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. 
 

 

Revisiting Old Favourites

Fresh Pear Shortcake
I recently decided that I was going to put myself on a self imposed ban on buying any more cook books, and more specifically, books on baking. There are so many in my collection that I don't use on a regular basis that I really want to revisit them all to uncover some hidden (and forgotten) gems.
I predict, though that this will not be easy. I can become so enthused by a new cooking show on the television that I want to rush out and the buy the accompanying book, only to read it (usually in bed), ear mark pages of recipes, make a couple of them, and then leave it to gather dust while something else catches my eye (I am sure I am not alone in this).

Consequently, space is currently in short supply in which to house them all. In reality, how many books on baking do I need, and how many recipes can one person make in a lifetime? There are so many sources now in which to find recipes that I really need never to buy a baking book again.
I am a keen browser of the internet and magazines for recipes and inspiration, and as I have mentioned before, I have a large file of recipe printouts and tear outs which I enjoy giving a good old perusal now and again. Therefore, if I am to buy a new book now, then I need to be very specific about its content, and question whether it is different enough from what I have already in my collection. In fact, when I think about it, this is how I approach buying a new handbag. I just need to apply this to all sweaters that are either grey or striped. 
To kick start my new thinking, this seasonal Fresh Pear Shortcake was a favourite pudding from my first cookbook* that I received for my 18th birthday and one I haven't actually made since.....gosh, I can't remember when.

I have tweaked the recipe slightly. Not by much, but when I made the shortcake for the first time a couple of weeks ago I thought that the addition of ground ginger to the 'buttery biscuit base' and almond extract to the topping would be very welcome. Both flavours are very good friends with pears and when I made it again I thought it worked quite well.
One word of advice though about the pears you select if you are going to make this. Please make sure that they are ripe to ensure they soften during the cooking time. If they are not ripe, or indeed, too hard, they will never soften in the cooking time. I know this from experience, and semi-cooked pears, although edible, are not the ideal. I also think that this dessert is better the day after making as the flavours will have developed. Keep it in the fridge overnight, and then bring it up to room temperature before serving.

 

For the Base

150g self raising flour, sifted

25g ground rice (or rice flour, which I used because I didn't have ground rice)

Grated rind of 1 lemon

50g dark soft brown sugar, sifted to remove any lumps

150g cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 tsp ground ginger

For the Topping

3 ripe large pears, all even in size, and about 450g in weight

125g full fat soft cheese

1 medium egg

1 tsp almond extract

2 tbsp flaked almonds (optional)

You will also need a 20.5cm(8 inch) loose based fluted flan tin, greased 

This will serve 6 people

1. Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F / Gas 5

2. Put the flour, ground rice or rice flour, lemon rind and ground ginger into a bowl and stir until well mixed.

3. Stir in the sugar and rub in the butter until a dough forms.

4. Put the dough into the tin and press down using your fingers until you have an even layer over the 

base. Mark into 6 portions and prick with a fork.

5. Bake for 25 minutes, take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin while you prepare the pears 

and topping. 

6. Turn the oven down to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

7. Peel and halve the pears, and then scoop out the cores. You can use a teaspoon to do this, but I found that a melon baller (how very retro) works brilliantly. Also remove the stringy part that runs vertically from the top of the pear to the core, as that is not much fun to eat.

8. Score each pear half crossways in narrow but even sections and then place a half within each marked portion.

9. Mix the cream cheese, almond extract, and egg together until smooth and spoon evenly over the pears making sure it covers completely the fruit and shortcake. At this stage you can scatter the flaked almonds over the top if you like. I do like to do this because it adds a little crunch and makes the tart look pretty.

10. Return the tin to the oven and bake for a further 40 minutes until the pears are soft and cooked through, and the top is golden brown. (To check the pears, insert a skewer and if it goes in without any resistance, then they are done).

11. Take the shortcake out of the oven, and cool for about 10 minutes and remove from the tin.

12. Serve warm or cold, as you prefer, or the day after as I recommend.

 

 

Baking Notes

Ground rice, or rice flour are not ingredients you might have readily to hand, and I imagine that if you don't then it can be replaced with the same quantity of flour, but its inclusion gives the base a wonderfully short texture.

*I have mentioned the book before in a previous post, but it is the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book 'the classic cookery book, completely revised'. My version is from the mid 80s, which can be found here, but there are updated versions, should you prefer something a little less old fashioned.