Pistachio & Cranberry Biscotti Dipped in Dark Chocolate

I've joined a new team in my company, and the best way to a new team's heart is through their tummies! I've already brought in some of my mini mudcakes topped with mocha icing, and this is my second goodie to bring in. 

Mars Bar Steamed Buns

o I've been dwelling on creating a different type of bao for a while now... trying to make my own twist of the epitome of steamed buns, the char siu bao that is obligatory at any number of yum cha establishments. The fluffy bun with the salty sweet pork, mmm, so delicious! But i was looking for something a little more refined, a little more savory, a little more, complex...

So how did i end up at mars bar steamed buns! I was so set on making bao using a filling i'd normally use in sang choy bao, with complex textures of crisp, crunchy, soft, etc, but then i was looking over a fish and chip shop menu and saw it there, my muse... the deep fried mars bar! Like a lightning bolt to the brain my synapses lit up at once and rather than funneling the energy into some sort of craving-induced coma it exposed itself as an idea - mars bar bao! And so it began.

The result was mixed. The Snickers bao i made first didn't carry that unctuous gooey deliciousness i wanted. But the mars bars, with their cavalier disregard for the nut, had the right texture. The buns themselves were fluffy but not sweet enough, so for the recipe below i've doubled the sugar content in the bun.

Jamie Oliver's Chocolate Brownies

Okay, i have to admit it. I was a Jamie-hater. The over exploitation of his name on television, along with the sudden reference of a Thai mortar and pestle as a 'Jamie Oliver' pestle left a sour pit in my stomach that was not easily movable. However, recently i went back to his original TV series The Naked Chef, back to the roots of his cooking in it's philosophy of good food, simply and quickly prepared. And i can see, the man has talent.

This talent is more than demonstrated in his recipe for Chocolate Brownies. These deliciously decadent rich morsels have the perfect cominbation of disgustingly opulent richness (enhanced by the use of Lindt Chocolate), sticky chewiness and butteriness.

Frangelico Zuccotto with Chocolate & Vanilla Hazelnut Ricotta

I keep trying to best myself in desserts and sweets, whether it be those that i cook for family or friends. The peak of that mountain to me at the moment is Macaroons, which i am yet to get the hang of. In the meantime, i have stumbled across recipes for Zuccotto, which is a very impressive dish, though deceptively simple to make.

A distinctly Italian dessert with it's origins in Florence, rich, creamy zuccotto, much like say a cheesecake, can be twisted into countless variations for personal taste. Vanilla zuccotto, orange zuccotto, even icecream zuccotto have made their appearances. But how can a hazelnut lover like me possibly go past the irresistable notion of a hazelnut riddled filling, and a cakey outside literally basted in frangelico! I have taken the basic recipe by Emma Knowles and twisted it a bit to my tastes. Fellow hazelnut lovers, enjoy!

Peanut Butter Layer Cake

Today is my good friend Darryl's birthday. He likes to keep his birthdate a secret, so he's disguised his birthday party as a housewarming (though, that too is overdue). Similarly to last year, i like to spoil the surprise by bringing along a birthday cake. Last year was a hazelnut mudcake with ganache, and i pondered over how i could outdo that year's effort. And here it is: Three layers of peanut butter cake sandwiching a rich chocolate and peanut butter ganached. Cover the entire thing with rich chocolate ganache and garnish with chopped Picnic bars and you have 12 slices of rich ecstacy.

Chocolate Marzipan Truffles

Tonight i am off to a French themed soiree for my friend Jack's birthday. I was honored that he asked me to bring some food fitting to the theme, and was charged with desserts! In addition to the obligatory chocolate eclairs i also wanted to make truffles as something a bit special.

Although these truffles are not truly authentic in that they do not resemble the black fungi that is so relished across the globe, they are French in their shells of French marzipan, a pasta made from ground almonds and sugar. And they're also, ridiculously massive!! I used Lindt chocolate for a little extra extravagance.

This recipe was adapted from that of Jugalbandi

Cheesecake Brownies

My sister Hayley's family birthday dinner is tomorrow evening and we're having her favorites. Does this mean decadent roast duck with crisp skin and succulent pink meat? Or maybe, juicy chunks of crystal lobster grilled with garlic butter? Alas, no. We're talking cocktail frankfurts, nuggets, party pies and sausage rolls. Do i care? Hell no! I'm looking forward to it! I was tasked with making one of the desserts, so i decided to trace back to what my sister loved when we were kids, the cakes, slices, trifles and cookies that my mum used to make. Thinking through them, there was one clear stand out: cheesecake brownies.

Whoever thought of cheesecake brownies is clearly a person of high genius: How can one obtain, in a single mouthful, the gooey rich chocolatey goodness of a brownie, with the tangy, creamy soul of cheesecake? Mix them together!

Torta Di Chocolate with Candied Oranges and Macadamias

In my quest for the richest chocolate cake i stumbled across the torta; and this one is fantastic. It is very, very easy to make, and very, very sinfully delicious. A word of warning: the darkness of the chocolate will determine the bitterness of the final product; i love bitter chocolate cake so i went with the highest cocoa content i could find easily. 

Not only does this cake have no flour, it also has no nuts as a binding agent! Much like the spanish puddings i cooked on this blog once before, the only thing holding this cake together is the egg. As a result, the finished cake is rich but so light it dissipates on the palate. Along with the candied oranges, this is a cake fit for royalty :)

Bunuelos & Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Mmmm churros. The weather has turned a little bit lately, still beautiful during the day but with the slightest nip to the evenings. And my mind is already wandering to wintry comfort foods! And i believe the definition of comfort is deep fried balls of bread, crisp on their outer and fluffy on their inner. Of course, any epicurean knows that true comfort also involves a warming bowl of melted chocolate to slather said bunuelos in. 

For those who don't really know bunuelos, they are simply churros in a ball shape, or in the case of my attempt, a glob shape.

White Chocolate & Pistachio Truffles

This morning we had a staff christmas morning tea, and everyone was asked to bring a plate. I piped in straight away (maybe a bit too excitedly) 'TRUFFLES!!". I ended up bringing two types, the dark chocolate and raspberry ones i have made before, and these ones. These ones i absolutely adored! Nuts and white chocolate, delicious.

Chocolate Ganache Puddings with Spanish Nougat

As yet another addition to my Movida cookbook tests, this one is my favorite to date! Sure i've had chocolate puddings before, but this one suits my tastes! The puddings are slightly bitter if you use the right chocolate, which makes them rich and a great counterpoint to Vanilla ice cream. I was happy to see that each pudding turned out cooked on the outside but gooey on the inside.

Ingredients (Makes 3; yes i do make unusual quantities)

• 2 eggs at room temperature
  
• 200gm the darkest good chocolate you can find; cropped finely
• 1/2 cup of pouring cream
• 2 tbs butter, diced and at room temperature.
  
• 1 tbs spanish nougat per person
• Vanilla icecream, for serving
• Flour to dusk ramekins
  
• Extra butter to coat ramekins
  

Method

Brush the inside of 3 125ml ramekins with butter and then coat lightly with flour. Place in fridge to chill. 

Place eggs in a large bowl and whisk lightly.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (bowl sitting over, but not touching, simmering water.)

Whilst the chocolate is melting, bring the cream to the boil in another saucepan, and then immediate turn off and set aside for 5 minutes.

Add the chocolate to the eggs, a bit at a time, mixing well with each addition.

Add the now warm cream and the cubes of butter, and continually stir until the butter has melted.

Refridgerate this mix, covered, for 1 hour.

Spoon the mixture evenly across the 3 chilled ramekins and return these to the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Bake the ramekins straight from the fridge for approximately 15 minutes or until the puddings are cracked slightly in the centre.

Leave on the bench to cool for 5 minutes then run a knife around the outside edge to loosen.

Turn the puddings out onto a plate.

Scatter with nougat and a dollop of good vanilla icecream.

Raspberry Truffles cure what ails ya

Raspberry Truffles! My second favorite truffle from Koko Black (first is the caramelized coconut and white chocolate... that will come soon!)

I was prowling through cooking websites today looking for something to satisfy my sweet tooth, the hungry hoardes at work, and as medicine for some niggling emotional hangups i've been having lately. With a broken cake pan, a broken food processor, and a broken whisk, my options were limited. Slice? Meh. Cookies? Bleh. Truffles? Oh yes indeed.

This is my first foray into the realm of chocolateering, and horror stories abound of the agony of tempering chocolate, having it curdle, having it grainy, having it burn. In the end, i didn't see what the big deal was. If you can make ganache... hell if you can boil and egg, you can make truffles.

Ingredients

• 600gm semi sweet chocolate (use a chocolate you would happily eat plain)
• 300gm frozen raspberries
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup double cream
• Cocoa and icing sugar, to coat

Method

Chuck the raspberries in a blender and blend into a fine puree.

Pass this through a sieve into a saucepan and simmer with the caster sugar, stirring regularly, until the mixture is beginning to turn from syrup into a thicker goop.

Set aside.

In a double boiler (bowl over a pot of simmering water as per photo; do not let the water touch the bowl base), add the cream and chopped up chocolate.

Stir constantly until the chocolate is completely melted and mixed with the cream.

Add the raspberry mixture and stir well.

Refridgerate for 3 hours.

Lay out candy pans on a baking tray.

Set up cocoa and icing sugar (sifted) into two separate bowls.

Coat hands in either cocoa or icing sugar.

Scoop out a heaped teaspoon of the cold truffle mixture.

Roll into a rough ball (the longer you roll, the warmer the mixture will get, and therefore the stickier)

Drop into the coating mixture and roll around until well covered.

Place truffle into candy pan.

Repeat with half of the mixture for the cocoa and half of the mixture for the icing sugar.

Note: It's better to do all the cocoa at once, and then all the icing sugar, or vice versa. Do not alternative as the cocoa on your hands will mess up the finish on the icing sugar truffles.

Refridgerate until ready to devour!

Jaffa Cake

When i bake a cake, it's all about moistness. Yeah sure lightness is great, richness is important. But for me, i always love a moist cake. As such, 90% of the cakes i make are flourless or have a large amount of the flour reduced. This typically creates a denser, more moist texture to the cake. And this jaffa cake is no exception!

For those who love an oozy rich chocolate cake like a mud cake, move on. Although there is an entire block of dark chocolate in this cake, the orange and almond really take the fore here, with the chocolate adding more of a bitterness to the cake than anything else. 

Ingredients:

• 200gm  dark bitter chocolate
• 2 oranges (i used blood orange to ensure that they'll be sweet.... can never tell with Valencias)
• 100gm butter, chopped
• 8 eggs (buy free range please!)
• 3 cups almond meal (you'll get a nuttier taste if you roast and grind the almonds yourself, but i didn't this time)
• 1 1/3 cups caster sugar
• Cream to serve

A note on Caster Sugar:

In case you didn't know, caster sugar is a finer grain of sugar than the standard sugar we buy. It's got a visible grain so it's powdery like icing sugar, but dissolves much faster in a solution. Hence it is typically used for cakes. There' not too much call for larger grains of sugar so i tend to buy only caster, however it's important to note that if you want to substitute regular sugar for caster sugar, use a weight rather than volumetric measurement as a cup of caster sugar will be different to a cup of regular. Same goes for icing sugar. 

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan forced and line a 22cm (regular size) baking tin.  

Put the oranges whole into a small saucepan and cover with water. Boil for around 1 hour then remove and leave to cool. 

Once cooled enough to handle, cut the orange into pieces and throw into a blender or food processor (or like i did a spice grinder... it died in the middle of this...) and puree into a paste. 

Melt the butter and chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave (a double boiler is as simple as a bowl placed ontop of a saucepan of boiling water. The idea is that only the steam heats the bowl, do NOT let the water touch the bottom of the bowl) and allow to melt, stirring regularly. Allow to cool slightly.

In a seperate bowl, beat the sugar and eggs until well combined.  

Mix in the almond meal and orange pulp, and then temper in the melted chocolate and butter (if it has cooled enough tempering is not necessary. Tempering is where you add the mixture is small parts to allow the temperature of the egg mixture to rise slowly, preventing the eggs from cooking). 

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and put into the oven for around 1hr 15 minutes. People say to check by inserting a skewer and if it comes out clean it's ready. But because this cake is flourless i don't feel that that works so well. Just give it your best guess; err on the side of a little underbaked because the cake will simply be a mit moister. Unlike flour cakes it will still taste great and have decent texture. 

Dust with extra icing sugar. 

Serve a room temperature with cream. If you want to be fancy, mix some lemon zest into a mixture of 1 part marscapone to 1 part cream.

Chocolate Cravings: Hazelnut Mud Cake

Whenever a person craves something rich and chocolatey their thoughts invariably turn to the mudcake, eponymous with indulgence. Throwing away the fluffy, light angelic nature of the traditional chocolate cake, mudcakes are sinfully rich. This version, however shies away from the denseness of Mississippi mudcakes, and instead we opt for a moist, melt in your mouth consistency. The brain says no but the heart has already taken a bite.

Serves 10

Cooking Time
4 hours total including waiting for the cake to cool

Background on the dish
The mudcake originated in the 1970's and derives from the fudge brownie. Created in the United States (who else could come up with such a side splitting cake), the original version, the Mississippi mudcake, is so named because the cake resembled the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. Today, mudcakes are as varied as they are tasty, with popular twists including orange, caramel and white chocolate versions.

Ingredients
Cake

• 3 Eggs
• 225 grams Butter
• 250 grams self raising flour
• 150 grams hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
• 600ml water
• 375grams dark chocolate, chopped
• 400 grams castor sugar

Icing

• 225 grams dark chocolate, chopped
• 165ml double cream
• Pinch chilli powder

Equipment Needed

• Mixing Bowl
• Baking Paper
• Oven
• Springform Tin or Cake Tin
• Wooden Spoon
• Knife
• Chopping board
• Whisk or electric mixer
• Cooling Rack

Cake

• Preheat fan forced oven to 170 degrees celsius.
• Grease and line a cake pan or springform pan.

• Melt the butter, chocolate and water in a saucepan over low heat until combined. Set aside to cool
• Lightly whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl.
• Add cooled chocolate mixture, whisking as the mixture is poured in.
• Add sugar, hazelnut meal and flour and whisk until well combined.

• Pour cake mixture into cake pan and bake in the oven for 75 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Leave in the tin for 5 minutes to cool and then place on wire rack to cool

Icing

• Add the cream and chopped chocolate to a saucepan and heat over low heat, constantly stirring, until cream and chocolate are combined and smooth.
• Spread the icing over the cooled cake.
• Leave the icing to set then transfer to serving plate.
• Serve with fresh raspberries and double cream.

What i learnt

• The original recipe that i derived this from stated 45 minutes cooking time; my cake was still completely uncooked at this stage. Cooking for 75 minutes, the cake still came out moist and just barely cooked in the centre
• Not being a massive chocolate fan myself, i am kicking myself for not adding a slug of grand marnier to the recipe
• I hate cutting baking paper into a circle to line the tin; instead i simply line the base of my springform pan, attach the sides, and then trim off the paper that sticks out the side. Perfect lining!
• This cake is best enjoyed at room temperature to take advantage of the moistness of the cake