Chocolate Cappuccino Mousse Cake & Praline Topping

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE:

• 4 eggs, separated
• 100gr castor sugar
• 50gr butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence
• 2 tablespoons strong coffee mixed with 2 tablespoons water
• 85gr self-raising flour
• 4 tablespoons cocoa

INGREDIENTS FOR THE MOUSSE:

• 3 tablespoons gelatin powder
• 100gr dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons strong coffee mixed with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence
• 2 eggs, separated

INGREDIENTS PRALINE:

• 90gr sugar, preferably golden brown
• +- 90gr toasted nuts. I used almond flakes & roasted them in a pan.

METHOD FOR THE CAKE…

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and prep an 18cm cake pan with non-stock spray.
2. Starting with the cake ingredients: Beat the egg yolks and the sugar until very light and fluffy.
3. Mix together the melted butter, vanilla & coffee and pour into the egg and sugar mixture.
4. Sieve the cocoa and the flour into the mixture and give a quick mix.
5. Whisk the egg whites to stiff white peaks. And fold into the mixture.
6. Pour into pan and bake for about 30 min. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan.
7. Once cooled, cut through in half. Set aside. Keep the pan for later use.

FOR THE MOUSSE…

1. Soften the gelatin in some warm water into a smooth paste. +- 3 tablespoons.
2. Melt the chocolate in a pot on low heat. Once melted, add the milk, coffee, essence, gelatin & egg yolks. Give a good stir with a whisk on low heat, until it is a smooth consistency. Set aside and allow to cool.
3. Whisk the egg whites and fold into the chocolate mixture.
4. Using your cake pan, line with a “plastic lining”.  Place the one half of the cake at the bottom. This will hold the lining up. Pour the mousse mixture into the pan over the bottom cake base. Allow to set for a few minutes before placing the top half of the cake on top of the mousse.
5. Refrigerate for about 15 min.
6. Remove from the fridge and turn it over on to a cake plate.
7. Make a ganache with some melted chocolate, and cream. Pour over the cake and top with the praline.

PRALINE: melt the sugar in a pot. Once the sugar has melted and no sugar crystals are visible, mix in the roasted nuts and let it set on a silicon mat. Break into pieces and decorate the cake. (Tip; make this praline and sprinkle over some ice cream or thick Greek yogurt on papaya instead.)

Enjoy!

Much Love

Sandy

 

 

Mexican Chocolate Milktart

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 roll short-crust pastry, (or if you have a recipe to make one from scratch.)
• 1 liter milk
• 1-2 teaspoons cayenne pepper or 1/2 – 1 teaspoons chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 180ml white sugar
• 50ml maizina
• 30gr butter
• 100gr dark chocolate
• Ground cinnamon

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and blind bake the crust set in a round pie dish.
2. Heat the milk, cayenne pepper or chili flakes, vanilla extract in a pot over medium heat. (Don’t allow it to bubble, boil, or toil and get into trouble.)
3. In an electric mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, maizina & flour until pale, fluffy and light.
4. Pour your milk mixture slowly into the egg mixture, while still whisking on a medium setting. Once all mixed, pour back into the pot and stir constantly over medium heat until the custard has thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter.
5. Melt your chocolate and then mix well into your custard. (Taste as you go along. You may want some more chili or cayenne pepper.)
6. Pour your custard into the pie dish and allow to set at room temperature. Once cooled off, refrigerate until needed.
7. Decorate with cinnamon just before serving.

Enjoy!

Sandy Nouwens

🥞 Crêpe Cake 🍰

PANCAKE CAKE

PANCAKE INGREDIENTS & METHOD:

• 5 eggs
• 100ml water
• 400ml milk
• half a teaspoon of salt
• 300gr cake flour
• 60ml for butter
• non-stick spray & a non-stick pancake pan
• cooking oil and a basting brush

1. Using a stick blender, blend the eggs, water, milk & salt until combined.
2. Add the flour and blend again until smooth & lump free.
3. Cover and allow to rest for about 2 hours.
4. Everyone normally knows how to make the pancakes, so I’ll skip this method.

CUSTARD FILLING INGREDIENTS & METHOD:

• 10 egg yolks
• 100gr castor sugar
• 45 gr maizena (corn flour)
• 250ml cream
• 250ml milk
• pinch of salt
• 50gr butter
• 100gr good quality chocolate, broken into pieces.  Lindt has the best for this, because there are so many flavours to choose from.

1. Have your pancakes stacked on a plate, ready for assembling after making the custard.  (No need to roll them up).
2. Cream the egg yolks and castor sugar in a mixer until it’s light, fluffy, pale & doubled in size.
3. Add the corn flour and give a quick mix again.
4. Heat the cream & milk, but don’t boil.  Slowly add it into the egg mixture in whilst on the slowest mixing speed.  Add your salt.
5. Pour mixture back into the pot that was used to heat the milk & cream & stir constantly on a medium heat, until the mixture thickens into a glorious custard.
6. Remove from the stove and add your chocolate & butter.  Stir until all has melted.
7. Pour custard into a bowl and leave to cool.
8. Now that the custard is cool & has rested, you can assemble the “cake”.  Place a pancake on a serving dish, smear a heaped tablespoon of the custard over the pancake.  Alternate until you run out of one or the other. (Normally I end up with 3 unused pancakes, which I then just add the typical cinnamon & sugar topping & roll it up. Keep it for your kids or hubby).
9. Finish off the top of the cake with a non-smeared pancake.  Finish it off with melted chocolate, cream etc….
10. ENJOY.

Eat to live, live to eat.

Sandy Nouwens

 

 

Easy Apple Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 175gr butter/margarine
• 175gr castor sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla/caramel essence
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 175gr self-raising flour
• 4 apples, peeled, cored & finely sliced
• extra cinnamon & sugar for dusting

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 170 – 180 degC & prep a cake pan with non-stick spray.
2. Cream the butter & sugar together.  Switch off the mixer to scrape down the batter off the sides of the bowl, before adding the eggs in one at a time.  Scrape down the batter after each addition. Add the essence and give it one more mix.
3. Sieve the dry ingredients over the batter and fold in.
4. Now fold in the apple slices and pour into the prepared cake pan.
5. Bake for about 50 – 60 minutes.  Check with a skewer or knife.
6. Remove from the oven, and leave it in the pan to settle for about 10 – 15 minutes before turning over.
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar like a pancake.
8. Enjoy

MuchLuv

Sandy Nouwens

🍑 Grilled Peaches with Pistachio & Marscarpone Cream 🍑

INGREDIENTS MARSCARPONE CREAM:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• Half a cup marscarpone cream
• 4 tablespoons icing sugar
• Touch of salt 🧂

INGREDIENTS PEACHES:

• 100gr butter
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons castor sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence
• 6 peaches 🍑
• Honey 🍯
• Pistachio nuts 🥜
• Mint 🍃

METHOD:

1. Mix together the ingredients for the Marscarpone cream and keep refrigerated until needed. (Make sure to sieve the icing sugar into a little bit of Marscarpone first, before adding the rest of the ingredients, to prevent a clumpy consistency.)
2. For the peaches, melt the butter first in a microwave. Then mix in the oil, sugar and vanilla essence. Set aside.
3. Slice the peaches in half and remove the stones with a spoon.
4. “Marinade” the peach halves with the butter paste. Then heat up a griddle pan, prep with non-stick spray.
5. Once the pan is hot, fry the peach halves, skin first for about 4 minutes. Or until chargrilled lines can be seen. Then turn over and fry another 4 minutes.
6. Remove the peach halves from the pan and place it on a serving dish. Drizzle with any left over butter sauce, place a spoonful of the Marscarpone cream on each half. Top with a drizzle of honey, mint and nuts.

TIP:

Add some black pepper to your butter sauce for an extra twisty bite.

MuchLuv

Sandy Nouwens Recipes

Portuguese Chickpea & Condensed Milk Tarte

INGREDIENTS:

• One roll shortcrust pastry
• 375gr chickpeas, drained (if you only have one tin, then it shouldn’t be a major problem)
• 4 eggs
• 1 tin condensed milk
• 120gr castor sugar
• Rind of a lemon. (Juice optional)
• 100ml cream

METHOD:

1. Prepare a tarte pan with the short crust pastry and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 170°C.
3. Blend the chickpeas into a smooth consistency with the yolks
4. Add the condensed milk, cream, castor sugar, lemon rind, (lemon juice)
5. Beat the egg whites and fold into the mixture.
6. Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 45-60 min. Or until golden brown.
7. Serve cold or room temperature.

MuchLuv

Sandy Nouwens.

• Pea Soup •

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 heaped tablespoon butter
• 500gr frozen or fresh peas (definitely not canned)
• ±5 slices parma ham or salami (even chorizo will be perfect)
• handful fresh basil leaves
• 1 chicken stock pot + three cups hot water
• 100ml cream
• salt + pepper

METHOD:

1. Fry the ham of your choice until crispy.  Break into pieces and set aside.
2. Gently sauté the onion with the butter until translucent.  Then add the peas, basil, stock and water, let simmer for about 5 min on low heat.  Take the pot off the heat and blend the soup together until smooth.
3. Now add the cream, season with salt and pepper.  You can heat it up again, to get it all nice and hot after adding the cream. Top with the ham and enjoy!

TIPS:

You can add spinach instead of basil if you’re not such a big basil lover!

You can prepare the soup in advance of a dinner party.  Just add the cream and reheat just before serving.

MuchLuv

Sandy Nouwens