Posts in: 'Biscuits and Cakes'
Flour-less Chocolate Cake
Posted: 01 March '10 by Niall
Easy flour-less chocolate cake
As another weekend drew to a close, I thought that Kelly and I deserved a treat before getting back to the daily grind. When it comes to treats in our house, that means chocolate.
Here’s a recipe for a rich, moist chocolate cake.. And it’s easy. Three ingredients, that’s all!
It’s also a flour-less cake, making it suitable for coeliacs.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7
Ingredients
- 450g of dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 150g of unsalted butter – and a little more for greasing the cake dish
- 5 large eggs, separated
I’d also recommend some whipped cream and/or some ice-cream to serve with the cake – it’s so chocolate-y that you’ll need it!
Method
- Preheat your oven to 375F/190C.
- Take a saucepan, half fill it with water, and put it on a medium heat.
- Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over the saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water, stirring the mixture as it melts.
- Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Butter the cake dish and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
- Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two large bowls.
- Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed and the whipped egg-whites do not move as you tilt the bowl (you’ll see that Kelly bravely volunteered for the age-old test for telling whether egg-whites are ready – if you can hold the bowl upside-down over your head without getting covered, they’re ready!).
- In the other bowl beat the egg yolks together.
- Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate, stirring lightly until the chocolate and egg yolks have mixed together.
- Using a metal spoon, fold in some of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, followed by the remaining egg-whites when this first amount has been thoroughly folded in. When folding use light, circular motions with the spoon – do not mix – the idea is to keep air in the mixture. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.
- Pour your cake batter into prepared cake dish. The batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way up the sides.
- Bake for 25 minutes -the top of the cake should have a firm crust, like the top of a brownie.
- Remove the cake dish from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes or so before trying to slice or un-mould the cake.
- Serve with cream and/or ice-cream.
Enjoy!
Tags: chocolate, coeliac, dessert
Categories: Biscuits and Cakes > Dessert Course > Featured Post > Recipes
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Tea Brack
Posted: 25 February '10 by Ciara
Irish Tea Brack
I got this recipe for Tea Brack from a work colleague and tried it out at the weekend. I absolutely loved it, although i had to give half of it away to my mother-in-law, being the only one in my household to like this sort of cake! Otherwise i would have eaten all of it myself…
Irish tea brack is a rich, moist cake which is perfect for a breakfast or an afternoon snack. “Brack” comes from the Irish word “brac”, which means speckled.
You can see more photos hereImage 1
Makes 2 generous tea bracks
Ingredients
- 450g Dark brown Sugar
- 2.5 cups of tea (make it in tea pot first)
- half cup of whiskey
- 375g raisins
- 525g sultanas
- 3 eggs
- 450g plain flour (no need to sieve)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons mixed spice
- honey for glazing
You’ll also need a little butter and some baking paper to line your baking tins.
Method
- Dissolve the sugar in the hot tea, mix in the whiskey and soak the fruit overnight in this.
- Next day, preheat the oven to 17o, gas mark 3 and line the loaf tins.
- Mix the eggs, flour (no need to sieve), baking powder and mixed spice with the fruit mixture, (i just use a fork) and pour into the prepared tins.
- Bake for 1 hour.
- Remove from oven, place on wire rack and immediately brush with honey to glaze (I used a pastry brush).
- Serve with tea and butter.
Enjoy!
Other information
Please note that these bracks will keep for up to 2 weeks because the whiskey preserves them, although they wouldn’t last that long in our house.
Please also note that instead of the 1/2 cup of whiskey you can just add another 1/2 cup of tea.
Tags: recipe
Categories: Biscuits and Cakes > Featured Post > Irish Food > Recipes
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Wheat-free fruit scones
Posted: 04 February '10 by Bloomsie
Wheat-free fruit scones
I was recently diagnosed as a coeliac (cue sympathy) so once getting my head around not being able to eat my beloved croissants and bagels from the my usual bakery I thought “right, let’s get baking!”.
After searching for some good recipes I found this wheat-free fruit scone one and the outcome was surprisingly delicious (if I do so myself!).
Ingredients
- 275g rice flour (can be brown rice flour)
- 50g tapioca starch (I did it without this)
- 4 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- 2 teaspoons Xanthan gum
- 1 teaspooon salt
- 4 tablespoons caster sugar
- 110g butter
- 110g sultanas (you can used any dried fruit)
- 3 eggs inc. 1 beaten for egg wash
- 125ml natural yogurt (up to 175ml if needed)
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 250°C
- Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Rub in the butter thoroughly (make sure the butter is at room temp). Add the sultanas or dried fruit and mix well.
- Lightly whisk the 2 eggs and 125ml of the yogurt together.
- With your hands make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg and yogurt mix slowly. If necessary and the mixture is to dry add more of the remaining yogurt.
- Turn onto a rice floured board and knead lightly, just enough to shape into a round. Roll out to a 2.5cm or 1 inch thick try. Then cut out rounds or use a pastry shape cutter.
- Place on a rice floured baking sheet and brush with the egg wash.
- Bake for around 10 mintues or until golden brown. Keep checking it as wheat-free foods tend to bake and burn quicker.
- When the scones have been baked to your liking remove them and place them on a wire tray to cool.
- To serve cut in half and you can use either butter or clotted cream with a tasty strawberry preserve. If you have any left over you can also freeze them.
Other information
Rice flour and Xanthan gum can be found in large stores with a good wheat free section (like a 24-hour Tesco not to name any names) and Tapioca starch can be found in Asian supermarkets.
Happy baking…wheat free of course!
Categories: Biscuits and Cakes > Recipes
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Easy Raspberry Tart
Posted: 05 November '09 by Kelly
Raspberry tart
Niall and I went to my mum and dad’s house for some Hallowe’en celebrations at the weekend. Everyone was bringing a dish and I decided to make a dessert. This raspberry tart was delicious and surprisingly easy to make.
You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2
Ingredients:
- 220g (1 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
- 300g fresh raspberries
- 50g unsalted butter
- 500g mascarpone cheese
- 150ml of cream, lightly whipped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Method:
- To make a raspberry syrup, put the caster sugar in a pan with 60ml (¼ cup) of water and stir over low heat to dissolve the sugar.
- Increase the heat and bring to the boil. Cook until golden, then remove from the heat. Mash 100g of the raspberries and stir into the syrup. Leave to cool.
- To make the base blitz a packet of shortbread biscuits (around 500g) in a food processor. Heat up 50g of unsalted butter in a pot and add the shortbread, stir until butter has mixed well with shortbread.
- Take out of the pot and add mixture to a cake tin. Make the base as thick or thin as you want and then pat the mixture down tightly and place in fridge to set for around 30 minutes.
- Mix together the mascarpone, cream and vanilla bean paste and spoon on top of the shortbread base. Arrange the rest of the raspberries on top and drizzle with the raspberry syrup.
Enjoy
Tags: Dessert, Raspberry cake, raspberry tart
Categories: Biscuits and Cakes > Dessert Course > Featured Post
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Brownies with white chocolate buttons
Posted: 28 October '09 by Ciara
Brownies with white chocolate buttons
I was “surfing the net” a few weeks ago looking for a brownie recipe and came across a Nigella Lawson one. I have to confess, it was the first time that I have ever tried one of her recipes and I can tell you I was delighted with the results. These have to be the nicest brownies I have tasted. The gooey centre is to die for! I tried them firstly, for myself, Cor and Sophie and must admit I ate the majority of them.
The second time I made them was at the weekend just past, for my family in Belfast and they absolutely loved them. This time round, I added more chocolate buttons. You’d swear they’d never seen chocolate the way they went on about them.
You can see more photos hereImage 1
Ingredients:
- 375g dark chocolate - I use Green & Blacks as they are made with 70% cocoa solids
- 375g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 6 eggs
- 350g caster sugar
- 225g plain flour
- 250g white chocolate buttons
- brownie tin
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4/350F
- Line brownie tin base and sides
- Melt butter and chocolate together in a bowl over a pot of boiling water
- In another bowl, beat eggs with sugar and vanilla extract
- Sift the flour into another bowl with salt
- When chocolate mixture has melted let it cool before beating in the eggs and sugar, then the flour
- Fold in white chocolate buttons, then beat slightly and scrape unto brownie tin
- Bake for 25 minutes until the top is dried to a paler brown and the centre is dark and gooey
Enjoy
Tags: biscuits, cakes and biscuits, Chocolate, nigella lawson, recipe, recipes
Categories: Biscuits and Cakes > Dessert Course > Featured Post > Recipes
