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Sachertorte

“O prazer de nos elogiarmos a nós próprios…”*

Fernando Pessoa, O Livro do Desassossego

… Today I celebrate!!

*["free" translation: "The self-appraisal's pleasure..."]

Sachertorte

Serves 10-12:

200 g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
125 g butter
8 egg yolks
10 egg whites
16 g vanilla sugar
120 g caster sugar
125 g wheat flour
200 g apricot jam
100 g apricots, diced


Prepare the cake the day before:

Pre-heat the oven to 180º C.
Grease a pan (28 cms diameter).
Melt the chopped chocolate in a double boiler.
In a pan melt the butter in low heat.
Add the butter to the chocolate stirring gently.
Add the egg yolks stirring constantly.
Whip the egg whites and the sugars until the mixture form firm peaks (meringue).
Seive the flour.
Add 1/3 of the meringue to the chocolate mixture.
Gradually and gently fold the flour.
Add the remaining meringue.
Pour the mixture into the pan.
Bake for 40 minutes
Let cake cool a few minutes then carefully remove onto a cake plate and set aside for one day.

Chocolate glaze


Chocolate sauce:

50 g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
100 ml water
30 g caster sugar
50 ml heavy cream


Chocolate icing:

100 g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
160 ml cream
40 g de butter, softened


Start with the chocolate sauce:

In a pan bring to boil in low heat the chocolate, sugar and cream.
Stir constantly until it gets creamy
Remove from heat and set aside.


To make the chocolate icing:

Bring the cream to boil.
Pour the cream over the chocolate, stirring gently in an outward movement.
Let it cool down for a couple of minutes and add the softened butter, stirring as less as possible.


Fold the chocolate sauce into the icing.


Carefully cut the cake twice making three layers.
Whisk the jam and bring to boil.
Spread the jam between layers and add the apricot.
While the glaze is still slightly warm glaze the cake by gently pouring and spreading on the top and sides.
Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Keep the cake for 2 hours at room temperature before serving.


Serve with semi whipped cream, chocolate glaze, apricot jam and chocolate.


Note: I had an hard time trying to figure out the english terms for “chocolate sauce” and “chocolate icing” (frosting?)… If this doesn’t sounds correct please leave me a comment or send me an e-mail. Thank you!

August 25, 2008 | Filed under cakes, muffins and madeleines, chocolate, custards, fillings, sauces, and glazes | 7 Comments 

Tea and a warm cake

Between the green leaves of our tree on the window, light fills the house in small living shadows…
Tea and cake get involved in the complicity of a warm kiss.

Sour cream streusel cake


Serves 8:


Cake:

4 egg yolks
1,5 dl sour cream
175 g melted butter (at room temperature)
200 g wheat flour
200 g sugar
1 ts. baking powder
1 ts. baking soda
vanilla
salt

Streusel:

100 g brown sugar
25 g sugar
63 g walnuts
63 g hazelnuts
Cinnamon powder
65 g wheat flour
60 g butter, diced
1 apple, diced


Pre-heat the oven to 180º C.

Streusel:

Chop the nuts and combine with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Combine flour and butter with your hand until crumbly.
Add half of the nuts mixture.
Set aside the other half.

Cake:

Mix the egg yolks with 1/4 of sour cream and vanilla. Set aside.
Combine together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add melted butter and stir well until it gets spongy and creamy.
Combine with the egg yolks mixture.

Pour half of the batter on the pie pan.
Spread the sugar mixture, nuts and apple on top.
Pour the remaining batter.
Finish with the streusel.

Bake for 1 hour, covering the cake with aluminum foil at 45 minutes.

Serve with more streusel, fruit or nuts.

August 24, 2008 | Filed under cakes, muffins and madeleines, cookies, biscuits and tuiles | 1 Comment 

“It’s a miracle!”

Today I had my first dinner in two days… The raviolis tasted like the exhaustion of the culinary school days’ when my back and my legs asked for rest.
On the other hand, my refrigerator looks like a true patisserie full of desserts and as much as I try, they seem to last forever… I even lost 2 pounds… wasn’t supposed that all these things had sugar on them? wasn’t I supposed to gain weight?
I’m so excited that I don’t have any time to think about it:

“- It’s a miracle!”

Passion fruit cold soufflé

Serves 4:


200 ml passion fruit pulp, seived
5 eggs
5 gelatin sheets
350 ml cream
130 g caster sugar

Cut 4 strips of aluminum foil with a sufficient length to cover the perimeter of the ramekins.
Put the foil around the ramekins and tie with a string.
Grease the ramekins with vegetal oil and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Hydrate the gelatin with some pulp.
Whisk the egg yolks with sugar until the mixture gets white and thick.
Heat the pulp with the gelatin, until it dissolves.
Add the gelatin to the egg mixture, stirring constantly and the remaining passion fruit pulp.
Refrigerate to slightly thicken the mixture (10 minutes).
Combine with the semi whipped cream, then with the whipped egg whites.
Pour the mixture into the ramekins and refrigerate ( hours minimum).
Sprinkle with powdered rose sugar before serving.

August 23, 2008 | Filed under mousses | 6 Comments 

“Un rendez-vous tropical”

Mango and coconut flognarde.

Serves 6-8:

80 g sugar
60 g flour
15 g butter
250 ml coconut milk
3 eggs
400 g mango, diced
Icing sugar to sprinkle

Pre-heat the oven to 180º C.
Grease with melted butter a pie pan (22 cms diameter).
Put the mango on the pan.
Combine flour and sugar while adding the coconut milk and melted butter and the whisked eggs, stirring until mixture is uniform.
Pour the batter over the mango.
Bake for 45 minutes.

Serve warm and sprinkled with icing sugar.

Flognarde is a variation of the typical french clafoutis.

The difference is on the kind of fruit used:
- The clafoutis is made exclusively with cherries;
- The flognard is made with any other kind of fruit.

August 22, 2008 | Filed under desserts, puddings and soufflés | 10 Comments 

Blinis with greek youghurt and red currant caviar

Elegantly dressed… ceremoniously eccentric…
My exquisite wish:

- Delicious blini with the taste of the best “caviar”…

Blinis

Serves 8:

3 egg yolks
½ tbsp olive oil
3 dl warm milk
20 g yeast
2 g salt
75 g melted butter
250 g AP flour
3 egg whites
6 tbsp sugar

Dissolve yeast with warm milk.
In the mixer, with the dough hook attached, mix the flour with egg yolks, olive oil, warm milk, salt, butter and at last the previously dissolved yeast.
Whisk well until you have a thick batter, then cover the bowl with a clean cloth and leave it in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Whisk up the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and add the sugar.
Gently fold the meringue into the batter.
Cover with the cloth again and leave as before for another hour.
In a heavy-based pan in low heat with a bit of melted butter pour 1 tbsp of batter and let the blinis get golden brown on both sides.

…the first one usually doesn’t come up very well!

There are special blini pans that makes this process a lot easier, but a normal pan is also pretty good for this.

Traditionally, this russian “pancakes” are served with crème fraîche and caviar or smoked salmon. These I serve with red currants and sweetened greek youghurt.

August 20, 2008 | Filed under crepes, blinis and pancakes | 7 Comments 

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