Tag: gluten free

Ruby red rhubarb and berries crumble

This ruby red rhubarb and berries crumble is rich in taste. I find it comforting but not in the sense of heavy food. The colour of it is amazing, you can’t wait to put your spoon into it!

Here I have access to red rhubarb, you can do it with green rhubarb, the colour will be a bit different. You can choose not to do a crumble and just keep the compote to have as-is with a biscuit or at breakfast.

rhubarb
Ruby red rhubarb and berries crumble, the fruit compote has boiled over the crumble. The yellow colour of the crumble is due to the use of besan four.
Ingredients:

For the red ruby rhubarb and berries compote:

  • 500 g of rhubarb (1 bunch)
  • 300 g of mixed frozen berries
  • 150 g of white sugar
  • 200 ml of red wine

For the crumble top:

  • 75 g of very soft butter (or 1/2 melted butter)
  • 150 g of flour.  You can use gluten-free flour.  In the photo, I have used besan flour (chickpea flour)
  • 75 g of caster sugar
  • 75 g of walnut, crushed in your hand
  • 25 g of pistachios
Method:
  1. Peel the rhubarb and wash the stalls.
    Tip: peeling rhubarb consists in cutting the leaf off, then the bottom bit (the thick end). With the bottom bit will come some of the rhubarb skin in the form of a long string of “skin”. Pull till it comes off. 
  2. Cut the rhubarb in 1-2 cm long pieces. Place in a large saucepan with the redberries, the sugar and the red wine.
  3. Cook with a lid on high heat until it reaches a boil then reduce the heat to medium to get a simmer and cook until the rhubarb is tender (about 20 minutes).
  4. You can choose to leave the compote as it is or blend it partially (or fully). I like to blend it a little bit with a blending stick. Keep on the stove a little longer if you wish to reduce the juices further.
  5. Now for the crumble: mix together the very soft butter, flour, sugar, walnuts and pistachios.  Rub between your hands until you get a sandy to gravelly texture.
  6. You are now ready to put together the crumble. Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Use an oven-proof dish and pour in it 4-5 cm thick of the red ruby rhubarb and berries compote.  Cover with the crumble mix
  7. Cook for half an hour or until the topping of the crumble has reached a brown colour. The liquid may come over the crumble, that’s fine.
  8. Cool a little before serving. You can also serve this at room temperature.

rhubarb

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cookies and cream ice-cream

This is a very simple recipe for cookies and cream ice-cream.  Mix and freeze! It is very important all your ingredients be cold to start with if you want to churn it on the day. If you have time, mix the ingredients (see recipe) and churn it the next day. I didn’t invent this cookies and cream ice-cream recipe, it comes from “Chew Out Loud“, here adapted for metric measures.

Note that I use an ice cream machine for making my ice-cream.

Makes about a one litre container.

Ingredients
  • 250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
  • 150 g (3/4 cup) of caster sugar
  • 500 mL of thickened cream (2 cups)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped Oreos

Note: this is quite sweet, you can reduce the sugar to 100 or 120g if you prefer it a little less sweet (I wouldn’tgo lower)

Method:
  1. In a large bowl combine together with a whisk, the milk, the cream, the vanilla and the sugar. Mexi well. Check the vanilla level for taste, adding a little bit if desired.
  2. If you have been using cold dairy ingredients, you can churn it straight away, else, allow it to cool down overnight in the fridge and churn the following day.
  3. Once churned (use your machine instruction), roughly cut the Oreos into small pieces (5 mm to 1 cm) and while transferring to the ice-cream container, mix the Oreos through. Make sure to keep a few of the broken cookies for the top!

Roasted almond and chocolate slice

This roasted almond and chocolate slice is very easy to make and quick. The difference from the more frequent almond cake base is the amazing aroma that comes from having toasted carefully the almond meal!

You will need a 20 x 20 cm slice tin or brownie tin for this slice.

Ingredients:
  • 180 g of caster sugar
  • 4 large eggs (that means from a box of 12 eggs weighting 700 g min)
  • 200 g of  almond meal
  • A few drops of good vanilla extract
  • 100 g of melted butter (I use salted butter, the choice is yours)
  • Chocolate top: 150 g of dark chocolate and 70 g of butter
Method:
  1. Heat up the oven to 170°C.
  2. Place the almond meal in a large thick based frypan on medium to high heat (no need for anything else!).  While constantly moving the almond meal around slowly with a wooden spoon or wooden spatula, allow it to toast to a nice golden brown. Remove from the heat when you reach the colour and immediately transfer to a bowl (else the almond meal will further darken). Careful, this is hot.
  3. In a food mixer with the whisk (or by hand with a wide whisk!), whisk together sugar and eggs until light and fluffy like a mousse.
  4. Add the vanilla extract.
  5. Slow down the speed of the mixer if using one. Add the melted butter. Then add the roasted almond meal once it has cooled down.
  6. Line the tray with baking paper (use a bit of butter to help it stick well on the sides). Pour the bottom mix into the slice tin.
  7. Bake until light brown (you can insert a skewer to check or simply press the top of the base with the tip of your fingers, it will slightly spring back). Remove from the oven. Leave in the tray.
  8. Melt the chocolate and  70 g of butter. Once melted, mix until smooth, then pour over the base and use a spatula to spread across the base.
  9. Leave to cool until set. If you are short of time, place the tray in the freezer for 20 minutes.
  10. Cut into slices.  The slices keep well for a few days in an air-tight container. Do not refrigerate.

barre amande et chocolat

Easter 2020. Pear and no chocolate overdose!

Easter 2020 and pear. And chocolate of course.  Did you manage Easter without a chocolate overdose?

Not to worry, there was chocolate involved in our household.  We made an Easter bunny, two large Easter eggs and a myriad of small eggs.  Tempering chocolate is a great introduction for children to chemistry. Very messy though!

Poached autumn pear and its zabaglione mousse

This Easter 2020, for the meals I aimed at using some beautiful autumn ingredients I had gathered (in the shops considering we can’t travel): chestnuts, mushrooms, beans, a nice joint of lamb, different types of pears.  What to do? Slowly this idea came up.  Pear was going to be the queen of Easter 2020.  I ended up poaching some pears in a mix of squeezed orange juice and spices.  I was not going to discard the poaching liquid! The poaching liquid was the basis for a zabaglione mousse.  The zabaglione was delicious warm, as a  mousse, it has a great texture and works well with the poached pear.  I  prefered it warm butone of my kids loves it as a cold mousse, so that comes down to personal preferences.

poached pear poached pear in zabaglione

Other pear recipes

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I cook a lot with pears at the moment, obviously peak season. Check out these recipes that may inspire you.

Pear tarte tatin – works for pear and apple. The trick is to cook the fruits in a very buttery water bath before making the pie. The method behind the recipe comes from a reknown French pastry chef, Christophe Michalak.  PS- you can find real butter puff pastry in Asutralian supermarkets now!

Pear and chocolate flan – a rapid and very easy recipe. It is a crowd lover and can be used to make use of those pears about to go off.

A bit more elaborate, this pear and chocolate tarte is a winner and always makes an impression.  You will need to make a shorcrust pastry. It is a great dessert to finish off a diner party! – the photo I have is not exceptional, a good excuse to do it soon!

I like this more conventional pear and almond tarte.

Last year, I made this chocolate and standing pear cake. It was pretty good. I will put it back on my list for this month.

My last idea, the very simple Poire Belle Helene, one of my favourite classic.  Here with a little chocolate twist.

I can’t  believe I was about to forget the good old simple rural pear tarte.  it is the same recipe as the classic apple tarte or pretty much.  The evening classic of many families.  I grew up with those!

Zabaglione mousse with its autumn pear

Zabaglione mousse with its autumn pear or as I wanted to name it Mousse sabayon a la poire d’automne.  More simply it is a beautiful poached pear in a pear mousse.

There are three ways the pear flavours and autumn tones come in: the colours are the yellow and brown of the autumn season, the pear is poached in an orange and spice syrup, the same syrup is then used in the zabaglione mousse.

For the poached pear in autumn syrup, click HERE to the recipe.

Serves 4 or 5 .  The recipe here ends up making 5 mousse servings, so either add a pear to the recipe of the poached pear if there are five or you will just fill one ramequin for an extra serve the next day.

For this recipe you need a wide whisk.

Ingredients:
  • 4 (or 5) poached pear (recipe HERE)

    poached pear
    Poached pears you will need for this recipe, you will also need its cooking syrup.
  • 300 mL of the poached pear syrup, strained through a  sieve.
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 50 g caster sugar
  • 1 portion of cognac (optional)
  • 1.5 gelatine leaf titanium strength (5 g)
  • 300 mL of cream, whipped.
  • Rosemary to serve
Method:
  1. Place 3 cm of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil, once boiling, allow to simmer.
  2. Put the gelative leave in a bowl of cold water.
  3. In a large metal bowl, place together the syrup, egg yolks, caster sugar, cognac.  Give it a good mix.
  4. Place the bowl over the simering water.    From that time you need to whisk until the mix at least doubles in volume, becomes clear and becomes very foamy. It will also thicken. This takes about five minutes.  making a zabaglione
  5. Remove from the heat. Drain the gelatine and add it to the zabaglione, mix well. Allow to cool for a few minutes while you sort out your serving dishes, then fold through the whipped cream.
  6. Distribute between five ramequins or bowls.   Place the pears in the middle of each dish. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  Add a few leaves of rosemary before serving.

poeached pear in zabaglione mousse

Poached pears in autumn syrup

This poached pears in autumn syrup recipe aims at a not too sweet cooked pear with subtle earthy  flavours. To be eaten with a dry biscuit, or a crumble of roasted chestnuts or a cream such as creme anglaise or a sabayon. poached pear

A sabayon is more known in Australia as a zabaglione.

There are many ways with poached pears. None can be wrong, pears are so versatile! If you are after stronger flavours you can use white wine or red wine as a basis to your syrup.  Here the syrup is based on orange juice.

Ingredients:

For poached pear in autumn syrup, think what may be available easily. It is peak citrus season, the beginning of colder days where fresh ginger is a must have stapple against the eventual cold, rosemary is abundant (that can be said all year round really for rosemary) and summer fruits season with stronger flavours are over.

  • 4 beurre bosc pears, firm
  • juice of 6 oranges
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 1 string of rosemary
  • 140 g of white sugar
  • about 3 cm³ of fresh ginger cut in thing slices
  • 250 mL of water (1 cup)
  • 1 cinamon roll
  • 2 pinches of grated nutmeg
Method:
  1. Assemble all the ingredients in a saucepan and slowly heat up.
  2. In the meanwhile, peel the pears without cutting them. With the pointy end of the knife you are using  remove the core coring through the bottom of the pear. At the same time, ensure the bottom is flat so the pear can stand vertical, if not, trim slightly.
  3. Place the pears in the syrup (you may have to put the pears on their sides), bring to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool down in the saucepan.
  4. When ready to serve, remove the pear and place them on a plate to allow them to drain. Pass the syrup through a sieve and retain separately.

Tip: the syrup can keep more than a week in the fridge if you dont use it readily.  Use the syrup in a drink such as spiced hot wine, or a flavoured tea, or to make a semolina cake or as a basis for zabaglione.

poached pear

Italian Pine Mushrooms and greens poelee

This italian pine mushrooms and greens peolee is quick and simple.  It combines great flavours and texture. A pity the mushrooms season is short.  A poelee is a French word that is probably not used much in the world of cooking downunder. It is a sauteed dish.  The word sauteed being another french cooking world.  In brief, this dish is made in a frypan and is designed to be done reasonably quickly and bring together a range of flavours.

Italian mushrooms can be found around Sydney between late February and late March. The season may vary with the weather. Pine forests in the area of the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands are renowed for it.  I was inited years ago to go on a foraging expedition, it was a great discooery, finally a mushroom foraging that did not see me frustrated because I could not see them. Those are bright, orange, big and normally quite plentyful.  See that recent press article if you want to know more. You an find the mushroom at your local fruit&vegetable store sometimes during the season. I found it twice at Harris Farm this season.

Here I did it with what was available in the fridge and served them with a grilled pork chop.  Combinations are plenty.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
  • 4 large pine mushrooms
  • 1 head of broccoli
  • 2 cups of peas (I used frozen ones)
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 5 chestnuts
  • 20 g of butter
Method:
  1. Cut a incision through the chestnuts shell and place them in a low baking dish in the oven (220 deg) or under the grill until the shell is quite dark and a pointy knife inserted in the cut makes its way easily though the chestnut (about 15 minutes).  Once cooked, remove from the oven/grill and peel.
  2. Steam the head of brocoli until the heads are just tender.  Remove from the steamer, cut the heads off and set aside.  Slice the stem in half to allow it to cook through and return the pieces of stem to the steamer. Cook until tender.
  3.  For the mushroom, wash gently under fresh water. Cut the bottom of the mushroom foot if a bit old. then slice lengthway about 7 mm thick.
  4. Mel the butter in the frypan, add crushed garlic and mushrooms, season with salt and blak pepper. Allow to cook at mid-heat. Do not stir too frequently. Cover with a lid.  When the mushrooms are half tender, add the peas and cook for another couple minutes, then add the brocoli, reduce the heat to low. Check for seasonning. You shouldn’t have much liquid at the bottom of the fry-pan, if you do, remove the lid and let evaporate.  Before serving add the chestnut broken into pieces.

You can serve the poelee with an omelette, a pork chop or a white fish filet.

peas brocoli pine mushrooms
Poelee of italian pine mushrooms, peas and brocolis, here served with grilled pork chops

 

Oeufs Cocotte (eggs on bed of leek fondue)

Oeuf cocottes, what a classic! But you kow what, it is part of these classic dish you forget for quite some times, even possibly some years and then somehow you think of them and they are so good! No nostalgia here, just simple ingredients put together. Beautiful. Healthy. Vegetarian and full of protein. Gluten free. What else? Ah! Easy to make!

oeufs cocotte ready for baking

Ingredients:
  • You will need one leek for 2 persons for the size of the ramequin dish
    ramequins you can use
    Left one for a main, right one for an entree

    on the photo.  Don’t worry if you cook too much leek, you can always use them in another serie of oeuf cocotte or in a quiche, in a vegetable tarte or served with a nice fish fillet.

  • About 15 g of butter for 2 person, up to 40 g if doing for 6 people.
  • 1 egg per peron (freerange)
  • 2 tablespoons of cream /person
  • salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg or of cumin
  • Optional: 1 baby boccocini per person or a little grated parmesan
  • Sourdough bread to serve
Method:
  1. Remove any external leaf of the leek if old and brown. You may not have to remove any, up to 2  leaves maximum. Trim the top end bit if not from your garden.leek preparation
  2. On a chopping board, using a large knive to cut 2 cm pieces using the whole leek.  The darker part of the leek will need cleaning, it is not necessary for the lower hite part. Once the pieces are cut, place in water then in a salad spinner and drain of its water.
  3. In a heavy bottom fry-pan, melt the butter and add the leek. Cover and allow to cook slowly until melted and cooked. Add salt and pepper.  if it sticks or tends to burn, bring the heat further down and add 1/4 cup of water maximum just to rehydrate the whole mix.
  4. Fill each ramequin 2/3 full with leek. Add 2 tablespoon of cream to each, the pinch of nutmeg or ground cumin if using. Gently break the egg over the leek and add the cheese.
  5. Bake in the oven on 180°C for 5 minutes or until the egg white is just cooked (it will be all white and no longer transparent). The yolk should then still be runny. Remove from the oven and serve with fresh or toasted sourdough bread.

oeufs cocotte ready for baking

Meatballs in tomato sauce

Use this recipe of meatballs in tomato sauce as a base for meatballs recipes.  What is important is to bring up the flavours with the meat. This recipe is easy and can be done with children.

Serve it with pasta or rice or a green salad.

Serves 4.

Ingredients
  • 500 g mince meat (beef, you can use a combination or other meats)
  • 3 large garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1/2 onion passed through the food processor (alternatively dice very thinly)
  • 1/2 cup of mozzarella
  • 1 teaspoon of chermoula mix spices (or other meat seasoning spice mix)
  • corn from 2 corns on the cob, boiled and separated.
  • 1 egg (this is to help making it stick together, if you have small eggs, 2 may be better)
  • salt & pepper, oil
  • Passata – about 2 cups
  • 1/2 cup of parmesan or similar
  • about 2/3 cup of plain flour (use corn flour is gluten is an issue)
  • garden herbs: thyme, rosemary or parsley
Method:
  1. In a big bowl, mix together the mince, garlic, spices, onion, mozzarella, corn, egg, and if using some thyme or rosemary.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Place the flour in a deep plate.
  3. Make balls with the meat the size of a lime then roll in the flour. Set aside until all are prepared.
  4. Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frypan, once hot, place the meat balls and slightly flatten them.  Allow to grill on each side (turning once only as they are fragile). Reduce the heat to medium.  Once grilled, add the passata and cover for 10-15 minutes while the meat finishes to cook. If you find the sauce is too thick or too little you can add 1/2 cup of water.
  5. Uncover, add the parmesan and fresh parsley. Serve.

 

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

 

Veal tenderloin in curry sauce

This recipe of veal tenderloin in curry sauce is delicious.  I am always surprised when I make it.  Veal is not a very strong flavoured meat and many arrangement of seasoning are possible.

If you have a cast iron medium size skillet, it is time to get it out!

Preparation – 5 minutes

Cooking – 25 min, plus tim to reduce the sauce.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
  • 1 veal tenderloin
  • 1 small onion
  • 3 cm of fresh ginger
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of rock salt
  • 1 tablespoon of curry
  • a couple bay leaves
  • 1 glass of white wine
  • 20 g of butter
  • 3 tablespoon of creme fraiche or sour cream
Method:
  1. Peel the onion and cut them  in slices. Similarly, peel and crush the garlic.
  2. Cut the tenderloin in chunks of more or less cube shape about 2 cm wide
  3. Heat up your cast iron skillet, melt 2/3 of the butter, add the garlic and onion. Basically, you want the onion to “melt”, in other words to become transparent.  Reduce the heat to half to ensure the onions do not burn.  This takes up to five minutes.  Once done, remove from the skillet and set aside.
  4. Add the remaining butter to the skillet.  Bring back to full heat. When the butter is melted, add the veal and brown the meat on all sides.  This will take a couple of minutes or so.veal casserole
  5. When the meat is browned, add the curry powder and mix through.  Add all the remaining ingredients and reduce the heat to quite low to allow a gentle simmer. Cover with the lid. If you skillet is quite wide, you may have to add a little more liquid as quite a bit may have evaporated.  Add a glass of water.
  6. Cook for 15 minutes.
  7. At this stage, remove the meat from the skillet. It is time to concentrate on the sauce.  First you will need to correct the balance of flavour, it is likely it may be a bit acidic. The creme fraiche or sour cream will counter that effect.  Add one spoon at the time and try, depending on the wine you have used , you may not need all of the creme fraiche. Do not add more salt at this stage.
  8. Then, once you are happy with the flavour, let it reduce to a volume of one cup.  Adjust the salt level if required.  If you have fussy eaters, I would suggest you remove the remaining pieces of ginger, otherwise pour over the meat.
  9. Serve with fresh jasmine rice and greens.

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