Chocolate and Almond Cake

Amazingly Cook House was featured in The Guardian a couple of weeks ago, in a guide to small places to eat in Newcastle. I was incredibly pleased to be included, I couldn't stop smiling all day! It was a lovely review, you can have a look here. Someone had been and had lunch undercover the week before it was published, thankfully they had a lovely time! So The Guardian readers have been arriving in their droves since, it has been such good publicity for my little shipping container, and has meant a lot more baking, potting and pickling; long may it continue...

 

On the baking front, I've been making this cake for a while now. It's just a really good cake recipe and people need those so I thought I'd share it. My cake repertoire has come on leaps and bounds since I opened Cook House, as I'm baking something nearly every day. This is one of my favourites, as well as the Lemon and Almond Cake, and the Carrot and Orange Cake, and the... and I say I don't have a sweet tooth...

I made this cake just today at Cook House and I slightly under cooked it, which turned out to be a wonderful accident as it turns it into some kind of delicious chocolate fondant cake, soft and gooey in the middle. I had to test a slice in the morning, and again later on in the afternoon; just to be sure. It was really good on both occasions, which was a relief...

Start by slowly melting 200g of dark chocolate, at least 70% with 250g of butter. Don't heat it too quickly as the mixture will split, just slowly on a low heat, stirring occasionally until it is all combined. 

While that's melting away, separate 4 eggs. Then whisk 200g of caster sugar into the yolks until they are light and fluffy. Then add 50g of ground almonds and 50g of plain flour and mix. When the chocolate and butter mix is ready stir it in to the egg yolk mixture until it is all combined into a lovely chocolate and almond mix.

Finally whisk the egg whites until they stand up in soft peaks, you need an electric whisk, unless you're feeling like a work out... Fold one spoonful of the egg whites into the chocolate mix gently, followed by the rest of the egg whites, just do it slowly keeping the air in until you have a mix a bit like a chocolate mousse.

Pour the whole lot into a lined cake tin, it'll be much easier to get out if you line the whole tin with greaseproof paper. Then bake at 170 degrees C for 35 minutes. If it is very wobbly in the centre when you get it out I'd put it back in for five minutes. Or you can leave it to have a fondant type centre. Even baked for 35 to 40 minutes however this is still a gooey centred cake. It is rich and delicious, very chocolatey and good pretty much any time of day...

Handmade Chocolate Truffles

I haven’t finished buying my presents, I'm the most disorganised I have ever been. Trying to panic buy imaginatively on a shoe string budget is difficult to say the least. Count yourself lucky if I bought your present in advance! The ones still to get are going to be interesting to say the least! I was reading in the papers today about the worst Christmas presents ever which included a brother wrapping up a half used bottle of washing up liquid for his sister and another brother giving his sister a cereal bowl from the kitchen that he just went through and got when it was his turn to hand out gifts... Another boy got a shirt from his uncle in the post, but it was old and worn and not even clean, and brown with brown stripes... haha!

So I must try harder than that. Making things is the answer I think, I have a plan I think, and in case any of you are in the same predicament I thought I'd share these chocolates which I made last year and are pretty tasty, make them boozy and they are even better... You just need some chocolate and some cream and whatever flavours you choose, pop to the shops and start melting...

They are a Nigel Slater recipe that you can mix and match in coatings and flavourings to suit. I made rum, cardamom and plain versions, rolled in icing, chopped nuts and cocoa...

 

Chop 225g of good quality dark chocolate into small pieces and put it into a heatproof bowl. Heat 135ml of cream gently in a pan then when it is hot pour it over the chocolate and stir until it is melted. Put the mixture in the fridge to chill, for about an hour, then remove heaped tablespoons and roll very gently into little balls. Then roll them in cocoa, icing or chopped nuts, chocolate sprinkles or dip them in melted chocolate and leave to harden into a crisp chocolate shell... whatever you fancy... This will make about 25 little truffles.

 

For flavoured truffles add the flavour to the cream while you are heating it. You can use spices; some crushed cardamom seeds, a cinnamon stick or a vanilla pod, allow the cream to cool with the spices still in, then strain it and reheat to add to the chocolate. Or you can add booze, a splash of brandy or rum, whatever takes your fancy. People may enjoy them more than used washing up liquid or dirty shirts...

Chocolate and Walnut Fudge Brownies

I don't bake or make anything sweet often enough, but sitting on the sofa on a misty, rainy Sunday afternoon watching cookery programmes I suddenly found myself rummaging around my messy cupboards to see if I had the right ingredients to produce a batch of chocolate brownies. Lorraine Pascal was just finishing off some oreo cookie ones, I had roughly the right stuff... Coupled with the fact that we forgot someone’s birthday at work last week... there really was no better option than a spot of baking. Chocolate and walnut brownies with a hint of fudge. Lovely.

I tried making a smaller amount than I will tell you to use, due to having to cobble together ingredients I had in the house, but it all got a bit complicated when I didn’t have a baking tray small enough and had to rummage round slopping chocolate mixture from one to another in a panic stricken way... Which is why it ended up a brownie in a tart tin, which I don't think is traditionally quite correct... So I'll revert back to the amounts I should have actually used...

Grease a baking tin with butter, the tin will need to be about 20cm by 25cm, and then line it with grease proof paper. Melt 250g of unsalted butter in a pan on a low heat. While it is melting grate 200g of 70% dark chocolate, turn the butter off when it is fully melted and stir in the grated chocolate to melt. This is easier than faffing about with bowls over pans of water I think...

Break 3 free range eggs into a large bowl and add 275g of caster sugar, then beat them together until creamy. Now stir in the chocolate and butter mix until everything is thoroughly mixed together. Stir in 3 heaped teaspoons of cocoa powder, then add 125g of self raising flour and a pinch of sea salt and mix that in well with a metal spoon.

Toast a handful of walnuts in a dry pan until they begin to brown, chop roughly and add to the mix, I also added a handful of chopped fudge. I would have added some chunky chopped up chocolate pieces instead of fudge, but didn’t have enough left over from the mix... and then bake for 20 minutes at 180°C. They are ready when a knife or a skewer comes out moist with a few crumbs on it. Finally leave them on a wire rack to cool and cut into squares.

Lovely warm, lovely cold, I even like the crusty bits round the edge that looked a little burnt... I'm going to bake more. It's decided.

Dark chocolate, chestnut and almond torte

I found this recipe on The Salad Club blog when I was looking for a way to use up chestnuts and produce a pudding at the same time. I made some tiny changes and it turned out really lovely and is still good a week later... It is rich and chocolatey, yet light and lemony, with velvety chestnut chunks.

Pre heat the oven to 150 celcius and butter your cake tin. Ideally you would roast your own chestnuts and shell them... but those vacuum packed ones are really good and easy.



Put a packet of chestnuts in a pan of milk and simmer for 10-15 minutes. The milk that is left after this process smells and tastes amazing, but the recipe doesn't use it, so I definitely need to think of something good to do with it...

While the chestnuts are simmering chop up a large bar of 70% dark chocolate, I used Green and Blacks, and a 100g packet of blanched almonds. They are actually better if chunky, so you don't need to put too much effort in...

Cream 125g of unsalted butter and 200g of caster sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy. Then seperate five eggs and beat the yolks into the butter and sugar one at a time. Keep the whites as they need to go in later.



Next chop up the drained soft milky chestnuts, keep them chunky, like the chocolate and almonds. Add them all to the mixture. Grate in the zest of a whole lemon too.

Whisk the egg whites until they stand up in gentle peaks, I did it by hand and it wasn't as awful as I thought, but obviously an electric whisk makes it easier. When done fold about a quarter of them into the mix, to get it going, then mix in the rest. Be gentle to keep the air in...

Pour the mix into your cake tin and put it in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Take it out when it's done and allow it to totally cool. Break up another bar of dark chocolate and melt it in a pan with a tablespoon of butter. When it's all melted spread it over the torte and it will dry into a rich chocolatey shell. It is maybe more cake than torte, although I did serve it as a pudding after dinner. I don't think you should have cake as pudding generally, but I think this was borderline and no one complained that much...