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!!

Pick me up

It is hubby dear's birthday today. I planned to bake him a black forest cake as it is his favourite cake. Just to be sure, I asked him "What do want me to make for your birthday?"
He replied "Whatever you want to. You don't need to trouble yourself a lot."
I said "Just tell me what you feel like having."
He asked "Would you make tiramisu for me?"

Now I remember that tiramisu was the first dessert I made for him. It has been almost 2 years since I made the last tiramisu. So, yesterday after work, I bought a packet of ladyfinger biscuits or sponge fingers and a tub of mascarpone cheese. The rest of the ingredients were at home. As soon as I reached home, I quickly whipped it up. Hubby was on and off peeping into the kitchen. He just could not wait to indulge himself with his favourite dessert but then, I told him that he has to wait until tomorrow (which is today) to have it as tiramisu needs an overnight chilling.

Tiramisu

What do we need:

2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup marsala wine or kahlua or any coffee liqueurs

1 cup hot water
5 tbsp coffee powder or granules
3 tbsp brandy (optional)

20 ladyfinger biscuits or sponge fingers
250 g mascarpone cheese
1 cup whipping or double cream

1 cup grated chocolate
2 tbsp cocoa or chocolate powder

How do we do it:

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until creamy. Slowly stir in the wine or liqour. Cook on a double boiler, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when the custard is thick. Set aside to cool.

Combine hot water and coffee. Let cool. When cooled, add the brandy and set aside.

Beat mascarpone cheese until smooth. Add the cooled egg custard and continue beating slowly. Set aside.

Beat the cream until soft. Gently combine the mascarpone mixture with the beaten cream.

To assemble, dip the biscuits one by one into the coffee and arrange neatly in a dish. The biscuits could be broken to fit the dish. Spread half of the cheese mixture. Sprinkle grated chocolate. Repeat with the biscuits and cheese mixture again. Sprinkle cocoa or chocolate powder on top. Chill well, preferably overnight before serving.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY DEAR

From My Rasoi # 6 - For The Love of Rice

Glutinous rice, often called sticky rice is uniquely delicious, tasty and sweet rice. It is starchy and yields attractively sticky, moist, firm and dense rice when cooked. Thus it does a great job of filling the stomach. Glutinous rice can be easily distinguished from other varieties by its short grain and milky colour.

Glutinous Rice

Despite the misleading name, glutinous rice does not contain dietary gluten. Therefore, theoretically it should be safe for gluten-free diets. The sticky consistency of the rice is derived from two kinds of starch in the kernels, namely amylase and amyl pectin.

As an entry for FMR # 6 – For The Love Of Rice, I have chosen to make wajik which is steamed glutinous rice braised in palm sugar and coconut milk syrup.

Wajik

What do we need:

1 cup glutinous rice
1 blade pandanus / screw pine leaf
salt

Syrup
1 cup thick coconut milk
1/3 cup palm sugar (as per desired)
2 blades pandan / screw pine leaves

How do we do it:

Wash the rice and soak the rice at least 4 hours. It is important to wash the rice before soaking to ensure that the rice do not break. Drain the rice and mix with salt. Place a knotted screw pine leaf on top of the rice. Steam for 5 minutes or until half cooked. Remove from heat and using a fork, scratch to lossen the rice.

Palm sugar and coconut milk syrup at soft ball stage

In a heavy bottomed pan, boil the coconut milk with palm sugar and knotted screw pine leaves. When the syrup reaches soft ball stage, add the rice. Stir continously to prevent from getting burnt. Remove from heat when the mixture does not stick to the sides of the pan. Discard the pandan leaves. Transfer to a greased mould. Cool completely before cutting into desired shapes.