Black Magic!

This is one super easy chocolate cake, one of the easiest I've ever made. I only needed a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and with a few quick stirs to combine everything together, I'm done! The best thing is the cake turned out moist, velvety and very soft! And because the texture was so soft it felt fluffy light on the palate. I couldn't believe it because I had my doubts, and was actually expecting a kueh-like flop as the batter was really thin like pancake batter. What a pleasant surprise it was!  

The only complain I'd nit-pick about is the presence of a  strong bicarb pong. As you can see from the recipe, it calls for 2 teaspoons of baking soda. Maybe my tongue was not as sensitive as my nose, though I could smell, I couldn't taste any unpleasant soapy alkaline aftertaste. The baking soda must have been neutralized by the acidity of the natural cocoa powder. The reaction between the two also explains how the cake got its fabulous deep dark hue and its name. Black Magic indeed! 

On a side note, in baking especially chocolate cakes, it is very  important to use the type of cocoa powder specified in the recipe. Recipes that are leavened with baking soda usually require natural cocoa (Not Dutch processed!) so that the alkalinity of the baking soda can neutralize the natural  cocoa's acidity. On the other hand, those that are leavened with baking powder would require Dutch processed cocoa powder. In case you really need to make substitutions from what is called for (bearing in mind the results will most likely differ along with the substitutions), try the formula here.

I am submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #7: Chocolate Delight (May 2011), hosted by Doris of Tested & Tasted.

Black Magic Cake

(Recipe adapted from Allrecipes here)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong brewed coffee (or use 2 tsp instant coffee granules disoolved in 1 cup water)
1 cup buttermilk  (or use 1/4 cup buttermilk powder dissolved in 1 cup water)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 ° C. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center.
2. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Batter will be thin. Pour into prepared pans.
3. Bake at 175 °C for 30 to 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and finish cooling on a wire rack. Fill and frost as desired.

Notes:

I've baked mine into cupcakes which took about 20 minutes to bake and frosted them with Chocolate Ganache.


Chocolate Ganache
(from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp instant coffee granules

Method:
Cook the chocolate, heavy cream and coffee granules in a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.

Black & White Mousse Cake

Have you ever wondered how the oreo cookies got their deep dark black colour? Well, the secret lies in the use of  black cocoa powder. It is essentially  a super alkalized cocoa powder. Normal alkalized cocoa powder which is known as Dutch process cocoa powder is made from cocoa beans that have been treated with alkali solution to neutralize their acidity, and thus, creates cocoa powder that is darker in colour and milder and less bitter in flavour as compared to natural cocoa powder which is simply made from ground roasted cocoa beans. The more alkaline it is the darker the cocoa becomes. Hence, from super alkalizing  or extreme Dutch processing you get black cocoa powder. The black cocoa powder is used mostly for its color and not for its flavor. On its own the black cocoa powder has very little cocoa flavor and it leaves a soapy aftertaste - and in my opinion it also tastes like charcoal. Therefore it is recommended that the black cocoa powder  is used mixed with another cocoa powder either natural or regular Dutch process  in your bakings.




Sometime back, on a regular haunt at my local baking supply store I had come across this black cocoa powder for the very first time. It's the darkest blackest cocoa powder I've seen. Coming from a small town some baking ingredients can be really hard to come by. Fearing that it may not  be restocked,  I grabbed a packet eventhough I had no idea what to do with it. Needless to say  it remained stashed away in my kitchen pantry with no purpose until now. Blame it on impulsive (kiasu) buying! Heh. Thanks to Aspiring Bakers I've finally used the black cocoa powder - though I barely made a dent. I made a black chocolate sponge cake, split then layered with white chocolate mousse before finishing off with a covering of shiny black chocolate glaze. I really love the how the cake looked. The visual contrast of the black and white was so striking and mesmerizing. Love it!

This will be my entry for this month's Aspiring Bakers#7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested & Tasted. Do join in the fun and show off your gorgeous bakes!


Black Chocolate Sponge Cake (Adapted from here)
2 large eggs
67g caster sugar

1/2 tbs liquid glucose

1/8 tsp salt 

2 tbs vegetable oil
5g cocoa powder
5g black cocoa powder
53 g cake flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tbs milk

White Chocolate Mousse (Adapted from the cookbook Baking Code by Alex Goh)

50g milk

20g sugar

1 egg yolk

60g white couverture chocolate (melted)
2 tsp gelatine
30g water
140g whipped cream


Chocolate Glaze
1/2 tbs gelatin powder
60g heavy cream
60g granulated sugar
50g water
20g unsweetened cocoa powder
10g black cocoa powder


Method:

Black Chocolate Sponge Cake: Preheat oven to 170°C. Prepare a 6 inch  round baking tin with removable base.Gently warm up vegetable oil, mix in the cocoa powder and the black chocoa powder. Set aside. Whip eggs,caster sugar and salt at high speed until sugar dissolved. Add in the liquid glucose and continue whipping till ribbon stage- (Very important! The mixture must be well beaten till very fluffy and thick. When the beater is lifted, it leaves a riboon like trail that will dissipate into the batter after a count of ten). Sift in  flour and baking soda, mix at medium speed for 20 seconds until just combined.
In another  bowl, take some batter and mix with the cocoa mixture together with the milk until well blended. Pour back into the batter and fold in until well combined. Pour batter into tin and bake for about 25 minutes  or when skewer comes out clean when tested. Remove from oven and cool upside down on a wire rack. Once cooled, remove cake from tin.

White Chocolate Mousse: Bring milk to boil. In a separate bowl, combine egg yolk and sugar. Gradually pour in the boiling milk, mix well. Then pour back into the pan and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Mix in the melted white chocolate and set aside. In a separate bowl, sprinkle the gelatine over the water and set aside for the gelatine to soften. Then place over double boiler and cook until gelatine has completely melted. Now combine the dissolved gelatine with the white chocolate mixture.Cool over ice water to 30°C. Fold in the whipped ceam.

Chocolate Glaze: In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1 & 1/2 tablespoon water. Set aside to soften. In a saucepan, combine heavy cream, sugar, water and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and add in the softened gelatin. Mix well then sieve. Let cool a while. Once the mixture has thicken, use immediately.

Assembly: Line a 6" removable base cake tin or cake ring with a piece of sponge cake. Pour in half the mousse then lay another piece of sponge cake before topping with the remainder of mousse. Cover and chill in the fridge until the mousse set. Once set, remove the cake tin/cake ring. Make the chocolate glaze then pour over the whole cake to cover. Leave a while for the glaze to set then keep in the fridge to chill before serving. Decorate as desired.

Torta alla Gianduia

As I've mentioned in my earlier post, April is a month of birthdays and that includes yours truly here. :) This year I have specifically instructed my nearest & dearests NOT to buy a birthday cake for me as I wanted to bake my own. You see, there are just so many recipes - too many! in my to-try list (which gets longer & longer everyday), I doubt I'll ever finish trying all in my lifetime!

After all that mousse (here) and cheese (here), I wanted something simple. For my cake, I've chosen Torta alla Gianduia or plainly known as Nutella Cake from none other than the domestic goddess herself, Nigella Lawson. Mind you, though simple & easy to whip up, this flourless cake was nothing short of decadent! A WHOLE jar of nutella is required, imagine that!  It was dense yet soft, gooey-ly rich, nutty and moist with a texture of a cross between pudding and fudgy brownie. Mamamia!



U only live once -INDULGE!



Though a year older, I still feel as young as when I was 18 years old! Now, if you're wondering how old I am - well I'm sorry, I'm not going to divulge my age. I had no problem a few years back but now it has become a little sensitive for me, more so with each passing year! I hate to think I'm growing old, so let me be forever 18! Hahaha! Here's a quote I like very much which I think is very appropriate to share with u all - Growing old is compulsory but growing up is optional! :)

Cheers!


Torta alla Gianduia @ Nutella Cake
(adapted from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" Cookbook)

Note: Recipe is halved to fit a 7 inch round cake tin. Please keep tab on the baking time for this size, u may need less than the baking time called for. Mine needed exactly 40 minutes.

For the cake
3 large eggs -- separated
small pinch of salt
60g soft butter
1/2  jar of Nutella (200 g)
1/2  tablespoon water (use Frangelico or rum, if u have)
50g finely ground hazelnuts
50g dark chocolate, melted

For the icing
70 ml double cream
60g dark chocolate

Method:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.

Prepare a 7-inch springform pan or a loose base pan: grease and line with parchment or wax paper.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs whites and salt until stiff but not dry. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and Nutella together, then add water (or what you're using), egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate, then lighten the mixture with a dollop of egg white, which you can beat in as roughly as you want, before gently folding the rest of them in a third at a time. Pour into the prepared pan and cook for  40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides (or when skewer comes out clean), then let cool on rack with cake still in mold.

In a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, add the cream and chopped chocolate and heat gently. Once the chocolate's melted, take the pan off the heat and whisk until it reaches the right consistency to ice just the top of the cake. Unmold the cooled cake carefully. Ice the top with the chocolate icing, and decorate with  hazelnuts if u wish. Serve with a whipped cream or ice cream.

No-Bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel

Creme caramel is  one of the most popular dessert around. You'd easily find them on the menu in any restaurants or cafes. It is essentially a custard baked in a mold with a layer of caramel at the bottom. When inverted out for serving, the silky custard pudding sits beautifully presented in its pool of sweet syrupy caramel sauce. What's not to like?

As much as I like creme caramel, I rarely make this dessert at home. It was probably years ago the last time I made one. I remember it came out one pockmarked ugly looking pud! Creme caramel is not as easy to make as it seems, at least to me. I always wondered how other people seem to make such  beautiful and perfectly smooth looking creme caramel.

When I saw this divine looking Creme Caramel  from 'Cherry On A Cake', I couldn't believe that it was EGGLESS and required NO BAKING! It really piqued my curiosity - maybe this is THE secret to silky smooth caramel. I wasted no time at all and was in the kitchen right away. 

Well, what do you know, I ran out of milk and had only chocolate flavoured milk. I didn't want to drive out to the store just to buy milk, so what the heck, chocolate creme caramel it was! My gamble actually paid off. It  was lite, silky, chocolaty and yet surprisingly creamy. While my Daughter G and I agreed the pud was yummy,  it definitely could do better without the bitter taste (I had overcooked the caramel!),  my dear Hubby thought otherwise. He liked the slight bitterness and said it balances the sweetness of the pud.   

From now on, this  no-bake eggless version will be my (secret) go to recipe for creme caramel! Purists may frown and scoff  at this fake pud but who cares when you can eat to your heart's content and put your cholesterol concious mind at peace! Anyone who is also averse to the slightest whiff of eggy smells would surely welcome this fake version. But what I like best about this recipe is the no-bake part ... which means no tedious water bath and no fiddling & poking about to check if the pud is baked. I can rest assured that my creme caramel comes out smooth & silky every time .... and  not a pockmarked flop!


No- Bake Eggless Chocolate Creme Caramel

(Recipe adapted from "Cherry on a Cake" here ) 

Chocolate Custard :
2 Tbsp powdered gelatin
1250 ml chocolate flavoured full cream milk
80 gm castor sugar
3 Tbsp custard powder
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Caramel :
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp water


Method:

Make caramel first

Put sugar and water in a small pot and heat on medium flame until it starts to turn a light golden brown. Watch it carefully and don't turn away (not even a sec!) when you're doing this because once the syrup turns golden it darkens very quickly after that and will continue to do so after removing from heat. Do not stir. Once the sugar/caramel turns a light golden brown, remove from heat, swirl the pot a little to let the colour even out and then pour directly into your mould or ramekin dishes. Swirl the mould around so that the caramel covers the bottom and reaches up the sides a little. Let cool and harden. Do this quickly as the caramel hardens in no time.

Make custard

Pour the milk into a medium pot and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let the gelatin soften a little. Meanwhile mix  the sugar and custard powder in a bowl, then add into the milk/gelatin mixture. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer STIRRING ALL THE TIME with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Sieve the custard. Pour the sieved custard into the mould over the hardened caramel and chill in the refrigerator overnight or until set.

Chocolate Gelato

 



I wanted to try an eggless ice ceam recipe see how it compares with the  custard base one in terms of creaminess & smoothness. This eggless recipe using constarch made very creamy ice cream indeed but it had a slight 'chalky' mouthfeel. I don't know why, probably due to the use of  cocoa powder or it could be due to undercooking the cornstarch. This ice cream was also a little icy and rock hard after freezing and had to be left out a while before serving, but hey, I made this without an ice cream maker!  Misgivings aside, this ice cream turned out extremely chocolaty, good for die hard chocoholics! My daughter remarked, "It's like eating frozen chocolate icing!" I think so too and one spoonful was enough to satisfy my chocolate cravings for the entire day.

CHOCOLATE GELATO RECIPE
(Recipe adapted from 'Cafe Fernando' here)

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar (Reduced to 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon, I don't like my ice cream too sweet)
2 tbsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Bring 2 cups of heavy cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then remove from heat.
2. In another bowl, combine milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt and cocoa powder, then  add to hot cream. Return to stove and cook on low to medium heat until sugar and cocoa dissolve (5-10 minutes).
3. Set aside to let cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. Process mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Note: I don't own an ice cream maker, hence I had to process the ice cream by hand. After Step 3 above, I poured the ice cream mixture into a container and kept it in the freezer until half frozen. Then, took the ice cream out and gave it a vigorous mix to beak up the ice crystals. Put the container back into the freezer again and repeated the process of 'freezing -mixing-freezing' about 3 times.

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom turned 59 on Boxing Day. 

A birthday is just not complete without a birthday cake, right?

Homemade birthday cake, Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake. It has 3 components ... chocolate sponge cake, chocolate mousse filling and chocolate ganache coating.

After finishing a slice, Mom declared, 'awfully chocolaty cake'! and proceeded with a second slice. :)

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake.

Ingredients:

1) Chocolate Sponge Cake
    (recipe here)

* Note: I've halved the recipe to make a 7 inch round cake.


2) Chocolate Mousse Filling
    (recipe adapted from Alex Goh's 'Temptation of Chocolate")

*Note: I've used half portion only and added 1/2 tsp vanilla essence.

    100 g dark chocolate
    30 g sugar
    3 egg yolks
    250 g whipped dairy cream
   

Method:
1) Melt chocolate. Set aside.
2) In a double boiler or a bowl over simmering water, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until thicken and pale.
3) Remove egg yolks mixture from heat and combine with the melted chocolate. Leave to cool.
4) Mix chocolate mixture with whipped cream.


3) Chocolate Ganache Coating
    (recipe adapted from  Alex Goh's 'Temptation of Chocolate")

*Note: This amount provided more than enough coating for the cake. I reckon this amount can cover even a 9 inch round cake.

    150 g whipping cream
    250 g dark chocolate, chopped
    15 g butter

Method:
1) Heat whipping cream till almost boiling. Remove from heat.
2) Add chopped chocolate into the heated cream. Stir lightly until chocolate is completely melted.
3) Add in the butter and mix until combined.Leave aside to cool. It will thicken.

To assemble:
Split sponge cake in half. Place one layer  in a removable base cake tin or a cake ring. (At this point I brushed some Kahlua on the sponge. You can brush with any liquer you like or omit this step altogether. It's optional). Pour in the chocolate mousse filling. Top it with the second layer of sponge cake. Leave in the refrigerator to set for at least 6 hours. Remove cake from tin. Pour cooled chocolate ganache over cake. Decorate as desired. Put the chococolate covered ganache cake back into the refrigerator to set the ganache. Take cake out when it's time to cut cake. Do not leave cake out in room temperature for long duration or the mousse will melt and become one chocolaty mess. Enjoy!

Chef Tallyrand's Chocolate Cake

Can't resist a bite!

I have always wanted to try out this chocolate cake recipe among many many others that I have saved and printed and kept in a file folder. There are just too many  recipes  and I just never got around to try because I didn't have the time or I forgot or I didn't have the required ingredients or  I'm just too lazy.

This chocolate cake recipe was first discovered here. It is fuss free and simple to make, no special skills or techniques are needed for a successful result. This is a good recipe to try out for novice bakers. All you have to do is just mix everything in one bowl. No beating, complicated folding or separating egg whites. It's just so easy!
And the resulting cake, not too sweet and  moist moist moist!

Chocolate Cake Recipe by Chef Tallyrand

 

Ingredients: 

300 gm castor sugar
175 gm cake flour (hi-ratio)
50 gm cocoa powder
5 gm or 1 tsp baking powder
5 gm or 1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2  small eggs
100 ml olive oil
2 tsp vanilla essence
165 ml milk
165 ml boiling water

How to make:

1. Mix the dry ingredients together and sieve three times.
2. Combine all wet ingredients exept boiling  water.
3. Pour the wet mixture onto the dry mixture and combine together thoroughly using a balloon whisk
4. Add  in  the boiling water and combine well.
5. Pour into a prepared 22 cm round cake tin.
6. Bake at 160°C for  about 75 to 90 minutes until done.

Note: I used canola cooking oil for the olive oil and I divided and baked the batter in mini muffin pans instead of  22 cm round cake tin.