Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: “zucchini in cake?!” You’re  probably used to sweet baked goods made with chocolate or fruit, but using vegetables in cakes isn’t as odd as it would seem. There are so many different sweet recipes out there that use all kinds of vegetables; think traditional favourites of pumpkin pie and carrot cake, and more unusual recipes like chocolate beetroot cake or spinach brownies! After being in a bit of a baking  funk, I wanted to make something that was not only delicious but also something a little different. I thought about making Jessica Seinfeld’s recipe for brownies with spinach, but I wasn’t in the mood for something chocolatey. After searching through my very disorganised folder of online recipes I’ve bookmarked, I came across this recipe and knew it was the one to make.

It’s very similar to a carrot cake, only with grated zucchini and different spices instead. It is a very simple recipe and takes hardly anytime to prepare at all.  I didn’t follow the recipe as printed (I’m such a rebel!) and used walnuts instead of pistachios and added cinnamon and cloves to the mix. I’m quite time poor these days, so I didn’t even bother with the frosting and it’s a one-bowl recipe which means less time washing up and more time eating!

Zucchini Spice Loaf

Adapted from recipe found in Delicious magazine, February 2007 here.

3/4 cup (185ml) sunflower oil

1 cup (220g) caster sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup (75g) walnuts, finely chopped

1/2 cup (60g) almond meal

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 big ones)

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

dash of ground cloves

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 cups (225g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (75g) plain flour

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a loaf tin and line base and sides with baking paper.
2. Using a whisk, combine the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla until thick. Stir in chopped nuts, meal, zucchini and spices. Sift over baking soda and flours, and stir to combine. Pour into pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 20 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Oh, gluttony is a sin I always seem to indulge in quite willingly and when it comes to Indian food, boy, do I indulge! My boyfriend and I eat Indian food quite often and we’re lucky that there are many great (and cheap!) Indian restaurants in Melbourne. It’s almost become a tradition to over-order and eat way too much. There’s just so many great dishes to try. Our favourites are lamb vindaloo, chicken makhani,  garlic naan, pappadums, raita, chutneys… I could go on and on!

At the end of every Indian dinner we have, Z likes to finish off with kulfi, a really sweet iced dessert made with milk and usually flavoured with spices, nuts or fruit. It’s similar to ice-cream, but is quite dense and solid as opposed to the airy, light texture of ice-cream. It’s the perfect sweet treat to finish off a rich and spicy meal.

So, last night, I decided to try and make kulfi myself and after perusing a few recipes online, I think I have come up with a pretty good version. Try it for yourself. It’s delicious!

Cardamom Pistachio Kulfi

2 cups full cream milk

¾ cup sugar

10 cardamom pods, crushed

½ cup pistachios, chopped

extra pistachios, to sprinkle

1. In a large heavy-based saucepan, boil the milk and sugar until the volume is reduced to a third. It should smell very sweet and be quite thick.
2. Remove from the heat, add the cardamom (shells and all). Allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Strain the mixture, then add the pistachios. Divide the mixture into individual ramekins, cover with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
4. To serve, dip the ramekins into hot water for 20 seonds or so, invert onto a plate and sprinkle with extra nuts.

Makes 4 to 6, depending on the size of the ramekin.

I. LOVE. GRANOLA.

Yep, I love it so much, I had to declare it in capital letters. I know everyone else does too. My first granola recipe is one of the most popular recipes visited on my blog and I thought another version might be appreciated.

What I love about this particular granola recipe is that it’s sweet without being overpoweringly sweet, it has that warm homely smell of cinnamon and vanilla, the apricots had a different textural dimension and it has the perfect amount of crunch. Delicious for breakfast in the morning with yoghurt, yummy as an on-the-go snack and yummy with milk for a late-night treat in front of the TV.

Enjoy!

Apricot Granola

I particularly don’t like clumpy granola, but if you do, simply ensure that you firmly compress the granola into the trays before you let it cool. Then, once it’s cool, you can break it up into clumps.

7 cups rolled oats

2 cups slivered almonds

1 cup brown sugar

¾ cup raw sunflower seeds

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

? cup vegetable oil

½ cup honey

1½ tablespoons vanilla extract

1½ cups diced apricots

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two large baking trays with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, sugar, sunflower seeds and cinnamon. In a small saucepan, heat the oil and honey over medium heat until just simmering.
3. Pour the liquid mixture over the oat mixture and thoroughly combine with your hands (careful it’s hot!) until everything is coated. Spread the mixture onto the prepared trays.
4. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, stirring every ten minutes to ensure even browning. Bake until golden brown. Stir in the apricots as soon as you remove the trays from the oven. Allow to cool completely on trays.

Regular readers would have noticed that the frequency of my baking and blogging has dwindled down to either once a month or even more. I used to bake up a storm, trying several recipes a week and posting at least once a week. I have just been so lazy in the winter months, uninspired and really low on the creativity front. There’s just something about winter, the depressing weather and dreariness of it all which manages to somehow zap my energy levels and eagerness to be as inventive and creative as I can be.

Now that spring has arrived, bringing with it warmer weather and more sunlight during the day, I seem to be happier, re-energised and re-inspired in all almost each key facet in my life: relationships, health/fitness, work and of course my photography and baking.

Also, starting this week, my blog will be updated more regularly, with hopefully more creative recipes, photographs and posts. I also have the intention of changing the layout of my blog too, with a new colour scheme and banner, but this won’t be implemented until the new year I think. I’ve played around with a few ideas in my head, but I need to work out all the geeky stuff first (i.e. moving from Wordpress.com to Wordpress.org and getting my own host), then I can work on the creative.

So, with all that out of the way, my first spring-inspired recipe is the one I am going to share with you today: little mandarin, almond and chocolate cakes. Such a mouthful to say for a tiny cake, but they are so delicious, you wouldn’t care what they are called. The best thing about this recipe too, is that you make it all in the food processor without too many additional bowls, spoons and utensils to wash!

These cakes are so deliciously moist, with the perfect balance of sweet and fruity (the mandarin), nutty and fragrant (the almond) and a small hit of chocolate without overpowering the other flavours. It is also the perfect recipe for those who are gluten intolerant and cannot digest gluten. It can be made into little cakes for afternoon tea as I have done, or made in a big tin, served in slices with double cream and mandarin segments on the side for a fancy, but easy dessert.

Little Mandarin, Almond and Chocolate Cakes

Adapted from Claudia Roden’s recipe for Orange and Almond Cake.

4 medium mandarins (honey murcotts are ideal)

6 eggs

250g almond meal (if you blitz whole almonds yourself, you get a wonderful pebbly texture in the cake)

250g caster sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

150g dark chocolate, finely chopped

50g slivered almonds

icing sugar, to dust

1. In a saucepan, cover the mandarins with water and bring to the boil. Cook for about 45 minutes or until they are soft (they will most likely split). Allow to cool until you can handle them with your fingers.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease 2 x 8 mini loaf tins and set aside.
3. Chop up the mandarins and remove the seeds. Place the mandarins in a food processor along with the eggs, sugar and almond meal. Whizz until combined.
4. Stir through the chocolate and divide the cake batter into the prepared tins. Sprinkle over the slivered almonds and bake for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Makes 16.

* This post is dedicated to my boyfriend Z who always pushes me to be the best I can be. Thank you always for your encouragement and support.

One of my all-time favourite baking books is Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Baking From My Home To Yours’. There is a great variety of recipes and the wonderfully written prose is easy and enjoyable to read. With each recipe, you also feel as if she’s in the kitchen with you, guiding you every step of the way.

With every recipe I have tried for this blog, from the Twice-Baked Almond Brioche, Peanut Butter Cookies and Dulce de Leche Duos to the pastry cream recipe for my yummy Mango Tart, each has turned out brilliantly and with great success.

My lucky streak ended yesterday when I tried to make her Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread Cookies and they turned out terribly. I even made them twice! On the first attempt, I followed her instructions step-by-step and they spread into one huge cookie slab! It tasted nice, but I didn’t want to chip away pieces of it to serve to my family (‘Jagged shortbread slab piece, anyone?’). On the second try, I actually popped the biscuit dough into the freezer for 15 minutes before baking, much like you would for pastry, in an attempt to stop the squares from spreading out into a huge rectangle as it did on the first try. It was much better, but the shortbread still spread out quite a bit and did not look anything like the cute little perfect sand-coloured squares in the photo. I wasn’t going to try it a third time, as I had already used 500 grams (!) of butter and I was kind of over baking the same thing twice in one day really.

Since the shortbread came out a little ugly, I wasn’t too happy with how they photographed either. They weren’t as thick as they were supposed to be and turned out way too dark. But, like all Dorie recipes, they tasted absolutely awesome. They were like any shortbread should be: buttery, crisp, sweet but too sweet.

Although my shortbread didn’t turn out like Ms. Greenspan’s, I haven’t given up on her recipes yet. Hopefully I’ll find some time to bake another Dorie recipe this week. Maybe her World Peace Cookies or Caramel Pots de Creme. I can’t wait!

Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread

If you decide to give these a go, hopefully yours don’t turn out crappy like mine :)

Adapted from a recipe by Dorie Greenspan in ‘Baking From My Home To Yours’.

1¼ cups plain flour

½ cup rice flour (or cornflour)

¼ teaspoon salt

pinch ground cloves

250g unsalted butter,room temperature

¾ cup light brown sugar

½ cup finely ground pecans

raw/demerara sugar, to sprinkle

1. Sift together the flour, rice flour, salt and cloves.
2. Beat the butter and sugr using a hand-held mixer or freestanding mixer on medium speed for around 3 minutes or until very smooth. Reduce the speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the pecans and give the mixer a couple of turns, just to mix the nuts through.
3. In between two large pieces of non-stick baking paper, roll the dough out to an approximately 24 x 28cm rectangle that’s 1.5cm thick. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.
4. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Using a ruler and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 4cm squares. Transfer the squares to the prepared baking trays and prick each square twice with the tines of a fork. Sprinkle some raw sugar over each dough square. Place these two trays in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Position the oven racks to divide the oven into thirds.
5. Bake the biscuits for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. Dorie’s shortbread were beautifully pale. Mine were dark and ugly.
6. Cool the shortbread on a wire rack.

Yep, I admit it, I’m an internet junkie. I use it every single day and I think I would have withdrawal symptoms without it. I use it to check the weather, pay my bills, find out the latest news, email, chat, blogs, shopping, download music or movies, catch up with friends on Facebook, read restaurant reviews, I could go on and on.

I particularly love to shop online. So many sites offer products at a cheaper price than you would find in the retail stores and even with postage, I can still end up saving lots of money. I think it’s the convenience factor which sucks me in. With a credit card and a few simple clicks, that’s it!

Two of my favourite shopping sites are eBay and Amazon. I’ve bought all kinds of things off eBay: cosmetics, books, kitchenware, DVDs and so many other random bits and bobs. One of my most favourite eBay bargains is the cake stand I’ve used in the photos for this post. It was brand new, sealed in its box and I got it for $15 with postage! :)

Amazon is my favourite for books. Although Australia stocks most internationally printed titles, the price comparison between here and the US is ridiculous. For example, Dorie Greenspan’s ‘Baking from my Home to Yours’ retails at around $80 here in specialty cookbook stores but I can buy it online at Amazon for just over $30 and with postage, I’ve still got change from $50! Since the Australian dollar is doing so well at the moment, I’ve gone a little crazy with online shopping. I’ve even got Z onto Amazon where he purchases his medical textbooks (yeah, I know, boring!)

I just love the internet. Without it, I would never be able to sit on my butt and abuse my credit card or be able to write all this gibberish and share the most kickass carrot cupcake recipe with you! :)

Carrot Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

The best thing about this recipe is that you only need two bowls, one for the cupcakes and one for the frosting. No need to use the huge mixer and spend forever cleaning it, yay!

Makes 12 perfect cupcakes.

½ cup caster sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 ½ cups grated carrots, around 4 medium carrots

¼ cup pecans, chopped

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

125g cream cheese, room temperature

30g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

¼ cup maple syrup

6 pecans, cut in half

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease or line with papers a 12-hole muffin tin.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars and oil until combined. Add the eggs one by one and mix until smooth. Add the vanilla extract.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix. Add the grated carrots and pecans.
4. Divide the batter between the muffin pans and bake for around 14 minutes or until golden brown and springy to touch. Allow to cool.
5. For the frosting, mix the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and maple syrup until smooth. Frost the cooled cupcakes and top with the pecan halves.

Meringues can be tricky things to make but it’s not as hard as it may seem. I’ve had friends call me in despair when their meringues have failed dismally (yes you Susie!) and when I posted these little mocha babies, I received quite a few emails and comments asking me for help on how to make them. Now I’m no expert on meringues, but I thought I’d write a short post with a few tips and tricks I’ve learnt over the years.

Here we go:

• Don’t use egg whites straight from the fridge. Egg whites should always be at room temperature as they are easier to whisk and more air can be incorporated.
• As a general rule, for one eggwhite, use the same amount of sugar as the weight of the egg. So, for a 60g egg, use 60g of sugar.
• The bowl in which you want to use to whip your egg whites must be spotlessly clean. It’s best to use a bowl made from either stainless steel, ceramic, glass or copper as plastic bowls can sometimes contain traces of fat and grease. Your utensils (i.e. spatula, beaters, whisk) should be spotlessly clean too.
• When adding the sugar to the egg whites, add it a tablespoon at a time whisking well in between each addition. After all the sugar is incorporated, whisk for around 3 minutes or until the mixture is super shiny, glossy and lusciously thick. At this stage the sugar should be completely dissolved. You can rub a little bit between your thumb and forefinger to check.

• Be careful not to overbeat the meringues as they will collapse whilst cooking and sugar droplets will form on the surface.
• Perfect meringues can be made using just egg whites and sugar, but it’s always nice to have a little help. The addition of cornflour helps to produce a chewy interior and the addition of white vinegar, or any other acid like lemon juice, helps to stabilise the egg whites.
• Baking time depends entirely on their size obviously, but for a general rule of thumb, bake them until they are crisp to touch. For smallish ones around 5cm in diameter, this should take around 30 minutes. For a really big pavlova, it will be around an hour and 15 minutes. Once the meringues are baked, allow them to cool in the switched-off oven until completely cold.
• As meringue mix is so light, I find that when I’m spooning or piping the mix onto the paper-lined trays, it tends to slide about and I can’t pipe properly. Quick fix: dab a little bit of sticky meringue mix onto each corner of the baking paper and affix it onto your tray. Instant glue!

Hopefully what I’ve shared with you can help if you have trouble making meringues. It just takes a little patience, care and remember the motto I follow, “go slow and low”. Always add the sugar slowly and bake them at a low temperature :)

Brown Sugar and Walnut Meringues

Adapted from a recipe found in Australian Women’s Weekly, April 2008.

4 egg whites

240g light brown sugar

1 cup (100g) walnuts, finely chopped

1 teaspoon cornflour

½ teaspoon white vinegar

1. Preheat the oven to 120°C (100°C if fan forced). Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
2. Whisk the egg whites in a bowl with an electric mixer or freestanding mixer until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, whisking until sugar well in between additions. Whisk for another 3 minutes until the mix is satiny shiny and thick.
3. Gently fold through ¾ cup of the walnuts, cornflour and vinegar.
4. Using a piping bag with a large plain nozzle, pipe the meringue mixture into small rounds approximately 5cm in diameter, around 3 centimetres apart, on the prepared trays. Sprinkle the tops of the meringues with the remaining walnuts.
5. Bake for around 25 minutes or until they are crisp to touch. Turn off the oven and allow to cool completely with the door slightly ajar for several hours until completely cold.

Makes around 40.

I have a little confession to make. We’ve all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet I hardly ever eat a proper morning meal. And when I mean hardly, it’s probably once a week!

It’s been drilled in my head for years at university throughout my nutrition classes that it’s crucial as it re-fuels the body after rest and it “switches on” the metabolism to help burn kilojoules, yet I still can’t wake up, sit down and eat something simple as toast or yoghurt everyday. Don’t get me wrong, I do eat “breakfast” occasionally, but it’s usually at 9am and isn’t enough food to sustain me through until lunch. Some days I will eat breakfast, but only when I have had a really really early dinner the previous night and I am totally famished at 6am the next day. I don’t know if it’s the laziness factor or if it’s because my stomach can’t tolerate large amounts of food in the early hours of the morning.

It’s funny, although I studied nutrition, I have no real intentions of following a career as a nutritionist, but if I did, I’d be a huge hypocrite as I cannot even follow my own dietary advice! So, as of yesterday, I have decided to change my ways and force myself to eat a healthy breakfast every morning. I’ll start small and build my way up. I had two crumpets, a banana and a glass of orange juice yesterday at 6.30am and I know it doesn’t sound like much, but for my little morning stomach, it was a feast!

Today’s breakfast was a tub of mango yoghurt and a small bowl of granola with soy milk. It was wonderfully nutty with a mixture of raw nuts and seeds, with a subtle sweet hit from a sticky blend of brown sugar, pureed apples and liquid sweeteners . A few teaspoons of cinnamon and ginger provided a hint of spice and the texture of the raisins juxtaposed well with the crunchiness of everything else. In summary, it was awesome!!

A small bowl of this granola a few times a week in the morning will definitely help me adapt to eating breakfast everyday!

Best Ever Homemade Granola

Adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson in ‘Feast’.

I couldn’t find a small jar of applesauce in my local supermarket, so I substituted it with pureed apples found in the baby food aisle. Also, Nigella’s original recipe uses brown rice syrup, but I used maple syrup instead.

I like mine with soy milk instead of cow’s milk. The nuttiness in the soy complements the granola well.

Dry

5 cups rolled oats

2 cups raw almonds

1 cup raw sunflower seeds

¾ cup sesame seeds

¾ cup light brown sugar

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup raisins

Wet

¾ cup pureed apples

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup golden syrup

¼ cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 140°C.
2. In a large bowl, combine all of dry ingredients except the raisins. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Spread the mixture over two baking trays and bake for 45 minutes until golden brown. During baking time, stir the granola every 10 or 15 minutes and rotate the pans.
4. Once ready, remove from the oven and continue to stir well. If you don’t, it will set into a huge slab!
5. Add the raisins and stir well.

Makes 10 cups. Store the granola in an airtight container. Pop it in the fridge as the nuts can go rancid quickly.

With this post, you’re either going to love me or hate me. You will love me because I’m going to share a recipe for delicious brioche that you can make yourself, but then you will hate me because you’re going to take one look at the loooong list of steps, not even bother to attempt it, then have dreams of freshly homemade brioche for the rest of the week and you’ll simply salivate at the sheer thought of it. Yeah, you will! :)

I have never made brioche before because I am an extraordinarily lazy person and it all seemed like a big fuss which I could not be bothered with . I don’t know where the motivation came from, maybe my stomach, but last night I finally decided to give it a go and you know what? It is a huge fuss! There is a lot of preparation and so much waiting time, but it really is worth it. I actually didn’t think I’d have the patience to complete the recipe, or even type up the method as it’s so bloody long, but I’m glad I did. I really want you to try it for yourself as freshly baked brioche is simply magnificent!

Brioche is lovely eaten on its own, or toasted and spread with good butter and/or jam, but I thought I’d go the extra mile and make Twice-Baked Almond Brioche instead.

Brioche

Brioche recipe adapted from ‘Baking with Julia’ by Dorie Greenspan.

Sponge

2 teaspoons instant yeast

½ cup (125ml) full cream milk, just warm to the touch

½ cup (70g) plain flour

Dough

? cup (75g) caster sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

4 large eggs, beaten

3 cups (420g) plain flour

250g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. For the sponge, place the yeast, milk and flour into the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Stir with a whisk until the yeast has dissolved. Cover the bowl with with a tea-towel and allow to rest for 30-40 minutes. During this resting time, it should bubble up.
2. Add the sugar, salt, eggs and flour to the sponge mix. Attach the dough hook to the mixer and mix on low speed until the ingredients come together and begins to resemble a dough. Cover again and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 15 minutes, scraping the hook and sides of the bowl as necessary. During this time, the dough should come together, wrap itself around the hook and ’slap’ the sides of the bowl. If after 8 to 10 minutes, you don’t have the audible ’slapping’ of the dough, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it comes together.
3. With the mixer on low-medium speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time. The dough will look like a huge, lumpy mess, but persevere until all the butter is incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes or until you can hear the dough slapping the sides of the bowl again. The dough should be very shiny and elastic.
4. Transfer the dough to a large, oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise and double in size. This will take around 2 to 2.5 hours.
5. Deflate the dough by folding it over itself several times using greased hands. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 6 to 24 hours in the fridge.

The dough is now ready to be used as you wish. To make two loaves, simply divide the dough, roll each portion out to the length of your tins, rest for an hour, egg wash them and bake until dark golden brown, but I will be using half the dough for Twice-Baked Almond Brioche and the other half later in the month for Sticky Cinnamon Pecan Buns (blog post will follow of course!). So, divide the dough in two and wrap one portion up tightly with plastic wrap and store it in the freezer.

With the other half, here we go…

Twice-Baked Almond Brioche

Instead of flaked almonds, you can use other nuts, or fresh fruit such as sliced strawberries, raspberries, pears, peaches or nectarines. Whatever!

The syrup and almond cream can be prepared a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator overnight.

Almond cream recipe adapted from ‘Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen’ by Clotilde Dusoulier.

½ quantity brioche dough

Syrup

½ cup (110g) caster sugar

¼ cup (60ml) water

¼ cup (60ml) orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Almond cream

¼ cup caster sugar

½ cup ground almonds

¼ teaspoon salt

60g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

flaked almonds, to sprinkle

icing sugar, to dust

1. Grease an 8-hole mini loaf pan, with each loaf measuring approximately 10 x 5 x 3 cm. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a rectangle slightly larger than the loaf pans. With the shorter end of the rectangle at the top, roll the dough into a tight coil. Turn in the ends to seal and place the rolled dough piece, seam side down into the pan.
2. Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size. This should take around an hour.
3. Whilst the loaves are resting, prepare the syrup. Combine the sugar, water, orange juice and vanilla extract in a small saucepan. Cook over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Allow the syrup to boil or a minute or two. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool completely.
4. Bake the loaves in a preheated oven set at 165°C for 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove the loaves from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. For the almond cream, beat all the ingredients together until creamy.

Assembly

1. Preheat the oven to 165°C. Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.
2. Slice the tops off the brioche loaves so that they are level. Dip the brioche loaves into the syrup, ensuring that all sides are coated and moist. Spread two tablespoons of almond cream top of each loaf (you can lightly coat the sides of each loaf with the almond cream if you want, like I did, but the almond cream kind of all melted off onto the tray during baking, so there’s no point really). Sprinkle the loaves with the flaked almonds and place onto the prepared tray.
3. In the bottom third of the oven, bake the loaves for around 15 minutes or until golden brown.

My boyfriend has promised me a nice dinner tonight, so in return, I will be taking care of dessert. I’m feeling so lazy today and don’t really feel like making anything fancy, so I think an easy spiced chocolate mousse would be perfect.

This dessert is a bit like love really… it’s spicy, it’s sweet and you always end up wanting more :)

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Spiced Chocolate Mousse with Almond Praline

You can use any kind of unsalted nut for the praline: macadamias, hazelnuts, cashews. I used flaked almonds as they were in my pantry at the time.

(adapted from a recipe found in Gourmet Traveller, by Matt McConnell, executive chef of Bar Lourinhã in Melbourne)

250g dark chocolate (minimum 60% cocoa solids)

4 eggs, at room temperature and separated

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon chilli powder

¼ teaspoon allspice

300ml thickened cream, lightly whipped

Almond praline

100g flaked almonds, lightly toasted

100g caster sugar

1. Melt the chocolate and allow to cool slightly. Whisk in the egg yolks and add the spices.
2. Gently fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mix. Place in the fridge whilst you prepare your egg whites.
3. Whip the eggs whites until they reach soft peaks and gently fold them into the chocolate cream mixture. Divide the mousse into bowls/cups/whatever and place in the fridge to chill.
4. Lightly grease a baking tray with oil or non-stick baking paper. Pour the toasted almonds on top and set aside.
5. Place the sugar and two tablespoons of water into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat to high and allow the toffee to boil and colour. Do not stir the toffee, just swirl the pan if need be. Once the toffee has reached a dark golden brown colour, carefully pour over the almonds and mix it around with a metal spoon. Allow to cool and set.
6. To assemble, roughly chop the praline and sprinkle over the mousse. Serve immediately.

Makes quite a lot, but it should be able to serve 4-6 people. Just depends on how greedy you are with the portions :)