22 Jun 2010
by Ubiquityin Recipe Vault Tags: dessert, food
Pronounced: [moo-air-loh] [oh] [show-co-lah]
For those of you wondering, “What in the world is moelleux au chocolat?”, it is simply known as chocolate lava cake. Yes! It IS that warm chocolatey cake that oozes more warm chocolatey liquid inside. THE sinful chocolate delight that makes both men and women moan as it touches their lips and groan when it stays on their hips.
I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long, long, long time. I mean to make THE perfect moelleux au chocolat. Finally, after 1 failed attempt I’ve perfected the art of making le moelleux. Of course there are more room for improvements but till I make the next one, I shall gloat on my success and share with you my recipe. Just don’t ask me why I used 2 types of chocolates. You can use just 1 type if you want but please make it a 75% dark chocolate only. Oh, and omit the cocoa powder if you’re using dark chocolates. If you ask me, I think my version is still the best even though it broke when I tried to unmould it onto a plate.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
130g chocolate (I used 50g milk chocolate & 80g 80% dark chocolate), chopped or broken to pieces
125g butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
4 tablespoon of icing sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon flour, sifted
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder, sifted
Directions:
Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celcius and grease 4 ramekins / moulds with butter.
Melt chocolates and butter in a bain-marie. If you don’t have a bain-marie; you can use 2 stainless steel bowls (medium & large). Put the chocolate and butter in the medium bowl, place the medium bowl in the large bowl and fill the large bowl with warm water. The ingredients in the medium bowl will slowly melt. It’ll take about 8 – 10 minutes to have a smooth chocolatey texture. If the water gets cold, fill it up with warm water again but make sure the water does not get into the chocolate mixture.
Beat the eggs and sugar using a hand mixer / electric mixer until fluffy (8 minutes). Gradually mix the melted chocolate with the egg mixture with a spatula until well combined. Fold in sifted flour and cocoa powder. Pour into moulds. *At this point, you may also refrigerate the cake batter until it is ready to be served. According to a friend of mine, this also ensures that the inside of cake remains runny / melty.* Place in the middle of the preheated oven at a circulating heat for exactly 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and let it stand for a couple of minutes more before unmoulding it. Serve with a scoop of ice-cream.
27 May 2010
by Ubiquityin Recipe Vault Tags: dessert, food
A couple of weeks ago, our neighbor baked a carrot cake for us. Yup! Out of the blue. It was still fresh and warm, from the oven straight to our door and oh how good it was. The texture of the cake was dense with bits of carrots and almonds. Ever since then, I’m inspired to make the carrot cake from scratch.
Some of my Singaporean readers might mistake this for the typical Chinese carrot cake that can be found in the foodcourts in Asia. This special cake however bears no resemblance to it. Unlike the Chinese carrot cake, Rüebli Kuchen is typically eaten as dessert or at tea time. And so, with the help of a cookbook (written in German, mind you!), let me present to you my 1st carrot cake! And it’s really easy to make!
PS: I’ve included some conversion just in case you’re using cups instead of grams.
Serves 8
Ingredients:
a 30cm (12 inches) baking tin, greased
350g (1 and a half cups) flour, sifted
300g (slightly more than a cup) sugar
half a teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
half a teaspoon of cardamom powder
half a teaspoon of clove powder
a pinch of salt
250g (or 4 pieces) of carrots, shredded into small pieces
250g (1 cup) of ground almonds
4 egg, whites & yolks separated
200g of butter
1 lemon zest & juice
marzipan carrots (optional for decoration)
Directions:
Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celcius.
Get a bowl large enough to put everything together. Put the sifted flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cardomom and clove powder together. Mix well and set aside. In a separate bowl beat the eggs white till they’re fluffly (an electric beater does this job in a jiffy!). In another separate bowl, beat the butter with sugar till they become soft. Add it to the flour mixture and mix well. Add carrots, almonds, lemon zest and juice. Mix thoroughly and pour it into a greased baking tin. Bake for about 65 minutes in the preheated oven.
Optional: You may serve the cake with a different types of icing. The best is lemon frosted icing. But it’s as good on it’s own. The way I like it. I’ve arranged my cake with marzipan carrots which you can normally get from baking shops or the supermarket.
07 May 2010
by Ubiquityin Recipe Vault Tags: dessert, food
A bunch of rhubarb
Yup! I’ve been making pies for 2 days in a row now. As I’ve mentioned before, Fred absolutely LOVE pies and there was rhubarb lying around in the fridge. So I thought, why not? Let’s make my husband a happy man.
Back in Singapore, I don’t remember seeing rhubarbs in the supermarkets. I’m sure it’s available somewhere if you really look for it. I had my first rhubarb at Fred’s mom and it was in this exact pie that I made. Rhubarb is botanically classified as a vegetable but in the US, it’s known as a fruit. The most commonly used part of the plant is the stalks. They are normally cooked in pies for their tart flavour.
There are many varieties of rhubarb pies. However, most recipes that you can find over the internet has strawberries in them. This one has none. In fact, this recipe is so ridiculously easy to make, you’ll only need 15 minutes to prepare it! Again, I got it off Fred’s mom’s personal cookbook and since it turned out well for me, I’m sharing it with you…
Serves 4
Ingredients:
pie dough, rolled out and pre-baked in a 28cm pie pan at 200 degrees Celcius for 15 minutes, set aside
a handful of rhubarbs (5 stalks), peeled, halved and cut into 3cm pieces
3 tablespoon of sugar
3 tablespoon of creme
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
1 egg yolk
Directions:
Set aside the prebaked pie dough and leave the oven running at the same temperature while you prepare the filling.
Put all the ingredients (rhubarb, sugar, creme, flour, cinnamon powder and egg yolk) together in a bowl and gently toss it.
Pour them out in the pie crust and bake for 30 minutes.
Best served at room temperature with a sprinkling of sugar.
05 Jan 2010
by Ubiquityin Festivals & Celebrations, Globetrotting Tags: celebrations, Christmas, dessert, dinner, food, Switzerland, travel, Valais
The evening of December 24th is very much a family celebration in Switzerland. This is the evening on which the Christmas tree is brightly lit and decorated in all its splendor complete with wrapped gifts underneath.
Presents under the Christmas tree!
Starters : Shrimp cocktail with cognac & grapefruit sauce
Main course : Filet mignon with chestnuts & brusselsprouts & spätzle
No feast would be complete without cheese platter
And finally, dessert : Paradiso cake
Presents comes after midnight where everyone gathered together to give and receive while enjoying a glass or two of Amaretto and Williamine.
25 Dec 2009
by Ubiquityin Globetrotting, Recipe Vault Tags: dessert, food, Sion, Switzerland, travel, updates, Valais
Pommes Canada
As much as Fred digs my apple pie, I can’t deny that he prefers the one of his mom’s. You may wonder why but lemme tell you this… Today, I’ve learnt how to make the EASIEST apple pie, ever! And the secret actually lies in the apples themselves. Now I’ve been mistaken all these while thinking that his mom must’ve used those Granny Smiths but no, no no no. All these while, she has been using pommes Canada.
What is pommes Canada? Honestly, I don’t know. But what I do know is, they’re not red and not even green. Literally translated from French to English, pommes Canada is Canadian Apples. I’m not sure if I can find them back at the supermarket at home but I’m pretty sure I could make do with other apples. Like Fred used to say, “so long you don’t use the green apples”. Now for the recipe…
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 Borg’s shortcrust pastry dough
fillings
6 pommes Canada, peeled, cored & sliced
2 tablespoon sugar
2 pinches of cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Roll out the dough and place it on a flan pan. Arrange the apples on the dough and bake for about 45mins to an hour. Remove from oven and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon immediately. There aren’t a lot of sugar in this pie because the apples are sweet enough, so don’t need to add more sugar!
Gâteau aux pommes
Back to snow shoveling now…
31 Oct 2009
by Ubiquityin Reality bites Tags: dessert, kind cab drivers
Old-skool ice cream seller
During my childhood, I vividly remember getting excited whenever the ice cream seller comes around. Operating from bicycle or motorbike, the seller goes from street to street ringing a bell making his presence known. When the ringing stops, kids and adults from the area would flock to him to get their hands on the goodies.
Now ‘potong‘ basically means cut in Malay. The reason for that lies in the way the it was served. Ice-cream was molded into a block like the size of 1 ream of A4 papers and kept frozen. The seller then cuts the block to smaller size identical to a cigarette box and serve it like a sandwich with a slice of bread or in between thin wafers.
The flavors available are; chocolate, chocolate chip, strawberry, mango, sweet corn and even durian! My favorite was the sweet corn.
Anyway, this afternoon I saw the ice cream seller on my way to my mom’s, reminding me of the good-old days I decided to get one. As I was ordering the same taxi driver who drove me there stopped for an ice cream as well. We had a little chat and such a gentleman he was, he insisted to pay for mine. I was technically a total stranger whom he spent mere 15 minutes alone in a car with! God bless his kind heart.
Getting the ice cream out of the freezer
Cutting the ice cream
When was the last time you meet a person like that?
31 Jul 2009
by Ubiquityin Reality bites, Recipe Vault Tags: dessert, food
I attempted my 2nd Apple Pie yesterday and it looked so pretty!
Pretty Apple Pie
I was missing lemon juice so I substituted it with lime juice instead and it was just as good. Maybe except that it’s not as tangy as my 1st attempt.
Also, I did not glaze the pastry cover with the caramel sauce because the first time I did that, the caramel sauce went dripping all over the oven floor leaving an ugly and irremovable stain.
Taste test verdict :
My boyfriend didn’t complain.
24 Jul 2009
by Ubiquityin Reality bites, Recipe Vault Tags: dessert, food
Caramel Apple Pie
I know it’s ugly but I’ve finally attempted my first apple pie! Now it’s not just any apple pie, it’s a Caramel Apple Pie! I made it ALL (‘cept the pastry which I bought it ready made from the frozen section :-P) from scratch, even the caramel!
All the stress and sweat was worth my effort, now the whole house smells of cinnamon and butterscotch!
If it pass the taste test from none other than my boyfriend, I will post the recipes, otherwise, I just wouldn’t bother. Because anything that he doesn’t like, I’m pretty sure that most others wouldn’t like it as well.
Verdict :
Fred’s mom bakes A LOT of pies and I must admit that I can’t compete with her. But hey, I got the best review! My boyfriend loves my pie! And guiltily, he said that he almost preferred mine despite knowing that I used green apples! So here’s my recipe…
The caramel is optional, you can omit it out from the recipe and you’ll get the good ol’ apple pie.
Serves 8
Ingredients:
2 Borg’s shortcrust pastry dough
fillings
7 granny smith apples, peeled, cored & sliced
4 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon lemon juice
a pinch of nutmeg
2 pinches of cinnamon
a pinch of salt
caramel sauce
1 can condensed milk
2 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 220 degrees C. Place apples in a large bown and add sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice. Toss until all ingredients are well mixed and apples are thoroughly coated.
Mix the sugar and condensed milk together in medium saucepan, cook on medium heat until the sugar is dissolved completely. Set aside. Melt the butter in another saucepan and stir in the vanilla and milk. Leave to simmer on low heat until mixture is smooth, about 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly stir the butter mixture into the sugar mixture and leave to stand for 3 to 5 minutes or until mixture becomes thick.
Spoon half of apple filling into pastry-lined flan pan. Top with a layer of caramel sauce. Repeat process with remaining apple filling. Place top pastry over filling and seal well (this is very important, if edges aren’t sealed well, caramel will leak out all over. Cut steam vents on the top pastry cover and brush top crust with caramel sauce. Cover pie with foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil from pie and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden. Serve warm.
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