Recipe: Flourless chocolate, hazelnut ricotta cake

If you have a food intolerance, life can get a bit boring food wise. It isn't just that you are limited in what you can have, it is that people get good at making one thing that meets your needs and you get to have it over and over and over.

I'm lucky enough not to have any real food issues but I seem to be surrounded by people with them. At a recent dinner 11 of the 14 people there had special dietary requirements. So while I can eat everything, I do spend quite a bit of time thinking about new and delicious things I can make for my friends who have limitations.

When it comes to gluten free baking I started, like everyone it seems, with a flourless orange and poppyseed cake. Now there is nothing wrong with orange and poppyseed cake, mine is actually pretty damn delicious, but I realised that more often that not it is the only gluten free option in cafes and so my friends had it a lot. Since then I've been experimenting with a range of flavours and particularly with different nuts to replace the seemingly ubiquitous almonds.

This cake is great. Rich, moist, packed with flavour. You certainly don't feel like you are missing out on anything with it and I'm yet to meet anyone who doesn't love it. It is best the day after it has been made after it has spent a night in the refrigerator really developing that dessert like texture.

I've got two options for toppings with this recipe because S and I can't decide which is best. Topping one involves sprinkling grated chocolate over the top of the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. It melts and forms a super chocolate layer. However it isn't that aesthetically pleasing.

Topping two is a simple dusting of icing sugar before serving which looks great but doesn't add a lot to the flavour.

Tips: Place a bowl of hot water in the bottom of the oven to add some moisture. This helps prevent cracks, although mine does often crack a little. If you don't like orange you can leave the zest out but it does add a lovely complexity to the flavour. When you take it out of the oven it will slowly drop in size, but that is what creates the great texture so don't worry when it happens.

Enjoy!

Flourless chocolate, hazelnut ricotta cake
120g butter
250g caster sugar (divided into 150g and 100g)
1 tsp vanilla paste
zest 1/2 an orange
4 eggs separated
45g cocoa
1/3 warm milk
240g hazelnut meal
300g ricotta
flaked almonds
either 20g grated dark chocolate or icing sugar to decorate

Preheat a fan forced oven to 160oC. Grease and line a 20cm baking tin.

Cream the butter, 150g of the sugar, vanilla and zest till light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions.

In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa and milk to form a thick paste. Add to the butter mixture (note make sure your milk is only warm as it will help dissolve the cocoa but not too hot so that it melts the butter).

Add the hazelnut meal and mix well, then fold through the ricotta until all combined.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then beat in the remaining 100g of caster sugar until thick, glossy and hard peaks.

Fold the egg whites through the cake batter a third at a time. I do this by hand with a spatula carefully lifting and folding the mix so that you don't knock too much air out of the egg white.

Pour into the prepared tin, sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top and bake for 40-45 minutes until springy to touch. It may still look slightly wobbly in the tin but if the centre bounces back at the touch it is ready.

If you are using the chocolate, sprinkle over straight away so that it melts on the hot cake.

Allow to cool completely in its tin before transferring to a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.

Serve cold from the fridge, dusted with icing sugar of using that option and with a good dollop of whipped cream.

Review: Chocolab custom chocolate bars

A couple of weeks ago, a lot of rain, combined with a little oil and a roundabout meant that my car and a concrete barrier got to know each other rather better than one would normally like. It was all a bit dramatic, and while everything has turned out alright, I have to admit I was really very shaky that evening.

And that, I am going to say, completely explains how I came to order a whole bunch of custom made chocolate. Let’s just leave out the reality where I probably would have ordered the chocolate anyway once the images of the bars created by Chocolab started arriving in my Instagram feed, I am totally blaming my little splurge on shock.

One of the things I most love about ordering stuff on the internet is the delayed gratification. You choose something, part with money and … nothing happens. By the time the parcel arrives the spending of the money is so far in the past it is almost like a present arriving and honestly I do buy the best presents.

So about a week later a box containing my order/present arrived. After the initial surprise of the flavours I had ordered (I honestly couldn't remember, I was in shock I tell you) came the excitement of tasting my creations. Chocolab lets you choose from quality white, milk or dark Belgium chocolate and then top it with an almost endless array of nuts, confectionery, biscuits, spices, fruit and more.

Now I’m no professional chocolate taster - although S reckons I'm in constant training. I’m much more of a shove it in my gob and say yum kind of gal, but here are my thoughts.

Dark chocolate with coffee beans and Oreos
I don't eat/drink coffee but S is a coffee fan. The coffee is freshly roasted and the scent of it as you open the cellophane is intense. S really liked it and thought it was a good combination but would have liked a greater proportion of Oreo.

Dark chocolate with caramel fudge, butterscotch toffee bits
The dark Belgium chocolate is really rich and intense and possibly a little bit too much for the toppings I chose. The butterscotch toffee bits adds a nice texture and the fudge was lovely when I nibbled it but it just got a bit lost in the intensity of the dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate with raspberry and sherbet
Can you tell we like dark chocolate? Ok, so this one was a little out there - but in such a good way. The zingy sweetness of the sherbet is a great contrast to the rich dark chocolate and the little bursts of freshness from the freeze dried raspberries. I could definitely see a repeat order of this one happening.

Nutella Chocolate Bar
I was also lucky enough to be one of the first people to try the brand new Nutella bar. Milk chocolate filled with nutella and wafer. With the milk chocolate and wafer it is vaguely reminiscent of a kit kat in texture, but the quality creamy chocolate combined with the deliciousness of Nutella makes it a taste sensation. I have a terrible feeling this is the bar I could scoff in one session.

My parcel also arrived with the cutest gift of a double dipped Oreo. That is right, an Oreo biscuit dipped first in white chocolate, then in milk chocolate. It is a Tim Tam on steroids and completely moreish. I'm pretty happy they only gave me one because I don't think I would have the self control to limit myself if a whole pack had turned up.

Chocolab is definitely a fun and tasty concept. I can imagine many bars yet to come. Head on over and check them out at: www.chocolab.com.au

Easter Time

Easter time is a time for eggs and a time for eggs is Easter time.

Did you sing it?  Do you know it?  It is one of those songs from my childhood that at certain times of the year is bound to be doing the rounds in my head.

There is something special about chocolate in the shape of an egg, or a rabbit.  I don't know what it is given that in reality they are usually not made of the best chocolate but they are still delicious and I just can't stop eating them!

I filled a bowl in the middle of my team's meeting table with these mini Moser Roth eggs from Aldi.  There are solid milk and dark ones as well as ones filled with nougat and ganache.  And they were seriously moorish!  The team cursed me for their presence as we are all trying to shift the odd kilo or two but what can I say, it is Easter time and that means it is time for eggs.

I hope you all have a wonderful relaxing Easter break.

Koko Black take 2

I haven't been there in months, and then within weeks I've had two visits to Koko Black - believe me I'm not complaining!

This time I opted for the walnut brownie served with hot chocolate sauce and vanilla bean icecream.  The presentation at Koko Black is always gorgeous and as someone who eats first with their eyes, it is always a delight when such a plate is placed before me.  The brownie was rich, yet surprisingly crumbly, so the hot chocolate sauce was lovely with it.  In fact the hot chocolate sauce was delicious on the brownie, with the vanilla ice-cream or just by itself.  It is lucky we were with friends or I might have been tempted to lick out the little pot it came in, as it is I probably took a layer of china off with my spoon.

After the chocolate overload of our last visit, I decided to forgo the hot chocolate as a drink and instead chose a pot of tea.  It really was the perfect match for my brownie and meant I didn't end up in the same diabetic coma as last time.

We had been to a BBQ earlier in the day and S was stuffed so he just ordered a cappuccino.  However in true Koko Black style, even the coffee came with chocolate in the form of a small cup of chocolate shavings to scatter over the top.  He said it was delicious.

Koko Black is definitely not for every day, but it is the perfect place for leisurely indulgence with friends - the kind of indulgence that means I will be doing my power walks this week!

Cupcakes Galore

Last night we celebrated my sister's birthday in style.  Over cocktails and mountains of delicious middle eastern finger food everyone laughed and chatted the night away.

My contribution to the night was dessert in the form of cupcakes.  Even after the mountains of delicious finger food I was happy to see that the cupcakes went down a treat.  I made two types, super chocolate and orange and poppyseed.

The chocolate ones are probably my signature cupcake and are regularly requested.  I use this recipe but for cupcakes add a packet of choc bits and bake them for 14-20 minutes depending on your cupcake size.  It makes about 15-20 large cupcakes (depending on how large they are) and about 40 small cupcakes.  Once iced, I always refrigerate these cupcakes as it sets the icing and makes the cupcake go more dense and fudgy.

The orange and poppyseed cupcakes were from this recipe which is worth the read just for the hilarity of the writing.  It was the first time I'd made this recipe into cupcakes and it made 21 large cupcakes which took 30 minutes to bake.  It is a flourless recipe, but beware, baking powder usually contains gluten so it isn't a perfect option for someone with a serious gluten intolerance.  The recipe doesn't have icing, so I made a pretty standard cream cheese frosting of:

125g butter
250g cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups icing sugar
orange zest to taste

You just beat everything together and it makes an extremely tasty frosting.  For me the secret to this however is to use light cream cheese.  It just makes for a better tasting, easier to spread or pipe frosting.

Seeing as the cupcakes were for a special occasion I had a lovely time piping icing and decorating them.  But the best part of making anything like this is watching everyone enjoy them - oh and getting the leftovers to take home.  S and I will be having a yummy afternoon tea today!

Koko Black

I went quite off chocolate for Easter.  I know, what terrible timing.  There was chocolate everywhere and for some reason I didn't feel like eating it.  Luckily I have my mojo back which meant I could really enjoy a visit to Koko Black for a catch up with a friend.

We were lucky enough to score the comfy couches (my only complaint with Koko Black is that due to its size there are very limited couches) and settled in for a great catch up.  I love that about Koko Black, you rarely feel rushed by the staff, even after you have finished your delicious treats, they continue to refill your water glass and make you feel welcome.  It is only if there is a line of people glaring at you to move that you really feel you must leave.

Diabetics and those on a diet, look away now because I chose the chocolate cake plate and while I offered it to the boys to taste, I ate pretty much all of it. 

A tiny intense chocolate cake, a swirl of velvety chocolate mousse and two shortbreads garnished with a swoosh of chocolate emblazoned with nuts.  The plate looks small, but  believe me, it is plenty!  Everything was delicious, the mousse was particularly delicious when piled on the shortbread - its silky texture contrasting with the crisp biscuit. 

Worried that I wasn't ingesting quite enough calories in one go, I washed it down with a hazelnut hot chocolate.  We sat, talked and ate.  It was a perfect way to spend an afternoon

How Easter Bunnies Are Made

This morning my brother-in-law demonstrated to us all how Easter bunnies are made.

Happy Easter everyone.

Learning not to share

Just about the first thing you learn in pre-school is how to share nicely.  I constantly hear all my friends with small children saying things like "share your toys" or "what lovely sharing you are doing" etc.

However as you grow older you realise there are times when it is just fine not to share.  Like when you have managed to get your hands on the last piece of our famous secret recipe family birthday cake.  This cake is so legendary that even my sleep in loving boyfriend will get up early to have a piece (we eat it for breakfast on birthdays - I know, my family is awesome).  As a result it is very rare that any of it makes it to the second day.  That a piece survived three days is almost unimaginable.

I did honestly consider sharing this with S when Mum informed me it was up for grabs.  But I caved to the deliciousness and just ate it myself.  And it was awesome, I don't regret it at all.

The recipe is a family secret.  The claim to fame is that it is in fact the original sachertorte recipe.  I don't know about that, but I do know that it is one of those things that we keep precious, so in the spirit of this post, I won't be sharing the recipe!

Coping with intolerance

I'm sorry to say this, but I have some intolerant friends.  The kind of intolerance where they go for complete avoidance.  As a highly tolerant person I sometimes find this tricky, but as a good friend I'm happy to make allowances.

What may you ask are they so intolerant of?  The answer is gluten.  Gluten and I are great friends who enjoy each others company immensely but I understand that not everyone shares this close and loving relationship.  So a couple of years ago I sought out some recipes that I could make when entertaining my sadly intolerant friends.

One of those recipes was for Chocolate and Pecan Brownies.  What a find!  These are now my default brownies of choice - even when I'm cooking for people with no gluten issues - because they are absolutely delicious.  If you omit the white chocolate and carefully select your dark chocolate these can also be diary free - ticking off two intolerances in one delicious brownie!

My tips - the baking time in the recipe is waaaay to short, you will eat them with a spoon if you bake for that time.  I bake them for nearly twice the stated time and they are still very moist.  They get better with age, so try to leave them a day before eating.  And finally, don't add the white chocolate when the recipe says or it will melt to nothing.  Add it right at the end, just before baking.

It can be hard to find really delicious gluten free baked goods, but I can guarantee that if you don't tell people these are gluten free, they will have no idea.


If you are looking for any recipes I've posted, I now have a page right at the top of the blog which contains links to them all.  Putting it together has made me realise I'm quite heavily biased towards sweet recipes on this blog, which is odd because in reality I cook more savoury stuff.  I will try to rectify this!

Happy Accidents

Sometimes a random series of events occur that result in a happy accident.

I usually have a handful of nuts as my morning tea.  Generally I'm careful to select raw, or at least unsalted nuts but a super sale price led to an impluse buy of some delicious salted cashews.  Because I'm useless at stopping eating nuts if I have them straight from the packet I always put them in a little dish for portion control.

My other usual snack is some form of chocolate mid-afternoon.  At the moment I'm completely in love with these freeze dried, chocolate covered blueberries.  Anyway, again I could easily eat a whole packet in one sitting, so I poured out a few into the dish which had previously held my cashews - and in which remained remnants of the salt - resulting in salted chocolate blueberries.

We all know salt is a flavour enhancer but I often forget how it can enhance sweets.  All I can say is salted chocolate blueberries are incredibly addictive.  Never fear I'm not going to suddenly end up with a salt addiction but it did remind me that I should experiment a bit more with the interesting ways that you can enhance flavours.

Being the easter bunny

When I was a kid the Easter Bunny was always exceedingly good to us.  My sister and I used to embark on a massive egg hunt where we would fill our baskets with mountains eggs hidden all over the house (apparently we had an indoor bunny).  One they were all discovered, we would sort out the haul to make sure we had equal amounts - an important rule stipulated by the Easter Bunny.

My favourites were the hard sugar shelled little eggs that looked like real birds eggs and of course the Red Tulip Elegant Rabbit, but we would have hollow big eggs, solid little eggs, caramel filled eggs - you name it if it was Easter themed chocolate it seemed to make its way into our baskets.

The bunny was very good at hiding all these treats, however did not always have a good memory of where the eggs were hidden which sometimes resulted in us finding eggs many months later.

As I grew up, I decided I just wanted one of those big dark chocolate eggs with the icing flowers stuck to the front.  I thought they were exceedingly glamerous and sophisticated.  My sister however has always preferred the hunt, so in time I took on some of the bunny duties.  I loved doing it, hiding the eggs, thinking of clever places, but of course she eventually grew out of it too (well not really, I think her husband has organised easter hunts for her since then).

So it was great fun last night to sneak into the office after hours and deposit everyone's Easter treats on their desk.  I purposely left early and arrived late to emphasise the miraculous appearance of our treats.  It is always amusing to see how long they will last, and the answer - at least one had already disappeared well before lunchtime.

Hot Chocolate

Canberra decided to turn on a blast of Winter today to remind us what we are in for over the next few months.  The sky is grey, the wind is blowing and it is properly cold.  The trees are still clad in their autumn glory and when the sun makes a brief appearance it is still quite warm, but in all other respects today is a classic winter day.

There are some things that you can only truly appreciate when it is really cold outside - a roaring wood fire, a snugly wool jumper, a steaming bowl of soup - and hot chocolate.  Hot, frothy, chocolate milk.  It is the perfect antidote to cold weather, so after I made it back into the office from my lunchtime errands in the freezing wind, it was high on my list.

I'm lucky enough to work in an office complete with a fantastic coffee machine which produced the perfect hot chocolate for me with just the press of a button.  And so I sat at my desk, hands cupped around its chocolatey warmth and watched the cold, grey day progress outside.  Perfection!

P.S. After posting this, I managed to squeeze in another hot chocolate - a chai hot chocolate at Koko Black.  It really is the perfect antidote for the cold.

Another visit to the Flute

We had a birthday in the office (well 3 actually) so you know what that means - oh yeah, I've been to the Flute. I'm sorry to be repedative but it is just so damn good!

As there were three of us (yes, it is my birthday soon) we had a complex negotiation to decide on which of their amazing delicacies to choose. It is a difficult decision!

First you need to decide if you are going to pre-order or wing it. Evey day they have a stunning selection of cakes and not all of them are available for pre-order. But if you do decide to go the pre-order route, you then have to make your way through the tantalising list.

We ended up with a Jaffa Dome. It has a crunchy chocolate base, flourless orange cake and layers of dark chocolate and orange mousse. It was so fab I ate two pieces. I'm kind of regretting that now as it was extremely rich but oh so good.
In fact I may need rehab, this Flute addiction is getting serious!

The taste of the flute

No food blogs all week, then two in a row!

Today is a colleague's birthday so I made my way out to my spiritual home, The Flute Bakery. Predictable yes, but honestly, it is just so faaaaaabulous!

She wanted chocolate, so I got her this stunning mud cake. Have you ever seen a mud cake look like this? It was so delicious, I often find mud cake a bit too heavy, but this was super rich without hitting that sickly note you often get in a mud cake - wowsers.

I also got myself a pear galette. I've written about their amazing puff pastry before and it is like an addiction, I can't go out there without getting something flaky and crispy.

In what may prove to be a dangerous move, I've also got myself their pre-order list. You can't pre-order everything they make, but the 20 options are a pretty amazing selection. I'm serious people, if you are in Canberra on a weekday, get your self out to Fyshwick and try the heaven that is the Flute Bakery.

Disclaimer, I am in no way connected to the Flute, except by a growing and possibly serious addiction to their pastry.

REAL puff pastry

I know I've written before about the wonder that is The Flute bakery, but today I had another sample of its delights (and you will note, once again, no photo, everything got eaten too quickly).

I ventured out again to retrieve afternoon tea for the office. This time we indulged in milk chocolate and vanilla bean mousse cake on a hazelnut praline base - yes it was as delicious and as attractive as that sounds.

But what I'm really here to rave about it the wonder that is The Flute's puff pastry. Given I had trekked out early in the morning I thought I would treat myself to a pear galette. Can I just say, I don't think I've ever had something that could compete with the light, flakey, buttery yet crispy wonderourness that was that puff pastry. Topped with pear that was sweet and almost creamy in texture, it was a sensation - a $3 sensation! Gosh I'm glad it is a trek to get there, if that was close my waistline would be in serious trouble.

Top Drawer Supplies

Well it has been at least 3 days since I wrote a blog about chocolate, so I think I should tell you about the contents of my top drawer at work.

My top drawer contains emergency supplies. There is a nail kit, hand cream, bandaids, nurofen, the mandatory feminine hygine products and a variety of bite sized chocolates. Oh, and I think there might be some business related stationery somewhere in there!

I don't know about you, but 2pm is my chocolate witching hour. I just need something small, so the individually wrapped chocolates are perfect. A box can last me literally months because I just have one and I find the Lindt ones particularly good as they are both a nice variety, and also are very intense in flavour so really help to kill the cravings.

I think I also love these as they were a treat we sometimes got from my grandmother. My Mum has passed on a love of small things, so small, individually wrapped chocolates just seem particularly delightful.

Ok, must stop writing about chocolate now, or my one a day limit will be blown out of the water!

Chocolate Cake

This is the remains of a rather delicious chocolate cake that I made for a birthday at work.

We are a new business so are still setting in place our traditions. This was our first work birthday and the cake went down very nicely.

It is one of those tried and true recipes, from a Family Circle treasury of chocolate cakes originally I think. I usually make it into cupcakes and this is actually the first time I've made it as a cake in a long time but it was well worth it.

If you are in a chocolate cake mood, here is the recipe.

Chocolate Fudge Cake (from Family Circle)
4oz (125g) butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2/3 cup cocoa
½ cup hot water
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 cup milk
1 ¾ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
Chocolate Vienna Icing (recipe follows)

Beat butter until creamy, add sugar, eggs and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Blend cocoa in hot water to make a smooth paste. Gradually add to creamed mixture. Add vinegar to milk to sour.

Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and add to creamed mixture alternately with sour milk. Stir lightly but thoroughly.

Pour into two greased 20cm (8in) sandwich tins and bake in a moderate over 30 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly pressed.

Cool in tins for 10 minutes then turn out and allow to cool completely.

Fill and ice with Chocolate Vienna Icing. Decorate with chocolate curls if desired.

CHOCOLATE VIENNA ICING
Beat 125g butter until creamy. Sift 2 ½ cups icing sugar and blend 3 tablespoons cocoa with 3 tablespoons hot water smooth. Add the icing sugar to the butter alternately with sufficient of the cocoa mixture to bake desired spreading consistency.

A special afternoon tea

People in Canberra and Melbourne will know Koko Black. It is a haven of chocolaty goodness. Filled with all sorts of wonderful concoctions made of chocolate (unlike the Lindt cafe they don't even try to pretend to serve savory food) set in elegant and comfortable surroundings.

It is a great location for a catch up, so much nicer than the ubiquitous "coffee". Today, I met up with my friend S. She was my early mentor and we have been friends ever since. Koko Black is our normal meeting place as both of us love the excuse for an indulgence.

The photo is my afternoon tea: hazelnut hot chocolate, silken chocolate and raspberry tart and a raspberry thing that was like whipped aerated raspberry coulis. I must admit it was much richer than I'm used to and I am feeling just slightly that I overdid it, but it sure was enjoyable to over-do!