Next Level Chocolate Mousse Cake

I'm going to do a bit of boasting here... I make a pretty fantastic chocolate mousse cake... No lies... It is AMAZING!!  It comprises plenty of egg yolks, chocolate and cream; so it has got to be super delicious... And good for you 😉

Almond and Chocolate Chip Biscotti

When you are looking for something a little more glamorous and rusks don't quite fit the bill, these hot beverage dippers are just the thing.  Actually, they were traditionally dipped in dessert wine or sweet wine, for example, Vin Santo, which is a style of Italian dessert wine.  The nutty almond or hazelnut flavours are an ideal compliment to sweeter wines that have aged a while

Carrot cake cupcakes with ginger cream cheese frosting

On Saturday, a bride-to-be and her fiancé came for a cake tasting.  The two of them are very keen on carrot cake, and they also wanted me to incorporate some ginger in the cake in whatever way i can.  So, with a bit of time on my hands, i experimented with a few different combinations....

AMAZING Diabetic-Friendly Cream Cheese Frosting

On Wednesday, we had our monthly book club session - highlight of my month!! I made a red velvet cake for the dessert, but had a few restrictions to adhere to.  Three of the ladies are gluten-intolerant and one of the ladies is a diabetic.  The gluten-free part has become a breeze these days, with gluten-free pre-mixes readily available.  The sugar-free part, when it comes to cake, and especially icing, is  a little more challenging.  I have been fortunate enough to come across this site and have subsequently ordered a 20 kg bag of agave sugar for any 'sugar-free' baking that needs to be done!  

Ham and Pea Soup

Yesterday, in celebration of this beautiful season of Spring starting, i made garishly bright iced sugar biscuits, but today all i can think about is soup.  It is cloudy and raining, raining, raining.  It feels like the middle of July, not the beginning of October!  So, to warm the cockles of my heart... well, my stomach really... the prior is the responsibility of my husband, and my cat... i made pea and ham soup, or ham and pea soup.  Being of the rather carnivorous variety of homo sapiens, we like our meat, so when i make a soup like this, it is HAM and pea soup!

It is a super easy recipe, but not really one for making on a whim as one needs to soak the peas for six hours before getting the soup cooking.

Lingerie Cupcakes

 Bachelorette Cupcake Toppers

These vanilla cupcakes with amarula and white chocolate ganache are perfect for a bachelorette party when topped with these cute and fun lingerie toppers.  Here is the how-to: 

Experiments in Shortbread

I've never made shortbread and have always been a little hesitant to try as it seems to be one of those things that have got to perfectly meet with the expectations of the person consuming it or else you might as well not bother.  Coming from a German and Dutch background, my childhood memories are somewhat void of shortbread experiences.  Ask me about zimtsterne or baumkuchen and i can wax lyrical for hours... shortbread not so much...

Rosewater Marshmallows

These sweet treats are actually quite easy to make and sooo satisfying.  The flavour and texture is better than anything that you can buy in the shops... and, despite being a sweetie, loaded in sugar, a much healthier version than what you will buy because it doesn't have any strange flavourants, colourants or preservatives in it.  If you want to be super healthy, you can replace the castor sugar with agave sugar (a sugar made from the Blue Agave Americana plant).  I am still working on a completely diabetic-friendly version (i.e. a winner for sugar-phobic toddler mums)!

This recipe is courtesy of my wonderful friend, Alicia.  For our Christmas in July party last year, she made cinnamon-flavoured marshmallows and cut them out with a star-shaped cookie cutter.  We served it with the coffees at the end of the meal.  Not only did they look fab, they tasted yummy too.  One could make any number of different flavours, colours and shapes of marshmallows.  I want to try coffee-flavoured marshmallows next, but have ideas for choc chip peppermint marshies and several others... watch this space!

Ingredients
500 g granulated sugar
15 ml liquid glucose
380 ml water
30 ml powdered gelatine
2 egg whites (approx 65 g)
2.5 ml rose water
125 ml icing sugar combined with 125 ml cornflour


1. In a heavy based saucepan, gently heat the sugar, liquid glucose and 190 ml water to dissolve the sugar.  
2. Once the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil without stirring (so as to prevent the re-formation of any crystals).  Heat to soft-ball stage, or 121 ˚C on a sugar thermometer.  
3. Meanwhile, sprinkle the gelatine over 190 ml water in a small heat proof bowl.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes.  Gently heat in the microwave until the gelatine just melts/dissolves.
4.  Add the dissolved gelatine to the sugar syrup, taking care as the mixture will splutter.
5.  Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  
6.  With the motor running, gently pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl in a thin, steady stream.  
7.  Add flavouring and colouring (if using and according to preference).  Whisk until the mixture is thick and holds its shape.
8.  Dust a lightly oiled 3 x 30 x 20 cm tin with 30 ml of icing sugar-cornflour combination.  Pour the mixture in and smooth the top with a spatula.  Allow to stand for 2 hours.
9.  Dust a work surface with half the remaining icing sugar mix and turn out the set marshmallows.  Using a knife dipped in hot water, cut into 2.5 cm cubes and toss to coat in the remaining icing sugar mixture.


The marshmallows will keep, at room temperature, for up to 2 months in a well-sealed plastic container or glass jar.


Makes approximately 96

A box of roses

 For Mischa's wedding in March next year, she wants to give each of her guests a beautiful cupcake packaged in a pretty box.  The boxes are ready and waiting... all we need are the cupcakes!  Last week i made a few samples for Mischa so that she could use them to set up a demo table to check that all the thoughtful details work together beautifully once the table is all set.  Here are some pics of the beautiful hand-made rose topped vanilla cupcakes

Apricot Chutney (home-made)

Jars and jars of home-made apricot chutney!!

So my apricot trees have finally started bearing fruit... after about a decade of being planted!  Last year, between the two trees, i had the grand total yield of 7 apricots!  When you see the size of these trees, it is hard to believe, i know!  But this year, with more time on my hands, i actually started to water the trees... on my grandfathers advice: only a little trickle at the base of the tree for 20 minutes each week.  That is what i did et voilà... apricots galore.  Yesterday i picked about 120 apricots from the one tree alone... The reason why i counted instead of weighing (which is what my little, OCD, scientific brain likes to do) is because i wanted to make the '100 apricot chutney' recipe in my good ol' Kook en Geniet.  Well, technically this tome belongs to my mom, but she left it here (for me) and i put it to very good use.

The two, rather tall, apricot trees.

The apricot tree, bare, after our picking spree

The not-yet-ripe apricots on the second tree.  I feel that we made enough chutney with the first tree, so have absolutely  no idea what to do with the apricots from this tree.  We'll cross that bridge next week!

 On page 227 of the English, completely revised edition, of this South African legend, you will find a very simple recipe for chutney made with 100 apricots:

Ingredients
100 apricots, dried or fresh (!)
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
750 ml white wine vinegar
1.25 kg sugar
5ml cayenne pepper
30 ml ground ginger
5 ml dry mustard

Apricots - all clean and chopped (what a mission btw... took us almost 2 hours!)  I had no idea what 100 apricots would look like once chopped.  I definitely didn't count on it being as much as it was - we filled two big soup pots like the one pictured above.

Sugar and spice and all things nice!

Method
1. If using dried apricots, soak overnight in cold water and cook  in the same water until tender.
2. Grate or chop the onion and garlic.  Boil in the vinegar for ten minutes or until tender.
3. Add the sugar, salt and spices to the apricots and cook in the vinegar mixture for 30 minutes to 1 hour until the mixture is thick enough.  Stir occasionally to prevent burning and sticking to the bottom of the pot.
4. Pour the mixture into hot, clean dry jars and seal immediately.  Do not allow any metal to come into contact with the chutney while cooking or storing it (except for the pot you cook it in of course (: ).

Shortly after adding fruit and sugar to vinegar mixture.

About 20 minutes into cooking time.  I cooked the chutney for an hour.  The consistency, to my mind, is perfect.  Had i cooked it any less, it would have been too runny, for lack of a better word.  Not viscous enough, if u want to get technical...

My Notes:
Upon tasting, the chutney is a bit too sweet for my liking, i prefer something tarter and more savoury.  Instead of using white wine vinegar, i used all the left overs in my cupboard (i'm not a big salad-person, so had lots of infused etc kinds of vinegars that have been in the cupboard for years).  This included powegranate vinegar, thyme-infused white balsamic etc etc. Maybe these vinegars aren't as acidic as white wine vinegar and that is why the chutney is still a bit sweetish.

The apricot flavour is fairly prominent.  Still not sure how i feel about that - reminds me a bit too much of apricot jam, which is not something i would normally put on my boerewors roll (which is what we had for dinner last night... Usana pasture-fed beef boerewors... yup, it was gooood!

The merchant (aka my husband) suggested that i throw half of the jars of chutney back into a pot with some more vinegar and cook it up again to see what happens. Clever guy eh?!  I might add some fresh ginger and another onion too.

Can you believe...?

I have come this far in my life as a "baker" and not made a chocolate mousse cake!  With the widespread popularity of this cake, this is some sort of anomaly. This week i was asked to make a chocolate mousse cake for a birthday party on Saturday.  I was a little nervous, yet excited at the same time.  Nervous because i have tried several mousse recipes and not yet found one that i like. Excited because it is about time that i get my A into G and master this illustrious cake!  In the December edition of the Food & Home Entertaining magazine, one of the winners of their annual cake baking competition won with her "Death by Chocolate Mousse' recipe.

So, with the confidence that this recipe was a finalist in a national competition, i baked/made the cake.  I was a little disappointed with the taste and texture of the sponge, so for blogging purposes, i have replaced her sponge recipe with mine.  The mousse is nice and light, chocolatey and not too sweet.  I think that with a recipe like this where the chocolate really is the lead performer - it is best to invest in a good quality couverture.  For the mousse, a LOT of cream is mixed with the chocolate - so one can get away with using a really dark chocolate - i used the Lindt Equador 70 %.






Cake

280 g vanilla sugar

225 g cake flour

1 T baking powder

4 eggs – separated

125 ml sunflower oil

125 ml cocoa mixed with 250 ml warm milk

Pinch of salt

1.    Sift together the dry ingredients

2.   Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks

3.  Whisk together the oil and egg yolks and add to the dry ingredients

4.  Add cocoa mixture to dry ingredients.

5.  Fold in the egg whites

6.  Pour the mixture into two 22.5 cm baking tins.

7.  Bake @ 180 ºC for 25 – 35 minutes

Mousse

330 g good quality dark chocolate

150 g butter

150 ml milk

650 ml fresh cream

1.  Combine the chocolate and butter in a mixing bowl.

2.  Bring the milk to the boil (either in a saucepan or in the microwave) and pour over the chocolate and butter.

3.  Stir until the chocolate melts.  (Place in the microwave for a few seconds if need be.)

4.  Cool to room temperature.

5.  Whip the cream to soft peaks and then fold into the chocolate mixture.

Ganache

300 g good quality dark chocolate

180 ml fresh cream

1.  Heat the cream in the microwave to scalding point.

2.  Pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy.

Assembly

1.  Cut each of the sponges into two equal layers (yielding four equal layers of sponge).

2.  Place the first sponge into a clean 22.5 cm spring form cake tin.

3.  Smooth over a layer of the chocolate mousse before placing the following layer of sponge.

4.  Repeat this step twice more, finishing off with a sponge layer.

5.  Cover the top of the cake with cling wrap and leave to set in the refrigerator for approximately 2 hours.

6.  Slide a hot palate knife between the edge of the cake and the cake tin.  Release the cake from the tin and place onto a cake stand/platter.

7.  Using a hot palate knife, neaten the sides of the cake.

8.  Pour the ganache over the cake.

9.  Place the cake in the refrigerator for a little while to allow the ganache to set.

Blueberry Frozen Yoghurt

Blueberries are abounding and i cannot resist making the best of an opportunity to use fresh, in-season fruit.  For the Summer season, i've been looking into some lighter, healthier alternatives to the ice-creams that i sell at the markets.  Frozen yoghurts are super tasty, refreshing and have no negative impacts on the waistline (if eaten in moderation of course ;) ).  So... fresh, packed-with-lots-of-healthy-goodness-blueberries + yoghurt = delicious blueberry frozen yoghurt!
There couldn't be an easier dessert / hot Summer's late afternoon pick-me-up snack:


340 g blueberries
360 g yoghurt
60 ml sugar (optional)
juice of 1 lemon (optional)

Place all ingredients in your blender, zhoosh everything together, watching the beautiful blue and white layers turn into a delicious purple!

 

Pop in your ice-cream machine and voila!

Keep in the freezer for up to two months.

If you don't have an ice-cream machine.... don't panic - this fabulous frozen yumminess can still be yours... just pop the zhoozshed berries and yoghurt in the freezer. After a couple of hours have a look-see: if there are any ice crystals, just break them up and mix in to the mixture before freezing. I've found though that this is usually not necessary.  Frozen yoghurts tend to freeze beautifully without any human-intervention (besides placing them in the freezer of course!)

Pictures (Festive Fair at Hathersage)

For those of you who missed the Hathersage Festive Fair this past weekend, here are some pics of our table of joy!

 

Thanks to the wonderful Summer weather, we almost sold out of all of our ice-creams!  We made over 40 litres of home-made ice-cream!  As this was only the second time that i was selling ice-cream at a market, i kept it simple with the flavours: chocolate, vanilla, coffee and strawberry.  I love experimenting with different flavours and would love to expand on these four, so please let me know what your favourite flavour is!

Friday Food Porn (cupcake wrappers)

Last night, while surfing the intraweb, purely conicidentally, i came across a whole bunch of delightful cupcake wrappers.  So, even though this doesn't have anything to do with chops, wors, braaibroodjies or my Weber, here are some pics to get you in the mood for the weekend!

'nuf said

Cath Kidstone inspired

Yummy Candy Stripe

Love this tweetie

Have loved gingham 
since i was a wee tot!

 All of these and more gorgeous wrappers available from CupcakeWrappers. 

Red with lovely scalloped edge

More delightful spring birdies

Funky polka dots and circles

Very striking and elegant

These gorgeous wrappers are available from MyLittleLove
They also stock all sorts of other delightful goodies for parties - shortcut to being a dazzling hostess :)
Although one can obtain pretty cupcake wrappers here, here, here and here, they aren't quite up to the standard of these lovelies featured above and if they are, they come at a price.  The Domestic Goddess shows us how easy it is to make it ourselves here.
So, if between the rugby and the braaiing, you are feeling creative.  Get stuck into that scrapbooking box and start tracing and snipping!

Spring Time

Even though Spring officially started a week ago already, it was only yesterday that i really felt Spring, all the way through to my bones.  We celebrated the lovely weather with our first braai in absolute ages (i will abstain from mentioning how long so as to maintain my status of Proudly South African).  Speaking of which, yay!!! RWC 2011 starting soon and we (the royal 'we', 'cos i'm not at all involved actually) will be playing our first RWC match in Wellington, NZ on Sunday morning.  To celebrate this, in true Proudly SA style, we've invited some friends over for a potjie!  Am i redeemed?  


Anyway, i digress... back to Spring.  While sitting in my almost beautiful garden, regretting that i have to be sitting with my laptop in front of me and not getting my hands dirty, i feel like inspiring you with some beautiful Spring-themed goodies.  So here you are... enjoy :)


The baking trend that has hit the US hard - Cake pops, and the lady who does them the best (my opinion) - Bakerella, made these very lovely daisy-inspired cake pops

And these delightful little bees too

Beautiful Kath Kidston-inspired flower cookies by the incredibly talented Roxanne Floquet


S'more pretty flowers, this time by SweetSugarBelle

I think that these pretty blossom trees are my favourite

These au natural edible sugar biscuits from the Martha Stewart's Wedding site are such a lovely idea and so easy to make - no skill required, just a few pansies flowering in your garden!

And, what a blog by me be without a few pretty petits fours!  

HAPPY SPRING everyone :)