Glitzy Puddings

If there was a food category in the Olympics, these would be in the running for a gold.  Even if just for aesthetic reasons. 

They're one of Nigella's creations  and I can't think of a more appropriate pudding for our Olympic themed feast this weekend.  Apart from perhaps a Sundae in homage to Michael Phelps. 

 But it wouldn't be nearly as pretty. Or sparkly.

INGREDIENTS

100g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids

100g soft butter

200g sugar

4 eggs

50g flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda pinch of salt

FOR THE GLAZE:

150g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids

45g butter

2 x 40g Crunchie bars, broken into shards

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4

Break up the chocolate and melt it with the butter in a bowl in the microwave or in a double boiler. Once it's melted, sit the bowl on a cold surface so that the chocolate cools.

Preferably in a freestanding mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale and moussy, then gently fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt.

Fold in the slightly cooled chocolate and butter mixture and then divide between eight ramekins, put in the oven to bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, get on with the glaze by melting the chocolate and butter in a microwave (or double boiler), then whisk to form a smooth glossy mixture, and spoon this over the cooked puddings.

Decorate with Crunchie rubble: I just put the bars in a freezer bag, set to with a rolling pin and strew over the top

www.nigella.com

Chocolate Malteser Cake

Yesterday being Wednesday meant, as usual, I spent the whole morning eating more cake than I'm sure is good for one person. Queen of the mother and baby group Laura had excelled herself once again. This time with a chocolate Malteser cake. So sensational that I think we might have an answer for the Cub's birthday cake conundrum next week.

Recipe from "Feast", Nigella Lawson (2004)

For the cake

150g soft brown sugar (muscavado sugar is best for flavour)
100g caster sugar
3 large eggs
175ml milk
15g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons Horlicks powder
175g plain flour
25g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the icing and decoration

250g icing sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa
45g Horlicks
125g soft unsalted butter
2 tablespoons boiling water
2 x 37g packets Maltesers

Take whatever you need out of the fridge so that all the ingredients can come to room temperature (though it's not so crucial here, since you're heating the milk and butter and whisking the eggs.

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/170C. Butter and line two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich cake tins with baking parchment.

Whisk together the sugars and eggs until light and frothy. Heat the milk, butter and Horlicks powder in a small saucepan until the butter has melted and the mixture is hot but not boiling. Beat the milk mixture into the eggs a little at a time. Fold in the dry ingredients thoroughly. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, by which time the cakes should have risen and will spring back when pressed gently. Let them cool on a rack for about 5-10 minutes and then turn them out of their tins.

Once the cakes are cold, you can get on with the icing. I use a processor just because it makes life easier: you don't need to sieve the icing sugar. So: put the icing sugar, cocoa and Horlicks in the processor and blitz to remove all lumps. Add the butter and process again. Stop, scrape down, and start again, pouring the boiling water down the funnel with the motor running until you have a smooth buttercream.

Sandwich the cold sponges with half of the buttercream, and then ice the top with what is left, creating a swirly pattern rather than a smooth surface. Stud the outside edge, about 1cm in, with a ring of Maltesers or use them to decorate the top in which-ever way pleases you.

Makes 8-10 slices.

Let Them Eat Cake

My early wednesday mornings are now spent surrounded by babies at the lovely village mother and baby group. Yes it's great for the Cub to hang out with other small people and yes I might make some new friends. But the real reason I rush like a loonie to get out out the door for 9am every week, is for the cake. Big, fat, homemade, chocolate and cream-filled cakes made by the wonderful Laura.

There are toys for the cherubs and cakes for the grown ups. What could be better?

My joy when I walked in on day one to be greeted by plates of proper cupcakes and a sticky chocolate sensation was only to be rivalled by this week, when there was a choice of three. My highlight was the Damp Lemon and Almond cake from the lovely Nigella's 'Domestic Goddess book'. Maybe not the most nutritionally balanced start to the day but it kept me very chirpy and energetic until lunch time. Who needs Weetabix?

225 grams of soft unsalted butter

225 grams of castor sugar

4 large eggs

50 grams of plain flour

225 grams of ground almonds

half a teaspoon of almond essence

zesst and juice of 2 lemons

Butter and line a 21 cm springform cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cream together the butter and sugar until it's almost white. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a quarter of the flour after each addition. When all the eggs and flour have been added, gently stir in the ground almonds, then the almond essence, lemon zest and juice.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 1 hour. Cover with foil after about 30 minutes, once the top is lightly browned. The cake is ready when the top is firm, and a skewer, inserted, comes out cleanish - you want dampness, but not gooey batter. Take the cake out and let it stand for 5 minutes or so in the tin. Then turn it out on a wire rack and leave until it's cool.