I have not seen my friend Sue for seemingly eons, so I texted her yesterday and asked her over for brunch.   She is having a work crisis but said she would love to pop by for an hour.   As she is a self confessed chocoholic I designed these muffins just for her.

These follow my usual muffin recipe;  but in these the orange zest reacts with the baking powder when you mix the wet and dry ingredients together giving the batter a fluffy almost moussy consistency.     We scoffed these when they were still warm, enjoying the still molten chocolate chips.   The photos are not going to win me any prizes, obviously we were keen to eat them as soon as possible.

Double Chocolate Cranberry and Orange Muffins (makes 4 medium muffins)

“Dry” Ingredients
4.5oz plain flour
1.5oz  sugar
0.5oz cocoa powder
Finely Grated zest of one small orange
1 Large tbs chocolate chips
1 tbs cranberries (I snipped the larger ones in half)
1tsp baking power
pinch salt

“Wet” Ingredients
4.5oz  milk (I use soy)
1.5oz  sunflower oil

Whisk the oil and milk mixture with a fork.   Mix the dry ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together (the batter should be lumpy and mixing should take no more than 15 folds).   Bake at GM5/190C/375F in your favourite muffin pan for 20 – 25 mins until risen.

To spread the word she is organising the first Iron Cupcake challenge outside of the USA with the theme being chocolate.

Full details are here, in short turn up on the 1st June with 12 chocolate cupcakes baked to the same recipe, have a drink, look at and sample other’s cupcakes! There will be a chocolate themed prize for the winning cupcakes. Admission / entry fees are £5.

I think that I will be on holiday, but will hopefully be at the next challenge.

I have been very lax about my blog and the Daring Bakers for the last few months. Being sick at the end of last year did not help, and I have got out of the blogging rhythm and an also not really certain where I have been going with it. However I have actually completed most of the challenges but have not had the energy to post them.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.

Wendy and Dharm chose a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan, to be served with home made ice cream.

I was very unsure about this recipe, I read it and went out without a list to buy everything and came back with the correct ingredients and several packets of ground almonds as I was convinced that a flourless chocolate needed them. Upon rereading the recipe I was somewhat surprised to see that it really did contain only butter, eggs and chocolate. Upping the Daring ante I cooked the cake and make the ice cream when away from home, staying with my boyfriend’s parents’ and with the help of his 3 year old nephew and 5 year old niece!

I was amazed at how much my two assistants could do; both regularly cook at home, and they were more than happy to weigh, measure and mix and all of the credit for folding the chocolate mix into the egg whites has to go to 5 year old H.

Chocolate Valentino

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.

8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C

9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

The recipe was very easy to make, I weighed the chocolate and butter into a bowl; set up as a bain marie and let 5 year H, gently stir and keep watch as I whisked the egg whites up. I have a feeling that we may have added the chocolate to the egg whites rather than the other way round. It certainly did seem to take quite a bit of folding.

Temperature probeless I baked the cake until it seemed done and got it out of the oven, once it had cooled a little I realised that it was in fact still liquid inside and really was not going to firm up so I broke all the rules of baking turned the oven back on and put it back in.

3 year old F who regularly helps me to make a smoothie with a stick blender; telling me that it is “quite tricky”, helped with the ice cream; I made Nigella’s Bitter Orange Ice Cream as I wanted an easy child friendly recipe and partially because I had been wanting to try it for some time as I could not believe that a not churn; mix and freeze recipe would work. Happily it did and was delicious.

The finished cake was enjoyed at a Sunday lunch party and greatly appreciated by all including the children present who really did not believe that it was a “silly cake” with no flour and only 3 ingredients. The bitter orange ice cream went very well with the cake and was loved by all.

I don’t think that I was sufficiently wowed by the cake to make it again; if I want a flourless chocolate cake I will probably stick to making Nigella’s Chocolate cloud cake, but I enjoyed making it and the challenge and stepping outside your comfort zone is what the Daring Bakers are about!

So many thanks to Wendy and Dharm and apologies for my tardy posting.

Pavlova was created in either Australia or New Zealand (sources disagree) in honour of the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova.

Pavlova is a meringue case, filled with whipped cream and topped with fruit. In my opinion the perfect Pavlova will have a crisp outside and a soft marshmallowly filling.
Chocolate Pavlova (Serves 4)

3 egg whites
6oz white sugar
2 tbs Cocoa Powder
1 tsp Balsamic Vinegar

Thick Double Cream

Fruit to decorate – Berries, Tropical, Nectarines – to taste

~~~000~~~

Preheat oven to GM2/150C/300F

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and in peaks, slowly spoon in the sugar and cocoa and vinegar whisking all the time. When mixture is glossy and standing in peaks – this will take about 5 to 10 minutes, turn out onto a sheet of parchment on a flat baking tray.

With the spoon shape into a circle about 6” across and build the sides up to hold the cream and fillings.

Place in the preheated oven and immediately turn down to GM1/140C/275F.

Depending on the oven, weather, size of egg the Pavlova will take between 40mins to an hour to cook – when done it will be crisp and hard when tapped, but still soft in the middle. Turn the oven off and leave the Pavlova in it to cool. I usually leave it overnight.

Up to an hour before serving, peel the Pavlova from the baking parchment, fill with whipped cream and top with your choice of fruit. A non filled Pavlova will keep for several days in an air-tight tin.

A mix of cream and chestnut puree topped with toasted nuts makes for an indulgent alternative filling.

~~~000~~~

Some recipes include a spoon of cornflower as well as the vinegar I have tried all combinations and personally do not think that it makes any difference to the finished pudding, the balsamic is included here for colour and flavour. For a non chocolate Pavlova I leave it out.

The left over egg yolks can be used for a Spanish omelette or tortilla; or freeze egg whites when you are using yolks in a recipe. They freeze well, but need to be at room temperature to whisk.

Read more about how easy making pavlova is here.