Tag Archives: chocolate

Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

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Someone gave my daughter Catherine a Panettone for Christmas.  As they don’t like Panettone very much, she gave it to me.  I have to admit I’m not mad about the Italian answer to Christmas cake either, but my “war mentality” doesn’t allow me to throw good food away.  So I stuck it in the freezer.  Catherine laughed when she saw me do this and admitted she had inherited my “waste not want not” approach to food and if she hadn’t been travelling she would have frozen it too.

This weekend I used just over half the Panettone to make a delicious chocolate bread and butter pudding, adapted from a recipe by Delia Smith.  She uses ordinary white bread with the crusts cut off.  You could use bread, panettone, croissants, brioche – anything which needs using up – which is how this traditional British dessert was first invented – to use up stale bread.

9 slices of day old white bread – or the equivalent in panettone, brioche or croissants
150g dark chocolate (I used more like 175g to make it really chocolatey)
75g butter
425ml cream
4 Tbs dark rum (optional)
pinch ground cinnamon
4 Tbs caster sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
To serve:
Icing sugar
Thick pouring cream

Butter a rectangular lasagne-type dish.  In a large bowl place chocolate, broken into squares, butter, cream, sugar, cinnamon and rum, if using.  Microwave until melted which will take a couple of minutes. Stop every 30 seconds or so to stir the mixture and stop as soon as it’s melted.  Delia does hers the traditional way over simmering water which is safer.  Using the microwave is quicker, but you need to keep an eye on it.  Whisk in the eggs with a hand whisk, until well-combined.

Pour about 2cm of the chocolate cream over the base of the dish, then arrange about half the panettone slices or bread slices, overlapping if necessary to cover the base of the dish.  Panettone slices are large so you need to cut them into about three and use them like a jigsaw puzzle.  Pour in half the remaining chocolate cream and push all over with the back of a fork so the panettone soaks it up.  Arrange the rest of the panettone or bread over the top, pour in the remaining chocolate cream, push with a fork so there are no dry bits left.  Cover the dish with plastic wrap, leave for a couple of hours at room temperature then refrigerate for 24-48 hours.

Remove cling film and bake at 180°C for 35 minutes or until the top is brown and crunchy and the bottom is cooked but still soft.  Remove from the oven, allow to stand for a few minutes then serve dusted with icing sugar.  Pass a jug of thick pouring cream separately.

Serves 6-8

Gluten-free Chocolate Nut Cookies

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More and more people are avoiding gluten, so here’s a recipe for some delicious gluten-free chocolate cookies that everyone will love. If you’re also avoiding nuts, leave them out and add more chocolate chips.

1/3 cup cocoa powder
1½ cups icing sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tsp arrowroot
2 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla essence
½ cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (macadamias, walnuts, pecans, almonds or a mix)
Maldon sea salt

With a hand whisk, mix the first six ingredients until smooth. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts. I used macadamia nuts and didn’t chop them, so they were quite chunky. Line a large shallow baking tray with baking paper or use a silicone baking mat as I did. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spoon the cookie mixture onto the tray, using about a tablespoonful for each cookie and placing in compact blobs. They will spread to about double the width.

Sprinkle a few flakes of Maldon sea salt on each cookie then bake for 12 minutes. Don’t overcook – they will firm up when cool and you want them to be a bit chewy in the middle.

Cool completely before removing from the tray and storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 15.

Frozen Chocolate Mousse with Coffee Ice Cream

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We were served this dessert in a restaurant in the north of Spain. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant and I didn’t come away with the recipe, just the name and the memory of the delicious flavours and textures.

It’s been in the back of my mind to replicate it, so here is my version. The recipe is easy to halve to serve 6-8.

250g dark chocolate, broken into squares
250g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
8 eggs, separated
2 Tbs Cointreau or Grand Marnier
Pinch of salt
4 Tbs sugar
1 tub of good quality vanilla ice cream (half a litre)
3 Tbs instant coffee
3 Tbs boiling water
To serve:
A few berries, fresh or frozen
Pouring cream

Melt chocolate and butter in a microwave or in a bowl over boiling water. Cool a bit then mix in the egg yolks and the orange liqueur.

Beat egg whites and salt with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and continue to beat until you have a glossy thick meringue. Add half to the melted chocolate and fold in gently with a rubber spatula. Add the rest and do the same. When thoroughly mixed, pour into small dishes and freeze for several hours or overnight.

Coffee Ice cream: Take the vanilla ice cream out of the freezer for about 15 minutes, so it softens a bit, then scrape it into a bowl. Mix the instant coffee and boiling water until smooth, then mix it into the ice cream. When thoroughly mixed, scrape back into the ice cream container and put it back in the freezer. Recipe can be prepared ahead to this point.

Serve each mousse with a scoop of coffee ice cream and, if liked, a few berries and pouring cream. Mine were frozen home-grown boysenberries, which is why they look frosted in the photo.

Makes 12-16 little mousses, depending on the size of your moulds

Chocolate Pancake Cake

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This recipe looks more complicated than it is. The only time consuming part is making the pancakes, which takes about half an hour. You can do this the day before, and indeed, assemble the whole cake the day before serving.

Feel free to vary the dried fruit and nuts or to leave them out altogether.

Pancake mixture:
4 eggs
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 rounded Tbs sugar
2 heaped Tbs cocoa powder, sifted
150 g plain flour, sifted
300ml milk
100ml boiling water
2 Tbs melted butter, or oil
Filling:
100g prunes, pitted and diced
2-3 Tbs rum or brandy (optional)
100g cream cheese at room temp
75g dulce de leche (manjar) (see note)
To serve:
100g dark chocolate
75ml cream
3-4 Tbs flaked almonds, or granulated peanuts, lightly toasted
Extra cream to serve, optional

Place all pancake ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Stop halfway to scrape down the sides with a spatula. Use mixture to make large pancakes in a nonstick frying pan. Use about 1/3 cup mixture for each and swirl the pan to cover the bottom evenly. Spray the pan lightly with oil between pancakes. Cook each one for a minute or two and when firm turn over and cook the other side. Place the pancakes in a pile, one on top of the other. My mixture made 11, but I only used eight in the cake as I didn’t have enough filling to use any more.

Soak the diced prunes in the rum or brandy or if preferred soak them in hot water. Mix the cream cheese and dulce de leche until smooth.

On a piece of aluminium foil, arrange the pancakes in a line, overlapping each one onto half of the previous one and spreading each one all over with the cream cheese mixture. See photo. Drain prunes and scatter them over the pancakes. Turn in about 2 cm on the long sides, just to make them neater. Roll up the cake on the short side, as tightly as you can, into a sausage shape. Wrap tightly in the foil and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Unwrap the cake and place it on a rack over a plate or tray to catch any drips. Heat the chocolate and cream until melted. If using granulated peanuts, mix them in then spread all over the cake. If using flaked almonds, ice the cake first with the chocolate mixture then sprinkle with the lightly toasted flaked almonds and leave to set.

Serve slices of the cake with whipped or pouring cream.

Serves 8

Variations: use seedless raisins instead of prunes; chopped roasted peanuts or macadamias instead of almonds.
Note: you can use Nestle Top and Fill Caramel instead of Dulce de Leche.

 

 

Vegan Chocolate Mousse

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I’m not vegan, but I saw this recipe and it looked so quick and easy I thought I’d give it a try. It was delicious.

The packet of tofu I bought weighed 450g, but I threw it all in anyway. If you want to make the mousses dairy-free, don’t serve them with cream.

400g silken tofu
200g dark chocolate
4 Tbs maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
To serve:
Whipped cream (optional)
Grated chocolate

Place tofu in a food processor or blender, and mix until smooth with the maple syrup and vanilla. While it’s mixing, heat the chocolate, broken into squares, in a microwave for about two minutes, or until melted.

Add the melted chocolate to the blender and mix until smooth. Scrape into small serving dishes and refrigerate. If liked serve with whipped cream or pouring cream and garnish with some chocolate, shaved off with a vegetable peeler.

Serves 4-6

 

Black Bean Chocolate Brownie

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This is an interesting recipe for deliciously moist and chocolatey brownies which uses a can of black beans instead of flour and eggs.

It’s gluten-free and, if you want to cut down on the sugar, use a sugar-free fake maple syrup, stevia or another artificial sweetener. I used honey. You could leave the chocolate chips out.

1 can black beans, drained
3 Tbs cocoa powder
½ cup nut meal (ground almonds, walnuts or whatever)
1/3 cup olive or coconut oil
½ cup honey or maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
¾ cup chocolate chips (optional)
Extra: ¼ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place all ingredients except chocolate chips in food processor. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides. Add chocolate chips if using, then scrape into a small square cake pan. Mine was 7 inches or 18cm. You will need to grease and line a metal pan with baking paper. I used a silicone pan which doesn’t need lining.

Sprinkle the extra chocolate chips over the top then bake for 25 minutes, or until firm to the touch in the middle. Cool then cut into squares. If preferred, make the brownies in muffin pans – it will make about 6 big ones.

Nice served as dessert with a blob of cream and some berries.

Makes 9-12 pieces

Substitutes and variations: use rolled oats instead of ground nuts; add some chopped nuts such as walnuts instead of or as well as the chocolate chips. Use 1½ cups cooked mashed sweet potato instead of the black beans.

Chocolate Cakes

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Just back from six weeks travelling in Europe. Spent time in the UK, France and Poland, with a week in Thailand on the way back, to recover. Caught up with 27 close friends and family, ate too much, drank too much, but had a great time. It was our first trip to Europe since September 2019, before the dreaded Coronavirus became a part of our lives.

Before we left we heard all sorts of dreadful stories about cancelled flights and lost suitcases. But considering we flew on a total of 11 flights – from Canberra to Sydney to Bangkok to Paris to Krakow to Toulouse via Amsterdam to Nice to London to Bangkok to Phuket to Sydney – I have to say we had a pretty good run, getting through all airports in less than an hour.

The only exception was our flight from Krakow to Toulouse with Easyjet, which was delayed when we transited through Amsterdam. A strike by French air traffic controllers meant they were limiting the number of planes which could land in France, so we sat in the plane on the tarmac in Schiphol airport for three hours. Our pilot told us we were lucky ours wasn’t one of 500 flights which had been cancelled that day. He sent us a bottle of water and a biscuit to keep us quiet.

There’s a terrible sinking feeling when you’re standing by the baggage carousel, there are no more suitcases going round and a sign appears saying “Baggage delivery completed” or words to that effect. Due to the strike there was literally nobody in arrivals to speak to, with all the help desks unattended. We went to the departure lounge where we found a member of staff who showed us how to complete a form online, on one of those machines you normally use to get a boarding pass, with details of the two lost bags. Twenty-four hours later they were delivered to our friends’ house in the French countryside, miles from anywhere, by a little man with a van full of suitcases. He said he had delivered 150 that day.

I’ve been too busy unpacking, washing and getting things organised to cook something new, so here are a few suggestions for anyone who feels like baking a chocolate cake.

Chocolate Fudge Cake  is the Rolls Royce of chocolate cakes and our family’s celebration cake. We make for birthdays, anniversaries and even weddings. Fiona’s Gluten Free Chocolate Cake is great for anyone who is gluten intolerant. And this Stir Crazy Chocolate Cake (photo above) contains no eggs and is quick and easy to whip up.

No Bake Chocolate Mousse Cake

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I belong to a group which meets once a month to speak French over a pot luck lunch. We take it in turns to host the lunch and the food is always amazing. All you have to do is let the hostess know you will be attending and whether you will bring a sweet or savoury dish, to make sure we don’t end up with too many desserts and not enough savoury dishes.

This delicious dessert was brought last month by Vanessa, one of the members whose husbands work at the French Embassy. It’s very easy to make and Vanessa kindly shared the recipe. It’s not really a cake, more a sliceable chocolate mousse. The texture is more like a panna cotta or a rich chocolate jelly than a mousse.

4 Tbs cocoa powder
¼ cup water
2 cups milk
1¾ cups cream
½ cup condensed milk
5 Tbs sugar (I cut it back to 3 Tbs)
200g dark chocolate, chopped
5 tsp gelatine powder
½ cup water
To serve:
Cocoa powder
Thick pouring cream
Fresh berries

Mix cocoa powder and ¼ cup water to a smooth paste. Heat milk, cream, condensed milk and sugar in a saucepan. Add chocolate paste and chopped chocolate and stir until melted. Mix gelatine powder with ½ cup water in a small bowl, then zap briefly in the microwave to dissolve. Add to the mixture in the pan.

Line a loaf tin with a capacity of about one and a half litres or six 250ml cups with non-stick baking paper. I used a triangular one, but a rectangular one is fine. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pan through a sieve, in case there are any undissolved bits. Refrigerate overnight.

Tip the mousse out onto a serving platter and remove the paper. Cover with sifted cocoa powder. Cut into thick slices and serve with cream and berries.

Serves about 12

Chocolate Fondant Puddings

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This quick and easy recipe for individual chocolate fondant puddings – the ones with delicious molten chocolate centres that were all the rage in restaurants some years back – is adapted from one by Australia’s best-selling cookbook author, Donna Hay.

I used individual silicone moulds, but any small containers, such as metal dariole moulds, ramekins or coffee cups, will do. To make them gluten-free leave out the flour and increase the almond meal by a quarter of a cup. Make your own almond meal by blitzing almonds, with or without skin, it doesn’t matter, in a food processor until finely ground. I made the full recipe of six puddings, but only cooked two and froze the rest uncooked and covered. They take a few minutes longer to cook from frozen.

¾ cup almond meal
¼ cup plain flour
¼ cup icing sugar
2 egg whites
100g butter, melted
160g dark chocolate, melted
12 squares dark chocolate, extra
To serve:
Thick pouring cream
Cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 170°C and grease six individual moulds with oil or butter. Place almond meal, flour, sugar, egg whites, melted butter and chocolate in a bowl and mix well with a balloon whisk. Spoon half the mixture into the six moulds, press two squares of chocolate into the middle of each, then cover with remaining mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes until set on top. Test by pushing with your finger. Stand for 3-4 minutes, then loosen the edges with a knife, tip out and serve with cream and a dusting of cocoa powder through a sieve.

Serves 6

Substitutions: if you don’t have almonds use walnuts.

Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes

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A wet Saturday in early autumn seemed like a good time to make some cupcakes for afternoon tea. These decadent little chocolate brownie cupcakes hit the spot.

Cakes:
80g butter
180g dark chocolate, broken into squares
¾ cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
2 Tbs cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
Good pinch of salt
100g ground almonds (see note below)
Icing:
200g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
2 Tbs cocoa
100g dark chocolate, melted
To decorate (optional):
Chocolates or chocolate almonds

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place cupcake liners in a 12 hole muffin tray.

Cakes: place chocolate, butter and sugar in a bowl over simmering water and heat until just melted, stirring from time to time. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, the vanilla, the ground almonds and finally add the dry ingredients through a sieve and fold in thoroughly. Divide mixture between the cupcake liners and smooth the tops. Bake for 12-20 minutes or until risen and firm on top, but still a bit moist inside. Ovens vary and it’s best to err on the side of undercooking. Cool.

Icing: mix cream cheese with sifted icing sugar and cocoa, then lastly mix in the cooled, melted chocolate. Once they are cold, pipe or spread icing onto cakes and decorate as desired.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Substitutions: use butter or mascarpone instead of cream cheese in the icing.

Note: you can either buy the almond meal or make your own, which allows you to make it coarser than what you buy. Just blitz almonds, with or without skin (I used with) until fairly fine.