Chocolate Mousse Cake

Here is what I decided to call "Chocolate Mousse Cake" as it was actually accidentally made.

I was planning to make chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache for a Birthday cake.

However, by mistake, I used almost double the amount of cream and the chocolate ganache ended up like a chocolate milkshake. Hmmmm..... how could I rescue this? 

So, I decided to whip the chocolate cream to thicken it. And... Voila!  It turned out a nice and light chocolate mousse texture. 

In fact this "chocolate mousse" went very nicely with the light genoese sponge I made. 

I'm very chuffed. ;) 

It has a smooth soft texture when made, but it becomes more like truffle when it firms up next day... if you still have any next day. 

INGREDIENTS for the cake  

• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 125g (4oz) caster sugar
• 100g (3½oz) plain flour
• 30g (1oz) cocoa powder
• 25ml vegetable oil

INGREDIENTS for the chocolate mousse filling

• 100g dark chocolate
• 200ml double cream

METHOD

1. Heat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4). Lightly grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the base with non-stick baking paper. Alternatively spray the tin with vegetable oil.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture is pale, fluffy and almost doubled in volume. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt and use a large metal spoon to carefully fold in the dry ingredients.
3. Pour the vegetable oil carefully from the edge of the bowl and mix all together gently.
4. Tip the mixture gently into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes, or until risen and firm to the touch. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
5. Set aside to cool. When cold, slice the cake in half and spread the bottom half with jam or chocolate mousse filling. Place the other half on top and pile and decorate with the chocolate mousse filling. 

·      Chocolate Mousse

1. Pour the double cream into a bowl and heat in the microwave (2 minutes or so).
2. Remove from the microwave and put the chocolate in the cream to melt. You don’t need to re-heat it as the temperature of the cream should be hot enough to melt the chocolate.  Keep stirring until the chocolate has completely melted in the cream. Then cool it down to room temperature.
3. Whisk the chocolate cream mixture until nice and thick. Do not over whisk as it may turn to a buttery spread!
4. Spread the chocolate mousse over the cake and sprinkle cocoa powder for a matt finish. 

Summer berry cheese cake pot

We've been enjoying a proper sunny summer this year in the UK for a change.
It's great to see blue sky and sun shining everyday. :)  Fantastic for a BBQ in the garden, but not for baking cakes in a small kitchen like I have.  The heat is just so unbearable.
Ah, but I've got a banana and chocolate cake in the freezer and I've found some frozen mixed berries.
Now, all I have to do is make a cheese cream filling and assemble these ingredients together in tumblers to create this cool summer desert.
They look quite impressive but are really easy to make.

Ingredients 

• some left over cakes (chocolate cakes, brownies go well)
• some frozen mixed berries
• a few drops of raspberry jam (lemon curd is also good)
• 200g cream cheese
• 100g creme fraiche 
• 1 Tbsp icing suger 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
• grated chocolate for garnish 

Method

1. Mix cream cheese, creme fraiche, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth. 
2. Cut the cake in pieces and place in the bottom of the tumblers and drop some jam on top.
3. Drop the cream cheese filling and then add some berries. 
4. Make layers of berries and cream cheese filling.

Chocolate & Orange Cake

This chocolate cake is very easy to make. I could have put the batter into two cake tins and made a chocolate victoria sandwich, but I decided to put the batter into one cake tin for a nice thick cake. 

There is an range flavour all through the cake.  If you like a chocolate and orange combo, this is the cake for you. Certainly it's for me, too. :) 

The secret of evenly baked cake is putting an oven tray in the oven when preheating the oven. 

Then the cake goes on top of the piping hot oven tray. This helps to bake the cake from the bottom very well.    So, no soggy bottom. :) 

Ingredients 

• 50g good quality cocoa powder
• 6 Tbsp boiling water
• 3 Tbsp milk
• 3 eggs
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 100g soft butter or low-fat spread
• 300g caster sugar 
• zest of 1 orange

for icing and filling

• good quality marmalade mixed with warm water 
• icing sugar
• cocoa powder
• orange zest

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 (fan oven 175C) and grease and line a 20cm/8in round cake tin with baking parchment.
2. Put the cocoa powder and boiling water into a large bowl and mix well to make a paste. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until combined. This can also be done in a food processor, but take care not to over whisk.  Bake for about 40 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 160C and bake for a further 10-20 minutes or until it is well risen and shrinking away from the sides of the tin.
3. Meanwhile, for the filling, mix marmalade with some warm water. For the icing, mix icing sugar, orange zest and cocoa powder with tiny drops of water to make a spreadable consistency.
4. Once baked, remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool completely. Spread the top of the cake with the marmalade and water mixture. Then pour the chocolate icing to cover the cake. 

Vegan Chocolate and Walnut Cupcakes

Here are my very chocolatey vegan chocolate cupcakes with walnuts.
You can make them without walnuts if you prefer a smooth texture.

This cake mixture also works for a round cake tin for a birthday cake base. You will need a longer baking time of 40-45 minutes for one big round cake.  I made the round cake version with orange flavour by adding zest of one orange to the cake mixture.  I also spread a good orange marmalade in in the middle when the cake become cool enough to slice.
To add more indulgent chocolate flavour, you can decorate the cake with melted plain chocolate (don't use milk chocolate! It's a vegan cake after all. )

My vegan friend approved so I must have done the right thing. :)

Ingredients (12 cupcakes)

• 200g (7 oz) self-raising flour 
• 200g (7 oz) caster sugar
• 50g cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (or baking powder)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons (74ml) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or white vinegar)
• 250ml (8 fl oz) water
• 70g chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4. 
2. Sieve together the flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add the oil, vanilla, lemon juice and water.  Mix together until smooth. Add walnuts.
3.  Pour into prepared muffin tin and bake at 180 C for 20-25 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
5. Decorate with cocoa icing (cocoa + icing sugar +water) and crushed walnuts.