I’ve had something weighing on my mind recently. Weighing exactly 2.5 kg.
Holy moly. This was one giant packet of chocolate. I bought this in anticipation of Easter. Apparently Easter is really close to Christmas. At least, thats what I surmised after seeing the shops inundated with easter eggs mere weeks after Christmas.
I’m a sucker for the chocolate marshmallow eggs, strawberry cream eggs and turkish delight eggs
However, obsessions aside, I do have to conceed that it is way too early to be eating easter eggs. Boo! So I had to come up with a way to incorporate them into a less ‘holiday’ and more ‘everyday’ food. It had to be rich, it had to be chocoaltey…
Fudge.
Perfect.
Who could resist?
Not I.
So simple, all you need is 350g dark chocolate, 397g condensed milk, 30g butter, a pinch of salt and as many easter eggs/marshmallows as you think you might need. (The original recipe calls for 150g pistachios, but thats pretty boring…)
All you need to do is melt the chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy based saucepan on a low heat.
Try not to eat it at this point. Try…
Stir in the chopped up marshmallows and eggs (quickly because they will start to melt)
and pour the mixture into a tin lined with baking paper (to ensure easy removal!)
Leave to set in the fridge
And did you see the fruit in the fridge? Beside the butter and tim tams?
See, I DO eat normal food. Kind sorta maybe…
Once it is all set, remove from the tin and cut into eatable squares.
Try not to eat it all at once!!
So, my lovelies, what sweet treats are you going to be eating this easter?
When I think of a pretty amazing sandwich, I can see two slices of beautifully soft, fresh white bread framing crisp and succulent greens, a thin smear of home made mayonnaise, marinated artichoke, a few sundried tomatos and some pieces of tangy, tasty salami. It’s enough to get me salivating just thinking about it. And then I think of this
phwoar!
And all my healthy eating plans go out the window. Heart healthy it is not, but tasty and satisfying it most certainly is. A pretty amazing sandwich.
This concoction is simple by nature. Two pieces of Cream Cheese Pound Cake framing gooey, melted lindt chocolate. Normally I don’t mind what kind of chocolate you use but today the Lindt Cafe at Martin place had 50% off christmas chocolate. Who could go past that? I had a few pieces of Cream Cheese Pound Cake (the most amazing pound cake in the world) lying around, so I defy anyone to have a different thought process to this
50% off Lindt chocoate –> left over pound cake –>new years resolution to eat healthier –> sandwich? –>chocolate and pound cake sandwich!
ok, so my logic may be flawed.
But this cake is seriously good. Normally I like my cakes gooey and chocolatey and unbelievably sweet, but I would quite happily eat slice after slice of this gorgeous dense pound cake. Hell, I might even choose the pound cake over the chocolate cake! Does that convince you? Not quite? Read on, my lovelies and hear my case!
I found this recipe in a book called Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor that I picked up in England this time last year. With a title like that, cute pastel design and drool-worthy pictures, I was hooked! You can see how cute the page designs are, thats the cookbook in the top left hand corner. And, while im talking about this picture, how good does that cake mix look? This is definitely a cake mix I could consume (new years resolutions be damned!) before even baking.
I may have licked the bowl.
Look at that sucker! All golden and puffy. Deeelicious!
I know all the other cookbooks behind are are envious that they couldn’t produce such a fine looking cake. Pipe down Nigella! Back off Bourke St Bakery! Mellow out Magnolia! I still love you all xoxo
Perfecto!
And it is loaf shaped. Like bread. Therefore making it healthier…
(see, I can construct a compelling case)
Apologies for this pic, but I was feeling faint from the heady aroma of cake, melting chocolate and sizzling butter. Can you blame me? You heartless wench!
Once you have made your cake, all you need to do to construct the sandwich is lightly butter one side of each slice of cake, place one piece butter side down on a frying pan on medium heat and scatter it liberally with your crushed or chopped chocolate. Top with the other slice of cake (butter side up) and cook until brown on the bottom, then flip and cook some more, until the chocolate is melted. Voila! A pretty amazing sandwich.
So, my lovelies, what filling would you have in your amazing pound cake sandwich? And will you be taking advantage of some 50% off chocolate this new year? A little bird tells me that you can find discounted chocolatey treats at many supermarkets still…
My Favourite Cream-Cheese Pound Cake – From Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor (The original recipe makes two loaves, I have halved the recipe so as to only make one. Feel free to double it!)
Ingredients
170g unsalted butter
110g cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Method
1. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature and preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius
2. Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. With the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and continue beating until pale and fluffy
3. Beat in the salt and vanilla
4. Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time and beat well after each addition
5. sif the flour and baking powder into the batter and fold in until smooth
6. Pour the mixture into a prepared loaf tin and bake 60-75 mins or until the tops are golden and slightly cracked. Check with a skewer if you are unsure, and if the top is browning too quickly make sure you place some aluminium foil over the top top stop it burning.
Last Saturday I woke up thinking “where did all the time go?” I looked behind the sofa, nothing. Under the bed? Nope, not there either. At the bottom of my handbag (a common hiding place for other necessities such as keys, lipstick, spare change)? Nuh uh!
I had to face the startling conclusion that the time had just gone. Poof. Another year, another notch on the wall. But birthdays are not supposed to be about doom and gloom! So despite the time sucking black hole following me around, I put on my apron and started baking for my annual afternoon tea party!
I had been secretly planning this for weeks and had hoped to have my tea party outside in the garden. But as E.E. Cummings would say, the world was “puddle wonderful” as the heavens opened for an almighty deluge. So the garden was not to be, but at least it cooled down so that the heat from my baking wasn’t so uncomfortable. See? Always a silver lining!
On the menu was:
Thumbprint cookies
Vanilla cupcakes
Mini vanilla cupcakes with fondant duckies
*squeak*!
Brownie Bottom Cheesecake (on the bottom left)
Violet Cream Cupcakes (With sugared violets courtesy of the fabulous Mrs S!) And yes that is the Bourke St Bakery Flourless Chocolate Cake hiding in the corner.
and of course…
Birthday Cake!!
This time filled with strawberry jam and chantilly cream
(and yes, I can see my wonky layers! I didn’t realise chantilly cream was so unstable!)
I was particularly proud of my Violet Cream Cupcakes which came to me in a flash of inspiration. When I was in Adelaide recently, I fell in love with Haighs’ Violet Cream Chocolates. I loved them so much that I got to thinking… I had made Elderflower cupcakes, rosewater cupcakes, why not Violet ones? Furthermore, why not make chocolate cupcakes with Violet Buttercream Icing so that they would be Violet Cream Cupcakes? Brilliant!!
Thankyou to all my lovely friends who made it last Saturday and thanks also for the birthday wishes from those who were otherwise engaged. I had a wonderful time and I hope you all did as well!
So my lovelies, what food do you love to eat on your birthday?
(p.s. I think my camera lens might have been a bit grubby. Oops.)
Violet Cream Cupcake Recipe
Chocolate Cupcake Recipe – from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
Ingredients
100g plain flour
20g cocoa
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
40g unsalted butter
120ml full cream milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Method
1. Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and butter in a bowl and mix until you have a sandy consistency
2. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla together in a separate bowl
3. Pour half the milk mixture into the flour mixture and beat until smooth and combined
4. Slowly pour the remaining liquids in and beat until smooth
5. Spoon into paper cases and bake for 20-25 mins on 170 degree celsius
Violet Buttercream Icing
Ingredients
250 g icing sugar
80g unsalted butter
25ml milk
a dash of violet essence
purple food colouring
Method
1. Beat butter and sugar until combined
2. gradually add milk until desired consistency is reached
3. Add a dash (maybe half a teaspoon) of violet essence and mix well. Add more essence as desired (bear in mind that if you are making this in advance the flavour will intensify the longer they are left)
4. add food colouring until desired colour is reached
So im a Dessert Whore. I proclaim my love for one dish before quickly moving on to professing my undying love for another. Does this make me insincere? NO! Rather, I like to think of myself as a Mormon husband in the world of baked goods, collecting my many wives as I go but never neglecting to care for the wives I have already accrued. Who says I can’t have my cakes and eat them?
I was on the hunt for something truly spectacular. After all, the Mothership was turning the big 6 0 and that only happens once. It was my chance to show her how grateful I am for her putting up with me and my messiness for the past twenty something years. Now, you may not know this, but the Mothership does not run on fuel, she does not have a flux capacitor, she isnt solar powered. No, the Mothership runs on chocolate. A truly ingenious invention! Therefore, the birthday cake I was to make had to be something chocolaty in the extreme.
Does this look chocolaty enough? No? Appearances can be deceiving…
I’m a sucker for the chocolate marshmallow eggs, strawberry cream eggs and turkish delight eggs
Who could resist?
Try not to eat it at this point. Try…
and pour the mixture into a tin lined with baking paper (to ensure easy removal!)
Once it is all set, remove from the tin and cut into eatable squares.
