Chocolate Archives - Page 4 of 24

Chocolate, Almond and Strawberry Cake

9|06|2018

This winter is giving me all the reasons to bake! It is so cold in my part of town plus it’s been raining and there is very little scope for any outdoor activity. I love the sunshine especially in the colder months but there is also the prospect of getting better photos on a cloudy day than those days when the sun is shining bright in my backyard where I normally shoot. So I ended up baking 7 cakes in 6 days. Yeah, I’m amazed at myself where I go for days feeling like I have nothing new to add or nothing better to create. And then there are these bursts of energy on certain days when I don’t have enough hours to give shape to my crazy imagination.

Chocolate, almond and strawberries in a cake speak for itself. All the great, stuff, right? And the bonus is that the batter can be made in one pan. Just mix and pour!
The buttercream is actually chocolate flavored, made with cocoa powder and tinted with red food gel colour. I’ve been meaning to make a red frosting for months and finally got my chance.

Chocolate, Almond and Strawberry Cake
Makes a 6 inch round cake

150 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1 cup self-raising flour
1/4 cup almond meal (ground almonds)
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 cup strawberries, roughly chopped

Cocoa Buttercream
125 g unsalted butter, softened
11/2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp milk (more if needed)
1 and 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
red food gel paste (optional)

To make the cake : Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease the base and sides and line the base of a 6 inch round baking pan.

In a large saucepan, place the butter, sugar, milk, cocoa powder and bicarbonate soda and cook over low heat until butter has melted and mixture is smooth.
Remove from heat and leave aside for 10 minutes to cool.

Add the flour and almond meal. Mix. Add the eggs and mix till incorporated. Fold in the strawberries.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 mins or until a skewer inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven. Leave aside for 10 minutes. Run a blunt knife around the sides to loosen the cake, then turn onto a wire rack to cool. Once cool, decorate with red tinted cocoa buttercream, flaked almonds and strawberries.

To make the red tinted cocoa buttercream, using an electric mixer or a hand mixer beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Add the sugar, a little at a time beating well until fully incorporated. Add the cocoa powder and milk and beat again until no white streaks appear and buttercream is fluffy. If it is too thick, add another tbsp of milk to lighten up. Add a little red gel paste until desired red shade is reached. Please note, the colour will deepen with time so it’s best to make the buttercream a day in advance and allow the colour to develop.

Beet Chocolate Cake

21|05|2018

One of the things I greatly look forward to in Autumn is the abundant availability of beet. To be honest, Sydney is a city where you could buy pretty much any fruit or vegetable round the year (maybe costly though), but there is something about beets that I associate with winters as a child. I loved beets since I was little. However, my kids don’t. Unless its hidden inside a beet cake or turned into a relish, served in a delicious burger. A few years ago, I wouldn’t even tell them there were beets in the cake and they would go for it as they would go for any chocolate cake. Now even though they know it, they really don’t mind. The great thing about a beet chocolate cake is that you don’t taste the beets if you use a good dutch processed cocoa powder. And the cake benefits from the texture and nutrition of the beets.

The Beet Chocolate Cake is very simple to put together and uses a bit of dark chocolate as well as cocoa powder to give it that chocolately taste. What I like the most is that you don’t have to melt the chocolate separately. I’m always happy with recipes that don’t need too many dishes and pans 🙂 Typically most beet cakes will have a no-brainer chocolate frosting. I wanted to do things differently so I’ve used a vanilla buttercream to frost it. Chocolate-Vanilla classic combination! I’ve used a teeny-tiny juice from my cooked beets to tint the buttercream into that gorgeous pink colour. You’re of course free to use a food colour instead if you are not sure of the beet juice.

If you’d love to explore more delicious chocolate cakes try out this Easy Chocolate Cake with Raspberries

Beet Chocolate Cake
Makes a 7 inch round cake

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup castor sugar
60 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1 and 1/2 cups cooked and pureed beetroot (from 2 medium beets)
3 eggs, lightly whisked
1 and 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa

Vanilla Buttercream
125 g unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk (depending on how thick or light you want the buttercream to be.
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp beet juice or 1-2 drops pink food colour (optional)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Grease the base and sides of of a 7 inch round cake pan. Line the base with baking paper.

In a medium saucepan, warm the oil over low heat. Add the sugars and chocolate and stir gently until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and add the cooked beets and mix.
Cool the mixture slightly (about 15 minutes), then add the eggs and whisk. Pour in the flour and cocoa powder and stir to mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave in the pan for 5 mins, then turn onto a wire rack to cool till room temperature. Once cooled, frost with vanilla buttercream and decorate with sprinkles.

To make the Vanilla Buttercream, with an electric mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter in a medium bowl till smooth and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar little at a time and continue to beat until well combined. Add the milk and beat till desired consistency is reached. Add the beet juice or food colour (if using). Mix. Fill up a piping bag with a closed start tip and pipe swirls onto the cake. Alternately you could spread the frosting on the cake with a spatula. Decorate with sprinkles. Enjoy!

Chocolate Stout Cake

28|03|2018

Traditionally, Easter is owned by the kids, we all know that. But who will think about us adults on that much awaited long weekend? We can’t be eating chocolate eggs and Hot Cross buns all through the holidays especially when we have kids at home and those things are always claimed by them. We deserve something more grown up, more decadent and a bit celebratory. Enter Chocolate Stout Cake! Chocolate and Beer in the same sentence so it definitely screams decadence. And let me warn you, this cake is not for the faint-hearted. This is drop dead delicious (if you know what that means) and so indulgent. That glaze/ganache is the next best thing to Heaven as it’s just made by melting chocolate in a pan of beer.

I have never been a huge fan of beer, but when I discovered chocolate stout (White Rabbit Chocolate Stout), my face was like the emoji with big, round eyes. What? How could something be so incredible when mixed with chocolate?! It takes chocolate to a complete new level. I’ve used the stout in the cake batter as well as the glaze and yes, you do taste it. It adds a deep, rich flavour to the cake whilst giving it a soft, spongy finish (probably due to aeration in the batter). Like all my cakes, it is super simple to make. All you need is that amazing chocolate stout.

Don’t be fooled by the chocolate eggs on top. We’re just keeping it low key. Who would guess what’s lying underneath those layers of an otherwise plain looking chocolate cake. If you’ve seen another image of this cake on Instagram, with the huge honeycomb chocolate topper, that topper was gone is seconds so I was left with no choice but the obvious Easter decoration.
My Easter is sorted for now. I’ve made a huge batch of that boozy glaze to pour on my late night desserts. YUM!
Have a great week everyone!

Chocolate Stout Cake
Makes a 2-layered, 6 inch, round cake

1 cup chocolate stout (I used White rabbit Chocolate Stout)
225 g unsalted butter
3/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1 & 1/4 cups castor sugar (or to taste)
2 cups self raising flour
2 large eggs
2/3 cups sour cream/yogurt

Chocolate glaze/ganache
200 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/3 cup chocolate stout

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease the base and sides of two 6 inch round baking pans. Line the bases with baking paper.

Place the stout and unsalted butter in a large saucepan and heat until butter has melted. Remove from heat.
Add the cocoa powder and whisk till smooth. Leave aside to cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sour cream together. Add the flour and sugar and mix. Pour in the stout mixture, whisking constantly to combine.
Divide uniformly between prepared pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes ou until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes, then gently turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Once cooled completely, spread with Chocolate Stout ganache (recipe below). Top with chocolate eggs Enjoy

To make the glaze/ganache, pour stout in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat (do not boil). Remove from heat, add the chopped chocolate and leave aside. Once chocolate has melted, stir to mix until smooth and well blended. Cool to room temperature. The glaze will thicken upon cooling.

Chocolate Hazelnut Friands with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

22|03|2018

I am really excited today for a multitude of reasons. First, because this post involves chocolate and I am posting a friand recipe after a long time. They are a super favourite treat of mine. And secondly because I have guest posted for the first time. I have blogged for 5 years now (where has time flown by) and it’s nice to do something different.

Kankana from Playful Cooking is not only a talented photographer but also a busy Mum like me. Despite that she manages to come up with food that makes you want to eat your screens, week on week. Her images are a visual treat! So you can check out the guest post and the recipe for these Chocolate Hazelnut Friands on her beautiful blog.

Hope you enjoy them and have a great weekend everyone!