Chocolate truffle amaretti cake with espresso glaze

Did you bake up a storm on World Baking Day? I certainly did! The red velvet cupcakes I made for my mom were a huge success – she ate about six of them! But being an overachiever is tough (thanks for the genes, mom and dad), and since no weekend is bake-free for me, I though it only fitting that on such a special occasion as World Baking Day, I do it justice by doubling up. So I baked an extra recipe, you know, for the fun of it. But to be honest, it was mainly because red velvet cupcakes don’t have any chocolate in them and we all know about my chocolate obsession! So I sort of pledged to bake for myself this time around (that's bad isn't it?!)

This is one awesome cake and it totally hit the chocolate spot. It’s dense like a truffle and if you leave out the amaretti biscuits, it’s completely gluten-free. I love the biscuits in it though so if you can find them, toss a few in. They give an intense almond taste to the ‘cake’ (can we call it a cake, it’s more like a giant slab of chocolate) and along with the extra almondy booze, makes for a great combo. You could however, use hazelnut, coffee or whatever other liqueur takes your fancy (be reasonable though, Jagermeister and chocolate aren’t friends – well, I’m not friends with it either after one or two occasions I’d rather not mention!).

Anyway, the cake puffs up during bake and then flops down enough for you to be completely alarmed, but rest assured, that’s supposed to happen! It gives the top a beautiful cracked appearance and creates deep furrows perfect for collecting that lusciously glossy espresso glaze. Served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it’s dessert perfection.

Chocolate truffle amaretti cake with espresso glaze

Serves 6-8

45g (3 tbsp) butter

170g dark chocolate (70%)

6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature

250m (1 cup) white sugar, divided

45ml (3 tbsp) almond extract or liqueur

60g amaretti biscuits crushed*

Pinch of salt

Espresso glaze

125g dark chocolate (70%)

50g butter

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp instant-espresso powder

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line the bottom of a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl over gently simmering water. Using an electric mixer beat together egg yolks and ½ cup sugar until very pale, thick and creamy (about 10 minutes). Add liqueur, amaretti biscuits, melted chocolate mixture and mix well.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peak stage then add remaining sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture in 3 batches. Pour the batter into the lined cake tin and bake for 40 minutes or until just set. The cake will still be very moist. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin. Make the glaze by placing the chocolate, margarine, syrup and coffee in a bowl over gently simmering water and stir until melted. Serve the glaze poured over the cake.

*Amaretti biscuits are small, crisp Italian biscuits traditionally made from crushed almonds. You can find them in the biscuit aisle of most supermarkets but feel free to leave them out completely or replace with toasted crushed almonds, if you like.

EASTER UPDATE!
Take one packet of speckled eggs (okay may half a packet because you'll probably have eaten half of them) and scatter over the cake for a fun twist!

Red Velvet Cupcakes for World Baking Day

I never bake for myself. If I bake, it's for a reason; to spoil a friend, to share with colleagues or to (hopefully) inspire someone on this page to create something delicious to share with their friends or families - like a ripple effect of baking love! So when I discovered that this year's theme for World Baking Day on Sunday 18 May is #PledgetoBake for someone special, I decided to do what I usually do and bake with love, but this time, it's for the person who inspired my love for sweetness and baking, the sweetest person I know - my mom (who, by the way, is probably the only person who can take down a tin of condensed milk faster than I can - I know, hard to believe isn't it?!). 

It was a mini baking set I received for Christmas at 6 years old that sparked my passion for whipping and whisking but it actually began way before that, with me poking my nose over the kitchen counter and watching my mom and grandmother baking up all sorts of delights. My mother would bake fresh bread each morning and churn butter from the cream skimmed off the top of the milk that came from our cows on the farm. Homemade strawberry jam was also a regular thing in our kitchen. Despite insisting she isn't a talented baker, we still got the most beautiful, creative birthday cakes each year, made in the dead of night. Wishing wells, Humpty Dumpty's and Garden walls crawling with sweetie insects were the cakes I could only dream of. But didn't have to. 

So when I started hosting my own cooking shows in our family kitchen, with every single ingredient neatly measured out in a gazillion little prep bowls (a la Delia Smith-style), my mom never complained about the mountain of washing up (despite it driving her nuts inside!). The older I got, the more challenging the recipes I attempted became. I never stuck to the simple stuff; having once seen spun sugar in a food magazine, I attempted to make it myself, only to leave my mother chiseling molten sugar off her kitchen floor and walls for weeks afterwards! Yet still, she was always encouraging of my dream. 

 Mom, this recipe and post is for you. You've always supported and encouraged me; from your kind words after little flops on national television to sending me countless recipes from your cookbooks and the many, many dishes you've washed during my endless photoshoots. But most of all, it's a little thank you for the passion and love you gave me for food. 

These pretty red velvets remind me of my mom. Graceful and elegant; I've always thought of the red velvet cupcake as the lady of all the cupcakes. It's bright and cheerful and sweet as can be. But who will you be baking for on World Baking Day, which by the way, is this Sunday (18 May 2014)? Let me know in the comments below and also, WHAT you'll be baking for them! 

Don't forget to make your pledge official here - it puts your #pledgetobake into a cute little card that you can share on social media and also allows you to tag the lucky person you're baking for so that the world knows how awesome they are! 

Happy World Baking Day!

Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Recipe by Stork Bake

Makes 12

180g Stork Bake

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt

400g (2 1/2 cups) cake flour

315g (1 1/2 cups) castor sugar

Red food colouring (I used the gel variety)

2 tbsp cocoa powder

250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk or natural yoghurt

3 tsp baking powder

Frosting

55g Stork Bake

300g Icing sugar, sifted

125g smooth full fat cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases. 

Cream the Stork Bake and sugar until light and fluffy. 

Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. 

In a separate bowl, combine the cocoa, food colouring and 2 tbsp water then beat into the mixture. 

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and add into the mixture gradually, alternating with the buttermilk and beating on a low speed. 

Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases, filling them 3/4 full. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until springy to the touch, or a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Cool on a cake rack, before frosting. 

For the frosting, cream the Stork Bake until light and fluffy then add the icing sugar and beat well. Once very light and fluffy, add the cream cheese. 

Remember to hop on over to Facebook and like my page for recipes and sweet stuff. I also tweet about some cool things every now and then and Instagram my bakes (if I remember to snap them before I devour them!)

World Baking Day Challenge: Milk tart cake

It isn't every day that two men in black suits with aviators and ear pieces arrive at your office carrying a locked box. It also isn't every day that you hear the words, 'Katelyn, do you accept the challenge to bake brave?' Erm, hells yes I do! Even though I had no idea what that meant! What kind of an awesome/stupid question is THAT?! After tweeting my answer (I had to resist the urge to just type 'duh') I received the secret code that unlocked the padlock. 'What was in the box?!' I hear you screaming, well, in it was everything I needed to make a ridiculously beautiful-looking milk tart cake. This cake.

It was created by gateau queen Katrien van Zyl for the World Baking Day website and is ranked at level 45/100. Those chocolate curls?! That intricate collar?! Oh my, this was going to be quite a challenge! So the box sat on my counter for a week in the run up to World Baking Day on 19 May in the hope that it would  psyche me up and drum up my bravery. Instead it haunted me until that fateful Sunday morning... 

First up, I sussed out my ingredients (brace yourself, it's quite a list!):

‘Milk tart’ Filling Ingredients

500 ml (2 cups) full fat milk

30 ml (2 tbsp) butter or margarine

1x 385 g can of sweetened condensed milk

1 large egg

45 ml (3 tbsp) cornflour

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence

Powdered cinnamon, to taste

Cake Ingredients:

360 g (3 cups) self-raising flour

350 g (1¾ cup) white sugar

350 g (1½ cups) butter or margarine, softened (or at room temperature)

6 large eggs

80 ml (⅓ cup) milk

15 ml (1 tbsp) vanilla essence

Ganache Coating Ingredients:

125 ml (½ cup) whipping cream

15 ml (1 tbsp) butter or margarine

1 cinnamon stick

375 g white chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Decoration:

50 g dark chocolate, melted

500 ml (2 cups) full fat milk

30 ml (2 tbsp) butter or margarine

1x 385 g can of sweetened condensed milk

1 large egg

45 ml (3 tbsp) cornflour

5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence

Powdered cinnamon, to taste

1 x Chocolatier (optional, but definitely advised), preferably Italian, and hot 

Although the original recipe started with the cake, I made the milk tart filling first so it could cool. The filling  is basically a creme patisserie made with condensed milk, because in South Africa, everything is made better by adding condensed milk. Fact. I wanted mine a little lighter, so I folded in some whipped cream once it has cooled. More whipped cream is never a bad thing - ever.

Heat together the milk, margarine and condensed milk in a pot on the stove at medium heat until the margarine has melted. Whisk the egg, cornflour and vanilla essence in a bowl and while whisking, pour some of the heated milk mixture onto the egg mixture. Pour the milk and egg mixture back into the pot and heat it on medium heat on the stove while stirring continuously for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. As soon as the mixture starts to boil, remove from the heat. Pour the thickened mixture into a bowl, place cling wrap over the surface to prevent a skin forming and place it in the refrigerator until cool, preferably overnight.

That wasn't SO hard! I felt quite chuffed with myself. 

Next, I tackled the cake. I've never actually prepared a cake using this method before - the ingredients list hints at it being a pound cake but the process is somewhat different. Chocolatier then informed me that it is actually a German 'Sandkuchen' or sand cake (you will notice that Chocolatier comes in handy quite often in this post). 

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, softened margarine and eggs. Mix for 30 seconds with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the milk and vanilla essence and beat for another 1 minute and 30 seconds or until the mixture looks light and fluffy. Spoon equal amounts of batter into two 20cm lined cake tins and bake for about 50 minutes at 160C or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Cakes done, filling done - now for my favourite part, the chocolate! Chop the white chocolate finely so it melts properly - or get a chocolatier to do it for you. I just happened to have one lying around so...

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Gently heat the cream with the cinnamon stick in a pot on the stove. Bring the cream to just below boiling point. Remove the pot from the heat and leave the cream to cool for the cinnamon stick to infuse the cream with its subtle flavour. Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Remove the cinnamon stick from the cream and pour the cream over the chopped chocolate. Heat the chocolate and cream mixture in a microwave oven at 20% power or at the Defrost setting. Stir at 2-minute intervals until the mixture is melted and smooth. Leave the ganache in the refrigerator to set for a few hours or overnight.

The next part of the recipe made me shake in my apron. Chocolate curls? Ask me to eat them, I can totally do that. Make them? Ain't nobody got time for that! So, again, having a Chocolatier lying around I put him to work and watched him melt his magic while I sat and enjoyed a glass of wine. This is advisable. No wait, actually it is a must.

Chocolatier warmed the slab of chocolate with his hands (although I strongly suspect the chocolate actually melted because he was standing near it... If you know what I mean!) and then used a knife and a round cookie cutter to make beautiful chocolate curls for the top of the cake. 

Spread three of the layers with ‘milk tart’ filling; sprinkle powdered cinnamon between the layers and stack the layers on top of one another. (It's advisable to assemble the cake back in the springform tin to stop everything squishing out!) Spread some of the ganache over the cake to cover completely then refrigerate until set. Melt the remaining ganache and pour over to make a thin coating. 

Oh be still my beating heart! I got hot Chocolatier to put 2 layers of ganache on the cake, mainly so I could watch him do it twice. Oh yes. 

Measure the height and circumference of the cake and cut a piece of greaseproof paper to this size. Pour 50 g melted chocolate into a zip-lock bag, snip off a small piece at one corner of the bag to make a piping bag and pipe swirls on the greaseproof paper. Before the chocolate sets, lift the paper off your workbench and fold it around the cake with the decorations on the inside. Peel the paper off the chocolate to reveal a lace pattern on the cake.Decorate the top of the cake with powdered cinnamon, cinnamon sticks or chocolate curls.

And then it should look like this... ta-da! NAILED IT! 

This cake really was delicious and not just a pretty face! The challenge here is the chocolate work, leave that out and it's actually a pretty straight-forward, simple and yummy cake! So give it a go!

Now, to come up with another excuse to get hot Chocolatier back in my kitchen...