The Cooking Ninja

We got back from Singapore more than a week ago. Autumn in Clermont Ferrand is a mix of cold and sunny weathers - a few gloomy looking days and some sunny afternoons. I love it when it is sunny and cold at the same time. Love the feel of the sun on my cold face. I hope for more sunny afternoons. Doubt that will happen since winter is just around the corner.

The months of September and October see the arrival of a few newborns of my friends and a fellow blogger. A bitter sweet event for me. I'm very happy for my friends who are enjoying and holding their baby right now. But no matter how happy I was for them, I can't help wishing I was holding my very own baby who would have been born now if I haven't lost it early this year.

How was my holidays in Singapore? Unfortunately it was a nightmare from the start. To think I was so looking forward to going back home but instead I was faced with lots of personnal problems through out my 1 1/2 month stay there. It killed any mood for cooking nor baking nor going or eating out. It was an experience that I wouldn't even want to wish it on my enemy. It is still far from over but I'll try to get some sort of a normal life back. Has it turn me off going back home? In a way yes. I don't want to revisit those moments of my stay there.

On the home front, the renovation in our house is still not completed. However the good news is that the bathroom downstairs is finally done. Today the guy came back to install the kitchen door - not exactly what I expect. I was looking forward to a door with glass inserts but I guess I didn't communicate what I wanted correctly. Next time I know better. The other thing is that I wanted a simple glass looking through the corridor from the kitchen, instead I got a real window (with double glass). Whatever do I need that for in a kitchen?

In hope of lifting up my spirit, I forced myself to bake something as in the past, baking always perks up my spirit ... so I decided to do a Mocha Muffin but I guess when your heart is not in it, even your cakes will not turn out right.

I found this recipe online and thought these muffins sounded great as it was described by the author as moist and delicious etc. Ok I have to admit that I replaced some of the ingredients as I didn't have them in my pantry but I didn't think it would have changed much of the flavour or anything. It did smelled heavenly of mocha chocolate in the oven. I excitedly gave one to my house 'guinea pig', looking at him for a hopeful proclamation: "Where's the flavor ?" were the first words that came out of his mouth after the first bite. The muffins are moist but badly lack of flavour - one can hardly taste the chocolates or coffee in it. Oh well, guess I will try something else next time.

What a summer we had this year!

Lucky for us, it wasn't too hot in Clermont-Ferrand but down South of France like Oraison or Montpellier where we spent 2 weeks, we felt like we were being baked. We could only go out in the morning from 8 am to 10.30 am. After that, the temperature started going up to 31°C or 33°C. By noon, all of us were already withering from the heat. We were so glad to head back to the house for a siesta before going out again at 4.30 pm. Even at 4.30 pm, the heat was quite unbearable. We went for lots of walks around the town, nearby villages, to the lakes and the seaside. By the way, the drive from Clermont-Ferrand to Montpellier is extremely scenic (I wish I had my video cam) and best of all, the highway is 'FREE' (very rare in France).

Since Monday, we are busy preparing everything for our kitchen to be redone, before we leave for Singapore tomorrow. Yep, we are leaving tomorrow and our luggages aren't even packed yet. Up till this morning, we were still out shopping for our kitchen table top. Talk about stress. Do we really need to do this to ourselves before we leave tomorrow? No, but what choice do we have - the guy who is going to redo our kitchen suddenly called us up 2 weeks ago saying that he can do our kitchen in mid September. We were overjoyed of course given the fact that in France, everything moves so slow especially in the renovation business - the craftsman are hard to get. If we missed this chance, we might have to wait for another 6 months before he could fix our kitchen. Everything is done in such a mad rush. I also learned from my significant other that we had to assemble the kitchen cabinet for the guy to put it in place etc, and that we also have to dismantle our present cabinet ourselves. There I was thinking that the quote the guy gave us included everything like it does in Singapore. Well, guess that's another culture shock for me. Pierre said 'Sure, everything can be done, one just need to pay for it and the price is an exorbitant one ! In France, manual labour is very expensive, that is why everyone tries to renovate their house themselves or with the help of connections and relatives.

I have to thank my parents-in-law for helping us and guiding us in buying all the necessary stuff and my sister-in-law for house sitting for us. THANK YOU!

Before departing for Singapore, I would like to leave you a great cookie recipe that is simple and easy to make. It doesn't take very long to whip it up and bake as well.

Chocolate-Nut Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 egg yolk
• 38 g or 1/4 cup soft brown sugar
• 74 g or 1/3 cup white sugar
• 150 g butter (softened)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 188 g or 1 1/2 cup self raising flour (sifted)
• 100 g dark and white chocolates tablets (chopped)
• some chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180°C (350°F - gas mark 4).
2. In a big mixing bowl, whisk egg yolk, white & brown sugar, butter and vanilla essence together until it is light and creamy.
3. With a spoon (metal or wooden), fold in the flour, dark & white chocolates and chopped nuts into the creamy mixture until combined/
4. Take a spoonful of the dough and roll it into a ball in your hands.
5. Arrange the balls on the baking tray lined with baking paper. Make sure to space them out as they will spread during baking.
6. Bake them for 15 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Cool the cookies on tray for a minute or two before transferring them on the wire rack.

The Verdict

Surprisingly delicious and aromatic - it has a full nutty flavour, buttery taste, with delicious bites of mixed chocolates and not forgetting the presence of vanilla flavour as well - wow! Pierre and Little One couldn't stop eating them. In fact, they are fighting over who gets the biggest first. My friends said it is as good as Famous Amos cookies and that I should bake more and sell them from home.

Before this, I never quite succeeded in making chocolate chip cookies but this time around, they came out beautifully and delicious. I'm so happy.

Notes

The baking time depends on how hot is your oven. For mine, I discovered that my oven browns them pretty fast and I only baked them for 12 to 13 minutes. The more batches I made, the hotter my oven turns so either I lower my oven temperature or shorten the baking time.

As for the combination, leave it all dark or white chocolates if you like. Try different nuts or add raisins.

Happy Birthday Little One !

Today we celebrated Little One's special day ... her big '2' ... my little baby is now a big girl. Hehehe ... she is still a little bit too young to understand what is a birthday all about but I think she is getting the idea more or less : delicious cake, blow-out candles and tearing those beautiful wrappers with surprises inside.

Her grand-mère dressed our little princess in her beautiful little red dress bought by her ma ma (maternal grandma) with cute little pigtails while we were busy putting up the decorations and getting everything ready before her grand entrance. However she caught us in the act. She was more attracted to the balloons on the ceiling than all the deco that we have put up for her like rose petals (compliments from our garden) sprinkled all over the table and the colourful garlands hanging from the wall to the ceiling. Then she saw those lovely petals and climbed on top of the table and started dancing. Looks like a star is born. This year she is quite spoiled on her birthday: a swing, a sandbox, 4 DVDs (all her favourite characters), a set of kitchen utensils (toy version of course), a set of mini cars (she loves cars like her dad), aquadoodle, a dress, a CD player and a Lego set. Oh... she went to visit her great great aunt this afternoon and they celebrated her birthday there again... she gets to eat more cakes and got another present. Shh... more presents are on the way from Singapore - she doesn't know that yet.

Originally I wanted to make a chocolate Teddy bear cake for her on her birthday but I had to scrap that plan as I have never done anything like this before and it was not the right the time to do an experiment. In the end, I made a simple chocolate cake and decorated it the best I can.

The chocolate cake recipe that I'm sharing with you today is one that I found on the Internet a few years back and it has since been a favourite in our family. For this special day, I made this cake with chocolate icing.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggs
• 1½ cups sugar
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ salt
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder (non sweetened)
• ¾ cup of milk
• 113g butter (melted)
• ¾ cup flour

Chocolate Icing

• 1½ cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp butter (softened)
• 2 or 3 squares dark chocolate (made for dessert)
• ¼ cup hot water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 175°C (350°C - gas mark 4) and butter a round 20 cm diameter cake pan.
2. In a big bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.
3. Stir in the vanilla extract, baking powder and salt.
4. Add in the cocoa slowly.
5. Then the milk and the cooled down melted butter.
6. Stir in the flour.
7. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake in the oven for about 40 - 45 minutes. When inserted into the cake, the toothpick should not come out completely clean. The cake is supposed to be a bit moist.
8. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes before turning it out on the wire rack to cool completely.
9. Pour or spread the cooled chocolate icing on the cake and decorate it as the way you wanted it. Refrigerate it for a while so that the icing gets set nicely.

Chocolate Icing

1. Sift the icing sugar, cocoa powder and the dark chocolate pieces into a bowl.
2. Add butter and hot water and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.
3. If the chocolate pieces do not melt, microwave them for a few seconds.
4. Let it cool to the consistency you want and then spread it on the cake.

Conclusion

No matter how many times I bake this chocolate cake, it always comes out perfect and delicious. However this is the first time I decided to put icing on it. Initially I thought a chocolate icing with a moist chocolate cake would be a bit too much... mais non... it's luscious - rich, moist and filling. And it wasn't too sweet either. Little One couldn't wait and was already helping herself with a teaspoon on the cake before we could even take a pic of the cake or even put the candle. While we were cutting the cake, she was busy scooping and eating the chocolate icing on the side. She loves it so much that she was tucking in her cake and at the same time scooping the icing off the cake. Everyone loved it.

Notes

Cake : If you bake it on a 9" round cake pan, bake it at the same temperature but the cake will be done about 30 to 35 minutes. The cake is delicious on its own without icing. Alternatively you can serve the plain chocolate cake with crème anglaise (light custard sauce) or a scoop of vanilla ice cream or sprinkle some icing sugar on top.

Chocolate Icing : The original icing recipe was a bit too liquid to my taste so I added a few dark chocolate tablets to get a thicker consistency. I have modified the above recipe accordingly. I have also used less icing sugar than what was stated above. I poured the icing on the cake when it had thickened to be just fluid enough.

It has been a busy week - it began with the big Winter Sales in France (a national event here) ; a few days later we celebrated Pierre's birthday on 11th... went for a simple lunch at our favorite local Chinese restaurant, Jardin des Bambous. It serves authentic Chinese cuisine and I took the opportunity to give Pierre his surprise gift : Ratchet & Clank which he wasted no time in setting it up to play once he got home. Can't blame him, this game is rather fun. Well, not as fun as Morrowind - then again, it's totally different game. Then we celebrated my birthday. This time around, my parents-in-law were in town and looked after Little One for us while we went out for a nice candle light dinner at a nice brasserie Danièle Bath. I had the most delicious cannette au miel and Pierre had some encornet sauté sauce chorizo (squid) that sends you to heaven once you have a spoonful of it. We are definitely heading back there again.

Here's a recipe that I have put together myself. When I made this cake, I had the delicious Pear Belle-Hélène (Poire Belle Hélène) in mind - a classic dessert with chocolate ice cream and a half pear. It turned out nicely except I would make it slightly differently next time. I have made the necessary modifications below.

Chocolate Pear Cake

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 pears (peeled and halved)
• 2 eggs (separate yolk and whites)
• 200 g sugar
• 90 g apple sauce
• 1½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 40 - 50 g powdered cocoa (unsweetened)
• 90 ml or 9 cl fresh milk
• 113 g butter (softened)
• 105 g plain flour
• a dash of nutmeg

Directions

1. Butter a 9" springform cake tin or lined it with baking paper.
2. Mix sugar and softened butter and whip until it is light and fluffy.
3. Add in egg yolks and mix till combined.
4. Add the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the cocoa slowly.
6. Stir in the flour, baking powder and nutmeg.
7. Mix in the milk.
8. Whip the egg white until stiff and then delicately fold the egg white into the batter.
9. Spoon the batter into the cake tin and smoothen the top.
10. Peel, cut into half and take out the core. Place each half of the pear opposite the other on top of the batter. Do not press the pear into the batter.
11. Bake in the over at 175°C (350°F) for about 30 to 40 minutes. The toothpick should come out not completely clean. This makes the cake a little bit moist. If it is still too wet, bake it for another 10 to 15 minutes.

The Verdict

As expected, the pear and chocolate flavour go well together, fruity and strong at the same time. The pear makes the cake more moist than usual, so the texture sometimes reminds me of a brownie.

Notes

The above baking time is an estimation for a 9" baking pan. My original recipe in a 8" baking tin needed about 55 minutes to bake. And with a 9" baking pan, the pear should show up (unlike mine which sank like the Titanic).

Phew! Finally we have an Internet connection in our house! They sure took their time. We could have had it a week earlier if not for the telecom company which made a (stupid) mistake in transferring the line.

Our move was a nightmare to begin with. On the eve of finalizing the sale of the house, we were busy loading up all our stuff onto the rental truck when we got a call from the notary that the seller couldn't make it the next day to finalize the papers. Mind you, we had our fridge, washing machine, sofas, bed etc. and were nearly done when we got that call. It's not like we are moving to the next street - we are talking about a painful 8 hour drive across the country. Since we had to return the truck the next day 500 km away, we decided to go ahead as planned and try to find a solution with the sellers.

Sadly, we were too optimistic and they were too unreasonable, and it took a lot of phone calls between the two notary and the real-estate agent to convince them to let us unload our stuff in the empty house and stay there till the sale got finalised 2 days later. Despite signing all required documents, they became highly bitter about the whole episode (even though they were the one who created this situation) and made the official transaction a painful ordeal of complains that lasted 2 hours.

I'm so glad everything is over and we got our house. Now we have a lot of work ahead of us but the major stuff have to wait till Christmas is over!

This is the first thing I baked when we installed our brand new oven. My oh my, this oven is fantastic. It warms up faster than my old one that I had a hard time leaving behind in our old apartment. I found this interesting cookie recipe from Beach Lover's Kitchen and modified it a wee bit to my liking.

Banana Chocolate Chips Cookies

Ingredients

• 115 g butter (soften)
• 2 & 1/2 cups plain flour (shifted)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 over-riped banana (mashed)
• 1/3 cup superfine sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (can be replaced with dark chocolate chips)
• some ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375 °F).
2. Beat the butter, superfine sugar and dark brown sugar until soft and fluffy.
3. Add in the beaten egg and whisked till combined.
4. Stir in the mashed banana and vanilla extract till well blended in.
5. Stir in the shifted flour and baking powder.
6. Add in the chocolate chips to the dough mixture.
7. Spaced out each spoonful of cookie dough on the baking sheet.
8. Bake it for about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool before storing it in an airtight container.

The Verdict

The banana flavor is somewhat surprising to find in a cookie form, and the texture is soft inside but solid on the outside. Overall a delicious treat I must say

Notes

A very over-riped banana is needed to bring out the banana flavour of this cookie. My recipe isn't very sweet so it will appeal to people who aren't too much into cakes and desserts, but there's nothing stopping you from adding more sugar if you want so.

Thanks for all your well wishes. We are all back to our robust health, with a little bit less weight to boot (whoohoo !).

This past week, we have been doing nothing else but packing, packing and more packing. We have sold off our home in Nantes to begin a new chapter of our life in another city. Little One has been very busy helping me packing the books, DVDs, clothes etc. She even helps to hold the box together for me to tape it. What a great little helper!

Our Internet connection will be cut off this weekend and I won't be able post a new recipe until a week or two after. In the meantime, I leave you this delicious cookie recipe.

Triple Chocolate Sandwich Cookies with Peanut Butter Filling

Preparation: 15 minutes
Baking: 15 minutes
Makes: 36

Ingredients

• 120 g plain flour
• 120 g cocoa powder
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• 120 g dark chocolate
• 120 g milk chocolate (cut into 1 cm pieces or small pieces)
• 120 salted butter
• 300 g sugar
• 3 eggs (beaten)

Filling

• 150 g peanut butter
• 50 g powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 170°C (340°F)
2. Melt the dark chocolate with the butter in either microwave oven or bain-marie.
3. Let it cool down before adding the sugar, then stir in the eggs.
4. Add the flour, the baking powder and the cocoa powder.
5. Make sure the mixture is well mixed before adding in the milk chocolate.
6. Scoop a teaspoonful of the paste and roll it into a small ball between your palms. Flatten it slightly on the baking tray leaving about 5 cm between 2 cookies.
7. Bake it for 12 to 15 minutes. Let it cool on wire rack.

Peanut Butter Filling

1. Mix peanut butter and powdered sugar well together
2. Spread some peanut butter filling onto one side of the cookies and sandwich it with another cookie. Press it lightly so that the cookies stick.
3. Serve it with a cup of coffee or as dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

The Verdict

For all chocoholics and peanut butter addicts, this is THE cookie for you. It's a rich and sinful treat, a strong chocolate flavor that feels almost like bitting a chocolate bar, with a soft peanut core. Yummy!

Notes

Be careful not to overcook them, or else they'll be too hard (although still delicious). 14 min was a bit too much for me, so you might want to keep a watchful eye on your creation.

Trying to get myself inspired to cook, I found a very interesting recipe that combines chocolate and prunes... 'huh?' you might say... that was my first reaction too. But I was so game for it. So there I was, all set and ready... mixed my portion of chocolate with cream... buzzing sound of the electric beater trying to turn it into a mousse. 5 minutes passed... nothing, 10 minutes passed, still nothing was forming. OK, I wasn't darn going to give it up! Beated it for another 5 minutes... still nothing... I decided it was about time to get some manly muscle reinforcement. Pierre took a look at it and said that there was not a chance that the cream would turn into a mousse. Nooooo... it just needed a tinny bit more beatings, that's all. Pierre gave it another go just to please me... me thinking with his macho whipping, surely this chocolate mass would be seduced to turn itself into this beautiful glorious mousse it supposed to be. Arrrgghhhh... much to my despair it still remained a pot of creamy chocolate sauce. :~(

Ok ... this time around with no available recipe to guide me, I just had to go with my gut feeling and borrow here and there from the recipe books... then cross my fingers and hope it turns out beautiful and doesn't explode in my oven.

So, off I go, beating eggs & sugar till creamy and light, in goes my creamy chocolate together with a bit of vanilla, baking powder and melted butter. Final touch, I stirred in only 3 tbsp of cornflour against my better judgment of 90 g. Then off it went into the oven.

Like a little kid, I sat and watched my lovely cake grow and grow like a balloon... to a point I thought it might just really explode. Phew! Thank goodness it didn't. I was rather pleased and proud of myself at how beautiful my cake turned out. I couldn't wait to taste it. So off the timer goes, I eagerly took it out of the oven.

Holy crap! Nooooooo ... my beautiful cake .... boo-hoo hooo ... I watched in horror as the lovely mount collapsed into a pitiful crater.

I consoled myself that it didn't looked that bad...well that was what I thought before I turned it over on the wire rack to transfer on the plate ... as I watched in horror again like in a slow motion picture, it slowly sunk to the other side. OK, how in the world was I going to get it onto the plate in 1 piece? Breathe, Pamela, breathe... slowly and delicately I somehow managed to flip it over without further disaster... till I saw my cake ... I wanted to weep by then ... it was cracked like a marbled egg. I walked away in a total despair.

Michèle was there for tea and took a bite of it: it was very good! The surface of the cake is nice and crunchy, the inside is all soft and moist like a brownie. I didn't quite believe it... I thought she was just trying to cheer me up. I took a bite of it myself and indeed it was really good. It would have been better if I had baked it in a smaller pan though.

Yesterday I woke up with a super craving for a sinfully rich chocolate cake - you know the type that definitely choke up your artery kind - moist and slightly gooey. mmm So off I went browsing through my special chocolate cook books - there are so many to choose from but I fell in love with this one.

Rich & Moist Chocolate-Almond Cake

(taken from Le BA-ba du Chocolat)

Preparation: 20 minutes
Baking: 30 minutes
Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 200 g dark chocolate (minimum 60% cocoa)
• 5 eggs
• 150 g blanched almonds
• 200 g butter (cubed)
• 170 g sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• a pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180°C (350°F - Gas mark 4).
2. Grease the baking pan (about 20 cm in diameter)
3. Roughly chop up the almonds (not too fine and not too big).
4. Brown the chopped almonds in a non-stick pan on low heat.
5. Melt the dark chocolate in bain-marie. As it starts to melt, stir it gently with a spatula. Once it is all melted and smooth, add in the cubed butter and stir gently till it is well mixed with the chocolate. Remove it from the heat.
6. Separate the yolk and the whites. Beat the egg yolks, sugar and cinnamon till creamy.
7. Blend in the chocolate butter mixture, then stir in the chopped almonds with a spatula.
8. Beat the egg white with a pinch of salt with an electric beater till stiff peaks form.
9. Delicately blend it into the chocolate mixture.
10. Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake it for 30 minutes.

The Verdict

It's exactly what I craved for - rich, moist, sinfully chocolaty with crunchy almond bits. I like it as it is but Pierre felt that it would taste better if it is left in the oven for another 3 minutes or so.

Notes

No blanched almonds in the cabinet? No problem.

Pour boiling water over the almonds and soak them for 1 minute. Drain and rinse them with cold water. Pat them dry. To remove the skin, just squeeze the almond between your index finger and thumb and the skin should just come off easily.

Pierre always say that I have a tendency to buy enough fruits to feed a family of 4 and I always brush his comments aside. Well, this is one of those times he is right. I did bought too many fruits this time around. I have a ripe pineapple sitting in my fridge (originally doomed to go into a pineapple rice), some pears already in the trash and 4 over-ripe bananas sitting on the dinning table with a desperate 'Eat me. Eat me!' sign. I shared one with my daughter this morning so we are down to 3. I was thinking of making a banana pie or a banana smoothie when I recalled my last disastrous attempt at a modified version of Banana Chocolate cake recipe. Since then, I've been wanting to make this cake again to prove to myself that I'm not that bad of a cook. So this time around, I decided to play it safe and stick to my original recipe. Like Pierre always says, 'If it is fine and tasty as it is, why change it ?' but i have a tendency not to listen and like to experiment (and as any mad-scientist will tell you, experiments can turn really ugly!).

Banana Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 185 g plain flour (shifted)
• 150 g white or brown sugar
• 55 g butter (softened)
• 1 packet baking powder (about 11 g)
• 1 egg
• 3 banana (very riped & mashed)
• Dark chocolate (in bite size bits)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 175°C (350°F - gas mark 4).
2. Beat egg and sugar till light and creamy.
3. Mix in softened butter and whisk it for a few minutes.
4. Pour in the mashed bananas and stir till combined.
5. Incorporate the shifted flour and baking powder in batches making sure that it is well blended before introducing the next.
6. Spread a layer of batter in the pre-greased loaf pan, sprinkle some dark chocolate bits on it. Spread another layer of batter on top of it. Then sprinkle another layer of chocolate and top it off with the rest of the batter.
7. Bake it for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

Conclusion

The over-riped bananas gives a strong fruity flavour to the cake. It was very soft, fluffy and moist. The dark chocolate, a classic with banana, adds a nice kick on the taste buds. It's just nicely sweet.

France is well known not only for its cuisine but also for its desserts and pastries. Lately, it seems one of the trendiest dessert in local restaurants is chocolate coulant - a small chocolate cake which has a liquid core that oozes when you cut it. I personally has never tasted a chocolate coulant before as chocolate isn't one of my favourite flavour (Pierre wouldn't believe it - how can a woman not like chocolate !). I was however very intrigued by the combination of a solid and liquid cake at the same time, and decided to try it.

Coulants au café

(taken from Le B.A-ba du Chocolat)

Preparation: 10 minutes
Baking: 8 minutes
Makes: 4

Ingredients

• 200 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 60 g sugar
• 150 g butter (cubed)
• 40 g flour (sieved)
• 10 cl strong coffee
• 4 eggs
• a pinch of salt
• Walnut oil
• 4 ramekins

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 220°C (425°F - gas mark 7)
2. Break the dark chocolates into pieces and put them in a medium size bowl.
3. Pour the strong coffee (boiling hot) onto the chocolate and let the chocolate melt.
4. Add the cubed butter and the sugar to the chocolate mixture and mix it well with a whisk.
5. Stir in the sieved flour. Then add in the eggs one by one making sure that the mixture is well mixed before stirring in the next egg.
6. Add a pinch of salt and and whisk it one last time.
7. Grease the individual ramekins with walnut oil and pour in the chocolate mixture.
8. Bake it for 8 minutes.
9. Let it cool on a raised wire rack before removing it from the mould.

The Verdict

Well, given how rich the ingredients are, it better be good! And in fact, it is absolutely delicious: it's a very strong chocolate flavour with a tint of coffee aroma. If you like very sweet pastries or have a problem with the bitterness of dark chocolate, this one isn't for your however. And if you are on a diet you should probably not have read this far. In fact it is so rich that we had one each for tea time and ended up skipping dinner entirely.

Notes

The trick to get these cakes right is proper timing. Bake them a few minutes too long (or too hot) and they'll be solid like brownie. Too short and you'll have some chocolate sauce. In fact one of my ramekins was very slightly different in size and it's texture was already different from the three others.