Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake

I want to start by thanking my dear fellow Daring Baker Brilynn for choosing this recipe – it was a challenge, indeed, and one of the most interesting recipes I have ever made. Joao kept telling me how beautiful the cake looks – and he’s not into sweets, I have to say.
I guess I would never have chosen something like this to prepare and I’m so glad I have made it.
Not only it looks superb, it also taste delicious – I must confess I ate 2 crepes that remained after the filling was over. If the crepes alone were yummy, what to say of them combined with a filling made with whipped cream, meringue and Nutella, a ganache icing and hazelnuts dipped in caramel?? Heavenly.

I was worn out after standing up for 2 hours preparing the crepes but it paid off – beautifully.

If you liked my cake, go check the other cakes prepared by the lovely Daring Bakers – the links are on the side bar.

Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake
recipe by Martha

Crepe batter:
170g (¾ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus melted for pan
225g (8 ounces) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped – I used a 51% cocoa solids chocolate
210g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
67g (1/3 cup) sugar
½ teaspoon salt
600ml (2 ½ cups) whole milk, room temperature
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Bring ¼ cup water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until completely melted. Set aside.
Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Add chocolate-butter mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
Lightly coat an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with melted butter - the three crepes that were torn were made with greased pan. The minute I stopped brushing it with butter I gor all the crepes perfectly shaped. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove pan from heat; pour about 2 tablespoons batter into pan, swirling to cover bottom – here I used a ladle that holds 3 tablespoons batter. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook, flipping once, until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side.
Slide crepe onto a plate. Repeat process with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed. Crepes can be refrigerated, covered, up to 1 day.
Place a crepe on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Spread with about 3 tablespoons hazelnut filling. Top with another crepe. Continue layering with hazelnut filling and crepes, using about 32 crepes and ending with a crepe on top. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Spoon ½ cup glaze on top of the cake, spreading to edges. Spread remaining glaze around sides of cake, coating completely. Refrigerate until glaze is firm and set, about 20 minutes. Cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days. Garnish with toasted and candied hazelnuts.

Makes 32 crepes – I got 28 OK and 3 completely torn (which I gladly ate straight from the crepe pan)


Hazelnut filling:
160ml (2/3 cup) heavy cream
6 large egg whites
330g (1 2/3 cups) sugar
395g (1 3/4 cups) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
100g (1/3 cup) hazelnut cream – I used Nutella
pinch of salt

Put cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Whisk egg whites and sugar in the clean bowl of mixer set over a pan of simmering water until sugar has dissolved and mixture registers 70ºC/160ºF, 2 to 3 minutes.
Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the clean whisk attachment; beat on high speed until slightly cooled and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 5 minutes.
Fit mixer with paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter, several pieces at a time, mixing well after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Add vanilla, hazelnut cream, and salt; mix until mixture comes together, 3 to 5 minutes. Fold in whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Use immediately.

Makes about 8 cups


Chocolate glaze:
300ml (1 ¼ cups) heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
pinch of salt
280g (10 ounces) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped – I used the same 51% chocolate

Bring cream, corn syrup, and salt to a boil in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium- medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; swirl pan to cover completely with cream. Let stand about 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let cool completely.

Makes about 2 cups - sobrou cerca de 1/2 xícara


Candied hazelnuts
9 hazelnuts, toasted and peeled
200g (1 cup) sugar

Thread each hazelnut onto tip of a long wooden skewer; set aside. Place a cutting board along the edge of a countertop; set a baking sheet on floor next to edge.
Cook sugar and ¼ cup water in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved. Continue to cook, without stirring, until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides with a wet brush to prevent crystals from forming. Let boil until syrup turns light amber, about 5 minutes; remove from heat. Let stand until slightly cooled, 8 to 10 minutes.
Dip 1 skewered hazelnut into syrup, coating completely and letting excess syrup drip back into pan. When dripping syrup becomes a thin string, secure end of skewer under cutting board, letting caramel string drip over edge onto sheet. Repeat with remaining hazelnuts. Let stand until caramel has hardened, about 5 minutes. Break strings to about 10cm (4 inches).
Carefully remove skewers.

Makes 9

Lime polenta cake

Barbara is one of my favorite foodies. She’s a wonderful cook and has some great victories in life – surviving cancer is one of them. Not to mention she’s the mind behind “Hay, Hay, it’s Donna Day” – and if you think this is not enough (are you crazy??), she’s promoting “A Taste of Yellow”, a foodblog event linked to (and approved by) the Lance Armstrong Foundation as a part of LiveStrong Day.



All you have to do to take part is cook a dish with some type of yellow food. Pretty easy, right?

I wouldn’t miss this event for the world – I lost my mom to cancer (and my grandmother and one of my aunts) and I know how alert one must be about this terrible disease.

Please join me, Barbara and other foodies – let’s spread the word!

Lime polenta cake
adapted from here

250g butter
200g (1 cup) caster sugar
zest of 4 limes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
210g (1 ¼ cups) ground almonds
182g (1 cup) polenta
35g (¼ cup) self-raising flour
pinch of salt

Citrus syrup:
300g (1 ½ cups) caster sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) lemon, lime, orange or mandarin juice – I used orange
80ml (1/3 cup) water
3 strips of any citrus fruit rind

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355ºF . Brush a deep, 22cm round cake tin with melted butter or oil and line the base and sides with baking paper – I used a 25cm not so deep pan and lined only the bottom with paper.
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric beaters until light and creamy. Add the zest and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture will look quite curdled at this stage. Add the juice, almonds, polenta, flour and salt. Stir until the mixture is smooth. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre.
Set the cake aside for at least 10 minutes before turning out of the tin. Drizzle with citrus syrup or cut into wedges and serve warm with ice cream or thick cream.

Make the syrup: combine all the ingredients in a pan. Stir over low heat, without boiling, until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 12-15 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
Remove the rind and pour the hot syrup over the hot cake*.

This cake keeps for up to 3 days in an airtight container and can be reheated in the microwave.

*I photographed the cake after a while – the hardened syrup formed this delicious sugary icing over the cake.

Waiter there's something in my... bread! Berry Twist Bread

Sometimes I wonder why it takes me forever to choose certain recipes. I make up my mind just to change it a minute later. So complicated.
Just for a change, the same thing happened while I was trying to decide what to bake for this “Waiter there’s something in my… bread”, hosted by Spittoon Extra.



In the last minute before leaving the office yesterday I picked a recipe from this site. And I was so pleased with the results I’m already planning to bake this bread again – simply delicious.

The dough is so soft and tender you won’t believe it. I feel like trying it with a number of different jams, even though raspberry is my favorite.

Berry Twist Bread

Dough:
120ml (½ cup) warm milk – I used
80ml (1/3 cup) warm water
7g (¼-ounce package) active dry yeast
420 to 490g (3 to 3 ½ cups) all-purpose flour – I used 430g
50g (¼ cup) sugar
57g (¼ cup) butter, melted
1 egg
1 1/8 teapoons salt
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam – I used 3 tablespoon. I couldn’t find any so I sieved the one I had. Some of the seeds remained.

Glaze:
90g (¾ cup) icing sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons orange juice – I used 1 ½
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange peel, if desired – I was short on time, so I skipped this

Combine warm milk and water in large bowl; add yeast. Stir to dissolve. Stir in 385g (2 ¾ cups) flour, sugar, butter, egg and 1 teaspoon salt until soft dough forms.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead dough, adding additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary, until dough is smooth (5 to 10 minutes). Place dough into greased bowl; turn greased-side up. Cover; let rise until double in size (45 to 60 minutes).

Knead dough on lightly floured surface (30 seconds). Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
Roll dough into 37x25cm (15x10-inch) rectangle. Combine jam and 1/8 teaspoon salt in small bowl. Spread dough with jam mixture to within ½ inch of edge. Roll up, beginning with 37cm (15-inch) side. Place onto large greased baking sheet. Form into circle; pinch ends to seal. Cut ¾ the way through dough every 1 ½ inches on outside edge with kitchen shears or serrated knife. Twist each section of dough, turning it on side to form ring – I had trouble here. :S

Cover; let rise until double in size (30 to 45 minutes).

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350°F. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack – even though the recipe didn’t call for it, I brushed the bread with milk before baking it.

Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon orange juice and orange peel, if desired, in small bowl. Add enough additional orange juice for desired glazing consistency. Drizzle over cooled bread.

Serves 16

Pink cupcakes with crystallized violets

The theme for this Sugar High Friday, hosted by Monisha, is Flower Power. I had a hard time trying to find a recipe for that!



I ended up making these cupcakes decorated with these lovely crystallized violets I received as a gift from a dear friend.

Recipe taken from Donna Hay Magazine, issue 29 - I used a conversion table from one of her books to get the amounts in both cups and grams.

Pink cupcakes with crystallized violets
from Donna Hay magazine

250g unsalted butter, softened
225g (1 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs, lightly beaten
270g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
125ml (¼ cup) milk

Pink icing:
155g (1 ¼ cups) icing/confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon hot water – I added a little bit more and totally ruined it
1-2 drops rose food coloring

crystallized violets – as many as you want

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/320ºF. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes, until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and baking powder, alternating with the milk, and beat until the mixture forms a smooth batter.
Spoon the mixture into ¼ cup capacity muffin tins lined with patty cases to ¾ full. Bake for 18-20 minutes – mine needed 30 – or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.
To make the icing, place the sugar, water and food coloring in a bowl and mix until smooth. Use a palette knife to spread the icing over the cupcakes.
Place 1-2 violets over each cupcake.

Makes 30 – I halved the recipe and got 12.

Roasted tomato salad

For this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by the lovely Sher - a wonderful cook and my fellow Daring Baker - I chose this delicious and easy to prepare salad, a recipe taken from Delia Smith’s website.



I’ve made three changes: I didn’t skin the tomatoes, I pitted the olives before adding them in the end and I also scattered the tomatoes with some capers.

Although I had it in room temperature – and it’s a warm day here, 28ºC - I think this would be wonderful served as a warm salad in cold days.

Roasted tomato salad

12 large tomatoes
2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
12 large fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

To garnish:
fresh basil leaves
24 black olives
1 cup capers

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400°F.
Oil a shallow 40 x 30cm (16 x 12 in) roasting tin and set aside.

Skin the tomatoes first of all by pouring boiling water over them and leaving for 1 minute, then drain and, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins. (Protect your hands with a cloth if necessary.)
Cut each tomato in half, around the middle rather than vertically, and place the halves in the roasting tin (cut side uppermost) and season with salt and freshly milled pepper. After that, sprinkle on the chopped garlic, distributing it evenly between the tomatoes. Follow this with a few droplets of olive oil on each one, then top each one with half a basil leaf, turning each piece of leaf over to get a coating of oil.

Place the roasting tin in the top half of the oven and roast the tomatoes for 50-60 minutes or until the edges are slightly blackened. Then remove the tin from the oven and allow the tomatoes to cool. All this can be done several hours ahead.

To serve the tomatoes, transfer them to individual serving plates, then whisk the oil and balsamic vinegar together and drizzle this over the tomatoes. Finally top each one with an olive and garnish with basil leaves. Lots of crusty bread is an essential accompaniment to this.

Serves 4-6 as a starter