Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts
This cake I am sharing with you today is very dangerous. Very, very dangerous, and on several levels. Its rich and chocolaty, and probably loaded with calories that you don't want to think about. You best be making it when you have someone to share it with.
Trust me on this. Second . . . the danger level for me is that my husband doesn't like chocolate cake . . . so what am I going to do with a whole chocolate cake all on my own. Oh boy . . . why do I do this to myself. Its a tough job but someone has to do it, right!
Its probably been about 35 years since I have made this cake. When I was in my late 20's and the mother of four young children, I collected the McCall's Cooking School recipes and binders. I never got to finish collecting all of them, but I did collect quite a few.
You could trust the McCall's Cooking School. They were reliable, and this was one of my favourite recipes from the series. Actually they were all favourites, but we won't go there!
This cake consists of a rich chocolaty layer cake . . . filled with a scrumptious fruit and nut caramel filling . . . whipped cream and then frosted with a scrumptious sour cream bittersweet chocolate frosting!
Its not an every day kind of a cake . . . its a special cake.
This is the kind of cake you might want to bake when you have something you want to celebrate . . . occasions like anniversaries, or, perhaps a birthday spring to mind!
Oh yes . . . Tuesday is my Birthday. Happy 64th Birthday to me! That's a great reason to celebrate. Its been a hard year this past year, but I made it.
So, chocolate hating husband's aside . . . I do think a rich, delicious, moreish chocolate cake is due me!
Bear in mind that this cake is so rich and so delicious that, even though it is only 8 inches in diameter . . . it feeds 16 people.
You wouldn't want a really large piece of this!
Trust me on this . . . a narrow slice is quite enough!
The many times I have baked this luscious cake through the years, I have never managed to get the sides perfectly iced on it. But I do my best . . . and nobody really complains.
Least of all me . . . Back in 2001 two of my sons came over for a visit. We had bought them tickets to come, and they were here for my 46th Birthday.
My oldest son baked me a lovely chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache frosting. It really cheered my heart. Other than my mother, not many cakes have been baked for me through the years, other than by myself.
But I am not complaining. I love to bake and so baking myself a Birthday Cake is a real treat for me!
The only way this could get any better would be if everyone who looked at this recipe donated a couple pounds to the blog . . . but that ain't going to happen. Can you imagine?
I'd never have to work again. Whatever would I do with my time! I'd rather bake cakes and cook pies, and create daily tastiness! I can't imagine ever retiring, no matter how old I get . . .
Yield: 16
Creole Chocolate Cake
A sinfully delicious chocolate cake that you will be unable to resist. From the McCall's Cooking School of the late 1970's early 80's.
ingredients:
For the Cake:
- 280g plain flour (2 cups all purpose)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 120g butter (1/2 cup)
- 120ml salad oil (1/2 cup)
- 3 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate (broken into squares)
- 380g sugar (2 cups)
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten
- 120ml sour milk (1/2 cup)
- 240ml water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Filling:
- 60ml water (1/4 cup)
- 150g evaporated milk (5.3 ounce tin) (NOT the sweetened condensed)
- 150g sugar (3/4 cup)
- 40g seedless raisins chopped (1/4 cup)
- 125g chopped dates (1/2 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 60g chopped toasted walnuts of pecans (1/2 cup)
- You will also need 120ml/1/2 cup of chilled heavy cream
For the Frosting:
- 170g semi sweet chocolate chips (about 1 cup)
- 60g sour cream (1/2 cup)
- pinch salt
instructions:
How to cook Creole Chocolate Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter two 8 inch cake tins and line the bottoms with baking paper. Place the chocolate for the cake, salad oil and butter in a saucepan. Cook, stirring to melt the chocolate and amalgamate everything. Stir in the water. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
- To make sour milk, add 1 1/2 tsp of vinegar to a cup and fill with milk to measure. Do this now.
- Sift the flour and soda into a bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the sugar, eggs, sour milk and vanilla to combine. Stir in the chocolate mixture, just to combine and divide between the two cake tins. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. The tops should spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in the tins for 5 minutes before tipping layers out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Remove the baking paper and discard.
- To make the filling combine the water, milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the raisins and dates. Cook, stirring until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and nuts. Set aside to cool.
- Whip the cream for the filling until stiff peaks form.
- Place one cake layer on a cake plate. Spread with the filling. Top with the whipped cream to cover and then place the remaining layer on top.
- To make the frosting, melt the chocolate pieces in the top of a double boiler over hot water until smooth. Stir in the sour cream and salt. Beat until smooth and then allow to cool until it is of a spreading consistency. Spread over the top and sides of the cake. Chill one hour prior to serving.
I am in a real quandary now as to what I am going to do with the remainder of the cake. I think my next door neighbour is in for a treat. After all if I want to make it to 65, I don't want to be eating this whole cake all by myself!
Tastes You Can Look Forward to in the Week to Come:
(always subject to change according to my whims)
Monday: Easy Boston Baked Beans
Tuesday: Stilton Steaks with Sweet Potato & Garlic Mash
Wednesday: Chicken Schnitzels
Thursday: Chunky Puy Lentil & Vegetable Soup
Friday: Back to the 60's Shrimp Cocktails
Saturday: Perfect Sticky Toffee Pudding Cakes
Sunday: Lemon Mousse
Now that's a lot of tastiness to look forward to! I hope you will pop back to see how I am getting on with it all!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
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If you are a long time reader of my foodblog you will know that at present I don't have a working oven.
Well . . . I can do a few things in it, but not anything precise such as baking cakes, cookies or roasts. Not quite what I was hoping for a holiday weekend!
I did want to cook us a bit of a special meal, including a dessert. I have a cookbook by the Australian Women's Weekly, entitled "Slow Cooking."
It is a fabulous compendium of recipes to cook long and slow, in the slow cooker (crock pot), stove top or in the oven.
I had flagged this Chocolate Fudge Pudding a long time ago, and I thought to myself, there is no time like the present!
I have made Chocolate Fudge Pudding in the oven many times, and its a real favourite, but I had never considered doing it in the slow cooker.
There is also a rice pudding recipe in there I would like to try as well as a bread pudding. Watch this space.
I didn't want to drag out my large slow cooker however, nor did I want to have to deal with oodles of leftovers, so I threw caution to the wind and halved the recipe.
With great success I might add! It worked out beautifully, and was done in roughly 3/4 of the time.
I would start checking it halfway through the recommended cook time just to be sure.
Chocolate Fudge Pudding has always been a real family favourite of ours.
Its the kind of pudding that goes together simply and then bakes itself pretty much, with the end result being a delicious fudgy cake type of pudding (much like a steamed pudding)
Along with a rich chocolate sauce that bakes like magic at the bottom of the pudding.
I have never met anyone who doesn't like it, including my husband who says he hates chocolate desserts, but managed to put away two helpings!
It is best served warm . . .
When my children were growing up they liked it with cold Vanilla Ice Cream. My husband, he likes his with cream. Its delicious either way!
Chocolate Fudge Pudding
Yield: 6
A delicious gooey chocolate sponge pudding that makes its own sauce. This cooks in the slow cooker. You can very successfully cut this in half for the smaller family or smaller appetites.
ingredients:
- 90g butter (3 ounces) (6 TBS)
- 180ml milk (3/4 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 190g caster sugar (1 cup)
- 225g self raising flour (1 1/2 cups + 2 TBS)
- 2 TBS good quality cocoa powder
- 1 large free range egg, beaten lightly
- 200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed)
- 2 additional TBS of cocoa powder
- 625ml boiling water (2 1/2 cups)
To serve (optional):
- pouring cream
- vanilla ice cream
instructions:
- Butter a 4 1/2 litre (18 cup) slow cooker bowl. Melt the butter in the milk over low heat. Let cool for several minutes and then stir in the sugar and vanilla. Sift together the flour and first amount of cocoa powder. Stir this into the milk /butter mixture along with the egg, mixing all together well. Pour into the buttered slow cooker bowl.
- Sift together the brown sugar and remaining cocoa powder. Sprinkle evenly over top of the batter in the slow cooker. Pour the boiling water evenly over all.
- Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours or until firm. Remove the bowl from the slow cooker. Let stand five minutes and then spoon out into bowls to serve. Pass the cream or ice cream!
Store any leftovers in the refrigerator and then reheat gently in the microwave when you go to serve it. This always goes down a real treat and its nice to know that you can cook it in the slow cooker without heating up the kitchen. Its also nice to know that you can cut the recipe in half and it will still turn out delicious!
Happy Valentines Day. I know that to many people it is just a huge money grab, and really, if you love someone you can celebrate that love for them any day of the year in large and small ways.
It is nice however, or at least I think it is . . . to do something out of the ordinary for your loved ones on this special day!!
When I was a child it was always marked by exchanging special cards with all of the children in my class at school . . . at least while I was in Primary school.
It wouldn't have gone over well in Middle or High School! (To say the least!)
In Primary school however, great care was taken in the run up to Valentines day picking and cutting out Valentines, gluing them together, gluing the envelopes and then deciding who you wanted to give what Valentine to.
Oh, you could always get the already cut out fancy boxes of cards . . . they cost a bit more . . . but, in all truth, I really enjoyed the whole exercise of cutting them out and putting them together. I've always been crafty in that way.
There used to be a contest at school for whoever had made the prettiest/most unusual box to collect your Valentines in. One year my mother helped me make my box using an old chocolate box.
It was all decorated with white crepe paper and looked like a cake. On the top were little hearts standing upright on toothpicks, with little sayings on them . . . like a field of valentine flowers.
I won the prize that year (rightly or wrongly) and I have never forgotten how pretty the box was. It is one of my happy mom memories in the annals of my heart.
These brownies are so special and yet so simple to make. You can use a boxed Brownie mix (I used Ghirardelli. You get it as Costco.) or you can use your favourite brownie recipe.
I have an excellent recipe here for Fudge Walnut Brownies.
They are excellent brownies (both the boxed mix and the from scratch ones.) You can't go wrong with either one.
Just bake them in a paper lined muffin tin. I used Valentine wrappers, but really paper wrappers never look great after you bake in them.
Most of the pictures/patterns on them just kind of disappears into blah, blah, blah . . . so plain brown paper cups will work just fine, and might even look better.
Bake them to the degree that you enjoy your Brownies, as fudgy or as cakey as you like. The longer you bake them the cakier they will be.
Once they are baked, take them out of the tin and let them cool on a wire rack.
While they are cooling you make a really simple chocolate ganache topping.
Its as simple as chopping chocolate and then pouring hot cream over it. Let is sit, and then stir to melt the chocolate. Once it is all amalgamated together you spoon it over the top of the brownies.
After that you just need to pop one of your favourite chocolates on top, and let it all set up.
Its as simple as that. Easy peasy an look at how cute they are!
I can't think of anyone who wouldn't enjoy one of these delicious little cakes!
Well, my husband maybe . . . because he doesn't like chocolate cakes of any kind . . . but I know a neighbour of mine who is really going to enjoy these!
She's had a bit of a rough go lately and I reckon these will really cheer her up!
Yield: 12
Chocolate Box Brownies
prep time: 5 minscook time: 40 minstotal time: 45 mins
Something cute to share with those you love on Valentines Day. You can either use your favourite Brownie Recipe or a mix. They are a very simple bake and really cute!
ingredients:
- 1 box of Brownie Mix (I used Ghirardelli)
- (Or your favourite Brownie recipe)
- For the Ganache:
- 115g of bittersweet chocolate, chopped (4 ounces)
- 150ml double cream (2/3 cup)
- You will also need a box of assorted chocolates
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to the temperature recommended on your box of brownie mix, or according to your recipe for Brownies. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Following the directions on the box or in the recipe, make the brownie batter and then spoon it into the lined muffin cups, dividing it equally. Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes, or until the tops are glossy and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out a little wet (if you want fudgy brownies) or clean (If you want drier brownies.)
- Remove the paper cups from the pan and set aside to cool on a wire rack.
- To make the ganache, put the chopped chocolate into a heat proof bowl. Measure the cream into a small saucepan. Bring the cream just to the boiling point. Pour over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for a few minutes. Whisk together to melt the chocolate and make a smooth mixture. Spoon the ganache over top of the brownies. Top each one with a chocolate. Leave to set completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
- Note - Alternately you can melt some white chocolate and drizzle over top in decorative manner.
Created using The Recipes Generator
No matter what you do, or how you celebrate it, I hope that you have a really lovely Sweethearts Day! Bon Appetit!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The
English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are
reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you
may report it to me at: theenglishkitchen@mail.com
Brrr . . . I think we have had a colder Autumn this year than we have had in recent years and the past few days have been filled with cold showers and a wind that seems to bite right through to the bone. This is what I like to call canoodling weather, snuggle down weather, cosy-in weather . . . the beginning of hibernation!
There is nothing quite like going for a brisk walk on a damp and cold, windy day and then returning to your house and snuggling by the fire with something hot to warm up your hands as you toast your toes!
Not chocolate and cinnamon toast make a beautiful late afternoon light repast . . . with hot and creamy chocolate to sip on . . . .
and crisp, buttery toast batons gilded with sweet cinnamon sugar to munch on . . . the epitome of Hygge in my opinion.
Call me common, but I like to dip my cinnamon toast into the hot chocolate . . .
That's why I cut the toast into batons instead of triangles . . . there is a method to my tasty madness!
There is nothing quite so tasty as a hot chocolate built from scratch . . . from simmered milk and vanilla and a really good chocolate . . . you want one with a high cocoa content . . . it does make a difference.
The vanilla goes beautifully. One whole pod, seeds scraped out. No worries, you can dry the pod afterwards and shove it deep into your sugar jar where it can flavour your sugar. Mmmm . . . vanilla sugar. I love it.
Just look at how beautifully dark and creamy that hot chocolate is. I use dark soft brown sugar, which helps to maintain the integrity of the colour and also gives an additional depth almost molasses like flavour . . .
If you have a milk frother, do use it to froth some milk to spoon on top. It looks beautiful and adds a depth of creaminess . . .
This reminded me of when we were in Germany the first time we went together, and we ordered a hot chocolate at a cafe. They asked did we want cream. Well . . . why not!
It came to the table with about six inches of whipped cream piled on top . . . no slight exaggeration! It was amazing! I had never seen anything like this. Frothed milk is not quite as fattening I promise, but every bit as exciting to see.
Yield: 3
Hot Chocolate & Cinnamon Toast
prep time: 5 minscook time: 15 minstotal time: 20 mins
Proper hot chocolate and cinnamon toast. Its well worth the time to make something like this to enjoy together in front of the fire on a cold November day.
ingredients:
For the hot chocolate:
500ml whole milk (2 cups)
1 vanilla pod, split length ways and seeds scraped out
75g plain chocolate with 70% cocoa solids (2 1/2 ounces), broken apart
1 TBS dark soft brown sugar
For the cinnamon toast:
3 thick slices of a good white loaf
50g softened butter (3 TBS)
2 heaped dessertspoons caster (fine granulated) sugar
1 heaped tsp ground cinnamoninstructions:
First start the hot chocolate. Put the milk along with the vanilla
pod and the seeds into a saucepan and heat over medium low heat, just
until bubbles appear around the edges of the milk in the pan. Remove
from heat and set aside to infuse the milk with the vanilla flavours for
10 to 15 minutes. At the end of that time add the chocolate pieces and
the sugar to the pan and return to the heat whisking until they have
melted. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm while you make the toast.
pod and the seeds into a saucepan and heat over medium low heat, just
until bubbles appear around the edges of the milk in the pan. Remove
from heat and set aside to infuse the milk with the vanilla flavours for
10 to 15 minutes. At the end of that time add the chocolate pieces and
the sugar to the pan and return to the heat whisking until they have
melted. Reduce the heat to low and keep warm while you make the toast.
Heat
the grill/broiler of your oven to high. Whisk together the sugar and
cinnamon. Toast the bread until just golden brown on both sides. Slather
one side of each piece with softened butter, spreading it right to the
edges. Sprinkle the buttered sides with the cinnamon sugar and return
the toast to the grill/broiler cooking just until the sugar begins to
melt and bubble.
the grill/broiler of your oven to high. Whisk together the sugar and
cinnamon. Toast the bread until just golden brown on both sides. Slather
one side of each piece with softened butter, spreading it right to the
edges. Sprinkle the buttered sides with the cinnamon sugar and return
the toast to the grill/broiler cooking just until the sugar begins to
melt and bubble.
Strain the hot chocolate into
warm mugs. (Save the vanilla pod, dry and put into your sugar bin to
flavour your sugar.) Cut the toast into fingers and serve along side of
the hot chocolate.
warm mugs. (Save the vanilla pod, dry and put into your sugar bin to
flavour your sugar.) Cut the toast into fingers and serve along side of
the hot chocolate.
Created using The Recipes Generator
Mmmm . . . this was so good. I confess I feel quite spoilt when I indulge in something like this. You will too! Bon Appetit!
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