Chocolate – The Pudding Queen

Double White Chocolate Raspberry Cake

January 28, 2023January 28, 2023 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

Birthday time again, so I was looking around for a new cake recipe. I don’t know why I bother, really, as the birthday boy would be quite happy with the ultimate chocolate cake, every time (see The Ultimate-Chocolate Cake). Still, I like to try something new and I thought that a lighter cake would be a good idea since it would be served up after a substantial birthday dinner! I came across this recipe on line, which seemed to be a form of angel food cake (a very light sponge) but with added white chocolate. I’ve never made an angel food cake before so it was the excuse to indulge in buying a new piece of kit-an Angel Food Cake pan!

The central pillar is to ensure that the centre of the cake cooks through, too.

Angel food cake is supposed to be made in an ungreased pan, since the cake, sort of, crawls up the side of the pan during baking. It is cooled in the pan, balanced upside down, perched on supports-the central tube is actually higher than the rim of the pan, to facilitate this cooling. My recipe said to grease and flour the pan before using, which maybe should have set off alarm bells. What should I do-follow the perceived wisdom for angel food, or follow the recipe? In the end I followed the recipe, considering that the addition of the chocolate might have affected the process.

Pan greased with butter, then dusted with flour and excess tapped out

Cake

1 cup/250 g/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp (plus extra to grease the pan)

3½ cups/440 g all-purpose (plain) flour, plus extra for the tin

2½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)

½ tsp salt

125 g/4 oz white chocolate, chopped

½ cup just-boiled water

1½ cups/375 g granulated sugar

6 large egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1½ cups/375 ml buttermilk, at room temperature*

*due to absence of buttermilk, this was prepared by adding whole milk to lemon juice (1 tbsp lemon to 1 cup milk) and leaving to stand.

Heat the oven to 300˚F/150˚C/Gas 1-2

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Use a balloon whisk to ensure it is well-mixed. Set aside.

Place the chocolate into a small bowl. Add the just-boiled water and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside.

Place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. I used my temperamental stand mixer for this, as it was easier when I wanted to add ingredients, and it is quite a long process of mixing. I just had to be careful to keep scraping down the sides of my bowl to ensure good mixing.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium and then add egg whites, one at a time, beating to ensure each is fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Reduce the mixer speed once more. Add the flour, in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until just incorporated. Mix in the white chocolate/water mixture.

Flour, buttermilk and white chocolate mix added

Transfer to the prepared tin. Bake until a skewer comes out clean (75-80 minutes). Remove from oven and leave to cool, in the tin on a rack, for 10 minutes, then invert onto the rack to cool completely.

The recipe stated that the cake would take 75-80 minutes, but mine was still sticky at that point. I reckon it was 90 minutes-plus before my wooden skewer tester came out clean. The greasing of the pan seems to have been necessary, I lost a patch of cake from the top when I released it from the tin. Oh well, one slice will have extra-deep frosting!

I have to admit that at this stage I was not at all sure about this cake and was hunting out my recipe for Blackout Cake as a backup (see Bit of a Mash-Up-Blackout Fudge Cake). The sponge in this cake is very easy to make and is a lovely dark moist chocolate cake which would work with all sorts of frosting. In the end I decided to stick with the cake I’d made and cross fingers…

Cream cheese frosting

100 g/3.5 g white chocolate, chopped

½ cup/125 g/1 stick unsalted butter, softened.

8 oz/250 g/1 block cream cheese, softened

1 cup/155 g icing (powdered/confectioners) sugar

½ cup/125 ml whipping (heavy/double) cream

Melt the chocolate, in a bain-marie or in the microwave. the recipe suggests the microwave, but I’ve always thought that white chocolate is particularly easy to overheat, so I went with the bain-marie. Set aside.

Incidentally, I think that the quality of the chocolate for this cake does matter a lot. Normally I buy Lindt white chocolate, but this can be difficult to find occasionally, and so it proved this time. I managed to get one bar, but needed more, and ended up with a budget ‘store’s own’ alternative. This did not melt well at all. I’m glad that I saved the Lindt bar for the frosting and used the other for the cake.

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the icing sugar and mix to combine, then add the melted chocolate and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the cake.

When ready, beat the cream until it forms stiff peaks. Stir a spoonful into the cream cheese mixture, then fold in the remaining cream.

To assemble

Cut the cake in half, through the equator. Place the base on a cake board or serving plate.

I recently also acquired a cake turntable, along with some icing equipment, offset spatulas and that sort of thing. I always say that I’m no great shakes at icing, so maybe I could improve. Anyway, the cake didn’t look bad when cut in half, although it maybe had a slightly ‘bready’ texture. I glued the bottom down onto a cake board and placed this on the turntable, ready for the next stage.

Add ½ cup/125 ml seedless raspberry jam to the base and spread evenly.

Add ¾ cup of the cream cheese frosting over the jam layer. Place the top half of the cake on top.

I decided to try a ‘crumb coat’ for the frosting. This is a thin layer of frosting that covers the outside the cake and is then left to ‘set’ in the fridge. The idea is that any crumbs from the cake surface are trapped in this layer and then the top coat will be pristine and crumb-free. Well, I gave it a go:

I popped the cake (on the turntable!) into the fridge for 15 minutes, but it didn’t seem to set over much. Maybe this is not the best frosting to achieve the smooth surface? Anyhow, I also realised (later) that I’d neglected to do another stage, which was to wrap each layer in plastic film and place them into the freezer for 15 minutes, to help stabilize the layers.

So I ended up with some sort of frosting-definitely not perfect, though- and I had a bit of a go with piping, too. I think my career making wedding cakes had better go on the back burner.

As for the cake? Well, I think it was a bit bready in texture, and it really wasn’t the airy cake I was expecting. I don’t know if that was a function of the cheaper chocolate, or the fact that it took quite a lot longer to bake than expected. It really needs to come out of the fridge for a couple of hours in advance of serving, too, but the cream cheese in the frosting means that it has to be stored refrigerated. On the plus side, its a big cake and will provide 16 servings with no problems. I don’t think I’d make it again, though, but you live and learn.

White Chocolate Mousse Pavlova

January 12, 2023 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

I love meringue, possibly it’s my favourite dessert type. Sweet but relatively light (well, a bit sugar-laden but very little fat!), I particularly like the crispy type rather than the one you get on top of lemon meringue pie. With a little care, they are easy to make, too. As for how to serve it, then the Pavlova-filled with whipped cream and fruit-is a great option.

There is another way. I’ve had this recipe in my files for over 20 years, and it is probably that long since I last made it, but I thought it would make a suitable dessert for New Year’s Eve. We do not do much for New Year, usually just staying home. In fact we are both out for the count well before midnight-it is again 20 years since we last saw in the New Year. Still, I like to make a bit of an effort with a nice dinner and dessert. This time, I thought, I’d resurrect the white chocolate mousse pavlova.

The original recipe, which I will give here, makes a big ‘party dessert’. For this occasion, I halved the meringue recipe and made only 1/3rd of the white chocolate mousse and it still turned out huge. It does, however, slip down very easily and will last to the next day, if kept refrigerated and if any remains!

Meringue

350 g (175 g)/ 12 oz (6 oz) caster sugar or fine granulated sugar*

6 (3) egg whites

2 tsp (1 tsp) cornstarch/cornflour

2 tsp (1 tsp) vinegar

*North American granulated sugar will work if no caster sugar is available

Note: figures in italics and in brackets in tables are what I used. Others are as per the original recipe.

To make meringue:

Preheat the oven to 300˚F/150˚C/Gas 2.

Separate the eggs, being sure to avoid any yolk remaining in the whites. Retain the yolks and set aside. Make sure that the bowl that will hold the egg whites is completely fat-free. Wipe out with a little lemon juice or vinegar on a paper towel if in any doubt.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and standing in peaks. Add half of the sugar and whisk until glossy. Fold in the remaining sugar, the vinegar and the cornstarch/cornflour using a metal spoon. Note that the vinegar used can be any sort. I have used malt vinegar in the past but this time used white vinegar. I would not recommend red wine or balsamic.

Draw a circle on a piece of baking parchment on a baking tray. I made mine 8 inch (drawn around a tea plate) but a larger circle would be advisable if making the larger amount. Alternatively, grease and line the base of a sandwich cake tin or a springform cake tin. Pile the meringue into the circle, or the cake tin, using a metal spoon. Aim to have the rim slightly higher-piled than the centre. Note that using a cake tin will give you a slightly tidier-looking meringue.

Transfer to the middle shelf of the oven. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until the meringue starts to brown. Turn off the oven when the meringue has browned slightly, then leave the meringue in the cooling oven for as long as possible, or overnight.

*Baked meringue. Store in an air-tight container until ready to assemble.*

Mousse

300 g (100 g)/10.5 oz (3.5 oz) white chocolate, in pieces

65 g (22 g)/2.4 oz (0.8 oz)/ about 3 tbsp (1 tbsp) unsalted butter

4 (1.5) egg yolks

375 ml (125 ml)/12 fl oz (4 fl oz)/1½ cup (½ cup) whipping cream/double cream/heavy cream

3 tbsp (1 tbsp) caster/fine granulated sugar

Note: figures in italics and in brackets in tables are what I used. Others are as per the original recipe.

Take four (two) of the left-over egg yolks and beat lightly.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. Beat in the butter, in pieces until mixed. Add the four (about 1.5 of the) lightly-beaten egg yolks and stir. Leave to one side to cool slightly.

Whip the cream with the sugar until it just holds its shape. Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture and transfer to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Chocolate Sauce

125 g/4 oz dark or milk chocolate, as preferred

30 g /1 oz butter

3 tbsp brandy (optional)

3 tbsp water (increase to ¼ cup, if not using brandy)

Whipping/double/heavy cream and sugar, to taste

This chocolate sauce makes a nice accompaniment to the pavlova, just in case there is not enough chocolate and cream already! I used some Belgian milk chocolate chips I had in my cupboard, no brandy and no additional sugar.

In a small, heavy-based saucepan, over a low heat, melt the chocolate, butter, brandy (if using) and water until completely melted and glossy. Allow to cool slightly, then mix in some cream to taste (plus sugar, if liked). Transfer to a jug and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

To assemble:

Preferably assemble the pavlova on the day of serving. It can be kept in the refrigerator until required. Place the meringue on a suitable serving plate. Pile the white chocolate mousse into the centre of the meringue. Decorate as liked, e.g. chocolate curls, dusting with cocoa powder and icing sugar, additional whipped cream, Maltezers or other confectionery. Serve with the chocolate sauce.

I added sweetened whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder and icing sugar to mine.

*Served-it looks a mess but is delicious!*

No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake

December 31, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

This sort of refrigerator cake has always seemed like a good idea to me, and a no-bake dessert felt like a good option for a Christmas dinner dessert, so I thought I’d have a go. It’s extremely rich so a little goes a very long way, indeed. You really have to like chocolate, and the use of 70% dark chocolate made for a very intense taste. It might actually be a bit lighter using a good quality milk chocolate, or half-and-half light and dark chocolates. I think I’d try that if I made it again.

It is a UK recipe and uses golden syrup, nearly impossible to find around here, so I substituted liquid honey. It seemed to work.

The recipe does not specify the exact fruits and nuts to use, so I chose a mixture of dried sweetened cranberries, chopped dried apricots, sultana raisins and halved glace cherries. I used pieces of pecan nuts for the nut element. I increased the fruit amount and decreased the biscuit weight-the original recipe called for 450 g of digestive biscuits (I believe that is the weight of a full packet of McVities’ Digestives-the best ones to use but, unfortunately, not to be found hereabouts at the moment). The Peek Freans ones I did use were 300 g in the packet.

340 g/12 oz/3 sticks butter

240 g/8.5 oz/¾ cup golden syrup or honey

120 g/4 oz dark chocolate

60 g/ 2 oz cocoa powder

300 g/9.5 oz digestive biscuits, crumbled

60 g/2 oz nuts (pecans, walnuts or pistachios)

1 tsp vanilla extract

200 g/6.5 oz mixed dried fruits (e.g. sultana raisins, dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, halved glace cherries, dried figs)

300 g/11 oz dark chocolate

4 tbsp butter

Whipping cream

Grease and line an 8-inch springform pan

Crush the biscuits to bite-sized pieces, set aside. Chop nuts and fruit as needed. Set aside.

*Mixed sultanas and cranberries (bowl), pecans, glace cherries and apricots (board)*

Place the butter and syrup/honey into a heavy-based saucepan and heat gently until melted. Do not boil.

Remove from heat and add the cocoa powder, dark chocolate (in pieces) and vanilla extract. Stir until a smooth, glossy mixture.

Add the fruit, nuts and biscuits and mix well. Place the mixture into the prepared pan and press down. Leave to cool, then refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Remove from the fridge and release from the pan. Remove any parchment paper. Place the cake on a rack above a sheet of foil.

Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water (a ‘bain-marie’, if you are feeling posh). When melted, pour the warm chocolate over the cake on the rack and cover the whole thing smoothly, allow to cool.

I hit an issue here, my melting chocolate started to granulate rather than melting smoothly. I probably had the temperature of the bain-marie too high. Now, you can save this sort of thing by removing from the heat and adding a few chunks of normal cold chocolate, which brings down the temperature enough to re-liquify the whole, but I’d used all of the chocolate I had left. So, I decided to make a sort of fudge icing by adding chunks of butter and beating well as the butter melted, then adding a small amount of whipping cream until I had a smooth, fudgy icing to apply to the cake. Allow to cool

Transfer the cake to a suitable plate. Decorate as liked, e.g. chocolate curls, chocolate sticks, maltezers, white chocolate drizzle, dusting with icing sugar, etc. I chose a drizzle of melted white chocolate, followed by a dusting with icing sugar.

*The completed cake-I never pretend to being good at cake decoration!*

It’s a substantial beast and you won’t want a huge piece, especially after Christmas dinner!

The cake will keep in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Best eaten after it has been allowed to rest at room temperature for a while. Good with a simple while chocolate sauce made by melting white chocolate and mixing in whipping cream to the required consistency, then cooling.

Dark and Moist-Chocolate Bundt Cake

November 22, 2022November 15, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

So, I had the urge to bake. It happens, in fact much more regularly than I allow-the problem being that we eat the results! Anyhow, I’d come across a recipe for a dark chocolate bundt cake. This appealed because I have a bundt tin that I scarcely use. Also, it’s a chocolate cake so, duh! I think it was uploaded by Bulk Barn but the twist was that it used something called Black Cocoa Powder-what is that?

I’ve come across Dutch-processed cocoa powder before, although not, of course, on our supermarket shelves. I’d never been sure what it meant and using just the standard cocoa powder seemed to work fine. Now there’s a whole new cocoa powder not to find! Anyhow, I looked into it and it seems that Dutch-processing is treating the cocoa with alkali to reduce the acidity, whilst the black cocoa is super-Dutch-processed. It is, apparently, very dark and provides the almost black colouration to things like Oreo cookies. Some say that it isn’t very chocolately (a bit of an own goal, there, I’d say) so most recipes seem to use a mixture of black and standard cocoa powders. Incidentally Hershey sell a ‘dark cocoa powder’, which seems to be part-way between black and Dutch-processed, so that might be a substitute and more widely available. I tend to avoid anything with Hershey written on it, since I think that their bar chocolate is frankly tasteless, though I suppose that even they can’t mess up cocoa powder!

One thing to be aware of, when using the black cocoa, is that it doesn’t work with baking soda; the reduction in acidity caused by the ultra-Dutch-processing means that soda won’t generate the raising needed when a good proportion of the dry materials in the cake are black cocoa. It needs baking powder. Something to keep in mind if ever using black cocoa in place of standard cocoa.

In my case, I had the other issue, no black cocoa, just the bog-standard stuff. Would that work? I had everything else needed (or at least could generate it-buttermilk!). I decided to give it a go.

313 g/2½ cups all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted

65 g/¾ cup cocoa powder, sifted *

1½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)**

½ tsp salt

250 g/1¼ cups light brown sugar, packed

100 g/½ cup fine white sugar (caster sugar)

1 cup/237 ml vegetable oil (I used Becel, a mix of canola and sunflower oil)

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature***

½ cup/125 ml hot coffee, made with 2 tsp espresso coffee powder in hot water****

*I used standard cocoa powder. Original recipe called for 43 g/½ cup black cocoa powder and 22 g/¼ cup standard cocoa powder

** if using the dark cocoa, reduce to ½ tsp soda

**buttermilk made by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice to 250 ml (1 cup) 2% milk and leaving to stand for 15 minutes

****original recipe called for hot brewed coffee, but I usually use espresso in chocolate recipes. It doesn’t taste of coffee but does intensify the chocolate flavor.

Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C /Gas 4

Grease the bunt pan, taking care to get in all the nooks and crannies. Add a little cocoa powder to the tin and tap it out, allowing the powder to cover the greased sides. If using the black cocoa powder, then use this here too.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Mix well-I like to use a balloon whisk to get a good mixture. Set aside.

In a stand mixer (if you have one), add the sugars and the oil. Beat well to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until thick and light in colour. Add the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients, in two additions, beating on low until combined. Add the buttermilk, with beating and then the hot coffee. Mix on low until the batter is smooth. Keep the sides of the bowl scraped down and make sure that there is no material adhering to the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles, then place in the preheated oven.

Bake 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, on a rack, before turning out to cool completely.

It would work nicely with a buttercream-type frosting, a chocolate or caramel sauce, fruit coulis, whipped cream- lots of possibilities. I decided to make a simple chocolate glace icing to drizzle over. I make 50 ml of a cocoa/coffee mixture by dissolving 2 tsp cocoa and 1 tsp espresso powder in 50 ml hot water. I didn’t measure the icing sugar, just put some in a bowl and added the cocoa mix, mixing it with a balloon whisk until the consistency seemed right. I lined the counter under the cooling rack with a sheet of foil and then poured the icing over, allowing it to drizzle down both sides of the ring.

Well, it certainly worked well. The cake was dark, moist and tasty. The icing was chocolatey. I served it with a dollop of cream, but I suspect it would go nicely with ice cream or even custard, as a pudding. I expect it will get moister over the next couple of days, too-cakes made with oil do tend to get ‘stickier’ and even more luscious with time.

I wonder what it’s like with black cocoa? I shall have to see if I can find some!

Bit of a Mash-Up-Blackout Fudge Cake

January 27, 2022 Sandra Dennis1 Comment

It is the time for a very special birthday, requiring, of course, a cake, and for the birthday boy only chocolate cake hits the spot. As usual, I wanted to try something different so I was casting around for a few ideas.

In my kitchen I have a ‘sundries’ drawer (not to be confused with the ‘junk’ drawer). It’s where I keep instruction manuals for kitchen equipment and, often, recipes that I’ve printed off the internet. I’d obviously been looking for chocolate cakes previously as I found 3 different cake recipes in there, an ‘Ultimate Chocolate Cake’ (albeit a different on from the one I’ve already written about-see The Ultimate-Chocolate Cake-and not as ‘ultimate’ in my opinion!), a ‘Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cake’ and something called the ‘Brooklyn Blackout Cake’-this latter one in particular intrigued me.

I think I’d put this in the drawer because it called for two ingredients that I had problems finding-buttermilk and espresso powder. Now buttermilk I have sorted out, it’s relatively easy to make by adding lemon juice or distilled white vinegar to milk (1 tbsp to 250 ml milk) but espresso powder might be more of an issue in rural Nova Scotia. It’s become the thing to add espresso to chocolate-flavoured things, not to add coffee flavour as such but because it is supposed to intensify the chocolate flavour. Well, anything to intensify chocolate flavour is a good thing by me! Still, would I find espresso powder here in the back of beyond? I would try on line.

Yes, there was espresso powder on Amazon.ca. I wasn’t sure what sort of powder to get so looked at baking espresso. My jaw nearly hit the keyboard when I saw the prices-the cheapest was over $30 for a very small jar of powder, going up to $90-now, I really couldn’t justify that! I thought I’d have a cursory glance in the coffee aisle at our local supermarket, not expecting much, and actually found some. It’s Nescafe, so maybe not the best quality as compared to the $90 stuff, but was only $11 for a large jar (and I even found a smaller jar for only $8 in our other supermarket), so much more reasonable.

*Should last for lots of chocolate cakes!*

So, I had much of the necessary for the Blackout cake. The recipe is British, in fact I think it is from the BBC Good Food website, and so it calls for fancy things like muscovado sugar-that, I knew, I wouldn’t find here but apparently the best substitute is dark soft brown sugar, which I did have. The cake itself was sorted.

The Blackout cake recipe used a chocolate custard as filling and topping. This was interesting and I’d definitely like to try it out, but maybe not when we had guests coming for dinner and the cake had to work. Maybe the frosting from the Fudgy Dark Chocolate Cake would combine well? I’d give it a go.

As mentioned, this is a British recipe and the metric measures are the most accurate. I have made an attempt to translate to imperial measures but daren’t try for cups!

140 g/5 oz unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the cake pans *

100 ml/ 3.4 fl oz vegetable oil

140 g/ 5 oz buttermilk**

100 ml/ 3.4 fl oz coffee, made with 3 tsp instant espresso powder***

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

250 g/9 oz all-purpose (plain) flour

250 g/9 oz light muscovado or dark soft brown sugar****

50 g/1.8 oz cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

*I used soft margarine to grease the pans

**buttermilk made by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice to 250 ml (1 cup) whole milk and leaving to stand for 10 minutes, then weighed before use

***original recipe called for 1 tsp of powder in 100 ml water. Instructions on the jar said 1-2 tsp in 50 ml, so I followed that. This may depend on the brand of espresso used. I also made up the coffee in advance and allowed it to cool before adding it to the mixture.

****I used dark soft brown sugar.

There are quite a lot of ingredients and I found it useful to measure everything out before starting.

I also got my cake pans ready beforehand. The recipe calls for 2 x 8 inch/20 cm sandwich tins, greased and with the bottoms lined. I like to use linings on the sides, too. Because I do, I can use soft margarine to grease my tins.

Preheat oven to 350˚F/325˚F convection/180˚C/160˚C fan/Gas 4

Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and allow to melt gently, remove from heat as soon as it is melted.

Add the oil, buttermilk, coffee, eggs and vanilla, beat to combine. I found a balloon whisk worked well.

*Adding in the rest of the wet ingredients*

Set the wet mix to one side.

Place all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Note that I found that the dark soft brown sugar had a tendency to clump together, so I ended up sifting the partially-mixed powder through a sieve into a separate bowl to reduce the lumps. It didn’t work to sieve it in advance of whisking though, it worked best to mix, whisk, sieve then whisk again. This might not be as much of an issue if you use muscovado sugar.

*Sieved. A metal spoon will force the lumps through the sieve.*

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well using the balloon mix. It will look lumpy initially but will very soon mix to a smooth batter. This really was remarkably easy and quick to do.

Separate the batter equally between the two cake pans and smooth the tops.

Bake 20-30 minutes, until the cakes are risen and a tester comes out clean. Note that I baked my cakes at 325˚F convection and they took close to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove from the tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Now, this is a quite crumbly soft cake when warm, with a nice soft crumb, so don’t do what I did and try to put it on the rack ‘top up’!

*Whoops! Still, at least you can see the texture…*

Yes, that wasn’t going to glue together again! Luckily, I had enough of everything to start again and, an hour or so later, I had 3 cake sandwiches cooling on racks. It really is a quick and easy cake to make, once you have every ingredient collected together and weighed out.

Now for the fudge frosting. This was intended to layer the cakes and then cover the top and sides.

100 g/3.5 oz unsalted butter

200 ml/ 6.8 fl oz double cream, heavy cream or whipping cream*

3 tbsp clear honey

200 g dark chocolate (70%), broken into small pieces

2 tsp espresso powder

Icing sugar (powdered sugar/confectioner’s sugar), to taste

*I used whipping cream

The original fudge frosting recipe was for 50g butter, 200 ml cream, 3 tbsp honey and 200 g dark chocolate. I thought I’d add the espresso powder to ‘boost ‘ the chocolate.

Heat the cream in a large saucepan until just boiling.

Remove from the heat and add the butter, chocolate and honey (and espresso if using). Allow to melt for 5 minutes.

Stir to combine but do not overmix. Allow to cool to just warm before using to ice the cakes.

Well, there were problems. Firstly, the fudge was not really sweet enough. maybe adding the coffee had made it more bitter than it should have been, but it certainly wasn’t a sweet icing. Secondly, it was still pretty runny. It wasn’t going to make a filling, let alone a frosting. It would end up as a puddle on the bottom of the cake. What to do?

Well, the recipe said not to overmix, but I thought that adding some additional butter, some icing sugar and beating it using the stand mixer might rescue it. I added an additional 50 g of butter and started the beaters going, I then started to spoon in icing sugar as it mixed, until I reached an acceptable sweetness and thickness (which is why it says ‘to taste’). I ended up with a nice fudgy icing. It still didn’t seem to me to be stiff enough to sandwich the cakes, but it would make a very acceptable icing. I’d need to do something else for the middle.

I remembered the swiss meringue buttercream that I’d made for last year’s birthday cake (see Celebration Time-Double Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake). That might work. By luck I’d also bought a bar of white chocolate, intending to use it to decorate the cake, but now it would come in handy to flavour the filling. This is why I called this a mash-up!

3 egg whites*

250 g/8 oz/1 cup caster sugar (superfine sugar)

175g/6 oz unsalted butter

100 g white chocolate, broken into small pieces

½ tsp vanilla extract

Pinch salt

*I used commercially-separated free-range egg whites from a carton

Normally, I’d use freshly-separated egg whites but, for speed, I used some of those egg whites in a carton. These are pasteurized so I suppose even less of a potential health issue than using fresh egg whites. The whites are heated so safety is assured.

Using the bowl from your stand mixer (wipe out with lemon juice to ensure it is fat-free), standing over a pan of simmering water, add the egg whites and sugar. Whisk and heat until the sugar is melted. The temperature of the mixture can get to 140˚F/70˚C.

Remove from heat, transfer to the mixer and set beating. Add butter, in small cubes, to the mixture, as it is beating. Add vanilla extract. Beat for 10 minutes, until smooth and fluffy.

This is a very nice vanilla buttercream and could be used as is. However, I was going to amp up the chocolate, because that is what I do. I melted the chocolate in a double-boiler and then poured the slightly cooled melted white chocolate into the buttercream as it was mixing, and left it to mix for another few minutes. The resulting buttercream was allowed to cool for 10 minutes and then used to sandwich the cake.

I decided that two cake layers was quite enough (I froze the third layer for use at another time). With white chocolate buttercream filling and dark chocolate fudge frosting (and a sprinkle of chocolate vermicelli) it make a very acceptable cake, in the end.

*The sponge is moist and flavourful, with a nice soft crumb*

I would definitely recommend the cake as a very good and easy-made sponge, worth keeping in the repertoire. I do think that the addition of the espresso boosted the flavour, although you certainly can’t taste coffee. Maybe I’ll have a go at that chocolate custard when I get the frozen layer out of the freezer.

*I admit that decoration isn’t my forte!*

I keep it in the fridge, but it cuts better if removed a little while before serving.

Ooey Gooey-Raisin Brownies

March 13, 2021 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

The urge to bake came upon me, today, even though I expect to have quite a bit to do next week. I was looking through one of my baking books and came across a recipe that I quite fancied having a go at-Raisin Brownies. Chocolate-flavoured things are always popular round here, and I thought that the addition of a few raisins would make a nice change. The recipe also included chopped walnuts, which I think would be good, but I didn’t have any in. Instead I had in some semi-sweet chocolate chunks. I’d meant to buy chocolate chips, but was in a rush and picked up the wrong packet. Still, even bigger bits of chocolate, what’s not to like? I decided to sub in the chocolate for the walnuts.

The Recipe:

115 g/ 4 oz/ ½ cup butter or margarine **

50 g/2 oz/½ cocoa powder

2 eggs

225 g/8 oz/ generous 1 cup caster sugar ***

5 ml/1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

40 g/1½ oz/⅓ cup plain flour

75 g/3 oz/generous ½ cup raisins

100 g/4 oz chocolate chunks *

* replace with 75 g/3 oz/¾ chopped walnuts

** I used unsalted butter
*** I used standard granulated sugar (American)

Preheat the oven to 350˚F/180˚C/Gas 4. Grease and line a square baking tin with baking parchment. Ideally 8 x 8 inch, but I used a 9 x 9 inch tin.

Melt the butter gently, either in a saucepan or in a bowl in the microwave, at 30 second intervals. When melted stir in the cocoa powder and set aside.

Cocoa powder

Butter and cocoa mix

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract into a bowl. Beat until light.

Eggs, sugar and vanilla

Beaten

Add the cocoa mixture to the egg mixture, stir to blend.

Sift over the flour and fold in. Add the raisins and chocolate chunks (or walnuts) and stir, then place the batter into the square tin, spread it out and place in the oven.

Sift over flour

folded in flour

ready to bake

Bake, in the centre of the oven, 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

Baked

Cut into bars and remove from the tin. If liked, dust with icing sugar to serve. The brownies should be soft and moist. These ones were very soft and gooey, perhaps due to the chocolate chunks instead of the walnuts, but certainly tasted ok. I don’t think they would travel well, but then, they probably won’t last that long, here.

Celebration Time-Double Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake

January 30, 2021 Sandra Dennis2 Comments

Birthday time again. I think I’ve mentioned before how a birthday cake, in this house, usually means chocolate! Well, that was the request, but I wanted to try something new. So I went on an internet search for ‘birthday cake’, and came up with a modified Devil’s Food Cake recipe.

This intrigued me. ‘Devil’s Food Cake’ is such an evocative name and not one that I am used to, particularly coming from the UK. I wasn’t really sure what the difference would be, but I was keen to find out. Anyhow, a chocolate cake with buttercream icing would definitely fit the bill. The original recipe called for three different colours of buttercream icing; vanilla (white), chocolate, and strawberry (pink). I decided to stick with two, dark chocolate and white chocolate. Can’t overdo the chocolate in this house.

So, the cake required buttermilk. I’ve come across this before but have failed miserably to ever find such a thing in my local supermarket (if it’s there, I don’t know where to look!), so I’ve tended to shy away from recipes needing this. This time, I really wanted to make the cake, so I thought I’d see if there is a substitute. Well, it turns out that you can make a substitute by adding lemon juice, or white vinegar, to ordinary milk and letting it stand for a while-who knew? I suppose some people must have, but not me! That solved a big problem, anyway.

It also asked for Dutch-process cocoa. I don’t have that, either, and have never seen it in the baking section. It’s maybe a bit sophisticated for rural Nova Scotia. Reading up, it seems that standard cocoa powder (in my case, Fry’s) can be substituted, 1 for 1. It might taste slightly different, apparently, but being used to this type of cocoa, I doubted we would notice.

Finally, it needed dark brown sugar. I knew I had this in the pantry, but when I came to use it, I found it had hardened. I could regenerate it, but not in time for my baking. Instead I substituted some light brown sugar and some yellow sugar (I bought the later by mistake, meaning to replenish my light brown sugar supply!). The resulting cake might not be as dark as it could be, but it seemed to work. Amazingly, I found out later that I could have ‘made’ my own dark brown sugar, by mixing 1 cup of white sugar with two tablespoons of molasses, and mixing well in a food processor or blender. I was learning all sorts of new things with this bake.

Cake ingredients. Yes, it does include mayonnaise!

The Recipe:
Cake

170 g/ ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
460 g/ 2 cups packed dark brown sugar*
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs, at room temperature
220 g/ 1 ¾ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
90 g/ ¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder**
1 ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
360 ml/ 1 ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature ***
59 ml/ ¼ cup mayonnaise

*I used a mixture of light soft brown sugar and yellow sugar, due to a dark brown sugar disaster.

**I used standard cocoa powder

*** I made my buttermilk by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice to 1 cup of 2% milk and letting it stand for 10 minutes or so. Apparently distilled white vinegar, the same volume, would also work.

Preheat the oven to 350F/325 F convection/180 C/160 C fan/ gas 4. Grease and line 3 x 8 inch cake tins.

Beat the brown sugar, butter and vanilla together for about 5 minutes, until lighter and slightly increased in volume. A stand mixer, if you have one, can be really helpful for this recipe, but be sure to keep the sides of the bowl well scraped down.

Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each one is incorporated before adding the next.

1 egg added

3 eggs added

Sift all of the dry ingredients into a separate bowl. Whisk to mix well.

Add dry ingredients and buttermilk to the creamed mixture in alternate aliquots, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.

Fold the mayonnaise into the mixture using a whisk.

Divide equally between the three prepared tins, smooth the tops and place in the oven. Bake until a skewer comes out barely clean.

Time in oven should be around 30 minutes or so. If not using a convection (fan) oven, rotate the tins after about 20 minutes to ensure an even bake. When ready, remove from the oven and leave to cool, in the tins, for about 20 minutes.

Turn out of the tins, remove the baking parchment and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Well, the cakes looked pretty dark, despite not using the right sugar or the right cocoa powder. They smelled pretty good, too. Now for the icing.

I’d always thought that buttercream was buttercream, but apparently I was wrong. There are lots of different buttercreams, and this recipe was for a swiss meringue buttercream, apparently smoother and maybe a tad less sweet than the normal kind. It uses egg whites (hence meringue), but they are heated so it is pretty safe and keeps well. It would be a new experience. It also called for superfine (or caster) sugar, rather than granulated or icing sugar. Again, I was out of luck in the supermarket for this ingredient.

I’ve always said that North American granulated sugar is closer in texture to caster sugar than the sort of granulated sugar we used to get in the UK, but it isn’t quite there. Apparently, for this recipe, it is important to use the right sugar type, as it dissolves quicker than standard granulated, making a smoother icing. Oh well, back to the do-it-yourself! A couple of cups of standard granulated sugar in my blender, on the ‘grind’ setting, and 30 seconds later I had my superfine sugar.

Icing

5 large fresh egg whites
250 g/ 1 ¼ cup superfine (caster) sugar
340 g/1 ½ cups/3 sticks unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes
2 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
200 g/ 7 oz good quality dark chocolate (70%)
100 g/ 3.5 oz good quality white chocolate

Wipe out the mixing bowl (use the one from your stand mixer, if you have one) with kitchen towel wetted with a little lemon juice, to remove any grease. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (not boiling). Add the egg whites and sugar and whisk, constantly and gently, until the sugar completely dissolves and the egg whites are hot. If you have a thermometer, the temperature can reach 160 F/ 71 C.

Take the bowl from the heat and whip, using a whisk attachment to your hand mixer or stand mixer, until the meringue is thick, glossy and the bowl feels neutral to the touch. A stand mixer is best as this can take 10 minutes or longer.

Whipping the meringue

Swap to the beater attachments, set the mixer to low speed and start to add the cubed butter, a little at a time. Mix until fully incorporated and silky smooth in texture. If the mixture curdles, keep beating and it will become smooth. Add the vanilla and salt and keep beating until well combined.

Melt the two chocolates, separately, over simmering water. Allow to cool.

Separate the icing into 1/3 and 2/3. Add the cooled, melted white chocolate to the smaller portion and the dark chocolate to the larger portion, mix until fully combined.

Wrap the cake layers in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. When chilled, remove from the freezer, unwrap and place the bottom layer on a cake board or serving plate (n.b., the cake can be ‘stuck’ to the platter with a little dob of icing, if needed.) Spread a layer of dark chocolate icing over the cake and place the next layer on top. Cover this layer with all of the white chocolate icing. Top with the final cake layer.

Bottom layer

Middle layer

Top layer

Cover the sides and top with the remainder of the dark chocolate icing, smoothing to taste (I’m no fancy icer, as you can see by my effort!).

I placed my cake in the fridge to ensure it all set, but it will keep well at room temperature, in an air-tight container, for a few days. It sliced really well, too, keeping its form nicely. I can happily say, this one was a hit!

It’s a big cake, though. Good for a party (when we can have them again), big appetites or, in our case, slicing and freezing. It’s the best way to stop eating the whole lot at once!

Something a little different-Chocolate Cranberry Brownies

October 26, 2020 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

I cleaned out my freezer a little while ago-something that I really should do more often. I found a bag of frozen cranberries at the back of one of the shelves. I can’t remember why I’d have bought them, the cranberry is not a favourite fruit in this house. In fact, I can’t ever remember coming across them when I was a child. No, not even at Christmas dinner, where the idea of adding a sweet fruit sauce to a hot roast meat would have been considered mad (although we did always have apple sauce with roast pork!). So, what to do with the stray cranberries (still within date, I hasten to add)?

I looked on line and came across a recipe for Cranberry Pecan Brownies, which sounded nice. Now, I didn’t have any pecans in the store cupboard and the chocolate I had in was milk, not semi-sweet, but I thought I’d give it a go.

The Recipe:

¼ cup butter, plus extra to grease the pan
1 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk)
½ cup light soft brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen
½ cup chopped pecans (if using). Instead of nuts I added a handful of sultanas, because why not?

Preheat the oven to 325 F/160 C/ Gas 3. Grease a 9 x 9 inch pan with butter. I’d actually recommend also lining the bottom with baking parchment to make sure of an easy removal from the pan.

Greased brownie pan. Add some parchment paper for easy removal of the baked brownies,

Melt the butter in a saucepan. When melted, add the chocolate and stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat.

Add the sugar and vanilla essence, and stir until smooth. Then whisk in the eggs. Add the flour and salt and stir until combined.

Add the fruit (cranberries, raisins, etc.) and nuts (if using) and transfer to the greased and lined pan. I added a sprinkle of chocolate chips to the surface after filling the pan.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin before slicing.

Mine look a bit light in colour, for brownies, because I used milk chocolate. That could be rectified on a future occasion by adding a little cocoa powder in with the flour (or by using dark chocolate, of course!). Also It was quite a thin brownie, so a smaller tin than the suggested 9 x 9 inch might work better (I’d suggest 8 x 8 inch). Finally, I did have a disaster when trying to get the brownie out of the tin, that parchment lining would have helped a lot! So, no pretty pictures of brownies heaped on a plate as mine were rather fragmented. They did taste good, though-the tartness of the cranberries mixed very well with the smooth gooiness of the chocolate brownie mix, and the little pieces of chocolate on the top were a success. It went very nicely with ice cream too! So I’d do it again (I still have some cranberries in that bag) but with my suggested amendments. I might even try the pecans next time.

My Favourite Cheesecake-Double Chocolate Cheesecake

October 12, 2020October 12, 2020 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

Since living in Canada we haven’t really made a traditional Christmas Dinner. For several years we did have a Christmas Pud with brandy sauce, purchased from the ‘British Food’ shop in the next village along, but that hasn’t been an option since moving to Nova Scotia. I suppose I could make one, but it doesn’t seem worth it since neither of us like it that much. So, last Christmas, I plumped for making a cheesecake instead. Obviously, it couldn’t be just any old cheesecake, it had to be a bit special. Out came the recipe for ‘Double Chocolate Cheesecake’.

Actually, I could call it ‘Triple Chocolate’ as there is actually chocolate in the base as well. I don’t normally like chocolate cheesecakes much, finding them a bit ‘grainy’ normally, maybe because they are often baked. This one is smooth, creamy and very chocolatey, and needs no baking. Just be sure to give it plenty of time to chill, preferably overnight. It does freeze well, too, in case you don’t want to eat it all at once.

I don’t know where I got the recipe from, but I suspect it is from the UK because it recommends crushing chocolate digestives for the base, rather than Graham cracker crumbs. Personally, I think this adds a little something extra, a sweet, chocolately, salty crunch that I don’t find I get with the Graham crackers. It’s a simple matter, and oddly satisfying, to crush the biscuits; just take one large ziplock bag and a rolling pin!

Take out all your aggression on those biscuits!

Of course, if you can’t find chocolate digestives (McVities for preference), chocolate Graham cracker crumbs will do the job.

A word about the chocolate. I know I’ve said this before, but this recipe, in particular, benefits from using a good quality chocolate, not a baking chocolate or Chippits. It is the only flavouring of the whole cheesecake, after all. I used Lindt for the white chocolate, it’s the only decent white chocolate that either of our two supermarkets carries but it does work well. I used Cadbury Dairy Milk for the milk chocolate, but I guess Lindt or similar would also work well. The chcocolates have to be melted, and this can be done in a microwave if you are very careful-these real chocolates can burn very easily, especially the white one- but I’d recommend the old-fashioned way, in a bowl over simmering water, to ensure a good result.

The Recipe:
For the base:
300 g crushed milk chocolate digestive biscuits*
100 g melted unsalted butter

For the filling:
2 x 227g/ 2 8oz packs light cream cheese (I use light Philadelphia)
200 g/ 2 std bars white chocolate
200 g/ 2 std bars milk chocolate
250 ml/ 1 cup whipping cream (35% fat), separated into two portions of 125 ml each

* If using Graham crackers, you may have to add some sugar, too. The package will suggest a good base consistency.

Grease and line a 7″ loose-bottomed cake tin.

Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter and press into the base of the tin until completely covered.

Melt the milk chocolate, then allow to cool slightly.
Put one of the cream cheese portions and one 125 ml portion of the cream into a bowl. Add the melted milk chocolate and beat until smooth, using an electric mixer. Layer the mixture over the biscuit base.

Melt the white chocolate as above.
Place the second portions of cream cheese and cream into a clean bowl. Add the melted white chocolate and beat until smooth. Layer the white chocolate mixture over the milk chocolate smoothing the top. Cover with a piece of plastic film or aluminium foil and place in the refrigerator to chill, preferably overnight.

Simple, but extremely effective!

Remove from the fridge and take out of the tin, removing the parchment paper before placing on a serving dish. Decorate as preferred. I like a light sprinkle of cocoa powder, followed by icing sugar (powdered or confectioner’s sugar) but you could use more whipped cream, chocolate shavings, melted chocolate run hatch-wize across the surface, lots of options. Lovely served with a little soft fruit and pouring cream. Yum.

Variations on a Theme-Anzac-like Biscuits

September 25, 2020 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

It’s a bit scary publishing a post referring to ‘Anzac Biscuits’. They are something of an institution in Australia, after all. Named for ANZAC, the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, these biscuits are supposed to have been first made during WWI to send to the troops overseas, being made of ingredients that would travel well. The recipe is an institution too, variations being largely frowned upon. I have Australian relations, and I don’t want to upset them! I will, therefore call my biscuits ‘Anzac-like’, only.

Also there is the term ‘biscuit’. In Britain and, presumably, Australia, a biscuit is a small, flat, crisp, generally sweet cake (like a cookie) and not a scone-like item to serve with gravy. Imagine our consternation when we first visited the US and were presented with ‘Biscuits and Gravy’ on a menu, it did not compute at all (especially as it turned out that the gravy was white in colour!). Cookies were largely unknown in the UK back then, except for a chocolate chip item that rejoiced in the name of ‘Maryland Cookies’ that I suspect would not have passed muster in Maryland. Nowadays, ‘cookies’ are much more widespread but would still tend to refer to a soft-baked item, whilst we still use the general term ‘biscuit’ for all of them in our house. Suffice it to say, these are true biscuits, crisp when baked and store exceptionally well in an air-tight container.

I found a recipe that I’d kept in the back of a recipe book and thought I’d give it a try. One problem, it required golden syrup. We can sometimes find Lyle’s Golden Syrup in the local Bulk Barn (it has a little shelf of imported goodies), but the last time I looked it only had Black Treacle, not the same thing at all. When we lived near Montreal there were a couple of stores that specialized in imported British food and we did used to pop in every so often for the odd item (and Curlywurlys, for some reason), but our nearest equivalent is in Halifax, a 3-hr drive away. Not worth it for a tin of golden syrup. You can buy it on Amazon.ca, but its a bit pricy. Nothing else has quite the consistency of true golden syrup but I have found that liquid honey makes the best substitute for my purposes. I always have that in the cupboard, so that was ok.

I have read that the real Anzac biscuit recipe was just oats, sugar, butter, golden syrup and flour, but most recipes now include desiccated coconut. I didn’t have this in the cupboard but I did have half a packet of sweetened shredded coconut, the desiccated coconut’s juicier sibling. I decided to sub this in, and was glad that I did as it added a little softness to the recipe. Finally, adding anything else is generally thought off as sacrilege amongst aficionados, but I had a handful (maybe 1/2 cup) of milk chocolate chips available so I bunged them in, too. Actually, I really liked the result and would include them if I make them again.

I don’t make many biscuits/cookies so I forgot that they will still be soft when done; they harden up when out of the oven. Consequently, I maybe left them in a minute or so too long. They ended up very crisp, so much so that they gained the soubriquet of ‘Dwarf Bread Biscuits’ from Mark (fans of Sir Terry Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ books will understand the reference!), although he did manage to work his way through them!

The Recipe:

1 Cup (125 g/ 4 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
1 Cup (105 g/ 3.7 oz) rolled oats
1 Cup (90 g/3 oz) desiccated coconut (or sweetened shredded coconut)
1 Cup (185 g/6 oz) soft brown sugar
½ Cup (1 stick, 125g, 4 oz) butter
2 tbsp golden syrup (or liquid honey)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
2 tbsp boiling water
½ Cup (or so) milk or plain chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/gas 4. Lone a number of baking sheets/cookie sheets with parchment paper/baking paper.

Melt the butter and syrup/honey together in the microwave. Mix the soda with the boiling water and add this into the butter mixture.
Mix together the flour, oats, coconut and brown sugar (and chocolate chips, if using). Pour in the liquid ingredients and mix well.
Roll spoonsful of mixture, about the size of a walnut, onto the baking sheets, flattening slightly and leaving room for expansion.
A cookie scoop can work, too. I made about 24 biscuits.

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Bake, 15-20 minutes, until golden. Note that the tops will still be soft. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray until hardened, then transfer to a wire rack to complete cooling.

Serve and enjoy!