Flourless Chocolate Cake with Cherryripe

First of all, I would like to announce, we have a winner of our great cookbook give away! Frances from WA has won herself a lovely cookbook that will be posted out to her within the week. Congratulations Frances!
Now for the sticky business of the kitchen.
I've always wanted to make one of those super moist flourless chocolate cakes everyone raves about. I was a bit nervous to be baking without flour, and to be honest it reminded me (with a certain sinking dread) of making souffles. Yes, the cake did sink like my souffles, but didn't affect the taste or the look of the cake (I think it just cooled down too quickly).
Well, I can assure you, I thought this recipe ticked all the right boxes. As expected, it was deliciously fudgy and the rich and utterly satisfying chocolate smell lingered in the house until the cake was "removed" and ingested. One word: delicious.
I can no longer possibly feel sorry for gluten intolerant souls. The question is, does chocolate contain gluten? Someone will have to fill me in there. Meanwhile, enjoy a piece of this heavenly flourless chocolate cake topped with cherry ripe and chocolate sauce!

FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH CHERRY RIPE (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine Oct 2011)

250g butter, chopped
400g dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup cocoa powder
5 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 cup almond meal
100g cherry ripe bar, crumbled
extra cocoa powder and melted chocolate to serve

Preheat the oven to 180C, and line and grease a 8cm x 22cm springform cake tin.
Melt the butter and the chocolate  either in the microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring to ensure it is well combined and melted thoroughly.
Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, out the yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a bowl and beat until thick. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture, then stir in the almond meal.
Beat the egg whites in a separate large, dry bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time until well incorporated. Add a large spoonful of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture and fold to combine. Carefully fold in the remaining mixture until combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Place the tin on an oven tray and bake for 20 minutes. Then loosely cover the cake with aluminium foil and bake for a further 35-40 minutes until a skewer, when inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out with moist crumbs attached. Set aside to cool before removing from the pan. Liberally dust with the extra cocoa powder and cut into 8-10 pieces. Decorate each piece with crumbled cherry ripe bar and a drizzling of melted chocolate.

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

My kitchen, after my bed, is my favourite niche in the house.
There are things in my kitchen I am very attached to...ingredients and objects alike. I have to have them always at hand and would not know what to do without them. Of course there are the other things I must always have stock of...flour, sugar, milk, eggs and real butter. I would go into panic without those. What cant you live without in your kitchen? Here are a few of my kitchen addictions.

One of them makes this delicious pizza!

Vanilla Essence--I put this stuff in just about everything. You cant go wrong with vanilla in baking!

Cookbook Stands-- I hate having to lean over a kitchen bench to read a recipe, I want my cookbook looking at me at all times! Besides, when you can buy shabby chic ones like this, who wouldn't have one in their kitchen?

Lemon Pepper--here's the vanilla essence of savory cooking. Adds a salt-free zing to anything and tastes amazing.

Chocolate Chips--do I need to explain? these little dudes are irresistible in anything.

Chef's Toolbox Saute Pan--This baby rocks my world. It's a stove-top oven, and you can also use it inside the oven if you want. It makes the most incredible pizzas, just sitting on the stove.

Its this last, but certainly not least, addictive appliance I mean to speak about. I have never tasted such amazing pizzas, and they are created with such little effort. You don't even have to wait for the dough to rise, and there's absolutely no kneading or bowl-use involved. It is the simplest, quickest and yummiest home made pizza you will ever have. And there's no fancy ingredients to buy! (unless you want gourmet topping).
The pan itself is excellent quality non-stick, and contains no bad chemicals like so many other non-stick pans.

Because of the excellent quality non-stick surface, the pizza simply slides out! and there is minimal cleanup in the saute pan...simply wipe it clean with a cloth!

Because it is like an oven itself, you can simply have it sitting on the stove top cooking anything you would usually have in the oven...without heating up the whole house! I cook everything in this saute pan and it has never once failed me. If you want to know more about it, head over to Pauline Phillip's Toolbox Tastings Facebook page and give her a holler. She sells them!

CHEF'S TOOLBOX STOVE TOP PIZZA

1 cup plain flour
1 cup SR flour
1 cup luke-warm water
1 tsp. dry yeast
1 tsp. honey
Pinch of salt
Topping of your choice

We used:
200g roast beef, sliced
good squirt mayonnaise
splash of hoi sin sauce
1 large tomato, sliced
1/2 cup cheese
3 mushrooms, sliced
handful of spinach, finely chopped
1/4 cup pasta sauce

In your Chef's Toolbox Saute Pan, add all ingredients. Using a silicone spoon, combine thoroughly to form a dough.
Press into the edges of the saute pan to cover the base evenly. You can use the silicone spoon or your fingers, as preferred. A little flour sprinkled on the dough may aid against sticking to hands or utensils.

Spread with your favourite toppings. (We spread the base with a combination of hoi sin and mayo, then added all the other ingredients to the top, lastly drizzling the pasta sauce, and then the cheese. So Yummy!)

Place on the stove top. Place the lid on with the vent closed for the first 5 minutes and have on a medium heat. Turn the lid to open the vents and cook a little lower for a further 15-20 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

NOTES: you can make a thin base by halving the mixture. Cooking time may also be reduced.

Strawberry Fruit Leather

I love strawberry season. We have a lot of strawberry farms in Queensland, and at this time of the year they are plentiful and sweet. Yesterday I bought 700g of strawberries for 69 cents at the local fruit market! Mind you, most of them needed to be used within the next day or two, but they're perfect to chop up and freeze for smoothies and the likes. It's awesome news for me, considering my son eats a punnet of strawberries a day (who could stop him when they re so good for you?)
I recently stumbled across a recipe for fruit leather and thought this was the perfect opportunity to use the strawberries. We have some cooler weather at the moment, so having the oven on for the whole day wasn't a problem for me, although you probably wouldn't want to make this leathery goodness on any day over 20C, because it does warm the house up somewhat. The good news is, if you have a nice sunny day you can sun bake the strawberry puree to cook it instead. Now how good does that sound!
There are so many wonderful things about this recipe. Firstly if you're baking it in the house, you will have a day of strawberry scented everything, and its divine. Secondly, you wont be able to stop eating this stuff its so delicious, so you'll have a belly full of it too. Anyone for a strawberry roll-up? Brings me back to when I was a kid! Scroll down, I'll have you strawberry lovers drooling in no time...

STRAWBERRY FRUIT LEATHER (adapted from Georgia Pellegrini)

2 cups fresh strawberries, chopped
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup white sugar (optional)
1 tbsp oil to grease

Preheat the oven to 70C.
Cut up the strawberries and stew for a few minutes in the water over a low heat until mushy. Place with the lemon juice in a food processor and blend until thoroughly pureed. Add sugar to sweeten as desired.
Grease and line a 22 x 33 inch tray with greaseproof paper or plastic wrap (the temperature of the oven will be too low to affect the plastic). Grease the top with oil.
Pour the puree into the tray, smoothing with a spatula until evenly distributed.
Cook for 5-6 hours in the oven or the sun, making sure there is regular air flow if using an oven so as to avoid scorching.
Remove and cool and then cut into strips. Enjoy!

NOTES: You can use any type of fruit for this recipe. Stewing the fruit first keeps the colour vibrant and easier to puree. Some fruits may need a little longer in the oven. Depending on the sweetness of the fruit, you may not want to add the sugar to the recipe. A pizza wheel is a great way to cut the leather, or a pair of kitchen scissors.

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

When it comes to chocolate combinations, I don't think there are many ways of failing.
It's a little bit like salt. Chocolate is one of those universally good all rounders. You can put it with just about anything and it's bound to taste amazing.
I know there would be plenty of people disagreeing with that statement. People who would retch at the thought of orange and chocolate together for instance. I cant think of much that would be more delicious!
Here in Australia, there hasn't been much of the peanut butter and chocolate combination floating around. I know in America Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are popular and you can even buy peanut butter flavoured chocolate melts. I've recently seen Reese's Peanut Butter cups hit the shelves in some stores here but am yet to try one. The other day I was tempted by the thought and just had to try them out. But heavily pregnant and car-less little me was house bound...with all the ingredients.
Anyway, these tiny little peanut butter cups delighted the sock off me. So tasty!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUPS

1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
4 chocolate ripple biscuits, crushed
1/4 cup brown sugar
 3 tbsp. crushed peanuts to decorate


Gently melt the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of peanut butter over a gentle heat, stirring regularly so as not to burn. When melted and well combined, spread the mixture into 25 mini chocolate pans, ensuring the bottoms and the sides are well coated. Set aside to harden. There should be enough chocolate mixture remaining to later seal the tops of the peanut butter cups.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining peanut butter with the brown sugar and crushed biscuits. Scoop 1/2 teaspoons of this mixture into each set chocolate cup, gently pressing each to ensure the mixture sits on the bottom. Do not overfill the cups, the peanut butter mixture should sit below the cup rim.
Reheat the remaining chocolate mixture and gently ladle over each cup, covering the peanut butter mixture completely. While still wet, sprinkle crushed peanuts on the top of each to decorate.
Leave to set. Refrigerate before serving.


Makes 25-28


NOTES: I used foil chocolate cups that were approximately 2 cm x 2.5cm. You could also use any type of sweet biscuit crumbs in this recipe, or omit them if desired.

100th Post Giveaway!

Today marks Lick The Spoon's 100th post! Happily it has been a year of growing success for the blog, thanks to my sturdy little team of supporters. Many thanks go out to all, and as a little sign of appreciation, there's to be a celebratory giveaway.

There are two ways to go about entering. You can enter both ways for a double opportunity to win this amazing cookbook that might just be in your eager little hands within the next month!

What's your caption?

1- "Like" and "Share" Lick The Spoon's page with your friends on Facebook, linking it to your post.  Then leave a comment below on this page with a caption for this photo above, with your facebook profile link.

2- If you don't have facebook and want to join in on the giveaway, "Follow" this blog (at the right hand side of the page you will find the button) and leave a comment below with your email address attached, with a caption for this photo above.

Contest ends on October 16th 2011 at 12pm EST.  The winner will be chosen by Random.org and will be notified via email (with 48 hours to respond).  Please make sure you put your email address in your comment/s!

Peppermint Ganache Cups and Bad Kitchen Habits

Sometimes I live on estimates. I wholeheartedly believe in keeping flexible and not worrying too much, but this attitude comes with a price. This is a very annoying trait in the kitchen. When I experiment with food, I throw in a dash of this and a pinch of that. I never know how it will turn out, but when it is finished and turns out to be a success I have a strange mixed feeling of joy and disappointment. Joy that I made something that was delicious, disappointment I wasn't more careful to note down what measurements I had used so I can replicate it and then share with you all.
There's another really annoying habit I have in the kitchen. Often I combine recipes to make something. For example, I might adapt a shortbread recipe and use it as a pie base, and use a topping from another recipe as the pie filling (eating the remainder of the goo because the recipe I borrowed it from gave me too much for the pie) and then topping it with an invention of my own which is a bit of this and a bit of that.
So sometimes its rather difficult to accurately write down the recipe in full, and I apologise for that. Usually I don't post those recipes for the reason they are too messy for the general cook. I would have to add notes such as "This recipe makes twice the amount of pie filling required for this pie, however, due to measurements, it is too difficult to only make half the mixture (unless you want to try using half an egg)".
So below, I apologise again for this recipe. I have no idea on the measurement for quantity of the chocolate used in the edible cups, nor the quantity of cups that will be made from the recipe. Yes, I did it again. I used half the ganache for another recipe. But I just had to share this anyway. Its so yummy and would be perfect for a late nibble after a dinner party.

PEPPERMINT GANACHE CUPS

300g good quality dark chocolate
3 eggs, separated
125ml (1/2 cup) light olive oil
2 tsp. peppermint essence
Store bought chocolate cups, or a good quantity of dark chocolate for homemade cups

Melt the chocolate gently in a microwave proof bowl, checking and stirring regularly to ensure it does not burn.
Set aside to cool slightly. In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until firm peaks form. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition until well incorporated. Gradually add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture, beating well until smooth. Add the oil gradually while beating, and lastly, incorporate the peppermint flavouring. Refrigerate until firm.
If you are making your own chcolate cups you will need a good quantity of dark chocolate (I cannot tell you how much as I used half the ganache for another recipe so I have no idea how many this makes.
Melt the extra chocolate and paint the bottom and the sides of the aluminium foil cases. When set, pipe the firmed ganache into each cup with a large star nozzle. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe will make at least 20 ganache cups.

Almond Creme Anglaise with Galliano Amaretto

My husband was given a glorious bottle of Galliano Amaretto liqueur a few years ago. He has never been able to take to it, it has a very strong almond flavour. Ever since we opened that pretty bottle, I have been looking for other ways to use it. I am sure it would be lovely in a creamy cocktail, but there's so much of it to use!
When I discovered the The Secret Recipe Club and was assigned the the blog Samayal Arai, I was thrilled to see that this delightful page had a recipe I could use the liqueur in. Her recipe Almond Creme Anglaise not only sounds amazing, but tastes just glorious with those bright red strawberries dipped into it. For one, I am addicted to custard, and this creamy anglaise is so smooth, with that slight nutty taste to make it just that little bit fancier. You can use it as a fruit dip instead of chocolate for a lighter option in these warming spring months without feeling too weighed down...yet keeping that satisfying happiness of indulgence.

GALLIANO AMARETTO CREME ANGLAISE (adapted from Samayal Arai)

1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. custard powder
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp. Galliano Amaretto liqueur (or 1/2 tsp almond essence)
Fruit such as strawberries to serve.

Separate the eggs.
Place cream, milk and sugar in a small saucepan. Set the heat on medium and whisk until warm and the sugar begins to dissolve. Add the custard powder and yolks and continue to whisk. Whisk until the custard thickens but be sure not to let it boil as this may curdle the mixture. Remove from heat and set the saucepan in a few inches of cold water so as to cease the cooking process. Cool and add the liqueur to flavour. Serve with strawberries or a fruit of your choice.

NOTES: This recipe makes about 1 cup of creme anglaise. You can toast some almonds before you start the cooking process and add them to the milk and cream mixture at the beginning, removing them at the end, like Samayal Arai did in her recipe for that extra nutty flavour if desired.

Footy Fever Food

Well, Football Finals are just around the bend--not that it interests me too much this year, as Essendon miserably failed the last game they played in the semi finals. I still like to watch the grand final, regardless though. And there is no better time to get out the meat pies, the sausage rolls and all that footy fever food!
Believe it or not, I've never made sausage rolls before, and I guessed it was high time. I was impressed with the ease of the recipe and the end result. Who would ever settle for store bought sausage rolls after this?
Besides the amazing flavour, these sausage rolls freeze well and are great for an afternoon snack...or pop them in the kids lunchboxes! They'll love them.

TRADITIONAL HOME STYLE SAUSAGE ROLLS 

500g lean mince beef
500g sausage mince
2 onions, finely chopped or grated
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. mixed herbs
1 tbsp. BBQ sauce
3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
3 tbsp. fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
3 sheets puff pastry, thawed

Preheat oven to 180C. Line and grease two baking trays.
Combine sausage and beef mince, onions, 1 egg, garlic, sauces, parsley, breadcrumbs, mixed herbs and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Mix until incorporated.
Cut each thawed pastry sheet in half. Brush each piece with the remaining beaten egg. Using a teaspoon, spoon a portion of mince mixture down the centre of each piece of pastry.
Roll the pastry over the mixture and press the edges to seal, leaving the ends open. With a sharp knife, cut the sausage rolls into four, then place on the trays seam side down. Brush with egg and lightly score the tops diagonally with a sharp knife.
Place in very hot oven at 250C for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Serve with BBQ or tomato sauce.

Makes  24

NOTES: These are ideal for freezing and thawing as needed!