Yes! This is a chocolate mousse cake baked in 4 minutes in a traditionnal oven (fan-forced). It is rather strong in chocolate, so you don’t need much, but the first mouthful was Waho! I would not do it too often because it is rather strong, but will definitely do it again.
I rediscovered this recipe in some magazine clips I had not touched for a while. My clip does not say where it comes from.
You need 10 minutes to prepare and 4 minutes to bake it!
Ingredients:
180 g of dark cooking chocolate 60 % cocoa minimum
50 g butter
30 g flour
30 g caster sugar
3 eggs separated
Choose a mould not too wide, mine is about 18 cm diameter, closer to 15 cm would be better aesthetically.
Method:
First, preheat the oven to 240°C
Melt the chocolate together with the butter either in bain marie or in the microwave
In the meanwhile, beat with a large whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and moussy
Add the melted chocolate and butter
Then, add the flour
Bring the eggwhite to snow and fold in carefully.
Butter and flour the tin. Pour the mix in gently. Bake for 4 minutes. You want a thin crust on the outside and a moist middle. By the way, the recipe says, do not bake for more than an extra minute, the oven does not make so much difference.
Cool down in the tin before unmoulding and placing on a plate.
A gluten free hazelnut chocolate friand? A friand? To hard? Not at all! This one (at least) is super easy, believe me. And even better mega delicious. This recipe is derived from a recipe by Donna Hay.
It has both chocolate (chopped) and cocoa, as a result it is really indulgent on the chocolate.
Tip: if you don’t have GF flour at home, use brown rice flour or if you are not coeliac or gluten intolerant, use plain flour.
Tip: if you don’t have friands moulds, ou can use a small muffin tray.
Makes 12 friands
Ingredients
dry ingredients:
1 cup hazelnut meal
1 2/3 cup of icing sugar
half a cup GF flour
half a cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
200 g dark cooking chocolate chopped
wet ingredients:
5 eggwhites
140 butter
and 2 tablespoons of chopped hazelnut.
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
In a bowl place all the dry ingredients together, mix.
Add the wet ingredients i.e. the butter, eggwhites. Mix to combine.
Butter and flour a print mould (except if using silicone ones).
Fill each print with one large spoon of the mix
Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Cool in the pan until about cold.
Yum, yum ! And for bonus: this lunch box chocolate fondant slice is super mega easy and quick to cook. It is pretty much the case of mixing all ingredients together (no skills required there) and placing it in brownie tin or slice tin, bake it and this is it! In terms of effort value vs results, it rates pretty high!
That recipe is based on a can of condensed milk (replace sugar and need for butter).
If you are not going to use all of it within the coming days, best is to wrap in cell cling wrap and freeze. Place them in the kids lunch box, by the time they will eat them, they will be defrosted.
Now, on the butter: I tried without and with butter (70 g), both are quite satisfactory, the butter version is a little more rich and in term of taste a little more complex. The children did not make the difference between the two versions.
Makes 12 lunch box serves
Cooking time, with no added butter – 10 min (almost double if adding butter)
Ingredients:
1 can (about 400g) of sweet condensed milk
200 g of dark cooking chocolate
4 eggs
70 g of butter (only if you want to add a little more richness, otherwise omit)
50 g of flour
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180°C
Butter and line a brownie tin
Melt the chocolate (and butter if adding)
Add the eggs one by one and the condensed milk. Then add the flour.
Pour in the prepared tin. Make sure not to trap air bubbles as the batter is quite thick especially if not using the butter (to make sure, tap your filled tin on the bench a couple of time, this will make any bubble break)
Bake until cooked, the slice must be firm when touching (not wobbly), the edges will show a few crackling marks.
Cool down for a few minutes before cutting in portions.
The gateau au chocolat de Suzy takes its name from the woman who created this chocolate cake, called “Suzanne”. The recipe was published in the “Larousse du Chocolat” from Pierre Herme.
This recipe is pretty easy. There is not need to know how to separate and fold eggwhites, really simple! The cake is delicious and quite chocolaty but not so much that children cannot have it.
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking: 30 min
Serves 8
Ingredients:
250 g of dark cooking chocolate at 60-64 % (or a combination of 70% and 50% or just go for 70%)
250 g of salted butter + a little bit to prepare the mould
4 eggs
220 g of caster sugar
70 g of plain flour + a little more for the mould
Note: The ingredients include butter and flour to prepare the mould, which works really well with this cake. If you prefer lining your mould with baking paper (sometimes much safer), you will not need the extra flour. If you are using a silicone mould, there is no need to butter and flour your tin or to line it.
Tip: you must use a good chocolate, in Australia you can find the Nestle Plaistowe in about all supermarkets (they have 50 % and 70%).
Method:
Preheat the oven on 180°C
Break the chocolate in pieces and melt with the butter over a bain marie or other method of your choice. You can microwave full power on 1 minute and then per 30 seconds if not sufficient.
In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Make sure you give a good whisking, you can even get out your kitchenAid or similar here.Tip: if using a whisk, use a large one, it will be much easier and quicker to get a fluffy pale creamy mix.
Add the melted chocolate-butter mix. Mix in the flour.
Butter and flour a 22 cm round tin (or similar size). Alternatively, you can choose to line the tin with baking paper on the base and butter&flour the sides.
Pour the batter in the tin and bake for about 30 min (this will change slightly depending on the oven and the diameter of your tin). The cake is cooked when a skewer inserted through the center comes out dry (there may be bit of chocolate on it, the cake is cooked as long as it is not liquid) or when there is no more wobble when you place your hand over the center of the cake and gently move the top.
Cool down on a grid: slide it if you are using a pull apart tin or turn it over twice gently so the bottom part is on the grid. If you are using a silicone mould, leave it to cool in it.
Pear and almond are so good together. This tarte is not only very easy to make, it presents well. The recipe is from Donna Hay, with a few twicks in the method. This tarte has no shell, it is a cake with the fruits placed on top. The shape of the tin makes it (plus it is good!)!
Ingredients:
90 g of soft butter (I use salted butter)
90 g of brown sugar (1/2 cup)
2 eggs
120 g of almond meal (1 cup)
40 g of plain flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon rind (decrease to 1 if you prefer the lemon flavour to be softer)
2 pears (I used Corella, you can use Packham, Williams would work well, but not too ripe)
90 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
raw sugar for sprinkling
Method
Preheat oven to 160°C. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until just combined. Add the eggs, almond meal, flour, baking powder and lemon rind and mix until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased 9.5cm x 33cm loose-bottom fluted tarte tin. Here, you may want to use baking paper to cover only the bottom of the tarte tin, this will make the transition to the serving dish easier.
Place the pears and extra brown sugar in a bowl and toss to coat. Press the pears into the tart mixture and bake for 35–40 minutes or until golden brown. You may not be able to place all your pieces of pear.
Sprinkle with raw sugar and allow to cool in the tin.
This one is a winner. Definitely. It was gone in such a short time from the kitchen bench, it did not even have time to move from it!
I tried some beetroot chocolate cake recipe a while ago, but was not completely won over. This time it is different. The recipe is inspired from BBC Good Food. I added cocoa nibs and pieces of chocolate.
Ingredients:
This makes quite a large brownie. For a 18×18 cm square tin divide by two.
500 g beetroot steemed (3-4 medium beets)
100 g unsalted butter, plus extra for the tin
200 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
1 tsp vanilla extract
250 g caster sugar
3 eggs
100 g plain flour
30 g dutch cocoa powder
100 g cocoa nibs
150 g dark cooking chocolate cut in chuncks (0.5 mm max)
Method:
Peel the beetroot, steam the beetroot. Place in the food processor to reduce to a mash.
Heat oven to 180°C.
While the beetroot cooks, butter then line the baking tin. Melt the butter and chocolate together. Add to the beetroot and blend until super smooth. Add the cocoa.
Put the sugar and eggs into a large bowl or food processor, then beat until thick, pale and foamy, about 2 mins. Add in the chocolate-beetroot mix. Add the flour and gently fold in using a large spatula.
Pour into the prepared tin, place on top the cocoa nibs and cut chocolate chips and using a fork insert it into the mix. You can alternatively add them at the same time as the flour, it should work, I have not yet tried that way.
Bake for 25 mins or until it starts to crack (but not too much) on top and is just set in the middle.
Cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares and dust with cocoa powder.
Madeleines are very versatile biscuits. First, they taste great. Then they are kind of cute. The other advantage is that they take no time to make and that you generally will ave the ingredients at home!
Madeleines can be served on their own for the afternoon snack, or with coffee or tea. I love them, and I am not the only one (tested for you!). They are also perfect for children who come back again and again for a spare one!
Again a french classic, yoghurt cakes are called gateaux au yahourt in the french cuisine! The reason yogurt cakes are so well loved is these crusty edges and top and the moist inside with that yoghurt taste cake that we recognise closed eyes.
A yoghurt pot to measure all ingredients! How fun for kids!
In France, the recipe is based on the volume of a little pot of yoghurt (about 1/2 cup), so it is fun to measure the other ingredients with that container. Elsewhere in the word, yoghurt may not be sold so much in individual portions by default and also the use of measuring cups is not a novelty!
Two recipes to choose from:
Anyway, for you here, I have added two recipes to this blog and provided the quantities in grams as well.
The first one is the “original” yoghurt cake, it can be a bit floury, it is a matter of taste.
The second one (Yoghurt Cake, the other version) is not floury and has more yoghurt (and not so much sugar). I love that one too. The down is that the edges are not as addictive, the cake makes up for it in its taste.
The cake is generally baked in a round tin, but feel free to use muffin trays like I did.
If you use it for afternoon tea, the cake is great on its own. If you want to serve it for dessert, poach some fruits and serve it with the reduced poaching syrup!
Having chocolate marble cake when I was a child was a treat, I would eat along the different colours keeping the chocolate bit for the end. This cake is easy to make and is great as an afternoon tea cake or sliced for lunch box treat (cell wrap the slices individually, freeze and place frozen in lunch boxes, it will be unfrozen by the time the child gets to it).
Ingredients
100 g of chocolate 64 to 70% cocoa
180 g butter melted
150 g of brown sugar (cassonade in French)
a drop of vanilla essence
4 eggs
200 g of self raising flour or 200 g of plain flour and 1 heaped teaspoon of raising powder (if using raising powder in sachet, one sachet).
Method
Butter and flour well your tins. Warm up the oven on 180°C.
Mix the sugar and butter well, then mix in the egg yolks one at the time, add the vanilla.
Mix in the flour and raising powder and divide in two bowls.
Melt the chocolate. In one of the bowl, add the melted chocolate.
Beat the egg white to snow. Divide in each of the bowls and fold gently.
Pour in the tins alternating the mixes.
Bake for about 45 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out dry. Then turn on a cooling rack.
This hazelnut chocolate cake is soft, rich in chocolate and will get you going for more. This recipe contains mascarpone and hazelnuts. I love the taste of the roasted hazelnuts in it.
This recipe is from Frank Camorra and was published in Good Food. The cake is beautiful. In terms of difficulty, it goes into the easy basket.
Ingredients
150 g hazelnuts, toasted and skinned -see tip
100 g ground almonds
100 g dried breadcrumbs -see tip
300 g good cooking chocolate
165 g butter, softened
150 g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
150 g mascarpone cheese
Tip on toasted and skinned hazelnuts: Place the hazelnuts on a single level under the grill, shake from time to time. When toasted, place the hazelnut into a tea-towel, close the towel and rub the fabric and nuts. The skins will peel off.
Tip on making your own bread crumbs: toast a few pieces of bread until quite coloured but not burned. Use the rolling pin and roll over the tasted bread. Toast again if necessary. You will not manage to get the whole slice into crumbs. Repeat the process until you have the quantity sought. To make the crumbs finer, whiz in a little food processor.
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a 24 centimetre spring-form pan with baking paper.
Whiz the hazelnuts in a food processor until they are finely and evenly ground, then add the ground almonds and breadcrumbs and pulse the processor a few times to mix. Remove from the processor and reserve in a bowl.
Break up the chocolate into a heatproof bowl, place over a pot of simmering water (the bowl should not touch the water) and stir until melted. With a whisk or in the food processor, whiz the butter and sugar until well mixed, then add the eggs.
Add the vanilla, ground nuts, chocolate and mascarpone and mix together well.
Pour into the spring-form pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes (the surface of the cake usually cracks in a ring).
Cool slightly before serving. You can, once cold enough, dust with icing sugar.
Serving suggestions:
Top with roasted strawberries and some sauce and/or add a dollop of creme fraiche or whipped cream.
