Chocolate Decadent Cake

 
Adapted from a George Brown College course - Art of Cakes

For 1 23cm (9") cake

Bittersweet Chocolate, chopped - 450 g
Butter, room temperature - 140 g
Eggs, separated - 5
Cream of Tartar - 1/8 teaspoon (1/2 g)
Sugar - 50 g
Flour - 10 g - Optional!!! Can be substituted with rice flour, cornstarch or omitted!!

- Line the baking pan with parchment paper and spray the paper with some oil.
- Place the chocolate and butter into a bowl and heat over a water bath until melted.
- Place the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar into a mixing bowl, whip until medium soft peaks. Make sure not to whip to hard peaks.
- Fold the flour (if using) into the egg whites. Be careful not to deflate the egg whites.
- Whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate until blended.
- Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture 1/3 at a time. Mix just until incorporated. Do not over mix!!
- Pour the batter into the pan and spread evenly.
- Bake at 400F/200C for 20-25 minutes until the sides are set but the center is still a little bit liquid.
- Cool the cake completely to room temperature before serving.

Comments:
- This cake is much better when served at room temperature and it reminds more of a chocolate cream than of a cake.
- Original recipe called for a chocolate glaze, but I find it too much. This cake is very rich without it.

Ricotta Bagels

Flour - 300 g (might need a couple of teaspoons more)
Baking powder - 3 teaspoons
Sugar - 100 g
Ricotta - 140 g
Egg - 1, separated
Milk - 80 ml
Grape seed oil (or any other oil with no taste) - 20 ml

- Mix egg white and sugar, add ricotta, oil, milk and mix until everything is incorporated.
- Sift flour and baking powder add it to the ricotta mixture.
- Mix to get a nice soft dough, if it is too sticky, add some more flour.
- Divide the dough into 6 parts and divide each part into 3 more parts.
- Roll each part into a very long log, put three of them together and make a braid, then make bagels out of the braids.
- Mix the egg yolk with a tablespoon of milk and brush the bagels with it.
- Sprinkle some sugar on top of the bagels and bake at 200C for 20 minutes (if it's too pale after 20 minutes, then put the grill on for a couple more minutes to get some colour).

Comments:
- I just realized that I put only 1 teaspoon of baking powder in my dough and the bagels turned out really good. I guess 3 teaspoons would make them a bit more puffy.
- I ended up using more flour because my dough was too sticky at the end.
- They are really good and not too fattening.

Banana Bread

Adapted from "How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson

Raisins - 65 g
Dried apricots - 35 g
Dark rum - 75 ml
All-purpose flour - 100 g
Bread flour - 75 g
Baking powder - 2 teaspoons
Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Unsalted butter, melted - 113 g (1 stick)
Sugar - 150 g
Eggs, large - 2
Ripe bananas, mashed - 300 g (about 3 large)
Pecans, chopped - 90 g
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

- Line a 23x13x7 cm loaf pan with baking paper.
- Put the raisins, dried apricots and rum into a small saucepan, bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, cover and leave for an hour, or until the raisins and apricots have absorbed most of the liquid, then drain.
- Cut the dried apricots into small raisin size pieces .
- Preheat the oven to 170C.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix.
- In a large bowl, mix the melted butter and sugar until combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the mashed bananas.
- Mix in the pecans, drained fruit and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture, a third at a time, stirring well after each bit.
- Scrape the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 75-90 minutes. An inserted toothpick should come out clean.

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake ( one 9-inch/23-cm cake)

Eggs - 6
Sugar - 180 g
Salt - 2.5 g (a pinch)
Lemon juice - 25 g
Rum - 25 g (or more)
Vanilla - 2.5 g
Ground carrots - 375 g
Bread flour - 50 g
Baking powder - 7.5 g
Cinnamon - 5 g
Bread crumbs - 100 g
Ground almonds - 150 g

- Place the eggs, sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl and heat over a water bath to blood temperature until the sugar is dissolved. Stir constantly, so that eggs won't curdle.
- Whip the eggs on high speed for about 10 minutes until firm peeks.
- Add the lemon juice, run, and vanilla to the egg mixture and mix just until blended.
- Fold in the ground carrots to the above mix by hand
- Sift the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon together. Add the bread crumbs and ground almonds. Mix.
- Gently fold the dry ingredients to the egg mixture just until blended.
- Butter and line a baking pan with a parchment paper.
- Pour the batter into a baking pan.
- Bake at 350F for about 45-60 (depending on the oven) minutes until the cake springs back when touched.
- Let the cake cool slightly then remove from the pan

Icing

Cream cheese at room temperature - 250 g
Icing sugar - 100 g
Lemon juice - 25 g
Whipping cream 35% - 250 ml
- Whip the cream to medium-hard peaks.
- Place the cream cheese in a separate bowl and mix it for a few minutes on medium speed until there are no lumps.
- Sift the icing sugar and add it to the cream cheese. Mix just until blended. Scrape the bowl.
- Add the lemon juice to the cream cheese and mix until incorporated.
- Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and mix until incorporated.
- Continue adding the rest of the whipped cream in stages and mix after each addition just until blended.

Cake Assembly

- Cut a completely cooled cake horizontally into 2 or 3 layers.
- Place the bottom one on a cake board and cover the top with a thin layer of icing.
- Place the second layer on top of the icing and cover it with more icing. (Repeat with the third layer if cake is cut into three)
- Mask the cake with cream cheese Icing and decorate with Marzipan carrots (lightly dusted in cocoa powder to simulate dirt)

Comments:
- This cake has no oil or butter, but the bread crumbs come from my Brioche bread with some butter in it.
- The taste is very well balanced and it's one of the best cakes I've ever tasted!

L'Orange

Adapted from "Pure Chocolate" by Fran Bigelow


Semisweet chocolate, finely chopped - 170 g
Oranges - 2, preferably large navels with dark, rough-textured skin
Unsalted butter, room temperature - 1 1/2 sticks ( 12 tablespoons, 170 g)
Sugar - 1 cup
Eggs, room temperature - 4 large
Ground almonds - 1 2/3 cups

- Preheat the oven to 300F (150C)
- Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) cake pan and line with parchment paper
- In a double boiler melt the chocolate over low heat
- Wash the oranges and zest them directly in the mixing bowl, so that all the fragrant orange oils are captured
- Add the butter and sugar to the orange zest. Beat with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light in colour, 3-5 minutes. Scrape.
- With the mixer on medium-high speed, begin adding the eggs slowly, one at a time. Continue beating until well mixed, about 3 minutes.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the ground almonds. Then fold in the melted chocolate. Evenly spread the batter in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, until puffed and domed in the center with a slight fracture 2-3 cm from the rim. A cake tester inserted in the center will have a few moist crumbs.

Comments
- As I mentioned, it might be my oven, but it was completely liquid after more than an hour. I had to increase the oven temperature to 180C and test the cake every 10 minutes until it reached the right texture.
- I also didn't use any orange zest, but I used Pure Orange Oil instead. I added about 2 tablespoons, which turned out too much, one would suffice.
- Other than that, it is a very easy and tasty cake!!