Nom nom spinach tart

Day 10 a spinach, feta and filo tart accompanied by mushrooms, roasted peppers & asparagus with bacon.

Zucchini chocolate muffins for laters....

Mississippi Mud Cake Wedding Cake

Wedding cake baked and iced by yours truly!

This is one of those cakes that is full of chocolate and butter and not particularly 'healthy'. But who cares? For a special occasion it is fabulous and very yummy!

I have to admit I was panicking about baking a two-tiered chocolate cake and icing it for my brother's wedding. Wee bit finicky are these cakes. The top cracked and they took forever to bake, but flipped upside down and iced, it didn't look too bad. I freaked out the bride-to-be with a series of worried texts about whether I could ice it or if I should just slop a ganache on it...

But hey presto, i did it! For the wedding I tripled to follow recipe and cooked it in  7inch and a 10 inch tins. For a general yummy treat, following the instructions below (courtesy of The Australian Women's Weekly July 2010) and dust with cocoa. Much easier and faster!


Mississippi Mud Cake
250g chopped butter
150g dark eating chocolate (Whitaker's is great)
2 cups (440g) white sugar
1 cup (250ml) hot water
1/3 cup (80ml) whisky
1 Tablespoon instant coffee granules
11/2 cups (225g) plain flour
1/4 cup (35g) self raising flour
1/4 cup (25 g)cocoa powder
2 eggs beaten lightly
cocoa powder or icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 160 C (140C fan forced). Grease a 23cm square slab pan; line base and sides with baking paper (VERY IMPORTANT!)
2. Combine the butter, chocolate, sugar, water, whisky and coffee in a medium saucepan; stir over low heat until smooth. Cool (about 5 mins). Stir in sifted flours and cocoa. Then add eggs.
3.Pour into pan; bake for about 1 hour 15 mins. Stand for 10 mins, then turn onto wire rack to cool.
4. Serve dusted with Cocoa powder or icing sugar (if you can wait that long), with a dollop of natural yogurt and some berry sauce.

It will keep for about 4-5 days - it dries out a little - but it's not likely to last that long!.

Disappearing Chocolate Brownies (DCB)

Divine, divine, divine - and on a cold night like tonight, just the thing to warm you up. Plus they are gluten and dairy free - almost guilt free (if you overlook the sugar)! Yummy served up warm with yogurt or cold - but it won't last long and they can be whipped up in a few minutes. The longest part is waiting for it to cook.

This is a modification of Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne's How to Cook for Foor Allergies. Hers is called Squidgy Chocolate Brownies - I called mine 'Disappearing' because that's exactly what happened.

 

wee slice taken out to show lovely rich layers. Mr T allowed to taste test

After taste test, Mr T had to have some more. It was a battle to keep this much for the kids!

Disappearing Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients:
110g/4 oz olivani or other butter substitute (or butter if you are not dairy free)
85g/3 oz of 70% cocoa solids dark chocolate
55g/2 oz of potato flour - I was all out so used 45g of tapioca flour, 10 g of corn flour and a tablespoon of corn starch. If you are not avoiding gluten or wheat, you can use ordinary flour, but use one less egg.
225g/8 oz of granulated sugar - I use raw sugar
1/2 t of salt
1 tsp baking powder (g/f if necessary)
3 eggs

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees celcius (350 F) and line a square 20cm (8 inch) baking tin with baking paper. Have the paper go about 2.5 cm /1 inch about the tin

1. Melt chocolate and olivani in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring regularly until melted.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a LARGE bowl. I usually whisk the dry ingredients.
3. Beat eggs into chocolate/olivani mix with a wooden spoon. Quickly stir into dry ingredients until smooth.
4. Pour into the tin and bake for about 25 - 30 mins. It's ready when the centre just gives when you press it.
5. Take out of the oven and keep everyone away from it for 10mins until it's cool - then you can cut it into generous slices and eat...

Wee tip - for a quick clean up, I use a big mixing bowl. I rinse it out, fill it up with water and detergent and clean the sauce pan, measuring cups, spoons etc in it. Saves water and time.

Avocado chocolate cream pots

Who doesn't love something chocolately at the end of a meal - more so when it is kinda 'good for you'?

I almost didn't get a photo before they were devoured!



I found this recipe in an allergy-free desert cook book. The original called for 3/4C of cocoa and it was too bitter for any of us to eat (even me). So I modified - this is something I love to do and really want to encourage others to try - it's ok to veer away from the recipe (sometimes!). You can add more or less of the sweeteners (honey, maple syrup or icing sugar) as you go, but do bear in mind that as it sets the sweetness develops.

Here's my version:
2 -3 ripe avocados
2 T cocoa
2 T of honey
2 T maple syrup or agave
2 T of icing sugar

Into a food processor (I just use one of those mini ones you plug into a stick. A blender if also fine, but it can be cumbersome trying to get the last bits out!) put your avocado and all other ingredients.
Whizz for about 30 seconds, open the lid and scrape down all the sides - do a taste test. Add extra sweetener if necessary.

Whizz again for about 30 seconds to a minute until the mixture is dark and creamy.

Pour into individual pottles and pop in the fridge until cold.

Serve with yoghurt (we use soy for Miss K) and berries (here I've used defrosted blue berries).

You can keep these for up to 2 days, covered tightly in glad wrap in the fridge.