Little chocolate cakes

Hello everyone, this is going to be my last posting on this blog. I have been writing it since January 2008 and today's recipe is number 150, which seems a good number at which to conclude. It's funny to look at the list of recipes I have shared - it is a compendium of all the things I love to eat! I could quite happily just rotate through all the recipes here for the rest of my life. Of course I won't, there are always new cookbooks calling me with something different.

I decided to conclude with what would really have to be my most favourite food in the world, chocolate pudding. The recipe comes from Jill Dupleix's Simple Food, a book from which I have cooked nearly every single thing. She calls the dish cakes, but she suggests pulling them out of the oven a little bit early so that you can enjoy the luscious squidgy texture. That's how I cook these cakes and I serve them as puddings with cream, ice-cream and chocolate sauce.

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog and provided me with comments and feedback. It made me really happy whenever anyone told me that they had cooked something from the blog, or their family had a favourite recipe from the blog, as that was the original intention. I hope you keep returning to it and find it a useful source of delicious inspiration!

Love from Jane

Little Chocolate Cakes

Makes 12

What you need:

• 200g dark, bitter, top quality chocolate, chopped
• 100g caster sugar
• 120g butter
• 100g ground almonds
• 4 eggs, separated
• Icing sugar for dusting

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. In a bowl sitting above a simmering pan of water on the stove, combine the chocolate, sugar and butter and stir as they melt into a smooth, glossy sauce.
3. Remove from the heat and cool for five minutes.
4. Add the ground almonds to the chocolate sauce and stir well.
5. Beat in the egg yolks, one by one, until well mixed.
6. Place the egg whites into a large, dry bowl and beat until stiff and peaky.
7. Stir a large spoonful of egg white into the chocolate mix to lighten it, then gently fold in the remaining egg white.
8. Spoon the mix into lightly buttered large muffin moulds, or a 12 hole muffin tray lined with doubled muffin paper cases.
9. Bake: if you want a pudding texture check at 15 minutes; if you prefer a cake effect, check at 25 minutes.
10. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing the puddings from their moulds, and serve as you prefer.

Double chocolate muffins

Hello everyone, this week I heard someone say that the Melbourne Cup is only a few weeks away. Well, that is probably stretching reality somewhat, but it did give my heart a lift and the thought that tomorrow heralds the beginning of the last month of winter for another year is a very good thing. I have tried so hard to not complain about the cold weather this year as I usually do (and have realised how many others do, I must have been drowning out their voices previously) but I will be so glad to welcome back longer, brighter, warmer days.

Having said that, I do love winter cooking and have just popped some fennel with a lovely crunchy topping into the oven to bake for my dinner. It is a recipe in the August edition of delicious and as I love fennel, I was very keen to try out both the baked fennel and a fennel soup from the same article. Another lovely thing to have baking on a cold winter morning, as I did last Sunday, is a batch of muffins for morning tea. Now I have baked my fair share of muffins over the years and I have to say, I think these are the best yet. They are so chocolately (as the name suggests) and very moist. Do make sure you use very good quality chocolate - I have been buying the chocolate buttons from Adora chocolate (in the plaza outside the Sofitel Wentworth in the city) and they are excellent. I'm sure you'll think these muffins are great too when you whip up a batch yourself!

Have a happy week! Love from Jane xxx

Double chocolate muffins

What you need:

• 150g dark chocolate, either buttons or chopped
• 125g unsalted butter, chopped
• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 150g white chocolate, either buttons or chopped

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
3. Place the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over a very low heat and stir until melted and combined. Set aside to cool slightly.
4. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
5. Add the sugar and stir to combine.
6. Whisk together the eggs and buttermilk.
7. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.
8. Stir in the cooled chocolate and the white chocolate bits, and stir everything together just until combined. DON'T over mix - muffins need a very light hand.
9. Divide the mixture between the prepared cases and bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the muffins shows they are cooked. You might want to leave them slightly under-done in the middle to get a nice fudgy texture.
10. Serve as is or drizzled with a little melted dark chocolate if you wish.

You can also serve these muffins as a pudding for dessert, by warming gently and serving with cream and/or ice-cream and chocolate sauce. In that case you might want to make six larger muffins.

Not-for-the-faint-hearted hot chocolate

Hello everyone, with the freezing cold weather this week I have been drinking more than my fair share of hot chocolate. I have found a source of quite good chilli hot chocolate close to my office, and there really is no better way to defrost early in the morning! I am also enjoying the luscious hot chocolate from Mitra's Chocolates in Mosman. They do a chilli hot chocolate that really packs a punch, and their milk chocolate is very good too.

This week's recipe shows you how to make incredible hot chocolate at home, just perfect for cold winter nights. It is a recipe I cut out from Good Living a few years ago, created by Matthew Evans, and I think it is in his new book, The Real Food Companion.

(Greg, this one is for you!)

Have a happy week! Love from Jane xxx

Not-for-the-faint-hearted hot chocolate

Could serve either one or two - up to you!

What you need:

• 150ml milk
• 100ml cream
• 100g dark chocolate, broken into smallish bits (generally I prefer milk chocolate, but in this recipe dark is definitely preferable; milk is just too sweet)
• 1 tablespoon really good quality cocoa powder, sifted
• 1-2 tablespoons brandy, cognac or whisky

What you do:

1. Heat the milk and cream carefully in a small pan until warm.
2. Whisk in the chocolate and sifted cocoa.
3. Bring to just near the boil, remove from the stove and whisk in the alcohol.
4. Serve in front of a fire or the heater.

Apple crisp

Hello everyone, this week I launched into the Sydney Film Festival on Opening Night with a really, really beautiful film called South Solitary. It stars Miranda Otto and I highly recommend it when it has its general release. It was a great story, very funny at times, and the location, scenery, clothes and settings were gorgeous.

Thankfully it was such a great film as the opening night speeches were endless and boring. I really don't know why they had to be inflicted on those of us at the public event - they should have been confined to the opening night party afterwards. The Minister for the Arts and the Lord Mayor both gave blatantly political speeches, so I enjoyed the irony of the Minister who received a completely irrelevant and inappropriate special acknowledgement from the Minister for the Arts being sacked two days later!

Anyway, to calm me down, another fruit crumble, as this is just the right time of year for them. This one is a really simple one that comes from my beloved book Heart Of The Home.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Apple Crisp

Serves four to six

What you need:

• About 4 Granny Smith apples
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup oats
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teapoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup softened butter

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Butter a baking dish.
3. Peel and slice the apples.
4. Arrange the apple slices in the baking dish.
5. Mix together the remaining ingredients and sprinkle over the apples.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown.
7. Serve it hot or cold with thick cream and/or icecream.

Apple and almond crumble

Hello everyone, well, although summer is not entirely gone, it is definitely cooler in the mornings and evenings, and around this time of year my thoughts always turn to fruit crumbles. They are so delicious and warm! During the week I made the crumble recipe given by Jamie Oliver in this month's delicious magazine, an apple and plum one with lovely dried fruit and nuts through it. It tasted great but I must say involves a huge amount of peeling and slicing and cooking fruit. The crumble I'm giving you is another one from delicious magzine, but from quite a while ago, May 2002 in fact. It's a Delia Smith one and one of my reliables for when I have friends coming for a meal. Raw almonds, as used in this recipe, are really good right now.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

PS How excited was I to see that there will be a session called "The Secrets of Bourke Street Bakery" at this year's Sydney Writers Festival www.swf.org.au on 15 May? I've already booked my tickets!

Apple and almond crumble

Serves 6-8

What you need:
· 700g Granny Smith apples
· 225g Golden Delicious apples
· 25g brown sugar
· 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
· ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

For the crumble:
· 110g whole almonds, skin on
· 75g chilled butter, cut into small pieces
· 175g self raising flour, sifted
· 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
· 110g demarara (or caster) sugar

· Pouring cream and/or custard and/or ice cream, to serve

What you do:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Peel, core and slice the apples into thickish slices.
3. Toss the apple slices in a bowl with the sugar, cinnamon and ground cloves
4. Arrange in a baking dish and set aside.
5. To make the crumble, place butter, flour, cinnamon and sugar into a food processor and process until you have crumbs.
6. Add the almonds and process again until the almonds are finely chopped (it’s OK to have a few chunky bits).
7. Sprinkle the crumble mix over the apples, spreading it right to the edges of the dish. Using the flat of your hand, press it down quite firmly all over – the more tightly packed the crumble the crisper it will bake. Finish by lightly running a fork over the surface of the crumble.
8. Bake the crumble in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes.
9. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving warm with cream, custard and/or ice-cream.

Cornflake coconut crunchies

Hello everyone, it has been a hectic week with my gorgeous friend Chris Andersen from Minneapolis in town. We have been catching up with lots of different friends in all sorts of fabulous places around Sydney. I loved cocktails and smart bar food at Rockpool Bar and Grill, http://www.rockpool.com.au/sydney/bar-and-grill/, dinner at Mission Restaurant and Bar http://www.missionbar.com.au/ and lunch at North Sydney Cellars Cafe http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/good-living/restaurant-reviews/north-sydney-cellars-cafe/2010/01/11/1263058240812.html. To say nothing of a hot chocolate at Bather's Cafe....And last night I had dinner at a great find in North Turramurra of all places, The Cook's Garden http://www.tablesonline.com.au/restaurant/NSW/Turramurra/The-Cook-s-Garden/index.html. It's in a house and really beautifully done up. The food was luscious and there's a shop at the front where you can buy chocolates and handbags! It really doesn't get any better!

So to calm me down, this week's recipe is a very easy biscuit mix, which I made recently for a crowd. You can whip up the mix in five minutes and then have the biscuits in and out of the oven in no time at all. They are deliciously moist with all the coconut they contain. Do use a good brand coconut, not some cheap and nasty generic product. The recipe comes from my Women's Weekly Biscuits And Slices book.

Have a happy week! Love from Jane xx

Cornflake coconut crunchies

Makes about 40, depending on how you size them.

What you need:

• 2 cups cornflakes, which you can either lightly crush or leave whole
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup flaked coconut
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 250g butter, melted

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
3. Combine the corn flakes, sifted flour, both coconuts and brown sugar in a large bowl.
4. Stir in the eggs and butter.
5. Place spoonsful of the mixture onto the baking trays, leaving some space in between.
6. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.
7. Remove from the oven and after a couple of minutes transfer the biscuits to wire racks to cool.

Nutmeg cake

Hello everyone, I have been on quite a mission this year to actually get to lots of different cafes and restaurants that are reviewed and make me think "Hmmm, that sounds like a good place to try" (but often don't do anything further about it). During the week I had dinner with my friend Maria at Finola's in the Balmain Bowling Club http://www.balmainbowls.com/finolasrestaurant.html , as I have heard lots of great things about the food there. It's an interesting setting, as you are right there in the bowling club with the greens to one side and a crowd playing poker in the bar (good for cheap drinks!). The menu is quite Irish influenced and I enjoyed my fish pie. Then today I am going to Revolver at Annandale, lured by a review that mentioned they do very good hot chocolate there. Yes, I know that most of you think it's way too hot and humid for hot chocolate, but in the interests of research I am prepared to go there!

This week's recipe is for a really, really good cake that I must have made a thousand times over the years. I remember discovering it in a Vogue Wine And Food Cookbook from 1991 when I was first living out of home and it seemed quite sophisticated to me (probably because it wasn't the usual chocolate). It's very easy and has a great texture. I think you'll like it.

Have a lovely week, love from Jane xx

Nutmeg cake

What you need:

• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 2 teaspooons of baking powder
• 2 cups of plain flour, sifted
• 125g butter
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Grease a 20cm round cake tin and line with baking powder.
3. Combine the brown sugar, baking powder and flour in a large bowl.
4. Rub in the butter until the mix looks like breadcrumbs.
5. Spread half of the mix over the base of the prepared cake tin.
6. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk.
7. Add the beaten egg and nutmeg to the milk.
8. Pour the milk into the remaining sugar and flour mixture and stir together well.
9. Pour this mix into the cake tin on top of the first lot of crumbs.
10. Bake for an hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake shows it's cooked.

This cake is delicious served with thick cream or Greek yoghurt, or icecream of course.

Cherry slice

Hello everyone, being such a warm day today I decided to pop over to Glace, an icecream shop in Leichhardt. I can buy their products locally, but thought it would be good to go to the actual shop and view all the possibilities. It certainly is an icecream lover's delight - you can buy single or double scoops to eat on the spot (yes, I indulged, a scoop of Belgian chocolate), tubs in all sorts of luscious flavours and a range of other interesting icecream treats, like the snowball, which is a ball of coconut flavoured icecream enrobed in a coat of chocolate and sprinkled with coconut!

This week's recipe is a sweet treat which caught my eye every time I saw it in my scrapbook of cut out recipes. It's exactly like cherry ripe and so easy to make - a nice treat. Do be very careful with the food colouring - I was a little careless and my cherry slice was very brightly coloured!

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Cherry slice

What you need:

• 600g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
• 500g desiccated coconut (buy a good quality one, not the no name version, as you want a nice, moist coconut)
• 100g copha, melted
• 395g can condensed milk
• 150g glace cherries, very finely chopped
• A few drops of pink food colouring

What you do:

1. Prepare a 30cm x 20cm cake tin by lining with foil.
2. Melt half the chocolate and spread evenly over the foil lined tin.
3. Rest, covered, in the fridge, until set.
4. Place coconut, melted copha, condensed milk and cherries in a large bowl and stir together to mix. There will be a moment when you think there is far too much coconut and it will never combine, but it does.
5. Very carefully add a few drops of food colouring and stir through (do it drop by drop).
6. Spoon the coconut mixture over the chocolate base and use the back of a spoon to press evenly.
7. Refrigerate until set.
8. Melt the remaining chocolate and spread evenly over the coconut mix.
9. Return to the fridge until set.
10. Cut into bars with a warm knife. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Champagne ice cream

Hello everyone, I had a lovely day yesterday wandering around the shops in Lane Cove with my friend Anne. There were so many gorgeous things in different shops that we visited, things that you really don't see in the big shopping centres. It was a very good reminder that when you want to do fun shopping, not the boring things on your list, local "High street" shopping really is the way to go. I actually managed to snap up a couple of things for which I had been looking for ages and could never quite find what I wanted. In Lane Cove I was dazzled for choice! Lunch was at the Longuie, the local pub, and it was lovely. We sat out on the verandah to have a drink, catching a nice cooling breeze, and then enjoyed a shared platter in the very smartly fitted out dining room. A very good way to spend a summer Saturday!

With the onslaught of meltingly hot days, my thoughts turn to ice cream. This is one that I have made to take to a friend's place to serve with my peach tart. It is so easy and goes down very well with the punters. I have an ice cream machine which gets a fair bit of use in summer. If you don't have one and you like ice cream it's a good investment as the texture of the ice cream you produce is so creamy. If you don't have an ice cream machine, when you make this you will need to take it out of the freezer periodically in the first few hours to run a fork through it, so that you can break up the ice crystals. The recipe comes from SOS Summer.

Have a great week! Love from Jane xxx

Champagne ice cream

Serves 12

What you need:

• 12 egg yolks
• 750ml sparkling wine
• 220g caster sugar
• 80ml liquid glucose (you should be able to buy this at the supermarket; if not, a health food shop or a pharmacy)
• 600ml cream

What you do:

1. Beat the egg yolks, sparkling wine and sugar until pale and thick.
2. Cook in a double saucepan over a low heat, beating constantly.
3. When hot, stir in the glucose until dissolved, then cook until the mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon.
4. Remove from the heat.
5. When completely cold, stir in the cream.
6. Churn in an ice cream maker.
7. Store in the freezer until ready to serve.
   

Orange semolina cake

Hello everyone, I missed posting a recipe last week as I was in Melbourne for the weekend. I travelled there with my sisters and we spent most of the time packing up the house of my aunt, who is sadly nearing the end of her life. As you can imagine, despite the circumstances, it was interesting going through all her things, as we found lots of familiar items but also things that were a surprise. Perhaps best for me was going through my aunt's collection of cook books. I have souvenired a number of them, so my collection continues to grow!

While we were there I had the opportunity to visit the famous Richmond Hill Larder and Cafe, a place I have been yearning to visit for years. I couldn't believe it, it's a cafe (albeit a very good one) and I had to put my name down at the door and wait for twenty minutes for a table to become vacant! My sisters were smart enough to use the time shopping elsewhere, but I hovered, fearful that a table would come up and go again just as quickly if we weren't there to snap it up immediately. Finally we were seated and with great anticipation I commented to the waiter that I thought I'd try the freshly baked scones that were advertised on their chalkboard at the door. Too late - they only make one batch and they all went while I was hovering for my table!

By this time I was quite cross and thinking I didn't like this place at all, however my humour was restored with a quite good hot chocolate and a very delicious chocolate pudding. I even bought some of their goods to bring home with me.

This week's recipe is for a very moist and tasty cake that takes little time to throw together. The syrup seems like a huge quantity to pour over one cake, but do it slowly and gradually and the cake will take it. I think I may have cut out this recipe from The Sydney Magazine, from one of those "What I Cook When..." columns. I wonder whose it was originally?

Have a lovely week. Love from Jane xx

Orange semolina cake

What you need:

• 200g butter
• 300g caster sugar
• Finely grated zest of 3 oranges (I zested then chopped in the bamix)
• 6 eggs
• 260g fine semolina
• 150g almond meal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder

Syrup

• 200g caster sugar
• 500ml orange juice

What you do:

1. Beat the butter, sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in all of the eggs.
3. Add the sifted semolina, almond meal and baking powder and mix well.
4. Pour into a 20cm cake tin lined with baking paper.
5. Bake at 180C for 40 to 50 minutes or maybe longer, depending on your oven. Remember that it is a very moist cake but when you insert a toothpick it should be cooked all the way through.
6. While the cake is baking, combine the sugar and orange juice in a saucepan and simmer for 3 minutes.
7. Cool the syrup and pour over the warm cake.
8. Serve with cream, strawberries and raspberries.

Black-bottom cupcakes

Hello everyone, last night I was very lucky to be invited to dinner at the home of my friends Kirsten and Frank. They are both excellent cooks and they created this beautiful feast for me. While Frank was busy in the kitchen Kirsten and I had a drink at one of their fabulous local Balmain pubs, which was a nice way to start the evening. We then came home to Frank's fabulous rolled roasted pork, stuffed with apricots and ginger, with some beautiful glazed baby carrots and (they know the way to my heart), a lush dish of sliced potato with chopped bacon and brie cheese melted through it. Then this was followed up by a stunning orange tart that Kirsten made. It was all so good and I felt really special having this luscious dinner cooked for me.

This week's recipe is (literally) a really good party trick. I was looking for a cake recipe that I could do ahead and freeze as I wasn't going to be able to bake something fresh. I perused my Belinda Jeffery Mix And Bake and found this cupcake recipe, which I had actually seen Belinda demonstrate at a class some time ago. The cupcakes froze well and in serving them I went one better. I warmed them through in the microwave so that the chocolate melted, and served them with cream, announcing that I had made chocolate puddings. They were very pudding like and a great success for morning tea on a cold and frosty morning, so if you want to go one step beyond cupcakes, this is the recipe for you.

Have a lovely week. Love from Jane xx

Black-bottom cupcakes

Makes 10-12 medium sized cupcakes, or 6 larger ones if you use a 6 hole muffin tin

What you need:

• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa (the better quality cocoa you use, the richer and more velvety your cupcakes will be)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup light olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar

Topping

• 250g cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 200g good quality chocolate buttons or chocolate chopped into chunks

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Line either a large 6 or regular 12 hole muffin tin with paper cupcake cases (I didn't, and had some difficulty getting out the cupcakes, hence the whole pudding inspiration to hide their battered appearance).
3. To make the topping, using electric beaters beat together the cream cheese and sugar for two minutes or until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and beat until thoroughly mixed in.
5. Stir in the chocolate and set aside the bowl.
6. To make the cupcakes, combine the flour, bicarb soda and salt in a bowl.
7. Sift in the cocoa and whisk using a balloon whisk for a minute.
8. In another bowl, whisk together the warm water, vanilla extract, oil and vinegar.
9. Make a well in the dry ingredients, pour in the wet mix and stir together thoroughly but only until just mixed. If you over stir your cupcakes will be very chewy.
10. Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases so they are about two thirds full.
11. Scoop spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture on top of each cake.
12. Bake the cupcakes for 30-35 minutes (longer if you have done six large ones), or until a skewer inserted into the dark part comes out clean.
13. Cool the muffins in the tin before removing and leave on a cake rack to cool completely.

Lemon curd bread and butter pudding

Hello everyone, I was lucky enough to have two group get togethers during the week over dinner at two restaurants I love, both of which have a multiple dishes to share style of dining, so I was able to taste lots of different things! On Wednesday night I went back to Kika Tapas in Darlinghurst. There were eight of us and it felt as if we ordered a huge number of dishes, but we managed to eat it all (and fit in dessert!) and still pay a reasonable amount.

Then on Thursday night I organised my book club to meet at Kuali, a Malaysian restaurant in Lane Cove, to meet my friend Fiona Higgins and discuss her recently published memoir, Love In The Age Of Drought. Fiona brought along the main character, her husband Stu, and we enjoyed a fabulous banquet with the best roti bread I have ever eaten. These two feasts can make up for this weekend when I will be immersed in the film festival instead of being out eating.

Now that it's winter we have the perfect excuse to consume puddings, and this recipe is luscious. I can't remember what prompted me to try it the first time because I am phobic about mass produced white sliced bread, and have never been a huge fan of lemon curd. I think I actually tasted it at a cooking demonstration by Valli Little and loved it, so tried it out at home myself. You can get really beautiful lemon or passionfruit curds these days, and the bread, well, it just works. Try it and see.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

• Lemon curd bread and butter pudding
  
  Serves 6-8
  
  What you need:
• 14 slices Tip Top white bread, crusts removed
• 50g softened unsalted butter
• 1 jar lemon or passionfruit curd
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 6 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups thin cream
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  
  What you do:
  1. Butter the bread and then spread with curd.
  2. Cut each slice into halves and layer, overlapping, in a large baking dish.
  3. Beat together the eggs, cream, sugar and lemon zest.
  4. Pour custard over the bread and leave to rest for half an hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170C.
  5. Place the pudding in a roasting tin and pour in enough water to come half way up the sides of the baking dish.
  6. Cover the pudding loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
  7. Remove the foil and cook a further 5-10 minutes or until the top turns golden and puffed.
  8. Dust with icing sugar and serve with cream, icecream and berries.
  
  The leftovers are really yummy warmed up for breakfast!

Chocolate peanut butter fudge sundae

Hello everyone, this week's recipe is something I have wanted to try out for ages. It's a Nigella recipe from the November 2007 copy of delicious, and I marked it at the time and have just taken this long to actually make it. I did plan to serve it when I had friends over for dinner in January, but they thwarted my plans by bringing a cake with them. So in the end I gave my workmates a surprise last week by serving up some ice cream with this sauce one afternoon. Safe to say it was a hit.

One word of warning - Nigella says that this quantity makes enough for four. All I can say is that her guests must be able to pack away an ENORMOUS quantity of sauce. I think it easily makes enough for twice that many.

Have a fabulous week, love from Jane xx

Chocolate peanut butter fudge sundae

What you need:

• 175ml thin cream
• 100g very good quality milk chocolate, chopped
• 100g smooth peanut butter (buy it freshly made from a health food store)
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• Ice cream to serve
• 4 tablespoons roughly chopped salted peanuts

What you do:

1. Place the cream, chocolate, peanut butter and golden syrup into a saucepan and place on a medium heat to melt, stirring occasionally.
2. In about two minutes your sauce should be ready.
3. Pour the warm sauce over the ice cream and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts.

Flourless peach cake

Hello everyone, this was one of those weeks when once again I was reflecting on sandwiches and puzzling yet again over why it's so hard to get good ones. This was prompted by the fact that for three days in a row I happened to have lunch provided in an office in the city (different ones each day) and the sandwiches varied in quality (and none were to die for). I guess the fact that they are done in bulk doesn't help, plus they are probably made some time in advance of being served so inevitably start to sag. I'm also intrigued at some of the combinations of fillings you see. Not all of which I find appealing! Happily today I can go and have the perfect sandwich made up freshly for me at my favourite cafe, accompanied by a beautiful cup of hot chocolate. Thank goodness there are some places that know how to get the basics right!

Today's recipe is for a wonderful cake that I baked recently and brought into the office to share. It is so moist you won't believe it and it went down really, really well, in fact I'd say it's the most popular one so far - the boys in particular really went for it. It's yet another from my favourite Epicure Chocolate book. It doesn't have an icing so I just served it with some thick cream.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Flourless peach cake

What you need:

• 225g ground almonds
• 225g brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons really good quality Dutched cocoa
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1/2 cup milk soured with the juice of one lemon
• 2 eggs
• One handful of chopped dried peach

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 175C.
2. Grease and line a 20cm round baking tin with baking paper.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together.
4. Add the milk and eggs to the dry ingredients and mix well to combine.
5. Stir in the chopped peach.
   
6. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes.
7. Cool in the tin and turn out very, very carefully, then use a second cake rack to flip over so it's the right way around. Because this cake is so moist it's liable to break very easily so be as gentle and careful as you can!

Chocolate ganache

Hello everyone, I was lucky enough this morning to be the "Gifted Gourmet" on Simon Marnie's program on ABC radio. It was a lot of fun. I listened to the suggestions of fresh and seasonal ingredients from the providores, and then gave Simon a menu of dishes that I would cook for my friends using those ingredients. I chose a mixed leaf, zucchini and sashimi salad to start, followed by lamb cutlets cooked on the BBQ and served with a mint pesto and some caponata on the side, with a peach flan to finish. It was really hard to narrow it down to those dishes, as there were so many different recipes I could think of. Anyway, hopefully it will give some home cooks some inspiration in the kitchen! The recipes for the sashimi salad and the lamb cutlets can be found on this blog and if you want to listen to the audio you can find it at this link: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/02/07/2482194.htm?site=sydney

During the week I baked a chocolate coconut cake to share with some friends and iced it with a chocolate ganache, which is so luxurious and much, much better than normal icing. I thought I'd give the recipe for the ganache today (you can find the cake recipe elsewhere on the blog too) as it's a very easy thing to make, very impressive and really versatile. I am pretty sure that the recipe I use is a Belinda Jeffery, always an indicator of something good.

Go and play under the sprinkler - we're allowed to now in NSW!

Love from Jane xx

Chocolate ganache

What you need:

· 1 ¼ cups thickened cream
· 200g good quality dark cooking chocolate, chopped
· 1 teaspoon unsalted butter

What you do:

1. Bring cream to the boil in a saucepan.
2. Reduce heat and mix in chocolate until it has all melted.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. The ganache is now ready to use.

Cakes can be iced with ganache while cooling on a rack. Gently pour the ganache over the cake, letting it spread by itself over and down the sides (use a spatula if necessary). Alternatively, you can allow the ganache to cool and thicken and then spread it on the cake.

Place cake on a plate or a stand and let the icing set. Avoid handling the cake and refrigerate if necessary.

Leftover ganache can be reheated and used later on another cake or warmed very gently to make a lovely chocolate sauce. It also makes great icecream if you stick the leftovers in the freezer.

Kirsch marinated berries

Hello everyone, I am very excited because I am going to see Peter Pan with my nieces today. We are going out to somewhere called Newington Armory, at Homebush Bay. I decided to pack a picnic lunch and went to my local shopping centre to buy the bits and pieces. Not the best choice as the one bakery there has rubbish bread, but with not a lot of time to spare I thought it would do. I couldn't believe it when I walked into Woollies on my last stop at the shops and found that they are now stocking my favourite bread in the world, Brasserie Bread. I contemplated chucking out the rubbish rolls I had bought and picking up a loaf of Brasserie sourdough, but decided that rolls were easier for a picnic as I think there are rules about carrying knives in public places. Well, I'll know next time where to head for my fresh bread.

This week's recipe is absolutely gorgeous for entertaining on a hot day and hopefully we will see a few more such days (doesn't feel like it today). It's also really pretty. It's another recipe from my Summer SOS book which is full of great ideas for fresh produce.

Have a wonderful week. Love from Jane xx

Kirsh marinated berries

Serves 6

What you need:

• 600g mixed berries (as many varieties as you can find)
• 75g caster sugar
• 100ml kirsch

What you do:

1. Hull the berries if necessary and slice the strawberries lengthways.
2. Put the berries in a bowl and sprinkle with the sugar and kirsch and toss gently until lightly coated.
3. Leave the berries to marinate for 2-3 hours, stirring from time to time to dissolve the sugar.
4. Divide the berries and juices among six serving glasses or bowls.
5. Top each with a scoop of icecream and serve immediately.

Ice-cream bombe

Hello everyone, I must admit that I haven't done very much cooking at all in the last week as I seem to be eating out for lunch and dinner every day in that final mad whirl in the lead up to Christmas. One of the best meals I have ever had took place on Wednesday night at a restaurant in Surry Hills called Pazzo. My friend Ron is a waiter there and his Italian mum makes a lot of the pasta for the diners there. I had a truly stunning meal and can't wait to go back.

This week's recipe is a great one for Christmas so if you are still wondering what you are you going to serve for dessert on the big day, this could be it. I found this recipe in the 2006 delicious calendar (and can't wait to hang up my 2009 calendar and see what recipes it contains!) and made it two Christmases ago and it was such a hit I am planning to do it again. You make the bombe in a pudding bowl so that it is the perfect shape - just a bit cooler than the usual pudding, and so pretty!

Have a great week. Love from Jane xx

Ice-cream bombe

Serves 6

What you need:

• 75g dried cranberries


• 1/3 cup orange juice


• 500g mascarpone


• 100g caster sugar


• 300ml thickened cream


• 2 slices candied orange peel, chopped into small pieces


• 100g nougat, chopped into small pieces


• 120g good quality chocolate drops (or chunked up chocolate)


• 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier (optional)


• Rosemary sprigs dusted with icing sugar, to decorate


• Silver cachous, to decorate (you can buy these at the supermarket in the cake decorating section)

What you do:

1. Spray a 1.5l pudding basin with oil and line with plastic wrap.


2. Place cranberries in a saucepan with the orange juice and simmer over a low heat for five minutes, then cool.


3. Beat together the mascarpone and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.


4. Add the thickened cream and fold into the mascarpone, then add the cranberries, orange peel, nougat, chocolate and the Grand Marnier, if using.


5. Spoon the mixture into the pudding basin and freeze overnight.


6. Thirty minutes before serving, transfer the ice-cream to the fridge to soften.


7. Turn out the ice-cream and decorate with the cachous and icing sugar dusted rosemary sprigs.

Jam cake

Hello everyone, I was inspired to make this cake because I had a big jar of jam sitting in the pantry and I knew it would take some very dedicated toast eating to get through it otherwise. I made this cake when I got home quite late one night. It's so easy as you just throw everything into the food processor and then whack it into the oven. I tried out the cake on the boys in the office the next day (always willing to be my guinea pigs!) and they loved it. It doesn't have an icing, but I'm sure served with a big dollop of thick cream it would only be enhanced. The recipe comes from a very handy book called "3 Ways With Stale Bread" by Ross Dobson. It's a really handy book, I do recommend it.

Have a fabulous week. Love from Jane xx

Jam cake

Serves 10 very generously

What you need:

• 185g softened butter
• 185g brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 250g sour cream or creme fraiche
• 2 cups self raising flour
• 1 cup any jam you like

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 180.
2. Butter or oil spray a bundt tin (they are the ones that have fluted sides and a kind of column in the middle so you get a doughnut shaped cake).
3. Place the butter and brown sugar in the food processor and blend till smooth.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and blend for a few seconds between each addition.
5. Add the sour cream or creme fraiche and the flour to the food processor and blend until you have a thick batter.
6. Transfer the batter to a big bowl (it makes a big quantity) and stir through the jam.
7. Spoon the batter into the cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes. Do watch it - all the sugar in the batter makes it cook quickly so keep an eye on it from 30 minutes onwards.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature with cream, icecream, custard or all three.

Nat's Best Ever Brownies

Hello everyone, I went to Sculpture By The Sea yesterday and as usual it was fantastic. Splendid even, particularly as it was a gorgeous sunny day and there was a whale frolicking just off the coast. Unlike other years, there wasn't one sculpture that I thought particularly outstanding and which will stay with me for years, but lots of really good pieces, particularly ones that sculpted single pieces of silver or glass.

On the way over there, with no relevance to the conversation at the time, my niece piped up "Jane, we really like chocolate brownies" which reminded me of this recipe I have made countless times now and for which people always ask. It is so easy as you throw everything into a mixing bowl (not all at the same time) and just keep mixing. As a result, you get a great, smooth texture. This is yet another recipe from my Epicure Chocolate book, and the recipe was contributed by someone called Natalie who is herself a baker.

Enjoy. Love from Jane xxx

Nat’s Best Ever Brownies

What you need:
· 4 large eggs
· 360g castor sugar
· 320g salted butter
· 130g chocolate
· 120g plain flour
· 80g Dutch cocoa
· 160g cream cheese, chilled
· 180g raw walnuts or pecans, chopped roughly (about halves)
· Optional flavours: 2 tablespoons strong espresso or grated zest of one orange

What you do:
1. Preheat oven to 160°.
2. Line an 18cm x 28cm lamington tin with baking paper.
3. Using a hand held electric beater, beat the eggs and sugar for two minutes on a low speed.
4. While it is mixing, melt the butter and pour over the chocolate and stir to melt.
5. If you are using the coffee or orange, add to the chocolate butter mix at this point.
6. Scrape the chocolate butter mix into the egg mix and continue to beat on a low speed for two minutes.
7. Sift together the flour and cocoa.
8. Add the flour mix to the mixer bowl and mix for two minutes. At this point the batter should begin to look matte and creamy – if it is still dark and glossy, mix it for longer.
9. Drop marble sized pieces of the cream cheese into the mix and continue to mix. Beating in all of the cream cheese makes a rich, gooey brownie; gently folding in larger pieces gives a slightly different texture but it will still be moist.
10. Stir in the nuts.
11. Pour the mixture into the lamington tin.
12. Bake for about 30 minutes or until fine cracks begin to appear on the surface and the edges are starting to puff a little.

Maple and pecan croissant pudding

Hello everyone, I spent a few days in Canberra this week for work. Unlike a lot of people I really like Canberra, not least because one of the cafes that features on my list of top places for hot chocolate can be found there! It's a bakery in Kingston called Silo and as well as using good quality chocolate in this drink, it's served in a dainty cup and saucer, which in my view makes hot chocolate taste even better. I am delighted to report that I achieved a personal best of five hot chocolates in three days from this cafe - I figured I might as well make the most of it as I don't anticipate being in Canberra again in the near future.

I was also lucky enough to catch up with my good friends Ray and Clare and their beautiful daughter Rosa Grace for breakfast at the cafe at Old Parliament House. I had never been to OPH before so didn't know what to expect (I was suitably impressed). However, what really struck me was that I could have happily ordered pretty well anything from the breakfast menu - it was easily the most enticing list of breakfast dishes I have ever seen! If I lived in Canberra I think I would be there very regularly so I could work my way through them.

Anyway, today's pudding is a recipe that I cut out of Good Living in the SMH nearly four years ago (yes, that's how many recipes I have in my scrapbook - it's taken me this long to get up to it!) It was a story about using claypots for cooking. I have a claypot, which I originally gave to Dad and which he used a lot, particularly for Asian cooking. I use it a fair bit too for all sorts of things, especially dishes that are slow cooked. I tried out this pudding on a group of people recently and it went down very well. I made it again today for my sister and her husband and they seemed to enjoy it too. There are quite a few steps to it, so I work out my timing ahead of time and write it all down so that I know when to do each task. You'll notice as it cooks the pudding has the most gorgeous aroma.

Have a wonderful week. Love from Jane xxx

Maple and pecan croissant pudding

Serves four

What you need:

• 1/2 cup sultanas
• 45ml brandy
• 4 large croissants
• 50g butter
• 40g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 300ml milk
• 150ml thin cream
• 120ml good quality maple syrup
• 25g demerara sugar (if you only have caster sugar, that's fine)
• Maple syrup and thin cream to serve

What you do:

1. Place the sultanas and brandy in a small pan on the stove and heat gently until warm. Leave to stand for one hour.
2. Soak a claypot in cold water for 15 minutes, then drain. Leave for 2-3 minutes then lightly grease the base and sides of the pot.
3. Cut the croissants into thick slices and butter on one side (I know this sounds incredibly indulgent, and it is, it's really worth it).
4. Arrange the croissant slices, buttered side up and slightly overlapping, in the claypot.
5. Sprinkle the sultantas and pecan nuts on top.
6. In a large bowl combine the beaten eggs and milk, then gradually beat in the cream and maple syrup.
7. Pour the egg mixture through a sieve on to the croissants, sultanas and nuts. Let it stand for 30 minutes so that the custard soaks into the croissants.
8. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the top, cover the dish and place it in an UNHEATED oven. Set the oven to 180C and bake for 40 minutes.
9. Remove the lid and continue to bake for another 20 minutes, or until the custard is set and top is golden.
10. Leave the pudding to cool for about 15 minutes. Serve with cream and extra maple syrup.