Spoiling the Husband...and Myself!

Whenever I want to spoil Hans I bake him a chocolate cake. His favorite (and ours) is Nigella's Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake. I've been told this is the best cake he's ever had in his whole life and of course that makes me very happy. I think what makes this the perfect chocolate cake is its simplicity. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated. Just a darn good cake.

Last weekend I wanted to make something a little more special for Father's Day and Gennaro's Torta al Cioccolato came to mind. For some reason I think this is a more summery chocolate cake. Maybe because the first time I made it was during the summer or maybe because it's a bit lighter than Nigella's cake. And please, take the word "lighter" with a grain of salt, because it ain't all that light! The thing is that one can only handle a tiny slice of the Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake but with Gennaro's cake, it's hard to not want some more! I think this cake is also a more grown-up chocolate cake because of the wine and because of the deep, rich taste.

The recipe is a bit fidgety because you have to actually stand there and make chocolate curls, well at least I had to. Maybe you can buy ready made curls, but here in The Netherlands we aren't that privileged! To make life easy you can let your food processor do some of the chopping. The bits that go in the cake itself are actually better left a little coarse. Don't forget that sprig of rosemary! It's not just for decoration. It actually gives the cake a beautiful scent and makes it very fragrant!

Here's the recipe:

Torta al cioccolato e vino rosso and salsa al cioccolato

*200g soft butter
*250g caster sugar
*4 beaten eggs
*25g cocoa powder
*250g flour
*1 tsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
*1 dl red wine
*1/2 tsp vanilla extract
*150g pure chocolate curls (you can make them yourself...I made 1/2 curls and the rest I just chopped in the processor!)

For the salsa al cioccolato
*1.2 dl liquid coffee creamer
*150g pure chocolate in bits
*1 1/2 tsp cocoa
*1 1/2 tsp glucose syrup (I used Golden Syrup!)
*25g butter
*1 tbsp sugar
*chocolate curls to decorate

Preheat oven to 180C, stand 4 and butter and line a 22cm spring form.

Beat butter and sugar. Add beaten eggs one at a time. Sift cocoa, flour, baking powder and cinnamon if desired and fold in. Stir in the wine, then the vanilla and finally the curls.

Put mix in tray and bake for about an hour until sate stick comes out clean . Let cool and remove from tray.

Salsa

Stir all ingredients au bain marie until mix is smooth and soft. Sift if necessary to take out any chunks. Let stand for a minute or two before icing.

Ice the cake, decorate with curls and don't forget that sprig of rosemary!

Savory Cake!

This past week the lovely Edda posted a recipe which immediately caught my attention; a versatile savory cake that pretty much allowed you to use your imagination and throw in whatever your heart desired. I love baked dinners such as quiches and savory tarts so this cake really called to me! I decided to give it a little twist today and I was thrilled with the results! My cake turned out absolutely delicious and we all truly enjoyed it!


Here's my take on Edda's lovely idea:

-180g whole wheat flour
-80g all- purpose flour
-1 tbsp baking powder
-4 eggs
-125 ml olive oil
-125 ml white wine
-30g capers
-60g black olives, halved
-10 sun dried tomato halves (in olive oil), cut in strips
-1 large onion, chopped
-3 cloves garlic, pressed
-small handful parmesan
-100g soft goat's cheese
-small handful parsley and basil, chopped
-salt and pepper to taste

Oil and flour a round 22 cm spring form cake pan. Preheat oven to 180C. Saute onion and garlic in a little oil till soft, about ten minutes, then set aside to cool. Meanwhile in a bowl mix together the ingredients that will go into the bread, minus the cheeses. In this case the capers,olives, sun dried tomatoes and herbs and set aside. Sift flours and baking powder into a bowl. In a separate jug mix eggs, oil, wine and salt to taste. (I used three tiny scoops of Fleur de Sel with sun dried olives from The Cape Herb and Spice Company. LOVE this stuff, btw!) Beat well and add to flour mixture until well incorporated. Add parmesan to mixture, stir well and then add sauteed onion and garlic and mix well again. Add the prepared ingredients in three batches to the mix, incorporating well after each addition. Finish off by stirring 50g of the goat's cheese to the mixture and stir well. Pour into prepared baking pan and top with remainder of goat's cheese. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and bake 45 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. I served mine with a simple green salad with a dijon vinaigrette and a glass of white wine.

It was a delicious meal! Thanks Edda, for your inspiration!!

Edith

I've been swept of my feet by French music these days, especially by the "the little sparrow", Edith Piaf. After seeing her story in the beautiful movie, La Môme, last week, I totally fell in love with this woman and her music. Her life was hard. She was not really wanted by her parents and for a while she lived with her grandmother in a brothel. After being discovered while singing in the streets of Paris, she quickly climbed the ladder to fame, but her life was anything but easy after that. She was dependent on drugs and alcohol, lived way too fast and lost her greatest love in a plane crash. Her short time on this Earth was intense, and so was her music.

Here's more information about the movie:
http://www.tfmdistribution.com/lamome/lamome.htm

(Be sure to look at some of the videos! The songs are also of a higher quality there!)

I must say the actress, Marion Cotillard is FANTASTIC! She did a great job at playing the young Edith as well as the older Edith.