Moist Chocolate Cake

A Very Rich Italian Chocolate Cake

Jan 232009

Its got what every chocoholic dreams of … the perfect crackling exterior, the soft squidgy intensely chocolaty interior with just the right amount of nuts and hint of alcohol … take a bite of this cake and you can feel it melt away on your tongue, satisfying you to the very core … there is never such a thing as too much chocolate … I think this must be the food of God !

I’ve been away for long, and i couldn’t think of a better way to get back to my baking/blogging than this absolutely rich, flour-less and butter-less chocolate cake. I have a lot of catching up to do, but until then i leave you with this cake, see if you can resist it

Plain flour to dust
A wee bit of butter to grease the baking tin
125 gms hazelnuts
100 gms walnuts
225 gms blanched and peeled almonds
225 gms good quality dark chocolate (70%)
50 ml Amaretto
50 ml Tia Maria
2 Tablespoons black coffee
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp milk
220 gms caster sugar
5 large eggs – separated

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and dust with flour a 24″ cake tin, and line the bottom with greaseproof paper. Place the hazelnuts and walnuts on a baking tray and lightly toast them. Let them cool. While the nuts are baking pulse the almonds and chocolate in a food processor until the consistence of breadcrumbs. Transfer to a large bow and stir in the Tia Maria, Amaretto, milk, coffee, cinnamon, and half the sugar. Add the egg yolks one at a time mixing well. Now take the walnuts and hazelnuts and blitz them coarsely in the food processor and add it to the cake mixture and mix well. in another clean bowl, whicsk te egg whites till stiff and then add the rest of the sugar and beat till shiny. Now very slowly fold in the whites spoon by spoon, without knocking out too much air. Pour into baking tin and bake in middle shelf for 1 hr or skewer comes out clean. Serve with a dollop of mascarpone or rich vanilla ice cream or just some good ole coffee/dessert wine !

The Celebration

All, Baking, Places & Travel 69 Responses »

May 152008

To celebrate my big day we planned to go out for the day, rather than just doing dinner or going clubbing. I’m more of a day person, where i can have fun all day long amidst mother nature, opposed to a few hours in a dark room with cigarette smoke and loads of people. We decided to go to my most favourite place in Ghana, the Akosombo Dam at the lake Volta. I’m sharing pictures of this wonderful place with you, as according to me its the only place that makes being in Ghana easy for me.

This place does have quite a few interesting facts and history to it. To begin with, its the worlds largest man made lake ! And one of its benefits besides the fact that it provides electricity year round to Ghana and neighbouring countries, is that its loaded with Tilapia fish, which makes it a fantastic spot to go fishing. I must admit I’ve been fairly lucky with my fishing skills, and have never gone home disappointed. There are times when i get really small catches, but those just get chucked back into the water to grow to full size.

The water is so pristine, that a swim in the middle of the lake is almost irresistible. Very often the local fishermen living by the lake, offer rides in their little boats, a way for them to make a few cedis on the side, and for the visitors to get a feeling of the place the true African way.

A lot of you wondered and asked me, what the cake i made for myself looked like. Well actually i got my cake ready just at the last minute, before we left for the lake. I wasn’t sure if i would be able to take pictures, but luckily there was some cake remaining, just enough to do a little photo shoot the next day. Since i’m a diehard chocoholic i had to make a chocolate cake. This time i chose to do layers of a french vanilla cake and dark chocolate, sandwiched with a rich chocolate ganache and finished off with chopped hazelnuts. A cake fit for a queen ! Well i’m not implying anything here … aehm aehm … but yeah … the cake is royal, fit for royalty :p

And to end this post i leave you a picture of me, at my favourite place on my budday !!! Thank you all for your warm wishes and wonderful greetings. I did have a wonderful day

Melting Moments … Literally !

All, Dessert 66 Responses »

Apr 262008

I’d definitely give this a 0/10 for presentation. I cannot tell you how ashamed i am to even share this you. God knows i tried to make a pretty one. Unfortunately for me Ghana is going though a crazy heat wave, and the weather is so harsh its almost impossible to work with desserts that need to be chilled or set. Still a bit busy with work and travelling, and with very little time on my hands.I’m sharing this with you just as it is, without really putting in that extra effort. I made this a week ago, but been on the road ever since. Now stuck in a terrible traffic jam, i find the time to write out this post. When I had started a week ago, a few ideas were running through my mind … something like this …

So i settled for a very decadent looking Napoleon. Rich and crispy layers of puff pastry sandwiched with layers of Mocha and Dark Chocolate Mousse. Started the day before with preparing the puff pastry layers and the the mousse. I let the mousse set in a shallow and wide dish overnight, and the next day i filled them in piping bags with a large nozzle and piped them in between the baked puff pastry sheets. Returned them again to the fridge to set… but the damn weather ! It just didn’t let the dessert set. And even after keeping overnight when it looked all set, on removing from the fridge it would start melting loosing shape, making a sloppy mess. So i had to get back to the work sheet and re think my options. Not left with much to work with, i decided to make a good old trifle. The chocolate cake i used here came from my freezer, kept for emergencies like this one. A cake in the freezer can really save the day. The only thing i could do with the mousse was layer it up in a glass, in the only hope that it would hold shape. And so another day went in the process of setting the trifle. But the minute i got it out of the fridge, the unforgivingly hot weather just kept melting the mousse down. So i just gave up. Not so great in presentation, but absolutely fantastic to taste. Cant go wrong with dark chocolate and coffee. For those of you, who are blessed with cooler weather, pls do try this out. I shared this treat with my office staff and they couldn’t stop raving about it. To accompany the mousse i also made some lovely walnut brittle. A great crunchy texture in contrast with the smooth n rich mousse.

Walnut Brittle

1 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 th cup chopped toasted walnuts

melt the sugar in a heavy based pan, on medium heat. Do not stir until it starts changing colour and when it reached an amber red caramel, stir in the chopped nuts and pour out on some foil spread out on a baking sheet. be quick and spread it as thinly as you can. Leave it to cool completely and break once hard.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

one portion of this dark chocolate mousse recipe.

Mocha Mousse

1 tbsp instant coffee
1 tbsp boiling water
3 tbsps caster sugar
2 egg whites whipped up stiff
200 ml double cream – whipped
1 tsp gelatin dissolved in 1 tbsp water

Dissolve the coffee and sugar in the water and let it cool. Mix it in the whipped cream along with the gelatin. Gently fold in the egg whites and pour in a wide dish and cover with cling film to set it overnight.

Chocolate Cake

use just about any chocolate cake you have lying around in the house.