Tag: Chocolate

Black Forest Dessert

  • I thought of this dessert after making a new chocolate cake, which did not turn out very well – it was too dry.
  • I decided to make a dessert with this and bottled sour cherries.
  • Warn people if the cherries still have stones in them.
  • Use cherry brandy or wiśniȯwka.
  • It is styled around Black Forest tort.
  • The amouts you use – you have to guesss – depending on how much cake you have to use.
  • My test dessert was on the large size!

INGREDIENTS

  • Chocolate cake
  • Bottled sour cherries – wiśne
  • 125ml cherry brandy (or wiśniȯwka)
  • 1 packet raspberry jelly
  • *

  • Topping

  • Part sieved greek yoghurt & part greek yoghurt
  • 1-3 tablespoons of icing sugar – to taste

METHOD

  • Strain the cherries and put them in a dish of the cherry brandy and leave for at least 20 minutes.
  • Cut the chocolate cake into slices.
  • Line a glass bowl with the cake.
  • Place some of the sour cherries over the base of the dish.
  • Place some more cake over the sour cherries.
  • Put a few sour cherries over the top of the cake.
  • Pour any liquid left from the soaked sour cherries over the cake.
  • Pour some liquid from the bottled sour cherries over the cake.
  • Leave for around 4 hours.
  • *
  • Make up the packet of jelly and leave to cool.
  • Pour the jelly over the cake.
  • Leave to cool and then put in the fridge for around 4 hours or more to set.
  • *
  • Mix the sieved yoghurt with the greek yoghurt.
  • Add the icing sugar to tase.
  • Mix together to make a thick topping.
  • Pour this over the dessert.
  • Chill in the fridge.

Chocolate Budyń

  • Budyń is similar to a thick English custard.
  • The word comes from the French  –  boudin, as does the English word pudding.
  • It is made from milk, egg yolks, sugar  and potato flour.
  • Here it has added cocoa powder to make it chocolate flavoured.

INGREDIENTS

  • 500ml milk (full or semi-skimmed)
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • 2-3 tablespoons of potato flour ( or cornflour if potato is not available)
  • 1 tablespoon of cocoa
  • 3 egg yolks

METHOD

  • Put 300ml of the milk, the butter and sugar into a saucepan.
  • Heat gently till the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved, stirring all the time.
  • Bring this to the boil for a few seconds and then take of the heat.
  • Mix together the potato flour and the cocoa.
  • Blend this together the rest of the milk (200ml) and with the egg yolks.
  • Add some of the boiled mixture to this and stir well.
  • Add the mixture to the rest of  the boiled mixture and stir well.
  • *
  • Put the pan back on the heat and bring back to boiling point, stirring gently.
  • Keep at boiling for 1 minute, stirring all the time.
  • Pour into a glass dish (or several small dishes) – leave to cool.
  • *
  • Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.
  • Best chilled overnight
  • Add grated chocolate or shavings to serve and
  • Thick yoghurt or soured cream.

No Bake Chocolate Cake

  • My mother would often make this and I liked to help as it was easy – there was no baking required.
  • She would use plain biscuits such as:  Morning Coffee, Petit Beurre or Rich Tea.
  • These are called herbatniki – (biscuits to go with a drink of tea) – in Poland.
  • The biscuits were roughly crushed using a potato masher – they do not want to be too small.
  • Chocolate, butter and sugar are melted together and the biscuits are added.
  • My mother would press this into a square or rectangular tin, which was well buttered and lined.
  • This was then easy top cut up into small cubes or rectangles.
  • You can make make this in a small (15 cm) circular, loose bottomed tin and pour a chocolate glaze or icing over this.
  • With the given proportions it is easy to double-up etc to make a large cake or a two tiered cake.
  • *
  • I had always thought of this as a Polish recipe but have read recently that the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge had a similar one as one of their wedding cakes.
  • Also I have read that Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II enjoys this cake too.

Ingredients

  • 180g biscuits
  • 90g butter
  • 180g dark and milk chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons of cold water.

Method

  • Butter and line a small rectangle 27 x 18 cm tin.
  • Crush half of the biscuits finely.
  • Roughly crush the other half of the biscuits.
  • Melt the chocolate in a bowl over some boiling water.
  • Add the butter and mix.
  • Add the water and mix
  • Mix  in the biscuits till they are all coated.
  • Press into the prepared and flatten the top with a wooden spoon.
  • Leave in a cool place or refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Crown Devon – Du Barry Cake Stand – 1930s.

Chocolate Sauce

    • This chocolate sauce is based on vanilla sauce with the addition of cocoa or chocolate instead of vanilla essence.
    • It is served chilled.
    • Try serving it with bottled or tinned fruit, ice cream or yoghurt.

      Ingredients

    • 250ml of milk (full fat is best)
    • 50g of granulated sugar
    • 20g of cocoa or 50g of dark chocolate
    • 1-1½ tablespoonfuls of potato starch (you can use cornflour – if potato flour is not available)
    • 2 egg yolks

    Method – with cocoa

    • Put 150ml of the milk into a saucepan.
    • Heat gently – stirring all the time until boiling point.
    • Take it of the heat.
    • Blend together the rest of the milk (100ml) with the sugar, cocoa and potato flour.
    • Add the heated milk to this and stir well.
    • Put the mixture back in the pan and heat gently, stirring till it thickens .
    • Add the egg yolks and stir these well in.
    • Pour into a glass dish (or several small dishes) – leave to cool.
    • Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

  • Method – with chocolate

      • Put 150ml of the milk into a saucepan.
      • Add the chocolate.
      • Heat gently – stirring all the time until boiling point.
      • Check that all the chocolate has dissolved.
      • Take it of the heat.
      • Blend together the rest of the milk (100ml) with the sugar and potato flour .
      • Add the heated milk and chocolate to this and stir well.
      • Put the mixture back in the pan and heat gently, stirring till it thickens .
      • Add the egg yolks and stir these well in.
      • Pour into a glass dish (or several small dishes) – leave to cool.
      • Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Chocolate Macaroons

  • This is an English recipe, which is over a hundred years old.
  • These macarons were very popular in Edwardian England (1901 – 1910).

Ingredients

  • 2 egg whites
  • 85g ground almonds
  • 85g caster sugar
  • 85g grated dark chocolate
  • 30g ground rice

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C.
  • Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.
  • Mix all the dry ingredients together.
  • Whisk eggs whites until stiff.
  • Gently fold in the dry ingredients until well mixed.
  • Roll tablespoon sized balls in your hands.
  • Place well apart on the baking sheets to allow for spreading.
  • Bake for around 20 minutes.
  • Do not over bake them.

Cake Plate – Dubarry – Crown Devon from the 1930s

Chocolate Limes – Torcik

In England there are some old fashioned sweets called chocolate limes, which I really like. They consist of a crunchy lime coating over a dark chocolate paste centre.

I have been making several chilled cakes – torcik – and thought I would try out a variation based on this chocolate and lime idea.

This torcik is a variation on ones that I made previously with different fruits and bases.

I tried out a few variations on the proportions of the ingredients and decided that just having two layers worked best with a chocolate flake decorations on the top.

  1. Biscuit & chocolate base
  2. Sweet curd cheese with lime jelly

Ingredients

  • 100g of plain biscuits such as petit beurre, morning coffee or rich tea
  • 40g butter
  • 50g dark  chocolate
  • *
  • 300g twaróg or yoghurt cheese (could use full fat cream cheese)
  • 150g icing sugar
  • 80g butter
  • 4 yolks
  • 1 packets of lime jelly
  • *
  •  Cadburys flake or grated dark chocolate to decorate.

Method

  • Use a 22cm diameter loose bottomed or spring-form tin.
  • This is a smaller size than for my previous ones.
  • Lightly rub the base with some butter.
  • *
  • Crush the biscuits into small crumbs.
  • Melt the butter and chocolate gently, stirring to prevent burning.
  • Add the biscuit crumbs and mix well together.
  • Put the mixture into the base of the tin and press it down firmly.
  • Leave till it is cold.
  • *
  • Dissolve the lime jelly in 150ml of boiling water and leave to cool.
  • The tricky bit is having the jelly at the right temperature to use.
  • *
  • Cream together the butter and icing sugar.
  • Add the egg yolks, one by one, alternating with the twaróg.
  • Mix thoroughly.
  • *
  • Gently mix in the cool jelly.
  • Pour the mixture over the base.
  • Level the top.
  • *
  • Leave for around 30 minutes so the jelly is starting to set.
  • Decorate  the top with sprinkled grated chocolate or flakes or both.
  • Leave to set – best in the fridge – for at least 3 hours.
  • Take great care when removing the torcik out of the tin.
  • Use a long thin spatula to ease the edge.
  • Use a tin to place the cake tin on to move it apart from the base.

 

Tea plates Waterlily by Taylor and Kent

Cherry Torcik

  • The inspiration behind the flavours in this torcik is from a Black Forest Gateau, which is a chocolate cake with sour cherries and Kirshwasser – a cherry spirit, and often with cream.
  • It is claimed to have been invented in 1915 but other sources say it was in the 1930s.
  • It was very popular in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s.
  • This torcik is a variation on two that I made previously with different fruits and bases.

When making a torcik you need time to let one layer set before starting on the next.

This torcik is composed of 3 layers

  1. Chocolate sponge base
  2. Sweet curd cheese with black cherry jelly
  3. Drained bottled cherries in black cherry jelly

Ingredients – base

Ingredients – cherry layers

  • 300g twaróg or yoghurt cheese (you could use full fat cream cheese)
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 80g butter
  • 4 yolks
  • 1 packet of black cherry jelly
  • *
  • Sweet or sour bottled cherries
  • 1 packet of black cherry jelly

Method

  • Use a 22cm diameter loose bottomed or spring-form tin.
  • Lightly rub the base and sides with some butter.
  • *
  • Melt the butter and chocolate and leave to cool a little.
  • Stir in the cake crumbs.
  • Mix together well.
  • Place on the base of the tin and pat down with a spoon.
  • Leave to go cold.
  • *
  • Dissolve the cherry jelly in 150ml of boiling water and leave to cool.
  • The tricky bit is having the jelly at the right temperature to use.
  • *
  • Cream together the butter and icing sugar.
  • Add the egg yolks, one by one, alternating with the twaróg.
  • Mix thoroughly.
  • Gently mix in the cool jelly.
  • Pour the mixture over the sponge base.
  • Level the top.
  • Leave to set – best in the fridge – for at least 3 hours.
  • *
  • Mix up the black cherry jelly as per the instructions with 500ml of boiling water.
  • Leave the jelly to cool.
  • *
  • Drain the cherries from the juice.
  • Arrange the drained cherries over the black cherry/cheese layer.
  • Gently put the black cherry jelly over the cherries – use one spoon to pour this over the back of a second spoon.
  • Leave it to set again in the fridge – can take several hours.
  • Take great care when removing the torcik out of the tin.
  • Sprinkle some chocolate curls or flakes around the serving plate.

 

Tea Plates by Royal Crown Derby – Derby Posies  – 1972

 

 

 

Chocolate & Raspberry Cake

I decided to make a chocolate cake I had not made for a while. Raspberry jam is used in the cake and in the butter cream. The best results are with a jam that is not too sweet – a slight tartness is best.

I used raspberry jam that was made by my friend in Leeds from raspberries that  were grown on her allotment.

Ingredients

  • 150g plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 30g cocoa
  • 90g caster sugar
  • 120g butter
  • 4 level tablespoons of raspberry jam
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 2 tablespoons of milk

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 5 – 190°C.
  • Grease and line the bottoms of 2 – 18cm diameter baking tins.
  • Mix the flour, baking powder and cocoa together.
  • Cream the butter, sugar and jam together.
  • Add the eggs bit by bit .
  • Fold in the flour mixture with the milk to make a soft dropping consistency.
  • Divide the mixture between the two tins.
  • Bake for 25 minutes.
  • When cold, sandwich together with the raspberry butter icing.
  • Dust the top with icing sugar to serve.

Raspberry Butter Icing

Ingredients

  • 60g butter
  • 2 tablespoons of raspberry jam.
  • 120g icing sugar.

Method

  • Cream together the butter, jam and around ¾of  of the icing sugar.
  • Add more icing sugar until the required consistency is achieved.

 

 

  • Coffee set – Greenway – by Hostess Tableware – 1960 – 1979
  • Designed by John Russell

 

Babka with Three Chocolates!

I was inspired by the use of 3 sorts of chocolate in a recipe I saw from Lidl to decorate a babka.

Babka is the name of a Polish cake – the word means grandmother and refers to the round dumpy shape reminiscent of an older lady wearing a long full skirt as is traditional in many Polish folk costumes.

Wooden Dolls in Polish Costumes

This marbled babka was made using a creamed sponge mixture – using my mother’s friend’s basic recipe for a creamed sponge.

Ingredients – Cake

  • In this recipe you weigh the eggs in their shells and then use the same weights of butter, caster sugar and self raising flour.
  • Use 4 or 5 eggs
  • 2 drops of vanilla essence
  • 2 tablespoons of cocoa
  • 2 tablespoons of water

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
  • Grease the babka tin with melted butter using a pastry brush.
  • For this babka, 4 eggs were used. (I could have used 5 eggs for this tin).
  • Cream the butter and sugar.
  • Beat the eggs with the vanilla essence and add them gradually – mixing in thoroughly.
  • Fold in the flour.
  • Use half of the mixture and place spoonfuls in the bottom of the tin.
  • Mix the cocoa and water together.
  • Mix the cocoa mixture into the second half of the cake mixture.
  • Placed this on top of the plain mixture and flatten it off.
  • With a metal knife lightly mix the two to give a marbling effect.
  • Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes.
  • Leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning out.

Weighing eggs

Ingredients – Icing

  • 100g of dark chocolate and 60g of butter
  • 50g of milk chocolate and 30g of butter
  • Shavings of white chocolate.

Method

  • Put the dark chocolate and butter into a glass bowl.
  • Heat the bowl over hot water, stirring till it all melts together.
  • Drizzle this over the babka and leave to cool.
  • Put the milk chocolate and butter into a glass bowl.
  • Heat the bowl over hot water, stirring till it all melts together.
  • Drizzle this over the dark chocolate.
  • Scatter the white chocolate shaving over the milk chocolate icing.

 

Portmeirion plate – The Holly & The Ivy – the pattern inspired by the 17th Century English Carol – launched in 1997.

Served on tea plates by Duchess – Poppies – from the 1980s.

Piernik with Chocolate 2

Piernik in Poland is associated with the Christmas season and would be made for Christmas Eve and for Christmas Day, it would also be made for Święty Mikołaj – December 6th – St Nicholas Day. This is a day for present giving in Poland to children and I would always get a piernik shaped and decorated to look like the bishop that was St Nicholas.

I came across this recipe, which has grated dark chocolate added to the mixture and the result is excellent.  I posted it last year as Piernik with Chocolate.  Here I have added a sour cherry jam topping which makes it even better!

Ingredients

  • 250ml of runny honey
  • 220g of granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1.5 teaspoons of mixed spice (or 0.5 teaspoons each of ground cardamom, cinnamon & cloves)
  • 350g of plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 100g of grated dark chocolate (I used one with 74%cocoa)
  • 100g of mixed peel
  • To serve
  • Sour Cherry Jam & Icing Sugar

Method

  • Grease and line a 32 x 22 cm tin.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM3 – 160°C.
  • Whisk together the honey, sugar, eggs and spices.
  • Mix the flour and the baking powder together and mix this in.
  • Stir in the grated chocolate and the mixed peel.
  • Pour the thick batter into the tinand smooth down the top.
  • Bake for 60 – 65 minutes until a tester comes out clean.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.
  • *
  • Warm 2 – 3 tablespoons of sour cherry jam to make it easier to use.
  • Remove the piernik from the tin.
  • Brush the top of the piernik thickly with the jam and leave to cool and set.
  • Dust the top with icing sugar.
  • Cut into rectangles or triangles to serve.