A Dairy-free Birthday Treat

Every year, on my birthday I bake a cake. Not this year, although I went back to dairy this year I decided to give myself the time to work on something else that I have been craving - Almond Butter cups!

As I mentioned in a previous post, we recently took an amazing trip to Vegas! It was wonderful to be in Vegas but also to be in the states again. There were so many things I had missed from my time living there. There were also so many new things that I wanted to try. When you follow various food blogs you get to see some of the delicious new things people are loving in America and around the world. Since my time living in the US, it seems that healthy eating has become much more prevalent and, with it, a whole bunch of exciting new healthy products. One of the things that had tempted me was the Justin's products and particularly his heathy peanut butter cups. However when I went to get some I saw that he included sea salt, which is something that I don't eat. So I disappointedly walked away =(

(It's an unfortunate belief that sea salt is more fancy or healthy than normal salt and therefore many healthy food companies include sea salt in an attempt to appeal to the healthier customer, however it ignores those that cannot take it)

However I never gave up on the idea of a healthy nut butter cup, and preferably my favourite nut butter - Almond! So for this birthday I decided to dedicate my baking time to chocolate work.

Almond Butter Cups

240g Dark Chocolate Chips
100g Almond Butter
50g Almonds, toasted and ground
1-2 tbsp Agave Nectar
1 tbsp Coconut Oil
1 tsp Salt


I used some of my delicious 70% + dark chocolate. I melted down two thirds of it and then added the final third to bring down the temperature and temper the chocolate. Then I poured them into my mini-cupcake cases

For the almond butter centre I mixed store bought almond butter with more toasted ground almonds to thicken it, coconut oil for smoothness, salt in enhance the flavour and a tiny bit of agave nectar for sweetness. I then made little balls and pushed it into the hardened chocolate cases

From there I froze the cups to cool everything and facilitate the covers hardening. Then poured on the bottoms from the tempered chocolate.And then I simply let them hardened et voila...

As you can possibly see, the bases are not completely flat. This is due to the container having a raised lip. However I appreciate the thick bases as it's a nice chunk of chocolate to balance the almond butter.

As you can also see I left some lovely chunks of almond, but this is obviously optional! So now I have my dream treats and I will definitely be making these again, even if they leave a little bit of clean up.....

I would highly highly recommend making these. They are incredibly delicious, vegan, healthy and full of goodness. The best part is that it lasts so much longer than cake. I ate one of these while I typed this tonight and there is still plenty more =)

Getting over Christmas

Happy new year!! It's 2014 and today being little Christmas, it's now time to take down the beautiful decorations and go back to normal. I intensely dislike this part of the year. All the excitement of Christmas has passed and now we are left with some wonderful presents, a half dozen half empty packets of chocolates and a deep sense of regret for the many many days of unhealthy couch potato behaviour and excessive consumption. The television is not out friend either, every commercial seems to relate to weight-loss, exercise and saving money. It's like everyone is supposed to be filled with shame and regret and frankly I don't like it. Christmas comes once a year and, yeah ok, we all indulged but we now have months of winter left to face and darned if that won't get rid of those extra pounds for you.

Look at how that top truffle is just calling to you, go on...it's ok ;)

Snow-flake zimtsterne:: Preparing for Christmas german style

It's advent again that wonderful time of the year when we prepare ourselves for the approaching holiday season. I have never been a big one for advent calendars, we used to get one when we were children but usually something vaguely religious and rarely with chocolate or sweets. None-the-less I thoroughly enjoy this time of year. I revel in the traditions and preparations for the holiday season.

Sacher torte with a twist

A little while ago (March) I had to come up with a creative but beautiful recipe for something fun and this was the outcome! Take the traditional sachertorte - dark chocolate cake, apricot and ganache, Delicious right?! But why apricot?? Why not orange? Hence sacher torte with a twist!

Sachertorte with a twist

Candied Orange Peel

6 Oranges

900g Granulated Sugar

360ml Water + 2 saucepan’s worth of water to blanch oranges

The Oranges were scrubbed, peeled and the peel sliced into strips. These strips were then placed in a saucepan full of water which was brought to the boil. They were boiled for one minute and then submerged in icy water. This process was then repeated.

After the blanching 360ml water and 900g sugar was melted together. This was brought to the boil and then boiled until it reached a temperature of 230’F. The heat was then reduced and the orange peel was added. The orange peels were kept in the simmering syrup until the peel was transulent. They were removed from the syrup and placed on a wire wrack before being dredged in sugar and allowed to dry in a very low temperature oven and then on a plate.

Orange Marmalade

4 Oranges

800g Jam Sugar

50g Glaced ginger

The oranges were washed, sliced and placed into a blender along with some glaced ginger. They were blended into a pulp and this pulp was put into a saucepan. 800g of jam sugar was mixed with the orange and ginger pulp. This mixture was then heated until boiling. The heat was reduced and the jam was cooked for a further 45 minutes. A jar was sterilized in preparation for the jam. The mixture was removed from the heat and allowed to cool slightly before being put through a colander to remove any lumps of orange. The mixture was then cooled and jarred. 

Caramel Shells/ Twist

175g Caster sugar

175ml Water

Water and sugar are melted together, swirled (not stirred) and boiled until they achieve a rich amber colour. This is removed from heat, cooled rapidly for one minute and then drizzled with a fork over the backs of the cake tins used for the sachertorte cake

Excuse the odd colouring but it's the best way to show the caramel

A couple examples of my other caramel creations including the all important twist

Sachertorte Cake (recipe based on the one used by Mary Berry in the GBBO)

140g Dark chocolate

140g unsalted butter, at room temperature

115g Caster sugar

1tsp homemade vanilla extract

5 eggs, separated

100g Ground almonds (sieved)

40g plain flour

The oven was pre-heated to 180’C and the cake tins were greased and dusted with cocao powder. The dark chocolate was melted and then cooled. The butter was beaten and the sugar was added. This mixture was beaten until it was light and fluffy. The melted chocolate and vanilla was added and mixed in. The egg yolks were beaten together and mixed in. The mixture was removed from the kitchen aid and mixed again by hand. The flour was sieved in with the sieved ground almonds. This was added and folded in.

In a separate bowl the egg whites were beaten by hand. A portion of this mixture was added to the chocolate mixture  and mixed thoroughly, to loosen it, before the remaining egg whites were folded in. This mixture was spooned into the molds, up to 2/3 full and baked for 26 minutes before being cooled on a wire wrack.

The orange marmalade was then heated with 2 tablespoons of water. It was passed through a sieve to remove any bits before being brought to a boil and boiled for 1 minute. This glace was brushed generously over the cooled cakes.

The Chocolate Ganache

250ml Double cream

33g Glucose syrup

375g 74% Dark chocolate

62g Butter

The cream and glucose were heated together until boiling. The chocolate was broken into pieces and placed in a bowl. The heated cream mixture was poured over the chocolate. This was then mixed until smooth. Once smooth the butter was added little by little, stirring to incorporate between additions.

The ganache was let cool further before being poured over the sachertorte cakes and let set.

Finally the candied orange peel and sugar decorations were added. 

So this has been a little more complicated than my usual recipes but it is well worth trying, the cake is moist and delicious and the orange marmalade compliments the dark chocolate ganache perfectly, cutting through the heaviness and contrasting the richness of the ganache. The bit of caramel adds a nice crunch and the orange peel just seals the deal. I hope you enjoy this recipe. =)