My Birthday cake, as produced by my Hubby Jeff....
Looks like Jeff did an awesome job!!
Who cares about looks with cake? Its about how big a sugar crash you have afterwards (Kiers is a perfect example of the ideal cake).He did!!! It was the first time in all our years together that he has made me a birthday cake I was very impressed with how dedicated he was to following the recipe to the letter!
I have to confess I helped with the glaze though and the piping of the choc mousse bits as he is not very dexterous when it comes to fine motor skills, but it was under his direction, the decoration of the Aries symbol was his idea, as was the use of the heart shaped tin, I would have been boring and used the round springform as I usually do with this cake, as it is so easy to remove it, but it all worked out really well!
Recipe...
Chocolate Almond Espresso Torte
150gm Dark Chocolate, chopped.
100gm Butter
1 tbspn Instant Espresso coffee dissolved in 2tbspns water - or 1 shot of espresso if you have an espresso coffee machine.
3/4 cup Castor Sugar (superfine sugar)
3 Large Eggs separated
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
100gm Ground Almonds.
1. Pre-heat oven to 160°C and Grease and line a suitable cake tin, such as a 22cm springform pan with parchment or baking paper.
2. Melt the Chocolate and Butter together over a pan of gently simmering water, or carefully in the microwave on low-medium setting, until it is melted and smooth, allow to cool for 10 mins.
3. Add the Coffee into the melted Chocolate, stir in half a cup of the sugar, the egg yolks, vanilla and the ground almonds, combine well.
3. Beat the Egg whites until soft peaks form, add the remaining 1/4 cup of Sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form.
4. Gently fold into the Chocolate mix, and pour the mixture into your prepared pan.
5. Bake for 35 - 50 mins, checking regularily after 30mins, a skewer inserted should come out clean, and there should be some surface cracking.
Chocolate Glaze
200ml Pure Cream (runny not thickened)
1 Tblspn Glucose Syrup
25gm Butter
250gm Dark Chocolate
Shot of espresso, or a splash of your fave liqueur like Grand Marnier etc
In a pan over a medium heat, warm the cream, Glucose syrup, butter and flavouring until quite hot but not boiling.
Remove from the heat, and stir in the Chocolate, stir until melted and super smooth.
Allow to cool slightly, then pour approximately half over the cake in a thin covering, refrigerate the cake until that layer is set.
Keep the rest of the glaze warm so it stays liquid, then when the first layer is set, pour the remainder over the cake, and smooth by tipping the cake to allow the glaze to run off the edges and give you a smooth surface.
Decorate as desired!
Oh gosh, that looks yummy!!
Who cares about looks with cake? Its about how big a sugar crash you have afterwards (Kiers is a perfect example of the ideal cake).
Awesome will try this one soon for my Fiances bday
We went from temps in the mid 40s to a high of 82 degrees yesterday, so we marinated a sirloin steak and barbecued it on the Weber. I made some cottage fries to go with it (not the most healthy, but hey, we only live once!). Probably the first time in a week or more we've been able to cook something and sit down to dinner at the same time, since our schedules conflict quite often.
I need to look in some of the barbecue cookbooks again and find something unique to do. We tried an orzo salad last summer where we grill the veggies out on the Weber before tossing them into the orzo. I could do without the zucchini, but the corn and bell peppers really add a lot to that salad.
YES it is!Yummy! Sourdough bread is fantastic.
Shouldn't this thread now be renamed Kim's Kracking Kulinary Koncoctions?
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