Tag: chocolate

The brownie recipe!

The brownie recipe

The brownie recipe! Yes, it is uploaded HERE. This is my recipe for a brownie, chocolatey, gooey, not too sweet.  I made it one day when friends were visiting between the very short time of ending a bushwalk and them getting back on the road with what was going to be an empty stomach.

I have read a number of good posts about brownies, wondering when I would finally find a recipe I would really like.  This blogger went on a mission of recipe testing,  others (there is a good post I read a couple times, just can’t find it now)  discuss the different versions: with cocoa (which I must say I have not yet tried) vs with chocolate, more cake-like, more fudge-like.  As for me I tend to like a brownie with some texture and a melting centre.

The brownie must be not too sweet, this is important as many brownies recipes have enormous amounts of sugar. Note that it is not sugar free either.  One of the keys of a good brownie is using brown sugar. It holds moisture better than white sugar due to the molasses.

Another important ingredient is the chocolate you use.  I like using 70% dark cooking chocolate. For some of you, it may be a bit strong, you can then use a bittersweet chocolate or 60% dark chocolate of good quality. If you are going to use milk chocolate for the choc chip in this recipe, decrease the white sugar by 40 g.  Now if you want a brownie for the children, try this brownie recipe with dulce de leche (i.e. caramel sweet concentrated milk) , my children love it!

chocolate and nuts soft brownies

Bread and brioche

A good brioche is a treat.  I use this start brioche recipe on this blog but do not necessarily shape it as a star brioche.  How beautiful!  Note that for a nice brioche, you will need a dough hook mixer.

This bread is our usual family stapple, I have now years of baking our bread. If you started on the journey and ended up with a brick, don’t be disheartened, try again.   If you have started going into sourdough bread making, you may want to read the tips on my sourdough bread making recipe. I do mostly baguettes now (I started with loaves, balls).  Sourdough baguettes are made from pretty much the same recipe but wetter (i.e. more sticky), see HERE.

briochhe parisienne et baguettes au levain
French brioche and sourdough baguettes, all homemade

 

My brownie, chocolatey, gooey, not too sweet

This is my recipe for a brownie, chocolatey, gooey, not too sweet.  I made it one day when friends were visiting between the very short time of ending a bushwalk and them getting back on the road with what was going to be an empty stomach.   I have read a number of good posts about brownies, wondering when I would finally find a recipe I would really like.  This blogger went on a mission of recipe testing,  others (there is a good post I read a couple times, just can’t find it now)  discuss the different versions: with cocoa (which I must say I have not yet tried) vs with chocolate, more cake-like, more fudge-like.  As for me I tend to like a brownie with some texture and a melting centre.

chocolate and nuts soft brownies

The brownie must be not too sweet, this is important as many brownies recipes have enormous amounts of sugar. Note that it is not sugar free either.  One of the keys of a good brownie is using brown sugar. It holds moisture better than white sugar due to the molasses.  Another important ingredient is the chocolate you use.  I like using 70% dark cooking chocolate. For some of you, it may be a bit strong, you can then use a bittersweet chocolate or 60% dark chocolate of good quality. If you are going to use milk chocolate for the choc chip in this recipe, decrease the white sugar by 40 g.  Now if you want a brownie for the children, try this brownie recipe with dulce de leche (i.e. caramel sweet concentrated milk) , my children love it!

My gooey brownie recipe

My gooey brownie is not hard to prepare, the secret is more in the cooking. To have a crust and gooey centre you must not cook it long but high enough that the outer parts are baked. I opt for a hot oven.  Some may opt for placing the uncooked brownie in the fridge, then baking it.  It is probably more controlled way to get there, however it requires more time.

chocolate and nuts soft brownies

For the nuts, it is completely up to you if you want to use some and which you want to use: plain or toasted hazelnuts partly cut, walnuts, almond, sliced almond, pecan, brazil, sunflower seeds, …the choices are multiple.  I tend to use what I feel like and also always what I have handy.

Ingredients:
  • 20 x 20 cm brownie tin (or slightly less but not larger)
  • 200 g of 70% chocolate (see note above on choice of chocolate)
  • 150 g of butter (I used salted butter, if not using salted butter, add a good pinch of salt)
  • 100 g of brown sugar
  • 50 g of white sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 150 g of flour
  • 150 g of a mix of nuts
  • 100 g of chocolate chips or chunks of chocolate (optional)

Note: I tried with and without raising powder, there is no difference here, so I opt now for none.

Method:
  1. Preheat the oven on 210°C. Line your brownie tin with baking paper.  If the one you have is longer than 20 cm, fold upwards the baking paper at 20 cm length and make a rough wall support with the extra length of paper.
  2. Melt the butter and chocolate together.
  3. Mix in the sugars
  4. Then add the eggs one at the time.
  5. Add all at once the flour, nuts and chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.
    Tip: ensure the dough is cold enough for the chocolate chip, else they will just melt.
  6.  Now the baking: cook for 15 minutes no more. Sometimes, 15 minutes may be too much, depending on your oven.  The cooking time is somewhere between 11 and 15 minutes. As soon as the brownie starts showing little cracks on the top, you know it is time to remove it from the oven and cool it down.  What happens if you go too far is that the oils in the chocolate and the butter split from the rest and appear on top and the chocolate tends to burn. The brownie will be dry.

It is best to wait for the brownie to cool down, not that this is what we necessarily will do!

chocolate and nuts soft brownies
It didn’t last long until some claimed a piece!
chocolate and nuts soft brownies
Outdoor brownie coffee break

Quick and beautiful

Did I find that camera again?

Some photos!! Finally!  Some photos means something to put on the blog.  There is plenty cooking going on but often no photos being taken. The reason is not always not finding the camera. It ranges from making time to not having anything to photograph any more because somebody ate it!

Some quick dishes

Sometimes I decide to bake something at the last minute, or I push the boundary of getting a dish done while doing many other things or having to leave the house soon. At other times, I am just coming home and need to cook something for dinner. Inspiration is not forthcoming until some ideas just pop up. Today, I am sharing some of these ideas with you.

Comfort food for an easy lunch or dinner

boulettes viande sauce tomate

Last weekend, I did not feel like sausages for dinner. I am not fan of sausages I must say. We had some mince and while the sausages were cooking (for the children who normally are sausages bug fans!) I just went on making meat balls.  The thing with meat balls is you can really put a variety of ingredients in them.  Some corn on the cob I was boiling because it had to be used ended up in the meat balls, so did some parsley, onion, garlic and more good things.

I simply served it with a green salad (as in lettuce dressed with olive oil&balsamic vinaigar).

Recipe HERE.

Chocolate fondant for a neighbourhood party

We got that invitation for a party which we weren’t sure what to bring or if to bring anything. I decided the children – there were bound to be quite a few – would always appreciate a little chocolate cake.

That recipe was found online a few days before I did it, I just gave it a try. Making:  5-10 minutes.  Cooking time: 8 minutes. It is a bit like a brownies but not so heavy.  The fun bit was for the children to decorate it using tagliatelle and icing sugar.

The recipe can be found where I found it, on ELLE website.

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A recent encounter with Alain Ducasse chocolate cream

I am on this home cooking facebook page where one day I saw and wrote down this recipe from a french chef for some “petits pots de creme au chocolat”.  These are little ramequins of chocolate cream.  This dessert does not contain any cream nor flour or cornflour. It is a creme anglaise with chocolate, good chocolate, and a fair bit of it!

I have now done them quite a few times in the last three month, they are easy to make and so pleasing.  This is the first time I manage to snap a photo of them. Recipe HERE.

petits pots au chocolat petits pots au chocolat

And I had not made these for a while….

These is my tke on the protuguese custard tartlets. All you need is a good puff pastry, a vanilla custard and a little extra butter and sugar!  The recipe is already on the blog HERE. The photos here are the last batch. They smelled so good when we were taking the photos, it was hard to resist!

potuguese style tartlets potuguese style tartlets potuguese style tartlets

Pots de creme au chocolat (Chocolate cream pots)

I have a smile while writing the name of this recipe, the name may indicate there is some cream while in reality there is none. This is a creme anglaise to which chocolate is added and allowed to rest in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. The proportion of eggs is quite high making sure the cream will set.

The recipe is from Alain Ducasse.

petits pots au chocolat

Makes 6.

Ingredients:
  • 6 ramequins (mine are 170 mL when full to the top, 130 mL here to the rib)
  • 6 egg yolks (large eggs)
  • 50 g of caster sugar
  • 1/2 L of full milk
  • 250 g of dark chocolate 70% cocoa
  • 50 g of good quality milk chocolate
Method:
  1. Cut the chocolate with a large knife into small chunks.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy but not so much it becomes too airy
  3. Heat up the milk and por it over the egg and sugar mix while whisking, mix well and return to the saucepan on medium heat until the back of a spoon is slightly covered with the cream. Don’t be tempted to go over that stage, your eggs will cook and scramble.  Never allow the cream to boil.
  4. Pour the cream over the chocolate and mix until all the chocolate is melted and the mix is silky.
  5. Place all the ramequins in a roasting pan. Fill each of them then cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least four hours overnight.

petits pots au chocolat

A bit of chocolate? Euh? Make your own chocolate tablet.

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE

It was a weekend in chocolate, I have been watching people speaking about making their own chocolate. I had purchased some time ago some cocoa butter, so I thought I may as well use it.  

This is when I realise most homemade chocolate blog discussions are by raw food fans

So you try to understand what you should be doing and the first thing you get is all these fancy ingredients: cacao (and raw please) and not cocoa, sweeteners of all kinds, oils of various types, and of course cocoa or cacao butter.  Waho!!! Hello Moon, this is raw food land! I don’t mind raw food people (up to them – and you will see my next recipe is a yummy raw food bar !) but I don’t see the benefit of fancy ingredients with higher environmental and socio-economical costs for the sake  of it.

So let us remain on basic ingredients, I used:

  1. Cocoa powder (dutch cocoa)
  2. Cocoa butter
  3. Icing sugar and/or honey
  4. Nuts
  5. Plus a range of ingredients through trials and errors as you will read below
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE
Cacao on the left, dutch cocoa on the right

Cocoa versus Cacao

The french for cocoa is cacao.  But this is not the focus here, just something to muddle up everything.  English speakers call it -if I get it right – cacao powder, the powder obtained by the drying and grounding of the cocoa beans after extraction of the oil (cacao butter) without any need for roasting the beans. At this stage, I must say,  I am not too sure of the last statement, I found two variations of what preparation involves online (a little or not at all).  Cocoa powder is obtained after drying and grounding to a powder the remaining of the cocoa beans after it has been roasted and pressed to remove the oil (cocoa butter).  

And what is dutch cocoa? Cocoa is naturally quite acidic, a process of neutralisation called the dutch process (designed by a Dutch man) aims at neutralising the acidity.  This brings the colour to a deep dark and the neutrality of the powder makes it easier for baking and other chocolate processes. 

Making your chocolate, proportions

The next thing I had to sort out are the relative quantity of cocoa butter to cocoa powder and sugar.  Keep in mind that the mass of cocoa powder and cocoa butter makes your percentage of cocoa in your chocolate. 

One last thing, cocoa butter is an oil, only called butter because it solidifies just below 30 degrees (celcius).

Dark chocolate

In other words for a 60% cocoa solids chocolate, you have 40% sugar and the rest is a range of possibility of cocoa butter and cocoa powder. 

To be honest, my measurements soon became alchemy  and tasting became the rule. 

For the nuts same thing, it is pretty much up to you.  The less, the cheaper from a manufacturer’s point of view of course. I tended to put way more than what recipes called for.Pl  I found it was nicer by roasting the nuts slightly, especially the hazelnuts.  You will need to remove their skins too. 

Milk Chocolate

Dark chocolate contains milk solids.  I must say that at this stage my attempts were not very successful, the powdered milk did not want to dissolve and with the icing sugar it seems too much for the cocoa butter which became a few times a solid mass.  So I added more melted cocoa butter, I tried vegetable oils, passed it through sieves,….

My attempts at milk chocolate were always grainy and not very satisfying. 

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE

What I learnt?

I learnt that chocolate making can be messy very quickly.  When it works, it is very rewarding.  I find that I don’t know enough to post a whole recipe, there are many aspects of chocolate making which I would love to understand better.  If anyone knows a good class in Sydney, I am happy to go there!   

  • Milk chocolate is not easy, probably because we don’t have the ingredients to the level of quality and thinness than professionals have access to.
  • The cocoa butter taste is quite strong and in many eating chocolate block, there is a fair amount of other vegetable oils.
  • Some dark couverture chocolate have some butter and concentrated milk.  This is the case for the Lindt bittersweet (58%).  I tried adding a little butter to a couple tablets, it is definitely a winner.
  • Adding salt bring the taste up. You don’t need a lot. 
  • It is not cheaper to make it yourself except if you are adding a lot of nuts! 
  • Adding honey is easier than adding icing sugar as it does not remain grainy, on the minus side, the chocolate bar is not as brittle.
  • Trying to transform the sugar into caramel and adding it to the cocoa powder and cocoa butter mix did not work.

In the end, you may wonder if there is a reason to do your own chocolate.  I can see two really good ones which will make me do it from time to time:

  • The smooth feeling of the dark chocolate and the development to the taste of your choice
  • It is fun!

But to be honest, I am quite happy to buy good quality couverture chocolate!  And no, we didn’t eat all this at once.  It actually stayed in the fridge for quite some times until the good photo camera came back home, then it surely disappeared through flocks of kids and grown ups. 

HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE
V
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE

Hazelnut chocolate torte (GF)

This is simply divine! This recipe of hazelnut chocolate GF torte is from Nadine Ingram, the owner of the Flour and Stone bakery in Woolloomooloo.  As the title suggests it is gluten free .  The cake is quite filling and will feed a little crowd!  This recipe has been published before, but if you like it, there is a book coming at the end of 2018 I was told by Nadine herself.

It is important that you use good quality chocolate. See the tips given all along the recipe, they will help a lot.

For 10-12 people.  You will need a 22 cm diameter round cake tin (springform for easy removal if available to you).

gluten free chocolate hazelnut
I took this photo at a local festival where I sold a few cakes, baguettes and ceramics of my production

Ingredients:

For the torte:

  • 250 g of good quality dark chocolate minimum 60% cocoa solid (if in Australia, the only choice is the Nestle 70% Plaistowe from supermarkets)
  • 200 g of full hazelnuts
  • 50 g of hazelnut meal (you can use almond meal as a substitute, I use hazelnut meal in my cake)
  • 225 unsalted butter, soft
  • 200 g of caster sugar
  • 6 eggs (referring here to eggs of 60-70 g size each)

For the chocolate ganache and topping:

  • 150 g of good quality dark chocolate minimum 60% cocoa solid, roughly chopped
  • 150 mL of pure cream (or sour cream)
  • 60 g toasted hazelnut, skins removed (use the same method than described below to obtain those)

Tip: if using couverture chocolate for the ganache, only use a 55% cocoa content, there is high risk of seizure with a 70% couverture chocolate.  NB: chocolate like Nestle Plaistowe are compound chocolates and will not size. 

Method:
For the cake
  1. To roast the hazelnuts, place them in a tin and in the oven at 160°C for 20 minutes. THen place in a clean tea towel and rub until all skins have fallen off. Set aside.
  2. Line a 22 cm tin base and sides with baking paper.
  3. Using a food processor, place the chocolate in the food processor and process until as fine as possible. You should get little pieces of about 3-5 mm.
  4. Do the same with the roasted hazelnuts (only those for the cake).
  5. Combine the chopped chocolate and hazelnuts with the hazelnut meal.
  6. Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2/3 of the sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes.  Continue to beat and add the egg yolks one at the time.
  7. Now add the hazelnut-chocolate mix on low speed and mix for a minute to combine. Transfer the mix in a large bowl.Tip: Use an oversized bowl, it will make mixing the egg whites much easier here.
  8. Beat the egg whites to snow (either clean AND dry very well your previous food bowl or use another one). Only beat until soft ribbon form, then add still beating the rest of the sugar. The meringue should be thick and glossy, however not than thick that is becomes solid, it should still be fluid. You should be able to fold it around with a spatula.
  9. Using a large spatula, fold the meringue through the hazelnut starting with 1/4 of the quantity first, then adding the rest in 2 or 3 parts.  Each time, don’t overdo it.  This is important or the batter may separate (the hazelnuts are quite oily). It is fine if there are some white meringue streaks as they will be mixed up with the next insertion. The last time needs to be fully mixed.Tip: the first part of the meringue you insert will be more “mixed” than “folded” through as the mix is quite dense to start with.  Use the width of the large bowl to spread the meringue over the mix before folding the mix on itself.
  10. Pour the batter in the prepared tin.  Tap the tin a couple of time on the kitchen bench to remove any potential air bubbles.  Bake for one hour or until the centre of the cake is stable when pressed with your fingertip (i.e. no longer wobbly).
  11. Remove from the oven, allow to cool down in the tin.  When ready to dress, unmold gently and place directly on the serving dish (top up).
For the ganache
  1. Prepare the ganache by cutting the ganache chocolate in small pieces. Place in a larger bowl.    Bring the cream to a boil. As soon as it is boiling, pour over the chocolate and cover (with a plate for example). Allow to melt on its own for a few minutes and stir to homogeneise.
  2. The ganache should be thick paste-like consistency.  Using a small spatula, spread roughly over the cake and put the remaining roasted full hazelnuts on top.

Do not place this cake in the fridge (except if it is really hot and the ganache is melting, generally cakes become hard and much less tasty when put in the fridge). This cake keeps well for a couple of days.

gluten free chocolate hazelnut

 

Autumn cooking. Today lets speak about pears

Autumn or early winter cooking, what does this means for you? I heard yesterday someone saying this was the return of roasts in their households. For some others it is chestnuts in the fire-place or a glass of red wine by the fire.  For me at home it is the return of pears, lemons, chestnuts, apples, wild mushrooms and in terms of dishes this is the return of soups and more slow cooked meat dishes or casseroles.

Pears variety in Australia

The main stream pear varieties are  the beurre bosc pear,  the packham pear and the corella pear.   Those varieties are also referred as “european pears”.  The William pear comes from the beurre bosc and is a northern America pear where it is known as the barlett. It is classified as a european pear.

There is a good fact sheet on the varieties and their availability through the Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) website.

The beurre bosc is elongated golden to  pear varietylight brown skin pear.  The skin is quite thick, the flesh is compact , yet very tasty.

 

 

 

pearThe william pear arrives earlier in the season, late summer to early autumn.  It is of medium size, not so elongated as the beurre bosc with quite a round belly.  The william is green when unripe and becomes yellow with or without red parts when ripe. It is a good pear to eat raw, it can also be cooked.

 

The packham pear is a parent of thepear variety william pear and looks quite like it. It is a medium so large size pear, green when unripe and a beautiful yellow when ripe.  When ripe it is juicy and very tasty.  The pear is consumed raw or cooked.

 

 

 

pear varietyCorella pears are quite small, yellow to red in colour.  Their flesh is juicy and milder in flavour than the william, beurre bosc or packham pear.  This pear variety is also good both for cooking and raw.

 

There is also the nashi pear also called “asian pear” variety  which is currently found on markets. The nashi pear is small, quite round, of light colour. It is very juicy with quite a bland taste.

Pear & Nutmeg Cake with Chocolate Sauce

I loved for a while those cake with the pears standing upright directly inside the cake. So last week, apparently it was my “mother’s day cake” made by me for me ….and family.

The cake recipe is based on a “quatre quarts” recipe, a French classic cake where flour, sugar, eggs and butter are at equal weight.  I decreased the quantity of sugar, swapped a little flour for hazelnut meal (which I don’t think made much of a difference), added cocoa and a little nutmeg. The pears can be pre-cooked in a sugar syrup if not ripe, else, it is not necessary to cook them.

The cake is cooked until just set, which will leave the middle soft and gooey.  The cake is served with a warm chocolate sauce.

pear chocolate dessert pear chocolate dessert pear chocolate dessert

The recipe is HERE.

 

 

Standing pear chocolate cake with its sauce

For this standing pear  chocolate cake, you will need some small pears, preferably ripe, although not so much they crumble in your fingers.  If your pears aren’t ripe, you should cook them partly in a sugar syrup . Note, there are many ways with sugar syrups for pears, for example, if you don’t have any wine for the poaching, you can use orange juice.  The flavour will be different but still beautiful.

As for the nutmeg, I was experimenting and probably put a little too much (1/2 teaspoon) which was not overbearing but maybe not to everyone’s taste. I have reduced it in the recipe. You could also put a pinch of cayenne pepper or medium chilli powder.

pear chocolate dessert

Ingredients:

For the cake

  • 5 small ripe pears, peeled and cored from the bottom, stem on
  • 4 eggs (about 60 g each)
  • 160 g of sugar
  • 200 g of butter, melted
  • 30 g of hazelnut meal
  • 140 g of plain flour
  • 1 tsp of raising powder
  • 1/4 tsp of freshly grounded nutmeg
  • 60 g dutch cocoa

For the chocolate sauce (from Pierre Herme):

  • 250 ml of water
  • 125 ml of cream
  • 130 g of dark 70% chocolate
  • 70 g of sugar
Preparation:
  1. Line the bottom and side of a springform pan, about 25 cm wide (it can be less but no wider).
  2. Preheat oven to 170°C.
  3. Mix the eggs and sugar until quite moussy. Add in melted butter, nutmeg, cocoa powder and hazelnut meal.
  4. Add in the flour and raising powder.
  5. Pour the batter into the lined mould, placing on pear in the middle and the other pears evenly as a ring.  Make sure there is batter underneath each pear.
  6. Bake until just set (about 30-40 minutes, it varies between ovens), the cake will show a few cracks on the sides and the top does not appear wobbly when the cake tin is slightly pushed.  Allow the cake to cool down a little (or more if time allows) before transferring to a serving plate.   The cake will collapse in the middle as it should still be gooey.
  7. To prepare the chocolate sauce, cut the chocolate in small pieces.  Place in a thick based saucepan the water, sugar, cream and chocolate.  Slowly heat up and stir until smooth with a wooden spoon. Bring to boiling point and simmer while stirring constantly until the sauce becomes unctuous and covers the back of the wooden spoon.  Use the sauce hot, or allow to cool at room temperature and use warm.  The excess sauce keeps in the fridge for two weeks.

Tip-  transferring the cake can be a little tricky.  I use the removable metal bottom of a tart tin as a very large spatula. 

Tip – Keep the cake at room temperature if leftovers (i.e. not in the fridge).

pear chocolate dessert

Reine de Saba

La Reine de Saba or The Queen of Sheba is a beautiful chocolate cake.  It is great for many occasions: morning and afternoon tea, accompaniment of a dessert cream, lunch box or parties birthday cake. I have also used it as a basis for a birthday cake (a crocodile chocolate cake).

You will find some versions of this cake which have almond meal instead of flour. It is also delicious, not as light though. I liked this one from the goodfood magasine.

Ingredients
  • 150 g of white or caster sugar
  • 100 g of plain flour
  • 2/3 sachet of raising powder or 2/3 teaspoon if using it from the box
  • 150 g of dark cooking chocolate (if you are using a 70% cocoa chocolate, decrease the chocolate quantity to 120 g, it would be too strong for children).
  • 120 g of butter
  • 4 egg yolks and 4 egg white beaten to snow.
Method
  1. Heat the oven to 180 °Celsius.
  2. Butter and flour a tin, or butter and line.
  3. Melt the butter and chocolate together.
  4. Mix in the sugar, then the egg yolks one at the time.
  5. Add the flour and raising powder together, being careful not to create any lumps.
  6. Fold in the egg whites (in snow) gently.
  7. Transfer to the baking tin and insert in the oven.
  8. Cook until dry in the center (20 to 30 min depending on ovens and thickness of the cake in the tin)

 

 

 

Butter-free chocolate cake

This is pretty much as guilt free as chocolate cake go: no butter and pretty low sugar. What I like with this butter-free chocolate cake is that it is also much easier to digest than a traditional chocolate cake.  Why? How?  Simply by replacing the butter by very (like very) thinly grated zucchini (a.k.a. courgette).  And if you are on a gluten-free diet, you could also replace the little flour in there by GF flour.

Before you start:

  1. You need a good quality cooking chocolate (in Australia, the 70% cocoa Nestle Plaistowe is suitable)
  2. The zucchini: 200 g of zucchini and no more (a bit less is fine). I have now done the cake a few times, trialing a few variations.  The last one used 180 g of zucchini and was fine! However, if you add more (which I also did), the cake loses some of its moisture from a denser texture.  Two hundred grammes zucchini is one average size piece of vegetable.  You need to peel it and remove the ends.  Then weight it. Grate it over a bowl and make sure to keep all the juice.  I was asked the question: can you use the blender. I tried, it works, just a bit much more washing-up than the grater for little saving, your choice.
  3. The flour: the flour weight is only 50 g.  If you go for a gluten-free option, you can either use cornflour but then you need to reduce it to 35 g as corn flour absorbs more moisture than wheat flour, or use one of the GL flour mix.

guilt free chocolate cake

Ingredients:
  • 4 eggs
  • 200 g dark cooking chocolate
  • 80 g caster sugar
  • 200 g thinly grated zucchini (see note above)
  • 50 g plain flour (see note above)
  • 100 mL milk (of your choice)
Method:
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Butter and flour well a 20 cm round cake tin.
  3. Break the chocolate in pieces and melt with half of the milk.  You can either use the microwave on one minutes settings full power, repeat if not fully melted either with 30 second or another minutes (it depends on the power of your microwave). Once the chocolate is melted, stir until smooth and silky, add the remaining milk.
  4. In a clean bowl, separate the egg yolks from the whites.  Beat the yolks with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the zucchini (juice included).  Add the chocolate to the mix.
  5. Finally, mix in the flour.
  6. Beat the egg white to snow and carefully fold into the chocolate mix.
  7. Pour into the prepared tin.  Place in the oven, reduce the heat to 160°C after 10 minutes.  The cake should cook in 20-30 mn depending on ovens.  Remove when the centre is no longer wobbly when gently pressed with a couple fingers. Allow to cool down in the tin for five minutes before transferring to the serving dish:  turn over a metal rack and then over the serving dish.

Tip: if you have a child helping you tell them to mix in the flour and cocoa starting from the centre, always touching the bottom of the bowl , let them enlarge the circle as the centre gets darker. This technique will avoid lumps. 

Tip: wondering what happens if you don’t reduce the oven? The cake will cook quicker and can lose a little moisture but not that much, it will still be quite moist. 

And if you are wondering about the taste brought by the zucchini, I will tell that if people don’t know about it, they are unlikely to guess. Once you know, you will possibly note a taste a little more “earthy”, but, to be honest, nothing preventing the cake disappearing in minutes and for zucchini-advert kids to take a second or third helping!

guilt free chocolate cake

Chocolate Souffle

I love a good generous chocolate souffle. It is really quick to prepare, and cooks quickly too. And it is deliciouuuuuus.  I prefer the souffle family version or sharing version, that it in a big tall round dish.  This is a personal taste, some may prefer the individual ramequins.  This recipe is from a French magazine called “ricardo cuisine“, I have adapted the recipe (essentially removed the sugar, it is not necessary).

souffle au chocolat
Chocolate souffle and cake – here the souffle has already deflated.

For a successful souffle (any souffle, not just chocolate), there are a few rules to follow:

  1. Do NOT open the oven door while the souffle is cooking. The sudden drop of temperature is very likely to make your souffle collapse and it will not rise again.  when you check for donesness, do it quickly and do not remove the dish from the oven
  2. Serve you souffle as soon as possible once out of the oven because it always deflates a little and seeing the souffle change shape is fun too!
  3. The souffle needs either to be baked in ramequins or in a large dish with tall vertical edges, what is important is that the width is about 1.5 size the height of the sides, not much more, and the sides must be vertical.
  4. Make sure your egg whites are well beaten and inserted without breaking them i.e. they need to be folded in, not mixed in!

For a chocolate souffle. there are a few ways to go about it.  Here, there is nothing very technical, so all good. Choose a good quality cooking chocolate, a 55-60% cocoa is best if the souffle is also for children, otherwise feel free to use 70% cocoa cooking chocolate.

tea and treat

Ingredients:
  • 140 g dark cooking chocolate
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 125 mL of milk
  • 1 tbsp corn flour
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
  • A nut of butter and caster sugar for the dish
Method:
  1. Butter the dish and coat over with caster sugar.
  2. Heat up the oven to 180°C.
  3. Separate the egg white and egg yolks. Mix the cornflour and cream of tartar with the egg yolks.
  4. In a saucepan, melt the chocolate in the milk.  As it is melted, remove from the fire and mix and add in the cornflour/eggyolk mix.
  5. Beat the eggwhites until firm. Add to the chocolate mix and gently fold in. Transfer to the tin.
  6. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top of the souffle is steady when gently poked and cracks have appeared on the top.  If you want it not so oozy in the centre, allow for a little longer.
  7. Serve immediately but be careful, it is hot!

Tip: if there are left overs, keep those at room temperature for the next day!  (not in the fridge please).

goozy inside
Oozy chocolate souffle…Yum!

It is all about pears

At the moment it is all about pears. Did you notice? They have arrived in many kind and are just beautiful.  My favourite to eat is the Pear Williams, when they are just ripe and full of juice. For some reasons, many Australians like their pears stone hard. I just don’t get it – apart for having a less messy fruit – because a hard pear has so little flavour compared to a ripe pear!

When it comes to dessert, pears can be used a number of way.  My latest addition to the blog is the “Poire Belle Hélène”, the hero dish of the week. There are plenty more family desserts with pears either comforting or elegant, all delicious! Here you go:

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The Poire Belle Hélène (Pear Belle Helene)

A French classic, elegant, light and always impressive.  The pears are poached in a syrup often composed of white wine, spices such as cinnamon, vanilla, cloves and served with a hot chocolate sauce.

For my recipe, click HERE.

poached pear

A family Pear and Almond Tart

tarte poire et amande This is a very easy tart. A recipe from Donna Hay.  The beauty is that you do not need to worry about a pastry, there is none.

A number of pears variety work for this tart: Corella, Williams, Packam.

The recipe is HERE.

 

 

 

 

The mid-week pear and chocolate flan

Now, this is a family’s favourite, as much for children as for adults!  It takes 5 minutes to make.  A great way to use pears that need eating! Soooooo easy. Recipe: HERE! 

flan poire chocolat

The Pear and Chocolate Tart

A chocolate glazing hiding a melty creamy pear filling! This is a little more elaborate, not your mid-week type of dessert as it takes a bit more time to make.  But yum yum yum!  The photo is not exceptional I realise, time to do it once more and this time do mouth watering photos.

hidden pear & chocolate tart

Another simple poached pear and its yogurt cake

Poached pears can be served just as such because they are truly beautiful. This pears were poached  similarly to the “Poire Belle Helene“.  The yoghurt cake is HERE.

The ever simple pear tart

If you are after something simple, not fancy, stop here.  A pear tart is just that, similarly to an apple tart.

Use option B of the “Everyday apple tart” recipe and add the almond meal. Pears are juicy and the almond meal will soak up the juice and avoid a soggy tart.