Bread Pudding with Chocolate Beer Sauce

With my Pear and Marsala Crumble Cake going a little pear shaped I decided I would present a Bread Pudding with Chocolate Beer Sauce. This dessert is actually one of my little brother's all time favourites to make as it is delicious and oh so easy to create. Preheat your oven to 180°C and place five large eggs, 5 tablespoons cocoa powder and five tablespoon of raw caster sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and silky.

Then gradually whisk in 300ml of single cream and 700ml of skim milk.

Take thick slices of white bread and dip into the liquid so they soak up the gorgeous chocolate custard and place on the bottom of a rectangular baking dish. I know Jamie Oliver recommends removing the crusts but where possible I like to minimise waste, so I just leave the crusts on. Then take a few pieces of 70% dark chocolate and a sprinkling of roasted nuts (my recommendation is pecans or hazelnuts) and scatter around the dish. Then repeat until your dish is full and pour the rest of the chocolate custard into the pan.

Once the dish is full, sprinkle with some more nuts and sugar on the top and place into your oven for 30 minutes or until the top is golden and the center wobbles gently. While it is baking, take 100ml dark beer, 100ml double cream and two tablespoon of raw caster sugar and stir until it comes to a gentle boil. Remove from heat and add 100g of 70% dark chocolate. Serve pudding warm with chocolate sauce drizzled over the top. It's glorious and keeps well in the fridge. Yummo!

Mandarin, Polenta and Macadamia Cake

The whole pack are off to visit Carla and her little one tomorrow so I thought I would make a cake. I was looking for something no fuss and would travel well so I decided to make this Mandarin, Polenta and Macadamia Cake from the Australian Womens Weekly Bake cookbook. Before you begin you need to cover four small mandarins with cold water in a saucepan and bring them to a boil. Repeat this another two times before leaving them to cool to room temperature. Then take a large mixing bowl and add 1 cup of polenta, 2 cups of coarsely ground macadamia nuts and one teaspoon of baking powder.

In a smaller bowl whip 250g room temperature butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 cup of caster sugar until light and fluffy. Then add three eggs, one at a time.

Take your small bowl of cream and eggs and combine them with the dry mixture. At this point you are ready to preheat your oven to 170°C/150°C for a fan forced oven as it will take you a little while to prepare the mandarins. Peel your cooled mandarins, blitz them with a stick blender, strain the juice and carefully remove the seeds before adding the pulp to the cake mixture.

Here is a photo of the completed batter in a lined and grease 23cm springform pan. I then cook the cake for a little over an hour. There is some variance depending on how juicy your mandarins are.

Here is the finished product with a dusting of icing sugar. I can only hope it tastes as good as it smells!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

The lovely Kath decided to host an Easter Barbecue at her abode so I put up my hand to make dessert. I decided to make the Flourless Chocolate Cake from Australian Womens Weekly Bake. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fanforced and then grease and line a 20cm spring form pan. Take a large mixing bowl and blend 1/3 cup cocoa powder with 1/3 cup of water.

Then stir in 150g melted dark chocolate, 150g melted butter, 1 1/3 cups brown sugar, 1 cup of almond or hazelnut meal and four egg yolks. Mix until combined.

In a separate clean bowl beat four egg whites until soft peak form.

Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in two batches.

Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and bake for an hour. When the baking is complete stand the cake for 15 minutes before removing the collar and allowing it to cool completely.

I must apologise for such an unflatting shot of the cake but I assure you it's beautifully fudgy and goes down well with a generous dollop of double cream and berries.

Caramelised Apple Teacakes

My cousin Jacqui has invited me to have dinner at her place as it's been a while since we caught up, so I decided make her and Joel some Caramelised Apple Teacakes from Australian Women's Weekly Bake. Here is two peeled and 1 cm sliced granny smith apples, 80g butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar.

I then creamed 125g butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 2/3 cup caster sugar until it was light and fluffy. Then beat in two eggs, one at a time, before adding 1/2 cup plain flour, 1 1/4 cup self raising flour, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 cup of buttermilk and a grated granny smith apple.

With the power of the internet, here are some muffin pans I prepared earlier! I found I had enough mixture to make 15 cakes, so spoon your caramelised apples and sauce into the base before popping some cake mixture on the top. Bake for 30 minutes at 180°C, stand for 5 minutes before flipping onto a serving tray.

There is something wonderful about cooked apples and I think these will be divine tomorrow served warm with a little icecream. I love an easy going cake and these Caramelised Apple Teacakes are just so pretty.