29 August 2009

Happy Birthday! - Good old fashion satisfaction!





Well, this recipe demonstrates the alchemic nature of baking. I know you love your berries so I found a recipe which I hope you like. It's a sponge but somewhat untraditional with hazelnut and after a 4.5 hour baking session here is the result - hope you like it!

Did you know the ability to whip up the perfect sponge cake was once considered essential in a potential bride and the inability to do so spelled social disaster :)

Love you lots and hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Kisses!




Ingredients

190 gm plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50 gm hazelnut meal
80 gm butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing
8 eggs, at room temperature
220 gm (1 cup) caster sugar
130 gm good-quality raspberry jam, melted with 40ml raspberry liqueur, cooled, for brushing
Chocolate-raspberry cream
250 ml (1 cup) pouring cream
150 gm dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids), melted
20 ml raspberry liqueur
70 gm raspberries, lightly crushed, plus extra whole raspberries, to serve

Method

1 Preheat oven to 160C. Process flour and hazelnut meal in a food processor to combine, then triple-sift and set aside. Brush two 20cm-diameter cake tins with melted butter, line bases with baking paper, dust sides with flour.
2 Triple-sift flour and set aside.
3 Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds in an electric mixer until thick, pale and tripled in volume (7-8 minutes). Transfer to a mixing bowl.
4 Sift over flour in three batches, folding each batch in with a large metal spoon.
5 Fold in melted butter.
6 Divide evenly between tins, bake until light golden and centre springs back when pressed lightly with your fingertip (20-25 minutes). Pull cake gently away from sides of tin with your fingers or carefully loosen with a knife. Turn onto a wire rack, remove baking paper, turn back over, then cool completely.
7 Meanwhile, for chocolate-raspberry cream, whisk cream, chocolate and liqueur in an electric mixer until soft peaks form (3-4 minutes, don’t over-whisk or mixture will split). Fold in raspberries, refrigerate until starting to firm (10-15 minutes).
8 Brush one cake half with jam mixture, spread with chocolate-raspberry cream, sandwich with remaining half, dust with cocoa and serve with extra raspberries.

26 August 2009

Auguri per il terzo mese di matrimonio

Congratulations Valerie & Mike - it's been 3 months. Where does the time go? Well in your case Val, going on a honeymoon, attending Marketa's wedding in Prague, having the in-laws over, opening wedding presents, enjoying the terrific Belgian summer and baking and lots of it. I thought I'd send you a simple yet non-traditional recipe to add to your collection and something to try while you still have those gorgeous berries available in Europe and you're still in the honeymoon phase of lovingly preparing breakfast in bed for your man - hehe!!!




Buckwheat pancakes with mixed berries

Ingredients

1/2 cup of self-raising flour
1/2 cup of buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon of caster sugar
1 1/4 cups of buttermilk
1 egg
250 g strawberries hulled & quartered
150 g of raspberries or blueberries
1 tablespoon of icing sugar

Maple syrup or low fat natural yoghurt to serve

Method

Sift the self raising flour into a bowl, then stir in the buckwheat flour followed by the sugar, and make a well in the centre.

Whisk the buttermilk and egg together in a jug. Pour into the dry ingredients, then mix slowly, drawing in the flour to make a smooth batter. Cover and allow to stand for 30 minutes which is really important.

In another bowl, combine the berries and icing sugar and set aside.

Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium heat (large enough to cook two pancakes). If you have some heart forms, use those to surprise your husband.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter into pan and cook until golden brown (usually until bubbles form on the surface. You can cook the entire batch of pancakes and keep them warm in the oven or do them fresh to plate whichever you prefer.

A little more info on Buckwheat - it's a good source of protein as well as magnesium and iron. It's a handy flour to use if you wish to use less wheat as it's free of gluten and has a low GI.

07 August 2009

Happy Birthday Mate!

Today I am writing to celebrate a very special friend. A friend who flew all the way from Australia to Europe to celebrate my wedding with me.
A friend who helped to organize a wonderful hen weekend in Berlin full of food, chats, laughter and prosecco (lots of prosecco!!).




A friend who came to Rome with me and - instead of visiting the eternal city or flirting with Italian men - discussed our table plans and flower arrangements and helped to make 150 petal cones (at midnight!).



A friend who stayed calm and sweet, even when I was losing my nerves and sometimes my temper.



A friend who embraces life and celebrates food wherever she goes (and definitely when she goes to Italy!). Below some illustrations:


Falling in love with a roasted hazelnut and chocolate torta in Anguillara


Eating the first gelato of the day way before lunchtime at Gelateria della Palma in Rome and going back for more the next day!(oh, and guess which flavor she chose: Bacio i.e. chocolate and roasted and caramalized hazelnuts)


Drinking the very first caffe' ever! (Well done, Heidi! If there ever was a place where you should crack and have your first coffee, it certainly is Italy!)


Indulging in truly sinful chocolate-hazelnut tartufo at La Piazzetta in Santa Marinella (after a hearty portion of gnocchetti in a wonderfully simple tomato-mozzarella sauce)

Thank you Heidi for always being there and for being such a wonderful friend! May the next year bring you love, happiness and many special and cherished moments. And may it bring you HEAPS of chocolate and roasted hazelnuts! I wish I could bring you a birthday cake but since that's difficult I baked you some brownies instead. Happy birthday my dear friend!

Dulce de Leche Brownies
(adopted from David Lebovitz)



These brownies are truly wonderful since they are chewy throughout with some gooey Dulce de Leche islands. You could leave the Dulce de Leche out and the brownies would still be delicious, but with it they become something very special. Making the Dulce de Leche is really easy and so worth it! You can adjust the level of gooeyness by using smaller or larger dollops of the Dulce de Leche and by swirling it just a little bit or more thoroughly. The Dulce de Leche is also gorgeous as a spread on toasted bread or on top of ice cream (while dreaming of Italy...).

115g salted butter, cut into pieces
170g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder
3 eggs
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or one package of vanilla sugar
1 cup (140g) flour
1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup Dulce de Leche

Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 degrees)).
Line a 20 cm (8-inch) square pan with parchment paper that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, then the flour. Mix in the nuts.

Scrape half of the (very sticky) batter into the prepared pan.
Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels just-slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.