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 :)

Tarts - Dessert

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Delicious Truffle Torte

December 4th 2008 06:08

Delicious Truffle Torte

About Delicious Truffle Torte

This torte is very rich, so serve small portions. It does freeze well, but since you can also make it a couple of days in advance, this doesn’t really seam necessary.

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INGREDIENTS
Serves 10

75 gm / 3 oz amaretti biscuits, crushed finely with a rolling pin
450 gm / 1 lb dark chocolate with 70-75% cocoa solids
5 tablespoons liquid glucose
5 tablespoons rum
570 ml / 1 pint double cream, at room temperature

To serve

chilled single pouring cream

For dusting

cocoa powder, sifted

For greasing

groundnut oil or other flavourless oil

1. Lightly brush the base and sides of a 23-cm / 9-inch cake tin and line with baking parchment.

2. Sprinkle the crushed biscuits all over the base of the tin.

3. Break the chocolate into squares and put them in a heatproof bowl, together with the liquid glucose and the rum.

4. Fit the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water, then leave it until the chocolate has melted and become quite smooth. Stir, then take off the heat and leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes or until just warm.

5. In a separate bowl, beat the cream until only very slightly thickened.

6. Fold half cream into the chocolate mixture and then fold that mixture into the rest of the cream and blend smoothly.

7. Spoon into the prepared tin, tap the tin gently to even the mixture out, cover with clingfilm and chill overnight.

8. Just before serving, run a palette knife round the edge to loosen the torte, shake and turn the whole torte out on to a serving plate (don’t be nervous about this – it’s very well behaved).

9. To serve, dust the sifted cocoa powder and, if you like, mark the top into serving sections. Have some chilled pouring cream to go with it; if you have any, a couple of tablespoons of Amaretto liqueur makes a wonderful addition to the cream.

**From “The Delia Collection Chocolate” **

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Posted By: Scarlett - Category: Tarts

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Chocolate Crunch Torte with Pistachios and Sour Cherries

August 21st 2008 10:37

Chocolate Crunch Torte with Pistachios and Sour Cherries

About Pistachio Nuts

The pistachio (Pistacia vera L., Anacardiaceae; sometimes placed in Pistaciaceae) is a small tree up to 10 m tall, native to mountainous regions of Iran, Turkmenistan and western Afghanistan. It has deciduous pinnate leaves 10–20 cm long.
The plants are dioecious, with separate male and female trees. The flowers are apetalous and unisexual, and borne in panicles. The fruit is a drupe, containing an elongated seed (a nut in the culinary sense, but not a true botanical nut) with a hard, whitish shell and a striking kernel which has a mauvish skin and light green flesh, with a distinctive flavour.
When the fruit ripens, the husk changes from green to an autumnal yellow/red and the shells split partially open (see photo). This is known as dehiscence, and happens with an audible pop.
Each pistachio nut weighs around 1 gram, [1] and each pistachio tree averages around 50 kg of nuts, or around 50,000, every two years. [2] Pistachios (as part of the pistacia genus) have existed for about 80 million years.

About Sour Cherries

Cherry trees produce two types of berries: sweet cherries are firm, heart-shaped deep red, purple-black or golden colored berries (bing, lambert, tartarian, royal ann); sour cherries are smaller, softer and rounder (early richmond, montmorency, morello). Marischino cherries are made from royal anns.
Sour cherries are a rich source of antioxidants, including melatonin, which may help to relieve the pain of arthritis, gout, and possibly fibromyalgia. To date, no other fruit or vegetable has been found to have the pain relieving properties of sour cherries. In addition, the antioxidants in sour cherries can help fight cancer and heart disease.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 12

225 gm / 8 oz dark chocolate with 70-75% cocoa solids, broken into small pieces
110 gm / 4 oz unsalted pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
50 gm / 2 oz dried sour cherries
50 gm / 2 oz raisins
3 tablespoons rum
50 gm / 2 oz butter
150 ml / 5 fl oz double cream, lightly whipped
225 gm / 8 oz sweet oat biscuits, roughly chopped

For dusting

cocoa powder, sifted

To serve

crème fraîche, whipped cream or pouring cream

1. Soak the dried cherries and raisins in the rum overnight.

2. When ready to make the torte, place the broken-up chocolate and butter in a large, heatproof bowl, which should be sitting over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Keeping the heat at its lowest, allow the chocolate to melt – it should take about 6 minutes to become smooth and glossy.

3. Remove the bowl from the pan, give the chocolate a good stir and let it cool for 2-3 minutes.

4. Fold in the whipped cream, followed by the soaked fruits in rum, the pistachios and chopped biscuits, and give it all a good mix.

5. Spoon the torte mixture into a 20-cm / 8-inches, 4-cm / 1½ inches deep, lightly greased with a flavourless oil loose-based cake tin as evenly as possible, cover with clingfilm.

6. Chill for a minimum of 4 hours.

7. To serve, dust the surface with a little cocoa powder, cut the torte into wedges, then serve with crème fraîche, whipped cream or pouring cream.

**From “The Delia Collection Chocolate” and “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”**

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Posted By: Scarlett - Category: Tarts

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