Classic chocolate mousse

24-04-2017 Local Black Book2 ingredients, chocolate, dessert, easy, gluten-free, mousse, recipe, sweet, vegetarian2 Comments

When it comes to food, I don’t have many pet peeves.

Want to re-invent a classic by putting a massive twist on it? Go ahead (and let me know how it goes). Craving your favourite summer dish in the middle of winter? By all means, switch up ingredients to create some more seasonally version. Allergic to this or that ingredient? Trying to avoid gluten/dairy/fat? Your call.

But there is one thing I simply cannot allow and that is anyone trying to pass off any- and everything, and especially not cream-based recipes, as chocolate mousse.

Of course, there is a time and place for cream and chocolate to come out and play together. And that place would be in a ganache, or a crémeux, or a pot de crème even. Not in a mousse.

Classic Chocolate Mousse recipe ● Cake + Whisky

Because, and trust me I have eaten my way through many a so-called ‘mousse’ before I came to this conclusion, there is one way to make a proper, classic chocolate mousse. And that is with chocolate and eggs.

It’s better for you (less fat, more protein), it’s A LOT less fussy to make and it tastes SO MUCH BETTER.

Point, set, match and end of the debate.

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:10]

Mojito Lemon Curd

16-08-2016 Local Black Bookdessert, lemon, lemon curd, lime, mojito, recipe, rum, sweet, treat, vegetarianLeave a comment

I like all desserts but I’m especially partial to the citrus-y ones.

Lemon posset, tart, cake… you name it, I love it!

And since Mr Weather Man has been kind enough to let us have a little bit of actual summer-time lately (and the fact that today is National Rum day…), I’m celebrating with a little cheeky twist on my absolute fave: lemon curd!

Boasting the same sweet-and-sour taste as the classic, but with added mint and a sneaky shot of rum, this cocktail-inspired Mojito lemon curd tastes just like Summer in a jar!

Because when life gives me lemon, I really don’t need much more encourage-mint to turn it into a dessert (and neither should you!)!

Mojito Lemon Curd (for two small jars)

Ingredients: 3 unwaxed lemons (preferably organic), 3 unwaxed lime (preferably organic), 120g unsalted butter, 120g icing sugar, 4 eggs, leaves from a small bunch of mint, 20ml good quality rum

1. Grate the zest of the lemons + limes. Juice the citrus.

2. Beat the eggs, then pour in the citrus juice and zest and whisk until well combined.

3. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter on a low heat. Add in the icing sugar, turn the heat to high and cook until the mixture turns white and sort of foam-y.

4. Add the citrus and eggs mixture and the mint leaves and cook on a medium heat until it thickens.

5. Pass the lemon curd through a thin sieve if you wish, and let it cool down entirely before mixing in the rum. Keep in the fridge and eat within a week (which shouldn’t be too much trouble if you spread it on toast, pipe it on cake and biscuits, mix into yoghurt or get at it with a spoon around midnight!)

PIN FOR LATER:

Eastern Mess

16-06-2016 Local Black Bookcardamom, coconut, dessert, Eton Mess, pudding, recipe, rosé, strawberry, sweet, vegan, vegetarianLeave a comment

Eton Mess might not be the prettiest of puddings (the clue is in the name) but it’s the ultimate Summer pud’.

Fresh, sweet, zingy, creamy… when done right, it’s pudding perfection.

The following recipe is a bit of an Eastern twist on the classic Eton Mess.

Boasting coconut, cardamom and rose syrup, it’s vibrant, refreshing and very deserving of its ‘Eastern Mess’ name!

Eastern Mess (serves 2)

Ingredients: 250g strawberries, 1 big meringue, 1 can coconut cream, seed of 1 green cardamom pod (crushed), rose syrup, a few sprigs of fresh mint

1. Scoop the ‘solid’ part of the coconut cream can into a big bowl, then whisk until it forms soft peaks, then whisk in the crushed cardamom seeds.

2. Wash, dry and chop the strawberries.

3. Crush the meringue into bite-sized bits.

(steps 1, 2 and 3 can be made in advance, just keep everything in the fridge until you’re ready to serve!)

4. Pile up the different ingredients into a glass cup, finishing up with a drizzle of rose syrup and a fresh mint sprig on top and serve immediately.

Kefir Caramel & Chocolate Pots de Creme

10-06-2016 Local Black BookCarambar, caramel, chocolate, chocolate cream, dessert, kefir, pots de creme, recipe, sweet, vegetarian1 Comment

Guess what?

Just when I thought I had tried it all, I just found the ultimate easy recipe for super indulgent, delicious Caramel & Chocolate Pots de Creme!

And it’s even healthy (ish)!

You can thank me later. In the meantime, check this out…

Creamy, silky and very, very indulgent…

And yet really quite healthy thanks to the use of kefir. No sugar or cream needed!

Plus the sourness of kefir works wonders against the rich chocolate & caramel taste!

It’s all your dessert dreams come true!

Kefir Caramel & Chocolate Pots de Creme (serves 6-8)

You’ll need: 500ml milk kefir (I used Biotiful Dairy‘s, which is available on Ocado), 200g good quality dark chocolate (I like Green & Black’s 85%), 15 soft caramel bonbons (I used iconic French brand Carambar), gelatin or agar (see packaging for quantities)

1. If you’re using gelatin, place the recommended quantity to set 500ml of liquid into a bowl of cold water until soft.

2. In a large saucepan, put the kefir, chocolate and caramel bonbons. Bring to a small boil, check that the chocolate and caramels are fully melted, then take off the heat.

3. Whisk in the gelatin, then pour into 6-8 small ramequins. Let it cool down entirely before placing in the fridge for at least 2 hours to set.

Then tuck in and let me know what you think!

But be warned, you’ll never be able to look at another chocolate dessert in the same way!

Salted caramel spread

10-02-2016 Local Black Bookcaramel, caramel sauce, cooking, jam, pancake, pancake day, recipe, salted caramel, spread, sweet4 Comments

Remember my little Salted Caramel Spread breakdown? Well, let’s say Pancake Day didn’t make it any better.

I browsed the web, and the stores in search of one of those magic little jars, but nothing.

The obsession reached its pick yesterday (everybody knows calories don’t count on Pancake day!), so I just gave up and whipped up my own version of that sweet, sweet (and a little bit salty) spread.

Sweet and salty and creamy all at once.

So good I -almost- ditched the pancakes for a spoon (almost, because #pancakeday)

And the good news is, it’s super easy and as good, if not better as the store-bought version!

Salted caramel spread

Ingredients: 300g granulated sugar, a little bit of water (about 2-3 tbsp), 50g butter, 3 tbsp crème fraiche, couple pinches sea salt flakes

1. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and the water and cook at high heat until it reaches full caramelisation.

2. Take off the heat and add in the butter. Mix until thoroughly combined.

3. Add in the cream and the sea salt flakes and mix until perfectly combined.

4. If you want a thicker texture, add in a bit more butter (the whole thing will thicken slightly as it cools down).

What do you like to put on your pancakes?

Crosstown Doughnuts

03-02-2016 Local Black Bookbest doughnuts in London, Crosstown, Crosstown Doughnuts, donut, donuts, Doughnut, doughnuts, London, recommendation, Restaurant, review, Soho, sweet, treat, where to eat in london1 Comment

An empty stomach is a dangerous thing to have while walking up and down the streets of Soho.

Temptation is everywhere and despite your best intentions, you won’t be able to resist for very long.

Especially if you come across Crosstown Doughnuts.

The tiny stall-come-store built quite a cult following over the years and for good reasons.

Crosstown Doughnuts, London | Cake + Whisky

Not only do they have brilliant ideas (#paydaydoughday should definitely be an official thing!), but their doughnuts are simply divine.

Just look at it.

No wonder those babies have been rated #1 British dessert you must try before you die on Buzzfeed.

The small Broadwick Street flagship store is pretty much what a sweet-tooth’s dreams are made of.

Rows after rows of hand-made sourdough doughnuts in each and every flavour your heart desires.

And then some more.

And some coffee for good measure.

It took all of our restraint not to get one of each, but we settled on -only- three.

Part of the selction was a Lamnut (a Lamington/Doughnut limited edition hybrid to celebrate Australia week) and a Sea Salt Caramel & Banana Cream Doughnut.

A winning combination of chocolate sourdough base, fresh banana cream filling, sea salt caramel glaze and chocolate soil topping.

The last pick was the hardest one (crème brûlée? vanilla glaze? peanut butter?) but in the end, I went for the most intriguing flavour of the lot: the Beetroot Lemon Thyme Doughnut.

A colourful beetroot sourdough filled with subtle lemon-thyme infused cream and topped with cream cheese icing and lemon & thyme crumble. Much lighter than it looks and absolutely delightful.

So good in fact I’m looking for another excuse to treat myself to one today… Anyone for #HumpdayDoughday?

Crosstown Doughnuts, 4 Broadwick Street, Soho, London W1F 8HJ

Raspberry chocolate truffles

22-12-2015 Local Black Bookchocolate, chocolate truffles, Christmas, confectionary, dessert, gluten-free, recipe, sweet, treats, truffle, truffles, vegetarianLeave a comment

In my family, Christmas is a time for tradition and most of the food we eat has been the same year after year for as far as I can remember (and yes, this sentence DOES make me feel like I’m about 100 years old).

Every year, there are oysters, and game meat and a rolled cake for dessert.

But the ultimate Christmas staple of them all are chocolate truffles.

Continue reading “Raspberry chocolate truffles” →

Canelés recipe

01-09-2015 Local Black Bookcake, canelé, dessert, food, French, recipe, rum, sweet, vanilla6 Comments

I’d advocate for Sunday being re-named Cake day any time of the year, but even more so when the weather is as miserbale as it has been this past weekend.

When that happens, all I want to do is crawl under a blanket with a big mug of tea and an equally big piece of cake and stay there all day catching up on blog reading while watching re-runs of any series I happen to stumble upon.

To fight off the rain this weekend, I whipped up a big batch of one of my favourite treats: canelés!

A couple of those with cherry-flavoured green tea and one of the Sherlock Holmes movies and you won’t even notice the rain drizzling down your window!

For 18 canelés: 660 mL whole milk, 8 egg yolks, 330g granulated sugar, 165g plain flour (I used 00), 1 vanilla pod, 2-3 tsp dark rum, 66g melted butter

1. Slice the vanilla pod in the middle and scrape to get all the seeds out.

2. Place the vanilla seeds and the milk in a saucepan and heat up until it reaches a small boil. Remove from the heat and let it cool down completelybefore adding in the egg yolks.

3. In a bowl, mix together the sugar and flour, then whisk in the milk and egg mix.

4. Pour in the rum and the butter and whisk thouroughly.

5. Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for at least 12h.

6. Pre-heat your oven to 200 °C.

7. Pour the batter into the moulds (you can use small muffin ones if you don’t have canelé moulds) and bake for 1h or until the top and sides are brown.

8. Remove the canelés from the moulds while still warm and eat warm or cold.

What’s your favourite rainy day treat?

Vanilla madeleines with spiced plum compote

16-08-201511-08-2015 Local Black Bookbaking, breakfast, cake, compote, dessert, food, French, madeleine, madeleines, plum, recipe, sweetLeave a comment

I have all sort of obsessions. Postcards, big, snuggly scarves, notebooks… And the biggest of them all, cakes.

Add to that my most recent obsession, stone fruits, and here’s what you get: Traditional vanilla madeleines with spiced plum compote.
A treat I can garantee will become a staple in my house come Autumn. Vanilla madeleines with plum compote | Cake + Whisky It is a bit of work (mainly because you most likely won’t cook all your madeleines in one batch) but the second I dipped my first madeleine into the still-slightly warm plum compote, I knew it was actually time perfectly spent.

For the madeleines

Ingredients: 3 eggs, 125g self-raising flour, 140g sugar, 135g butter, 5 cL milk, 2 teasp runny honey, 2 pinches sea salt, 1 vanilla pod, 1 tsp vegetable oil

1. Melt the butter and keep aside until cool

2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, honey, salt and vanilla seeds until it gets fluffy.

3. Add in the oil and the flour and mix thoroughly.

4. Pour in the butter and the milk and whish until thoroughly combined.

5. Cover your bowl with cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 2h.

6. Preheat your oven at 250 °C.

7. Fill the madeleine moulds with the batter (don’t over-fill them!).

8. Lower the oven temperature to 220°C and bake the madeleines for 5 min. Lower the temperature again to 200°C and cook a further 7-9 min.

For the plum compote

Ingredients: 5 purple plums, 1/2 teasp coffee spice (2/3 cinnamon, 1/3 nutmeg), 1 teasp vanilla powder, 2 tsp runny honey

1. In a small pot, cook all your ingredients until the plums are soft enough to be pureed with a fork.

2. Pour in a heat-resistant container and let it cool down a bit before serving.

White Chocolate & Matcha Blondies Recipe

26-07-201520-07-2015 Local Black Bookbaking, blondies, brownies, cake, chocolate, dessert, easy, green, green tea, matcha, party recipe, recipe, sweet, tea, white chocolate12 Comments

I’m a bit of a cookbook addict. I spend hours browsing through any I can put my hands one, be it in Waterstones, my GP waiting room or the comfort of my grandma’s home.

Trying out new recipes and seeing how they measure up to my current favourites is something I find terribly exciting.

For that reason, there are very few recipes I’ve sworn allegiance to. But it’s no secret I made an exception for the best brownies’ recipe of all times.

This recipe truly is perfect: it’s easy and quick to make, there’s almost no dishes to clean and you get the densest, moistest, perfect brownies at the end of it.

Unfortunately, all this perfection doesn’t prevent me from experimenting and wanting to change things up a little from time to time, and last week, the idea of matcha and white chocolate blondies simply wouldn’t get out of my head and I knew I had to give my favourite recipe a re-vamp.
And once again, the recipe proved itself to be perfect in every way.

White chocolate matcha blondies (serves 6-8)
You’ll need: 70g self-raising flour, 130g of sugar, 120g of soft butter, 2 big eggs, 200g of white chocolate, 3 teaspoons of matcha powder, 1 teaspoon of vanilla powder.In a mixing bowl, combine the butter and the sugar and whisk until smooth and well combined.Crack in the eggs and mix. Add the flour, the matcha powder and the vanilla powder and mix thoughroughly. Melt the white chocolate (I’m lazy so I do this in the microwave) and add it to your cake batter and whisk once again.
Pour the batter into a buttered and flour tin and bake for about 35 minutes at 150°C. Let your blondies cool down completely before cutting them into squares.

Add some berries on the side (both the colour and flavour contrast make that combination a winner!) and try not to eat it all in one go (I dare you!)

Cake and Whisky

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