Tag: chocolate

[Recipe] My take on Nigella’s “girdle-buster pie”

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[Recipe] My take on Nigella's "girdle-buster pie"

This is something I want to try over Christmas. It’s my take on Nigella’s girdle-buster pie.

Ingredients

For the pie:

Ingredients

* 375g digestive biscuits

* 75g soft butter

* 50g dark chocolate pieces or chips

* 50g milk chocolate pieces or chips

* Coffee ice cream

For the ganache:

* 8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

* 3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream or double cream (35%-40% butterfat)

* 2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter

* 1 tablespoon Cointreau (or liqueur of your choice)

Method

    • Process digestive biscuits with soft unsalted butter. Add chocolate chips.

    • Press in to a flan dish and place in freezer to firm up.

    • Pour over softened coffee flavour ice cream.

    • Cover with cling film and return to freezer.

    • Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized heatproof bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand, without stirring, for a few minutes. Stir gently (as you do not want to incorporate air into the ganache) with a spoon or whiskuntil smooth. If desired, add the liqueur.


    • Let it cool but not set, and pour over ice cream

    A few notes about the ganache:

    To Cover a Torte or Cake: If the cake you are covering needs to be refrigerated, first chill the cake. (This will ensure that the ganache will not lose its shine when the cake is stored in the refrigerator.)

    First, brush any loose crumbs from the cake. Using a cake spatula or knife, cover the sides and top of the cake with a thin layer of ganache. (This is called a crumb coat and seals in any cake crumbs so that your cake will have a smooth finish.) Refrigerate the cake for about 5 minutes or until the crumb coat has set. Then place the cake on a wire rack, and put the wire rack on top of a large baking sheet (to catch any excess

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    [Recipe] Toffee popcorn bark

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    [Recipe] Toffee popcorn bark

    Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Melt 200g milk chocolate and 200g white chocolate separately then allow to cool slightly.

    Pour most of the chocolate onto the tray, roughly swirling together. Sprinkle over 60g of toffee popcorn, then drizzle over the remaining chocolate. Chill until set, then break into big chunks before serving.

    In one word: EVIL!!!

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    [Recipe] Chocolate tart

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    [Recipe] Chocolate tart

    This recipe comes from the Rachel Allen ‘Bake’ book. It originally calls for a 9″ sweet pastry case but I cheated and used two 6″ pre-cooked tart shells from Tesco.

    For the tart:

    175 ml (6 fl oz) double cream
    125 ml (4 fl oz) milk
    125g (4 -1/2 oz) milk chocolate, chopped
    175g (6 oz) good quality dark chocolate, chopped
    2 eggs, well beaten
    250g (9 oz) sugar-coated chocolate eggs, to decorate

    Method:

    1. Preheat oven to 180C.

    2. Heat the cream and milk in a saucepan to boiling point then immediately take off the heat and stir in the chocolate to melt. Allow to cool slightly for a few minutes, then stir in the beaten eggs.

    3. Pour the chocolate mixture into the baked pastry case and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until just softly set.

    4. Allow the tart to cool for 20 minutes before removing from the tin.

    5. Decorate with sugar-coated chocolate eggs.

    chocolate tart

    A few notes for future reference. I used Green&Blacks milk and 70% dark in the quantities described in the recipe. It came out a bit too dark chocolaty for my taste, but I think that’s because the G&B milk has a higher cocoa level than traditional milk chocolate. Next time, if I use G&B again, I’ll go half-and-half.

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    Chocolate cream pie

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    Chocolate cream pie

    Ingredients

    Biscuit base
    120g rich tea bisbuits
    120g butter, softened

    Filling
    50g corn flour
    100g + 1tsp caster sugar
    90g plain chocolate, chopped
    2 egg yolks
    1/2 tsp vanilla essence

    Topping
    150ml double or whipping cream

    Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 190oC
    2. Beat biscuits until fine crumb.
    3. In shallow 9inch pie dish, mix biscuits crumbs with softened butter and press mixture on bottom and upside of dish. Bake crust for 8 minutes and cool on wire rack.
    4. In a large, non-stick saucepan mix the corn flour, 100g sugar and stir in milk and chocolate. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until chocolate mixture thickens and boils. Boil for 1 minute and immediately remove from heat.
    5. In a cup, beat the egg yolks with a fork and stir in a small amount of the chocolate mix. Slowly pour the egg mix back into the chocolate mix, stirring rapidly to prevent lumping.
    6. Cook stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and coats a spoon well. Do not boil otherwise the mixture will curdle.
    7. Stir in vanilla essence and remaining butter until blended.
    8. Pour chocolate filling in the biscuit crust and smooth the top with a spatula.
    9. Press dampened grease-proof paper directly onto the surface of the hot filling to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate pie for at least 3 hours or until well chilled.
    10. Whip cream with a teaspoon of sugar and flomp on top of pie.
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    [Recipe] Gooey chocolate pudding

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    Preparation time less than 30 mins

    Ingredients

    125g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
    150g chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids)
    4 free-range eggs
    75g caster sugar
    50g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
    1 tbsp cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
    mascarpone, to serve

    Method

    1. Preheat the oven to 180C/365F/Gas 4.
    2. Place the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, and allow the chocolate and butter to melt.
    3. Once the chocolate and butter have melted, stir to combine, then set aside and allow to cool.
    4. Place the eggs and sugar into a clean bowl and whisk for 4-5 minutes, or until pale and light (more than doubled vlume and holds soft peaks).
    5. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and gently fold together, taking care to maintain volume in the eggs.
    6. Add the flour and cocoa powder and fold in.
    7. Grease and flour four ramekins or dariole moulds.
    8. Divide the chocolate mixture among the ramekins. Place onto a baking tray and transfer to the oven to bake for 10-12 minutes, or until set, but still with some wobble in the centre.
    9. Loosen the puddings and very carefully turn each out onto plates.
    10. Dust the puddings with cocoa powder and serve with a dollop of mascarpone on top.

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    Chocolate Crepe Cake

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    Crepe Recipe

    1 2/3 cups flour ( 250g plain flour)
    1 tbsp caster sugar
    3 eggs, plus 3 egg yolks
    600ml milk
    40g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra melted butter to brush,

    Chocolate & Espresso filling

    250g good-quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
    50g unsalted butter, chopped
    150ml milk
    100ml thickened cream
    100ml strong black coffee (espresso)
    1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar

    Mix flour, sugar, eggs, yolks and milk in a blender or food processor until smooth, then pour into a jug and stand for 30 minutes. Just before cooking, stir 40g (2 tbsp) melted butter through the batter. Heat pan and brush with extra butter, add enough batter to coat base, swirl to cover, tip off any excess. Cook for 45 seconds, then flip and cook for 30 seconds more or until golden. Repeat with butter and remaining batter till you get abt 20 crepes, stacking with baking paper in between.

    For the filling, melt the chocolate in a bain marie. Stir in butter, milk, cream, coffee and sugar, then whisk until mixture is smooth and sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, cover and set aside for 20-30 minutes until mixture cools and thickens. Lightly grease an 18cm springfrom pan. Place a crepe in pan and spread with a little filling. Continue layering, finishing with a crepe. There should be 1/3 cup filling left. Cover cake with foil and chilll for 1 hour. When set, remove springform pan and pour remaining chocolate filling and top with cream.

    I tried making this last weekend when we were at Katy's parents'. Two things: you really do need a good crepe pan because otherwise it's a PITA to get the crepes to come out nicely. I also made the ganache a bit too runny, so cut down on the amount of liquid for next time.

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    Chocolate orange cupcakes

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    Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

    1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    3/4 cup cocoa powder
    1/4 tsp baking soda
    2 tsp baking powder
    1/4 tsp salt
    1/4 cup butter, softened
    1 cup sugar
    1/2 cup brown sugar
    2 eggs, room temperature
    1 tsp vanilla extract
    1 tbsp orange zest
    1 cup milk (any kind)

    Preheat oven to 350F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
    In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and orange zest.
    Alternating in 3 additions, beat in the flour and the milk at low speed, ending with an addition of flour. Evenly distribute into prepared muffin tins and bake at 350F for 15-17 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

    Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

    Chocolate Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

    8-oz. cream cheese, softened
    1/4 cup butter, softened
    1/4 cup cocoa powder
    1 tbsp orange zest
    3 tbsp orange juice
    2-3 cups powdered sugar (may need extra)

    In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until well combined, then beat in cocoa powder, orange zest, orange juice and 2 cups powdered sugar until smooth. With the mixer on medium-high, add additional powdered sugar (1-2 more cups) until frosting is somewhat stiff but still easy to spread.
    Apply to cooled cupcakes.

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