Hello there!! Remember me?? NO????
Horror of horrors!!!
Well, I haven’t posted for nearly a
month, so what did I expect?? But really, it was heartening to know that people
were still reading and commenting on my blog and facebook page even though I was
dormant. Thank you guys, you really are the best. It feels good to know that I
was missed :-D.
I don’t have a solid explanation for my
absence, just that I wasn’t feeling it, liked I’d lost my mojo or something. I
also had some personal stuff to deal with, which though not completely
resolved, is under control for now.
Though I wasn’t posting, I wasn’t
completely off the internet; I was reading and commenting on other blogs, as
some of you might know J.
Anyway, since I’m back now, why not
restart with something sweet and yummy? From my last post, you know that I’ve
joined the Baking Partners group, for home bakers. December’s challenge was
Christmas cakes, with three recipes to choose from – Chocolate Brazil nut Cake,
Neapolitan Christmas cake and Plum cake. We were given the freedom to choose
the flours and nuts we liked as well as the option to make it eggless.
I decided to go with the Chocolate Brazil
nut recipe, substituting almonds for brazil nuts, hence the name Chocolate
Almond Cake.
Here are the other modifications I made
to the original recipe:
- I
halved the recipe, since the whole thing would probably be too much for my
little family
- I
toasted the nuts on the stove top instead of oven
- I
used vinegar instead of cream of tartar (which was unavailable)
- I
used regular low fat cream instead of whipping cream (again, unavailable)
which changed my frosting process
- I
used silver dragẻes instead of nuts for the garnish
First up, the Cake.
What you’ll need:
¾ cup almonds
85 g semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 * 1/8 cups sugar
1/8 cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking powder
85 g unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 eggs
separated, at room temperature
Less than ¼ tsp vinegar
What you’re going to do:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C and prepare an
8 inch round pan by lining the base and greasing the base and sides.
2. Toast the nuts in a pan on a very
low flame still they begin to brown slightly. Leave to cool.
3. Grind the cool nuts with 1 tbsp
sugar to a fine powder. Sift this with the flour and baking powder till there
are no lumps and everything is well mixed.
4. Melt chocolate either in a double
boiler or in the microwave, and leave to cool.
5. Cream butter and 3 tbsp sugar till
smooth and fluffy. Add the yolks, one at a time, and beat till well blended and
pale.
6. Stir in the melted chocolate and mix
well. Fold in the flour-nut mix to form a thick batter.
7. In another clean and dry bowl (glass
or stainless steel), beat the egg whites till very foamy. At this point, add
the vinegar and continue to beat till the batter forms soft peaks that droop a
little when the beaters are lifted.
8. Now, add 1 tbsp of sugar gradually,
and beat the egg whites till stiff peaks are formed, i.e. stiff and shiny peaks
that hold their shape when the beaters are lifted. Stop beating now.
9. Slowly fold about 1/3 of the egg
white into the chocolate flour mix, and repeat with the remaining egg white in
batches.
10. Transfer batter into prepared pan
and bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out
clean.
11. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Using a spatula go around the
cake gently and invert onto a cake rack and allow it to cool completely.
Next, the frosting.
Okay, since I used regular cream, what
I ended up with was more ganache than whipped cream frosting. I’m not sure it
was the right thing to do, but I’ll be honest and share with you exactly what I
did.
What you’ll need:
¼ cup low
fat cream
85 g
semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped
85 g unsalted
butter, slightly softened but still cool
1.5 tbsp honey
What you’re going to do:
1.
Bring
cream to a full boil in a small saucepan, remove from heat and immediately add
the chopped chocolate.
2.
Stir
quickly till the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool to room
temperature.
3.
Whip
this at high speed till it thickens and becomes pale. (Didn’t really work for me because of my cream)
4.
Cream
butter in a medium bowl until it is soft and smooth, gradually add the
chocolate mixture and honey and beat well. Leave the frosting to rest for about
15-20 minutes.
5.
Using
a long spatula, spread frosting evenly on the side and top of the cake. Make
the edges as neat as you can and put in the freezer for about 3 minutes.
6.
Take
it out again and check if the frosting is firm. If yes, apply another coat of
frosting on the sides and top.
7.
Garnish
with whatever catches your fancy. Since this was a Christmas theme, I used
silver dragẻes and tied it with some ribbon. I couldn’t find red or
green and had to make do with pink L.
Okay, this cake challenged me in many
ways. The recipes I try usually use whole eggs, so separating the eggs was my
first challenge. Then came the egg white beating part. What you see in the
pictures here is actually my second attempt. My first attempt, I used a plastic
bowl to beat the egg whites and they didn’t peak. I baked it any way and this
is how it looked:
This is when the egg whites peaked:
Notice the slight difference in the
height of the cake? If you’ve never beaten egg whites to peaks, be sure to do
some research first.
Frosting was another challenge, I usually just bake and then it gets gobbled up immediately J. And you can see that I’ve messed up the pink ribbon, getting chocolate all over it J.
Here are the videos I referred to for help:
Frosting was another challenge, I usually just bake and then it gets gobbled up immediately J. And you can see that I’ve messed up the pink ribbon, getting chocolate all over it J.
Here are the videos I referred to for help:
1. How to
fold egg whites - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yie5V37E1w
2. How to
beat egg whites - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjuJfkxoATA
3. How to
frost with ganache - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmLAr_tHSE4
So that was my first Baking Partners
Challenge!! I enjoyed it and look forward to more!! Tell me, would you guys try
this out?
This post is also a
participant in the Cook.Eat.Delicious - DessertsEvent over at Spicy Food. The event was started at Cook.Eat.Delicious.com.
32 comments
You are back!!!Yay!! Missed you. And thanks for this awesome recipe. Will definitely try soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you Swapna!!
DeleteOh how I missed you and the yummy food pictures :D :D Welcome back!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe pink ribbon actually looks cute and those silvery starry "dragẻes" as you call them (fancy name :D :D) make the cake look really Christmasssiie :D
I love that last pic... :D
He he, thank you, Swarnali!!! I used to call them silver balls till I read about 'dragees' somewhere - fun word to say, dragees!!
DeleteGorgeous cake Fab! And how I missed your post emails!... Back with a bang? I am feeling so festive suddenly looking at the cake!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Poonam!
DeleteBeautiful you did very well. Love the the way to put it. Can you link this recipe to linky tool in my blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Swathi!! I did try earlier, but couldn't get through for some reason. I'll try again :-)
DeleteThe cake looks yum!!!!!! Wish I could have a piece!
ReplyDeleteAwww...Thank you, Anupriya!
DeleteSometimes I feel like I've lost my mojo too...I totally understand where you are coming from!
ReplyDeleteThe cake is gorgeous.
Thank you, Ameena!! I guess it's good our mojos go off on vacation, only then do we value them :-)
DeleteCake looks delicious and neatly presented..
ReplyDeleteThank you, Divya!
DeleteBeautiful clean cake.
ReplyDeleteThank you!!
DeleteLoved the pink ribbon and the silver 'dragees'!! awesome looking cake.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Amrita!!
Deletelooks soo prettty!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Princy!!
Deletewow the cake looks superb and perfectly done :) happy to follow u dear. Do visit me when you find time
ReplyDeleteThank you, Priya!! I'll be sure to check out your site :-)
Deletelovely cake! The way you decorated it is awesome!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tina!
DeleteI did almonds as well...
ReplyDeleteSame pinch, Rachel!! I couldn't find Brazil nuts, and thought almonds would be great for this :-)
DeleteNeverthless to say,how many failiures, it makes baking perfect.Cheer up.Happy to follow u.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Savitha! Yes, the feeling of succeeding after failing is something else entirely!!
Deleteeven i wont be able to get whipping cream and cream of tartar.....so i will try this one your way , if i get around to it!! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myunfinishedlife.com/
Do try it out and let me know how it goes :-)). I don't think the cream of tartar matters as much, but getting real whipping cream would make a difference!
DeleteLooks yummy:)And pretty!!love how you have decorated with a ribbon!!
ReplyDeleteWin a gorgeous bag from Tosca by clicking HERE
Thank you!
Delete