Pistachio praline cake

Oh-my-goodness. This cake was absolutely divine. I adapted it quite significantly from a hazelnut praline cake recipe in one of my cookbooks -- "Crave: A passion for chocolate" -- to be semi-Christmas themed for our Christmas in July at work.

Green is Christmassy, right?

Ingredients

Cake
6 large eggs, separated
115 gr caster sugar plus 1 tbsp extra
185 gr chopped dark chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
90 gr almond meal
95 gr pistachio meal (blitz 90 gr of pistachio kernels in a food processor)

Pistachio praline
125 gr pistachio kernels
250 gr caster sugar
55 ml water

Chocolate ganache
80 ml cream
100 gr dark chocolate

Pistachio white chocolate cream
235 ml cream
150 gr white chocolate
30 gr butter
1/2 quantity pistachio praline

4 drops of green food colouring

Milk chocolate cream
235 ml cream
150 gr milk chocolate
30 gr butter

Step 1: Make the cake
Preheat the oven to 180 C (160 C fan forced). Butter two 23 cm round spring form tins and line with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and the 115 gr of caster sugar on medium-high until pale and thickened.

Using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the 1 tbsp of caster sugar and beat until the mixture is glossy.

Mix the tepid chocolate with 3 tbsp of hot water and stir to incorporate. Add to the egg yolk mixture and stir to combine. Fold in the pistachio and almond meal. Gently fold in the meringue in two batches, until combine.

Pour 2/3 of the mixture into one tin and 1/3 into the other. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until the top is firm. Allow to cool completely in the tins before removing the cakes.

Step 2: Make the chocolate creams
Bring the cream to boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat. Add the milk chocolate, allow to stand for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Allow to cool slightly then stir in the butter. Cover and chill for at least one hours (you can speed this process up by putting the mixture in the freezer for 30 minutes).

Repeat the same process for the white chocolate cream.

Step 3: Make the pistachio praline
Preheat oven to 180 C (160 C if you are using a fan forced oven). Spread pistachios on a baking tray and roast for 5 – 10 minutes.

To skin the pralines, place half of the roasted nuts in a clean tea towel and rub the nuts between the tea towel until the skins come away. Repeat this with the remaining nuts. Put all the nuts on a sheet of non-stick baking paper on a tray.

Place sugar and water in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Boil, without stirring, swirling or brushing down the side of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water, for 8 minutes or until golden. Set aside until the bubbles subside.

Pour the caramel mixture over the nuts and leave to set.

When the praline is set, put it in a food processor or crush it until finely ground. Set aside.

Step 4: Make the chocolate ganache
Combine cream and milk in a small saucepan scald over a medium heat (do not let it boil). Add the dark chocolate, remove from heat, and stir until smooth. Let the mixture cool for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes so it does not set.

Step 5: Prepare the creams
Remove the creams from the fridge and, using electric beaters beat the milk chocolate cream until firm peaks form.

Repeat the for the white chocolate cream and add half of the praline mixture and green food colouring, stirring to combine.

Step 6: Assemble the cake
Remove the cakes from their tins. Slice the larger of the two cakes in half, horizontally.

Place one of the cake layers on plate, flat-side down. Spread it with half of the white chocolate praline mixture.

Using a pastry brush, spread half of the ganache over one side of each of the remaining two cake layers. Place one of the cake layers on top of the layer covered with the white chocolate pistachio cream, ganache side down. Spread the remaining white chocolate pistachio cream over this second layer and place the last cake layer, ganache side down on top of the pistachio cream.

Cover the top and sides of the cake with the milk chocolate cream and press the remaining pistachio praline onto the sides of the cake.

Daring Bakers' Challenge - Swiss swirl ice cream cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Swiss roll ice cream cake (inspired by the recipe of the same name from the Taste of Home website)

Caramel swiss rolls

6 medium sized eggs
225 gms brown sugar
85gms GF plain flour
30ml boiling water

Pre-heat the oven at 200 C (180 C fan forced). Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.

In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

Add the flour, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water

Divide the mixture among the two baking pans (or only use half of the mixture if you have 1 pan) and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans. Place a pan in the centre of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch. 

Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

Repeat the same for the next cake as well.

Honeycomb swiss roll filling

500 mls whipping cream

1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
70gms caster sugar
80 gr honeycomb, ground

Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream. Place the honeycomb in the food processor and blitz with the sugar and vanilla. Pass the honeycomb, vanilla, sugar mixture through a sieve to remove any husks from the vanilla pod.

In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.

Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of 1 cm should be fine).

Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Honeycomb ice cream
625 ml cream
1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp vanilla extract
115 gr caster sugar
100 gr honeycomb, ground

I made the ice cream without an ice cream maker.

Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. Place the honeycomb in the food processor and blitz with the sugar and vanilla. Pass the honeycomb, vanilla, sugar mixture through a sieve to remove any husks from the vanilla pod.

In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla/sugar/honeycomb mixture and whisk lightly until everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.

Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer after 30 minutes and beat with a balloon whisk until smooth, return to the freezer. Repeat 3-4 times and then set completely.

Caramel Fudge
275 gr caster sugar
1/3 c water
110 gr cream
135 gr unsalted butter

Combine sugar and 1/3 cup water in a saucepan and stir over medium-high heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook for 8-10 minutes or until medium-caramel in colour, remove from heat.

Meanwhile, heat the cream for 30 seconds on high in a microwave. Carefully add cream and butter to the caramel mixture (be careful as the mixture will bubble and spit), stir to combine. Return to heat and cook for 2 minutes or until smooth. Let the caramel mixture cool before putting it into the bomb.

Note: you do not want the caramel to be hot or it will melt the bomb.

Chocolate ice cream
500 ml cream
230 gr caster sugar
24 gr cocoa powder

Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor . In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.

Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.

Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges.

Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer after 30 minutes and beat with a balloon whisk until smooth, return to the freezer. Repeat 3-4 times and then set completely.

Assembly
1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ).

2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

4. Soften the honeycomb ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour).

5. Add the fudge sauce over the honeycomb ice cream, cover and freeze till firm (at least an hour).

6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .

7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

Daring Cooks' Challenge - Nut butters

The July 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Margie of More Please and Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make their own nut butter from scratch, and use the nut butter in a recipe. Their sources include Better with Nut Butter by Cooking Light Magazine, Asian Noodles by Nina Simonds, and Food Network online.

This was my first Daring Cooks challenge and I'm quite happy with it. I would have liked to experiment more with different nut butters but illness has consumed many a weekend over the last month for me!

Feeling under the weather had me craving spicy food. With this in mind, I set out to make peanut butter and a spicy satay sauce.

Satay sauce

Peanut butter

200 gr unsalted peanuts

Satay sauce

5 shallots, roughly chopped

3 birds eye chillies, roughly chopped 

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 stalk lemongrass (dry outer layers removed, use pale part only)

3 tsp tamarind paste

5 tbsp plus 2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

100 ml vegetable oil

500 ml water

1 tbsp walter

200 gr peanut butter

50 gr roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed

Step 1: Make the peanut butter

Pour the nuts into the bowl of a food processor. Grind the nuts in the processor until they form a paste or butter. 

The nuts first turn into powdery or grainy bits, then start to clump and pull away from the side of the bowl, and finally form a paste or butter. The total time required depends on the fat and moisture content of the nuts; grinding time will vary from roughly 1 to 4 minutes. Set aside until needed.

Step 2: Make the spice paste

Roughly chop the lemongrass, chillies and garlic. Place in a mortar and pestle and pound for a few minutes to break down the fibres in the lemongrass.

Place the shallots and the lemongrass mixture into a food processor and blitz to form a fine paste.

Note: If the paste doesn't seem to be moving add half a tablespoon water but no more as this will water the sauce down too much and spit excessively when poured into the oil to cook. You do need a decent mini food processor for this (not a blender as this requires additional liquid to make the mixture move) job as a large one.

Step 3: Cook the spice paste

Heat oil in a heavy based saucepan or wok till medium heat and pour paste in. Stir fry, continuing to make sure bottom isn't catching till there is very little steam rising from the sauce and you can definitely see it
caramelising and smell it getting fragrant.

Step 4: Making the satay
Add peanut butter, crushed peanuts, tamarind, lime, sugar, only one teaspoon of salt (add to taste after adding saltedpeanuts). Stir to combine.

Add the water and bring to boil. Remove from heat and set aside till required. 

You can make this a couple days ahead of time and keep in a glass jar in the fridge and then reheat to serve.

Serving suggetions

This recipe is delicious but, be warned, it makes an absolute truckload of sauce! We have used it for chicken skewers and a satay and rice noodle stir fry.

For the skewers

Step 1: Marinate the meat
Marinate 500 gr of diced chicken thigh meat in some of the satay sauce overnight or for at least an hour. Unfortunately, I didn't measure how much I used. A good rule of thumb is add as much as it takes to coat all of the meat in the sauce.

Step 2: Thread and cook the skewers
If you are using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least half an hour. This will prevent them from burning. Thread the meat onto the skewers and cook on a low to medium heated BBQ for about 20 minutes, turning once.

Note: we have a Webber. When cooking the chicken skewers, we heat it to 150 degrees and cooked them with the lid closed.

Step 3: Serving
Reheat some of the extra satay sauce to serve over the skewers. When you skewers are cooked through, smother with satay sauce and enjoy!

For the rice noodle stirfry

Serves 6

Once again I didnt measure how much sauce I used! At a guess it would have been about 375 gr of sauce and about 100gr coconut cream.

Ingredients
1 packet of your favourite rice noodles (I used Bamboo Pot), softened according to packet directions
300 gr chicken, sliced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1.5 cm ginger, grated
600 gr vegetables (I used brocolli, capsicum, carrot, zucchini, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots)
Satay sauce
Coconut cream

Place the noodles in a large heatproof bowl. Cover with boiling water. Set aside for 5 minutes or until tender. Drain.

Heat a small amount of oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until brown. Transfer to a bowl.

Heat another small amount of oil in the wok over medium-high heat. Add the vegetables and stir-fry for 4 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked to your liking. Add the satay sauce and coconut cream. Cook for a further minute. Transfer to a bowl.

Add the softened noodles to the wok. Cook for two minutes tossing to ensure they do not burn. Return the meat and vegetables to the wok. Toss until well combined and heated through. If your dish is a little dry or the flavour is not strong enough add more satay sauce or coconut milk.

Potato gnocchi with spicy tomato and chorizo sugo

Mild chorizo, spicy chilies, sweet basil and tangy tomatoes. That's my kind of gnocchi sauce. While I do appreciate a good sage butter or decadent creamy sauce, I find it hard to go past the tomato based sauces when combining with beautiful pillowy soft potato parcels of gnocchi.

Spicy tomato and chorizo sugo

(Recipe by Stef @ Essential ingredients)

Serves 4

1 brown onion, finely diced
1 - 2 spanish chorizo
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 long red chillies, finely diced
1/2 cup red wine (something with a bit of guts like a Shiraz works well for this dish)
825 gr tin of finely chopped tomatoes
1 red capsicum, diced
12 basil leaves, shredded

Method

Cut the chorizo in half lengthways and dice into bite sized pieces. Place a saucepan over a medium heat and add a dash of olive oil. Add the finely diced garlic and chorizo to the pan. Cook over a medium heat for a few minutes, just until the chorizo releases some of its fat into the pan. Add the chill and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, until the onion is translucent.

When the onions are cooked, add the tinned tomatoes and red wine. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer for around 45 minutes or until reduced by 1/3.

When the sauce has been reduced, add the diced capsicum and cook for a further three minutes. Stir in the shredded basil just before serving. Add salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Served with gnocchi or pasta.

Basic potato gnocchi

Basic potato gnocchi

(Recipe by Stef @ Essential ingredients)

Serves 4

600 gr potatoes
3 egg yolks
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp salt
½ c grated parmesan cheese
1 c GF plain flour, plus extra

Step 1: Cooking the potatoes
Spread a layer of rock salt on a baking tray and arrange the potatoes on top. Bake until a bit overcooked, about 45 minutes. Let sit until cool enough to handle.

Step 2: Making the gnocchi dough
Peel off the potato skins. Grate the potatoes on the large holes of a box grater. Place the mound of potatoes on a clean surface and make a well in the middle. Add the egg yolks, parmesan, nutmeg and salt. Mix in the potatoes and mix well with hands.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the flour over the potatoes and, using your knuckles, press it into the potatoes. Fold the mass over on itself and press down again. Sprinkle on more flour, little by little, folding and pressing the dough until it just holds together. If the mixture is too dry, add another egg yolk or a little water. If it is too wet, add more flour.

The dough should give under slight pressure. It will feel firm but yielding. To test if the dough is the correct consistency, take a piece and roll it with your hands on a well-floured board into a rope 1.5cm in diameter. If the dough holds together, it is ready. If not, add more flour, fold and press the dough several more times, and test again.

Step 3: Cutting and shaping the gnocchi
Keeping your work surface and the dough lightly floured, cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 1.5 cm in diameter. Cut into 1.5 cm long pieces. Lightly flour the gnocchi as you cut them.

As you shape the gnocchi, dust them lightly with flour and scatter them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or waxed paper.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi
When ready to cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt. Drop in the gnocchi and cook for about 120 seconds from the time they rise to the surface. Remove the cooked gnocchi with a skimmer, shake off the excess water, and serve as desired.
Note: To freeze shaped gnocchi, line baking sheets with waxed paper and dust with flour. Spread the gnocchi on the prepared sheets and freeze until hard. Store in the freezer for up to 1 month. To cook, drop the frozen gnocchi into boiling salted water. Cook for about 2 minutes after they rise to the surface.

Chocolate fondant

With a top temperature of about 6 degrees, this time of year screams for comfort food. What is more comforting that pudding? Moist cake, gooey sauces, flavoured creams.. ah, bliss. We have one chocolate fondant left in the freezer. Alas, it's not for me. Hmmm, forfeiting dessert (and pudding at that) for my boyfriend.. now that's caring about someone!

I usually serve these fondants with raspberry or mixed berry coulis and cream. For something a little different, however, I served these fondants with honeycomb cream and crumbled honeycomb.

Note: my changes and suggestions are italicised. 

Chocolate fondants

(Recipe adapted from Rosemary Shrager's School for Cooks)

Serves 4
100 gr dark chocolate
80 gr butter
80 gr icing sugar
20 gr GF plain flour
2 eggs
pinch salt

Step 1: Fondant batter
Melt the chocolate with the butter and sugar over hot water then cool.

Melt a little butter and, using a pastry brush, grease 4 ramekins very thoroughly with butter then dust with flour.

Add the eggs, a pinch of salt and the sieved flour to the cooled chocolate mixture. 3/4 fill the ramekins. Freeze for at least an hour.

Step 2: Cooking the fondantsPreheat an over to 200 degrees (180 degrees fan forced). Cook for 12 minutes or until done. The puddings are done when the cake is cooked and the middle wobbles slightly. Turn out carefully (the centres will be runny) and place on a plate.

Step 3: Making the honeycomb cream
To make the honeycomb cream, whip some cream and add finely ground honeycomb to taste. Stir to combine. To achieve a smooth result, sift the honeycomb powder into the cream.

Honeycomb

I made chocolate fondants the other night (recipe and photos to come). I usually serve these gooey pots of love with berry coulis and whipped cream. However, I felt like mixing things up a bit so I decided to try my hand at making honeycomb. Chocolate fondant with crumbled honeycomb and whipped cream.. mmmm delicious, right!?

Honeycomb
(Recipe from Masterchef)

182 gr caster sugar

70 gr glucose syrup

55 ml water

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Place the sugar in a saucepan with the glucose and the water, mix to make a slurry. Place the pan over high heat, swirling the mixture in the pan, until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar has dissolved, wait for the bubbles to slow down and for the mixture to take on a faint golden tinge. Line a large bowl with baking paper and have a whisk ready. Add the bicarb and quickly whisk vigorously, then immediately pour into the lined bowl. Set aside to set for 45 minutes.