I ♥ cake - Sinful chocolate/caramel dipping sauce

Today I had the pleasure to be invited over to my friends' house for dinner; as usual, the event involved a mountain of delicious food and overeating was inevitable... they had obviously been spending the better part of the day in the kitchen and whipped up an absolutely delightful menu. Their dinner parties are definitely something to look forward to! A few days ago, when I asked my friend if I could bring anything, she tentatively suggested I could, maybe, "if I could be ar*ed", make some madeleines... I jumped on the occasion and, the night before (to age them a bit), baked a full batch of madeleines to bring over. I was definitely in a dessert mood and thought a dipping sauce would be nice to help the madeleines glide down, so I used the dinner guests as my guinea pigs for the recipe below, which I adapted from a time-honoured vanilla pastry cream recipe. The sauce turned out with the exact creamy velvety consistency I was expecting and there was quite a lot of finger-licking going on around the table at dessert time, which I interpreted as a sign of enjoyment ;-)

The sinful dipping sauce, a whole bowl of it...

Sinful chocolate/caramel sauce (for dipping madeleines & more) – Serves 8 generously

13 carambars (or 110gr home-made butter caramel fudge)

125gr Valrhona 68% chocolate

4 egg yolks

50gr corn starch

50cl milk

1.5 tbsp black treacle

1.5 tbsp dark aged rum

60gr brown sugar, lightly packed

·       In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and the egg yolks together with a whisk until the sugar has completely dissolved (no grains should be left) and the mixture is creamy.

·       Add the black treacle, stir until homogenous;

·       Add the corn starch, stirring until the mixture is smooth.

·       Stir in 25cl milk and reserve.

·       In a saucepan on low heat, melt the carambars (or fudge) in 25cl milk, stirring constantly and making sure the mixture does not boil or overheat;

·       Once the caramel is melted, remove the saucepan from the heat and pour very slowly over the eggs/milk/sugar mixture, beating constantly with a whisk.

·       Return the mixture to the saucepan on medium heat, add the chocolate.

·       Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the chocolate melts and the mixture thickens. The thickening will happen quite quickly close to the boiling point; when you start feeling that the mixture has started thickening, make sure to stir vigorously, otherwise the mixture may form lumps or stick to the bottom of the pan. Let boil gently for a few seconds and remove from the heat.

·       Stir in the rum.

·       Cover the surface with cling film directly on the surface, to avoid the formation of a skin, and reserve until use – best used warm for dipping madeleines or other biscuits, leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 24 hours (longer, and the sauce will start losing its flavour).

I ♥ sweets - rum flavoured chocolate truffles

Even if is it now a bit late in the year, I could not resist sharing this recipe which I love and have been making for a very long time... Chocolate truffles are a traditional Christmas sweet in France, and even if store-bought versions can sometimes be surprisingly good (especially if you hit the likes of Maison du Chocolat), I have always liked to make my own, if only just to smell this wonderful aroma of warm melted chocolate that fills the house every time... and lick the bowl, obviously ;-)

Rum flavoured chocolate truffles

Truffles are a lot easier to make than one would think and do not require any particular cooking or pastry skills - just be careful with the temperature of the chocolate (which can be easily checked by dipping your pinkie into it - and licking it clean ... but no double-dipping!!).

 

Rum flavoured chocolate truffles

200gr chocolate (Valrhona 68% or Nestlé Dessert 55%)

100gr unsalted butter, at room temperature

60gr confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp crème fraîche

1 tbsp extra old dark rum

Unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

·       Chop the chocolate in small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Add the rum.

·       In a saucepan, melt the butter with the crème fraîche on very low heat; add to the chocolate.

·       In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, then carefully place the bowl with the chocolate and butter on top of the boiling water until it melts (this is called a “bain-marie” in French cuisine). Remove the bowl from the bain-marie as soon as the chocolate mixture is sufficiently melted (at this stage, you should still see quite a few chunks of chocolate in the bowl, they will melt as you keep stirring – the key point here is not to over-melt the chocolate) and keep stirring until it is about lukewarm, then add the sugar and egg yolk. Stir well and clean the edges of the bowl with a silicon spatula.

·       Leave to cool completely in the fridge for about 2 hours. Using 2 teaspoons, form small balls of the chocolate mixture and roll in cocoa. Place in paper cups.

·       The truffles will keep in the fridge for a maximum of 3 to 4 days and can also be frozen for up to a couple of months.

I normally use a specialty rum from the French Antilles for this recipe (“Rhum Negrita”) which is also great to make waffles and pancakes. If you cannot find it, any aged rum will do; cognac, whisky, armagnac or calvados can also be substituted.

Rhum Negrita - a big thank you to P. for bringing me this bottle all the way back from my home swamp :-)

Going wild on chocolate

One of my foodie friends recently went on a business trip to Zurich and squeezed a few boxes of Sprüngli chocolate into her suitcase on the way back... oh boy am I glad she did ! I had a couple for breakfast this morning, tastebuds well rested after a good night's sleep, and the feast I got out of it was quite rewarding... Floral nose with a faint hint of vanilla, espresso finish on the palate and in-between, and extraordinarily smooth and mildly bitter dark chocolate. Definitely the best grand cru chocolate I have had in a long time. I feel very lucky to have friends with such good taste :-)

Wildlese 2010 by Sprüngli

Criollo salvaje de Beni, Bolivia, 70% cocoa

The best chocolate margarita this side of Cancun...

Artisan du Chocolat, Westbourne Grove, London - this little dealer of happiness happens to be located right across the street from my friend Em's place, so a visit at happy hour was inevitable... The shop stocks several dozen types of chocolates (white, milk and dark bars, powders and pralines) with uncommon flavours such as black cardamom, sichuan pepper, saffron, mole chilli, tobacco, orchid or tonka bean. They also happen to have some pretty interesting cocktails and mocktails. A recommended stop for all chocoholics out there.

Theobroma grandiflorum Margarita

A frangrant and bittersweet Margarita made with exotic Cupuacu pulp and a hint of tonka beans. At first, a slightly alcoholic nose of tequila and green citrus. On the palate, slight bitterness from the cocoa and the astringent bite of the tequila, followed by a lingering and addictive nose of Tonka beans. Very interesting.

Each cocktail bought gives you a choice of 2 complimentary pralines or truffles to pick from the whole shop display - I chose tonka bean and sichuan pepper. Both flavours tasted very natural and paired very nicely with the smooth dark chocolate. The pralines came on top of a bed of caramelised crushed cocoa beans. Very nice touch.

The shop display @ L'Artisan - half of it actually, as this is only the left wall...

I bought myself a couple of treats from L'Artisan

Mole Chili dark chocolate - flavoured with mole poblano, which is a traditional mexican sauce combining ground nuts, dried chillies, ground tortilla, cocoa beans and various spices such as aniseed, coriander, allspice, clove and rosemary. At first, I could only taste the perfecty smooth and round dark chocolate, then came a pleasant warm chilli bite, followed by a symphony of spices. Wow... all of that in... 2.5 grams ?? (I took 1 small square and the whole bar is only 45 grams). Very intense and satisfying.

Origin Dark Bali drinking chocolate - these come in their little "medicine" jars from a variety of origins around Asia, Africa and South-America (Bali, Vietnam, Costa Rica...). I cannot pretend to be able to taste the difference between various origins, so all I would say about the Bali "cru" is that it was a perfectly balanced dark chocolate, deeply roasted and with an almost smokey finish. Very enjoyable indeed.

13 and counting...

A Kit Kat tasting marathon... A big hug to my friend Peech for the shopping in Japan & for putting this together :-)

From front to back, left to right: sakura green tea, green tea, banana, strawberry balls, blueberry, coke, crushed lemon, bitter almond, custard pudding, strawberry cheesecake, soy powder, shoyu, wasabi, more strawberry balls

My favs: bitter almond, but loved the custard pudding, strawberry cheesecake, banana and sakura green tea. The wasabi is a bit of a let down, I was expecting the thing to go to your nose if you bit half the bar in one go but no, it was very mild...