Devil Chocolate Cakes with Salted Caramel

Hi all, an update after so long.

Time seems to fly, I started working last summer & was thinking I would get into baking soon.

Obviously this didn't happen as you can see there hadn't any update until now.

Hopefully, I will bake more often from now.

To get myself back to baking, I started with my all time favourite, salted caramel cupcakes.

After making caramel & frosting, I realised I didn't have a muffin tray but loose-base mini cake pan I've bought from Lakeland for a long time.

The chocolate batter is not the best for this mini cakes as it's not firm enough, but divinely rich & moist.

Very pleased with it after all.

Lychee, Raspberry & White Chocolate Entremets

Apology for not updating the blog more regularly.

This recipe was long forgotten & so did the photos.

These entremets have intense lychee flavours & balanced with the tanginess of raspberry.

It consists of 5 components: genoise, lychee jelly insert, white chocolate mousse, fresh raspberry & lychee jelly.

Happy baking :)

Chocolate, Earl Grey & Hazelnut Gateau

This was the chocolate & earl grey gateau I made for my sister's birthday back in August.

I know it’s end of September & I could have posted the recipe ages ago.

It seemed like I always have too many things to do like travelling, making hand creams, cross stitching e.g. & baking seems to be the last on my list.

It’s a rich chocolate mousse cake consists of 6 components:

1. Chocolate cotton cake

2. Hazelnut praline coated puffed rice

3. Hazelnut praline mousse

4. Chocolate mousse

5. Earl grey creme insert

6. Chocolate glaze

It took me 2 days to finish this & it was absolutely worth as the cake was delicious with wonderful combo of flavours.

Earl Grey, Hazelnut & Chocolate Yule Log... Happy New Year 2015!

This was the first time I had prepared a dessert for a Christmas meal.

It was usually Jenny’s job to do it, ever since she’s working as a professional patisserie, she doesn’t bake much at home.

This cake consists of 4 components:

Earl grey creme

Hazelnut mousse

Chocolate sponge cake

Chocolate chantilly cream

I quite enjoyed preparing the yule log & I'm sure I’ll be making this from time to time as I really like the combo.

A rich chocolate cake with a smooth nutty mousse & a sophisticated note of earl grey tea, all combine every well. 

Everyone loved it & commented that it’s very nice.

This has been a great year for me in completing my Ph.D.

Thank you all for your patience & re-joining me this year & the coming years.

Wishing you all the best & happy new year.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello readers, I come back for another quick update!

As a little breakup from my writing up, I baked some chocolate cupcakes the other day.

It had been a long time since there was a nice smell of cakes from my kitchen & it’s just great to do a bit of baking.

So, I took some photographs & decided to have a quick update for the blog here.

This recipe uses about 300 g of chocolate, so you can tell it really is ultra rich.

As I like my chocolate cakes to be bittersweet, I reduced the sugar.

I hope you would like it, bon appétit :)

noir plus

I'm now at Turin, Italy when updating this post.

I'm attending a science conference with my colleagues & I have 2 days conference so I'll have some times walking around the town.

I had a long weekend break & took the chance to make some entremets.

I was craving for chocolate so I decided to make the chocolate mousse & coffee creme brûlée from "Top10名师的50道人气蛋糕技术教本" (50 Popular Cakes from Top 10 Pâtissiers).

The original recipe includes a jaconde base, chocolate mousse & coffee creme brûlée.

I used a different cake base & added some caramel hazelnuts for some variations.

I made this recipe into 6 small glasses & 6 little domes.

The chocolate mousse is absolutely divine.

The rich coffee creme brûlée enhances the bitterness & sweetness of chocolate mousse which makes a great combination.

Chocolate Torta with Chocolate & Coffee Ganache

It was my sister Kelly's birthday so I wanted to make her a mascarpone mousse cake filled with fresh raspberry.

However, the supermarket closest to my place wasn't open on Easter Sunday.

Instead I baked this decadently dark chocolate torta with the bittersweet chocolate & coffee sauce.

The recipe is adapted from Willie's Chocolate Bible which has been in my collection over 2 years now.

I absolutely adore this cookbook as it includes a variety of savoury & sweet recipes for chocolate but I had to say this is the first time I've baked something from it.

This italian chocolate torta is heavenly smooth & chocolatey, simply divine.

It's very rich so I would suggest you to have it in smaller slices.

When ready to serve, make yourself a nicely brew coffee.

If you're not a coffee lover, tangy fruit tea is also a good choice which will ease the richness.

Now, have a small bite & let the chocolate torta slowly melt in your mouth, enjoy the velvet texture & allow your palate to take in the flavour.

Take a sip of the hot coffee/tea, sigh with satisfaction & enjoy the rest of the day.

M for Madeleines

Amongst those small cakes, my all time favourite is the buttery French madeleine.

Ever since Jenny baked some madeleines at home, I fell in love with the moist & crumbly textures.

Madeleines are easy to make & all the ingredients are in my cupboard.

There are 3 flavours: earl grey, cranberries & chocolate.

My favourite is certainly the chocolate flavour.

Which one is yours?

Featherlight Chocolate Cake

I'm in the middle of downturn in my life, I'm feeling I can no longer cope with any more stress & pressure.

When I should go to the college, I stay in my room shutting myself up.

Unable to tell, unable to refuel, as time slips away, I'm getting ever more suffocated.

I want so much to escape from here, there's no exit I can see of but I can only stay at a hopeless corner.

I hate myself being like this, I know I have to change but I'm not brave enough.

Being obsessed with baking, I can at least hide in the kitchen for a quiet moment.

Unable to make any complicated entremets, but a simple chocolate cake that I've picked from my pile of baking books.

Simple ingredients, simple steps, just enjoy the process of baking.

When baked in the oven, the room was full of sweet chocolate which warmed my heart & calmed my mind… at least for a moment.

Harmonie - closure of 2012

The dessert I've chosen for the closure of 2013: chocolate tart with caramel mousse & caramel pear compote.

One that includes all my favourite flavours over the year.

Chocolate, caramel & pear.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year & hope to see you next year.

Chocolate Cake Pops

Can't believe Christmas is one week later, it felt like times had gone so quickly.

When I think of last year Christmas, it's almost like it's yesterday.

Before Christmas, I've finally made some cake pops which I always want to try.

I wrapped the cake pops & macarons baked by Jenny with cellophane & ribbons, & turned into nice little Christmas presents :)

Earl Grey Poached Pear Entremets

I realised I haven't made entremets & mousse cakes for a few months now.

Making delicate & pretty entremets is one of my passion in baking.

It feels amazing the moment I finish the decoration, take a photograph, then taste it, and of course to share the joy with you here.

Have you noticed whenever I make entremets I like to combine different flavours & ingredients?

The most recent one was poire vin blanc using white wine poached pears & caramel, then chocolate & passionfruit.

I'm lack of inspirations recently, instead I like to bake some simple & delicious snacks.

Last week I was craving for pear mousse cake & pear is certainly one of my favourite fruit.

 I decided to bake these earl grey poached pear entremets using the recipe of oolong & asian pear entremets.

It's simply delicious, the mousse is light yet fragrantly rich & the taste nicely balances with the rich chocolate brownie base.

Salted Caramel & Chocolate Cupcakes

Went food shopping & picked a few pots of double cream as they're on sale.

I decided to whisk up a quick & easy chocolate cake but soon changed my mind & baked them in small muffin tins.

Once I baked the chocolate cupcakes, I thought I should frost them.

I don't always frost cupcakes, in fact I avoid doing so.

I find frosting & icing are overly sweet for my personal taste.

So, the question was what flavour?

Dark chocolate?

Hmm, not very inspiring.

Caramel?

Sound great.

Salted caramel?

Intriguing!

I brought the cupcakes to my college & I had one then.

It's amazing, not overly sweet for my taste.

The caramel is gorgeous with a hint of saltness, so irresistible with chocolate.

Chocolate & Passionfruit Mousse Cake

I have to apologize for abandon this site for a month…

Things get a bit hectic in my work & I got a bit demotivated recently.

Of course, one of the reason was that my new camera was sent back to Fuji for servicing.

I got my camera back so there was no excuse not to bake & photograph.

Last weekend, I went to Basildon & took the chance to make this chocolate & passionfruit mousse cake.

Since I hadn't baked for a while, I thought I would make something easier to get starting again.

I love passionfruit & chocolate combo, passionfruit is tangy & refreshing, taming down the richness of chocolate.

For the decoration, I simply copied from the previous cake design & used white chocolate pieces.

I also tied it with a red ribbon & it looks great & delicious after all :)

Brownie Eggs for Easter

I spotted a Korean post about these brownies baked in egg shells a few days ago.

I couldn’t resist to bake it for Easter, it’s fun & interesting :)

The creative idea is originated from Sandra Mangas & Cupcake Project.

Both of them have amazing food blogs, full of inspirations & amazing recipes.

It was sunny & bright the next morning so I set up a table next to the window to take these shoots.

I adore the lighting & love the simple white set up.

Happy Easter!

Chocolate Genoise with Berries

I was quite excited last week as I bought a new camera, Fujifilm X-Pro 1.

As much as I like my old camera GF1, I think it’s time to upgrade.

I took a few shoots in the front garden, it’s bright & sunny so flowers are blooming.

To celebrate my sister’s birthday, I baked a chocolate genoise filled with layers of berries.

We had an incredible tea time, we had freshly baked scones, hazelnut macaroons with fruity & tangy berry tea.

A great way to enjoy the spring.

Chocolate Concerto

March is a busy month for me, birthdays & mother’s day, all these take almost all my weekend breaks.

Last week, I made a chocolate mousse cake as a birthday cake.

Even though I wasn’t happy about the photos, I’ll post it on my blog anyway.

The cake tastes great, not very sweet, rich & divine, just how I like it to be.

I made a 8” square but it was a bit thin, I think using a 6” square is much better.

The cake consists of 3 luscious layers of dark, milk & white chocolate mousses & a rich chocolate cake.

To enhance the taste of chocolate, I didn’t put in sugar for the mousses as suggested from the recipe.

Plus, brushing the cake with Grand Marnier syrup adds a sophisticated note.

The original name is Trios Mousses au Chocolat - chocolate trios.

I prefer ‘concerto’ as it really is a showcase of chocolate.