Cooking with chocolate Posts

Almond and Dark Chocolate Flourless Cake of Utter Goodness

almond and dark chocolate cake with cream cheese icing

“Good but sort of healthy – like a cross between a mud cake and a carrot cake,” my friend said to me when I enquired what flavour cake I should bring to her sister’s birthday dinner. With that brief in mind, I pulled a dozen or so cookbooks from my shelf and started browsing until I realised I didn’t need to search. The answer was in my memory: a gorgeous rich chunky-textured chocolatey almondy cake my friend had served at a dinner party about three years ago. I knew the cookbook she’d used. I have the cookbook she used.

I was given a copy of High Tea at the Victoria Room during my stint as a food editor (I was sent lots of review copies of cookbooks, which was the BEST THING EVER) and I even featured some of the book’s recipes in my magazine. But this cookbook is one of my favourites because it contains a recipe for the most beautiful-tasting scones I have ever come across. Buying the book is worth it just for that one recipe.

But it wasn’t scones I was looking for this time: it was the Caprese Flourless Chocolate Cake that my friend wowed me with all those years ago. It’s basically made up of a tonne of almonds, dark chocolate, and eggs. If, like me, you consider almonds to be on the same health level as carrots, it fit the brief. Plus dark chocolate is practically on the same nutrition plane as spinach, it’s that full of antioxidants.

The cake was a bit fiddly to make and I had to modify the quantities a bit to suit the packet sizes at the supermarket, but my awesome new food processor took care of all the whizzing and chopping. I don’t think you can make this one without a food processor.

almond and dark chocolate cake with cream cheese icing

The cookbook recommended serving the cake naked with a dollop of marcapone, but since it was a birthday cake and would require something for candles to stick into, I make a cream cheese icing to go on top.

We didn’t get around to singing Happy Birthday until after several glasses of wine and some very groovy dance moves, but even in our tipsy state the cake tasted DAMN GOOD. Frankly, I can’t wait to get the “cross between a mud cake and a carrot cake” brief so I can do it all again.

Almond and Dark Chocolate Flourless Cake of Utter Goodness
Adapted from High Tea at the Victoria Room by Jill Jones-Evans and Joe Gambacorta
Cream cheese icing adapted from Masterchef Australia Volume Two
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Posted by Katy in Cakes brownies and slices, Cooking with chocolate, Recipes and tagged with almonds, cake, chocolate

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Ridiculously indulgent choc chip cookie dough brownies

Squares of choc chip cookie dough brownies

I love making chocolate brownies when I want a quick and delicious sweet snack, but I always have my eye out for variations on the theme. So I was pretty excited to stumble across a recipe for Choc Chip Cookie Dough Brownies on RecipeGirl, via Perth food blog Morsels.

Despite their two-layer status, these brownies didn’t look very hard to make, mainly because they contained very standard ingredients and it was only necessary to cook one layer (Cheaty! I like). I’m a big fan of brownies and their fudgy, chocolatey deliciousness, and I can’t say no to chocolate chip cookie dough, that most indulgent of uncooked treats. So really, this was a combination made in heaven. Plus there’s no egg in the cookie dough, so safe for those with compromised immune systems. Ace!

There was a morning tea coming up at work so I decided to challenge my workmates’ dedication to keeping their molars healthy, and sent around RecipeGirl’s brownie picture in an email. The email was returned with various LOLcat images of kittens purring and the like, so I took that as acquiescence and embarked on my mission.

The brownies were quick to make, and I had to stop myself from inhaling the batter – it had that beautiful creamy texture that I love to dig into with a spoon. The batter took a bit longer to bake than the recipe called for, but I’m beginning to suspect this is my oven’s fault – especially when I realised the very base of the brownies had burned slightly, just like the tart pastry did a few weeks ago. I can’t wait to go back to having a gas oven!

Big slab of brownie

I sneakily scraped off the burned bit and set the massive flat brownie brick aside to cool while I made the choc chip cookie dough. This was amazingly easy, and it was soon time to spread the dough across the brownie. It was a little more difficult than I expected, but after some perseverance the dough stuck down and spread evenly.

My kitchen was unfortunately lacking a functional fridge, but thankfully it was a cool night so I covered the whole thing with foil to sit overnight, then took it to work the next day. A quick stint in the office fridge made the dough firm enough to cut up into little squares. I hadn’t realised how big the slab of brownie was, but I only had to serve a third of it at morning tea. The rest I kept in the fridge at work, where it was steadily devoured over the next two days.

Reactions were all positive, and I’ll definitely make this one again. How can you go past choc chip cookie dough brownies? Everything about this snack speaks to my sweet-loving self, and I can’t wait to turn everyone else into a convert as well.

Choc chip cookie dough brownie slab

Recipe: Choc chip cookie dough brownies
Adapted from RecipeGirl.com
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Posted by Katy in Cakes brownies and slices, Cooking with chocolate, Recipes and tagged with brownies, chocolate, cookies

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Chocolate, nut and marshmallow dessert pizza

Chocolate Marshmallow Pizza

I’ve eaten pizza at other people’s houses many, many times in my life. In fact, back in my teen years when I went to LAN parties regularly, pizza and full-fat coke were all we ate and drank for up to 48 hours straight. (‘LAN’ stands for ‘local area network’. We hooked up our computers and played games for long periods of time. It was awesome.) But last week was the first time I’ve been to a mate’s place and been served a dessert pizza.

I recently tried a chocolate and raspberry pizza from Hero’s, and was a tad disappointed. But I’m happy to say that at my friends Chris and Michelle’s house last weekend, Chris took the idea and ran with it, producing a beautiful chocolate, nut and marshmallow topping on homemade pizza base for dessert. And it was gooooood.

Pizza dough balls I was fascinated with the homemade pizza dough, as I am with anything made from yeast – the little kid in me still can’t get over how it makes dough rise by itself. Chris wrapped handfuls of uncooked dough in plastic wrap, and I couldn’t stop myself from poking and prodding the shiny balls as they expanded and tightened.

We had two pizzas between four of us, and that was plenty – the ingredients are so rich that there’s no need to make one for each person. And you can go crazy with the toppings, as long as they can withstand some heat. Chris made these pizzas in a shmancy pizza oven thingie with a lid that flips open, but I suspect you could achieve some good results by using your oven.

The marshmallows were a treat, as they roasted and became oozy and sweet, just like when you cook them over the campfire. And despite my usual aversion to Nutella, I couldn’t taste much hazelnut, and it made a great chocolate base. I can’t wait to try these pizzas again. Chris, I think you may have started something!

Chocolate marshmallow pizza with ice cream

Recipe: Chocolate, nut and marshmallow dessert pizza
By Chris Rowe

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Posted by Katy in Cooking with chocolate and tagged with chocolate, dessert pizza, marshmallows, nuts, white chocolate

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Rich chocolate tart with strawberries and ice cream

Aria chocolate tart with strawberries and ice cream

Back when Masterchef contestants spent their time cooking instead of navigating obstacle courses, one of the challenges in the final weeks involved creating chocolate tart. Not just any old choccie pie, but the Aria Chocolate Tart, from the kitchen of Matt Moran’s two-hatted Aria restaurant, and involving not just some pastry with chocolate filling, but also a chocolate glaze, chocolate sauce, chocolate sorbet, a chocolate curl and a chocolate macaron. Just in case you were leaning towards thinking it might be a passionfruit-themed dish.

I obsessed about making it for a long time, but had neither the time nor the money to burn on seven sets of ingredients. Recently, however, I was poking around Sydney food blog spicy icecream and came across a simplified version that looked almost as good as the Moran version. And before I knew it, I was buying copious amounts of chocolate, butter and cream (three of my favourite ingredients) and maniacally sprinkling every available surface with flour. (Sorry, carpet).

We’d invited some friends over for dinner so while the Welshman busied himself with a vegetarian lasagne, I pulled out sugar, cocoa, butter, eggs and self-raising flour to make pastry. Alas, my first mistake – I meant to grab the plain flour. Unfortunately I used up all the cocoa before I realised my mistake, so once the pastry was lining the tart tin I popped it in the freezer for 10 minutes then weighed it down with masses of rice before it went in the oven.

It was my first time using this oven and I’m not familiar with the electric kind, so it’ll take me a while to get used to it – but meanwhile I managed to singe the underside of my pastry shell. I pretended not to notice (too late to re-make!) and instead gloated that although the edges of the crust had puffed up a bit, the freezer/rice combo had prevented too much rising.

The tart filling was easy-as-pie to make (see what I did there?). Just some boiling cream poured over chocolate, then some eggs mixed in. Then into the tart shell and the whole caboodle back into the oven for a while. I think the underside of the pastry copped yet another smoking, and I’m beginning to sense that placing delicate desserts 2cm above the heating element may not be my best idea yet.

Once the tart had cooled a bit it was a dream to slice, and I served it with a quenelle of Connoisseur vanilla bean ice cream and some chopped up strawberries. The tart itself was very rich with a slightly bitter taste, which I assume stemmed from the 70% Lindt dark chocolate I used. It also had a hint of burned flavour, and I have NO IDEA where that came from.

I think the ice cream and strawberries were a good idea as we needed something light and sweet to cut through the rich bitterness or the tart. Next time, I’ll up the ratio of milk chocolate, and try not to use the wrong flour and burn the pastry, oui?

Aria chocolate tart with strawberries

I fridged the leftover tart and had a slice the next day, but it had solidified and lost that truffle-like consistency. I plan to try some more after letting it warm up a bit to room temperature, and I suspect that it will regain some of that softer texture. It’s all in the name of experimenting. Science is very important. I’m making the world a better place. Right?

You can find the full recipe for the simplified version of the Aria Chocolate Tart at spicy icecream.

Posted by Katy in Cooking with chocolate, Recipes, Tarts and pies and tagged with chocolate, Matt Moran, strawberries, tarts

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Dark Chocolate Fondants, my new favourite quick dessert

Lava Cakes, Chocolate Molten Puddings, Chocolate Fondants or whatever you want to call them – they’re rich, delicious and the perfect winter dessert. I also suspect they will become a perfect summer dessert too, once we hit the warmer months and I can’t be bothered making pavlova or lemon meringue pie.

Oozy dark chocolate fondant

(Having made that grand statement, I’m not actually positive the three names above do mean the same thing – the internet is surprisingly short of a fondant glossary. If anyone cares to elaborate, please feel free).

Last year I met a lovely Sydney food blogger who co-writes Tasted by Two, and I featured some of her recipes in the dessert magazine I was editing at the time. Amongst them were white chocolate and rosewater macarons, which I tried at home and they worked brilliantly (whee!) and dark chocolate fondants, which I finally made for some friends last weekend.

I hadn’t time to pre-prepare a dessert for the night (read: lazy) so cheesecakes et al were out, and that day I still hadn’t done any food shopping. Thankfully the Welshman came to the rescue that afternoon and picked up a roast, vegies and various desserty items I dictated down the phone.

Because he is amazing, the 200g of dark chocolate I requested turned out to be 70% cocoa Lindt. Then I just had to melt the butter and chocolate together (you could probably serve this as a dessert by itself – just spoon it into your guests’ mouths), beat up some eggs and sugar in another bowl, chuck them together and add some flour. There were several breeds of ramekins and molds in the kitchen so I picked four that looked like a good size, but there was batter left over so I filled up three of the smaller ones too. (Chocolate leftovers – what horrible torture.)

Dark chocolate fondant batter
The whole process only took about 15 minutes, so these fondants are a totally ace dessert option when you’re short of time. I put the batter-filled ramekins aside, uncooked, and waited until after dinner when we were almost ready for dessert before I popped them in the oven.

When they were ready I served each with a few little scoops of ice cream and ohhhhh they were soooo good. In my slightly toasted state I forgot to dust them with icing sugar, but luckily that only affects the look of the photos and did nothing to diminish the taste. Incidentally, we had dinner at Cream the following night and their ‘French soft chocolate cake’ tasted exactly like my fondants. Which obviously means that I am a brilliant cook, n’est-ce pas?

I will be making these again. Frequently. In fact maybe even three or four times a week depending on mood. You should too.

Chocolate fondants with ice cream

For the recipe, head over to Dark Chocolate Fondants at Tasted by Two.

Posted by Katy in Cooking with chocolate, Recipes and tagged with chocolate, fondant, ice cream

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Viennese Fingers with Chocolate Drizzle and White Chocolate Filling

Viennese Fingers with White Chocolate Filling and Milk Chocolate Drizzle

I had dinner at a girlfriend’s house the other night and offered to bring along dessert. This, however, presented a dilemma: fancy plated desserts are too hard to transport, a tart or cake is too big for two, cupcakes and cookies don’t seem desserty enough, and… well frankly on a Monday night that’s about where my imagination ended.

I flipped through one of my handy little cookbooks, 500 Chocolate Delights by Lauren Floodgate, the night before and post-it-noted about thirty different possibilities, which narrowed down my options. Somewhat. Kind of. Or not.

To celebrate my indecision, I stopped by the supermarket on the way home from work the next day and picked up all the different things I might need for this mystery dessert. Eggs. Milk. Cream. Cocoa. Butter. White chocolate. Milk chocolate. Cream cheese. Lemon Juice. Three kinds of flour, just in case. Indecision can be expensive.

Once home, I finally settled on a hybrid of cake and cookie: Chocolate & Lemon Viennese Fingers, filled with white chocolate icing. Sufficiently fancy while still easy to transport in a plastic container. Technically cookies, but with two different textures and types of chocolate involved. Winning!

However, it turns out I sadly read the recipe wrong and it was lemon-flavoured icing between the Viennese biscuits. Undeterred, I threw that part of the recipe out of the proverbial window and decided to create one that DID have white chocolate involved. Ha! Such is the power of one who can’t read and is easily disappointed!

The biscuit batter only had four ingredients – no eggs – so it was easy to whip up, but upon following the recipe’s instructions to pipe 7.5cm lengths onto a tray using a ‘medium star nozzle’, my mixture garnered only seven little logs, not the 16 as promised. What? I quickly mixed another batch and piped that on as well, and popped them in the oven for 10 minutes.

Viennese Fingers in oven

Hmmm. Not sure what I was trying to achieve with that little one there at the front.

Baked Viennese fingers After 10 minutes, my precious batter fingers were not the pale golden brown the recipe promised; and instead were still beige but had flattened out to touch each other gleefully. I think my interpretation of ‘medium star nozzle’ is a bit different from Lauren F’s. That would also explain my need to double the recipe. I shoved the tray back in the oven for another eight minutes until they’d darkened up a bit, and let them cool while I made the filling.

This was easy to make up on the spot: some softened butter, icing sugar and melted white chocolate with a dash of milk to make it shiny. That whipped up into a nice mixture that I was in danger of sampling to death.

The chocolate-ended Viennese biscuits in the recipe’s picture looked a tiny bit mass-produced-bakery-goods for me, so I drizzled them with criss-crosses of milk chocolate instead.

Viennese fingers drizzled with chocolate

Once that set, I piped the icing onto half the fingers. That same medium star nozzle lay lines that looked a bit narrow due to the biscuit batter spreading, so I piped two lines on most of the biscuits, then I smooshed the other biscuits on top and sprinkled some icing sugar on top to finish it off. I was only about 15 minutes behind schedule, so I snapped some pics, threw some goodies in a container and was off, off and away!

When my friend and I tried them, they were a bit too rich to finish after our dinner so we only had half each. We agreed that they may be easier to eat as drops instead of fingers, kind of like melting moments with a white chocolate filling. But for those who like their sweet snacks rich and heady, no adjustments are required. Unless you want to add more sugar, which even I wouldn’t advise.

Viennese Fingers with White Chocolate Filling and Milk Chocolate Drizzle