Chocolate Marquise 3 ways

I haven't posted for a long time...........to be honest I was/am on a diet as the scale went way beyond "normal". But now that I shed off a few pounds I am back baking:) I used my new Cube cake mould to create something truly delicious. I used 3 different fillings and all guests were delighted. Maybe I should have been more careful when I turned out the mousse from the mould as it chipped off at few pieces but I haven't heard any complain from the dining room:)

Chocolate Marquise 3 Ways

Chocolate Cake Base

100 g dark chocolate (minimum 65% cocoa solids)

50 g butter 

2 eggs

90 g golden caster sugar

50 g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Chocolate Mousse

200 g good quality dark chocolate (minimum 75% cocoa solids)

100 g good quality milk chocolate

4 eggs separated

150 ml double cream 

To fill/decorate (all optional)

150 ml double cream

handful of strawberries

few spoons of strawberry jam

1/2 bottle sour cherries

2-3 tbsp Kirsch

100 ml custard

Preheat the oven to 180C and place the stainless steel square part of the cake mould to a baking sheet, lined with baking paper. Spray the sides with vegetable oil based release agent.

Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water then leave it to cool. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is pale and thick. 

Add the room temperature chocolate mixture into the egg mixture then fold in the flour and baking powder. When you mixed everything together pour this thick batter into the prepared frame and spread evenly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top is cracked but the middle just set. When ready remove the stainless frame and leave it to cool completely.

To make the mousse, melt the two chocolates in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water,  leave it to cool to room temperature. Whisk the egg whites to firm peaks and set it aside.

Whip the cream very softly and add the yolks, then gently mix in the cooled melted chocolate. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, (thoroughly but don't overwork it).

Spoon the mousse into the prepared tin (spray the Zila cake mould with vegetable oil based release agent) and gently tap it to the work surface. You don't want to knock out all the air bubbles you just created, but you have to make sure the mousse is evenly spread so you don't have gaps at the finished mousse surface. 

Level the sponge with a cake leveler and place it on the mousse. (top of the sponge will hang above the side of the mould but it is fine). Cover it with kitchen foil and put it in the fridge and leave it to chill for at least 4 hours (I left mine for overnight). 

When it is rested, turn it up side down and gently remove the silicon part of the mould and the stainless steel rim. I slightly damaged the finished product, but next time I will put the mousse into the freezer just before removing the mould to make easier the seamless separation.

The choice filling is down to you. I used custard (have to admit it was fresh-shop bought one.....I had other cooking to do as well and run out of time), sour cherries that I soaked in Kirsch for overnight than adding gelatine to the juice I turned it to a soft jelly. For the last one I used fresh strawberries and some strawberry jam(home made). Decorated all with whipped cream, fruits and vanilla pod.

 The best is when you dive into a cube and all the custard pours out......................YUMMIE

Poppy Seed Cake With Sour Cherry Fillig

This is my first sweet cake in my 12 Slice Cake mould. I have to say baking sweet cake is more difficult than the savoury one, but it is only the case of practise. The cake was requested again by my poppy seed "addicted" husband. In the end he even persuaded me to serve the cake with poppy seeded sauce.

Poppy Seed Cake with Sour Cherry Filling

 For the sponge
210 g self-raising flour
210 g butter at room temperature
200 g golden caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
50 g poppy seed
1/2 lemon zest

For the filling
fresh or bottled sour cherries
200 g summer fruit sauce, or pie filling or jam+red jelly  (whatever you have at home)

For the decoration
150 g double cream
Kirsch 
a small strip of chocolate transfer sheet
20-30 g white chocolate

First I prepared the chocolate decoration.

Lay down an approx 6 cm wide chocolate transfer sheet, with the textured side up. Spread the melted chocolate with an offset spatula knife evenly on the transfer sheet. Put the transfer sheet with the board underneath to the freezer to harden up.

Heat the oven to 180C and spray the Zila tin with a vegetable oil based separating agent

Put all the cake ingredients except the poppy seed in a  large bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer until you have a creamy mixture, then fold in the poppy seed.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Always check the middle of the cake as with Zila mould that is the most important thing. If you think it is ready and you turn it up side down, but the middle is sill a bit underdone just put it back to the oven without the silicone part(the cavities upside).

If the bottom of the cake is not flat, just level it so the cake will stand straight when you turn it up side down- just use the stainless steel ring as your guide. Pour some sauce to the cavities and fill the rest of the space with sour cherries. Pour the remaining of the sauce on top of the sour cherries.

To decorate, whip the double cream with some Kirsch (amount depending on your taste, but 2-3 tbsp should be enough) to soft peaks and pipe it around the cake. Take out the chocolate from the freezer, cut out triangles and insert 12, 1 in each part.

Sour Cherry and Curd Cheese Pie

It is almost holiday time for us(3 more days to go:)), so I have to start use up everything in the fridge. We bought some curd cheese last week with the intention to do something very different, but as I cached cold I haven't come around to do it. So this is my "I feel so much better pie":quick, easy and yummy.

Sour Cherry and Curd Cheese Pie

For the pastry

250 g plain flour

120 g butter(at room temperature)

100 g sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 tbsp soured cream-if needed

For the filling

500 g curd cheese *more on this in the Tricks and Recommendations

80 g sugar

1 vanilla pod

1 egg

100 ml double cream

juice of half lemon

2 tbsp semolina+2 tbsp semolina to sprinkle on top of the dough

1 sour cherry pie filling(I used shop bought one, but you can use fresh soured cherry+cherry jam)

egg wash on top

Place the flour and baking powder in a big bowl and rub in the soft butter. Add the sugar and eggs and work together to get a dough. Whether if you need the soured cream or not it is down to the ingredients you use (depends on the size of your eggs, temperature so on-sometimes I need it sometimes I don't)...so add soured cream if you need, to get a very soft, but not sticky dough. Kneed it for 2-3 minutes then cover it and put it in the fridge until you prepare your filling.

Mix the curd cheese with the sugar, seeds of the vanilla pod, egg, double cream and 2 tbsp semolina. 

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 25X20cm baking tray with baking paper.

Divide the dough into two parts (2/3 - 1/3) and on a floured surface roll 2/3 of the pastry to 3-4 mm thickness. Lay the dough into the prepared tin and prick the surface with a fork. 

Sprinkle 2 tbsp semolina to the dough(it protects the dough from the liquid released by the curd cheese, therefore making sure the bottom will be soft, but not under baked). Now lay your curd cheese filling on top of the semolina layer, level it, then spread on top the cherry filling. 

To create the lattice pattern roll out the rest of the dough on your work surface and with a pizza cutter cut long strips.
Place your pastry strips on top of the pie, and brush it with egg wash (not like me because I forgot to do it:) Bake it in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes.

Coconut Balls With Cherry

So it is 8th of September: it is my Name Day. I know many of you are raising your eyebrows...but in Hungary we celebrate  Name Days as well as  Birthdays. To explain what it's all about I included a description from Wikipedia, but the main thing is: I was baking for my colleagues, but being a weekday I was looking for quick recipes. I baked Mini Vanilla "Croissant" With Nuts, Chocolate Beetroot Cake (I was given a big veg box  by my friend who is ordering from a farm....but they can't eat it all, and I had 8 beetroots to deal with) and Coconut  Balls. These are all quick and simple recipes: mix it, bake it (you don't even have to bake the Coconut Balls) and done:)

Coconut Balls With Cherry

Ingredients (makes about 48)

500g household biscuit - powdered or digestive biscuit

100g butter, room temperature, slightly melted

3 tbsp cocoa powder

200g icing sugar

3-6 tbsp rum

dessicated coconut

*milk or cherry syrup

*optional:cherry compote, Kirsch liqueur

So there are two options: you can choose to make them with a cherry inside or just simply roll the dough into balls.

If you using the first option you need to drain the cherries in a sieve...leave it to rest to get rid of all  liquid. 

Mix the biscuit powder, butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar (you can even add some dessicated coconut to the dough), rum-according to the audience (obviously if I prepare it for adults I add more, or even add some Kirsch liqueur:)) and as much liquid from the cherry syrup as much you need, to form a nice slightly sticky dough.

Sorry, but the amount of liquid you need depends on the type of biscuit you use, but approx 200ml. Take a piece of dough and roll it around the cherry and cover it with dessicated coconut.

If you only want to make small balls without the cherry: mix the powdered biscuit, butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar, some dessicated coconut, rum and add milk to the mix instead of cherry syrup.

It is easy to make, but I have to warn you, if you make the sherry option, it takes longer: I spent 1hour rolling them (although I was watching my favourite series in the meantime:))

Keep it in the fridge.

So about the name day:

"A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name.

The custom originated with the Greek Orthodox calendar of saints and Roman Catholic calendar of saints, where believers, named after a particular saint, would celebrate that saint's feast day. In many countries, however, there is no longer any explicit connection to Christianity. It remains more popular in Southern and Eastern (Catholic and Orthodox) rather than in Northern (predominantly Protestant) Europe.

Hungary

Name days (in Hungarian: névnap) in Hungary are very popular, often as much as a person's actual birthdate. A woman is typically given flowers on her name day by acquaintances, including in the workplace, and the price of flowers often rises around the dates of popular names because of demand. A bottle of alcohol is a common gift for men on their name day. Children frequently bring sweets to school to celebrate their name days. Name days are more often celebrated than birthdays in workplaces, presumably because it is simpler to know the date since most calendars contain a list of name days. You can also find the name day on daily newspapers by the date and on Hungarian websites. Some highly popular names have several name days; in that case, the person chooses on which day he or she wishes to celebrate. The list of the name days is, as usual in name day celebrating cultures, based on the traditional Catholic saints' feasts, but the link of the secular name days calendar to the Catholic calendar is not maintained any more. For example, even religious Catholic people named Gergely (Gregory) after Pope Gregory the Great still celebrate their name days on 12 March, although the Church moved the feast of that saint to 3 September in 1969."