Fluffy Brownie with Raspberry Puree & a Touch of Summer

This is what happens when you post a delicious recipe late: you simply forget how you made it!! :/
My best posts are always published when the food is still hot, resting in the oven so-to-speak, so that should teach me a lesson :))
I have been waiting for summer ever since it ended last year! The unmatched beauty and bounty of the farmers' market, the long days basking in the sun make this time of the year truly special. 
A week ago I bought fresh raspberries and with all the frozen egg whites I had left from all the times I made lemon curd, I baked a scrumptious fluffy and  as light as a feather brownie. 
So, here we go:


Dark chocolate- check.

Fresh raspberries-check.

A cupful of leftover frozen egg whites- check.

Flour- check.


Baking powder- check.

Vanilla extract- check. 

Brownie with raspberry puree, egg whites and vanilla extract. 

Pretty, simple,  and pretty simple really. :)) If you have ever made a classic pound cake (minus the egg yolks) this brownie will be the easiest thing in the world.

Method

Puree a cupful of fresh raspberries, sweeten and set aside.  Melt a bar of good quality dark chocolate and mix it with approx 50 grams of butter. 

Thaw the egg whites (approx 6) and beat them with sugar and vanilla extract till they harden. Pour the raspberry puree and melted chocolate, whisk, and finally add the baking powder and flour (no more than 4 tbs). 

Bake for approx 40 minutes @ 150 degrees Celsius and decorate with mint leaves and extra raspberries which haven't squashed in the process. 

so cute, right? :)

In my humble opinion as an amateur chef  :), this is the ideal summer dessert: it's packed with fruit, velvety and chocolaty, light and guilt-free in the absence of egg yolks. 

 Yes, yes, yes,  it was love at first...bite! :) 

perfect for breakfast while browsing Ideal Homes magazine, and dreaming of all beautiful things

Totally Decadent Raspberry Chocolate Cake with Milk Tapioca Pudding

I love baking, I love chocolate, and I love raspberries. What a great combination when you mix them together and they end up as a luxurious weekend dessert.  The idea came to me yesterday in the Whittard of Chelsea shop when I noticed, fell in love with (and snapped it off the shelf) their delicious 70% Cocoa & Raspberry Hot Chocolate. 

I dreamt about it all night and this morning my heart was set on it, as I had imagined it: a delicious chocolate sponge with chocolate frosting and hints of raspberry. 

Decadent Raspberry Chocolate Cake 

The base - classic egg & vanilla sponge with 85% dark melted chocolate and Whittard of Chelsea raspberry cocoa.

5 medium sized eggs

4 tbs of sugar

essence of vanilla

5 tbs flour

1.5 sachet of baking power

1/2 sachet of baking soda

1 bar of good quality dark chocolate (85%)

1 slice of butter 

4 tbs of raspberry cocoa

50 ml full-fat milk

Method

Preheat the oven at 120 degrees 

1. In a bowl mix 2 tbs of sugar with the yolks and beat them hard till the sugar breaks. Add the vanilla and mix. 

2. In a separate bowl mix the egg whites with sugar and beat. 

3. Melt the chocolate with the butter (approx 25 gr)- when it comes to butter, I am never too generous :) 

4. Pour the melted chocolate over the egg yolks and mix. Work in the raspberry cocoa and add the milk, if it becomes too thick.

5. Pour the chocolate cream over the beaten egg whites and mix lightly. 

6. In a separate bowl mix 5 tbs of flour, the baking powder and the baking soda and mix to allow them to blend. Drizzle over the chocolate cream (5) and mix with a silicone spoon. 

7. Grease and flour a tin with a detachable ring. Bake for around 35 minutes at 120 degrees Celsius.

Chocolate frosting

half a bar of 85% dark chocolate

1 small bar of milk & white chocolate (from Ritter)

a (thin) slice of butter

50 ml of full-fat milk

2 tbs of raspberry cocoa

Method

Melt the chocolate and the butter and add the raspberry cocoa and the milk.  Drizzle the hot chocolate over the cake, by this time, it should have baked and cooled down.

I love the chocolate ripples.

 Milk Tapioca Pudding with Green Tea

half a glass of powder milk

2 glasses of warm full-fat milk

3 tbs of tapioca flour

1 sachet of gelatine

2 tbs of condensed milk

1 tsp spiced loose green tea (from Whittard of Chelsea)

Method

1. Dissolve the powder milk in the warm milk. Work in the tapioca flour and add more milk. Cook on a low heat until it starts to bubble. 

2. Dissolve the gelatine in cold milk, heat & steam. 

3. Mix the gelatine with the tapioca pudding (step 1 and 2), add the condensed milk. Transfer to small cups and decorate with spiced tea. 

I truly loved this cake. It reminded me of the voluptuous original Sacher Torte that you can only have in Vienna... Yes, it was really good. I think I have finally sorted out my baking problems: I've discovered & have learnt more about the six settings of my oven and, by trial and error (!!!), I found out the right balance between baking time and ideal moisture.

When you are new to baking :) (like me), you must always keep your chin up- make mistakes, dump the cake, start a new one until you get it right. This week I made an average lemon cake with orange blossom water and a disaster of an apple tart with lavender. Bad combination. I should have known better, but I am a curious person in the kitchen and - at the end of the day -some great cakes came to life purely by mistake. Maybe the next one will be mine :) xx

Gourmet Yoghurt for the Foodies

As you might know, I love all things gourmet. Gourmet food is known to be posh and therefore, pricey :( , but it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to satisfy your cravings... At the end of the day, gourmet is, paradoxically, defined by simplicity with a twist and a state of mind. 

Yesterday I bought four tiny jars of bio vanilla-flavoured and blackcurrant yoghurt. As I was relishing the last spoonfuls of vanilla yoghurt with great gusto, I thought that, maybe I can make my very own flavoured yoghurt at home and with the zest and the aromas that I love the most: lavender, rose water, pistachios, orange blossom water, almond & coconut flakes, crushed pulped fruit. 

And I did it! :) No sooner had the thought crossed my mind, than I found myself in the kitchen, as busy as a bee. As you can imagine, I kept the small jars (full, they weigh approx 150 gr), as they were as cute as a button; I love them because they have a vintage feel as well. Unfortunately, our whole society is too obsessed with plastic these days...

 To fill a small jar I used 4 big tablespoons of full-fat plain yoghurt.

The first flavour was -

 Yoghurt with Rose Water, Toasted Sesame & Crushed Pistachios

4 tbs plain yoghurt

1 tsp condensed milk (or honey)

2 tsp rosewater

1 tsp of toasted sesame seeds

1 tsp juice from raspberries (to colour the yoghurt naturally)

crushed pistachios, petal roses on top (to decorate)

In a small bowl, mix the yoghurt , condensed milk & rose water. Add the toasted sesame seeds and the raspberry juice to colour the flavoured yoghurt naturally. 

Pour the yoghurt in the small jar and decorate with crushed pistachios and edible rose petals. 

My second creation was -

Citrus Yoghurt with Orange Blossom Water and Crushed Digestive Biscuits

 4 tbs of plain yoghurt

1 tsp of honey

1 tsp of condensed milk

orange rind from 1 orange

2 tsp of preserved lemon rind 

2 tsp orange blossom water

1 digestive biscuit packed with sultanas (crushed)

Mix the plain yoghurt with honey, condensed milk, preserved lemon rind, orange rind and orange blossom water.

Crush the digestive biscuit and transfer it to the bottom of the jar. Pour the yoghurt on top and decorate with extra preserved lemon rind.

Last but not the least, I made this delicious -

Pink Yoghurt with Crushed Raspberries & Toasted Almond Flakes

 4 tbs of plain yoghurt

1 tsp of condensed milk

2  tsb of crushed raspberries (frozen and thawed)

+

1 tsp of honey

1 exta tsb of crushed raspberries to mix with the yoghurt

2 tsp of toasted almond flakes

preserved dried raspberries (for decoration)

Mix the yoghurt with the condensed milk and the crushed fruit so that the yoghurt turns pink. 

In a separate bowl mix the crushed raspberries with honey (otherwise the raspberries will be sour).

Pour the sweet raspberries at the bottom of the jar. Add the toasted almonds and top with the pink yoghurt.

Decorate with almond flakes and dried preserved raspberries.  

I can't pick one favourite flavour as I loved them all. I loved the smooth & crunchy texture, I loved the taste, the smell and the look of my tiny jars. To take two spoons out of the drawer, damage the decor for the "photo-shoot" broke my heart. Because I must confess without too much pride, they looked so much better than gourmet-supermarket yoghurt jars. And they tasted even better. ;p Yummy. 

supermarket vanilla flavoured yoghurt (nice, but not blog-worthy)

The last two photos were taken outside on the terrace. Today it was sunny and rainy at the same time (don't worry, I have a canopy) with sudden gusts of wind. It was chilly, but it felt springlike.

After a long winter, let's paint our life in beautiful soft colours and enjoy it to the fullest.

Cheesecake a mi manera: Raspberry Ricotta Cheesecake w Rose Water, White Tea & Sesame

It is very likely that you all know how to make a cheesecake. Just looking at it, one can easily notice what it's made of: a biscuit base and a creamy cheese layer topped with whatever the pastry chef was inspired by.

Frankly, baking makes me nervous because I don't have the heart to follow the recipe :( verbatim - *sigh* - I use shortcuts. My cakes will always lack in butter, sugar, white flour...which will constantly be replaced with honey / whole wheat flour / olive oil. Call it a curse - I am obsessed with the idea of "healthy".

On the other hand, if I bake a cake and use everything I ought to be using, then I will just have a slice and the rest...will be shared among the ones I love. A slice (or more) for each. So everybody will be happy.

Raspberry Ricotta Cheesecake with Rose Water, White Tea and Sesame

Problem solved, I decided not to skimp anymore (!), make a killer cake (hopefully, not literally), take some pictures, blog and boast about it (a little), then cut it piece by piece and give it away.

Inspired by Claude Olivier's variety of cheesecakes and Delicioasa's pink cheesecake, I sat down and planned my signature delight.

Base: melted butter, crushed butter biscuits, toasted sesame.

Creamy cheese layer: ricotta, Philadelphia light, condensed milk, creme fraiche, preserved lemon & orange rind, loose lemon & rose silver tips white tea, rose water, gelatine dissolved in strong white tea.

Top: 800 gr frozen raspberries turned into a delicious home-made marmalade  (berries, sugar, gelatine)

You know the stages - melt the butter, mix it with the crushed biscuits & sesame, bake for 10 minutes, work on the cheese cream, store in the fridge, top with raspberry jam, wait for a couple of hours to set, and finally do one of these things ...

a) enjoy it alone spoon by spoon

b) enjoy it with the ones you love

c) give it away as a present (the sweetest thing one can do)

My conclusion

I have made cheesecake before, but it had never occurred to me to use rose water and white tea. Rose water, which is so natural and obviously used in most Middle Eastern desserts, revamps this classic cake giving it an understated beauty and a haunting "je ne sais quoi" subtle taste. Somebody who would taste it, will have a familiar feeling about it, but wouldn't know for sure where to place it. The toasted sesame seeds are crunchy and, when blended with butter, offered an undertone of tahini and halwa.
Apart from my being curious, DK what made me add a generous pinch of white tea. I had a hunch it could work out just fine. White tea is healthy, an antiviral which protects the heart, lowers the cholesterol (among others), and it is also known to have more properties than green tea. Its taste is subtle and delicate, I often drink it unsweetened in small Japanese tea cups. Lovely. Paired with creamy ricotta, condensed milk and rosewater, the fragile white tea leaves stand on their own to tell a wonderful story: oh, in your urban kitchen you may allow yourself to day dream, mix and match, taste, sample and compare, speed-travel through your senses to far-away realms...