Chocolate & Coconut Budino

This recipe was by Tobie Puttock from a recent Delicious magazine. A Budino is an Italian version of a self-saucing pudding. One tip that you probably don’t need, never attempt to make a self saucing pudding in a spring form tin, when you pour over the boiling water, it will leak straight out the bottom & you will have a big mess! Despite this minor disaster I managed to save the pudding by pouring extra water on top, banging it in the oven on a tray & crossing my fingers hoping for the best. The result was pretty darn good, I loved the addition of coconut for a bit of a change to your plain old chocolate pudding. I served it with some home made vanilla bean ice cream, yum.

Chocolate & Coconut Budino

1 cup (150g) plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder plus 2 tablespoons extra for topping
¼ cup (20g) desiccated coconut
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
40g unsalted butter, melted
½ cup (125ml) milk
1 egg
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
1 firmly packed cup (200g) brown sugar
halved strawberries & crème fraiche or ice cream or whatever takes your fancy to serve

Preheat oven to 175c & grease a 24cm non-stick metal pie or ceramic dish. Sift the flour, baking powder, cocoa & a pinch of salt into a large bowl, then stir in the coconut and caster sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the melted butter, milk, egg and vanilla seeds with a wooden spoon, then mix with the dry ingredients. Pour the mixture into the dish & set aside for a minute. Combine the extra cocoa powder & brown sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over the pudding, then carefully pour 1 cup boiling water over the top. Bake in the oven until the centre has puffed & the pudding feels firm – this should take about 30 minutes (If you’re using a ceramic dish it will take about 40-45 minutes).

Serve immediately with strawberries & ice-cream or whatever takes your fancy! Serves 4-6

Caramelised Pecan Tart

For Mothers day I made a couple of cakes to take along for the family lunch. One was a black forest cake which tasted great but was a bit of a disaster in that the top sort of fell apart so I wont be giving that recipe. The second offering was this pecan pie at my mum’s request. She had recently tried making one which didn’t quite work out so this was another recipe, this one from a recent Delicious Magazine, the original recipe also came with bourbon ice cream which I have skipped. Also I used normal everyday supermarket caster sugar as I have no idea what ‘golden’ caster sugar is. It was really very yummy & my mother has also approved, sorry about the crap photo taken very hurriedly on the paper plate before scoffing!

Caramelised Pecan Tart

225g plain flour, sifted
150g chilled unsalted butter, cubed, plus 120g for the filling
300g pecan halves, broken into pieces
150g runny honey
100ml thickened cream
2 tablespoons (40ml) bourbon or whiskey
5 egg yolks
150g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

For pastry, combine flour with a pinch of salt. Use your fingertips to rub in cubed butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (or whiz in a food processor). Add 2 tablespoon of iced water & stir with a knife (or whiz again) until pastry forms a ball. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface until smooth, then roll out & use to line a 24cm loose bottomed tart pan. Prick base with a fork & chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200c. Line pastry with baking paper & fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove paper & weights. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until pastry is a pale biscuit color.

Remove pastry case from oven & reduce oven temp to 190c. Spread nuts on a tray & toast for 5-6 minutes. Meanwhile warm honey, butter, cream & bourbon over low heat until butter melts. Beat yolks in a bowl, then stir in honey mixture, nuts, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg & a pinch of salt. Pour filling into pastry & bake for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

Chocolate Truffle Tarts

After all the apple cooking I have done of late, I finally got sick of cooking with the one fruit & decided I needed an intense chocolate fix. Megan was coming over for lunch so I hit her with these Chocolate Truffle tarts. As the name suggests it is pretty much a truffle though in tart form & with the added bonus of an oreo base & lots of luscious raspberries hidden in the tart & the cream it is served with. Very rich & delicious though you would struggle to eat more than one without feeling sick! A quick note, the recipe was to serve four yet I made eight & still had some chocolate mix leftover which with extreme willpower I threw out instead of just eating up. The recipe comes from a recent Delicious magazine.

Chocolate Truffle Tarts

150g chocolate cream biscuits (Oreo’s are what I used)
120g unsalted butter, melted
300ml thickened cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
300g raspberries
1 tablespoon icing sugar
½ cup cocoa powder, to dust

Lightly grease the base & sides of eight 8cm x 2cm loose bottomed tart pans. Process biscuits in a food processor until fine crumbs form. Add melted butter & process until well combined. Press biscuit mix firmly over bases of tart pans to cover. Chill while you make the filling.

Heat 200ml cream in a pan with the vanilla over low heat & bring to just below boiling point. Remove from heat, add chocolate & stir until melted. Transfer to a bowl & cool completely.

Using a fork, crush half the berries in a bowl. Spread over biscuit bases, then cover with chocolate mixture. Cover and freeze for 2-3 hours until firm. (Remove from freezer 30 minutes before serving.)

Combine icing sugar & remaining berries in a bowl. Crush with fork until sugar dissolves. Press mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl & discard seeds (I omitted this step being quite happy to have my berries seeds & all). Whip remaining 100ml cream & swirl through berry puree. Dust tarts with cocoa & top with berry cream

Raspberry Frangipane Tarts

Raspberries again, today in Frangipane tart form, recipe courtesy of Matthew Moran as featured in an old Delicious edition. The tarts were absolutely scrumptious & apart from the number of steps you need to take, all in all very simple. I have only one complaint with the recipe, it is supposed to make 8 & there was at least half of the pastry left over which is not too much of a problem as I froze it, but then there was also heaps of filling left over too which if I had of known I would have prepared extra shells to start with, as it was I was a bit stuffed by the time I got to that stage & threw the rest out, what a waste! Also take car not to overfill as I did as it all came spilling over the edges & Michael now has a nice mess in the oven to clean out for as in my current state I am not allowed to do much, I am lucky I am still allowed to cook occasionally!

Raspberry Frangipane Tarts

150g Raspberries
Icing sugar, to dust

Shortcrust pastry
90g icing sugar, sifted
2 cups (300g) plain flour
185g chilled unsalted butter
1 extra large egg

Frangipane
180g icing sugar
180g unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 ½ cups (180g) almond meal
1 ½ tablespoons dark rum

Sift the icing sugar onto a cool work surface (or large bowl as I used) & add the plain flour. Chop the chilled butter, then use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour & icing sugar until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Make a deep well in the centre of the dry mixture and add the egg. Gradually bring the dry ingredients into the centre, then combine with your hands to form a smooth ball. (Alternatively, process ingredients in a food processor until well combined). Enclose in plastic wrap & chill for 20 minutes, then divide pastry into 8 portions.

Roll out 1 pastry portion to 2.5mm thick on a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the rolling pin. Drape over the tart case & press into base & sides, the cut off excess. Repeat with remaining pastry & pans. Chill for 30 minutes.

For the frangipane, cream the butter & sugar until pale & thick (don’t over do or it will rise & collapse in the oven). Add the eggs one at a time, mixing continuously and adding some almond meal between additions. Slowly add the rum to the mixture until all ingredients are combined.

Preheat oven to 180c. Divide the frangipane mixture among the tart cases & smooth top. Press 6 raspberries gently into each tart & bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned & cooked through. Cool in pans for 5-6 minutes, serve warm dusted with icing sugar with left over raspberries & vanilla ice cream

Chocolate Espresso Cake

Last night I finally made my birthday cake to take in to work. I made this delectable Chocolate Espresso cake from a recent delicious magazine. It is very rich, being flourless & has 200g of very good dark chocolate, I used 85% cocoa solids. Last time I made it I served it with cream which is really unnecessary, if anything I would serve with some berries. YUM!

Chocolate espresso cake

200g good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped
1 tablespoon strong prepared espresso coffee
1 tablespoon rum or brandy
2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar
150g unsalted butter
¾ cup (90g) almond or hazelnut meal
5 eggs, separated
Icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 180c. Grease & flour a 24cm round or square cake pan.

Place the chocolate, coffee, rum or brandy, sugar & butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water until butter & chocolate have melted. Remove from heat & stir it all together.

Add almond or hazelnut meal (I have always used almond), & mix well. Using electric beaters, beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form. Stir in a couple of spoonfuls into the chocolate mixture, before gently folding in the rest.

Pour into pan & bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in pan before turning out & dust with icing sugar to serve.