I Heart This

Flourless Chocolate Cake
'If chocolate be the food of love, munch on', wrote William Shakespeare.......never.
Excuse my play on the Bard's opening line from his play, 'Twelfth Night', but as Valentine's Day is here again, I couldn't resist.
I can't say I get terribly excited about this 'Day of Love', but I do like to mark an occasion by mixing up a treat that I can share with my loved ones.
I did want to try and avoid the obvious chocolate recipe to celebrate this occasion, but this (and I admit not very pretty) cake is so delicious and so special that it was my only choice. Plus, I was actually craving it. Therefore, based purely on my greed, I hope you love this cake as much as I do and it becomes a staple in your repertoire for when you need a truly celebratory dessert. This is no delicate, light sponge, but rather a very rich, dense, fudgy pudding, which simply melts in the mouth. Think of the richest, darkest chocolate truffle you have ever eaten, and it is like that. But in cake form.
As in the recipe, you can cover the cake with crème fraiche or cream, before piling the berries on top, but I prefer to serve it separately. A mixture of strawberries, redcurrants and raspberries would be lovely in summer, and in the autumn, blackberries and blueberries. But whatever fruit you choose, the only rule is to not be shy. This is a decadent pudding so be decadent.
When I made this cake I used just raspberries, and replaced the crème fraiche with double cream simply because they are my personal favourite. The sour tang of crème fraiche would of course cut through the richness of all of this cake, but call me old fashioned, I do like a bit of cream with my chocolate. The Cajuns have their 'holy trinity' of bell peppers, onions and celery, and I have my classic 'holy trinity' of chocolate, raspberries and cream.

For the Cake
(adapted from Sophie Dahl's Voluptuous Delights)

300g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, (plus extra to decorate, but this is optional)
225g golden caster sugar
180ml boiling water
225g salted butter, cubed
6 medium eggs, at room temperature and separated
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

To Decorate
250g of your choice of berries
200ml crème fraiche, or double cream

You will also need an 8in / 20cm square, or a 9in / 23cm round cake tin

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4.
2. Grease and line the base and sides of the tin with baking parchment.
3. Break up the chocolate into small pieces and put it in a food processor with the sugar and pulse until fine.
4. Add the boiling water, butter, egg yolks, coffee powder and vanilla extract and give it another mix. The chocolate and butter should melt so that you have a molten chocolate mixture. Transfer into a large bowl.
5. Whisk the eggs whites in a glass bowl until stiff and fold a quarter into the chocolate mixture using a metal spoon, to slacken it. Fold in the remaining egg whites until they are thoroughly mixed in. You will need to do this gently in order not to knock the air out of the egg whites.
6. Pour the mousse like mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45 - 55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
7. The top of the cake will crack and the centre will collapse. This is entirely normal, so don't worry.
8. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin and place in the fridge for a few hours, or better still, overnight.
9. When you want to serve the cake, remove from the tin and take off the paper. At this stage I would also put the cake on the serving plate before decorating.
10. If you are using the double cream give it a bit of a whisk so that it has thickened up enough to hold its shape, but is not stiff, and dollop on top of the cake. The crème fraiche doesn't need whisking so you can just spoon that on top as is.
11. Put the fruit on top of the cream or crème fraiche, and grate over some extra chocolate if you fancy it.
12. Devour. Greedily.

Baking Notes
For this cake use the best chocolate you can afford, and do make sure it contains 70% cocoa solids. If you don't want to make such a dark, bitter cake and want something is a little sweeter, use a mixture of dark and milk chocolate, but with the dark being the in the greater proportion. 
 

 

Brownies vs Blondies, Part I

This post is in two parts. I had intended it to be just one post, but I felt that both brownies and blondies deserved their own space.

Therefore, Part I is all about the delicious small, rich, chocolate morsel that is the Chocolate Brownie, and Part II will be about its lesser known cousin, the Blondie.

I don't know anyone who doesn't love a brownie, and I don't know anyone that doesn't love THIS brownie!
I have baked many a recipe over the years in my quest for the perfect brownie.There are so many out there, and all promise the same rich chocolatey squidgyness that you expect. In my experience however, not all of them do. I have followed recipes to the letter and they have been either too dry, or too wet. There is a fine line between squidgy and undercooked, and nobody wants a mouthful of raw cake.
These brownies that I am sharing with you, are for me, the best brownies EVER, and are the only ones that I have made since Lorraine Pascal showed them on her wonderful first series, Baking Made Easy. And that was 3 years ago.
No other recipe has tempted me since, and I have lost count  of the number of times it has been made. 
So, just what makes these brownies so amazing? They are incredibly rich, dense, fudgy, and never dry. Use the best quality chocolate you can buy for a really grown up treat, which is slightly bitter and not overly sweet. Only a small(ish) square (or two) is needed to satisfy a craving for something naughty! If you are making them for children, I would suggest using a dark chocolate with a lower percentage of cocoa solids, or using a combination of dark and milk chocolate, just to add a modicum of sweetness.
The original recipe includes Oreo cookies, for an additional hit of chocolate and crunch. Alternatively, add some chopped walnuts, chocolate chunks or dried sour cherries to ring the changes. I have made all of these variations, but more often than not, I like them just absolutely plain.

Chocolate Brownies
(adapted from Lorraine Pascal - Baking made Easy)

165g unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) broken into pieces
3 eggs, size medium
2 egg yolks, size medium
2tsp vanilla extract
165g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate)
Pinch of salt
154g pack of Oreo biscuits, broken into pieces (optional)
Icing sugar, for dusting

20cm / 8 inch square baking tin

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 6, and grease and line the base and sides of the tin with baking paper.
2. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, remove from the heat and then add the chocolate. Let it stand for a short while until the chocolate is very soft and then stir until both ingredients are combined until smooth and glossy.
3. Whisk together the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract in a large bowl until they start to become light and fluffy. 
4. Next add the sugar a little at a time and whisk until the mixture is very thick and voluminous. I usually whisk it for about 5 minutes at a fast speed for it to reach this stage.
5. Pour in the chocolate mixture at the side of the bowl (to avoid knocking out all the air that has been incorporated), again bit by bit, and whisk in until the mixture is uniform in colour.
6. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt and fold in until completely mixed in.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. In my oven it takes 25 minutes for the brownie to be cooked but still a little gooey in the middle. I use a skewer inserted into its centre to test if it is done. I find that after 25 minutes the skewer comes out clean, so I know that the brownie is cooked, but still squidgy. If you find that there is quite a bit of mixture still on the skewer, cook for a little bit longer, checking after 5 minutes. Just be careful not to overcook the brownie, as you will then risk it being dry.
8. Leave the brownies to cool in the tin. The top will have a crunch, and sink and crack a little. Don't worry about that - it's normal.
9. Remove from the tin, and cut the brownies into 16 squares and dust with icing sugar.

NB. If you are using Oreo cookies add two thirds of them into the mixture before pouring into the tin, and the scatter the remaining third evenly over the top before baking.

Part II coming soon.........watch this space!