Frozen Chocolate Mousse with Coffee Ice Cream

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

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

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

 

Quick Individual Christmas Puds

I first published this recipe in 2016. It’s such a good idea, I thought I would publish it again so newer subscribers can make it.

Everyone is busy at this time of year. Despite best intentions it’s easy to run out of time to make traditional Christmas puddings, cakes, mince pies and all the other Christmas fare.

Adapted from a recipe published some years ago in Delicious magazine, these individual Christmas puds, called Cheat’s mini Christmas puddings in the magazine, are very quick to make. The original recipe makes four one cup puddings, but I think half that amount is enough. I served them at a ladies Christmas lunch and we concluded that they were so small we could pretend they didn’t have any calories at all.

If you make these please let me have your comments by using the balloon at the top of the page, next to the title.

Puddings:
600g shop bought Christmas cake or dark fruit cake, crumbled (I used Aldi’s)
½ cup milk
4 eggs
⅓ cup mincemeat (fruit mince) (see note below)
¼ cup sherry
Glacé cherries to decorate
Custard:
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
2 tsp vanilla essence
4 egg yolks
1 Tbs cornflour
¼ cup caster sugar
To serve:
A jug of thick pouring cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 8 half cup (125ml) dariole moulds or ramekins. Chinese tea cups (see photo) are ideal. Place cake, milk, eggs, sherry and fruit mince in food processor and pulse a few times just to combine – you want it to remain nice and chunky. If preferred mix by hand.

Divide among the moulds and place in a large baking dish. They should be almost full to the top. Pour boiling water to come halfway up sides of moulds. Cover baking dish with foil. Bake 45 mins or until firm and slightly risen.

Individual serving dishes for Quick Individual Christmas Puds

Meanwhile make custard. Heat milk, cream, sugar and vanilla in a small non-stick saucepan to boiling point. Mix egg yolks and cornflour in a bowl. Tip some of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture and stir to combine, then tip back into saucepan with the rest of the hot milk. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula, until thickened. Don’t let it boil. Pour custard through a sieve to remove any tiny bits of cooked egg white. Chill or serve warm.

When puddings are cooked remove moulds from dish, rest 10 mins, then tip onto individual serving dishes. Serve with custard (warm or cold) and decorate with glacé cherries. Serve with a jug of cream.

Serves 8

Note: If you don’t have any fruit mince, replace it with a mixture of fruit jam or marmalade and dried fruit and nuts.

Sticky Ginger Cake

Auntie Vina and Uncle Hector lived at Hill House, a busy dairy farm on the moors of County Durham, where I spent many summers as a child. The farm hands all came into the farmhouse for meals, so Auntie Vina and her daughter in law Little Mary spent a lot of time cooking. She taught me all her basic cake recipes, such as sponge cake, chocolate cake, ginger cake and fruit cake.

Times have changed and most recipes using ginger now call for the fresh kind rather than dried. I decided to do some research online, looking for ginger cakes which use fresh ginger, or a combination of ground and fresh. I then adapted Auntie Vina’s recipe, using some of the new ideas I had found online. This is the result which I served as a dessert with Mangoes in Ginger Wine. If mangoes are in season where you live, give this quick and easy recipe a try.

Sticky Ginger Cake

250g unsalted butter
½ cup water
¾ cup treacle (or molasses)
¾ cup golden syrup (or honey)
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3 cups self-raising flour
½ tsp salt
3 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
½ cup milk
2-3 Tbs finely grated fresh ginger (to taste)

Preheat oven to 165°C. Butter and line a 22cm baking pan – round or square. I chose a ring tin – always a bit risky because being fluted you can’t line it, but fortunately the cake came out in one piece.

Place butter, water, treacle, golden syrup and brown sugar in a mixing bowl then heat in the microwave (covered to stop it spattering everywhere) for a minute or two until melted. Alternatively heat in a saucepan over moderate heat.

When cooled a bit, beat in the eggs with electric beaters or a hand whisk. Add the sifted flour, salt and spices, the milk and lastly fold in the fresh ginger. Scrape into cake tin and bake for 40-60 mins. Cooking times vary depending on your oven and the cake tin you use. If you overcook the cake it won’t be sticky, so as soon as the top is firm and springy to the touch it’s ready. Remove from the oven and when cool remove from the tin.

Serve as a dessert with whipped cream with a little rum or brandy added and some stewed fruit. Or serve with Mangoes in Ginger Wine as shown in the photo.

Or serve as a cake dusted with icing sugar or drizzled with lemon icing (1 cup sifted icing sugar mixed with 2 Tbs lemon juice).

Serves between 12 and 20 depending on serving size

Note: if you don’t have self-raising flour use plain flour and 2 tsp baking powder

Cumquat and Almond Cake

When a dessert comes into fashion you see it everywhere – in food magazines, on restaurant menus and served up by friends who entertain. A few years ago chocolate fondants – those tricky little puddings which are all about timing – were very much in vogue. A pool of delectable melted chocolate pours out when you stick your spoon into the middle – well that’s the theory. If you’ve managed to over-cook them, as I’ve done on more than one occasion, they’re still delicious. One of my all-time favourite desserts.

Turn the clock back even further to the 1970s and 80s and everyone was making Orange and Almond cake, where you boil two whole oranges until soft, whizz them to a purée, then add them to the cake mixture. I believe this cake made its debut in Australia in Claudia Roden’s Book of Middle Eastern Food, but recipes were soon popping up everywhere. Some versions don’t use any flour, making them good for celiacs.

Once again we have a huge crop of cumquats, so I decided to make this cake using cumquats instead of oranges and it was a great success. If preferred use two oranges or even mandarins.

Cumquat and Almond Cake

Cake:
About 300g cumquats (or 2 oranges)
2 cups ground almonds (or grind your own from whole or slivered blanched almonds)
125g butter at room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
5 eggs
½ cup self-raising flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
Syrup:
2 Tbs cumquat juice (or orange juice)
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup water
2 Tbs whisky (optional)
To serve:
Icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line the base of a 22cm cake pan with baking paper and grease the sides. Place cumquats in a pan and cover with water. Simmer for 10 mins or until soft then cool. If using oranges they will take 20-30 mins. Cut in half and remove seeds.

If you need to grind the almonds, do them first in the food processor, then add remaining ingredients for cake, including the cooked cumquats, skin and all. Mix until smooth, stopping once to scrape down mixture from the sides. Tip mixture into cake pan and bake for an hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Ovens vary so start checking after 45 mins.

Meanwhile make the syrup – place all ingredients in a small pan and simmer for 5 mins. Make holes over the top of the cake with a metal skewer and spoon the warm syrup over as soon as it comes out of the oven. The syrup will be absorbed.

Serve dusted with icing sugar, either warm or at room temperature, with a dollop of thick cream.

Serves 8-10

Variations: use macadamia nuts or pine nuts instead of almonds

Note: to make a flourless version suitable for anyone who is gluten intolerant, replace the flour with an extra half cup of ground almonds

Kien’s Dutch Apple Pie

Many years ago my Dutch friend Kien gave me this recipe for Dutch Apple Pie.

Using shortbread instead of pastry and an apple filling spiced with cinnamon and rum, this cake is delicious with a cuppa or served as a dessert, with ice cream or cream.

Shortbread:
250g plain flour
150g self-raising flour
200g sugar
300g butter at room temperature
Filling:
125 sultanas
125g currants or raisins
750g peeled and sliced green apples
¾ cup rum
125g sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ cup apricot jam

Soak dried fruit in rum, preferably overnight. Pre-heat oven to 160C.  Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy in food processor or with electric beaters. Mix in flour until well mixed and sticking together.  Tip out, form into a log and refrigerate for about 30 mins wrapped in plastic wrap. Cut log into three. Cut off slices and use about one third to press all over the bottom of a buttered 30 cm spring-form pan. Bake for 20-30 mins till golden then cool.

Filling: Turn oven up to 170°C.  Mix apples with sugar and cinnamon. Line sides of cake tin with about another third of the shortbread.  It’s difficult to roll out, so the easiest way is to cut off thin slices and press them onto the sides of the tin like a jigsaw puzzle. Drain dried fruit (keep rum), mix with apples and spread evenly into tin. Use remaining shortbread to make strips and form a lattice to cover apples. You will need to roll out the dough for this. Pinch edges of the lattice onto the sides of the pie so it all joins up.  Bake for 1¼ hours or until light golden over the top. Spoon rum through holes between the lattice. Paint lattice with heated and sieved apricot jam, using a pastry brush. Cool thoroughly before removing sides of tin. Serve with whipped cream, pouring cream or vanilla ice cream.

If you make the cake the day before and want to serve it warm, don’t put the apricot glaze on. Next day reheat in a low oven for about 20 minutes and then brush with the apricot glaze. Reheating is optional – it’s perfectly nice at room temperature.

Serves 12

Delicious Desserts for New Year’s Eve

I would like to wish all my readers a wonderful holiday season and a safe, happy and healthy New Year. In the old days it was common to wish everyone a prosperous New Year, but since Covid-19 most people have come to the conclusion that there are more important things in life than money.

Whether you’re experiencing freezing cold winter weather in the northern hemisphere or hot, summer days in the southern hemisphere, a New Year gathering calls for some special desserts. Here are a few of my favourites.

If berries are not in season you can make most of these desserts with frozen ones. When using frozen berries to decorate (rather than inside a jelly or trifle) remove them from the freezer and spread them out on a plate about half an hour before serving. This way they will have just thawed when you use them and won’t have had time to go mushy.

See you next year!

Eton Mess.

Layered Fruit Jelly.

Mango and Passionfruit Ice Cream Cake.

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Tim Tams.

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Tim Tams

Raspberry Trifle.

Pavlova.

Labneh with Summer Berries.

Rhubarb Compote with Ginger and Pistachios

We grow a lot of rhubarb which I usually make into pies and crumbles, or a simple compote for breakfast. We give the rest away to friends.

This recipe is light and refreshing as well as being gluten-free. To make it dairy free, swap the whipped cream for coconut cream or coconut yoghurt. Don’t be put off by the olive oil at the end – give it a try, it’s delicious.

1 kg rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 2cm lengths
½ cup water
2 Tbs or more sugar, honey or maple syrup, to taste
1 Tbs grated fresh ginger
Juice of 1 orange
Topping:
Whipped cream (or coconut cream or yoghurt)
Lightly toasted shelled pistachio nuts
Extra Virgin olive oil

Place rhubarb, water and sweetener in a large saucepan and cook, stirring often for 10-15 minutes or until the rhubarb is soft. Add the ginger and orange juice and leave to cool. Keeps in the fridge for several days.

Toast the nuts by stirring them over medium heat in a dry frying pan until lightly toasted. Whip the cream. Serve the compote in individual serving dishes – martini glasses look pretty. Top with the whipped cream, then a few pistachios and a drizzle of oil.

Serves 8

Note: if liked add a little sweetener and/or vanilla essence to the whipped cream or coconut cream.

Colette’s French Apricot Tart

My friend Colette brought this delicious fruit tart to one of our monthly Potluck lunches where we all speak French for two hours. It’s called Tarte Bourdaloue, but I call it Colette’s Tart, because she gave me the recipe.

If you’ve ever looked at the pastries in the window of a French patisserie you will notice that they tend to almost overcook them, resulting in a few charred edges. This is what gives French pastries their authentic flavour, so when you make this tart, don’t undercook it. The original Tarte Bourdaloue used pears, but apricots, plums, apples or pears, either canned, fresh or frozen, all work well. You can even throw in a few berries.

Pastry:
250g butter, chilled
250g cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2½ cups plain flour
Filling:
2 eggs
180g almond meal
150g sugar
3 Tbs rum (optional)
Topping:
2 x 400g can apricots, pears or plums, drained (or use fresh or frozen fruit)
2 Tbs apricot jam, heated and sieved
Flaked almonds, lightly toasted
Process butter, sugar and flour until fine crumbs form, then add the cream cheese, cut into chunks and process just until pastry forms a ball. This is enough to make three tarts approximately 25-30cm in diameter. Tip out and cut the pastry into three, use one ball to make this tart and freeze the other two, wrapped in plastic wrap, to use another time.

Chill the pastry ball you’re going to use for half an hour or so. Roll it out using some extra flour and use it to line the tart tin. Mine is 30cm in diameter and has a removable bottom. If you don’t have a metal tin a ceramic one will do. If you find it hard to lift the pastry once it has been rolled out into a big circle, cut it into four and move it in sections. You can easily rejoin the seams by pressing them together with your fingers. Trim off the top edges with a knife. Chill the tart shell while the oven heats up.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Bake the pastry shell blind (without filling) for 8-10 minutes, or until light golden. Mix filling and spread over the pastry base. Place the fruit on top, pushing it in a bit. From two tins of apricot halves I had a few left over. I probably could have used them all if I had arranged them closer together. If using pears slice them, then put them back together in the shape of halved pears, which looks nice – have a look at photos on Google.

Bake 30-35 mins at 200°C. Brush the heated apricot jam all over the tart, then sprinkle with almonds.

Serves 8 (with pastry left to make 2 more tarts)