Tag: chocolate

Barbecue and Strawberries 🍓

One of my favourite things in the summer is no doubt a smoky barbecue party with friends. Yesterday, my work colleagues were cooking up a meaty feast in the back garden. Chicken, ribs, prawns, sausages, burgers and all could name! 🍗🍖🍤🌭🍔 What possibly can a meat lover like me says no to? 😋 (Even better with a cocktail in my hand haha!)

Since I did not contribute to the grill, I paid my dues by whipping up (quite literally) a dessert for everyone there. To keep up with the finger food theme, I decided on some chocolate profiteroles topped with freeze-dried raspberries. To top it off, I also did some chocolate-dipped strawberries. The strawberries at this time are the best around this time in the year. One of the biggest joy I get from baking and cooking is to see the joy you bring to others with the food you’ve made. So, very happy that my colleagues enjoyed it! 😊

Chocolate Profiteroles with Freeze-dried Raspberries and Chocolate-dipped Strawberries

Quantity: 15-20 profiteroles

Ingredients:

For the choux pastry:

50g unsalted butter

150ml water

65g strong white flour

30g caster sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

For the pastry cream:

4 egg yolks

65g caster sugar

1 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp cornflour

350ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Decorations:

200g strawberries

300g dark chocolate

50g white chocolate

Freeze-dried raspberries

Method:

1. Start the choux pastry by placing the butter in water in a saucepan. Heat until the butter has fully melted, bringing the water to boil.

2. Keeping the saucepan over heat, tip all the flour into it in one go. Beat vigorously until it forms a smooth dough. Remove it from heat afterwards.

3. Add the beaten eggs a bit at a time to the dough, stirring vigorously after each addition, to achieve a soft, smooth batter. Take care at this stage as you may not need all your eggs. The batter must not be too runny or too stiff. To check that you have the right consistency, lift a bit of the batter up with a spoon. It should just hang off the spoon, holding a V-shape.

4. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6.

5. Line the baking tray with baking parchment. Sprinkle droplets of water over it. (This creates steam to give a crisp crust on your profiteroles.) Pipe your choux batter in small circles, leaving enough gap between them as the choux will rise considerably.

6. Bake the profiteroles for about 25-30 minutes, or until they are golden and fully cooked inside. As soon as they are taken out to cool, use a skewer to pierce the bottoms of each profiteroles to create an air hole to let out steam, and place them on a wire rack.

7. While the profiteroles are baking, make the pastry cream by whisking the egg yolks together with the sugar until a pale yellow is achieved. Sieve the flour and mix it into the yolk mixture until well-combined.

8. Heat the milk with the vanilla in a saucepan over a low heat until there is a gentle simmer.

9. Slowly pour about half of the hot milk to the yolk mixture, whisking as you are adding. Then return the mixture to the remaining milk in the saucepan.

10. Bring the mixture back to boil by heating, whisking continuously as it is cooking, until a smooth custard is formed.

11. Line a tray with cling film, and pour the pastry cream on it to cool and set in the fridge. You may dust some icing sugar over to prevent a skin forming.

12. When the profiteroles are cooled and the pastry cream is set, pipe the pastry cream into the profiteroles through the air hole at the bottom. Take care to ensure the profiteroles are well-filled.

13. Melt the chocolates over a double boiler or using a microwave. (Take care with the white chocolate as it is easy to get overheated and turn lumpy.)

14. Dip the filled profiteroles and strawberries in the melted dark chocolate. Allow it to cool and set slightly before drizzling the melted white chocolate over with a spoon. Dust the profiteroles with freeze-dried raspberries.

My Cookie Monster

Who can ever forget cookies🍪 and milk🥛 from the days of your childhood? I used to have so much fun dunking the cookies in the milk (to me that’s the best bit!) It’s funny to think how the smallest thing in the world can make you smile when you were a child, but these excitement and joy seemingly become more rare as one grows older and older.

As a kid, I was able to enjoy every little moments of my life, but nowadays I would just always be constantly thinking and worrying of things I need to do the day after. I missed the days when I used to be able to go home and watch my favourite shows, and escape from the reality. One of my favourite shows to watch back then was Sesame Street and the Cookie Monster often appeared on my screen (Though my favourite was actually Oscar ’cause I loved the fact that he lives in a bin! 😂) Don’t you just wished you can go back to being a kid again?

Turning back time may not be possible, but a dream of cookie and milk is not far from reality. These jam-filled chocolate chips cookies are very simple to make but just as nostalgic as those of your favourites from your childhood. What’s your favourite kind of cookies? Come and try this, and embrace the Cookie Monster inside us all!

Jam-Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies

Quantity: About 6 cookies

Ingredients:

100g plain flour

50g unsalted butter

35g caster sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

Seedless Raspberry Jam

Dark Chocolate Chips

Method:

1. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the caster sugar.

2. Add the milk a bit at a time to bring the dough together. Cover and rest the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5.

4. Roll the dough evenly to a large square. Cut out circles using a cookie cutter. (Alternatively, split the dough into equal portions, then roll and shape.) Ensure you have cut out an even number of circles.

5. Place a teaspoon of jam on one circle of dough and cover with another circle. Repeat this procedure with the remaining dough. Add chocolate chips on top of the cookies.

6. Bake the cookies in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden.

7. Cool the cookies on a wire rack to let them firm up before serving.

It’s a Long Hot Summer

The heat wave is finally here in London! ☀️ 🔥 🔥 Now that summer has officially begun, how many of you have planned your holiday already? Whether you’re spending time with friends, families or alone by yourself, summer is an important for one to unwind and enjoy the beauty of nature. For someone who loves exploring new places, you may be surprised to hear that I don’t actually travel abroad an awful lot during the holidays. However, I do dream about lying alone on a beach 🏖🏝 (or next to a hunky companion hehe), staring at the clear water or the bright blue sky, and snoozing under the sun with a cold, tropical drink in my hand…🍹

Meanwhile, I will imitate this tropical feeling at home by making my favourite mango mousse cake. This mango mousse cake is one of my more complicated dessert. Inside the mousses hides a layer of coconut sponge cake and strawberry clear jelly over a buttery digestive biscuit base. The cake is finished with a mango glaze and topped with a tempered chocolate nest filled with coconut white chocolate truffles. It does take a bit of time to make this but it’s well worth the effort!

Tropical Mango Mousse Cake

Quantity: 1 cake

Ingredients:

For the clear strawberry jelly:

5g leaf gelatine

225ml lemonade

5-6 strawberries, chopped

For the digestive biscuit base:

200g digestive biscuit

70g unsalted butter, melted

For the coconut sponge cake:

2 eggs, separated

32g caster sugar

24g flavourless oil

28ml warm water

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g self-raising flour

20g desiccated coconut

For the mango mousse:

11g leaf gelatine

450g mango purée/pulp

50g caster sugar

400ml double cream

For the coconut white chocolate truffles,

100g white chocolate, chopped

30ml double cream

1 tbsp butter

Desiccated coconut

For the tempered chocolate decorations:

300g dark chocolate

For the mango glaze:

56ml water

47g caster sugar

1 lemon, peels only

16g leaf gelatine

175g mango purée/pulp

Other decorations:

Fresh mangoes, chopped

Desiccated coconut

Dark chocolate

White chocolate stars

You will also need at least a small cake tin and a larger cake tin (both should have a loose base) to create the layering effect.

Method:

1. Start the jelly first by soaking the leaf gelatine in cold water. Line the small cake tin with cling film.

2. Bring the lemonade to boil in a saucepan. Squeeze off any excess water from the soaked gelatine and stir it into the saucepan until fully dissolved. Take it off the heat, and add in the strawberries. Pour it into the tin and place it into a fridge for about 2-3 hours to set. Once the jelly is set, remove it from the cake tin with the cling film and continue to chill it in the fridge until use.

3. Prepare the digestive biscuit base by blitzing or grinding down the digestive biscuits to fine crumbs. Mix in the melted butter. Line the bottom of the larger cake tin with a cling film, and spread the biscuit mixture evenly at the base of the cake tin. Chill the biscuit base in the fridge for about 30 minutes so it can firm up.

4. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. For the sponge cake, whisk the egg whites in a large bowl with half of the sugar until stiff.

5. In a different bowl, mix the yolk, oil, water, vanilla extract and the remaining sugar together until smooth. Sieve in the flour and add the desiccated coconut into it, and mix until well-combined. Fold this mixture into the whipped egg whites.

4. Grease the small cake tin and pour in the cake batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove the cake from the mould and cool on a wire rack.

5. To make the mango mousse, soak the leaf gelatine in cold water and whip the double cream to soft peaks.

6. Warm the mango purée/pulp with the sugar in a saucepan. Squeeze excess water off from the gelatine and stir it in until fully dissolved. Pass the purée mixture through the sieve. Pour and fold it into the whipped cream until smooth.

7. To assemble the mousse cake, pour in some of the mousse into the larger cake tin with the digestive biscuit base. Place the coconut sponge at the centre and flip the strawberry jelly on top of the sponge using the cling film. Fill up the sides with the mango mousse (ensure they are completely filled up, or else you will see gaps later on), and pour the remaining mousse on top and spread evenly. Place the mousse cake into the fridge to set for about 4 hours.

8. To make the truffles, place the white chocolate, cream and butter in a bowl and heat it a microwave in 20-seconds intervals until melted. (Take care as white chocolate is easy to get overheated and burnt.) Cover the bowl and chill the chocolate in the fridge until firm. Grease your hand with a bit of oil. Scoop and roll the cooled white chocolate in your hand to shape into balls. Roll the truffle balls in desiccated coconut to cover them.

9. For the tempered chocolate decorations, warm two thirds of the dark chocolate in a double boiler to 45-50C/113-122F until melted. Stir in the remaining chocolate to cool it to 31-32C/87-89F.

10. For the chocolate palm trees, pipe the tempered chocolate into shapes on baking parchment. For the chocolate sticks, cut out a rectangular strip of baking parchment and pipe diagonally across it to create a net effect, then carefully roll the paper into a tube shape and secure with tape. For the chocolate nest, flip a bowl upside down and covered with baking parchment, then similarly pipe the chocolate in a net pattern around the bowl. Leave the chocolate decorations to cool and set in room temperature before removing and use.

11. Once the mousse cake is set, remove it from the cake tin and pull out the cling film underneath. Keep the cake cooled in the fridge while preparing the glaze.

12. To make the mango glaze, first make a syrup by heating the water, sugar and lemon peels in a saucepan for 2-3 minutes. Remove the lemon peels.

13. Soak the leaf gelatine in cold water. Add the mango purée/pulp to the syrup and heat. Squeeze the excess water off the soaked gelatine and stir it in until fully dissolved. Pass the glaze through a sieve and let it cool slightly before use.

14. Place the cake on a wire rack over a tray. Pour the glaze over in a swirl motion to cover the cake evenly. Dust the sides with desiccated coconut.

15. While the glaze is still setting, decorate the cake with fresh mangos, truffles and the chocolate decorations. (Use a knife to cut open a small gap to insert the palm trees into the cake). Move the cake to a stand and keep in the fridge until serving.

Now, excuse me as I continue to stare upon the bright blue sky. 😉

Monday Blues, Rocky Roads

My first day back to work had been quite uneventful and yet somehow I managed to be exhausted by the time I got home. It is Monday though. True to the classic Monday blues, I don’t seem to be able to shake off the anticipation of a long marathon of a week ahead, and I just hope it’s not going to be all rocky roads along the way. But, hey, life still goes on and I know I still need to be prepared for any challenges that may get thrown at me anytime. So, instead of letting myself be submerged in a feeling of dread. I am going to tell myself to live in the moment. As Kylie Minogue sang once, ‘Into the blue. With nothing to lose.” I am now game.

To start off the week though, you always need a bit of sugar! I was taught how to make rocky roads by a friend in uni, and it had since become one of my favourite snacks to make. Sweet, crunchy, soft and tang. They are literally small blocks jam-packed with all sort of goodies, and they only take a few minutes to prep!

Classic Rocky Roads

Quantity: 1 tray

Ingredients:

300g dark chocolate

100g digestive biscuits

100g mini marshmallows

50g sultanas

50g glace cherries

Method:

  1. Break chocolate into small chunks and place them in a large bowl.
  2. Melt chocolate using a double-boiler or a microwave.
  3. Break digestive biscuits into small pieces. Add them to the melted chocolate.
  4. Add marshmallows, sultanas and glace cherries into the mixture, and stir until well-mixed.
  5. Line a tray with baking paper. Spread the mixture evenly on the tray.
  6. Place the rocky road in the fridge for about 1 hour for the chocolate to set.
  7. When ready, cut the rocky road into even slices to serve.

This recipe is open to interpretation. You can replace sultanas and glace cherries with any dried fruits or nuts of your choosing. I found that dried mango and desiccated coconut also worked quite well for a tropical twist.

Wish you all rocky roads no more this week! (But you are allowed to eat rocky roads haha 😂)

Life Is Like a Box of Chocolates

As the famous quote in Forrest Gump goes, ‘you never know what you’re gonna get’. Life can get tough at times, but those sweetest and happiest moments also sometimes come at the most surprising times. However, one thing for certain is you can never have too much chocolates. This rich and moist chocolate cake covered in velvety chocolate ganache will be a delicious treat at any time you desire. In fact, life should be filled with chocolates!

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:

225g self-rising flour

85g cocoa powder

200g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

220ml milk

20ml flavourless oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

60 ml hot water

Chocolate Ganache:

240ml double cream

200g dark chocolate, chopped

20g unsalted butter, softened

Decorations (optional):

Coloured fondant, purple and green

White chocolate, block

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
  2. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder into a large bowl.
  3. Add all the other cake ingredients, apart from the hot water, into the flour mixture. Mix until it is well combined.  Then, gradually add in the hot water and mix until smooth.
  4. Grease the cake tin, and pour the cake batter into the tin. Bake the cake for 35-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out completely clean. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin before icing.
  5. To make the chocolate ganache, heat the double cream in a saucepan to boil.
  6. Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl, then pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
  7. Add the butter to the ganache mixture and whisk until it is fully incorporated.
  8. Leave the ganache to set at room temperature for about 1-2 hours before using it to ice the cake.
  9. Using a peeler, scrape the white chocolate block to create white chocolate shavings. Shape the coloured fondant into flowers and leaves.
  10. Decorate with coloured fondant flowers and white chocolate shavings before serving.