor, stir in at this stage.
3. In a seperate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar till well blended, then use an electric mixer to beat the eggs at high speed for 3-4 minutes or till the eggs have a texture like softly whipped cream and are light and very fluffy.
4. Fold 1/4 of the eggs into the chocolate, then half the remaining eggs till almost blended. Fold in the remaining eggs till evenly incorporated and smooth. Divide among ramekins, then place ramekins in a high-sided baking tray.
5. Boil a kettle of water then fill the baking tray till water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins, then bake till the centre of the mousses reads 70 degrees C (or just bake for about 15-18 minutes till the tops feel barely set). Remove from the oven and allow ramekins to cool for at least 10 minutes, then garnish with a dollop of softly whipped cream, a strawberry and a light dusting of icing sugar.
Technorati Tags: chocolate mousse, Alice Medrich, dessert, sweets, recipe
P.S. The cupcake post is coming, but seeing as I have a new camera, I want to reshoot ALL the photos…so it might take awhile
