Daring Bakers challenge - chocolate valentino cake

Ah, February, the month of love. And the Daring Bakers rose to the occasion, with hosts Wendy and Dharm nominating a decadent flourless chocolate valentino cake as our project.

The valentino cake, inspired by Malaysia’s “most flamboyant food ambassador”, Chef Wan, comes from his book Sweet Treats. It is a simple composition of three ingredients: chocolate, butter and eggs. Part of the wondrous chemistry of cooking is that these three ingredients can be transformed, through melting, mixing and baking, into a dense, fudgy cake with a similar texture to a brownie. The finished cake tastes exactly like the chocolate that you use, so it is wise to use the best-quality chocolate (and indeed the other ingredients) that you can afford.

To make the cake, melt together 450g of chocolate and 150g of butter. Separate five eggs; add the egg yolks to the chocolate mix, then beat the egg whites to peaks and fold into the chocolate batter, pour into a tin and bake. The recipe called for the cake to be baked at 190 degrees for about 25 minutes but my cake took about 35 minutes. It is not a particularly attractive cake when unmoulded, with a cracked, misshapen top, but this is one cake where the attraction is in the taste, not the looks. I used dark Belgium chocolate for the cake, as I love its deep, rich, bittersweet tones.

Wendy and Dharm gave us the option of making vanilla ice-cream to their recipes, or choosing a recipe of our own. I elected to make coffee ice-cream, as coffee and dark chocolate is one of my favourite combinations. I made a basic custard, whisking egg yolks, caster sugar and a smidgen of cornflour together, before adding scalded milk and stirring over heat until thick. I made a cup of strong espresso coffee which I cooled and added to the custard. Once chilled, I added thick cream and churned it all in my ice-cream machine.

We don't really do anything special for Valentine's Day, but it is Adam's birthday a few days later, so I made this for the family gathering. The cake and ice-cream both received a rapturous reception. A heart-shaped tin is required to make a "proper" valentino cake but I don't own one, so made this cake in a round cake tin and served it in small wedges with a scoop of coffee ice-cream to the side. The cake was very rich and the coffee ice-cream provided a perfect foil. This is a rich dessert cake that requires an accompaniment; it is too rich and dark for afternoon tea, or to have on its own. The original recipe suggested serving the cake with whipped cream but this would be too insipid for my liking; I think it needs a strong, but complementary, flavour to match its assertive tones.

I really liked this cake and it is a simple, but impressive, dessert. The only drawback is the expense of the cake, as it requires a lot of chocolate. But it is worth splashing out if you want a grand chocolate finale to your dinner party. Thanks to Wendy and Dharm for this fun challenge!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Tampering with tradition

Today I bought my first hot cross bun for this year. Easter doesn't seem close but Lent has started, so I figure I'm entitled to have a hot cross bun now. Even though they've been in the shops for weeks, I've resisted. It's unseemly how quickly hot cross buns flood into supermarkets after Christmas, as if the supermarket conglomerates and marketing whizzes can't wait for us to get over one festival before focusing on the next.

I love hot cross buns but I'm a stickler for tradition. Some plump sultanas and a hint of rich spice are what make hot cross buns special for me. But today I've discovered that the hot cross bun has undergone a dazzling makeover to bring it into the modern era. I was offered the choice of the "traditional" (how dowdy and dismissive that word sounds when used in this context), the chocolate chip version, or this year's new offering, the mocha hot cross bun.

Why? What marketing guru came up with this idea? If I want chocolate chips, I'll eat a biscuit. If I want coffee, I'll drink it. It may be old-fashioned but I can't see the point in tampering with traditional recipes just for the sake of it. There's nothing wrong with modernising or improving recipes but sometimes the quest for something new or different goes too far. The hot cross bun is not a plain bun, so why the need to cram more ingredients into it? Why not just develop a sweet mocha bun, rather than adding this flavouring to the humble hot cross bun?

Making changes to take account of modern ingredients and tastes is fine but I can't stand meddling for the sake of it. Is offering three types of hot cross buns part of capitalism's never-ending thirst for new, fresh ways to entice us to hand over our cash? Has our modern palate become so jaded that we need sensory overload to awaken it?

An indulgent breakfast

Pancakes make me happy. They make me especially happy when they are light, fluffy buttermilk pancakes doused in maple syrup and served with crisp, salty bacon on the side. Could there be any better start to the day?

Much as I love them, pancakes are not something I could eat every day. They are special because they are a rare treat. But they must be made well; there's nothing more disappointing than a flat, tasteless, rubbery pancake.

Pancakes, pikelets, crepes, galettes, blinis, hotcakes ... there are many variations on what is essentially a simple mixture of flour, eggs and milk. It can be as simple as a pikelet fresh from the frying pan, slathered in melting butter and a dollop of good raspberry jam, as elegant as a buckwheat blini topped with smoked salmon and creme fraiche, or my favourite indulgent breakfast of buttermilk pancakes as described above. Some of my favourite breakfasts around Melbourne are based on pancakes: ricotta hotcakes with lemon curd and strawberries at Replete Providore in Hawthorn, or ricotta hotcakes with lavender ice-cream and poached pears (as served at the Rathdowne St Food Store). And I have very fond memories of eating galettes with cider in Brittany in France. I was almost tempted to bring home my very own galette pan until its heavy weight put me off. Fraus in North Melbourne do a perfectly acceptable version though.

Shrove Tuesday is always a good excuse for me to make up pancake batter. Adam and I have developed our own Shrove Tuesday tradition of buttermilk pancakes with bacon and maple syrup for breakfast and it's something we look forward to. The ultimate pancake recipe for me is the buttermilk pancakes from Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion and I've written before about how much I love these pancakes. The buttermilk gives the pancakes a light and fluffy texture. They are neither sweet nor savoury but take on the flavours of what you choose to serve with them.

Most importantly, the batter is a simple concoction and can be mostly prepared the night before. The next morning, you only need to whip up eggwhites and fold into the batter, so these pancakes can be just as easily prepared on a workday as they can on a lazy weekend morning.

Go ahead and indulge yourself, whether it's Shrove Tuesday or not; it's worth it.

Cookbook review: In the Kitchen

Thanks to a combination of Christmas presents and bookshop gift vouchers, I've been able to add to my cookbook collection. I didn't need to add to my already burgeoning collection but I just couldn't resist some of the new titles on offer. I'll be reviewing my new cookbooks over the coming weeks. The first one is In The Kitchen by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis.

Allan and Michele are well-known to Melburnians, with The Foodies Diary and The Foodies Guide to Melbourne being just two of their regular publications. I've never bought the diary but I have several previous editions of the Foodies Guide and it's a great treasure-trove of information. If you need to know where to source food items, whether it's buttery croissants, unusual Asian vegetables, decadent chocolates or Spanish food stores, this book has all the information you need. It's a great way to make new discoveries and find out places worth crossing town for. It was through this book that I discovered the wonderful Frank's Bakery in Elsternwick, where the sourdough bread is a perennial favourite of mine.

I also have a copy of Campion and Curtis's Everyday Cooking, which has had plenty of use and can always be relied upon to provide a recipe when I'm running short of inspiration or need a quick but tasty weeknight meal.

When I saw In The Kitchen, which has more than 1000 recipes and weighs more than 2kg, I thought I really couldn't justify another cookbook, especially one of this size. But when I flicked through the book, I found that there was a recipe on practically every page that I wanted to try, so of course the book came home with me.

The chapters are divided into food types or meals for easy reference; for example brunch, starters, soups, everyday dinners, curries and tagines, cakes and lunchbox ideas. Each recipe is accompanied by a breezy little note that explains the recipe and perhaps a hint to its provenance, gives some reassuring comments about the difficulty or otherwise of the recipe, or provides alternative ingredients to jazz up or dress down the original recipe. I like the personal and reassuring tone of the book, which will comfort less-assured cooks, as it feels like a good friend is standing there with you in the kitchen and guiding you through the recipe.

Many of the dishes use everyday ingredients found in a well-stocked larder and many are both family-friendly and suitable for quick weeknight dinners. There's also more glamorous recipes for dinner parties or special occasions but, again, many of these recipes don't use specialist or unusual ingredients but rely on good lateral thinking or the pairing of complementary ingredients (such as dates with blue cheese).

So far, I've trialled several of the cake recipes and the one-pot chocolate cake recipe is alone worth the price of the book. The introduction to the recipe says "This has to be the best, most simple chocolate cake in the whole world" and I agree. Only a pot, a wooden spoon and a cake tin are required to make this fudgy cake, which is elevated above everyday status with the addition of good strong coffee. The flavours of this cake improve with age and it is a cake that I know I'll make again and again. The friends who were my guinea-pigs when I tried this cake were so delighted with it that they immediately requested the recipe.

I've also made the gingerbread cake, which is a cinch to whip up and is ready within 30 minutes, making it perfect for an unplanned morning or afternoon tea. The double chocolate chip biscuits satisfy any sweet cravings without an unnecessary trip to the supermarket (as the double chocolate hit comes from chocolate chips and cocoa, rather than chocolate chips and melted chocolate).

From the savoury chapters, I can report that the southern fried chicken is easy and delicious, with none of the fat or greasy skin that you would get from the commercial fast-food version, and that the oven chips are to die for.

I've bookmarked many other recipes to try, particularly stews and soups for when the weather turns colder. In The Kitchen is full of many recipes that will become classics in your own kitchen because the delicious final result belies the simplicity of the technique. We don't need to be highly trained chefs to eat well and these recipes will help launch novice cooks on their way, as well as providing more experienced cooks with plenty of recipes to extend their repertoire. I highly recommend this cookbook.

In The Kitchen is published by Hardie Grant Books.

Daring Bakers challenge - tuiles

After an absence of two months from the Daring Bakers, due to the demands of a newborn baby, I was looking forward to trying the January challenge of tuiles.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf.
They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Traditionally, tuiles are thin, crisp almond cookies that are moulded over a rolling pin while still warm. And, as noted by Karen and Zorra, the challenge was more about technique than baking a recipe. Sadly, I have to report that this was the first Daring Bakers challenge that I failed. My tuiles would not mould. The first batch turned out too thick and were like underbaked cakes. I made the second batch thinner, so they were easier to mould but were too small to hold their shape properly. So, in desperation, I made huge circles for the last batch. These were large enough to mould into a basket shape but they did not have the crispness I expected and so would not hold their shape.

The recipe was straightforward: creaming butter, icing sugar and vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract), adding two eggwhites and some flour and mixing to a nice, smooth batter. This batter was cooled in the fridge for 30 minutes and then spread onto baking trays in shapes: Karen and Zorra suggested using a stencil to make butterflies or some other shape, or simply moulding the warm tuiles over upended glasses, a rolling pin, broom handle or anything else handy that came to mind. My plan was to mould mine over a rolling pin so that I could make small baskets. I had a delicately spiced chocolate mousse recipe all ready to make so that I could pipe this into the baskets. However, the plan did not quite go to plan. Not only did the tuiles not mould properly, but Adam discovered the box full of my misshapen tuiles and ate them all before I could even get photos! I had planned to still make the mousse and just decorate it with shards of tuiles but alas! I have nothing to show for my efforts this month!

Despite the tuiles not moulding properly, the actual biscuit itself was delicious, with a smooth texture and sweet aftertaste. I found that the texture was like an underbaked pikelet, whereas I expected it to be crisp, like a biscotti. I thought perhaps I had made the tuiles too thick, but I only used a teaspoon of batter for each one and couldn't have spread them much thinner than I did. I should try this recipe again to see if I can get them to work properly. I'll be interested to read posts by other Daring Bakers to see if anyone else encountered the same problem. Thanks to Karen and Zorra for choosing this month's recipe. I liked the thought of tuiles and I think the fault is my technique rather than the recipe.

After the BBQ

The great Australian BBQ on Australia Day has become a suburban cliche but for good reason. Warm summery weather lends itself perfectly to BBQs, when it's too hot to cook in the kitchen and a variety of cool salads pair perfectly with charred sausages and hamburgers. I love going for an evening stroll in summer and catching a smell of meat cooking on a BBQ.

We hosted my mothers' group for an Australia Day BBQ. With warm weather (only low-30s, not the 40+ temperatures that are predicted later this week), good company, some cool sparkling wine, plenty of healthy salads, a mountain of sausages and hamburgers, and the quintessential pavlova, white chocolate cupcakes and a chocolate nut cake to finish off, a great day was had by all.

The only problem the next day was what to do with all the leftover cooked sausages?
Although hot summer weather does not lend itself to a thick wintry stew, this is what I came up with to use up the sausages. Loosely inspired by a recipe in Delicious magazine, I combined the sausages with a tomato stew jazzed up with a Moroccan blend of spices. This is also a stew you could make from scratch, with the quality of the sausages used determining the final result, but it also is a great way to use up BBQ leftovers.

Sausage stew

At least 4-6 cooked sausages, chopped into pieces (but you can use more if you have more left over from your BBQ)
1 onion, finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 carrots, diced
2 potatoes, diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 to 2 cups chicken stock
400g chopped tomatoes
400g tinned chickpeas

Saute the onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes. Stir in the carrots, potatoes, spices, stock and tomatoes and cook until the vegetables are tender (about 15 minutes). Add the sausages and chickpeas and cook for another five or so minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

A special chocolate treat

My parents have just returned from a month's holiday in wintry England. It was certainly a shock to their system to return from 3 degrees in Manchester to Melbourne's summer temperatures of almost 40 degrees. To me, one of the most interesting parts of travel is sampling different food and drink overseas, particularly local delicacies, so I was eager to hear about their experiences. Mum and dad also spent a week in Belgium, so their gifts included some boxes and blocks of gorgeous Belgian chocolate. Mum brought home some special chocolate blocks to try in cooking and she also brought home another special treat: a bag of cacao nibs.

Cacao nibs are an unusual cooking item that I only recently discovered through reading Clotildé's wonderful Chocolate and Zucchini blog. Mum had discussed the use of cacao nibs with the chocolate shop proprietor, who recommended that she use them in chocolate cake to add some extra crunch.

Long ago, I bookmarked a chocolate biscuit recipe from Clotilde that used cacao nibs. Having not yet discovered a stockist for cacao nibs, the recipe had languished among my "recipes that I must try as soon as I purchase unusual ingredient" pile. So when Mum produced the bag of cacao nibs, I whipped out the recipe and proceeded to bake a batch of these velvety, dense chocolate biscuits. The triple hit of chocolate - from melted chocolate, cocoa powder and the cacao nibs - make these a true chocoholics delight. Although these biscuits would still be a winner even if the nibs were omitted, the aromatic crunch from the nibs elevate these biscuits above your everyday chocolatey snack and I highly recommend seeking out cacao nibs, if possible, to make these biscuits.

CLOTILDE'S BISCUITS CHOCOLAT ET FEVES DE CACAO

120g good quality bittersweet chocolate
110g unsalted butter
3 eggs, lightly beaten
100g brown sugar
120g all-purpose flour
90g unsweetened cocoa powder*
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel (substitute 1/4 teaspoon regular salt)
4 tablespoons cacao nibs

Melt together 90g of the chocolate and all of the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Transfer into a large mixing-bowl and let cool for ten minutes. In the meantime, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder and set aside. Finely chop the reserved chocolate, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs into the cooled melted chocolate. Add in the sugar and mix again. Sift in the flour mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. The batter will be thick. Fold in the chopped chocolate, cacao nibs and fleur de sel.

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F) and line a baking tray with non-stick paper.

For bite-sized morsels, scoop out rounded teaspoons of batter, shape them into balls with the tips of your fingers, and line them up on the baking tray. Use about one dessertspoonful of batter if you prefer larger biscuits. Make sure you leave space between the biscuits for spreading. Put the baking tray in the refrigerator for 10 minutes (if the sheet and batter are cold, the biscuits are less likely to spread), then bake for eight to ten minutes, until the tops feel just dry to the touch. Don't overbake, or they won't be as moist inside.

* Clotilde added an update to her original recipe stating that some bakers found this amount to be too much, resulting in cookies more bitter than they like. You can use less cocoa (about 60g) if you prefer. Make up for the difference in flour.

This recipe appeared on the Chocolate and Zucchini website on 13 February 2006.