I decided to focus on chocolate this month for two reasons: firstly, because earlier this month World Nutella Day was celebrated world-wide. Secondly, I firmly believe one can never too many recipes with chocolate as one of the main ingredients.
Be sure to read my post “Passionate About Passion Fruit” for recipes with passion fruit (granadilla), which is in season at the moment.
RECIPES
- Flourless Chocolate & Nutella Cake
- Grand Marnier Chocolate Soufflé
- Chocolate Crepe Stack
- Heart-shaped Macarons
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Flourless Chocolate & Nutella Cake (8 to 10 servings)
200 g unsalted butter, cubed
cocoa powder, sifted
100 g Lindt 70% dark chocolate, roughly chopped
200 g Nutella
50 g white sugar
6 large eggs, separated
5 ml ground espresso
To decorate and serve
100 g roasted hazelnuts
250 ml crème fraiche or whipped cream
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 º C and lightly butter a 22 cm spring form cake tin.
- Sprinkle a little cocoa powder into the tin and shake to spread evenly. Pour out the excess cocoa powder.
- Combine the butter and chocolate in a double boiler and melt while stirring until smooth.
- Remove from the heat, add the Nutella and the ground espresso and mix well. Set aside.
- Separate the egg whites and egg yolks into two separate bowls. Add the white sugar to the yolks and beat for a minute or two with an electric hand mixer.
- Add the chocolate mixture to the egg yolk and sugar mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Beat the egg whites with clean beaters until peaks start to form and add them to the chocolate mixture,. Fold in until fully incorporated (this may take a few minutes) with a whisk.
- Pour the mixture into the spring form tin and place in the oven.
- Bake for about 30 minutes.
- Test with a toothpick in the middle of the cake to make sure it is cooked through and the toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool for at least 30 minutes before removing it from the tin.
- Run a knife along the side of cake to loosen and remove the side of the spring-form tin.
- Place a cooling rack upside down over cake, turn the rack and the cake over.
- Remove the bottom of the spring-form tin and invert onto a serving platter.
- Garnish with roasted hazelnuts and serve with crème fraîche or whipped cream.
Recipe adapted from original recipe by Sara Rosso. Photo by Sara Rosso.
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Grand Marnier Chocolate Soufflé (6 servings)
125 ml white sugar, plus 30 ml for sprinkling
2 ml salt
75 ml cake flour
140 g Lindt 70% dark chocolate, chopped finely
3 large egg yolks, room temperature
6 large egg whites, room temperature
1 ml cream of tartar
30 ml Grand Marnier liqueur
Butter
To garnish
Icing sugar
- Preheat oven to 190 º C and grease 1 large soufflé dish or 6 individual soufflé dishes and sprinkle it with sugar. Set the prepared dish or dishes aside.
- Combine the salt, flour, and sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Set the mixture aside.
- Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl or double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring the chocolate constantly to avoid burning it. Once the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from heat and stir in the egg yolks until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium high speed until they hold soft glossy peaks. Continue beating the egg whites on high speed and slowly pour in the Grand Marnier.
- Gradually add the salt, flour and sugar combination, until the egg whites hold stiff glossy peaks.
- Gently stir 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then carefully fold in the remaining whipped egg whites. The chocolate mixture should be evenly colored and light and bubbly, without egg white streaks or chocolate marbling.
- Spoon the soufflé mixture into the prepared dish or dishes and allow it to rest, covered with Clingwrap, for up to 30 minutes or bake right away for 25 to 30 minutes until the soufflé has risen with a crusty exterior.
- Serve the soufflé with a dusting icing sugar.
Chocolate Crepe Stack (8 servings)
4 large eggs, at room temperature
375 ml milk
250 ml water
500 ml flour
125 ml cocoa powder, sifted
100 g butter, melted, plus more for coating the pan
30 ml sugar
10 ml vanilla extract
For the Filling
whipped cream, Nutella, chocolate ganache, Marshmallow Fluff, pastry cream, etc.
To serve
100 g Lindt 70% dark chocolate, melted
- Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer for a minute or two.
- Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place it in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.
- Heat a non-stick crepe pan and add a little butter to coat the bottom of the pan.
- Add a small amount of batter to the pan, about 1/4 cup, and quickly swirl the batter around the pan to form an even, round crepe.
- Cook for about 30 seconds, or until you can see bubbles forming on the top side of the crepe.
- Flip the crepe, cook for about 10 more seconds, and then transfer it to a cutting board. Make sure to lay them out flat as they cool.
- Once all the crepes have been made, begin to assemble the cake. On your serving platter, arrange a couple of strips of waxed paper beneath the first crepe to prevent accidentally getting any whipped cream on the pate. Add a heaping tablespoon of filling and spread it evenly all over the crepe.
- Add a crepe on top of this, and spread more filling. Repeat until all the crepes have been used. Dust with powdered sugar if desired, and remove the strips of wax paper.
- Cover the crepe stack with an upturned large mixing bowl or cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set before serving.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and melt while stirring until smooth.
- Serve a slice of the crepe stack and drizzle with melted chocolate.
Heart-shaped Macarons (makes about 40)
Although this recipe does not contain any chocolate, I just could not resist including it! Scroll down for the beautiful photo below.
Vanilla Buttercream Filling (recipe adapted from Jill Colonna’s original recipe)
100 g unsalted butter, softenend
160 ml full-cream milk
1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
1 large egg
20 g castor sugar
20 g custard powder
few drops vanilla extract
Basic Macaron Recipe (recipe adapted from Lila Bultel’s original recipe)
150 g ground almonds
150 g icing sugar
150 g white sugar
50 g water
2 x 50 g egg whites at room temperature
Food colouring (liquid, powder or paste)
- To make the filling, cream the butter with an electric hand mixer in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and combine the seeds, the pod and the milk in a small saucepan.
- Bring the milk to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside for about 20 minutes.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the egg, sugar and custard powder and beat mix well.
- Remove the vanilla pod from the milk and add the milk to the egg mixture. Mix well and return the mixture to the saucepan. Return the saucepan to the stove and heat, whisking constantly until it thickens, then take off the heat and set aside to cool.
- Place a piece of cling wrap directly onto the mixture so that no skin forms.
- When cool, whisk in the butter, adding a few drops of vanilla extract to taste. Set aside.
- To make the macarons, pre-heat the oven to 150° C and line two baking trays with silicone macaron baking mats. Or, if you like, line the baking trays with Wizbake baking sheets if you prefer to pipe hearts with the macaron mixture .
- Place a silicone piping bag fitted with a 7 mm plain nozzle in a measuring jug or container to keep it upright. Twist or clip the bag above the nozzle to prevent the mixture from running out. Set aside.
- Sieve the almond flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. If the almond flour is too coarse to go through the sieve, process it with the icing sugar in a food processor until fine. Set aside until ready to use.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk half of the egg whites on medium until you have a glossy meringue.
- Meanwhile, place the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and heat to 110° C without stirring. The temperature can only be measured accurately with a digital cooking thermometer.
- With the food processor on medium speed, pour the syrup into the egg whites in a thin stream.
- Add a few drops food colouring to the mixture and mix until the mixture has cooled down to 40 ° C.
- Switch the food processor off. When you remove the whisk attachment, there will be a big clump of the mixture in the center. Knock the whisk against the bowl to free it. If the mixture has not become stiff enough to clump inside the whisk, continue beating for another minute, or until it does.
- Remove the bowl from the food processor and add the the almond meal, icing sugar and the other half of the egg white.
- With a silicon spatula, use both a folding motion (to incorporate the dry ingredients) and a pressing motion, to deflate the meringue against the side of the bowl.
- The batter needs enough thickness that it will mound up on itself, but enough fluidity that after 20 seconds, it will melt back down. I.e. it must have the consistency of molten lava.
- Spoon half of the macaroon mixture into the prepared piping bag and scrunch up the open end of the piping bag. Be careful not to overfill it as it will be difficult to handle.
- Use your one hand to guide the nozzle, the other to squeeze just enough of the macaron mixture onto the baking sheet. If piping the macaron mixture onto a macaron mat, stop piping just shy of the edges of the circles on the macaron mat, as the batter will continue to spread a little bit.
- If you want to make macaron hearts, make two separate strokes with your piping bag in a V shape, pressing down firmly at the top and tapering away towards the bottom.
- After piping your macarons, take hold of the baking tray and hit it hard against your counter three times. This will dislodge any large air bubbles that might cause your macaroons to crack.
- Bake the macaroons for about 15 minutes.
- Once the macaroons have baked, cool thoroughly on the baking trays, before removing the cooled macaroons from the macaron mat. Use a egg lifter if necessary.
- When the macaron shells are completely cool, turn half of the macarons flat side up and place a macaron of a matching size next to it, flat side down.
- Place a clean silicone piping bag fitted with a 7 mm plain nozzle in a measuring jug or container to keep it upright. Twist or clip the bag above the nozzle to prevent the mixture from running out.
- Transfer the filling into the bag and scrunch up the open end of the piping bag. Be careful not to overfill it as it will be difficult to handle.
- Pipe about 5 ml of the filling onto the flat side (bottom) of half of the macarons.
- Place the other macarons on top of the filling and squeeze the two halves gently together so that the filling reaches the sides of the macarons but it doesn’t spill over the side.
- Store the macarons in an airtight container in the fridge for 24 hours for the filling to infuse into the shell.
- Take the macarons out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving. The assembled macarons can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week or frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost them 1 hour before serving.
See the recipe for Choc-chip Coconut-Ice in my December 2012 Festive Recipes.
