Brioche Pudding with Dried Figs
This was meant to just have cherries in it but I forgot to get them that day so I rummaged around the the cupboard and cheated a little with a packet of Whisk & Pin dried fruit compote that was mostly figs which I love so hey, figs it was! They worked really well if I do say so myself.
Brioche Pudding with Dried
Figs
Walloon Biscuits
From: Luther
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 10:48:49 PM
To: Will
This weekend's cooking challenge: Belgian biscuits. =P
From: Will
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 11:23:41 PM
To: Luther
Belgian biscuits?
From: Luther
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 11:58:29 PM
To: Will
Made from real Belgians! (Mind you, at this rate they'll eventually be called Walloon biscuits... depending upon your knowledge of world affairs. =)
http://www.chelsea.co.nz/ViewRecipe.aspx?id=711
From: Will
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 25 October 2008 2:22:23 AM
To: Luther
I'll see what I can come up with :D
Belgian Biscuits
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with Crushed Hazelnuts
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with
Crushed Hazelnuts
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with Crushed
Hazelnuts
250g hazelnuts
250g of almond meal
250g of dark chocolate, finely chopped
100mL of brandy
60mL of espresso
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup of caster sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tub of mascarpone
Heat the oven to 180ºC. Grease two 20cm sponge tins and dust with
cocoa. Roast the hazelnuts on an oven tray for 15 minutes until the
skins are blackened, wrap in a tea-towel and let them steam and
cool. Rub off the skins then grind in a food processor.
Mix the first seven ingredients plus half of the sugar and the egg
yolks in a large bowl until well combined. Whisk the egg whites in
a separate bowl to soft peaks then slowly beat in the rest of the
sugar until the egg whites are glossy. In several small batches,
gently mix the egg whites into the cake mix. Divide the mix between
the two sponge tins and bake in the middle shelf of the oven for
45min to an hour or until a skewer comes out clean, or with a few
crumbs. Leave it to cool .
Spread the mascarpone on the top of one of the cakes then squish
the second one on top, dusk with icing sugar and serve with either
more mascarpone or some ice cream.
UPDATE: I gave the rest of this cake to some friends the following day and it tasted even better once the flavours had time to properly mingle with each other. So I’d recommend making the cakes, leaving them wrapped in plastic in the fridge for 24 hours and then spreading them with mascarpone and serving it with ice cream.
Varga Bar - Swedish Wolf in Espresso Coloured Clothes
Varga Bar Espresso. Corner of Wilson
St and Erskineville Road, Newtown
I went there today with a friend of
mine that I have’t seen in years because we’re both too goddamn
lazy to meet up but we managed today. He’s very punctual though,
when he said he was running approximatley 12 minutes late, he was
exactly 12 minutes late. Good work. At least it gave me extra time
to get some descent location shots of the outside and plenty of
time to check out the hot blond barrista and the clientelé.
The thing that surprised me here, wasn’t so much the fact that what
we were served was fantastic, but it was creative. I’ve tried a lot
of cafés in Newtown but this was the first time I’ve seen a
honeycomb and belgian chocolate affogato (espresso with a scoop of
ice cream) on a menu and the cakes we had were delicious and well
presented. I had the banana cake, unfortunately a little dry in
places but delicious none the less. The other cake, the chocolate
and raspberry mousse cake was denser than you’d expect, more cakey
than moussey, but the affogato. Smooth, sweet, delicious with goopy
melted chocolate in the bottom of the glass topped with a sprinkle
of violet crumble.
Honeycomb and Chocolate Affogato and
Chocolate and Raspberry Mousse Cake
I’m going to have to come back and try out the food menu.
That's not strawberry blond! He's a ginger!
About to be eaten ginger
The wonderful people at Gingerbread Folk make organic,
free range gingerbread people, house kits, flowers, christmas
decorations and custom made gingers for special and corporate
events. Keeping the environmentaly concious theme they even package
their individual bloodnuts in compostable plastic!
As they’re made of all natural ingredients there aren’t any
preservatives in them so don’t expect to keep these for months on
end like you can with commercial ginger bread (next christmas,
check the expiary date on the gingerbread in supermarkets, it can
keep for years, that can’t be good). Lucky they’re tasty and beg to
be gobbled.
Apple and Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake
Hazelnut and Apple Cake with
Chocolate Ganache
This isn't any ordinary cake, it's more of a dacquoise which is a meringue or cream
with ground nuts mixed in. Today I used Hazelnuts left over from
the torte
I made a few weeks ago. The tricky things with this cake is the
air bubbles from the beaten eggs is what gives this cake its light
and delicate structure, and probably explains why mine sunk a
little in the middle and broke apart as it cooled. Chocolate to the
rescue to cover those bits up though!
Apple and Hazelnut and
Brown Butter Cake
1 Cup of Hazelnuts
3 Apples
250g Unsalted Butter
1 Vanilla Bean
1⅓
Cups of Icing Sugar
⅓
Cups of Flour
5 Egg Whites
3 Tablespoons of Castor Sugar
100 grams Dark Chocolate
⅓
Cup of Thickened Cream
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C
Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. When
done wrap them in a tea-towel and let them steam until cool. Rub
them in the towel to remove all of the skins.
Line the bottom of a 10" cake tin with baking paper and butter the
edges. Slice the apples thinly and layer evenly on the bottom of
the cake tin.
Place the butter and seeds from the vanilla bean in a saucepan and
melt together, stirring often until the butter has browned.
Grind the hazelnuts and icing sugar together until the nuts are
fine, mix with the flour and set aside.
In a stand mixer, whisk together the egg whites and castor sugar
until stiff-peaks are formed in the egg whites. Alternating between
the nut mixture and the butter in thirds, combine with the egg
whites. Pour the final mixture over the apples in the cake tin and
bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
Let the cake cool completely and turn out, upside down on the
platter you're going to serve it on so the apples are on top.
While the cake is cooling, over a double boiler melt the chocolate
and then whisk in the cream. Pour the ganache over the cake and
spread evenly. Allow to cool and set.
Update:
Actually, after typing out the recipe, I think I forgot to add the
flour! It still looks and tastes okay but it would add to the
reason the cake was so delicate.
Plum and Hazelnut Torte
Bowl of Angena Plums
Plum and Hazelnut Torte -
Serves 8 or more
700g of Plums, quartered and pitted
1 Cup of Sugar
¾ Cup of Hazelnuts
1¼ Cup of Flour
¼ teaspoon of Salt
1½ teaspoons of Baking Powder
½ teaspoon of Allspice
¾ Cups of Butter
3 large Eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Preheat your oven to 175°C. Butter and flour a 9" spring form cake
tin.
Quarter and pit plums.
Coarsely chop half of plums and in a bowl toss with 2 tablespoons
sugar. In another bowl combine remaining plums with 2 tablespoons
sugar. The chopped plums will go into the batter, and the quartered
plums will decorate the top. On a baking sheet in middle of oven
lightly toast hazelnuts until fragrant and insides are golden, 10
to 15 minutes. Put all of the nuts into a clean tea-towel and rub
them together to remove the burnt loose papery skins and when cool,
grind them in a food processor until fine.
In a bowl whisk together
hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, salt, and allspice. In a bowl with
an electric mixer beat butter and remaining ¾ cup sugar until light
and fluffy, the colour will change to a very pale yellow. Add eggs,
1 at a time, beating after each addition, and beat in vanilla and
flour mixture until batter is just combined. Note, add the flour to
the batter, and not the other way around.
Drain chopped plums in a
sieve, pressing on fruit, and pat dry with paper towels. Stir plums
into batter and spread evenly in pan.
Drain quartered plums in
sieve, pressing on fruit, and arrange, skin sides up, over batter.
Bake torte in middle of oven 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until golden
brown and a tester comes out clean. Cool torte in pan on a rack 30
minutes. Remove side of pan and cool completely.
