E-mail Subscription

Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:

Vimu Subscription

Dessert - by Scarlett

From soufflé to parfait, you'll find my personal selection of yummy dessert recipes here and more!! So for home-made goodness or sweet treats around Sydney, be sure to check here - oh, and bon appétit!! Scarlett :)

Squidgy Chocolate Cake About Squidgy Chocolate Cake Sweet prunes, not butter, give this luxurious chocolate cake its irresistible fudgy texture. About Prune A prune is a dried fruit of various plum species, mostly Prunus domestica. It is wrinkly in shape, unlike its non-dried counter...

click title to read more

Torta Al Limone (Lemon Pie) About Pie A pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry dough that covers or completely contains a filling of fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, cheese, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredients. Pies can be either fi...

click title to read more

Poires Belle Hlne About Poires Belle Hlne This classic French recipe were invented Paris in the 19th century and were named after an opera by Offenbach. What a romantic introduction for this French dessert par excellence, a true classic, found in at least half of the restaurants of the...

click title to read more

Charlotte Di Mele (Apple Charlotte) About Charlotte A charlotte is a type of dessert. It is a molded tart filled with cooled custard or mousse, usually fruit-flavoured (often apple, pear, or raspberry). The filling is often covered with a thin layer of similarly flavoured gelatin. The crust ...

click title to read more

Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins About Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins Chocolate can be part of a healthy diet, as these delicious muffins prove. They use the best-quality chocolate to give more flavour with less fat. About Muffin A muffin is a small cake, resembling a cupcake; th...

click title to read more

Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue Roulade About Roulade A roulade is typically a dish consisting of a slice of meat rolled around a filling, such cheese, vegetables, or other meats. Other prevalent roulades are dessert roulades (cake filled with fruit or cream) or maki-zushi (nori filled with rice...

click title to read more

Hazel Nut and Almond Chocolate Cake INGREDIENTS 750 gm sugar 100 gm flour 2 tablespoons chocolate powder 3 eggs 3 tablespoons butter vanilla essence 1 tablespoon hazel butter 250 gm almond chips 1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease baking tray. 2. Beat egg and sugar till mi...

click title to read more

Chocolate Mini Muffins with Toasted Hazelnuts About muffin A muffin is somewhat like a small cake, and though it does resemble a cupcake in that they both have cylindrical bases and rounded conical tops, they usually are not as sweet as cupcakes and generally lack frosting; savory varieties...

click title to read more

Lemon and cornmeal Tea Time Loaf About Lemon and cornmeal Tea Time Loaf Fine cornmeal gives this afternoon treat a wonderful golden colour to match its tangy lemon flavour. INGREDIENTS Makes 12 slices 150 gm 5 oz fine cornmeal 150 gm 5 oz plain white flour 1 tablespoon bak...

click title to read more

Bche de Nol (Chocolate Chestnut Log) About Bche de Nol Bche de Nol (Yule log) is a traditional dessert served during the Christmas holidays in France and Quebec. As the name indicates, the cake is generally prepared, presented, and garnished so as to look like a log ready for the fir...

click title to read more

Earl Grey and Lemon Teabread About Earl Grey and Lemon Teabread The surprise addition of Earl grey tea with a touch of lemon makes a moist, fruity loaf. About Earl Grey Tea Earl Grey tea is a tea blend with a distinctive flavour and aroma derived from the addition of oil extracted fr...

click title to read more

Crostata Di Albicocche (Apricot Pie) About Crostata A crostata is an Italian baked dessert tart, and a form of pie. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the fruit filling, creating a more rough look, rather than a uniform, circular shape. The fruit...

click title to read more

Oaty Scone Bread About Oaty Scone Bread This country-style bread is delicious served warm, spread with your favourite preserve. About Fruit preserves Fruit preserves refers to fruit, or vegetables, that have been prepared, canned or jarred for long term storage. The preparation of fr...

click title to read more

Torta Di Polenta E Limone (Polenta and Lemon Cake) About Polenta Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. Although the word is borrowed into English from Italian, the dish is popular in Italian, Savoyard, Swiss, Austrian, Croatian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Geor...

click title to read more

Three-Colour Ribbon Cookies About Three-Colour Ribbon Cookies These delightful ribbon cookies, called maejakgwa in Korea, look as good as they taste. The crisp twists of wafer-thin dough are tinted in pastel shades of green, yellow and pink, and have a lovely hint of gingery spiciness. These...

click title to read more

Squidgy Chocolate Cake	Torta Al Limone (Lemon Pie)	Poires Belle Hélène
Charlotte Di Mele (Apple Charlotte)	Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins	Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue Roulade
Hazel Nut and Almond Chocolate Cake	Chocolate Mini Muffins with Toasted Hazelnuts	Lemon and cornmeal Tea Time Loaf
Bûche de Noël (Chocolate Chestnut Log)	Earl Grey and Lemon Teabread	Crostata Di Albicocche (Apricot Pie)
Oaty Scone Bread	Torta Di Polenta E Limone (Polenta and Lemon Cake)	Three-Colour Ribbon Cookies

Dessert

Squidgy Chocolate Cake

July 24th 2008 12:47

Squidgy Chocolate Cake

About Squidgy Chocolate Cake

Sweet prunes, not butter, give this luxurious chocolate cake its irresistible fudgy texture.

About Prune

A prune is a dried fruit of various plum species, mostly Prunus domestica. It is wrinkly in shape, unlike its non-dried counterpart. Prunes are used in cooking both sweet and savory dishes. Stewed prunes, a compote, a re a dessert. Oranges are a frequent ingredient in North African tagines. Perhaps the best-known gastronomic prunes are those of Agen (pruneaux ďAgen). Prunes are used frequently in Tzimmes, a traditional Jewish dish in which the principal ingredient is diced or sliced carrots.

INGREDIENTS
Makes 16 squares

125 gm / 4½ oz ready-to-eat stone prunes

100 ml / 3½ fl oz brandy
125 gm / 4½ oz butter, diced
150 gm / 5½ oz dark chocolate with 70% cocoa solids, roughly chopped
500 gm / 1 lb 2 oz caster sugar
375 gm / 13 oz plain white flour
60 gm / 2¼ oz self-raising white flour
75 gm / 2¾ oz cocoa powder
1 whole egg plus 2 egg whites, lightly beaten

To decorate

icing sugar / cocoa powder

To serve

low-fat berry yoghurt, low-fat iced dessert or low-fat cream, optional

1. Put a kettle on to boil. Heat the oven to 160ºC / 325ºF. Grease a 23 cm / 9 inch square cake tin and line it with baking paper.

2. Purée the prunes in a food processor or with hand-held mixer, adding 1 tablespoon of hot water if necessary to get a smooth consistency.

3. Scrape the purée into a large mixing bowl; add the brandy, butter, chocolate, sugar and 250 ml / 9 fl oz of boiling water from the kettle.

4. Put the rest of the boiling water into a saucepan over a low heat so that it is simmering and place the bowl on top, making sure the bottom does not touch the water.

5. Stir the mixture frequently until the chocolate melts and forms a smooth sauce.

6. Take the bowl off the pan and leave the mixture to cool for 2-3 minutes until it is lukewarm.

7. Sift both flours and cocoa powder into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

8. Pour in the mixture, then add the whole egg and egg whites and beat to a smooth batter.

9. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the surface.

10. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

11. Leave the cake to stand in the tin on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto the wire rack to cool completely.

12. Dust the cake with sifted icing sugar or cocoa powder and cut it into 16 squares.

13. Serve plain or with low-fat yoghurt, iced dessert or cream, if you prefer.

Tips:

This chocolate cake will keep well if wrapped in foil.

**From “Low Fat No Fat Cookbook” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia” **

Vote

Shared on

Dessert

Scarlett Friends

Comments (1)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Scarlett - Category: Cakes

Email this Post to a Friend

Torta Al Limone (Lemon Pie)

July 23rd 2008 13:23

Torta Al Limone (Lemon Pie)

About Pie

A pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry dough that covers or completely contains a filling of fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, cheese, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savoury ingredients. Pies can be either “filled”, where a dish is covered by pastry and the filling is placed on top of that, “top-crust”, where the filling is placed in a dish and covered with a pastry / potato mash top before baking, or “two-crust”, with the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Some pies have only a bottom crust, generally if they have a sweet filling that does not require cooking. These bottom-crust-only pies may be known as tarts or tartlets. An example of a bottom-crust-only pie that is savoury rather than sweet is a quiche. Tarte Tatin is a one-crust fruit pie that is served upside-down, with the crust underneath. Blind-baking isused to develop a crust’s crispiness, and keep it from becoming soggy under the burden of a very liquid filling. If the crust of the pie requires much more cooking than the chosenfilling, it may also be blind-baked before the filling is added and then only briefly cooked or refrigerated. Pie fillings range in size from tiny bite-size party pies or small tartlets, to singly-serve pies (e.g. a pasty) and larger pies baked in a dish and eaten by the slice. The type of pastry used depends on the filling. It may be either a butter-rich flaky or puff pastry, a sturdy shortcrust pastry, or, in the case of savoury pies, a hot water crust pastry.
Occasionally the term pie is used to refer to otherwise unrelated confections containing a sweet or savoury filling, such as Eskimo pie or moon pie.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 6

1 quantity Sweet plain pastry
2 eggs
2 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1½ cups ground almonds
⅓ cup butter, melted
2 lemons, finely ground zest and juice
10 pieces candied lemon peel
confectioners’ sugar

For Sweet plain pastry

2 cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
1 – 2 lemons, grated zest (optional)
½ cup butter, chopped
2 egg yolks

For the pie pan

Butter, as needed
Flour, as needed

1. To prepare the pastry, combine the flour with the sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon zest, if using.

2. Add the butter and work it in with your fingertips until the mixture is fine and crumbly – the same texture as bread crumbs.

3. Transfer to a clean work surface and shape into a mound. Make a well in the center, add the egg yolks, and work them into the flour.

4. Knead the pastry briefly until it is smooth and elastic. Do not knead for too long, as this will make it though and chewy. Wrap in foil and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

5. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

6. Roll the pastry out so that it is large enough to line a fairly shallow 10-inch pie pan.

7. Butter and flour the pan and line it with the pastry.

8. Prick well with a fork.

9. Whisk the egg whites with the salt until stiff.

10. Beat the whole eggs with the sugar in a bowl, and add the almonds, egg whites, butter, and the lemon zest and juice.

11. Spread this mixture evenly over the dough.

12. Bake for 40 minutes.

13. Decorate the tart with the candied peel and sprinkle with a little confectioners’ sugar.

14. Serve chilled.

**From “The Encyclopedia of Italian Cooking” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**

Shared on

Comments (1)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Scarlett - Category: Pies

Email this Post to a Friend