Chocolate and Almond Cake

This recipe is one I have created recently based on the chocolate brownie recipe from the Hummingbird (see my previous post).

I have reduced the sugar content, used a good quality 90% coco chocolate and have added ground almonds.  I have also baked the cake in an 8-inch round cake tin and increased the baking time to 45 minutes. 

The result is a rich cake very similar to a French “moelleux au chocolat” or a mock flourless chocolate cake.  The quality of the chocolate very much affects the taste of the cake and I would advise on paying the little extra in quality as it makes a big difference.

Ingredients used:

200 g Dark 90% Swiss Chocolate

175 g Unsalted Butter

250 g Caster Sugar

130 g Plain Flour

50g Ground Almonds

3 Eggs

Mrs Beeton’s Easter Simnel Cake

I have hesitated whether or not to add this post, but I want my blog to be open and honest about the process of baking.   And the truth is baking is difficult at times, and mistakes and “failures” are part of the process. 

So this post will explain a couple of mistakes I made in this round of my baking ventures.  

A Simnel cake is a classic English Easter cake.  The recipe I used was from “The Best of Mrs Beeton’s Cakes & Baking.”  Mrs Beeton is a very interesting Victorian author from London and I would highly recommend this wikipedia page for further info.  I have made several cakes from this recipe book and it is a valuable bible of time-tested English classics.  The cake is a kind of fruitcake with ground almonds.  It is baked with a layer of marzipan or almond paste in the middle.  It is also topped with an English tradition of a layer of marzipan/almond paste and royal icing.

I made Mrs Beeton’s Simnel cake for the first time last year and it turned out beautifully.  It is really delicious, especially if you are an almond lover as that taste comes through and gives a beautiful texture to the cake.  From last year’s cake I can also testify that although this is technically a fruitcake, it is not as heavy as a traditional fruitcake and tastes more like a cake with dried fruit in it (if that makes sense) than an alcoholic tinged version. 

So I know for a fact that Mrs Beeton’s recipe is a good one.  However, this Easter it went rather wrong, and I believe there were 2 important reasons for that.  I wanted to publish this post as the reasons in question are perfect examples of what not to do when baking and why it is always so important to follow instructions to the letter – or adapt accordingly.

Reason No 1: Sugar

I used unrefined caster sugar instead of the refined one.  I believe that this affected the taste of both the cake and the almond paste.  Unrefined caster sugar can work in some instances for certain recipes, but in this one it altered the taste too much and did not manage to bring out the sweetness required.  It also did not dissolve properly I believe for the almond paste.  This resulted in a more unrefined almond paste, both in texture and taste.

Reason No 2: The size of the cake tin

Last year I used the stated round cake tin size of 18cm / 7 inch.  As I did not have this size this year I used my own round tin that was larger: 20cm / 8 inch.  I was fooled to think that such a small difference would not be a big deal.  As I used the same baking time as the recipe stated my cake came out not burnt, but almost biscuit-like.  The taste was strange to say the least, and texture was bizarre.  I should have reduced my baking time by the very least.

So there it is: my mistakes are out in the open.  I will attempt to make this cake again in the near future.  Just need to save up some cash for the ingredients… But all in all it was a good learning experience.  I did like my decorations too!           

Ingredients used:

Cake

200 g Plain Flour

½ Tsp Baking Powder

¼ Tsp Salt

150 g Caster Sugar

150 g Unsalted Butter

100 g Glacé Cherries (halved)

150 g Currants

150 g Sultanas

100 g Seedless Raisins

50 g Cut Mixed Peel

50 g Ground Almond

Grated Rind of 1 Lemon

Almond Paste

450 g Ground Almonds

200 g Caster Sugar

200 g Icing Sugar

2 Tsp Lemon Juice

Few Drops of Almond Essence

2 Eggs (beaten)

 

I would like to point out that although delicious the Simnel cake is pricy as it uses a lot of ground almonds, almond paste (that you can easily make from scratch!) and dried fruit.  In addition, this is a time-consuming venture as the total baking time is 2.5 hours.

Classic Brownies Made with Swiss Chocolate

A work event induced me to make these as rumour has it everyone loves chocolate and brownies (pretty much).  The hummingbird recipe’s disclaimer that these classic brownies are known to literally fly off the shelves (selling several trays a day) also turns out to be most probably true as my brownies did not spend much time on their serving plate at work.

This was a very easy recipe to make.  The mixing of ingredients is straightforward and would be very hard to mess up.  I would certainly recommend this to first time bakers.  The trickiest bit is the baking time and finding the right timing.  I would therefore recommend a practice batch first if you are planning to serve these to friends.  I helped my boyfriend make some the week before and we left them for too long in the oven, which resulted in slightly hard edges and not as moist a cake.  You have to take the brownies out literally at the moment you see a skin forming on the top.  The tray will seem very gooey, but the batter will harden when cooling, which is why you should not leave these babies in for too long (at most 30 minutes, depending on your oven of course).

I added some decadence by using good quality dark Swiss chocolate and yes quality ingredients, like chocolate, really do make a difference.  Be warned, these brownies are incredibly addictive!

Ingredients used:

200 g Dark (70%) Swiss Chocolate

175 g Unsalted Butter

325 g Caster Sugar

130 g Plain Flour

3 Eggs

Optional: Icing Sugar to Decorate