Chocolate Fudging Pudding

My chocolate pudding.

This recipe is based on the 'Chocolate Fudge Hot-Pot Pudding' from The Great Briish Bake Off- How to bake by Linda Collister. I have tweaked it and made it my own. Kind of.

This recipe serves 9.

Ingredients:

The Sponge

190g softened unsalted butter

190g caster sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

6 eggs

110g self-raising flour

6 tablespoons of cocoa powder

75g chocolate (the higher the percentage of cocoa solid in it, the better)

the zest of one orange

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon of cayenne

8 tablespoons of milk

1 glug of whisky (1 capful/ 2tbsps)

The Sauce

190g soft brown sugar

450ml boiling water

6 tablespoons of cocoa powder

Method:

Beat the butter until creamy, then add the caster sugar and vanilla extract whilst still beating.

Stop beating the mixture when the mixture appears pale and fluffy (like buttercream).

Crack the eggs into the mixture and whisk.

Add the milk, ginger, cayenne and orange zest into the mixture.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the mixture and fold it all in together.

Pour the mixture into a greased dish.

Add boiling water to the soft brown sugar and cocoa powder and mix until it is all dissolved.

Pour the liquid on top of the cake mixture evenly.

Chop the chocolate very finely and sprinkle over the mixture.

Put the mixture into the fridge to chill and preheat the oven to 180C.

Once the mixture has chilled foe 30 minutes, put into the preheated oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until the sponge springs back when you touch it, and the sauce bubbles.

Variations:

I thought this seasoning was suitably festive as the raw mixture especially smelt and tasted like a Terry's chocolate orange.

If you're planning to serve it mostly to children, I would suggest pushing marshmallows into the mixture along with white chocolate. The marshmallows will turn gooey and the chocolate will melt and give a nice contrast of colour.

Maybe use a couple less eggs as it is prone to give an eggs taste and appearance.

I am aware it all looks highly unappetising so I would suggest serving it in individual pots.

Festive spirit

Roast chickens topped with gingerbread stars

Chocolate molleux, walnut brittle, raspberry sorbet and chantilly

Chocolate molleux, walnut brittle, raspberry sorbet and chantilly

Chocolate molleux

200g dark chocolate

200g white chocolate (and a few extra pieces for gooey bits in the middle)

8 eggs

100g plain flour

300g unsalted butter

200g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C and grease a tin or several ramekins.

Melt the chocolate and butter over a bain marie.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and flour together.

When the chocolate and butter has melted, pour it into the egg-sugar-flour mix.

Whisk it together until thoroughly mixed.

Pour the mixture into the case and dot in some white chocolate pieces into the batter.

Either cook immediately, or put into the fridge until time to be used.

Cook the molleux in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the mixture has risen a few centimetres.

Serve hot or cold, it still tastes delicious!

If you serve straight out of the oven, this is the time when it is gooiest (gooyest?gooiyest?HELP!)

Walnut brittle

Walnut brittle is best made a few hours in advance - preferably left to set overnight- or it will turn out liquidy like mine..

120g caster sugar

30 ml water

100g walnuts

Cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Melt the sugar and water over a medium heat in a saucepan.

When all the sugar has dissolved and you have a light golden syrup, set it aside in another container to cool.

Toast (not burn) the walnuts in a pan with NO oil or butter. You do not need any excess flavour, and the walnuts already contain oil.

Blitz the walnuts into a chunky powder (a bit like crumble with different sizes).

When the syrup and walnuts have considerably cooled down, mix them together and pour into the lined baking tray.

Tilt the tray to spread the mixture as thinly as possible.

Leave the walnut mixture to dry out in order to turn into walnut brittle.

When serving the walnut brittle, gently break it into shards and serve as an accompaniment to a main dessert (such as a chocolate molleux).

Tip: put hot soapy water into the saucepan as soon as you have finished with it, otherwise the syrup will be a demon to get out because it sets.

Raspberry sorbet

MAKE SEVERAL HOURS IN ADVANCE in order for the sorbet to freeze!

500g raspberries (fresh or frozen)- I use frozen as they tend to be cheaper than fresh yet all the flavour has been retained)

citrus juice (most recipes say lemon juice, but I think orange juice works well with raspberries)

150ml water (or champagne for a twist. Depends how drunk you want to make your guests...)

100g icing sugar

Make a syrup by melting the sugar and water in a saucepan over a medium heat.

When all the sugar has dissolved, turn the heat up until the sugar solution begins to boil, and then take off the heat to cool.

In another saucepan, put in the raspberries and squeeze your lemon/orange over.

Heat the raspberries until you have a juice.

When you have your juice, push through a sieve into your syrup. It's not nice to get seeds in your teeth.

Mix together and put in the freezer.

2 or 3 hours after you have put the sorbet into the freezer, get a fork and chisel bits of it off and mash it all up.

Put the sorbet back in the freezer to set.

Chantilly

600 ml double cream

2 tbsp icing sugar (more or less to taste)

tsp vanilla extract or essence or pod (NEVER FLAVOURING!)

Whisk the cream, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form.

Chill in fridge until ready to use.

Tip: chantilly is really good for using in choux and other pastries.

Soupe à l'oignon (onion soup)

French onion soup avec gruyère croutons

Ingredients

enough onions to make up 8 averaged sized onions (I used 10 red and white onions and a couple of shallots- oooh matron!)

butter

2/3 beef stock cubes to make 1.2 litres

copious amounts of DARK beer- I used 200ml - DO NOT USE STOUT!

herbs de provence

pepper salt

bay leaf- optional

baguette

about 200g gruyère cheese

Recipe

Finely slice the onions and fry in a knob of butter until browned. This can take over 30 minutes.

When the onions are nearly browned, sprinkle the herbs over the onions.

When the onions are browned, add the 1.2 litres of stock and beer to onions and simmer over a low heat for an hour. Season with pepper and salt.

About 5 minutes before you serve, slice some baguette and top with grated gruyère cheese.

Put the croutons under a preheated grill until the cheese has melted.

Serve the onion soup with a crouton or two floating on top.

Tips

You can fry the onions in oil but I would suggest you don't as it can leave unsightly globules of oil.

Be careful to not let the mixture reduce! If it does like mine did, add more water or beer.

If you use a bay leaf, put it into the soup when you are simmering the soup for an hour, and take it out prior to serving.

This recipe serves 8.

The soup keeps for about 3 days after it has been made (refridgerate if keeping for later use).

Crispy coating

Whether you're making scotch eggs, schnizel or whatever there is a basic way to do the coating.

Coat your meat/ vegetable in flour and shake off all the excess flour.
Unless you will cook straight away, don't follow the process until you are about to cook your food.
Coat your mixture in beaten egg, and then roll in breadcrumbs.
Fry or bake. If you fry, make sure the oil is really got before you use it, because you don't want your food to be soggy and to have absorbed a lot of oil.
For those of you with a lot of time/ patience/ enthusiasm (delete as appropriate) complete all the stages again, except the rolling in flour.

Season your breadcrumbs accordingly;
Lamb-Rosemary
Chicken- thyme, lemon zest
Prawns, dried chilli, dried garlic
Cauliflower- curry powder (it works really well!)

Try to use dry ingredients when seasoning as it works better.

Tip of the day

When you deep-fry something in batter, use ice-cold fizzy water to make the batter light and NOT claggy.

Pear frangipane

In my opinion, a frangipane tart is just a tart with cake mixture and a dash of fruit. I used pear as it was the only suitable fruit in my fridge, but plums, apricot, peaches, DEFINITELY cherries and most stone fruits work well. I don't think apples would work particularly well because they're best in a plain apple pie, apple crumble, or tarte tatin.

Ingredients

For the pastry

300g plain flour

150g unsalted butter (cold and diced)

125g caster sugar (recipes tend to use the same amount of butter and sugar, but you'v got a sweet filling and sweet fruit so i don't think it's necessary)

water

For the frangipane

4 eggs (make sure they have been left out at room temperature for at least 30mins prior to use)

110g butter (softened!)

110g caster sugar

100g ground almonds

dash of vanilla essence-optional

dash of almond essence- optional

1 tbsp plain flour

For the topping

fruit

For the pasty:

Thoroughly mix the sugar and flour, then add the butter.

Turn the mixture into a crumble by hand, or alternatively use food processor.

Add enough water for the mixture to become a dough.

Wrap the mixture in cling film, and leave to set in the fridge whilst you make the frngipane filling

Preheat the oven to 180C.

For the frangipane filling:

Cream together the sugar and softened butter.

Add the eggs in slowly and mix. Make sure the mixture does not curdle or separate.

Add the flour and ground almond to the mixture.

Roll out the pastry and cover a tart case. Prick the bottom.

Blind bake the pastry (put greaseproof paper on the pastry, and add baking beans and rice).

Cook for 20 mins in the preheated oven.

When the pastry has been in the oven for 20mins, take it out and take off the greaseproof paper and beans.

Put the frangipane filling into the tart case, top with the fruit and leave to cook for 30mins.

This dessert is best enjoyed warm with ice-cream, or cold with a glass of liqueur which matches the fruit.

Variations

Use a mixture of ground almonds and FLAKED almonds in the frangipane filling to give texture.

Use dessicated coconut in the frangipane mixture

In the pastry use any sugar except dark brown sugar as it's not sweet enough.

bread!

Ingredients

250g bread flour/ strong flour

dash of salt

yeast

olive oil

water

This is a basic guideline for bread and it serves 8 portions or 4 generous hunks.

Method

Mix the bread flour, salt and yeast so that the dry mixture is fully combined.

Add olive oil and water until the mix becomes a dough.

I tend to use about half olive oil and half water because olive oil makes the bread moist, but too much is greasy and rich.

Leave the mixture to double in siz\e in a warm place, and then preheat the oven to 200C.

When the bread dough has risen, knead it to knock all the extra air out of it.

Place it on a baking tray in any design; I normally do it as a kind of mound.

I score the top to make the crust crusty. Adding some rock salt to the top makes a tasty addition.

If you want a glossy top, paint the top of the bread with egg.

When you put the bread in the oven, leave it on 200C for about 20 minutes, and then turn it down to about 180C. It is important for the first bit of cooking for the oven to be at a high temperature so that a nice crust forms. Then you should turn it down because you don't want to dry out the bread.

After about 40 minutes, or when the bread sounds hollow if you tap it, it is ready to come out of the oven. The bread is best eaten warm with butter generously spread on it topped with smoked ham.

There are lots of variations you can make, like adding a shot or two of whisky. The good part is that you don't have to feel guilty because the alcohol is burnt off whilst cooking.

Lemon soufflés

Me with my lemon soufflé

Am I brave or just plain foolhardy?!

At an unknown time too early on a Saturday morning (past midday) I attempted to make lemon soufflés.

I used the Mary Berry's recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mary_berrys_lovely_lemon_73914

I had to slightly improvise on the recipe as I didn't have enough cream or a measuring jug. (This is what happens in the recession.)

They appeared to look soufflé like, but tasted slightly like lemony scrambled egg which was surprisingly edible, and dare I say,TASTY?!

Smoothies

I absolutely adore smoothies and they are just so easy to make. Here is my favourite recipe at the moment.

Banana and mandarin smoothie (Sunshine Smoothie?!)

-a drained tin of mandarins (the juice is too good to not have by itself)

-1 or 2 bananas

-any juice you have (I used sainsburys multi-vitamin juice)

Put the mandarins and bananas in a blender and blend.

Then add as much juice as you want to make it thin or thick.

Slurp away!

My favourite meals and foods (at the moment!)

Starters

Deep-fried breadcrumbed camembert

Bruschetta

Pumpkin soup

Mains

Pan-fried duck breast (rare), creamy herb mash, roasted cherry tomatoes, red wine jus

Desserts

ALL

Petit-fours

Macarrons

Florentines

My guilty pleasure

My gulity pleasure (or one of them a least) is a hash brown. Fried, crispy, hot, tasty, this is the formula for an evil food.

This is my recipe for a healthier hash-brown which to be honest tastes more like a rosti. Either way it's a delicious treat.

Rosti/ healthy hash brown
For every 4 large potatoes, have 1 chunkily sliced white onion and 2 cloves of pressed garlic.
Boil the potatoes until they are half-cooked.
Put the potatoes under cold water to stop them cooking.
Grate the potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
Mix the grated potatoes with the sliced onion and garlic.
Either make into small patties, or cook as a whole like a Spanish tortilla in a large pan.
Fry until the sides are crispy and all of the potato is cooked.
This serves 4 greedy people, or 6 respectable sized portions.

Alterations
Add your favourite herb mixes to change the flavour of the rosti.
Fry in goose-fat for an indulgent version- but if you were to do this, you might as well go the whole haul and deep-fry.
Add grated carrots and courgettes for a slight bubble'n'squeak style.

The great thing(s) about this recipe...
All the basic ingredients for this recipe are essential dry store-cupboard ingredients.
It doesn't take long to make this guilty-free classic British dish.

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CAKE

The godfather of all cakes, it doesn't get any better than a 3-layered multiple chocolate cake. This is one of those recipes that it is worth slaving away in the kitchen for hours for. Are you ready? Take a deep breath.

Triple Chocolate Cake- serves 12. (Or 1 depending on how you look at it...)

Ingredients:
450g self-raising flour
300g light brown sugar or 350g caster sugar- light brown sugar is sweeter, creamier, and richer
9 eggs- separated
450g butter- softened
150g white chocolate
150g milk chocolate
450g dark chocolate
300ml double cream

Steps:
-Firstly, preheat the oven to 180degrees celsius.
-Next, cream together your sugar and softened butter. You could take a shortcut and melt the butter, but then the cake tastes more oily.
-Add the yolks and flour to the butter-sugar mixture. For a lighter cake, sieve the flour.
-Whisk the whites of the egg until soft peaks are formed, and beat into the mixture. It is not necessary to be gentle, because you're not making a meringue, so you don't want all of the air.
-Leave the cake mixture aside, and in three separate bowls melt the white chocolate, the milk chocolate, and 150g of the dark chocolate.
-It is preferable to melt the chocolate in a bain-marie, because the chocolate is extremely unlikely to burn. Remember that if you use a microwave to melt the chocolate, put it on in 10 second blasts. Also, white chocolate takes shorter to melt, and shorter to burn as it contains much more cocoa butter.
-Put a third of the mixture into each of the bowls of melted chocolate and mix. You don't have to makle sure they're the same colour throughout as it can be quite nice if is has a marble effect.
-Into 3 greased 23cm tins, put the chocolate cake mixtures. The cake mixtures should cook in the oven for 20 minutes, and they should then be skewered to see how much longer they need.
-When a few crumbs come out on the skewer, the cake is ready to be taken out.
-Put some sheet on top of a plate, ready to assemble the cakes.
-Boil the cream on the hob, and when it has boiled, pour over the remaining dark chocolate.
-Continuously mix until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is one colour throughout.
-If you want, add 25g unsalted butter to the chocolate-cream mixture- this makes the ganache glossy.
-Pour some of the ganache generously over the bottom base. I tend to put dark on the bottom, milk in the middle, and white on the top. Make sure that all the sides are covered in ganache and you cannot see any sponge. Repeat this stage with the middle base and then the top base. You will most likely not use up all of the ganache- you can have leftover ganache with chocolate for a tasty treat.
-Chill the cake in the fridge until the chocolate has set. The coldness of the fridge should not affect the texture of the cake if it has been fully covered with ganache.
-Devour!


Alterations:
Add coffee to the mixture, or orange zest to the mixture and orange liqueur to the ganache.

Tips:
Whenever you make a ganche, remember to always use equal quantities of chocolate and cream.
Never use milk chocolate for a ganache, because there is not enough cocoa in it. The chocolate ganache would turn out being extrememly creamy with no taste of chocolate.




Remember, copyright of Chloé Koura.

Apologies!

Sorry for not posting for ages- i've had lots of exams, honest! As a forgiveness, I will tell you how to make my signature recipe. Look at the following post!

I just thought...

...i'd say, you're never to old to give trick o' treating!

More exciting news

Hopefully I will soon have a stall in Greenwich Market (*insert smiley face here*) selling sweet things. I have already decided on a few taste-tingling products, but may need some taste testers. (Anyone? I guess i'll have to sample them myself...) Check soon for more news!

Halloween dinner party

Sorry I haven't posted for ages; I've had a lot of revising to do. On the bright side, I finally began to look at La Rousse Gastronomique.

So in a few weeks I will be having a dinner party for about eight people and will have a Halloween theme. So far i'm thinking of having a very Halloweenish starter, pumpkin soup. Or maybe homemade pumpkin and pine nut ravioli? Well, it depends whether they'll still sell them in Asda in November...

I have absolutely NO clue for main course- suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

And for dessert, maybe a ghoulishly chocolatey cake?

What about a spookily creamy and marshmallowy hot chocolate as an after dinner treat? Awoooooooooooooooooooooooo

The Black Forest

Today was my first day in Germany's Baden-Baden (literally Bath-Bath) and we started off by going to the local market. It was absolutely amazing, but there were some vegetables I had never ever seen before (pictures up later). After the market, we went on a hike in the Black Forest and viewed so much fantastic scenery (again, pictures up later). Right at the top of the hills/mountains there was snow. SNOW. Last week I was getting a tan, this week I am having snowball fights! We rambled around the forest for over 3 hours and covered at least 10km. It was only suitable to have Black Forest Gateau from the restaurant at the bottom. There was so much kirsch in the cake, and as much cream as sponge. If this is how it is supposed to taste I will DEFINITELY not be having it again. In fact next time I'll stick to a blueberry tart or a lemon cheesecake...

Extreme happiness

The amount of happiness you feel when your comment is published in the Metro! Today, Friday the 21st October 2011, my comment was featured in the metro.

"Is a jaffa cake a biscuit or a cake?" was the moral dilemma I sent in to the 'send us your txt' section. I'm sure I'm not the only person puzzled by this?

Jaffa cakes are sold in boxes like biscuits, yet are called Jaffa cakes? More information following my query will come soon!

http://www.theologian.org.uk/audio/JaffaCakeswithKentHughes.html

Food hero: Donal Skehan

25-year old chef Donal Skehan is possibly the coolest a chef can get?! Good cook, handsome, nice, handsome and handsome. Oh, and he was in a band. His website http://www.donalskehan.com/ tells you all about him and gives recipes which sound delicious. For instance dark-chocolate beetroot cupcakes (http://www.donalskehan.com/2011/10/dark-chocolate-beetroot-cupcakes/). The way he writes is not only informative, but enticing.

I would encourage you to read his books and watch his tv programme, however I think his tv programme is only featured in Ireland...?

http://edible-ireland.com/2011/06/15/qa-with-donal-skehan/

McDonalds

The differences in your feelings before and after you have a McDonalds:

Before- anticipation, hunger, excitement

After- lethargic, regretful, miserable


Nevertheless, if someone was to give me a McDonalds happy meal right now, I certainly wouldn't complain...

Home cooking made easy (ep 4)

Anybody who watched the most recent episode of Lorraine Pascale's new tv show, is it me or did she empty practically a whole bottle of red food colouring?! Also, I like my ready-made stuff as much as the next person, but using pepperami for sausage rolls?! How drunk was she when she thought of that?

Aside from a few criticisms I LOVE HER. Le pain d'epi which she made looked absolutely divine, and I could have quite easily eaten the whole 'Graffiti' cake she made...


My food hero this week is Lorraine Pascale.

Blood Orange and Champagne Panna Cotta Crush

Blood Orange and Champagne Panna Cotta Crush

(This picture is from the Marks and Spencer website)

This is not a panna cotta. Sure it is set and has a creamy texture, but it just tastes like flavoured cream. I do not understand where the champagne comes in. And what are the jelly lumps on top all about?! Once you have scraped the jelly lumps off, it is quite pleasant, but definitely not for £3.79 (for 2!). I got them for 50p reduced, and for 50p they are worth it.

I just can't get over the fact it is not a panna cotta! aaaaaaaaahhhhh

 

Orange and basil cheesecake

Imagine a cheesecake. An orange and basil cheesecake.

My dad brought home some basil, and for some reason, when I think about it, basil seems to work with almost everything.
So here is my -NEVER TRIED AND TESTED- recipe for orange and basil cheesecake...


Ingredients:
-250g marscapone
-250g ricotta
-100g icing sugar
-1 orange
-some basil leaves
-150g of shortbread
-40g butter

Method:
-furiously mix together the marscapone and ricotta and icing sugar.
-grate the orange and add the zest to the marscapone-ricotta mixture.
-rub the basil and bruise it a bit to release the flavour.
-chop the basil finely and squeeze the orange, and add to the mixture.
-mix the mixture aggressively again and set aside to make the base.
-bash the biscuits till crumbs, and melt the butter in the microwave.
-mix together the butter and (what was) the biscuits.
-press the biscuit mixture into the base of a tin.
-dollop the cheese mixture on top of the biscuit base and chill in the fridge till serving.

Tip:- garnish with a few (caramelised) orange shavings.

Apple Crumble Tart

Apple Crumble Tart with caramel ice-cream

Make a sweet shortcrust pastry mixture without the water. Half the mixture and put half aside for later. With the rest, add water until it resembles a dough. Chill the dough in clingfilm in the fridge. An hour later, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Roll the pastry out over a tart case, prick it with a fork, and fill with sliced apple. Top the apple with the crumble mixture and cook in the preheated oven for 40 minutes- or until the crumble is cooked. Best served warm with a scoop of complementing ice-cream.

Lorraine Pascale

Recipe for Lorraine Pascale

Ingredients
1 teaspoon of Nigella Lawson
2 tablespoons of Nigel Slater
a dash of effortless chic
a packet of brillaince

Method
Get all ingredients in a bowl and misk. Leave to set.

Lorraine Pascale is some sort of genius. In her first seies (which I swear was called) 'Baking made easy' I didn't like her at first but by the end I was waiting for her next episode in which I could learn an easy way to make foccacia. Now she is back with 'Home cooking made easy' my life is complete.
Monday, 8.00pm BBC 2. My night = sorted!

Great British Bake Off

FINALLY caught up with the Great British Bake Off and it managed to make me so hungry -as per usual... I'm really glad Jo won, but they were definitely all deserving winners.

Details for applying for the next series:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/beonashow/great_british_bake_off3

Crème brûlée

Solid custard = brilliant!

Creme brulee

Pancakes

Imagine a stack of pancakes drizzled with syrup and with slices of crispy bacon and bursting blueberries to start the day...

the BEST recipe- no question about it- is:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fluffyamericanpancak_74828

ALWAYS USE SELF-RAISING FLOUR as it gives an extra lift.

I'm really sorry that I don't have a picture. I thought I did. Honest. :-(

A dinner party I had...

This is the dessert I made for my very first dinner party. It was a quintuplet featuring: lime and chocolate cheesecake, panna cotta, white chocolate-dipped raspberries, sticky toffee pudding and a sachertorte.

Lime and chocolate cheesecake:

Crush chocolate cookies, and mix with melted butter. Then press mixture into base.
Mix marscapone and ricotta with lime zest and a dash of lime juice. Stir together vigorously to get a very pure consistency. Load onto the base and leave in the fridge to set.

Quintuplet of desserts: (anti-clockwise:)
Chocolate sachertorte, sticky toffee pudding,
chocolate-dipped raspberries, panna cotta,
lime & chocolate cheesecake.

Spinach & ricotta ravioli

Spinach and ricotta ravioli

I do not have a pasta machine so I flattened the dough with a rolling pin, and pressed all the edges with a fork. This is dedication!

Make sure you roll the pasta really thinly, so it's not too heavy and stodgy.

Spinach & ricotta ravioli

Plum Frangipane

I can't help it. I confess that I am a frangipane addict. The tastiness.
Pastry + cake-like mixture + sweet fruit. WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?

Plum frangipane

Peach clafoutis

Clafoutis are definitely better with smaller whole fruit because the liquid doesn't leak out into the batter.

HOWEVER I was quite impressed with the appearance of this clafoutis.

It's annoying because clafoutis are the one thing I cannot make. They always taste terrible and eggy, but on the positive side they always taste better when they have set in the fridge for a bit after being cooked.

Peach clafoutis

BIRTHDAY CAKE! (Austrian sachertorte)

I used the Delicious. magazine's recipe for an Austrian Sachertorte for my brother's birthday. It was a wonderful cake to make (and eat) because it was so moist and it left that gooeyness in your mouth. I topped it with white-chocolate raspberries which I prefer to chocolate-dipped strawberries, purely because raspberries tend to be sharper, so there is a larger contrast of flavours.

Austrian Sachertorte

Meringue cupcakes

Meringue-topped cupcake

No it is not a cloud. Yes i'm sure. Yes really.

Basically a cupcake with a meringue topping.

The cake can end up tasting dry, so put something liquidy under the meringue topping, or chocolate because:

-chocolate melts

-chocoloate is always a winner.

 

Valentines Day (part 4)

Petit-fours: macaroons with a chocolate ganache centre

I think they are rose but I am not certain... Recipes for macaroons are basically ground almond macaroons.

Chocolate ganache; heat cream till bubbling, pour over chocolate. If you want you can add a couple of teaspoons of melted butter to the chocolate to make the mixture glossy.

Heart-shaped macaroons

Valentines Day (part 3)

Dessert: chocolate mousse and candied orange

I personally think that chocolate mousse is basically an uncooked chocolate meringue. Just me?

There are plenty of recipes available for chocolate mousses as they are so popular (and yummy!!)

I actually made the candied orange. PROUD. It's not as hard as it seems when you first do the recipe, you just need a free (/rainy) day.

I think the brown splodges on the side are caramel?

Chocolate mousse and candied orange

Valentines Day (part 2)

Main course: parmentier potatoes with flash-fried steak

Parmentier potatoes are very small diced potatoes coated with quite a bit of butter and oil but make sure they're not too greasy!

Flash-fried steak; fry steak in a pan of HOT oil till cooked.

Steaks!

Valentines Day

Garlic and chilli prawns

For Valentines Day I made a meal with my brother for our parents.

Starter: garlic and chilli prawns
I'm pretty sure everyone has their own take on these, mine is pretty simple. Slice a few cloves of garlic, and add some dried chilli to a pan of olive oil. (I find dried chilli gives a more delicate flavour.) When the pan has heated up, add the prawns until cooked. SERVE.

"Eclairs"

For my grandma's birthday I tried (note tried) to make choolate eclairs however my choux pastry was a bit greasy due to the butter separating, so they tasted like churros.

Is it me or do they look like Viennese biscuits...?

I tried to make these using the quickest recipe I could find, but none were fast enough, so I combined 2 recipes.




My attempt at chocolate eclairs.

Chocolate tarts

L-r: Chocolate and mandarin tart, chocolate and ginger tart

I cannot remember the exact website, but I used a recipe very similar to: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/614297

however the recipe above seems a lot simpler than the one I used. I had to do so many unnecessary actions to the pastry that left it very hard and dry. Chocolate filling is gorgeous though!

Framboisier

My very sorry-looking Framboisier.

The recipe I used:
http://www.cuisine-french.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/recettes/framboisier_ill.html

I followed this recipe more or less, but the main change that I made was using rice flour for the cake. The final product tasted like heaven (a perfect raspberry mousse) with a bit of hell (a revolting bottom which was surprisingly NOT soggy!)

Framboisier

http://www.cuisine-french.com/cgi/mdc/l/en/recettes/framboisier_ill.html

I followed this recipe to make framboisier, but I made the cake myself using rice flour, so the finished product tasted like a very nice raspberry mousse which a disgusting bottom- which was surprisingly not soggy!

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The daunting first post.

Okay so here goes...

I love food, and I love writing so it makes sense to start a food blog. One day I would love to become a chef, a food journalist, or a food critic. Maybe all three? I love to try all sorts of recipes and usually when baking, I find a recipe and slightly alter it to make it my own.

Bon appetit!