Black & White

It has been more than a month since I blogged. Hubby was away and I was way too busy running around with the kids and so on. Also stuck with daughter's school project. I was not this much inclined to my own projects when I was schooling.

For a long time I have wanted to try to combine both dark chocolate and white chocolate in one dish. Thus, came up with the idea of making a trifle. I just love trifles. They are simple yet luxurious desserts.

Dark and white chocolate have distinctly different tastes. Dark chocolate is made of chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, small amounts of sugar and vanilla. White chocolate is not true chocolate because it contains no chocolate liquor and, likewise, very little chocolate flavour. Instead, it is usually a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter, milk solids, lecithin and vanilla.

I used my famous moist chocolate cake as the base of the trifle. The recipe is found here.

Black & White Trifle


What do we need:

1 moist chocolate cake
200g cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup double cream, chilled
2 tbsp grated dark chocolate

White Chocolate Pudding
1 cup milk
100g white chocolate
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp sugar

How do we do it:

Combine all the pudding ingredients except the white chocolate. Cook on low heat while whisking constantly until mixture boils and thickens. Keep whisking for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in the white chocolate. Cover with cling film and press down so that it touches the surface of the pudding. This is to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool completely.

Slice the moist chocolate cake to 1 inch thickness and place it in a pie or flan dish.

Lightly beat the cream cheese until soft. Set aside. Beat the double cream until stiff. Fold in the softened cheese and the cooled white chocolate pudding. Pour the white chocolate cheese mixture on the cake. Finally, sprinkle the grated dark chocolate on top. Chill thoroughly. It tastes better after a few days.

The trifle may also be made in smaller portions like in ramekins or dessert glasses.

This trifle not just look amazing but it tastes AWESOME!!

For Love......

My son has been asking me to bake something using cocoa powder. So, I decided to bake him a chocolate packed cake. I filled and covered the cake with chocolate ganache. The cake was so chocolatey. Hubby and children loved it!!

I have always used sour cream in my pancakes but never in my bakings. For the first time I tried adding it in my cake. The sour cream made the cake rich and moist.

Soured cream is a dairy product that is rich in fats made by partially fermenting a regular cream using lactic acid bacteria. The bacteria causes the cream to sour or thicken. This process is called souring. The taste of sour cream is only mildly sour.

Sour cream is primarily used as a condiment. It is also used as the base for some creamy salad dressings and provides the base for various forms of dip used for dipping potato chips or crackers as well. Sour cream may also be used in baking. It can be eaten as a dessert, with fruits or berries and sugar topping.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

What do we need:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate sode
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup recently boiled water

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup sour cream

How do we do it:

Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, and salt. Set aside.

Pour recently boiled water into cocoa powder. Stir well and set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Stir in vanilla essence. Fold in the sifted flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, starting and ending with the flour. Finally, fold in the cocoa mixture.

Pour batter into a greased and lined 8 inches round pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 175° C for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Fill and cover the cake with your favourite frosting. Decorate as per desired.

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Let's Cook: Rice

Coriander is my the most favourite herb. In the US it is generally known by the Spanish word cilantro. Coriander leaves have an extremely pungent odour and flavour that lends itself well.

I have always been using coriander leaves to garnish most of my cooking. I was wondering if could use it in the cooking itself. I was inspired by a rice dish that I ate at my uncle's place. It was curry leaves rice. Curry leaves were ground into paste and rice was cooked with it. It was not rich but very spicy and garnished with fried peanuts.

I have used the idea of grinding coriander into paste and cook rice with it. I followed my mom's way of cooking ordinary ghee rice. I have used ghee and evaporated milk for the richness and vegetable stock to give it body.

The ratio of rice and liquid may vary from rice to rice. So, be cautious with the amount of liquid used. The ratio below is just a guide.

Coriander Rice

What do we need:

3 cups basmathi rice

Grind into paste
2 cm ginger
3 cloves garlic
1 green chilli
1 bunch coriander leaves

1 cinnamon bark
1 star anise
2 cloves
2 pods cardamom
1 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp ghee
salt to taste

How do we do it:

Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes. Later, drain and set aside.

Heat ghee. Fry cinnamon, star anise, cloves and cardamom until fragrant. Pour the ground ingredients and fry until aromatic and the oil separates. In goes the rice. Fry the rice until well coated with all the ingredients. Pour in vegetable stock and milk. Season with salt to taste. Cook until the rice fluff up.

Serve hot with your favourite dishes.

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Blueberry Cheesecake

Hello everyone. After a long long gap I'm pleased to be back to the world of foodblogging. 2011 has been a hectic year for me with lots of changes in lifestyle and some significant achievements.

In conjuction with Chinese New Year and as a comeback gift I present my ever favourite blueberry cheesecake. This recipe was given to me by my brother who is a great baker.

Cheesecake is a luscious, rich dessert consisting of a topping made of soft, fresh cream cheese. A cheesecake may or may not have a crust or base. This crust is can be made from biscuit crumb, pastry or sponge cake. The filling is made by creaming the cheese and mixing it with eggs and sugar. A range of flavourings may be added to this mixture. It is then poured into a special springform pan and baked. After baking, the cheesecake is thoroughly chilled and generally topped with fresh fruit or with a sweetened fruit sauce, nuts, and/or chocolate.

Cheesecakes may be baked or unbaked. Uncooked cheesecake is made with a biscuit crumb base and a filling made of cream cheese enriched with eggs, flavoured and set with gelatine.

The texture of cheesecake can vary from light and airy to dense and rich to smooth and creamy. Unbaked cheesecake is lighter and creamier than the baked version.

What do we need:

Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup melted butter

Filling
2 packages/8oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp plain flour
4 eggs
2 cups blueberry pie filling

How do we do it:

Combine crumbs, sugar and butter. Push mixture into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
Lightly stir the cream cheese until soft and creamy. Beat in sour cream, sugar, vanilla and flour. Add in eggs one at a time. Pour the mixture into the crumb lined pan. Bake in a preheated oven 165° C for 1 hour or until firm to the touch.

Cool the cake completely. Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife to removing the cake. Place blueberry pie filling on top of cake. Chill well before serving.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

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