april showers and chocolate mousse!

Another blustery wet April afternoon sent me to the kitchen in search of comfort . . .  . .and I found it in the form of Chocolate Mousse!

I've had this recipe from the amazing blog My New Roots earmarked for quite a while, and today seemed like just the perfect day for something indulgent. But, what makes this even better is that it's made from avocado and dates so it's actually good for you too!

 . . . and, it tastes amazing!

I've been aware of vegan/raw alternatives for Chocolate Mousse for a while, in terms of getting the chocolate hit without all the heavy dairy. Although I wasn't quite convinced that it really would taste like the real thing.

I can tell you, it tastes even better! Smooth and creamy, super chocolatey and it leaves you feeling great. Plus it's all good - avocado, dates, cocoa, honey - and topped off with some chopped pecans for a bit of added crunch.

Amazing Chocolate Mousse

( adapted slightly from My New Roots)

2 ripe avocados

6 dried dates - soaked to soften

1-2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp good quality cocoa powder

Scoop the flesh from the avocado into a blender - add all the other ingredients and whizz everything to a smooth paste.

Pile into serving dish and dust with some crunchy chopped nuts and you're good to go!

“Every tear is answered by a blossom,

Every sigh with songs and laughter blent,

April-blooms upon the breezes toss them.

April knows her own, and is content.” 

 - Susan Coolidge -



hazelnut truffle torte....in search of the ultimate chocolate cake!

In my truly altruistic (well, that's what I tell myself anyway!) quest for the ultimate chocolate cake I have tried many, many, many recipes; searching for that all-elusive tangible experience of dense, velvety chocolatiness; not too sweet, not too bitter - not too heavy, not too dry. Just lately, I've decided to go along the gluten-free route, and following on from the truly indulgent chocolate mousse cake, I was after something a little more firm, that would cut and serve more like a traditional 'cake'. Of course this meant trying out lots of recipes - it's a tough job!........and, in the end I settled on the best bits of all of them. The result is a VERY rich, dark and wicked, truffley chocolate 'cake' that gives you the just the sense of hedonistic guilt that only a true chocolate lover would settle for!

So here it is.....

hazelnut truffle torte

(by Alfie)

400g good quality dark chocolate

6 eggs

50 g caster sugar

175g ground hazelnuts

250mls double cream

topping

75g good quality dark chocolate

2 tablespoons double cream

25g butter

• to make the cake, grease and base line a 20cm deep spring-form tin, and set the oven to Gas 2 / 150 C / 325 F
• break the chocolate into pieces and put this together with 50mls of the cream in a bowl set over simmering water until it has melted
• whilst the chocolate is melting, whisk the eggs and the sugar together for 5-7 minutes until it is thick and creamy and will leave a trail across the top of the mixture
• slacken the melted chocolate mixture by adding a little of the egg/sugar mixture (about 2-3 tablespoons) until it becomes a bit more runny, and then stir the chocolate and the egg/sugar mix in together with the ground hazelnuts
• whisk the remaining cream until it forms soft peaks, and then quickly fold this into the chocolate batter so that it is all amalgamated
• pour into the lined tin - if your tin is not completely water-tight you will need to wrap it in foil
• place the cake tin into a roasting pan and pour in enough hot water to come half-way up the cake tin - about 2cms
• bake in the oven for about an hour until a skewer comes out clean

for the topping

• melt all of the ingredients together over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool and thicken just slightly, and then pour over the cake
• decorate with whatever takes your fancy, and enjoy........but be warned, you know what they say about too much of a good thing!

pistachio meringues with blackberry and elderflower granita

Meringue is one of those things that I find very therapeutic to make, the added bonus being it's always so wonderful to eat too. In the Winter it's comforting with a heavy unctuous chocolate or toffee topping, and in the Summer (well, the sun has been out for a couple of days, so we could be forgiven for thinking that it must be nearly Summer!) what better way to finish off a meal than with a sweet, crisp meringue, dotted with nubs of bright green pistachios, and then piled high with floppy clouds of double cream, and topped off with a tart and refreshing granita?

Firstly, start by making the meringue the day before.

75g shelled pistachio nuts

4 egg whites

200g golden caster sugar

1 tsp cornflour

1 tsp white wine vinegar

Line a baking tray with baking parchment and heat the oven to 120C / Gas 1. Tip the pistachios into a shallow baking tin and toast in the oven for 7-10 minutes. Blitz in a food processor or chop roughly and then set aside.

In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until they are stiff, but not dry. Gradually whisk in the sugar a spoon at a time until it's all been incorporated and the mixture is no longer gritty. Quickly whisk in the corflour and vinegar, which you have mixed together into a paste, and then lightly fold in about three quarters of the pistachios.

Spoon the mixture onto the baking tray to make four round shells with a slight hollow in the middle for the filling. Then sprinkle over the remaining pistachio nuts, and bake low in the oven for about an hour, or until they are firm and crisp on the outside. If they brown too quickly you may need to turn the oven down, or put the tray lower down in the oven. When they are cooked leave in the oven to cool - preferably overnight.

To make the Granita.......

225g blackberries (or other soft fruit of your choice)

250mls elderflower and blackcurrant cordial

juice of 1 lemon

....simply puree the fruit with the cordial and push through a fine mesh sieve. Add the lemon juice and then pour into a shallow container and freeze for about an hour. By this time the granita should be starting to freeze around the edges.

Gently stir the crystals with a fork and then put the container back into the freezer. Keep doing this every half hour, taking care not to crush the crystals too much otherwise you will lose the lovely 'grainy' texture.

When the mixture has reached the consistency of a firm slush it's ready to be eaten.

Finally, when you're ready, assemble the meringue with the cream and granita and serve straight away. I know I'm definitely looking forward to a long, hot Summer. It's the perfect excuse for eating lots more lovely meringue with refreshing fruit granita!

dacquoise with summer berry compote

I don't really know what made me think of it.....Dacquoise. Perhaps it was musing on a light dessert for a relaxing Sunday lunch; an occasion to be savoured as it doesn't seem to happen too often! Or maybe it was my general preoccupation with ground almonds, a sense that seems to shadow me like some half forgotten eidolon.

Well, anyway, whatever it was, it sent me searching through my own hand-written student notebooks; dog-eared recipe books bespattered and smudged with years of loving use as their pages have given up their well-loved treasures time and again. Yet, strangely, this was a recipe that I have had for well over 25 years, and have, as yet, never made! I don't really know why exactly I've overlooked it for so long. It became a family favourite of my class buddy from our sixth-form cookery classes (or Home Economics as it was then!) In fact, I remember her calling me on several occasions when she had been asked to produce this favoured confection, but didn't have the recipe to hand!

Despite this, until now, it had remained for me just so many ingredients on a page. Until today, that is....so I approached the task with interest, wondering what it was that could be so special about what is basically a meringue with ground almonds added to it. Following the recipe I dutifully whisked up the meringue, and folded in the almonds, and then set it in the oven and waited......

Well, I can certainly see why this became a favourite. The ground almonds offer a taste that is rather like amaretti biscuits and the texture light and crispy with a little chewiness - not as sickly as a normal meringue, and perhaps a little more 'grown up'. The original recipe from my notebook was filled with apricots and cream, although the delicate nutty flavour would lend itself to all sorts of different fillings. We had ours with summer fruits though (from the freezer, since we're not yet even fully into Spring! ) as I felt I wanted a sharp contrast to the sweet almondy meringue. I'll definitely make this again, though I don't think I'll wait another 25 years!

Dacquoise with Summer Fruit Compote

Dacquoise

3 egg whites

150g caster sugar

50g ground almonds

Filling:

250ml double cream - lightly whipped

100g summer fruits

sugar to taste

1 teaspoon cornflour

Heat the oven to 140C / 275F / Gas 1 and mark out two 20cm circles on sheets of baking parchment and place these on clean dry baking sheets.

Whisk the egg whites until just stiff, and then whisk in half the sugar so that it becomes smooth and glossy. Fold in the rest of the sugar and the ground almonds gently until they are mixed in evenly.

Carefully divide the mixture between the two circles, spreading them out gently - they will be quite thin. Bake for an hour, or until the paper peels away easily.

For the compote, put two tablespoons of water in a saucepan with the fruit and sugar, and simmer gently until soft (about 5 minutes). Slake the cornflour with a little water to a smooth paste, and then add to the fruits, stirring all the time to avoid lumps. Bring to the boil to thicken the mixture for two minutes and then leave to cool. Alternatively, if you want to do without the cornflour you can just continue to cook the fruit until the juices have reduced to a syrup.

Finally, sandwich the Dacquoise together with whipped cream, and pile the fruit compote on top allowing some of the sweet juices to dapple the sides. Finish off with a light dusting of icing sugar and some toasted almonds. (Try not to assemble this too far in advance or the filling will tend to make the Dacquoise lose it's lovely crunch)

Then sit back, relax - and enjoy this with even more cream.....if you dare!