Flourless Chocolate Cake

I always wanted to try making a flourless cake but never got to try it. The ingredients seemed like a brownie recipe, except lighter, with eggwhite mixture to make it fluffy and light as air.  Definitely this is an easy dessert to impress your guest!

Ingredients:

12 oz Guitard 75% bittersweet chocolate
5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) butter
5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) milk
5 tablespoons (1/3 cup) finely ground almonds
4/5 cup (180 g) sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, separated

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F (Gas mark 4 or 180 deg C).


2. Line a 9 in (23 cm) cake tin with grease proof or other non-stick paper and grease the tin.


3. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with butter and milk over hot water.


4. Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar.


5. Fold in the melted butter and chocolate mixture.


6. Fold inn ground almonds and baking powder.


7. Beat egg whites until frothy by using an electric mixer; gradually add the remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.


8. Fold in the beaten egg whites.


9. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Please note that cakes of this type will collapse and look like a pie (see the picture).

The Flourless Chocolate Cake may be served warm or cold with whipped cream. The cream may be dusted with cocoa powder before serving, and the cake may be dusted with powdered sugar.

Packaging the Toffee...

Packaging the toffee was the fun part.I bought ready made kits fromMichaels, they come in different sizes. Here are some pics.

Chocolate Almond Buttercrunch Toffee

Finally, I found a recipe that I liked, the key ingredient was the butter. I had to try different brands to get the results I wanted. The recipe is as follows:

• 1 lb unsalted butter


• ½ tea. table salt


• 2 cups granulated sugar


• 3 tbsp. water ( or 2 tbs of water, and 1 tbs of corn syrup)


• 1 cup slivered almonds (do not use sliced almonds)


• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (chips are fine)


• 1½ -2 cups lightly toasted pecans (or walnuts), finely chopped

Melt ¾ of chocolate over hot water or in a microwave oven at half power for 2-3 minutes. When melted, stir in remaining chocolate and set aside. Line a large jelly roll or half-sheet pan with heavy-duty foil and butter the foil.

Melt the butter with the salt in a heavy 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Slowly add the sugar, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Add the water about halfway through this process.

After all the sugar is added, begin testing the mixture to see if the sugar is dissolved. Place a drop of mixture on wax paper; allow it to cool and rub it between your fingers to make sure it doesn’t feel grainy. If it does, continue to cook and test again. The mixture will probably be boiling at this point.

When sugar is dissolved, add the almonds, and increase the heat to medium high. Cook to the hard-crack stage, or about 310-320 degrees on a candy thermometer, stirring often to keep the candy from burning on the bottom. When it’s done, it should be a medium-dark amber color and have a caramel aroma. The almonds should have a toasted color but they should not burn. This is the tricky part, as there’s a thin line between perfect and overdone, and to some extent it’s a matter of taste.

Remove from heat and pour into the prepared pan, spreading as evenly as possible with an offset spatula. Be careful, this stuff is hot! Set the pan on a cooling rack. After 2-3 minutes, when toffee is just set, pour reserved chocolate on top and spread evenly. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, and press them in gently with a spatula or bottom of a glass to anchor them in the chocolate.

Allow the toffee to harden at least 6-8 hours—overnight is better. Break into pieces using a sharp pointed knife with a rigid blade, or you can use your hands. Store in an airtight container in a cool place. Makes about 3 pounds.

Chocolate: I tried to get Valhrona chocolate but the store was out. I tried this Scharffen Berger chocolate in  semisweet (62% cacao) and bittersweet (75%).

Fleur de sel: This is like the first time i have seen or used this. Its basically the best sea salt there is.  Here is some info on this salt:

Fleur de sel is a type of sea salt obtained by hand harvesting the "young" crystals that form on the surface of salt evaporation ponds. The harvesting of fleur de sel always takes place in the summer months when the sun is strongest. Most fleurs de sel claim to have higher mineral contents than table salts and often smell deliciously like the ocean.

Nuts: I got two types of almonds, slivered, and chopped. I roasted them to bring out the aroma and roasted flavors.

Something Homemade Project Part II

For my second attempt, i didn't want to try anything fancy, just something simple that looks like a toffee. I tried another recipe from JoyOfBaking.com.

The results: They came out okay. The recipe was entirely used with brown sugar, so there was a strong molasses taste.  But i wasn't completely satisfied, it didn't taste like toffee, it tasted more like brittle.

Something Homemade Project...Part I

A few of my friends decided to do a "something homemade project" . The requirements were simple, we had to make something from scratch, and then mail it to each other as a surprise.  I thought what can I possibly do that is decent and not scare people,  and i couldn't think of making anything except baking...but at least for the challenge, I wanted to make something I haven't done before.

I started by doing some research on what looked good. I looked at martha stewart.com and was ready to make something like this, and then I saw this post on buttercrunch toffee and fell in love! It looked pretty easy to do and so I said okay I am going to make a variation of it and make bite size toffee.

So, first thing, I went and bought a candy thermometer, and a candy mold from Michaels.





I followed the recipe for the toffee part and poured it to the mold. Then added chocolate chips, and nuts. Simple enough right?? Wrong!! The toffee came out very sugary, and the sugar crystalized. I did some reasearch and they said I needed to use wooden spoon to prevent that and stir as little as possible, bla bla bla. Okay fine, I'll try again. But here are the results...it was not buttery nor crunchy. More to come soon.

Crème Brûlée

Ingredients:

• 6 egg yolks


• 1/3 cup granulated white sugar


• 2 cups heavy cream or half and half


• 1 vanilla bean (split and scraped)


• 1 teaspoon of white sugar (to caramelize the top)

 

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2) Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes.  Take out the vanilla bean.

3) In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended. Add the cream from step one a little at a time, stirring continually.

4) Pour the liquid into 6 ramekins. Place the ramekins into a large cake pan or roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

5) Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the middle is set.

6) Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

7) Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top.  Put 1 teaspoon of sugar and spread evenly on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.