Adults Only Chilli Chocolate Cake

WooHoo!!! What a great day so far! I haven’t been in the kitchen for AGES what with finish the final semester of my master degree and getting sidetracked by friend’s weddings and pursuit of money in my post study days – but today was the day that changed all that :D

My mother normally kills herself each year at Christmas cooking for 30 people at our annual Christmas Eve dinner. Not only can she not relinquish control, but she attempts to do alternate drop entree’s, so many roasts, bakes, salads and sides that there is LITERALLY not enough room on the table for all the food (not to mention the poor fridge after we’ve eaten what we can!) followed by alternate drop deserts.

Although I’ve been doing at least two of the deserts for a few years now, as luck would have it, she worked herself so hard last year she had to cancel her one and only annual trip to Caloundra with friends, to stay in bed for three day – recovering! I say “luck” because she has FINALLY realised she can’t do it all herself. She spends all night sweating and stressing in the kitchen and no one sees her all night!

So my brothers and I have taken up the challenge and our number one goal for the night is that NO-ONE gets stuck in the kitchen for more than 30mins. One of the mains I’m doing is handmade sausages – which I had fun making this morning. If you ever do your own sausages (and I highly recommend you do!!) don’t stuff around with synthetic casings – get into the natural casings – MUCH better flavour, they don’t split as easy and they are easy to work with. Good fun to much around with J I’m undecided whether I’ll do a traditional pork sausage, pork and apply or perhaps a turkey and cranberry one... hmmm....

Deserts!! Penna cotta topped with mango salsa, citrus tart, and good slab of this Adults Only Chilli Chocolate Cake. Why is it adults only?? Because it is DEM hot!!

SO, enough jibba jabba sorry – and onto the cakelicious part of this entry.

This is a flourless cake, so its super moist and yet still fairly light!

A little fuzzy, but you get the idea :) white bits are bits of hazlenut that I didn't grind too fine, so as to add texture.

I’ve used a Stephanie Alexander recipe and changed it up a bit. To give credit, where credit is due, this is the “George’s Chocolate Nut Cake” (George Biron & Diane Garrett). Here is my adaptation though:

250g        Hazelnut meal

½ cup       Dutch cocoa

9           Eggs, separated

350g        Caster sugar

35ml        Espresso coffee (avoid instant if you can)

20ml        Muscat

1tbs        Pure vanilla

50ml        Olive oil (although I used macadamia oil)

  Zest of 1 lemon

Good pinch Cinnamon and of Nutmeg

4 or 5      Sml red/birds-eye chilli’s (we grow & dry 'em) seeded

            (unless you’re REALLY game!)and chopped very finely

            or better yet ground

               

Oven temp:        150 C or 300 F

Cooking time:    40-50mins

1.       Preheat your oven and lightly great a 26cm springform tin

2.       Sift nut meal and cocoa into a separate bowl

3.       Beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale – this will take a few mins!

4.       Lightly fold in cocoa mix

5.       Add coffee, Muscat, oil, vanilla, lemon zest, spice and chilli

6.       Beat egg whites to creamy peaks and fold into mixture lightly

7.       Bake in prepared tin (40ish mins) until the cake still seems a little moist in the middle

8.       Allow cake to cool in tin before removing

I find that the next step is a bit too decadent, but in the original recipe, it calls for an additional 30mls of Muscat to be poured over the cake before serving. Although I haven’t tried this yet – it would be cool to stuff around with liqueurs to find a nice match – I’m betting a drop of Hennesy XO would be dem fine!! (if you can afford it – I certainly can’t!!)

Big cake - fresh out of the oven

Smaller cake, once rested (big one looked the same after resting too)

I wasn’t sure if I would be writing this so I failed to take heaps of photo’s – I hope the one’s I’ve posted do it justice – but more importantly I hope you love this cake as much as we all do!!

Happy baking!!

Makowlec - Polish Poppy Seed Swirl Cake

This Friday night we are going our Polish friends place for dinner and I volunteered to bring the desert. This is a really really nice cake, not too sweet, and 'different' because the 'cake' part of the dish is actually a sweet bread - not unlike Pan de Meurtos (Mexican 'dead bread' used during the day of the dead festivals in November).

The only problem with this recipe is that you really need a meat grinder to grind the poppy seeds. I've done it once before without the aid of a meat grinder and food processors, bar mix sticks, mortar and pestle... none work NEARLY as effectively as a meat grinder. I can now say this with confidence owing the my awesome mother who bought me one for my birthday. True to our style its not electrical, which will be great post 2012 when we have no electricity ;)

And so on to the cake!

The grinder at work!!

Ground poppy seeds looking..... appetizing...

I purposely made 6 smaller cakes, given there will be 6 of us for dinner, although it is normally one big cake.

Rolling up the cigar (note the awesome light of our kitchen...sigh)



All rolled up ready for baking :)





Makowlec - Poppy Seed Swirl Cake

 

There should also be a wee drizzle of lemon icing on the top of this, but I don't have any icing sugar and I am too impatient to wait till I have some to take photo's :)

Thanks Everyone!!

                                            UPDATE:  Macowiecs - the recipe!!

My polish friends advised me that this is correct spelling, and its pronounced Mik-ov-i-ets.

Argh! Why or why did I forget to post the recipe!? Oh well here it is albeit VERY late... This cake may take a while to make but it is WELL worth it  :D

It also makes a fair amount! So if you only want 4 or so portions, I’d half everything.

Dough:

2tsp or 7gm dried yeast

2tsp caster sugar

½ cup luke warm water

3 ½ cup plain flour

100g caster sugar (extra)

¼ cup sour cream

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

1tsp lemon rind

Oil to grease

1 ½ cup icing sugar

2-3tbs icing sugar

100g melted butter

1.     Combine yeast, sugar and ½ the milk in a bowl and let sit for 10min, covered in a tea towel (this is to activate the yeast)

2.     Combine flour, extra sugar and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast misture, butter, sour cream, egg, vanilla, lemon rind and milk

3.     Combine and when it all comes together, turn out onto lightly floured surface, cover with empty bowl and let sit for 15-20min. (this helps the development of gluten strands)

4.     Knead for 10 min. (although the dough shouldn’t stick to the bench and leave dough behind, you don’t want so much flour it slides over the bench either. A bit of traction will help the kneading process and development of gluten strands, which will make the dough rise and prevent collapsing when cooking)

5.     Set the dough aside, either cover with tea towel, or with cling wrap until doubled in size – usually about 45min, but can be 1 ½ hours or more depending on the air temperature – faster in summer, longer in winter. (clean and lightly grease the bowl you use for proofing before adding dough, then lightly grease cling wrap – this prevents rising dough from sticking to bowl or tea towel)

Many breads are proofed twice. If you have time, gently knock back the dough once risen, then let the dough double in size again.

I’ve written the amounts as per the recipe I translated, but I have ALWAYS found that it makes twice as much filling as I need, and so I normally half all filling quantities.

Filling:

500g Poppy seeds

¾ cup sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

2tbs butter

1 egg

¼ cup honey

1tsp lemon rind

¼ cup chopped walnuts

¼ cup chopped almonds

½ cup raisins (I hate raisins so I just exclude them)

2 egg whites, stiffened

6.     Place poppy seeds in a saucepan, just cover with milk, bring to the boil and let simmer for a few mins. Drain the poppy seeds and then grind into a paste using a meat mincer (Trust me! Food processors, bar mixers, mortar and pestle – none of them will actually crush the poppy seeds – I’ve tried them all!)

7.     Food process the nuts and add to ground poppy seeds

8.     Melt butter in a pan and add the nut/poppy seed mix and sugar. Simmer on a low heat for 10-15min

9.     Let cool a little and fold in egg, honey, peel raisins and egg whites. Let cool completely

Assembly:

10.   Turn out dough and roll into a rough rectangle (or divide into portions and then roll into rectangles – be sure to keep dough you’re not working with covered to prevent it drying out)

11.   Paste on filling, leaving a 2cm boarder. Roll and tuck edges in underneath

12.   Place on a baking tray (greased or with baking paper) and cover with a tea towel, let rise for approx 1 ½ hours

13.   Bake in a 350 degree F  (about 180 C) oven for 40-50mins

14.   Combine icing sugar and lemon juice to taste, to make an icing. If serving cold, let the bread cool before icing, if serving warm, drizzle icing over before serving.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

This cake turned out really well - at least I think so - I have yet to impose it upon my friends!

It was SO nice to get back in the kitchen and make something new and sweet, especially after a seemingly endless amount of assignments, exams and general drama. So here it is:



Before it went in the oven



The final product

Having never done a baked cheesecake before, I have no idea whether I nailed it or not. But it tastes good! lots of pockets of raspberry explosions, and the hazelnut in the base really adds another 'dimension'. If you have never done a baked cheese cake or you find your having issues with it, check out Diana's Deserts. There are some great recipes and heaps of good tips - and not just for cheesecake!

So here is the recipe then - I made up a lot of it on the way and tested my judgement, but I think everyone should do this to get the end result that they want.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake:

Base:

approx. 140g of 'nice' biscuits - you can use 'digestives' or any other biscuit you want. Select the biscuits based on the flavour you want and the sweetness.

approx. 60g of hazelnut meal - again, use any nut meal of your preference, or alternatively, use 200g of biscuits and no nut meal

approx. 60 - 100g butter (melted)  

Filling:

500g Cream cheese - room temp

75g Caster sugar

3 large eggs - room temp

2tbsp of lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract

1/4tsp salt

3cups sour cream - room temp

300g GOOD white chocolate (I use Green & Black's Organic Chocolate)

300g Frozen Raspberries

a little extra sugar

 Oven Temp: 325F or 162C

 Time: 45min to 1 hour

1. Preheat oven. Blend biscuits and nut meal in a food processor till fairly fine. Add melted butter until you a mixture that is damp, but not wet. You want to be able to press it into the baking tin without it being either too liquidy, or too dry (it won't stick together nicely). Press it into a 10cm springform pan, over the base, partially covering the sides. Set aside

2.  Cream the cheese and sugar until smooth. Add lemon juice, vanilla and salt, mix until combined. Add sour cream and cooled melted chocolate ***. Add eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated. Pour into cake pan

3. Blend raspberries in a food processor until smooth. Add sugar to taste. Sugar takes the edge off the tartness of the raspberries, but it is easy to go too far and make it too sweet. I leave the seeds in because they are filled with so much good stuff - although it is a cheesecake we are talking about - and a lot of people don't like the texture of the seeds; push puree through a fine sieve to get rid of the seeds. Alternatively add the raspberries in whole without blending into the mixture and pour into the pan.

4. Pour the raspberry puree over the cake in a circle, or any other pattern you'd like - then get a skewer, or tip of a knife and drag it through the puree and mixture to create any number of patterns :)

5. Alot of people advise baking the cake in a water bath (if using a springform tin, cover the outside a few times with alfoil to prevent water leaking into the cake). This slows the rate of the baking process and helps the cake cook more evenly. I don't have a pan that will fit my cake pan in so I just dropped the temp a bit, and put a pan with water in it on the shelf below (no idea if this actually did anything). Bake for 45min.

6. The cake should still be a bit wobbly in the middle, although a skewer will come out moist, but fairly clean when inserted - the cake is 'done'. Turn off the oven leaving the cake inside to cool (keep the oven door closed). After an hour or so, remove from the oven and cool for another 6 hours in the fridge before serving.

** Melting Chocolate: You can use the microwave but I've never gotten good results from this. Best bet is to melt it in a metal bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water (ensure water and bowl don't make contact). Use a metal or plastic spoon (wood will absorb some of the moisture). Continually take it off the heat and stir - the bowl and chocolate will retain heat and continue to melt/cook the chocolate once removed from the heat. This ensure you melt your chocolate perfectly and it is normally cool enough to add straight to the mixture without waiting for it to cool down.

That it! Enjoy!



What to do when your city floods and you have nothing to do.... White Chocolate Mudcake - Dark Chocolate Mudcake

The last few days have been so surreal. With increasing feelings of powerlessness, we have sat at home watching the some of the worst floods to ever hit Brisbane and many other parts of Australia, carve their path of destruction. We are on a hill and in our area; you wouldn't know anything bad was going on at all. We joined every volunteer organisation we could so that we would be able to help with the clean up, made sure that every person we knew was safe and that both them and their belongings were above the expected peak water level..... and then we waited. House after house went under.

This picture of a house in Milton was taken by Michael McQueen, retrieved from The Courier Mail website.

This picture of the Brisbane River was taken by Marc Homan, retrieved from The Courier Mail website

Apparently the world doesn't stop turning in events such as these and things like birthday and assignments continue to exist!!! My partner’s nephew turned 2 the other day and I had already agreed to bake him a cake. Although I felt rotten baking a cake while others were losing their homes... it was a relief to turn off the TV and to stop the 24/7 dialogue of despair and destruction.

And so here is the resulting cake. (Sorry about the shite pictures - I only have my phone and the light in our kitchen is even worse!)

I know the cake is for a 2 year old, but given that he was the only person under the age of 26 at the party I thought that a rich chocolate cake was still an appropriate choice. I ended up doing a half dark chocolate mud, half white chocolate mud cake to get the height I was after and because I was afraid the dark chocolate part was too dark and rich.

So, as you can see - a REALLY rich and dense cake. I used a butte icing and had scoped out jus the right icing tip I needed to do the grass, but then the flood came and I was unable to get to the shop to buy it; so I settled for spaghetti grass instead.

I had also wanted to put a fence around it, but again with all the shops closed, I didn't have enough ingredients to make the fondant. On the day of the birthday party a few shops had opened, but even if I bought readymade fondant, it wasn't going to set in time. So I decided I'd make it out of white chocolate - which also failed. I used white chocolate drops, which were apparently meant for cookies and cupcakes because they hold their form when baked. That meant that my 'melted chocolate' looked dryer than cookie dough..... That sort of chocolate only has one home in my kitchen - the bin!!

Below are the recipe and some pictures I took throughout the process. Both recipes are from Womens Weekly: Celebration Cakes.

Dark Chocolate Mud Cake: (for a 17cm round, 15cm square, 17cm octagonal)

360g    Dark Chocolate (I used 70% Lindt dark chocolate, so unless you’re making it for dark chocolate lovers I'd used a lower %, or just a generic dark chocolate that is unlikely to be as bitter as this was)

225g    Butter

1tbsp   Dry Instant Coffee

3/4cup Water

3/4cup Brown Sugar (packed firmly)

1cup    Plain Flour

1/4cup Self Raising Flour

2          Eggs

1/4cup Coffee Liqueur

           

Baking time: 2 hours

Moderate Slow oven (approx. 160 C)

1. Grease and line baking tin, ensuring that paper extends 5cm above the side of the tin

2. Combine chopped chocolate, chopped butter, coffee, water and sugar in a heat proof bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water.

Melted mix, before adding four etc.

Use a metal of plastic spoon or scraper for this, as anything porous, like wood, will absorb the water from    the melting chocolate

And continuously remove from the heat and stir, then replace and stir etc. The bowl and the mixture will hold its own heat and will continue to melt the chocolate etc while off the stove. This will ensure you don't over heat your chocolate which will make it split (once its split, it won't come back) and it also ensures that you mixture isn't too hot and you can continue with step 3 without having to wait for it to cool.

3. Stir in sifted flours, lightly beaten egg and liqueur. (I use Muscat instead because that was all I had - still works really well). Pour into prepared pan.

With everything mixed in - doesn't look much different from previous step

 4. Bake in a moderately slow oven for approx 2 hours, or until skewer comes out clean. If getting too dark and crusty, cover with foil halfway through

5. Cool in the pan before turning out. If trimming the cake, wait until completely cooked before trimming.



Cooked cake :) I greased and floured my tin rather than using baking paper (as we didn't have any)



White Chocolate Mud Cake (17cm round, 15cm square, 17cm octagonal)

165g        Unsalted Butter

100g        White Chocolate

1 1/3cup  Caster Sugar 

2/3cup     Milk

1cup        Plain Flour

1/3cup     Self Raising Flour

1/2 tsp     Vanilla Essence

1             Egg

Baking time: 1 3/4 hours

Moderately Slow oven (approx 160 C)

1. Grease and line tin, ensuring that the paper extends 5 cm above the edge of the tin

2. Combine chopped butter, chopped chocolate, sugar and milk in a heat proof pan above a saucepan of simmering water until chocolate and sugar are melted

3. Sift in flours, essence and lightly beaten eggs. Pour mixture into pan.

4. Bake in moderately slow oven, cover with foil half way through if it is browning up too quickly. Test with skewer to see if it is ready

5. Cool in tin before turning out and ensure the cake is completely cooled before trimming.

Happy Birthday Coops!!

New Year, New Blog and No Idea Where I'm Heading...

"The measuring and mixing always smoothed out her thinking processes - nothing was as calming as creaming butter - and when the kitchen was warm from the oven overheating and the smell of baking chocolate, she took final stock of where she'd been and where she was going. Everything was fine."

 — Jennifer Crusie (Maybe This Time)

It has been 10 years since I was first told by my mother (who teaches Hospitality) that there is no such thing as a career in cooking..... I feel like I have finally found my way home - and that home is the kitchen and I am at peace when I'm baking.

I realise that she was only trying to save me from the unforgiving hours, and emotional intensity that the industry inflicts on its passionate and dedicated victims - but I know now that there is nothing else I can do - or perhaps, that I would never feel complete unless I was baking.

I have been baking "seriously" from home for only 3ish years and I'm starting this blog to document various paths I will walk (and no doubt stumble down!) in my quest to feed the souls of everyone I can, with love and flour.

My biggest challenge at this stage is money and time though. I am doing my masters in hospitality, full time and in desperate need of a job - which also presents an opportunity, one which I am terrified of taking: starting a baking apprenticeship.

I learnt long ago that when my heart starts beating and my spirit feels like it is vibrating that these were not indications to run away from what I was facing, but to run towards it. But the fear and uncertainty is driving me crazy and knowing that it is all bullshit doesn't help!

I have worked in all areas of the restaurant, done countless event (small and large), I have worked renovating homes, sewing, as a tutor, and as a tax accountant (?!?) and yet I'm scared of stepping into a commercial bakery. I'm not scared of not knowing anything - that is a total given - I guess I'm scared of stuffing up something that is so important to me. What if I go through everything and find out I'm mediocre!

Ok, I know I just make myself sound like a total knob but I believe that we were born, perfectly provided for. That we can no longer feed our soul with the energy and nutrition it deserves living in a modern world and that we focus far too much on professional development, and far too little on personal and interpersonal relationships, our garden and our family. I cook with whole foods - preferably from my garden, where I can - and I put as much love, support and energy into the food I bake when I'm making it.

It’s a little bit like having a hand dyed, hand woven quilt that your mother made, ensuring that every stitch made was done so with her thoughts on nothing but your happiness - NOTHING would be so nice to wrap yourself up in! And I guess that’s how I feel about my food.

I don't want a thankyou, I don't want acknowledgement, but I do want to change the world one mouthful at a time.

Small things DO count - If I can make every person that walks through my (metaphysical) doors a little happier by the time they leave, they will take that happiness and infect the people they come into contact with.

Coffee and service are as important to me as cooking - but I now feel as though I have rambled on enough, and if anyone has managed to make it to the end of this page (you deserve an award!!) then they certainly deserve a break from my nonsense.

So here is to the New Year, this new blog, and the excitement of possible successes and almost certain failures of what the universe decides to throw at me over the next few years!

Just so long as I don't go back to being an accountant.............

Flaxseed Loaf