Chocolate

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

image 1 via Etsy    .    image 2 via Glen Proebstel

Sweet Paul Magazine

I was checking the Sweet Paul Magazine - Fall 2012 and was amazed by the wonderful, warm colours of the photographies I found. I recommend checking the link above for many more beautiful pictures and recipes that look delicious for a cold and rainy day like today. And the colour scheme looks wonderful for the home too!

all images via Sweet Paul Magazine

Chocolate "Brigadeiros"

Brigadeiros is the Portuguese name for a delicious chocolate treat similar to truffles. It's very easy to make and it's heavenly good. The recipe I'm posting here was adapted by my father to perfection and It was actually the first thing I ever cooked. When I was younger I hated eating, cooking and everything about food, with very few exceptions... being one of them chocolate (obviously). So before I even knew how to fry an egg, and having my brother as my helper to turn on the stove... because yes, I was that helpless in a kitchen... I could make Brigadeiros.

1 can condensed milk

2 table spoons butter, not very full (real butter, not margarine or such) 

2 table spoons cocoa powder

2 table spoons chocolate powder

chocolate sprinkles for decoration

You start by melting the butter. 

Add the chocolate and the cocoa powder and mix very well to avoid lumps. 

Then start adding the condensed milk. hold the can over the pot and let it drip slowly but constantly while mixing the batter vigorously.

Never stop whisking and let it come to a point of starting to boil and then lower the heat. 

It's ready when the mixture thickens and you can leave a trail on the bottom of the pan with the whisk or spoon. 

Pour the batter on a pre-greased plate or tray , let it cool to room temperature and then put it in the fridge for 2 or 3 hours. 

Then all you have to do is shape the batter into balls (the size depends on your gluttony) and roll them on a bowl with the chocolate sprinkles. 

I didn't have enough sprinkles for all of it so I used some of the powder chocolate too. It works but can't go back to the fridge, because the chocolate gets all gooey.

And they are better served at room temperature even though some people prefer them right out of the fridge.

   

   

all photos by me

Anders Schønnemann

For this Sunday, a pick of my favourite food photographies by Anders Schønnemann. I love the simplicity of some of the compositions, the light and the textured backgrounds he uses. Cooking and food shouldn't take place in a sterile place but somewhere full of histories and character.

all images via

Tuukka Koski - or more chocolate pictures

I can't get tired of pictures of chocolate. It's one of the most photogenic things in the entire world. Other examples of photogenic food is coffee, bread and cheese... but then again this may have to do with some sort of personal preference and with how hungry I am at the moment, hehe.

In any case, I believe that some "chocolaty" yummy  pictures are a perfect way to start the weekend and my holidays. 

All pictures are from the Helsinky based photographer Tuukka Koski and about Mast Brothers chocolate.

all images via

Šárka Babická and chocolate

It SUCKS to be on a diet when you come across with photos like these. All from the London based photographer Šárka Babická.

all images via Šárka Babická

Chocolate Cakes! (yes... 2 recipes)

For the last 2 weeks I've been debating with which chocolate cake to make and post here. The thing is, my boyfriend has been begging me to make the same cake I made for new years eve; and my friend Ana, my oldest friend, has asked me to post the recipe of a cake that my grandmother used to make when we were kids.

I was going to make the cake for Ana because it would be something different, since instead of flour it takes milled almond, and because I haven't tasted it for many years. But Emil used his power of veto and "demanded" the normal chocolate cake for this Saturday (I normally bake on Saturdays).

So, to make everyone happy, I leave you here the two recipes... they are both very good... enjoy!

My Normal Chocolate Cake

for the cake:

4 eggs (separate yolks and whites)

180g sugar

180g butter

200g dark chocolate 

100g flour

a pinch of salt

to cover:

150g of dark chocolate (the reason it's not the whole 200g is that Emil normally stages a "coup" in the kitchen and eats some of the chocolate)

2 table spoons of butter

1/2 cup milk

You probably know the drill but here it goes:

Pre-heat the oven at 180.C.  Melt the chocolate with the butter. Beat well the egg yolks with the sugar. Add the chocolate mixture and beat until well mixed. In the meanwhile beat the whites until stiffened. Add the flour in small amounts at a time and beat the mixture very slowly and not for long, just enough. Add the whites and mixed it by hand, slowly with large movements, you want an fluffy and airy mixture. Add a pinch of cooking salt just to open the flavour of the chocolate. Goes to the oven 15-20 min, and it's supposed to stay moist in the middle. Melt the chocolate and the butter with the milk (low fire), for the cover, and mix well. cover the cake and wait until it gets cold to eat.

My Grandmother's chocolate and almond cake

200g milled almond (with skin)
200g sugar
200g dark chocolate
200g unsalted butter
6 eggs

Melt the chocolate with the butter. Add the almonds. Beat the yolks with the sugar. Add that to the 
chocolate mixture. Add the beaten whites and mix. (this part is more or less the same as with the other recipe). But then it goes to the oven in a water-bath (bain-marie) at 200-220.C for 1h30m.

E sim, também escrevi em português...

all photos by me