Vegan chocolate torte

This is yummy, a nutty biscuity base, topped with a dreamy, creamy, smooth intense thick chocolate mousse.

There is just one slightly odd factor which, have you not tried it, you may freak out. The mouse is made of dark chocolate, maple syrup and.... avocado. A lot of avocado.

Now don't panic, the dessert is not a weird green colour, and you cannot taste avocado. I could not quite bring myself to tell my partner what it contained, so I simply told him it was a mousse-y chocolate torte. He loved it and did not even enquire/notice any odd ingredients.

The arrowroot in this recipe is essential, it will thicken the chocolate mousse without being heated, do not use cornflour. Arrowroot is in all the supermarkets and is under a pound, go buy some!

So chocolate is good for the soul and avocados are good for the body, a perfect dessert I think!

Vegan chocolate torte

75g plain flour

50g ground almonds

100g caster sugar

50g light brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp arrowroot

1 tsp salt

70g coconut oil

30g golden syrup

120ml almond milk

200g vegan friendly dark chocolate

350g ripe avocado

80ml almond milk

150g maple syrup

1 tbsp arrowroot

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla extract/paste

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN and line a brownie pan with baking parchment.  For the base of the torte mix all the dry ingredients together (from plain flour to salt). Next gently warm the coconut oil in a pan until melted whisk in the golden syrup and almond milk then add to the dry ingredients and mix till thoroughly combined. 

Tip the base batter into a brownie tin and level, it will be a little tricky, the mixture is sticky! Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until golden. Remove and allow to cool. 

For the topping melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water then set aside to cool. Blend all the other ingredients in a food processor until super super smooth, you may need to scrape down the sides a couple of times. Finally add the chocolate, a little at a time, to the processor and blend until thoroughly incorporated. Spread on top of the cooled base then freeze for at least 2 hours before slicing and eating. 

They keep well for at least a week in the freezer. Maybe more but they were all gone by then! I liked to take them out of the freezer 20-30 minutes before eating them, I thought the texture was better this way.

'Bake along with Bake Off' - Desserts- Petits fours

So this week its desserts. Trifle, Iles flottants and petits fours await the brave contestants. Now Mark does now like trifle, Iles flottants floats not our boats so by default petite fours it was! Ok so it was more work but at the end you get to eat lots of little cakes!

I was doing this in advance of the show so could only guess the exact nature of the challenge. I know they have to make 24 and assume they would have to make eight each of three type,s or four each of six. I went for 3. I do not know how long they have but have timed myself to compare.

I made almond and raspberry meringue kisses, pistachio salambos (from one of the bake off books) and double chocolate madelines.  The meringue post is below, I will post the other two items in the next couple of days.

They are all really really good, I am finding it hard to chose a favourite I keep changing my mind, Mark thinks the mini pistachio choux buns just edge into the lead.

Either way I am very very impressed with what I have achieved and Paul and Mary would be in trouble if they disagreed!

I am very excited about the bake off tonight, as always, but tonight will be better with a plate of these treats.

Almond and raspberry meringue kisses

makes 14-16 pairs

2 egg whites
pinch cream of tartar
1/2 tsp almond extract
100g caster sugar
pink food colouring (optional)

100ml double cream
2 tablespoons raspberry jam

First line a baking sheet with parchment paper, I actually used my silicon macaron sheet/guide but I suspect not everyone owns such a thing, and preheat the oven to 120C/100C FAN.

Put the egg whites in spotless grease free bowl, I use a metal one, along with the cream of tartar. Whisk until stiffish peaks are forming, add in half the sugar and almond extract and whisk until stiff glossy peaks are beginning to form before whisking in the rest of the sugar, you need nice stiff, shiny peaks but take care not to over beat.

I chose to paint a few stripes of food colouring on the inside of the piping bag but this is completely optional. Spoon the meringue mix into the piping bag fitted with a star tip.

Pipe teeny meringues into your prepared sheets. There are two ways to do it, either swirl it, the food colouring will give a spiral.

Or pipe straight down and you will get lines.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour to 90 minutes (I know, I know, its a broad range) until dry and crisp. Leave on the sheet until cool then gently peel away.

To fill whip the cream until soft peaks form then whisk in the raspberry jam. Pop the cream into a bag fitted with  star tip and pipe a good star shaped dollop onto half the meringues. Sandwich with another meringue and eat!

Strawberry shortcakes

Summer is here and I seem to have been panic eating strawberries before it goes away again! Its no hardship really as I love strawberries and the British ones are in in the shops with abundance just now.

If you pop over to Edd Kimber's blog you will find a recipe for strawberry shortcakes which is just divine.

A couple of notes. His recipe states that the given quantities make 6-8, I divided by four to make two and they were massive. I am very glad I did no divide by three to make two, they would have been the size of my head! Secondly he cuts them out, I just heaped two high round dollops on to a baking sheets.

I also had mine with creme friache as opposed to cream, not that I have anything against cream I just fancied something a little sharper on this occasion. I can confirm it is a delicious tweak.

All in all  lovely summer dessert..

Healthy (ish) creme brulee

I adore creme brulee, if I see it on a restaurant menu is is always a strong contender for dessert. It is not something I make at home as I do see it as a once in a while indulgent treat.

However this months good food magazine contained a recipe for a healthy creme brulee. I was a little suspicious initially but then I read the ingredients and realised it still contained cream and eggs so was some weird pretend creme brulee.

It uses milk and single cream instead of double, uses cornflour as well as eggs to help thicken it and adds some half fat creme fraiche. The main difference is that this brulee is cooked entirely on the stove top, there is no baking in the oven

My curiosity was aroused and so I decided to try it, nothing ventured nothing gained!

I followed the recipe exactly, I know it will be online in just a couple of days so I will add the link then.

This creme brulee was lovely. The caramelised sugar topping was just like your normal creme brulee and it gave way to a lovely thick vanilla custard. The creme fraiche added a slight sharpness which I actually really liked.

All in this is a lovely creme brulee, and as it is substantially healthier than the regular version it can be worked into my life a lot more which, when it comes to creme brulee, can only be a good thing.

Apricot frangipane tart

This is the second of two desserts that I created for Easter weekend. Coincidently the letter for this months alpha bakes was announced a day later, it is 'A'. So I going to enter my tart with 'A' being for apricot and almond.

I knew I would like this tart, but I was not aware just how much! I am looking forward to trying different combinations of fruit and frangipane as different fruit comes into season.

Short buttery pastry, soft frangipane and juicy fruit. What's not to love?

Apricot and frangipane tart

for the pastry

85g cold butter, cubed.
175g plain flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
2 egg yolks

For the frangipane

140g butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
140g ground almonds
50g plain flour

tin of apricot halves

First make the pastry. Rub the butter and flour together until they ressemble breadcrumbs then stir through the sugar. Add the egg yolks and two tablespoons of ice cold water and use a knife to cut through the mixture until it starts to come together. Use your hands to bring al the dough together as one. You may need to add a little more water depending on the size of your egg yolks.

Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Alternatively refrigerate overnight and remove from the fridge and hour before you wish to use it.

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C FAN. Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the pastry and line a 23cm tart tin. I used my long one from lakeland (36cm in length) which worked very well. Trim the excess pastry, prick the base with a fork, line with baking paper and fill with baking beans, or rice. Bake for 10 minutes then remove the baking beans and paper. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden and biscuity.

To make the filling cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy then beat in the eggs. Finally fold in the ground almonds and flour.

Spoon the frangipane filling into the pastry case and level the top. Place the apricot halves on top, in whatever pattern you desire.

Bake the tart for 30-35 minutes until cooked and golden. 

Leave to cool in the tin for ~20 minutes and when the tin is cool enough to handle remove the tart and allow to cool.

Two mugs assist in removing the sides of my loose bottomed tin!

This tart can be served slightly warm or at room temperature. I served it with a vanilla chantilly cream which complemented the tart perfectly.

It was also lovely the second day slightly warmed through in the oven. All in all a resounding success.

Salted caramel banoffee pie

Hello, I hope everyone had a lovely Easter  I myself had a fantastic, much needed break in Ireland but as such was away from the internet for a week so have a lot of catch up posts to do.

First up is a salted caramel banoffee pie, one of the two (yes two) desserts I made for Easter Sunday.

Its very easy and I made it the day before so to ease the Sunday work load.

If you like leave the salt out and make a more traditional banoffee pie, I do find the salted caramel adds a sophisticated edge and cuts through the richness ever so slightly.

Salted caramel banoffee pie

100g butter
250g chocolate digestives

100g butter
100g brown sugar (light or dark)
tin of condensed milk
sea salt

2 large bananas
standard pot of double cream

First of all grease a springform tin with butter, line the base with baking paper and grease the paper too.

Bash the biscuits in a bag or bowl, with a rolling pin, until they are fine crumbs. Alternatively use a food processor. Gently melt 100g butter and pour over the biscuit crumbs and stir to combine. Tip the mix into the prepared tin and level the top. Pop in the fridge to set for ~ 30 minutes.

To make the caramel melt the butter gently in a pan over a low heat. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the condensed milk and gently increase the heat, stirring all the time. Bring the mix to the boil and allow to boil for at least a minute. This is important to make sure the caramel sets nice and thick and squidgy! Add sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until salted to your liking.

Allow the caramel to cool slightly for 5 minutes then pour over the biscuit base. Pop the pie back in the fridge for another 30 minutes or so.

Slice the bananas and arrange over the top of the caramel.

 Finally whip the cream and use it to top the pie. Pop the finished pie back in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.

I kept this pie in the fridge and it was just as good on Easter Monday.

Apple and mincemeat crumble

When the weather is cold you cannot bet old fashioned comfort food. One of the most comforting has to be crumble and custard.

I had a jar of home-made mincemeat lurking in the cupboard from Christmas and so decided to jazz up a plain apple crumble with it. Result? It was delicious.

Crumble may not necessarily be the prettiest thing to look at but who cares when it tastes this good.

Apple and mincemeat crumble

(serves 4-6)

300g of cooking apples, prepared weight
200g mincemeat
100g butter
110g plain flour
70g caster sugar
30g oats

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN. Prepare the crumble topping first. Rub the butter ito the flour until it ressembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and oats. 

Peel, core and slice your apples, you will need 300g of prepared apples in total. Mix the apples and mincemeat together and place into you baking dish (I used a casserole dish) in an even layer. I like my crumbles quite tart and so did not add any sugar to my apples, considering the sweetness of this mincemeat, feel free to add extra sugar to cater to your own personal tastes.

Sprinkle the crumble mix over the top of the fruit in a nice even, deep layer. Press down lightly with your hands. 

Bake in the oven for 25-20 minutes util golden and piping hot.

Serve straight away with lashings of custard, cream or ice cream.

Any leftover crumble will keep till the next day. Let it cool completely then cover with foil and put in the fridge. Reheat in the oven for ~10 minutes. Interestingly I found the crumble topping even more crisp the next day.