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.

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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

1. Preheat your oven to 375F/190C.
2. Take a saucepan, half fill it with water, and put it on a medium heat.
3. 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.
4. Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
5. Butter the cake dish and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
6. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two large bowls.
7. 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!).
8. In the other bowl beat the egg yolks together.
9. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate, stirring lightly until the chocolate and egg yolks have mixed together.
10. 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.
11. Pour your cake batter into prepared cake dish. The batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way up the sides.
12. Bake for 25 minutes -the top of the cake should have a firm crust, like the top of a brownie.
13. 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.
14. Serve with cream and/or ice-cream.

Enjoy!

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.

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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

1. Dissolve the sugar in the hot tea, mix in the whiskey and soak the fruit overnight in this.
2. Next day, preheat the oven to 17o, gas mark 3 and line the loaf tins.
3. 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.
4. Bake for 1 hour.
5. Remove from oven, place on wire rack and immediately brush with honey to glaze (I used a pastry brush).
6. 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.

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

1. Pre-heat oven to 250°C
2. 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.
3. Lightly whisk the 2 eggs and 125ml of the yogurt together.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Place on a rice floured baking sheet and brush with the egg wash.
7. Bake for around 10 mintues or until golden brown. Keep checking it as wheat-free foods tend to bake and burn quicker.
8. When the scones have been baked to your liking remove them and place them on a wire tray to cool.
9. 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!

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.

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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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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

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.

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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:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Gas 4/350F
2. Line brownie tin base and sides
3. Melt butter and chocolate together in a bowl over a pot of boiling water
4. In another bowl, beat eggs with sugar and vanilla extract
5. Sift the flour into another bowl with salt
6. When chocolate mixture has melted let it cool before beating in the eggs and sugar, then the flour
7. Fold in white chocolate buttons, then beat slightly and scrape unto brownie tin
8. Bake for 25 minutes until the top is dried to a paler brown and the centre is dark and gooey

Enjoy

Making oreo truffles

This is such a simple, straightforward recipe – it only has 3 ingredients. The only difficulty is in stopping yourself (and others – you know who you are!) from eating the ingredients..

Special thanks to Katie B – our chief assistant, unlicensed ingredient-taster, photography model, and truffle-sampler.

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Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Oreo cookies
• 200g of Cream Cheese, room temperature
• 100g of good dark chocolate

You’ll also need:

• A food processor
• Large mixing bowl
• A heat-proof bowl, ideally one that will sit snugly on a saucepan of boiling water without touching the water
• Baking spatula or large spoon
• Grease-proof paper
• A tray that will fit into your freezer and fridge
• A bowl of water
• Metal skewer to help to coat the truffles (optional)

Method:

1. Place the oreo cookies in the food processor and blitz them until they have been broken down. How “breadcrumbed” they are depends on you – I like a few large bits in there – a nice surprise when you’re munching through the Oreo Truffles with a cuppa
2. Pour most of the crumbs into the large mixing bowl, keeping some back to dust the finished truffles, and add the cream cheese (it’s easier to mix the cream cheese if it isn’t chilled)
3. Mix them together until you end up with a brown-coloured, smooth-ish dough – although we started off with a metal spoon, we found that it was much easier just to get your hands in there
4. Wash your hands – or spend the next 10 minutes licking them clean
5. Cover the tray with the grease-proof paper
6. Moisten your fingers from the bowl of water and take a tablespoon of the dough, rolling it into a gobstopper-sized ball, and place onto the tray
7. After you’ve used all of the dough, put the tray into the freezer – 5 to 10 minutes should do it – you need the dough balls to get more firm for the next step
8. While the dough is in the freezer, bring a pot of hot water to a simmer in your pot, place your heat safe dish on top, and break the bar of dark chocolate into the bowl (make sure that the inside of the bowl and all of your utensils are completely dry – the smallest drop of water in there and the chocolate will be ruined – I speak from experience)
9. Constantly stir your chocolate, encouraging it to melt – it’s important not to over-heat it. When a good portion of the chocolate has melted, remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring until the remainder has melted
10. Take your dough balls from the freezer and, working quickly, you can try to skewer them the drip chocolate over the truffles – we started to do this but found that lifting each dough ball up using a tablespoon, dropping them into the melted chocolate, roll them around until they were completely coated was easier – whichever method you use, place the coated truffles on the grease-proof covered tray
11. Take the remaining oreo pieces that you set aside and sprinkle over the truffles
12. Place the tray in the fridge and let them cool again, and the chocolate shell to harden

The Oreo Truffles give a satisfying “crack” when you bite into them, and the slightly bitter chocolate gives way to the rich, creamy, sweet centre – DELISH!

Other information:

We’ve used a lot of cream cheese here – you can lessen the cream cheese content to make the truffles darker, and more intensely rich.

Snickers Rice Krispie buns

With “Chocolate Week” well and truly upon us, Kelly and I decided to make some chocolate goodies.

As much as we love Chocolate Rice Krispie buns, we thought it was time for a change. Here’s our Snickers Krispie Buns – give it a go – they’re GREAT.

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Ingredients:

• 100g milk chocolate
• 5 cups of Rice Krispies
• 5 Snickers bars (290g X 5)
• 1/4 cup of unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup of crunchy peanut butter
• 25ml of milk to loosen the melting chocolate

You’ll also need: a food processor, 1 saucepan half-filled with water, a glass bowl to sit on top of the saucepan, a very large bowl, a tray that fits into your fridge, and a metal spoon to stir.

Method:

1. Place the saucepan of water over a high heat, and place the bowl on top of that.
2. Chop the Snickers bars roughly, and blitz in your food processor
3. Place the butter into the bowl and allow to melt
4. As the butter melts, add the peanut butter and 3/4 of the blitzed Snickers, and stir until all the ingredients have melded
5. Pour the Rice Krispies into the large bowl and add the melted ingredients. Mix thoroughly until all of the Krispies have been coated
6. Smear the tray with some more unsalted butter and spoon the covered Krispies onto the tray, flattening them to form a sheet about 11/2 to 2cm thick
7. Scatter the remaining Snickers pieces on top and lightly press in
8. Return the glass bowl to the saucepan and break the milk chocolate into the bowl
9. When the chocolate has melted, add the milk and stir until the chocolate has loosened up, then spoon over the Krispie sheet and spread across the surface
10. Place the tray into the fridge until the chocolate has fully set – about 30 minutes or so.

Given how delicious these Snickers Krispies are, you won’t have to worry about this next bit – but the Krispie buns are best eaten within 24 hours.

Hazelnut biscuits

With Kelly glued to another episode of X-Factor on Sunday evening (with so much crying going on, the contestants must be in serious danger of de-hydration), I was at a bit of a loose end. Looking through the cupboard I saw that we had plenty of stuff for doing some baking – and with a little help from Nigella Lawson I came up with Hazelnut Biscuits.

The only down-side is that they really don’t take too long to make – you’re looking at three batches to last an x-factor show..

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Ingredients

• 150g of hazelnuts
• 30g of icing sugar, and some more to dust the biscuits at the end
• 125g of soft butter
• 90g of plain flour
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175C
2. Empty the hazelnuts into a frying pan, and heat over a low heat until the toasted hazelnuts give off a nice, nutty aroma – and before they start to burn!
3. Blitz the nuts in a food processor until they are quite finely ground and looking like breadcrumbs
4. Empty the food processor into a bowl
5. Add the icing sugar to the food processor and blitz to remove any lumps – then add the flour, salt, and butter, pulsing until the ingredients are well mixed
6. Add the hazelnuts and pulse – you’ll probably need to use a plastic spatula to ease the mixture from the edges and pulse again
7. Line an oven dish with grease-proof paper
8. Take a small amount of the mixture and roll in your hands until you have a smooth ball of dough about the size of a gobstopper
9. Place the ball of dough onto the grease-proof paper and press down lightly so that the dough spreads into a flat disc
10. Repeat this for the remaining dough
11. Place in the oven for 15 minutes
12. Remove the oven tray and leave to rest for a few minutes – the biscuits will be a little fragile – then take a spatula and ease the biscuits off the tray and onto a cooling rack
13. When the biscuits have cooled, sieve some icing sugar oven the biscuits until they are well dusted

Other Information

We ate our biscuits with a drizzle of honey and dipped into Greek yoghurt – all I’ll say is that you should DEFINITELY give it a go!