Chocolate Season

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Birthday & Chocolate

photo from my Instagram

Merry Christmas!

An entire afternoon in the kitchen to make the last Christmas biscuits and these Danish Konfekt.

But all is ready now and it's time to just relax and enjoy.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...

See you in January!

photos by me

Chocolate Salami - Recipe

One of my favourite things about having this blog is that it gives me the perfect excuse to make food. Namely, the old recipes, the old family traditions, that make for a huge part of my childhood memories, and that otherwise would get pretty much lost. I get to cook, eat, and then show the photos to my family and have a laugh while we all remember the stories attached to every recipe. 

This one, for example, was one of my brother's favourites. Like the Maria Biscuit Cake and the Chocolate Mousse, the Chocolate Salami had a mandatory presence in kids' birthday parties. But my brother really only liked the one that my mother made... So, every single time we were at someone else's party he would take a bite of the salami and be inevitably disappointed. It was funny and heart breaking at the same time. I don't even know why he kept trying, but that's what made it the more comic. 

So here is my mother's recipe. It's a dark salami, not too sweet, just right!

100g chocolate powder 

100g cocoa powder

200g powdered sugar

125g butter 

4 egg yolks

200g butter biscuits (the recipe says Petit Beurre but I used what I had at home which was Maria biscuits)

whisky or Brandy (optional) 

Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Or punch them if you feel like it, but that's a lot of unnecessary work. Some of the biscuits will be reduced to powder but you want to get most of it in little pieces like you can see in the photos. 

Use butter at room temperature or slightly softened (15 sec in the microwave if it just came out of the fridge).

Throw everything into a big bowl except for the whisky. Mix all very well with your hands until you get a consistency that you can shape into a big ball (if need add another egg yolk). 

Place it on a big piece of parchment paper, sprinkled with the whiskey/brandy, and shape it, roughly, like a cylinder or log. Wrap it all with the parchment paper and twist the ends (like a Christmas cracker). Sprinkle again the outside of the paper with a bit of whisky/brandy - I know, it's supposed to be a recipe for children, don't ask! I didn't have whisky at home, I hate whisky, so I skipped this step. It's not a big deal if you don't want to use it, but I think that the whisky helps to solidify the salami  and it also gives a certain acidity, a twist that it's quite nice. 

Leave in the fridge for a few hours until hardened. Cut thin slices when you want to eat it and keep the rest in the fridge. 

photos by me

And that's it :) Easy no?

If you decide to try I'd love to hear about your experience.

Lady Golden Glow Cake - Recipe

After posting the recipe for my quick and easy cocoa cupcakes,  I decided to venture into something more complicated (but not to much! By now, my readers must have noticed that my recipes tend to be very "user friendly"). But first, please, allow me to explain why I wanted to share this specific recipe with you.

I remember being little and my grandmother making this cake that completely fascinated me. I wouldn't exactly eat it, the combination of orange and dark chocolate is something that I enjoy a lot now, but back then it sounded just weird. Instead, I would sit  in front of the cake, staring at it for minutes unending, while often poking it gently to make sure it was real. It's a memory I wasn't even absolutely sure it had really happened. So, even after my mother's confirmation that the cake existed and gave me the recipe, I had to google it to make sure other people knew about it, and that the image I had of it wasn't just a product of my imagination. The Lady Golden Glow cake... really, who names cakes like that any more?... is now referred to as a Retro Cake! Isn't that just adorable? 

The original recipe is English so my grandmother had to convert it to grams, which made for really strange measures. To make it easier, I tried to convert it all back to cups.

for the cake:

1/2 cup butter (melted)

1 and 2/3 cups white sugar

1/2 orange zest

2 egg yolks

1 egg white

3 cups plain flour

3 tea spoons baking powder
1 cup milk

a pinch of salt

1/3 of a cooking chocolate tablet (melted)

Pre-heat the oven.

Cream butter and sugar. Add the orange zest and the 2 egg yolks. 

On the side, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt and add it to the batter, alternating with the milk. 

Fold in the stiffened egg white. 

Divide batter into two parts in separate bowls. To one part add the melted chocolate. 

Alternate big table spoons of dark and light batter into the greased and floured cake pan. (I think a cake pan with a hole in the middle might work better but I had to use the plain one I have at home). 

Bakes at 180.C ( 350F.) for about 50 min. or until tester comes out clean.

for the glazing:

3 table spoons butter (melted) 

3 cups powdered sugar 

1/2 orange zest

1/2 orange juice + the pulp of that orange

1 egg white

the rest of the cooking chocolate (grate a bit for the top of the cake and melt the rest)

Mix and beat well the butter, sugar and the orange, zest, juice and pulp (no need to worry to much about these measures, I added the zest and then just squished out the juice and pulp with my hands).

Add the stiffened egg white.

Cover the top part of the cake with this mixture. While it's still soft add the grated chocolate. 

To the rest of the batter, add the melted chocolate, and spread it on the sides of the cake.

Having tasted it now, after so many years, I have to say I really like it. And for my big surprise, Emil absolutely loved it! ...and he can be really picky at times.

all photos by me

My parents scanned this page, with the Lady Golden Glow recipe, from my grandmother's old cooking book and I wanted to share it with you because I think it is a wonderful relic.

If you know this cake, or decide to try it, I would love to hear about it!

Cocoa Cupcakes - Recipe

As promised on a previous post, I'm sharing the recipe for my easy, simple and delicious cocoa cupcakes. It makes for 5 or 6 cupcakes, not too sweet, but with an intense and wonderful cocoa taste... and smell!

This recipe is extremely easy and it doesn't make a big mess in the kitchen, so it became my "mid-night saviour , while in the middle of a series marathon, at late hours, and feel in need of something yummy.

It's a blessing and a curse...

2 table spoons butter (melted, 30 sec in the microwave)

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

2 table spoons cocoa powder

½ tea spoon vanilla aroma 

½ cup flower + ½ tea spoon baking powder

2 table spoons milk

Pre-heat the oven at 180.C.

Use a small bowl and a whisker. Add the ingredients by the order above mixing well after each one. 

I use two VERY full spoons of cocoa because I really want to get an intense flavour.

Put 5 or 6 cupcake paper cups in a cupcake pan (no need to pre grease anything or wash the cups later) and distribute the batter using a table spoon.

Bakes for 15 minutes. 

I advise waiting a bit before eating them but in an emergency they go down well while still hot (because of the wonderful smell they release it's difficult to resist) with a cup of milk.

That was the basic recipe. But if you want to make it more fancy, then it's time to put that electric mixer to work, and get a nice frosting on your cupcakes. I personally love them simply with whipped cream. But today I tried a mascarpone and cocoa frosting. the mascarpone is to replace the typical butter-cream because Emil finds it too sweet.

4 table spoons mascarpone

2 table spoons heavy cream (might work with milk or sour cream)

2 table spoons cocoa powder

2 table spoons confectioners sugar

½ tea spoon vanilla aroma

a pinch of salt

Mix everything well and apply it with a piping bag and add a few sprinkle of chocolate on top, to make it more pretty. 

   

   

all photos by me

Hope you like it as much as we do here!

Have a great weekend.

Chocolate Cupcakes

You may have noticed that I have been posting several photos of cupcakes lately. There is a reason for that. I have been obsessing over cupcakes for the last 3 months. I decided to go on a crusade in search of the perfect cupcake and while I can't yet post the recipe here, I can always share the pictures of some attempts. It shouldn't be that difficult to find the perfect cupcake but... my perfect cupcakes needs:

- a good cake base, preferably with a strong chocolate flavour;

- a good frosting but it cannot be the normal butter-cream because the Mr. doesn't like it;

- to be easy and quick to make without having to use the electric mixer or a scale;

- just enough for two people...meaning I don't want to end up with 20 cupcakes that we can't (well we can but we shouldn't) handle.

These pictures show my last attempt. The cake was actually kind of awesome! but I didn't nail the frosting... yet!... I converted all measures in cups and spoons and used a simple whisker to mix the batter. And it made 6 cupcakes...perfectly acceptable, I say!

   

all photos by me

(edited) I have now posted the perfect recipe for few and fast cupcakes here

Cupcakes&Chocolate photos

   

all photos by me

Merry Christmas!

All is ready now... Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

all photos by me

Christmas Chocolate Biscuits

These last two weeks I've been spending my time between baking and running outside every time it starts snowing. And I mean that literally! I drop my oven mittens, put on my new gorgeous, baby blue,wellington boots and go out to try catching the snow flakes with my face. For me, snow is still something new and exciting and I've been learning a lot about it. First of all, I learned that if I keep moving back and forth, from a warm oven to a frozen terrace, I will get a nasty cold...snif...snif. But that was totally worth it. I've seen snow I could shape and play with, snow that feels like sand and snow that was frozen and no fun at all. And I learned that there is a thing called "black ice" that is difficult to see and extremely slippery and that I need to be careful not to fall on my behind when I walk on it.

Now, this post isn't about snow but it all started on a snowy evening, when I was snuggling on my sofa, under a duvet, watching Nigella Lawson's special Christmas cooking program on TV. Amongst other delicious things, she started making these chocolate biscuits and it was love at first sight. When I saw that dough I KNEW I had to make them. And I'll say it again... it was when I saw the dough, not the actual biscuits... which probably means I have been baking way to much this last year! So I got up, "googled" the recipe (which you can see here) and it seemed simple enough for me.

These biscuits are not too sweet and they have a crunchy, sandy texture that I love (but if you have kids or a man at home that will mean lots of crumbs all over the place). The first batch I made ended up not having any sort of topping because I run out of confectioners sugar and this was at mid-night. But they were so delicious that they all disappeared before I had time to go buy more sugar. So I made another batch and today I tried the topping on half of them. I think they are pretty damn good to eat without the toppings, and the chocolate topping is a bit too sweet for my taste, but they do look more festive for the holiday season if you add a bit of colourful sprinkles and sparkles on top.

[updated] After I posted this recipe I gave one of the biscuits with topping to Emil, who had just gotten back home from work, to try. He said and I quote: "The topping distracts from the awesomeness of the biscuit". I couldn't have said it better and completely agree, so even though it looks pretty there will be no more toppings for me!

I made a few small changes so I'll leave you here the adapted recipe (most of the description was copied from the original recipe since I still find it hard to explain this things in English at times).

For the biscuits:

250g butter (soft)

150g confectioners sugar (caster sugar in the original)

40g cocoa powder

300g plain flower

3/4 tea spoon baking powder

a pinch of salt (the original recipe says bicarbonate of soda but  that thing leaves a weird after taste)

For the topping:

2 table spoons cocoa powder

175g confectioners sugar 

60ml water (boiling)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

sprinkles of your choice

Pre-heat the oven to 170.C Cover 2 oven trays with cooking paper. 

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the cocoa powder and mix well. Add the flour with the salt and baking powder and keep mixing. I used my electric mixer for this and after adding the flour I got a very lumpy mixture so I finished it with my hands.

Pinch of pieces from the dough, about the size of a big walnut, roll them into balls, and then slightly flatten into fat discs as you place them, well spaced, on your baking sheet (more or less 12 biscuits per tray)

The original recipe said that this dough was very sticky, but mine wasn't! Which I thought it was just perfect because I hate dough glued to my fingers. This was very, very easy to shape...oh, and delicious to eat!

Bake for 15 min. It won't feel as if they have had enough time but they will continue to cook as they cool. And they will get harder, so don't panic if they feel mushy as getting out of the oven. Let them cool on a cold surface before moving to the topping.

To make the topping, put all the ingredients, except the sprinkles, into a small sauce pan and whisk over a low heat until everything is smoothly combined. The original recipe says to leave it for 10 min, but my chocolate wasn't to warm to start with so I started topping the biscuits immediately. 

Ice 6 biscuits at a time with one table spoon of chocolate and then the sprinkles and let it cool completely.

And that's it! Easy no? And the best part is that they aren't really part of mine or Emil's Christmas traditions so I feel free to make them all year round :)

Merry Christmas and enjoy! 

all photos by me

Chocolate Mousse

One of the easiest desserts I've ever made and not less delicious because of it. This is my mothers recipe of an airy, fluffy mousse, not to dark and not to sweet. It's the mousse I used to eat in my childhood (there was no birthday party without it) with strawberries or strawberry jelly on the side. I decided to serve it in individual flasks, which made it a lot more fun and perfect for eating in from of the TV while watching my favourite series.  Hope you like it.

250g dark cooking chocolate

4 table spoons confectioners sugar

1 table spoon butter 

8 eggs ( 8 yolks, 7 whites)

Melt the chocolate with the butter (I did it in the microwave) and mix. Add the yolks and the sugar to the chocolate and mix well. Beat the egg whites until stiffened. Add the whites to the chocolate mixture and mix it slowly with a whisker until you get an airy mixture. Pour the mouse in a bowl, or like in my case in small recipients/flasks for individual portions, and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. In my opinion it tastes better if you leave it longer, but that's a matter of personal taste. If you like it darker and stronger just add less egg whites. Oh! And for some extra "punch", and when we got older, my father used to had a bit of whisky or Frangelico (hazelnut liquor). 

all photos by me