Torta Caprese

There is nothing I love more than baking cakes for special occasions and there is no greater special occasion than my mum’s birthday. She is the most inspiring woman I know; exceptionally strong, touchingly emotional, generously giving, exquisitely elegant and wise beyond words. Her birthday is a day for me to say thank you to the powers’ above for placing on earth this beautiful woman, that I have the fortune of calling my mum and confidant. My mum has an insatiable chocolate adoration. She will travel the world for the best chocolate, hiding it in a special compartment in our buffet table so only she can eat it. So, it made sense that her birthday cake be also a celebration of chocolate and this Torta Caprese indeed is.

I cut it whilst it was still way too hot, but who can resist?!

This recipe is from Gourmet Traveller’s most recent Italian issue. They provide a brief little story with the recipe saying that this recipe was born when flour was mistakenly left out of the recipe. And what a blessed mistake that was! When hot out of the oven, this cake is like a chocolate soufflé – fluffy and soft centered. When you give it time to cool it becomes gorgeously moist and the nuttiness of the roasted almond meal becomes more pronounced. Whether you have it warm or at room temperature, it is exquisite. There is no denying its chocolatiness but at the same time it is not overly rich, making second helpings a whole lot more desirable.

I highly advise serving this alongside whipped cream or a good quality vanilla bean ice cream. After all, when celebrating one should go the whole way!

Ingredients: 

170gm unsalted butter, coarsely chopped

225gm good quality dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids), finely chopped

170gm (¾ cup) caster sugar

110gm (½ cup) brown sugar

6 eggs, at room temperature

130gm roasted almond meal (if unavailable substitute with normal almond meal or hazelnut meal)

2 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa, sieved, plus extra for dusting

Whipped cream or ice cream, to serve

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180°C and line a 22cm-diameter springform cake tin with baking paper. Combine butter and chocolate in a bowl, place over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted (2-3 minutes). Set aside.

Whisk sugar and eggs in an electric mixer until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes). Add almond meal and cocoa, fold to combine, then fold in chocolate. Pour into tin and bake until cooked through (45-50 minutes). Cool in tin, then remove, dust with cocoa and serve with whipped cream.

Now enjoy!

Fig and Frangipane Tart

There is nothing that screams ‘French’ to me more than French Pâtisserie. Whether it is the smell of it, the taste of it, or simply walking into a store and daydreaming about tasting all the beautiful petits gâteaux, French Pâtisserie will forever remain for me the emblem for the graceful and artistic country France is.

During my first trip to Paris I remember stumbling upon the adorable and utterly tantalising Ladurée Pâtisserie. I was instantly transported into sweet heaven. Never had I seen so many glistening pastries, decorated with bright and zingy berries, coated with sleek and smooth ganache and packaged in the most exquisite boxes (so exquisite that I started collecting them). So, with an abundance of fresh figs from grandmother’s tree and not enough mouths to eat them fresh, it didn’t take me long before I opened Ladurée Sucre and got inspired to make this luscious Fig and Frangipane Tart.

As much as the phrase ‘melts in your mouth’ is over-used, there is seriously no other way to describe the pastry for this tart. The butter lends it a crisp short texture, which paired with the soft scent of almonds, makes you just want to eat the pastry on its own. But, the frangipane filling itself is too sublime to go unnoticed. It is both fluffy and moist, and the nuttiness provided by the almonds marries so elegantly with the figs.

The pastry recipe is enough for two tarts, and although it may seem a little bit hedonistic to make two at the one time, I urge you to wipe away any fear of being labelled a ‘gourmand’ and double the Frangipane filling dose, because there is not time for guilt when French Pâtisserie is at hand.

Pâte Sucrée aux Almonds (Ladurée’s Almond Pastry):

120 grams butter, very cold

70 grams icing sugar

25 grams almond meal

1 pinch of fleur de sel

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg, at room temperature

200 grams cake flour

Sift the icing sugar. Cut the butter into small pieces and place in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Work the butter to homogenize and then add the following ingredients, one by one, making sure to fully incorporate each into the mixture before the next addition: sifted icing sugar, almond meal, fleur de sel, vanilla, egg and flour. Combine ingredients until the dough comes together; do not overwork the dough. This will give the pastry its desired crumbly texture.

Form the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours before using. If possible, it is better to prepare the dough one day ahead; it will be easier to roll out. This pastry will keep (unrolled) in the fridge for a maximum of 5 days.

Grease a regular tart tin with butter. Take the pastry out of the fridge and divide into two. Lightly flour a sheet of greaseproof parchment paper. Place one of the dough halves on the paper and begin to roll out into the shape of the tart tin. Roll out the pastry to a size that it is big enough to cover the base of the tin and reach up the sides. Gently flip the pastry onto the tart tin. This is where the greaseproof paper comes in handy as it allows you to flip the pastry onto the tin without hurting the pastry. Press the pastry into the sides of the tin. Using the handle of a wooden spoon press the edges of the pastry into the grooves of the tin. Place in the fridge until ready to use/fill.

Frangipane Filling:

100 grams butter, softened

100 grams caster sugar

100 grams almond meal

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 egg, at room temperature

1 tablespoon amaretto

5 figs, ends trimmed and halved

2 tablespoons honey (or your favourite jam), warmed

Mascarpone to serve

Pre-heat oven to 180°C. In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add the almond meal and flour and beat until just incorporated. Add the egg and amaretto and beat until combined.

Spread mixture gently into the tart shell. Top with figs, skin-side facing upwards. Bake in the oven, on one of the lower racks for 40 – 45 minutes, or until the filling is puffed and golden. Allow the tart to cool for 5 – 10 minutes before taking it out of the tin. Gaze the tart with warmed jam or honey using a pastry brush. Serve with mascarpone and enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate and Avocado Cake

Now I know it might sound weird to put avocado in a cake, but I assure you there is certainly nothing weird about this cake. I have to admit, when I was first encouraged to try a chocolate avocado cake I was sceptical but my preconceptions were quickly diluted as soon as I took my first bite. In actual fact, that cake also had beetroot and wasn’t only vegan friendly but also paleo. So this one here is mildly ambitious in comparison.

Avocado is one of the best, most tastiest substitutes for butter. You can’t even taste it in this recipe but its creamy texture provides an eerily similar enhancement to the cake that butter otherwise would. And when combined with hazelnuts and chocolate it is oh so scrumptious.

When I told my mum that I was going to make a chocolate avocado cake, she scrunched her nose and said ‘When I said I wanted cake, I meant cake – not some healthy version of a cake.’ But the Leo in me, told me to ignore her hesitancies and persevere, and may I say, thank goodness for my stubbornness! She devoured the mammoth slice I cut her and her praise was most definitely flattering. So, I managed to convert my mum, next to the test was my brother and grandma. And yep, safe to say, before I knew it half the cake was gone.

So not only is this cake healthy by my books (hello whole-wheat flour, hazelnuts, avocado and cacao), but it is also incredibly delectable. It has a beautifully moist and tender crumb but at the same time it has this incredible fluffiness. And for a cake with no eggs, it rises beautifully. You can most definitely make this cake as a layer cake, by dividing the mixture between two tins and filling it with a chocolate-avocado frosting – but by no means should you feel you have to jazz it up as it is exquisite in its own right.

Thank you to the incredible Tina Jeffers for this recipe from http://www.scalingbackblog.com/sweet-treats/chocolate-hazelnut-avocado-cake/

For the Cake:

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour

1 cup hazelnut meal

6 tablespoons unsweetened cacao

½ tablespoons salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups granulated sugar

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup soft avocado, mashed (about 1 medium avocado)

2 cups water

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter and flour one 24cm diameter round cake tin. Set aside.

Sift together all the dry ingredients, except for the sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the avocado and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add the remaining wet ingredients and the sugar and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.

Pour the batter into the cake tin. Bake for 60 – 70 minutes. When a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean the cake is ready. You may have to put some baking paper over the cake during the cooking time to prevent over browning. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack if you are icing the cake.

Optional Frosting:

1 large ripe avocado, peeled and seeded

½ cup unsweetened cacao

1 ¼ cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

In a stand mixer whip the avocado until it forms a smooth mixture. In a medium bowl sift the cacao and powdered sugar together. Add to the avocado along with the salt and vanilla and whip until you get a smooth frosting.

Roasted Beetroot, Lentil & Pomegranate Salad

This year, my dad decided to plant a veggie patch near his shed, and boy what lovely veggies it produced! In actual fact I think the key to a successful garden is letting it be – just let it grow. Seriously, after not tending to it for a month, my dad went and picked up baby beetroots, carrots, corn, tomatoes, herbs, zucchinis that are close to a meter long and so much delicious and beautiful home grown produce.

I was so excited to see the baby beetroots as they are one of my favourite vegetables, especially in the summer.  And may I say, turning them into this salad has to be one of the most gracious ways to treat them. The natural oils in the garlic cloves seeps into the beets whilst they are roasting, imbuing them with a soft, caramelised garlic accent. Added with the freshness of the onions and herbs, the wholesomeness of the lentils and creaminess of the fetta – this salad will ignite every taste bud and sensation. The inspiration for this salad came from the newest edition of the Gourmet Traveller where a grilled eggplant, pomegranate and lentil salad featured. If you are yet to get your hands on a copy of the latest edition, I highly recommend you do so quickly as there are some beautiful recipes. I served this alongside my crispy chicken schnitzel and the Gourmet Traveller’s speedy yoghurt flatbread which was so scrumptious that my family didn’t even allow me time to take a picture so I could blog it. Anyway, just an excuse for me to make it again ASAP.

So, if you are nearing the end of summer and getting tired of the same old salads it is high time to spice it up a bit and reignite your love for salads with this beautiful, utterly delectable recipe!

Ingredients:

4 fresh baby beetroots, washed

2 cloves of garlic

½ a purple (Spanish) onion, finely diced

3 spring onions, finely chopped

½ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

½ cup small lentil (I used nipper lentils)

150 grams Dodoni Fetta (can be substituted for Persian Fetta)

½ a pomegranate, deseeded

3 tablespoons of pine nuts, roasted/toasted

Juice of ½ a lemon

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt, pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place washed, whole baby beetroots with the 2 cloves of garlic in aluminium foil and wrap tightly. Place in the oven to cook for 45 minutes – 1 hour. Test at the 45 minute mark with a skewer – it should be able to pierce through the beetroots, but they should still retain their firmness. If cooked, take out of the oven, unwrap and allow to cool.

In the meantime, cook the lentils in a saucepan of water for 25 – 30 minutes or until cooked to taste. Drain and allow to cool.

Peel the skin off the beetroots gently. Chop the beetroots into random pieces (I usually get 6 – 8 pieces from one baby beet). Place the roasted garlic in a measuring cup, and add the oil and lemon juice. Smash the garlic in this mixture do break it up into small pieces and flavour the dressing.

In a serving bowl, stir through the beetroot with the onion, spring onion, parsley and lentils. Decorate with pomegranate, fetta and pine nuts and pour over the dressing. Season to taste.

Abricotines by Ladurée

The first time I went to Paris I remember walking down the Champs-Elysées and coming to a sudden halt in front of this pale green and gold building sporting the name Ladurée. This was before Australians even had an idea of a macaron let a lone Ladurée so you can imagine just how enthralled I was by the prettiness of this historic building let alone the exquisite desserts, biscuits and food it was championing inside. It was just my mum and I, so we sat ourselves down and indulged in some of the most memorable cakes we have ever tasted; their smooth and luscious lemon tart, their crisp and vanilla millefeuille, their tender and chewy macarons and these absolutely incredible almond and apricot biscuits.

I couldn’t help myself but buy their Sucré cookbook right there and then and get insight into how they make these most luscious little treats and I have been oh so grateful I made that investment because each recipe is a dream. If the store isn’t pretty enough, their cookbooks are covered in velvet, wrapped in tissue paper and placed in an exquisite box. To put is simply, you’d want to be sure your hands are washed, sanitised and soaked in Dettol before you even touch the cookbook.

These abricotines are my mum’s favourite biscuits. After having tried them at the store we bought a box to take with us for the next part of our holiday – Greece. I had to viciously slap my mum’s hands away countless times before we even got to Greece to prevent her from eating them, but the wait was oh so rewarding. The memory of when we opened the box is so vivid in my mind, we were driving around for hours in our Mercedes Viano, my mum and I hiding in the back and starting to need our 3pm sugar fix, my mum was going to let my brother and dad try them, but after one bite that idea was washed away and we never even told them we had them. They are sublime!

They have such a lightness to them, and the fruitiness of the apricot paired with the nuttiness of the almonds is magical. It’s hard to believe that they don’t even have butter – I mean how can a biscuit without butter taste soo good?!

So without further ado, thank you Ladurée for this incredible recipe and for allowing me to share ti with the world …

1 1/3 cups + 1 tbsp (170g) icing sugar

2¼ cups (215g) ground almonds

¼ cup cake flour

6 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp (40g) granulated sugar

¾ cup + 2tbsp (85g) flaked almonds

1 cup (300g) apricot jam

Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a large bowl. Combine with the ground almonds and flour. In another large clean, dry bowl, whip the egg white to a foam. Once they are white and frothy, add the vanilla extract and granulated sugar, and continue to whip until firm.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the mixture of confectioners’ sugar, ground almond and flour into the whipped egg whites. Start with the spatula in the center of the bowl, work up the sides of the bowl and bring the mixture back down towards the center, all the while turning the bowl regularly. Continue until you have a smooth and homogenous mixture.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Transfer batter to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pipe small disks, approximately ¾ inch in diameter. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Lower the oven temperature to 170 degrees Celsius. Place sheet in oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Allow to cool completely. Place a coin of apricot jam on the biscuit shells and top with remaining shells. Dust with icing sugar.

Place the biscuits in an airtight container in the refrigerator and allow to rest for a minimum of 12 hours before tasting. You can also make this recipe using raspberry jam.

Cypriot Inspired Olive Bread

One of my favourite shows to watch is Food Safari with Maeve O’Maera. The other night I was watching the Cyprus episode and literally salivated for the whole episode … It is such an underrated cuisine. Many people mistake it for Greek food and although the two are very similar, Cyrpiot food is very much influenced by the Middle East. This means that many dishes are coloured with spices, textured with nuts and sweetened with dried fruit. For me, it is the perfect union between the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Oh so yumm! Anyway, somewhere between me daydreaming about the Flaounes (Easter Cheese Stuffed Pides) and Stuffed Vine Leaves was a clip of a man making Cypriot Olive Bread (Elioti). That was all I needed to see before I got the ingredients out and put it on the menu for the next day.

This bread is no ordinary olive bread. More often than not, I am disappointed by the (at minimum) $7 olive bread I buy – either too dense, not enough olives, or  lacking that freshness of the Mediterranean diet that it should embody. This bread on the other hand is like you’ve popped over to Greece or Cyprus and have been graced with a bread made from the experienced hands of an old grandmother. But the best part of it is, you don’t have to do that at all as it is super easy to make and I assure you, if you give it a bit of TLC it most definitely won’t disappoint you.

It is a very soft, light and fluffy textured bread and the layers of olives give it an aesthetically beautiful appeal and takes the taste to a whole other level. So, ditch that $7 bread or preservative intoxicated bread and put this on your to cook list ASAP.

5 cups strong white flour

2 ¼ cups warm water

1 teaspoon dried yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons of olive oil

¼ cup chopped parsley

1 cup good quality Kalamata olives pitted olives and chopped

sesame seeds for on top

In a medium sized bowl dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Allow to rest in a warm spot for 45 minutes or until the mixture becomes foamy on top. In a large mixing bowl stir 4 cups of the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon. At this stage you should begin kneading the dough with your hands and gradually add the remaining one cup of flour. Depending on the humidity the dough may require more than the remaining one cup or less than the remaining one cup. Be careful to not add too much flour as you want the dough to be soft. Put the olive oil on your hands (this will help prevent adding too much flour) and knead the dough for 10 minutes until soft and elastic. Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil and transfer the dough to this bowl. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and place in a warm spot for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Lightly flour a flat surface. Place the dough on this surface and using a rolling pin roll out into rectangle ½ an inch thick. Spread the olives around the dough and sprinkle the parsley on top. Roll the dough carefully into a log. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rise for another 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Sprinkle sesames over the bread and bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Allow to cool on an oven tray for 10 minutes before cutting and smothering with French butter or dunking in olive oil.

Vasilopita – Greek New Year’s Wish Cake

In every traditional Greek household the New Year is brought in with the cutting of the Vasilopita. This cake brings so much excitement to every family, because nestled somewhere inside the cake is a flouri (coin) and whoever gets it in their piece is said to have luck and be blessed for the whole year. The idea is that no one knows where the coin is. Slices are cut and named for every person of the household and one for Christ, the Virgin Mary, the house and the poor. It is this sense of celebration and tradition that Greeks have which makes me so proud to be Greek.

This year was the first time that I made the Vasilopita. I had been wanting to make this recipe for several years ever since I got Tessa Kiros’ ‘Food from many Greek Kitchens’ cookbook, but my dad always managed to beat me to it and order one from a Greek pastry shop. So finally, this year he decided to be frugal and allow me to make it. There are many different versions of Vasilopita, from a regular cake like this one to a yeasted bread with different spices similar to a Brioche (my grandma makes this version – so I get the best of both worlds).  Tessa’s recipe is delightfully easy and the cake itself is scrumptious! It has a beautiful crumb but above all, the taste is heavenly – the perfect combination of citrus meeting vanilla.

My grandma's version of Vasilopita 

You don’t have to wait to New Year’s Eve to make this cake. It is one of those cakes that you can make all year around but if making it for the New Year be sure to remember to drop the flouri in the mixture.

1 coin such as a euro, dollar or pound

3 cups (450 grams) plain flour

3 heaped teaspoons baking powder

200 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

300 grams sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

4 tablespoons brandy

¾ cup (185 ml) milk

1/3 cup (50 grams) blanched almonds, finely chopped

Icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter and flour a 28 cm spring-form cake tin. Rinse the coin, dry it well and wrap it tightly in aluminium foil.

Sift the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt together into a bowl. Whip the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer in a large bowl until creamy. Ass the eggs one at a time, whisking each one in well. Beat in the vanilla and the orange and lemon zests. Fold in the dry ingredients alternately with the brandy and the milk, then fold the almonds in.

Scrape into the tin. Drop in the coin now, trying to keep it upright, not flat. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire cake rack to cool completely. Dust cake with icing sugar.

One very proud mum!