Flourless Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Cream

This is my second recipe for Chocolate Week and it's a fabulous dessert for the weekend ahead, no more difficult than a chocolate brownie, the method is actually pretty similar, the caramel cream served with the cake really makes this something special. There is no denying it's on the richer side the spectrum so if you want to lighten it up a little you can always serve it with some poached pear, something fresh to cut through the richness of the chocolate and cream. For me this is best served fairly quickly after baking when it is at is lightest, made with whisked egg white the cake melts in the mouth, but over time the cake becomes a little more brownie like, especially if you refrigerate it.

For the caramel cream, the way to get that rich and dark, almost bitter flavour is to properly caramelise the sugar. Place the sugar into a small pan and cook over medium heat. Once it has melted and started to caramelise you need to watch it carefully, it can burn quickly. If the sugar doesn't caramelise enough the cream will end up just tasting sweet, you need to take it right to the edge, stopping just before it burns. If the finished caramel, before adding the cream, has the colour of a dark rusty penny you should be set. 

If you fancy trying the dish for yourself I will be making this on stage at the Chocolate Show at Earls court this upcoming weekend (on the 16th at 2pm) and I'll be bearing samples. 

Flourless Chocolate Cake
200g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate (around 65-70% cocoa solids)
5 large eggs, separated
150g light brown sugar
50g caster sugar

Salted Caramel Cream
100g caster sugar
Pinch of flaked sea salt
400ml double cream

To make the cream place the sugar into a saucepan and cook over medium/high heat it has melted and caramelised, turning the colour of an old rusty penny. Add the salt and swirl to combine. Pour in the cream, adding in two additions, pouring slowly as it may bubble up violently. If there are any lumps of caramel, place back over the heat and cook until smooth. Pour into a bowl and press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the cream and chill until thoroughly chilled..

To make the cake line the base of a 9-inch springform tin with parchment paper and lightly grease the tin with a little butter. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).

Place the butter and chocolate into a bowl set over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted. Remove and set aside for the moment. Place the egg yolks and brown sugar into a large bowl and using an electric whisk mix together for about 5 minutes until thick and pale. Pour in the chocolate mixture and mix until smooth and combined. 

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks then sprinkle in the sugar and whisk until the meringue holds soft glossy peaks. Add the meringue to the chocolate mixture in three additions, folding gently to combine. When no streaks of egg whites remain gently pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature (it will collapse in the middle but don’t worry you want that to happen)

Serve the cake at room temperature, topped with some of the cream whipped to soft peaks.

Chocolate Sables

It is National Chocolate Week here in the UK and that means it is also Chocolate Week here on The Boy Who Bakes. Over the weekI will posting a whole host of utterly delicious and decadent chocolate recipes. Im starting the week with a doozy, Chocolate Sables, from my book Patisserie Made Simple. 

Im not just baking these just because they’re delicious, and boy are they delicious, I’m baking them because im joining in with the wonderful #cookiesandkindness project launched by Dorie Greenspan. It is such a simple idea, bake a batch of cookies and share them with someone, posting about it online to show the world that there is still a lot of love out there. Every month Dorie will post a recipe on her website as a suggestion but you can bake whatever you fancy, just share the love, and the cookies of course. I bake these cookies on a regular basis, with or without the chocolate coating, and it makes a lot, a natural to share. When making the dough it’s formed into two logs and sliced into cookies. I bake off one half of the cookies for now and the second batch are refrigerated or frozen for a later date. So when making these to share why not do the same thing, it extends the happiness. giving a batch of cookies and a batch of cookie dough, the perfect gift.

To find out more about the #cookiesandkindness project and to get the story on how Dorie got into food I popped across the channel to Paris so we could record an episode of Stir The Pot together. I have met Dorie before but after spending an evening together I can honestly say that Dorie is one of the kindest, most encouraging and passionate people I have met. This episode of the podcast is a gem and if you love food and baking (if you don't how on earth did you get here) I would thoroughly recommend you to give it a listen. If I could also ask a big favour, if you are liking the podcast could you also help spread the love and tweet about it, leave a review on iTunes, or simply subscribe, it would mean the world!

Chocolate Sables

The Chocolate Sablé is the little black dress of biscuits: reliable, grown-up and with just a little hint of naughtiness! They take no time at all to make, but the rewards are bountiful. I use 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt in these biscuits, which might seem like a lot to some people, but salt and chocolate were meant to be together – it highlights the chocolate flavour and enhances the overall taste. Just don’t use table salt; you need a good flaked sea salt, such as fleur de sel. To dress up these cookies even more, I have dipped them in tempered chocolate and sprinkled them with cacao nibs, but this is optional – they are still a wonderful treat without it.

Makes 40

For the sablé dough
275g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
200g unsalted butter at room temperature, diced
50g caster sugar
200g light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g dark chocolate (60–70% cocoa solids), finely chopped

For the coating
250g dark chocolate (60–70% cocoa solids), tempered
cacao nibs, to sprinkle (optional)

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a medium bowl and add the sea salt, then stir together. Set aside.

Put the butter in large mixing bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and light. Add the sugars and vanilla extract, and beat together for 2 minutes until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix together until you have a mixture that looks sandy (which is what sablé means in English), add the chocolate and mix to combine. The final dough should look almost like soil; it should not have formed into one large ball of dough. This is the key to getting the correct texture; mixed for too long the biscuits will be tough.

Tip out the mixture onto a work surface and gently press together to form a uniform dough. Divide in half and roll into two logs, 4cm thick.

Wrap in clingfilm and put them in the fridge to chill for 3 hours or until firm. (At this point you can freeze the dough for baking at a later date, or do as I do and bake one half of the dough and freeze the second.)

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan oven)/gas 4 and line three baking trays with baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and, using a thin, sharp knife, cut into rounds about 1cm thick. Put the biscuits onto the baking trays, leaving 2cm between each one. Bake for 10–12 minutes until set around the outside but still soft in the centre.

Leave the biscuits to cool on the trays for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Once the biscuits are cool, dip each one halfway into the tempered chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off. Put onto the prepared tray and sprinkle with a few cacao nibs before allowing the chocolate to set fully at room temperature. The biscuits will keep for up to one week stored in an airtight container.

Tip
Although I have given a suggestion for the cocoa percentages of the chocolate used in this recipe it is purely a guide; you can use whichever chocolate you prefer. The key is to use one that you love.

(recipe is taken from my book Patisserie Made Simple by Kyle Books and the recipe photograph is by Laura Edwards)

Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread

Sometimes it’s the simple things that satisfy the most. A couple weeks back, I was doing some work for Kitchenaid and I needed to whip up 5 recipes, all simple enough to demo in a short amount of time. I had only a couple hours to prep but I still wanted the recipes to be delicious and attractive and really it’s hard to think of anything easier than shortbread. It is one of those wonderful recipes that relies on the easiest of ratios, simply 1-2-3, one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour, easy. All I’ve done differently is add lots of beautiful green pistachios (available here) and a little salt and lemon zest to boost the flavour. Whilst that would be tasty enough as it is I am prone to gilding the lilly, so to add a little extra luxury these humble biscuits were dipped in tempered chocolate, and trust me it is so well worth the effort, the prep kitchen was swarming with people who munched there way through these, which I took as a firm sign of approval.

Classically shortbread is made by rubbing cold butter into flour and sugar, almost like making pastry and that makes a fine biscuit but I make mine by beating the butter and sugar until fluffy then gently mixing in the flour, simply because this makes the biscuits a little lighter and I prefer the texture this way, but really it is up to you this recipe will happily work either way, the only thing I would say is don’t skip the salt with such simple ingredients a little bit of salt really helps to lift the flavour and it works wonders with the pistachios, lemon zest and chocolate.

Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread

100g unrefined golden caster sugar
200g unsalted butter, room temperature
Zest of 1 lemon
275g plain flour
Large pinch flaked sea salt
75g pistachios, roughly chopped, plus extra for decoration
200g dark chocolate

To make the shortbread place the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl and using an electric mixer beat together for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Scrape the bowl down and add the flour, salt and pistachios, mixing together briefly until it comes together as a dough. Tip the dough out onto the work surface and bring together into a ball and divide into two equal pieces. Place each piece of dough between sheets of clingfilm or parchment paper and rollout into 1cm thick rectangles, about 10 inches long, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate until firm. 

Preheat the oven to 170C (150C fan) and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Cut the dough into 1-inch thick fingers and dock with a fork. Place the biscuits onto the prepared baking trays and bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully. 

For the chocolate place into a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until about three quarters of the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl and mix vigorously with a spatula until fully melted (this is a quick method of tempering the chocolate). Dip the shortbread halfway into the chocolate, allow the excess to drip off then set onto a clean sheet of parchment, decorating with a few extra chopped pistachios. Once the chocolate has set, devour! (If you really have to, the biscuits will keep for 3-4 days in a sealed container.)

Blood Orange Jaffa Cakes

Do you ever get cravings for things you loved as a kid? For me it is butterscotch Angel Delight (which of course is the best flavour), Jaffa Cakes and Custard Creams. When I was younger, actually who am I kidding still now, I had a very specific way of eating a Jaffa Cake. You nibble the cake around the edge avoiding the jelly, gently peel the sponge from the back and then place the chocolate coated jelly into your mouth, sucking off the chocolate. Weird? A little! Delicious, Absolutely! You can of course make these with regular oranges but I have a slight obsession with blood oranges. I have a wonderful greengrocers near my house and at the moment I seem unable to buy any other fruits or vegetables without also buying a glut of beautiful blood oranges. I maybe obsessed but when blood oranges come into season I have to get my fill, it's a long wait for them to come back into season, so whilst I can get them they're a constant presence in my kitchen.

The idea of Jaffa Cakes is simple enough - a spongy base topped with orange jelly and coated in chocolate, seems straightforward? Thankfully they're actually as simple as you would hope. I used a genoise sponge as the base, a simple blood orange jelly, topped with melted chocolate. So far so easy but there is one slightly tricky part, adding the chocolate. You cant dip them, so you have to gently tease the chocolate with a spoon, its not difficult just fiddly. 

Blood Orange Jaffa Cakes

Sponge Base
2 large eggs
60g golden caster sugar
60g plain flour
30g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Blood Orange Jelly
160ml blood orange juice
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
2 sheets of gelatine
150g dark chocolate
 

To make the jelly place the blood orange juice and the sugar into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, dissolving the sugar. Meanwhile, place the gelatine into a bowl of cold water, setting aside until softened. Once the sugar has dissolved remove the gelatine from the water, squeezing off any excess water and add to the juice mixture, stirring together until full dissolved. 

Line a 9-inch round cake pan with clingfilm and pour in the jelly mixture, chilling in the fridge for a few hours until set.

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C Fan) and lightly grease two 12-hole muffin pans. 

To make the sponge bases place the eggs and sugar into a large bowl and using an electric mixer whisk together for about 5 minutes until pale and thickened. In two additions sieve over the flour and gently fold together. Pour in the butter and fold together until fully combined. Divide the batter between the prepared pans, about 1 tbsp of batter per base and bake in the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before carefully teasing the cakes out of the pans (they tend to stick a little bit but with a little teasing they pop right out).

Remove the jelly from the fridge and using a 4cm cut out 24 disc of jelly and place on the middle of each sponge base. For the topping place the chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and in 30 second bursts heat until about 3/4 of the chocolate is melted, remove from the microwave and stir until fully melted (this is a quick simple way of tempering chocolate, great when using small amounts).

To decorate the cakes use a teaspoon to spread chocolate over the top of the jelly, gently teasing it to the edges of the cakes. To give the classic Jaffa Cake look use a fork and gently press the tines onto the chocolate and lift up, do this after coating each cake as the chocolate needs to be fluid to achieve this look. 

These cakes will keep for up to two days.