Blood Orange Cake with Polenta and Rosemary

I've had many a chance to try orange and polenta cake at various different restaurants but have never been interested in trying any, so why this recipe caught my eye, I  have no idea, perhaps its was the blood orange factor as I have never made anything with blood orange or perhaps it was the addition of rosemary as I wanted to try this in a cake. I love the fresh taste of rosemary and was curious to find out what it tastes like in a sweet dish.

It was a bit of a mission to make this cake with all of the juicing and other steps, but resulted in a beautifully moist and fresh flavoured cake. the only thing I wasn't sure on was the syrup which you top the cake with as I think I reduced mine a little too much, as it didn't sink into the cake, rather sat on the top as a kind of glaze.

The Recipe - Blood Orange Cake with Polenta and Rosemary from the KitchenAid cookbook
2 blood oranges
6 eggs
250g sugar
125g polenta
125g ground almonds
2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
1 tbsp baking powder
fromage frais to serve

Honey Syrup
8-12 blood oranges
200ml acacia honey

The Method
Was the 2 oranges and place in a pan, cover with water and cook gently for 1 hour, or until the oranges are tender. Drain the oranges well, then halve them and remove any pips, Put the oranges in a blender and process at puree speed.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 20cm springform tin. Whisk the sugar and eggs in the mixer with the wire whisk on speed 6 until pale and thick. Change to the flat beater and mix in the orange puree on speed 2. Then mix in the polenta,  almonds, rosemary and baking powder. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until well-risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin.

Meanwhile, make the honey syrup. Squeeze the blood oranges with the juicer on speed 6 until you obtain 400ml. Place in a pan with the honey and bring to the boil, then reduce to a syrup. Prick holes all over the surface of the cake with a skewer. Slowly pour over the syrup and leave to soak. Turn out the cake once all the syrup has been absorbed. Serve with fromage frais.

The cakes unusual flavour made you want to go back for more.

Melt and Mix Chocolate Cake

The lovely girls at work bought me a perfect gift for my birthday a new Chocolate cookbook!! Its called Chocolate a Fine Selection of Sweet Treats by Murdoch Books and I've been eager to try one of the beautifully laid out and photographed recipe's. As usual I spend more time trying to decide on what to bake than actually baking it. I decided on a cup cake recipe so that I could take it into work to share.

The Recipe - Melt and Mix Chocolate Cakes
Makes 12
150g unsalted butter, cubed
230g soft brown sugar
185ml freshly made espresso coffee
2 eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
125g self raising flour
30g plain flour
60g unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp bicarb of soda
icing sugar sifted for dusting

chocolate butter cream
250g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
60g unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp hot water

The Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. line a 12 hole standard muffin tin with paper cases.

Combine the butter, sugar and coffee in a saucepan over a  medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted  and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

Whisk the eggs into the butter mixture. In a separate bowl sift together the flours, cocoa and bicarb. Stir half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just combined. Add the remaining of the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Transfer the mixture to a jug and poor into the prepared tin. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer  comes out clean once inserted into the muffins. Allow the cakes to cool in the tin for 3 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the chocolate butter cream, place 125g of the icing sugar in a large bowl, add the cocoa and water and beat wit electric beaters until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar and beat until the butter cream is thick.

Spread the butter over the cooled cakes with a spatula or a flat bladed knife.

the un-iced cakes will store in a airtight container for up to 5 days or up to 2 once iced.

This recipe was dead simple, I love the kind of cakes  you can make in a pan, they always turn out alight and delicious and are not a problem when beating by hand like always used to.

Chocolate Balls of Goodness

For a treat over the weekend I asked my new hubby what he would like me to bake, he chose profiteroles so I used a cookbook he gave me for Christmas one year (Hotel Chocolat 101 Best Loved Chocolate Recipes) and made Terry Laybourne's Profiteroles with Hot Chocolate Sauce. It was a dead simple recipe with an impressive result.

The Recipe Terry Laybourne's Profiteroles with Hot Chocolate Sauce from Hotel Chocolat 101 Best Loved Chocolate Recipes

for the choux pastry

125ml water

125ml milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

100g unsalted butter

150g strong plain flour, sifted

4 eggs, beaten

for the filling

500ml vanilla or pistachio ice cream

for the chocolate sauce

100g dark chocolate

75ml milk

1 tbsp double cream

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp softened butter

The Method

To make the choux pastry, put the water, milk, salt, sugar and butter into a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil, take off the heat and immediately add all of the flour in one go, stirring well. return to the heat and beat vigorously until smooth. Continue cooking over a medium heat for a minute or two until the paste leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 3 minutes.

Weigh 200g of the beaten eggs. begin adding the egg to the mixture a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Once it is all incorporated, the choux pastry should be smooth, shiny and thick enough to pipe.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and grease a large baking tray. Put the choux pastry in a piping bag with a 12mm plain nozzle. Pipe 18 small mounds onto the baking tray, spacing them well apart. Bake for 10 minutes, lower the heat of the oven to 140 degrees C and bake for a further 20 minutes. transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the sauce, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. put the cream, milk and sugar into a pan. Bring to the boil. pour onto the melted chocolate, stirring well. return to the pan and bring just back to boil, take off the heat and whisk in the butter. Keep warm.

To assemble cut each choux bun in half and return to the oven for 3 minutes. Divide the choux bases between serving plates , allowing 3 per portion. Put a ball of ice cream on each base and top with the lids. Spoon hot chocolate sauce over the profiteroles and serve immediately.

I actually used fresh cream instead of ice cream and the turned out beautiful, the sauce is rich and delicious. I will be making this one again. I made my profiteroles slightly smaller and got more like 30 out of them.

Granary, Honey and Walnut Bread

I've somewhat neglected my blog the last few weeks but within reason. My other half decided that whilst in England we should get married so in a hurried 12 days we organised a wedding in a castle for 60 guests. It was fantastic but quite a lot of organising and I am still in my happy post wedding bubble. To make things even better my new hubby bought me a KitchenAid and so today I had to try it out. I made Honey and Walnut bread from the KitchenAid cookbook.

The recipe - Granary, Honey and Walnut Bread by KitchenAid The Cookbook

150g walnuts

1kg granary flour

1 tsp salt

7g dried yeast

2tbsp walnut oil

5tbsp honey

525ml lukewarm water

makes 2 loaves, prep 15 mins, cook 2 hrs)

The Method

Toast and roughly chop the walnuts. Mix the flour, salt and yeast in the mixer with the flat head beater on speed 2. Mix together the walnut oil, honey and  water. Change to a dough hook and gradually mix in the water mixture to the flour mixture, knead for 1 minute on speed 2. Please the dough in a greased bowl and cover with oil. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Mix the walnuts into the dough with the dough hook on speed 1, continue kneading the dough for 1 minute. Add a little flour if the dough seems sticky. Divide the dough into 2 portions and place in a 1kg loaf tin and leave to rise for 1 hour, or until the dough has risen to the top of the tin.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C and bake the loaves for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 200 degrees C. Bake for a further 30 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the base. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

This recipe was really good, the bread was tasty, dense and nutty. It was a cold day in my house and I was too impatient to let my dough rise enough, I think this would have lead to a lighter airier bread. I would also use a little more salt and a little less honey in my next attempt, and there will be a next attempt as it's pretty tasty bread.

Not my 'Favourite Chocolate Cake'

I was looking for a chocolate cake for my Bank Holiday BBQ, something rich and dense and finally picked Patrick Anthony's 'Favourite Chocolate Cake' from Hotel Chocolat 101 Best-Loved Chocolate Recipes.


Its definitely not my favourite chocolate cake, but this could have been the oven I was using cooking a little high. My cake looked like a mountain range and was a bit dry, his recipe states to serve with a raspberry ice cream which would have finished this off but I didn't have the time to make it.


The Recipe - Patrick Anthony's Favourite Chocolate Cake (from Hotel Chocolat 101 Best-Loved Chocolate Recipes)
A little oil to grease the pan
225g dark chocolate, (70% +), in pieces
110g butter
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
3 tbsp whisky, rum or orange liqueur
2 heaped tsp plain flour
50g walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional - I didn't use these)
cocoa powder and icing sugar to dust


Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly oil a 23cm springform cake tin, at least 8cm deep.


Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat, giving an occasional stir. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar. Next, add the eggs and beat into the mixture. Add your choice of booze, plus the flour and stir until well blended. Add the nits if using and stir to distribute.


Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake at the centre of the oven for 30 minutes. The cake will rise and sink back down and it might crack. Run a knife around the edge of the cake and leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then release the tin and place on a wire rack to cool. 


My cake looked like a hilly landscape and did not sink back down, it looked a little better when I had sprinkled cocoa and icing sugar all over it but was not the rich fudgy cake I was hoping for.

Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake

My mum taught me how to make the most easiest and delicious white chocolate cheesecake, and I swore at the time I would not need to find another recipe, but as I had the ingredients for Mary Berry's White Chocolate Cheesecake I thought I would give it a whirl.


The Recipe - Mary Berry's White Chocolate Cheesecake (Hotel Chocolat 101 Best Loved Chocolate Recipes)
For the Base
50g butter
150g plain chocolate digestive biscuits, crushed


For the Filling
300g white chocolate, in pieces
400g full-fat, cream cheese
2 eggs
150ml soured cream
1 tsp vanilla extract


To Serve
Cocoa powder, to dust
225g strawberries or raspberries

The Method
Preheat the over to 160 degree's C. Grease a 20cm spring form cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper.


Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, Stir in the crushed biscuits and press evenly over the base of the prepared tin. Chill in the fridge to firm up.


Melt the white chocolate in a bain marie stirring occasionally with a spoon until runny and smooth. Allow to cool slightly.


Whisk the cream cheese and eggs together in a large bowl until smooth, then add the soured cream and vanilla extract and whisk again until the mixture is completely smooth. Stir in the melted chocolate until combined.


Pour this mixture over the biscuit base in the tin and spread evenly. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until firm around the edges and just set in the middle. As you remove it form the oven, run a small palette knife around the edge of the cheese cake, and then leave to cool in the tin. The surface may crack slightly in the middle, but don't worry, this is part of the charm! Once cool, chill.


To serve, release the tin and remove the side, leaving the cheesecake on the base. Dust with cocoa and cut into slices topped with raspberries or strawberries.


This cheesecake was a great success at my Bank Holiday Monday BBQ, everyone loved it and the smallest slither was left which was gone by breakfast time. The cheesecake was creamy and smooth and with a chocolaty base was delicious with strawberries.

Jimmy's Chocolate Scones

Ages ago I found a scone recipe that I have been wanting to try for ages, but could I find it online again? So have found this one instead, as I have a high tea planned in a couple of weeks, so am pre-baking and freezing so I don't have to do so much on the actual day.


The Recipe - Jimmy's Chocolate Scone's


For the scones
1 ¾ c unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ c plus 1 Tbs unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
2 ¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbs cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/3 cup granulated sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the ganache
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (be sure to choose a good-quality chocolate that you’d enjoy eating on its own)
3/4 cup heavy cream

The Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Drop in the butter, and using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter chunks into the flour until they are reduced to pearl-sized nuggets. Stir in the granulated sugar. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, eggs, and vanilla.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients, add the chocolate chips, and stir to form a dough. The dough will be firm but moist, and a bit sticky to the touch. Knead the dough lightly in the bowl about ten times—or, as Jimmy has found, if the dough is too sticky, don’t worry about kneading. It is better to undermix than to overmix.

Form the dough into a 7- to 7 ½-inch round disk on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 6 wedges, and using a spatula, transfer the wedges to a baking sheet. Bake the scones for 17-18 minutes, or until set. Remove them to a rack to cool, and set the rack over a rimmed baking sheet.

To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until it is very hot and steamy (not boiling, but close), remove it from the heat, and pour it over the chocolate. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate is thoroughly melted. Use a spoon to drizzle the ganache over the cooled scones, and serve. [You will have leftover ganache, which can be refrigerated or frozen; the scones also freeze well and are remarkably good cold.

This recipe was taken from http://orangette.blogspot.com/2005/06/9-am-sunday-chocolate-chocolate-and.html 

Unfortunately I forgot about the scones whilst tucking into some lunch and slightly over cooked the scones. So my first attempt was not as good as I had hoped, I'll try these again next week when I'm more focussed on the cooking instead of the eating!!