December 24-25, 2010: Dark and white chocolate tiles

My family is pretty casual about Christmas (see, for example, last year's menu of pizza and icecream) so I went low-key when planning dessert for our lunchtime picnic.  After flicking through a few cookbooks I found the perfect things in the dessert-focused Tempted.  This book was a Christmas gift from Michael's brother Matt a few years ago, which made it even more perfect. 

I've played around with the basic fruit-and-nut-chocolate idea many times before but these recipes, for rum and raisin bagatelles and white chocolate bark, used combinations I wouldn't have thought of myself.  Even better, they made use of white chocolate, raisins, currants and shredded coconut left over from our Xmas party dishes.

I was particularly pleased to use up the white chocolate, as Michael and I don't much enjoy eating it on its own.  We did not expect the white chocolate bark to be our favourite of the day but it was the picnic's prom queen.  It's sweet, sure, but the apricots were tangy and the roastedness of the macadamias added a little depth.

Rum and raisin is an old favourite combination of Michael's yet not one I'm fond of.  But there we were with raisins and even white rum in the house so I soaked those raisins, melted some dark chocolate, and stirred through some shredded coconut and pine nuts as directed.  Yes, pine nuts!  I was intrigued and, sadly, disappointed.  All the pine nuts around seemed a little stale and there were too many of them here.  If I were to make this again (and I'm pretty sure Michael would like me to), I'd double the rum and raisins and halve the quantity of pine nuts.  I still believe they've got a 'lil something to contribute.

The rum and raisin bagatelles were supposed to be shaped into haphazard little balls but they pretty ugly to boot, and I decided to mimic the first recipe and form an equally ugly but much less fiddly sheet of chocolate to break into tiles.  It might be prettier, on reflection, if half of the pine nuts and/or coconut were reserved for sprinkling on top.  No one was too fussed on Christmas day, though - we had a very pleasant couple of hours lazing and grazing in a nearby park, prioritising relaxation over presentation.


White chocolate bark
(a half-quantity of a recipe in Tempted: 150 Very Wicked Desserts)

75g macadamia nuts, chopped
125g white chocolate
60g dried apricots, finely chopped
25g currants

Preheat an oven to 180°C.  Line a tray with baking paper and spread the macadamias over it.  Roast the nuts until lightly browned, just 5-6 minutes, and give them a couple of interim shakes for even cooking.  Set the nuts aside to cool, reserve the tray and paper for the chocolate.

Gently melt the chocolate in a saucepan, then stir in two-thirds of the macadamias, apricots and currants.  Pour the mixture onto the lined tray, spreading it to less than 1cm thickness.  Sprinkle over the remaining macadamias, apricots and currants, gently pressing them into the chocolate.  Refrigerate the chocolate until set, then break it into chunks to serve.



Rum and raisin tiles
(adapted from a recipe in Tempted: 150 Very Wicked Desserts)

100g raisins (next time I'd double this)
1 tablespoon white rum (next time I'd double this)
50g shredded coconut
100g pine nuts (next time I'd halve this)
400g dark chocolate

Stir the rum through the raisins in a small bowl and leave them to soak for at least an hour.

Preheat an oven to 150°C.  Line a baking tray with paper.  Spread the coconut over the tray and gently toast it until golden, 5-10 minutes, giving the coconut a couple of interim shakes for even cooking.  Set the coconut aside and use the same method to gently toast the pine nuts.

Gently melt the chocolate in a saucepan.  Drain the raisins and stir them into the chocolate; stir in the coconut and pine nuts.  (Alternatively, reserve half of the coconut and pine nuts for a prettier presentation.)  Pour the mixture onto the lined tray, spreading it to less than 1cm thickness.  If you have reserved coconut and pine nuts, sprinkle them over the chocolate sheet, gently pressing them into the chocolate.  Refrigerate the chocolate until set, then break it into chunks to serve.

January 14, 2007: Chocolate star anise cake with coffee caramel cream

On Mum and Carol's second visit to our place I knew there'd have to be dessert of some description: after any meal they are just as likely as I to start craving something sweet. On their last visit we introduced Bev and Carol to Koko Black, and this time I figured it was my turn to prepare something; something from our new dessert cookbook. Of course there must be chocolate involved, yet this still left 62 recipes to choose from! Emma and Michael perused my shortlist, discarded a few, and after a couple of days deliberation, I selected the chocolate star anise cake with coffee caramel cream. Bev's chocolate consumption is invariably teamed with a cup of coffee, and we share a preference for rich, creamy desserts. The presence of ground star anise piqued my interest: in recent years I've become hooked on chocolate spiked with chilli, chai, mountain pepper, and other aromatic spices.

On Saturday Michael and I had braved the city shops, armed with a Coles-Myer gift voucher, and I came away with a spring-form cake tin, but not an oven thermometer. (It seems others bought up Melbourne's entire stock for their Christmas roasts!) The tin was a breeze to use, with the cake neatly coming away from the sides and base. However, in about 10 minutes less than the recommended baking time, my cake developed a burnt layer about 1 mm thick along the base and 2-3 mm thick along the side. Even so, I would not have wished to cook the centre of the cake for any less time. Clearly I have yet to master our fan-forced oven, and I'm hoping that the acquisition of an oven thermometer might speed my progress.

Even with this minor hitch, the cake was quite a success! I was a bit concerned that the recipe didn't include a rising agent, and it was only 4-5 cm tall, yet it wasn't overly dense in texture. The cake had only a mild to medium chocolate flavour, and this allowed the star anise to come forward and add depth, rather than richness. The elevation from simple to decadent dessert was the coffee caramel (double) cream, which had just the right amount of coffee bitterness but was too sweet for my taste.

Food styling (i.e. the selection of the least-wilting sprig of mint from the bottom of the fridge) was provided by Emma.

Chocolate star anise cake with coffee caramel cream
(from tempted: 150 very wicked desserts)

Ingredients:
200g dark chocolate
125g unsalted butter
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
115g caster sugar
50g plain flour, sifted
2 teaspoons ground star anise
50g ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C, and grease a 23cm round springform cake tin.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a saucepan over a pan of simmering water.

Beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until thickened, about 5 minutes. Fold in the flour, star anise and almond meal, then fold in the melted chocolate mixture. Look how it sinks to the bottom in the 4th picture! Don't worry if it's all a bit runnier than a normal cake batter.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until it passes the skewer test: stick the skewer gently in the centre, if it comes out clean your cake is done! Cool it in the tin for at least 5 minutes before transferring it onto a wire rack.

Serve cold with coffee caramel cream.

To make the coffee caramel cream: Whip together 125mL double cream, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of cooled espresso coffee. If you're not much of a sweet tooth, consider reducing the sugar to 1-2 tablespoons.