Valentine's Heart Cakes

I know you can say it with flowers, but how about saying it with flour? As I'm sure most of us are aware, Valentine's Day is just around the corner. With that in mind, how could I resist the lure of making some Valentine's Heart Cakes when asked. The recipe comes from the highly industrious, flour and sugar encrusted folk at the Baking Mad site:

"Bakingmad.com is a free mouth-wateringly helpful website that offers everything you want to know about home baking. The site is packed full of hundreds of inspiring recipes including everything from biscuits, breads and cupcakes to muffins, pies and pizzas. All the recipes are tried and tested by the home-baking expert in the Baking Mad kitchen and come with top tips, 'how to' videos and easy to follow step-by-step instructions".

The original recipe was for four heart shaped cakes, but as I only had two heart moulds, I decided to see if the remaining mixture would run to six cupcakes instead. I did add my own twist to the recipe (I just can't seem to help myself) by adding some ground cardamom to the cake mix and some rose water to the white chocolate icing.

This is how I did it:

• Ground the seeds of 6 cardamom pods with a pestle and mortar.
• Creamed 150g unsalted butter with 150g golden caster sugar and the cardamom until well incorporated.
• Melted 125g 72% dark chocolate in a bowl over hot water with 3 tbsp milk and left to cool slightly (didn't take long as my kitchen is colder than the fridge at the moment).
• Sieved 200g flour (half plain, half wholemeal), 1 tbsp cocoa, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp bicarb of soda.
• Beat 3 eggs (free range of course & organic) into the creamed mixture one at a time with a spoonful of flour between each egg to prevent curdling.
• Beat in the chocolate mixture.
• Folded in the remaining flour & cocoa.
• Spooned into 2 x 10 cm heart shaped moulds and 6 cupcake cases.
• Baked at 180C for 25 minutes.

• Melted 100g of good quality white chocolate in a bowl over hot water.
• Creamed 140g unsalted butter with 140g icing sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the white chocolate and 1 dessertspoonful of rose water.

• Sliced the cooled cakes in half.
• Sandwiched them together with some of the white chocolate icing.
• Spread the remaining icing over the tops of the cakes and over the cupcakes.
• Using a heart shaped cutter as a guide, sprinkled some pink sugar crystals over the cakes.
• Scattered more of the sugar crystals over the cupcakes.

The recipe was clearly written and easy to follow. Apart from the chocolate icing seizing up on me because of the cold, it all worked brilliantly well and there was just the right amount of cake mix to fill the two cake moulds and six cupcake cases. So not only did I have Valentine's hearts, I also had Valentine's cupcakes.

The cakes were delicious and were everything you'd expect a good chocolate cake to be. They were richly chocolatey with a nice close textured crumb which kept its shape when cut. They were moist and very easy to eat! The distinctive rose flavoured icing complemented the subtle cardamom in the sponge. All of the above was true of the cupcakes too.

If neither of these appeal there are plenty of other ideas, both sweet and savoury, for baking up a Valentine's storm for your loved one over on the Baking Mad site.

This is a sponsored post, but as always, all opinions expressed are my own and I retain full editorial control.

Chocolate, Hazelnut & Sherry Cake

As part of the review process for Crazy Water Pickled Lemons I felt I needed to make one of the recipes. No surprise that I chose a chocolate cake - a hazelnut and sherry one.

This is how I did it:

• Melted 150g dark chocolate (Green & Black's 72% cook's chocolate) in a pan over a very low heat with 75g unsalted butter and 125ml sherry (I used a sweet sherry as that's all I had, but recipe called for dry fino).
• Stirred until all incorporated and smooth then left to cool for a bit.
• Toasted 100g shelled hazelnuts under the grill for about 5 minutes. Left to cool slightly, then rubbed of their skins with my hands and chopped them roughly.
• Weighed out and sifted 2oz plain flour, 2oz cocoa, 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.
• Whisked 6 egg whites until stiff - should always be done last, but I hate having to wash up my beaters half way through a process, so I do it first, making sure everything else pretty much ready to go when I've finished.
• Beat 6 egg yolks with 160g caster sugar until thick and creamy.
• Beat in the chocolate mixture.
• Stirred in 75g of the hazelnuts.
• Folded in the flour alternately with spoonfuls of the egg white until all just incorporated.
• Poured into a 22cm cake mould and baked for 40 minutes at 180C.
• Left to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then turned out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

• Threw a handful of raisins into a small pan and just covered with sweet sherry.
• Brought this to a near simmer, then turned off the heat and left the raisins to soak until cold.
• Whipped some double cream until soft peaks formed, then whisked in some quark (low fat curd cheese). The recipe had suggested Greek yogurt or fromage frais, but this was the nearest thing I had in the fridge at the time.
• Stirred in the raisins and sherry.
• Omitted adding icing sugar as I thought the raisins and sherry would be sweet enough.

• Placed the cake onto a serving plate & dusted lightly with icing sugar.
• Scattered the remaining hazelnuts over the top, then dusted again with icing sugar.
• Served with a large dollop of the sherry raisin cream.

The cake rose beautifully, I was expecting it to sink like a souffle, but luckily, it sank just enough to gave a pleasingly level top. This is one for the adults - rich, dark & slightly bitter it almost borders on the savoury. The crunchy pices of hazelnut provide an interesting contrast to the smooth crumb of the cake. As for the raison cream, it was delicious in its own right and we could have happily eaten a bowlful. It enhanced the flavour of the cake and bought out its fruity notes. This would be good as a dinner party dessert and despite its magnificence, it is very easy to make.

We should Cocoa - the February Challenge

Some of those new year's resolutions you made surfaced in the January health conscious round-up. Now it's February, we can forget all about it!

It had to come, the moment you've all been dreading. We've had a nice easy time of it recently and I'm feeling it's time my bad cop persona surfaced again. So, not only am I going for a savoury theme for February, but as I am a vegetarian I'd like all the entries to reflect this too!

Now come on, don't go into a sulk, it's a great chance to get your creative juices flowing. Bakers, don't feel excluded either, think bread, muffins or anything else for that matter. So there you have it, the We Should Cocoa February challenge is for something savoury and vegetarian which includes some form of chocolate.

If anyone has any burning ideas of a "special ingredient" they've been wanting to try, contact us at the usual address if you would like to do a guest challenge this year.

Talking of usual address, please remember to e-mail your entries to weshouldcocoa @ yahoo . co . uk - inclusion in the round-ups can only be ensured if we know about the entries and receive links to those entries. If you need a reminder of the challenge rules you will find them on the We Should Cocoa page.

Crazy Water Pickled Lemons - a review

I was absolutely delighted to receive a review copy of Crazy Water Pickled Lemons by Diana Henry from Octopus Publishing. My Levantine genes will out, so it's no surprise that Mediterranean cuisine is a favourite of mine. Much as I love Middle Eastern food, however, this book has a wider reach than a classic Claudia Roden for example. Subtitled enchanting dishes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africa, it is a gentle blend of cuisines, flavours and techniques, adapted by Diana to form her own take on this culinary heartland.

Before receiving this book, I'd never heard of Diana Henry - shame on me! Now an award winning food writer for the Sunday Telegraph, Diana didn't come to food writing until relatively late in life. She has, however, always been an avid cook and food adventurer and her enthusiasm shines through the book and leaps out at surprising moments. First published in 2002, Crazy Water Pickled Lemons was the first of six books that Diana has written (so far). This is a revised edition published this year.

For me this book is evocative of the Arabian Nights, avidly read as a child. Later as a teenager, I was somewhat bemused by the unexpurgated version I'd got hold of. Anyway, the book itself is hypnotic in its sensual, magical, exotic and haunting qualities. The very chapter headings are compelling in their otherworldliness. Take for example, Fruits of Longing highlighting figs, quinces, pomegranates and dates, Plundering the Stores where almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts and dried fruits come to the fore, The Spice Trail with its mouth watering use of cardamom, chilli, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, coriander, pimenton and saffron and Heaven Scent with recipes using flowers and flower waters. And the drowsy photography fits right along, with half glimpses of foods remembered from some nostalgic dream-time. This is not usually my favourite form of food photography; I like to see the finished article in all its clarity which gives me an idea of what I am aiming for or aspiring to. But here, this form of photography fits well. Yet, despite this whimsy, the content is very much grounded in reality. This is a book of recipes that would be familiar to thousand of home cooks around the Med.

As a vegetarian, I was slightly disappointed to see so many meat and fish dishes, but there are some nuggets to be pulled from the predominantly carnivorous pages. Kushary was one I was particularly excited by. A meal of rice, lentils and macaroni, this is one of Egypt's national dishes and is particularly prevalent in Cairo. Despite having eaten it a number of times whilst living there, I have never yet made it. There are also plenty of ideas for mezze including flat breads and pickles. And of course, with the Med's notoriously sweet tooth, there are a number of treats to keep the sugar lovers amongst us satisfied. Diana's writing more than makes up for any lack of flesh free dishes, indeed this book is a joy to read. Each chapter begins with a three page contextual narrative which tantalises so you can hardly wait to plunge into the recipes that proceed it.

Pickled lemons I'm assuming all are familar with, but what is this crazy water referred to in the title? Fellow vegetarians, read no further, it's all about sea bass. In Diana's own words "Ah, the title dish. And I must say I initially fell in love with it for its name. It's from the Amalfi coast and nobody really knows why the dish is called "Crazy Water". Some have suggested it alluded to the sea-water used by fisherman to cook their catch at sea, others that the "crazy" refers to the heat imparted by the chilli".

No review is complete without at least one recipe being tested. I don't really associate the Med with chocolate, so I was somewhat anxious that I wouldn't have any chocolate recipes to try. But I needn't have worried, there are four to choose from and all of them sound enticing and exotic: chocolate and rosemary sorbet, herb-scented truffles and stuffed figs dipped in chocolate. The one I chose to try first was a chocolate, hazelnut and sherry cake with sherry-raisin cream. This will be featuring on my blog at some future date, but for now I can report that the recipe was surprisingly simple, easy to follow and every bit as good as Diana promised.

Nigella's Chocolate Macaroons - Forever Nigella 11

With two left over egg whites from making ice-cream and a Forever Nigella entry to submit over at Maison Cupcake, chocolate macaroons were my indulgence of choice. Sarah of Maison Cupcake has changed the rules, maybe as a new year's treat and we can now make whatever Nigella recipe we like - hooray! After my last attempt at macaroons, which were delicious but exceedingly faffy, I thought I wouldn't bother with the piping fiasco this time and just spoon the mixture straight onto the baking trays. Admittedly my first attempt gave a slightly more uniform result, but the difference was marginal and saved me a whole heap of time and mess. Inspired by the herb flavourings for truffles in my newest book Crazy Water Pickled Lemons, I added a couple of things that were not mentioned in the Nigella recipe, namely star anise and rosemary.

This is how I made them:

• Whisked two egg whites until nearly stiff.
• Added 12g cardamom sugar (caster) and whisked until completely stiff.
• Sifted in 12g cocoa, 65g ground almonds, 125g icing sugar and a pinch of star anise.
• Folded the sifted ingredients into the egg whites as gently as I could.
• Spooned teaspoonfuls (22) onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
• Left for 20 minutes - to form a skin apparently which presumably is meant to eradicate cracking!
• Baked at 180C for 12 minutes.
• Removed from the tray with a spatula and as most of them had merged together whilst baking, cut them apart.
• Left to cool on a wire rack.

• Melted 75g milk chocolate (G&B 37% cook's chocolate) in a pan over hot water with 5 tbsp double cream, 20g unsalted butter and a sprig of rosemary.
• Stirred until all was melted and smooth.
• Removed from heat and fished out the rosemary.
• Beat this with a spoon until it was thick enough to spread. As my kitchen was colder than the fridge, this didn't take very long.
• Used generous teaspoonfuls to sandwich the macaroons together ending up with 11 fairly substantial biscuits.

Leaving the macaroons out to form a skin didn't work, just like the last time. My macaroons came out exceedingly cracked. That's OK, I like the cracked homemade look. However, they were just as delicious as I remember them. Crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. The presence of the star anise and rosemary were subtle, but noticeable and added a certain hint of sophistication and exoticism to the proceedings.

CT went off on one of his streams of consciousness and identified the taste of China and correctly described the taste as being like China meets the Med. It's a marvel, he said with what you can do with an egg - the perfect food. At least that's what I think he said - his mouth was full at the time.

Next time I make macaroons, I will stick to the spoon method as it is infinitely preferable to messing around with a piping bag and for incompetents like me, there is no discernible difference in result.

Coconut Cream Pie - Random Recipes 12

Of all the food blogging challenges out there, Random Recipes from the delightful Dom of Belleau Kitchen is my absolute favourite - excluding We Should Cocoa, of course. I love the way it makes me discover new recipes or cook something I might never normally get around to or even think I want to make. I've been unable to participate in the last two challenges and this has left me feeling somewhat bereft. However, it's a new year and I am determined to apply myself more effectively. This month, it's a new year, a new book, in other words we're to pick a random recipe from our newest book or in my case books.

I had two food books given to me for Christmas this year: Tea with Bea and Cooking with Chocolate. I was very happy to have either of these picked. CT did the honours and it turned out to be Tea with Bea. Page 63, CT announced when I asked him to pick a number. At this point, my heart sank a little, page 63 was the chapter heading for tarts, but pastry really isn't my forte. Well, I mused, I can't very well make a chapter heading, I'll get CT to pick another number. Feeling my resolve weakening, I gave myself a stern talking to and went for the first tart that involved chocolate. This was the ultimate coconut cream pie and not only did it sound superb, but it didn't involve pastry - yeah!

This is how I did it:

• Smashed up 400g of digestive biscuits in a large mixing bowl with the end of a rolling pin.
• Melted 100g unsalted butter. Bea had stated somewhere between 75g and 100g would be needed, but I was rather dubious how such a little amount would stick the biscuit crumbs together. My normal recipe is for half the butter to biscuit, so in this case would expect 200g butter. But, I thought I'd try it and hoped for the best.
• Stirred the butter into the biscuits and divided the mixture into two tart cases (I didn't have the recommended 23cm pie dish).
• Pressed the crumbs as best I could into the bottom and sides of the dishes.
• Baked for 15 minutes at 150C then left to cool.

The instructions for the coconut pastry cream were overly complicated, so I ignored them and used a standard custard method instead.

• Whisked 2 eggs yolks with 3 tbsp vanilla sugar (caster sugar) and 1 heaped tbsp custard powder until well incorporated ( should have added 1 tsp coconut extract, but I didn't have any).
• Brought 250ml coconut milk nearly to the boil with 50ml coconut cream.
• Poured the hot milk onto the egg mixture and whisked thoroughly.
• Poured the whole lot back into the pan and stirred over a low heat until the mixture was thick and just starting to bubble.
• Took off the heat and stirred in 50g unsalted butter.
• Stirred until all incorporated and the custard was smooth.
• Left to cool.

• Combined 300ml (was meant to be 500ml, but I had misread recipe and didn't buy enough) with 100ml coconut cream (not in the recipe), 1 tbsp icing sugar (meant to be 50g), 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1 tbsp orange rum (meant to be a shot of malibu, but I didn't have any of that either).
• Whipped until peak forming stage.
• Toasted a handful of coconut flakes in the oven for a few minutes until crisp but not burnt (rather overdid mine, but they were still delicious).
• Melted 50g 38% milk chocolate in a bowl over hot water.

• Whisked the cold custard then divided between the two tart cases.
• Spooned the cream over the top.
• Scattered over the coconut flakes.
• Tried to drizzle the chocolate over the top, but as it didn't melt properly (I invariable have problems with melting milk chocolate), I soft of dolloped rather than drizzled!

Looking nothing like the elegant creation depicted in the book, this was nonetheless delicious, or as CT said, ambrosial. It was all about the cream and coconut, the sweetest thing being the chocolate. It had a great mix of textures with the chewiness of flaked coconut, the crunchy biscuit base and the smooth cream. The overall effect was of a very light dessert, but very moreish. Even without the coconut extract and malibu, it tasted very coconutty.

Unfortunately, it was as I feared and the base was way too crumbly as it didn't have enough butter to hold the mixture together. This combined with the soft custard & cream meant I had to spoon the mixture into bowls rather than cut a slice and serve on a plate.

All in all, I wasn't very impressed with Bea's recipe writing skills, but I was impressed with her concept and ultimately taste will always win out over presentation with me.

Nice antidote to all that We Should Cocoa healthiness! Thank you Dom.

Chia Seed Muffins - We Should Cocoa 17

As some of my regular readers will know, I try to ensure that most of my baked goods contain mostly healthy ingredients. Indeed they are a good vehicle for nuts, fruit, seeds and various super foods. I generally use at least half wholemeal, spelt or other healthy flours in my baking. I use organic eggs where possible and properly free ranging hen and duck eggs when it's not. I believe organic butter where the cows have been grass fed is also nutritious (in moderation). Chocolate, it goes without saying is good for you ;-) My main concern is sugar - I haven't managed to convince myself on this one. I use raw sugars in the main and do use other sweeteners such as Rapadura and agave syrup sometimes. But these substitutes are expensive and I do have rather a sweet tooth. I just hope, the other nutritious ingredients counteract the bad of the sugar. For more information on Rapadura and other ingredients I use see ingredients are the key - ties in very nicely with this month's healthy theme.

But when Chele announced that the theme for this month's We Should Cocoa was healthy eating, I thought I'd go the whole hog and produce something that was properly good for you. One of my Christmas  presents from CT was a packet of chia seeds. Chia seeds are said to be super healthy: they contain omega 3, vitamin B, complete protein, anti-oxidants and fibre. It is also claimed they can replace half the conventional fat in any recipe with no discernible effects on taste and texture. The secret is to soak the seeds in water for 15 minutes before using. They form a gel, which is then ready to be used. This seemed to be a good opportunity to put these claims to the test.

So for added nutrition, I rather nervously thought I'd create a muffin recipe using wholemeal spelt and oats, some of the pumpkin butter I made back along, Rapadura rather than sugar and of course, chia seeds. I also had a jar of raw chocolate and almond spread that I hadn't yet used and thought this would be suitable for the chocolate element.

This is what I did:

• Spooned 1 level tbsp of chia seeds into a jug.
• Topped it up with water to 50ml and left to soak for 15 minutes.
• Beat 2 eggs with 120g rapadura and 35ml sunflower oil for a few minutes until well incorporated and bubbly.
• Beat in 2 heaped tbsp pumpkin butter.
• Stirred in the chia seeds (which had indeed turned to gel)
• Sifted in 200g wholemeal spelt, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda.
• Folded this into the egg mixture together with 50g rolled oats.
• Spooned this into 12 muffin cases.
• Placed a small teaspoon of raw almond and chocolate spread on top and scattered over a few oats.
• Baked at 180C for 23 minutes.

These had a nice flavour with a rich aroma of molasses, but they weren't overly sweet. They were firm, substantial and chewy and had a crunchy top. CT's comment was "it tastes like it's probably good for you". They'd be ideal as a breakfast muffin, but I think I'd feel a bit short changed if I got these as a tea-time treat. The chocolate spread was really good and I'm not sure why I haven't used it before.

The only thing I wish I'd done differently was to put the chocolate spread in the middle of the muffin rather than on top, where it got burnt. I'd sort of assumed the chocolate spread would sink through the mix, which is why I'd put it on top, but it didn't!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

A surprise late Christmas gift arrived in the post the other day. It was actually a prize from Rose of Now & Then Delicious for the mince pies I made from orange pastry and my homemade chocolate mincemeat. I was well chuffed that I'd won and really pleased to have this little copy of baking: 100 everyday recipes published by Parragon Books arrive through the post. It has lots of standard recipes in it, but also quite a few little gems, such as fig and almond muffins, that I'm quite keen to make. As I had a friend's birthday cake to bake, it seemed only polite to try one of the recipes from this book.

Chocolate fudge cake was the chosen one. This was a 20 cm sandwich cake; as I don't have any 20 cm moulds (I really must get some as they would be REALLY useful), I thought smaller would be better than bigger, so went for an 18 cm cake and four cupcakes. I also cut down the quantity of ganache used.

This is what I did:

• Creamed 175g unsalted butter with 175g vanilla sugar (caster) until well incorporated and fluffy textured.
• Beat in 3 tbsp of syrup and a pinch of salt.
• Beat in 3 medium eggs alternating with a spoonful of the flour mixture.
• Sieved in 175g flour (half wholemeal, half white), 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 40g cocoa and 40g ground almonds.
• Stirred this in alternating with about 50 ml of milk (although would have used water as stated in recipe if I didn't have some milk that needed using up).
• Spooned into two buttered 18cm tins and 4 cupcake cases.
• Baked for 20 minutes at 180C.

• Melted 150g dark chocolate (used Green&Blacks 72% cook's chocolate) in a heavy pan over a gentle heat with 1oz dark muscovado sugar and 110g unsalted butter.
• Stirred until smooth.
• Added 5 tbsp double cream and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.
• Stirred and left in my cold kitchen for about 1/2 an hour to firm up - but not set!
• Used some to sandwich the two cakes together, then spread most of the rest over the top and around the sides of the cake, leaving just enough to top the four cupcakes.
• Decorated with silver stars on top and alternating pink and white sugar flowers around the edge.

The cake proved to be a great hit at the impromptu birthday party, which followed on after a brisk walk along the river Fowey. It was a nice moist cake with a good slab of ganache in the middle. If that sounds solid, it really wasn't. The ganache had a melt in the mouth texture and was darkly chocolatey. It also tasted slightly fudgey due to the brown sugar, but was not overly sweet.