So its definitely onesie weather! When its this cold you absolutely need a warm dessert to round off a meal and let your body know its time to wind down to go to bed. And who knows how to make a quick, warm, comforting dessert better than anyone? Nigella does. After a dinner of roasted veggies, I thought i’d try the Chocolate Pear Pudding from the Nigella Express cookbook. Partly because I love the chocolate/pear combination, mostly because I wanted something super quick and easy! (And also I think the little pear halves look really cute laid out on the bottom of the pan!)
Look! Pear bums!
True to the book it came from, this recipe is truly a scrumptious dessert made the express way. I was worried that the cake batter was too thick to produce a moist cake but, trust in Nigella, for only she can show you the true way to amazing desserts. (Don’t worry, I haven’t lost faith in The Saint, but Nigella really is the queen of the quickie dessert.)
I like to think of it as a sort of… occupational hazard, all the left over bits of chocolate blocks and chocolate chips etc that are the by product of my culinary conquests. Except that technically my occupation is teaching… but… well… nevermind. So I finally figured it was time to make use of all these chocolate offcuts that have been cluttering my pantry. And luckily for me (and mum!) I knew just the recipe to try.
I recently bought Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Express” after falling in love wither her dvds. Nestled inside this gem of a cookbook is her recipe for what she calls “Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies”. I prefer the simpler description of “Ultimate Chocolate Cookie”. I have been known to completely disregard the measurements for chocolate in most recipes, and this is definitely a recipe where chocolate amounts are rules that are made to be broken. In fact, the only rule you need to keep in mind when making these cookies is this, repeat after me –
You can NEVER have too much chocolate
So with that mantra in mind, I mixed up the dough. I used a little bit of Lindt, a few Chocolate Chips, a little bit of Nestle White Chocolate
and still something felt… unfinished.
so I added a few more snaps of dark chocolate. You know, for good measure!
And into the oven they go!
mmmm cookies and milk
In short, these are amazing. What more can I say?
The Ultimate Chocolate Cookie – Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Express”
Ingredients
125g dark chocolate
150g flour
30g cocoa
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
125g butter
75g brown sugar
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg (Nigella says this should be cold from the fridge)
minimum 350g chocolate chunks or chips (any mix of white, milk or dark)
Method
1. Melt the 125g chocolate
2. Cream the butter and sugars together and add the melted chocolate
3. Beat in vanilla and egg, then add the cocoa, flour, bi-carb and salt
4. Add the rest of the chocolate (feel free to go crazy here!)
5. I used a soup spoon to gouge hefty chunks of cookie dough but Nigella sings the praises of her ice cream scoop. Use whatever you like! I ended up making 18 (Nigella makes 12, but her cookies must be as big as my head to only get 12 from that mix!)
6. Cook for 18 (ish) minutes in an oven at 170 degrees celcius
After making a few different chocolate cakes and realising that none of them were any good, I thought I would make one last attempt. Enter – Donna Hay Magazine. I bought this magazine the other day after being droolingly drawn to the enormous chocolate cake gracing its front cover. This Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake would be the basis for the finally finished birthday cake for the Ginger Ninja.
I decided to do a test run on friday to make sure that it wasn’t another dud recipe. Worry I need not. It. Was. Amazing. So amazing that when my mum came home she said “oh…. wouldnt it be nice if there was one for me…” and, well, how could I resist? So after baking another cake and another batch of cupcakes, I have decided that the richness, glossiness, tastiness and sheer consistency of this recipe may have earned it the crown of Best Chocolate Cake Ever. Really. Donna Hay… amazing.
So without further ado, here are pictures of the completed African Jungle Cake! Hooray! P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINJA!
I decided to make the cake like a bunch of trees, so the figures on top are sitting in the branches! A bit rough, but you get the idea…
And here are a couple of pics of the cupcakes and their mini animals!
Hooray for mini African animals!
Have you met Lenny the Lion?
So my lovelies, what is the best birthday cake you have made for someone or someone has made for you? I would love to know!
Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake
Recipe – From Donna Hay Magazine
Ingredients
1 cup (250ml) water
125g butter
1/3 cup (35g) cocoa
2 cups (300g) plain flour
1 tsp bi-carb soda
2 cups (440g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup (125ml) buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
1. Place water, butter and cocoa in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter has completely melted and the mixture is smooth
2. Place flour, bi-carb and sugar in a bowl, and whisk in the cocoa mixture
3. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and mix until smooth
4. Divide the mixture between two 18cm round cake tins and bake for 40-45 mins at 160 degrees celsius (I took all my cakes out at right on the 40 min mark but it might vary depending on your oven)
NOTE: you can alternatively make these as cupcakes, they will make around 18-20 depending on how big your patty pans are and how full you want them to be. They will still be AMAZING!
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting – from Donna Hay Magazine
Ingredients
100g butter
500g cream cheese
2 cups (320g icing sugar)
1/2 cup (50g) cocoa
Method
1. Beat butter and cream cheese until pale and creamy
2. Add the icing sugar an cocoa and beat for 6-8 minutes until light and fluffy
3. Ice your damn cake!
NOTE: If you want to make your icing different colours, substitute the cocoa for another 1/2 cup of icing sugar then add the colour you require. This is how I did the green icing on top of the cake above
Good grief. Ive been itching to post for a few weeks now but the mix of work, being ill and moving to this new blog has got me all in a whirl! So, im going to split my doings into two posts. This, being Easter.
A few years ago I was given the cutest set of easter cookie cutters and its taken me up until now to actually get off my butt and use them. So use them I did! To make easter egg sugar cookies.
Easter Egg Sugar Cookies (from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter
280g caster sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
400g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Royal Icing
Method
1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy
2. Add the egg and mix well
3. Mix in flour and cream of tartar
4. Roll out the dough and cut into desired shape
5. Bake at 170 degrees celsius for around 10 mins. Be very careful though, my oven cooks them quite quickly so I take mine out after about 7 mins, as soon as they start to go golden around the edges. They burn VERY quickly.
6. Decorate!
Unfortunately for my tummy, my easter cooking didn’t end with biscuits. Delicious Magazine had a particularly tasty looking Easter Trifle. So off to the shops I went (hoppity hop) to get myself some super sweet ingredients. Now, I eat some seriously sweet things, but its been a VERY long time since I last made something this sweet.
One chocolate cake, tin of caramel, carton of custard, bottle of cream and pot of mascarpone later (not to mention several packets of easter eggs and chocolate shavings) and I had my ultimate easter confection. Of course, the addition of a tin of pears means that some of the unhealthyness of the dish is cancelled out… doesn’t it?
Easter Trifle
(I thought I would just note that I wasnt that impressed with the cake/brownie that this recipe had so rather than reproduce it here I would instead strongly advise you to make your favourite cake/brownie instead!)
Ingredients
410g tin of pears in natural juice
380g can of Caramel
250g Mascarpone
400g Custard
300mL Thickened Cream
1 Packet of Chocolate Eggs
Method
1. Cut up cake or brownie into small squares and place in a serving bowl
2. Place sliced pears over cake squares and add half the easter eggs
3. Combine caramel, mascarpone and custard and pour over cake and pears
4. Add the other half of the easter eggs
5. Top with whipped cream and grated chocolate
6. Chill for 2 hours minimum (This trifle is magnificent the next day, so if you can hold out for 24 hours, its worth it!)
