It’s time for
August 19th, 2006
Tea with Monsieur Truffe
August 13th, 2006
The concierge at the Shangri La has a tough job when it comes to giving his clients his email address. I know this because when I stood at the counter waiting for a polite moment to speak to him I overheard the poor man recite the address four times. All four times he had to spell the word concierge and Shangri La to the person on the other end of the phone. After he got off the call he looked exhausted, but he was chirpy when I asked if I could pick up a small package Cindy had kindly left for me while she was in Sydney last weekend. It meant the concierge had to go back into the depths of the office retrieve the package. When he returned he was almost caressing the small package. “These are really good” he said as he handed them over.
And they are. The raspberry truffles Cindy couriered all the way from Melbourne are delightful. Dark, tart, creamy … all amounting to divine. Perhaps you think I am going overboard? But wait till you try these truffles yourself. You’ll have to go to Melbourne ofcourse; or be lucky enough to have two food bloggers send them directly to you. Ed says they are the best truffles he has tried in all of Australia, and after his care package of chocolates arrived the other week I will have to take his word for it. Because truly the Mountain Pepper truffle and the Classic are very good. So very good after a warming winter meal, perfect with a cup of hot black tea.
Thank you very much Cin and Ed; between the two of you I have had a very good supply of chocolates this winter. Hopefully my love of Monsieur Truffe’s chocolates can be sustained until I make it to Melbourne myself.
Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange & Ginger Frosting
April 30th, 2006
There were some birthdays over the week for a few family members and I wanted to make some cupcakes to take to the dinner celebration. Seeing as it was the middle of the week, I didn’t have much time to fuss about with complicated recipes, so the recent post by Niki on one bowl creations gave me some inspiration to bake a few cupcakes without the fuss of using a recipe which requires creaming of butter and eggs. I remembered Martha Stewart’s ‘One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes as a good route for quick cupcakes, perfect for frosting as well seeing as they cool down faster than an 18 inch cake does. Even though I’ve had a few failures with her recipes before I thought I’d give this one a go. I figured that if it didn’t work I would make a trifle instead - always a good way to go with lacke lustre cakes.
(Side note: While I love looking through Martha Stewart’s magazines and websites I have found many of the recipes repetitive, which come out with failed results - even when I’ve followed them as instructed. I have to agree with Niki’s theory on how American recipes for baked goods are written; as opposed to British or Australian recipes with measurements given in weight and not volume. So often I find converting the measurements a good way to make sure things turn out well)
In the end I still changed the recipe around, ommiting the plain flour for self-raising and eliminating the baking soda as I am not a fan of the texture when you combine baking soda and powder. I used the much cherished Valrhona cocoa powder which provided a decadent and rich chocolate cake. So rich that when it came to deciding what type of frosting to make I decided for something light and delicate which wouldn’t overshadow the chocolate flavour. I went with an orange and ginger butter frosting as both flavours go well with chocolate; and in this instance the combination worked very well for an adult themed sweet treat. The use of fresh orange juice and grated ginger means there is a kick to the flavours. And with the small quantity of ginger the kick comes courtesy of a peep-toe shoe and nothing too sharp!
Chocolate Cupcakes with Orange & Ginger Frosting
Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s ‘One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes‘
Makes 18 cupcakes
100g unsweetened cocoa powder
210g of self raising flour
200g cups caster sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 180ºC
Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, sugar and baking powder. Add the eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; mix batter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about one-third full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; allow cool completely. Once cooled spread or pipe your choice of frosting and serve. Enjoy!
Frosting
175g of unsalted butter
300g of powdered sugar
1/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoon of finely grated orange rind
1 teaspoon of finely grated ginger
2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a mixing bowl until it is fluffy. Gradually sift in the confectioners sugar, two tablespoon at a time. Mix until well combined. Do not rush this as it will turn out lumpy. Add orange juice, rind and ginger and vanilla and combine well. Add a little more orange juice if frosting is not spreadable.
Chocolate & Cherry Brownies
February 12th, 2006
In the food themed dictionary which sits in my brain the words moist, tart, indulgent and divine are accompanied by the photograph of chocolate & cherry brownies you see above.
For me, brownies are brownies only with the delicious marriage of nuts and fudgy chocolate, but this creation from Green & Blacks cookbook of sweet and savoury chocolate recipes called Unwrappedtakes the humble brownie and tarts it up with cherries. The book itself is a must for any chocolate lovers as there are 100 or so recipes which cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and all the in betweens. The chapter names make for a magical read with headings such as Melting, Licking the Bowl, Mystical, Wicked and Abracadabra, where the brownie recipe can be found. If you use their chocolate, it is an added bonus seeing as Green & Blacks were the first organic chocolate company to come out of Britain and have worked tirelessly with cocoa farmers for an equitable business and quality products.
But to the task at hand - chocolate & cherry brownies…
The original recipe calls for dried cherries, but I didn’t have any in the house on Saturday morning, so morello cherries were used instead. I must say that having used dried cherries for baked goods in the past, these worked much better for the kind of fudgy result you want in a brownie. Draining the cherries from their burgundy syrup helps, as does lowering the suggested amount of sugar. As you can see from the photograph above, this didn’t prevent the regulatory cracked top layer from appearing.
Chocolate & Cherry Brownies
From Green and Black’s Chocolate Recipes: Unwrapped - From the Cacao Pod to Muffins, Mousses and Moles
- 300 g unsalted butter
- 300 g dark chocolate (minimum 60%, broken into pieces)
- 5 large eggs
- 400 g granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 200g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 100 g of morello cherries
In a bowl (placed on top of a pot of boiling water) melt the butter and chocolate together until thick and creamy
Meanwhile beat together sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until thick and creamy. The mixture should easily coat the back of a spoon.
Once the butter-chocolate mixture has melted, remove from stove and beat into the egg mixture
Sift the flour and salt together, and add to the wet ingredients. Mix until mixture is well combined.
Drain morello cherries and fold into the brownie mixture.
Pour mixture into the tray and bake for 20 - 30 minutes at 180C
Once finished baking, allow to cool. Turn over and cut into rectangular slices. Serve with fruit, ice cream, custard or cream. Enjoy!
Chocolate Crackle Squares
January 26th, 2006
Oi! Happy Australia Day!
Copha is the binding ingredient in Chocolate Crackles, known also as ’sweet crack cocaine’. Not only because of its addictivness, but also the general buzz one gets from the the formula of vegetable shortening + cocoa + sugar. Chocolate Crackles were a regular feature at kids birthday parties in the mid 80’s. I remember there was a birthday nearly every week when I was growing up, and there were always plates and plates of the stuff served in colourful paper patty pans (alongside sausage rolls, fairy bread and raspberry cordial too boot!)
For an adult version I reduced the amount of sugar, toasted the shredded coconut and used the rationed Valrhona cocoa powder for extra chocolate intensity. I set the chocolate puffed rice mixture in a rectangular baking tray as opposed the traditional patty pans. This way it was like eating big chocolate squares. I was tempted to combine some raspberries and walnuts, however The Boy preferred the original version.
Wrapped up in white tissue paper, these were also a little gift to my cousin Nila who, this evening left Sydney for four years of thrills and adventures in London. A little bit of Australia to travel with her on the long-haul flight. Be safe, be well and mostly have the time of your life! Don’t forget to bat those eyelids around London town ;)
Chocolate Crackle Squares
- 250g of copha (solidifed coconut oil)
- 1 cup of shredded coconut (lightly toasted)
- 4 cups of puffed rice or rice bubbles cereal
- 1 cup of icing sugar
- 4 tablespoon of good quality cocoa
- Extra shredded coconut for topping
Toast the shredded coconut until lightly golden.
Combine the toasted coconut, puffed rice, icing sugar, cocoa powder until all ingredients are mixed well.
(Add other ingredients such as honeycomb, walnuts, almonds, raspberries, cherries or apricot at this stage)
Pour the melted copha into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour onto well greased baking tray. Flatten mixture until even. To easily cut into squares after it has set make square shaped markings with a knife. Sprinkle with extra shredded coconut and allow to set in the fridge (1 hour) or freezer (30 minutes).
Cut into bite sized squares and serve with a cup of tea. Enjoy!
