Chocolate – Page 7 – Baking with Gab

Choc chai melting moments and routine

Every now and then it’s good to shake up your routine. I’ve been in a bit of a baking rut because I’d been so intent on using up leftover pears. Don’t get me wrong, pears are delicious (I’ve baked them, caked them, poached them and more), but I was lacking inspiration.

So I went back to an old recipe and jazzed it up a little with some of mydelicious chocolate chai fudge. Nom.

The original chocolate melting moments were dense and deliciously dark, so the addition of chai fudge is a welcome gooiness. Continue reading “Choc chai melting moments and routine”

Mini caramel egg brownies and excitement

Is anyone else getting super excited about Easter? I am. I walk through supermarket aisles and have to physically restrain myself from buying Easter eggs.

I used to be one of those people who hated how early seasonal foods came in – “Halloween sweets out in August?!” or “Christmas stock out in October?!” – I used to be shocked at how quickly in-store merchandising would roll over. I would refrain from buying my holiday-related products until a week or so before the actual event.

Now I kind of like it, because Baking with Gab means that I have to start recipe planning before everyone else is thinking about the next holiday/event. Continue reading “Mini caramel egg brownies and excitement”

Chai chocolate fudge and acceptance

A friend of mine refuses to accept that white chocolate is chocolate. She also refuses to eat it because of its ambiguity, the fact that it masquerades as something that it isn’t.

This is fine, it’s her choice (actually it’s rather advantageous to me, more white chocolate consumption on my part), but she is definitely missing out. I never really sided with my friend until this recipe, when I actually contemplated white chocolate.

White chocolate, I’ve realised, is not really chocolatey tasting at all – it’s smooth and sweet and that’s about it…not that there’s anything wrong with this! In being so indistinct, white chocolate lends itself perfectly to other flavours, it welcomes them openly – it works perfectly with the caramel of the sweetened condensed milk, and also complements the spicy, warm notes of the chai flavouring. Continue reading “Chai chocolate fudge and acceptance”

Dark chocolate caramel and popcorn biscuit

The title of this post looks like two unrelated things, right? “Oh,” you though, “Gab has made some dark chocolate caramel and she has also made some popcorn biscuits, whatever they are.”

“It’s such a smoosh of words that they couldn’t all possibly be referring to one baked product,” I hear you thinking.

Well, your internal monologue is wrong. I made biscuits with dark chocolate caramel popcorn in them.

It’s like a zillion delicious things jam packed into one gloriously ugly little package.

Continue reading “Dark chocolate caramel and popcorn biscuit”

Copycat creme eggs and ambition

This project was a little ambitious. There wasn’t any baking involved, but I was so inspired by all the creativity and enthusiasm floating around at the Cake Bake and Sweets Show that I thought I’d re-create one of my favourite foods ever.

Cadbury creme eggs.

If these babies were available all year round, I would probably have already eaten myself to an early grave.

Thankfully for my health, they’re only available seasonally. Now that I’ve cracked a recipe to make them, however, I may be able to eat them whenever I want! Continue reading “Copycat creme eggs and ambition”

Chocolate clovers and chevrons

Yesterday I posted a delectable little cake in preparation for St Patrick’s day – it was chocolatey, Guinness-y and whiskey-y. Delightful. What I held off posting, was a little recipe for the chocolate clovers I decorated the cake with.

This Friday I’m having a bit of a “take it easy” post, so I’ll give you two cake chocolate decorations to jazz up your cake. These two are appropriate for Irish themed cakes, but can be tweaked to suit any cake your little heart desires.

White chocolate clovers:

Makes 15

150g white chocolate
½-1 tsp green food colouring
Heart shaped chocolate mould

Chop up your white chocolate and zap it in the microwave for about a minute. Give it a stir and return to the microwave until the chocolate is JUST melted – you don’t want to overcook it because your chocolate will seize.

Take the warm chocolate and add your food colouring slowly until you achieve your desired green-ness. Spoon the mixture into the moulds and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Remove from the fridge and test whether they’re done by pulling the sides of the mould away from the chocolate to see if the chocolate is set yet – if the chocolate stays in one piece, it’s done.

Arrange in groups of three to mimic the formation of a clover.

Chocolate chevrons:

450g white chocolate
25g dark chocolate
1 tsp green food colouring

Lightly grease and line a 20cm square tin. Chop up your white chocolate and pop it in the microwave for about a minute, then give it a stir. Return to the microwave until the chocolate is JUST melted. Pour into your prepared pan and set to one side. Don’t allow it to set.

Working quickly, melt your dark chocolate and spoon it into a snaplock bag. Pour your green food colouring into a small dish or egg cup and grab a bamboo skewer. Use the thin edge of the skewer to draw a number of lines across the surface of the still warm white chocolate. You may need to clean the skewer as you work.

Snip the end off of the snaplock bag and draw some lines of chocolate across the white chocolate as well. Don’t worry if your lines aren’t completely straight – mine were pretty wonky, and they turned out fine.

Flip the skewer around, and use the thicker end of the skewer to draw more lines in the white chocolate. When you’ve finished, you should end up with a collection of lines running parallel to one another with thin gaps of white in between them – try not to let any lines intersect.

Flip the green-edged skewer to the thin side again and drag it up and down, through the lines to create chevrons. Again, you may need to clean the skewer as you go to maintain clean lines.

Pop in the fridge for 20 minutes or until set.

When it’s set, chop roughly and serve atop your cake, or set on the side of the dish.

There you go – two easy chocolate decorations to jazz up your cake!

Guinness cake and contrast

My nan used to drink Guinness. She was a tiny, white-haired sparrow of a woman, and I like to think that the occasional glass of Guinness represented her strong, independent streak. She wasn’t a big drinker. In fact, a 440ml can could last her a week or more (and was often thrown out by my mother!)I remember this vividly, because my brothers and I would vie for nan’s affections to try and win the floating widget that bobbed about inside the can. Continue reading “Guinness cake and contrast”

Chocolate cardamon pear cake and Autumn

I’ve still got a crazy amount of pears to work my way through. And it’s glorious. I wrote about being given too many pears last week and I’ve not yet run out of things to bake with them!

The weather in Sydney turned pretty dismal this week, so I’ve been poaching and baking and snuggling up with Norman at every opportunity.

It’s also the first day of Autumn today! This cake is perfect for Autumn because it’s not quite heavy enough for a Winter’s pudding, but it’s not too Summery either because of the almondy hints and the caramel notes created by the brown sugar. The chocolate and cardamom mingle beautifully to create warm, rich little mouthfuls, while the pear brings a lovely moistness to the cake.

Best served sprinkled with icing sugar, as it needs very little accompaniment. If you’re feeling especially indulgent on a dreary, rainy day, serve warm, with a dollop thick cream.

Chocolate cardamon pear cake

180g butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup almond meal
1 cup self-raising flour
¼ cup milk
1 tsp ground cardamom
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 pears

Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease and line a 21cm cake tin.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar until pale. Add in the eggs, followed by your almond meal. Sift in the self-raising flour and add in the milk to thin out the mixture. Mix the cardamom into the batter thoroughly, then fold the chocolate chunks in as well.

Peel and core your pears, then cut them into thin wedges. Arrange the wedges around the cake in whatever fashion you like, pressing them in slightly. I tend to organise them so that they fit neatly into slices once the cake is cooked.

Pop the cake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove when a cake inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from the tin – this cake is delicate, so needs a little extra care.

Chocolate date tray cake and cool food

I bet you read the title of this recipe and thought “blech, dates.”

Some foods just aren’t cool.

Kale is the popular kid at school at the moment. Quinoa comes a close second. Mangosteen is new on the block, but he’s got his sights set for popularity too.

Dates, unfortunately, don’t even register on the cool scale. Dates aren’t even bullied at school – they’re the food that other foods forget exist. Dates are unseen, unappreciated and probably do their homework in the library at lunch time.

Poor dates. Continue reading “Chocolate date tray cake and cool food”

Chocolate tart with raspberry poached pear

It just so happened that I came into a large amount of pears over the weekend. It was like my inheritance came in the form of pears. It was delightful.

The only problem is, pears do not last forever. And there are only so many pears one can eat before they start turn brown and mushy.

So I started brainstorming pear-based recipes. I’ve already blogged about my ridiculous love of pears and the many recipes I include them in, so I needed to think up some more plans. This post was a French-inspired one. I love everything about France. I love the people, I love the accents, I love their gardens, their buildings, their art, their FOOD. Continue reading “Chocolate tart with raspberry poached pear”