1 chocolate bar, broken into blocks – I used De Villiers nut butter chocolate
puff pastry, store-bought
1 egg yolk and 15ml water, whisked together
Preheat your oven to 220℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Cut the pastry into squares and follow the following technique to make little parcels:
Place the chocolate parcels on the prepared baking sheet and brush with the egg-wash.
Bake for about 12 minutes, until golden.
Serve warm.
This is a rich, thick, dark and indulgent chocolate sauce where the wine is the star of the show. Choose a wine you enjoy drinking …
I use a good, full bodied Merlot, but the choice is yours.
750ml red wine (Merlot)
250ml water
10ml vanilla
250ml sugar
2 slices orange peel
2 star anise
4 cloves
1 cinnamon quill
6 firm, ripe pears
Select a saucepan that is large enough for the pears to fir snugly but still be submerged in the liquid, even if they have to lie flat.
Add all the ingredients, except the pears, to the saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer while stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Now peel the pears and gently lower them into the poaching liquid.
Turn the heat down to medium-low and poach the pears for 25 minutes. Rotate each pear every 5 minutes.
Turn off the heat and allow the fruit to cool in the liquid.
Remove the pears from the liquid once it is room temperature.
Strain the mixture through a sieve but reserve the poaching liquid.
Chocolate and Red Wine Sauce:
190ml cream
190ml poaching liquid from the pears
15ml cocoa powder
125ml sugar
240g chocolate, chopped
60g butter, cubed
a pinch of salt
Add the cream, poaching liquid, sifted cocoa powder and sugar to a small saucepan.
Set the saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve the sugar.
Bring the mixture to a simmer and whisk for 5 minutes while simmering.
Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Add the chopped chocolate, butter and pinch of salt and whisk until smooth. (If the sauce cools and becomes too thick, thin it down by gently reheating it).
Place the pears on a serving dish and pour over some chocolate sauce to serve.
380g soft butter
320g chocolate, chopped
6 eggs
15ml vanilla
500g sugar
230g flour
5ml salt
300g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and line an oven tray with aluminium foil.
Melt the butter and chocolate together over a very low heat.
Take from the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes so that it cools down slightly.
Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until the sugar has dissolved.
Now beat the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.
Add the flour, salt and nuts and mix through.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking tray and bake for 30 minutes.
The top should be dried and pale and the middle still dark and gooey!!
Enjoy as is or serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream.
500g flour
190ml brown sugar
62ml cocoa powder
10ml baking powder
2,5ml salt
120g butter, cubed
220g dark chocolate, chopped
250ml cream
5ml vanilla
125ml pecan nuts, chopped
15ml cream
brown sugar for sprinkling
Preheat your oven to 220℃ and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add the butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingers.
Add the chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with simmering water and stir it every now and then until completely melted.
Add the melted chocolate, cream and vanilla and lightly mix through, making sure that all dry ingredients are moistened.
Add the chopped pecan nuts.
Knead the dough 3 or 4 times by hand to bring everything together in a ball. Do not overwork the dough – scones are soft and crumbly when the dough is handled less.
Place the dough ball on the prepared baking sheet and pat it down into a 20cm diameter circle.
Cut the dough circle into 8 wedges and slightly separate them with the. blade of the knife.
Brush the top of the scones with the 15ml cream and sprinkle with brown sugar.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet.
Serve the scones with a dollop of whipped cream.
I am celebrating my one year association/endorsement of the best chocolate available on the South African market!! Yes, for one full year I have baked, maked or concocted something with chocolate at least once a week and what fun it was with such a fabulous product!
De Villiers Chocolate is an artisanal chocolate made from sustainably sourced raw materials. This sought-after brand is available through retailers across the country as well as online from the brand themselves.
The Nut Butter Chocolate bars are dairy-free and made with no added artificial preservatives, colourant or other ingredients.
The chocolate is Rainforest Alliance Certified and endorsed by the International Vegan Society.
This recipe is a quick version of a burnt Basque cheesecake which one sees in almost every market on the French coastal region. The top of the cheesecake is supposed to be completely black, hence the name!
750g cream cheese, at room temperature
250g caster sugar
5 eggs
100g chocolate (honeycomb flavour), chopped
375ml cream
30ml cocoa powder, sifted
5ml vanilla
a pinch of salt
honeycomb or honeycomb chocolate (Crunchie), broken into pieces
60g chocolate (honeycomb flavour), melted
Preheat your oven to 220℃ and line a 22cm loose bottom cake tin with aluminium foil – this will prevent the cheesecake batter from leaking. Line the “foiled” cake tin with baking paper.
Add the cream cheese and caster sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Beat on high speed until the mixture is smooth and forms soft peaks.
Turn the mixer to a low-medium speed and add the eggs one at a time.
Add the chocolate and cream to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate has melted.
Take the bowl from the heat and add the cocoa powder, vanilla an a pinch of salt. Stir through.
Turn the mixer onto a low speed and pour in the chocolate mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 60 minutes.
DO NOT PANIC WHEN YOU SMELL THE CHEESECAKE BURNING!!
Remove the cake from the oven and cool it completely. The cheesecake will have a wobbly centre when removed from the oven.
Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Place the cheesecake on a serving plate.
Pour over the melted chocolate and scatter the broken honeycomb.
220g best quality dark chocolate (I use De Villiers Chocolate), chopped
125g butter, cubed
5 eggs, separated
190ml sugar
10ml vanilla
2,5ml salt
30ml cocoa powder
Preheat your oven to 170℃ and spray a 22cm loose bottom cake pan with cooking spray. Dust the pan with cocoa powder ensuring the bottom and sides of the pan has an even coating of cocoa powder. Set aside.
Add the chocolate and butter to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir every now and then until the chocolate has melted completely and the mixture has amalgamated.
Take the bowl from the heat and set aside to cool.
Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Beat the whites on medium until it reaches soft peak stage.
Increase the mixers speed and add the sugar a spoonful at a time.
Beat until medium stiff peaks and set aside.
Add the egg yolks, one at a time, to the chocolate mixture and beat well with a spatula after each addition.
Add the vanilla, salt and cocoa powder and mix together.
Now fold in the egg whites by adding a third of the mixture at a time. Mix/fold until no white streaks are visible.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it around evenly.
Bake for 50 minutes. The edges of the cake will pull away from the sides of the pan once it is done.
Cool the cake in the pan before unmoulding it.
Dust with icing sugar and serve.
150g milk chocolate, chopped
45ml boiling water
7,5ml powdered gelatine
3 eggs, separated
375ml whipping cream
150g milk chocolate, chopped
150g dark chocolate, chopped
Line a 22cm x 11cm loaf tin with plastic wrap, leaving enough plastic to make an overhang (so that you can fold it on top of the mousse later on). Tip: wet the loaf tin before lining it – the water will help the plastic “stick” to the the tin.
Add the white chocolate to a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan with simmering water and allow the chocolate to melt. Remove from the heat, give it a good stir and set it aside for about 5 minutes to cool.
Add 15ml of the boiling water to a small cup and sprinkle 2,5ml of the gelatine over. Stir the mixture continuously until the gelatine has dissolved completely – about 2 minutes of constant stirring.
Add the gelatine and one egg yolk to the melted chocolate and stir to combine.
Add 125ml cream to a mixing bowl and beat with electric beaters until soft peaks form.
Add the cream to the chocolate mixture and stir through until combined.
Add one egg white to a clean mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until soft peaks form
Fold the egg white into the chocolate mixture with a spatula.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and refrigerate for 1 hour or until the white chocolate layer is set.
Repeat the process with the milk chocolate and half of the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the white chocolate mousse and place back in the refrigerator for another hour or until set.
Repeat with the dark chocolate and the remaining ingredients.
Pour over the milk chocolate layer and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours.
Serve the mousse with a chocolate sauce or plenty of berries.
If you like chocolate and you like prunes, this flourless cake is what you have been waiting for!
400g prunes
200ml Port or Madeira
30g granulated sugar
For the prunes:
Add the prunes, port and sugar to a small saucepan and place on medium heat.
Stir to dissolve the sugar and then allow the mixture to simmer on a medium to low heat until the liquid is reduced to a syrup.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool.
340g dark chocolate, chopped
170g butter, cubed
80g sugar
200g cooled prunes (from the mixture you have made above)
6 eggs, separated
1,2ml salt
Preheat your oven to 170℃.
Grease a 22cm loose-bottom cake tin and dust the bottom and sides with cocoa powder.
Add the chopped chocolate and butter to a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Allow to melt, stirring occasionally until completely melted and smooth.
Add half the sugar (40g) to the chocolate mixture and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the bowl from the saucepan.
Now take 200g of the prunes from the port syrup, drain and chop into small pieces and add these to the chocolate mixture.
Allow the mixture to cool for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate and stir to combine.
Add the egg whites and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Whisk the whites until they form soft peaks.
Now start adding the remaining half of the sugar, a teaspoon at a time, with the machine running.
The whites should hold their shape and be glossy.
Spoon a third of the whites into the chocolate mixture and stir it through to slacken the chocolate.
Fold the rest of the whites into the mixture with a metal spoon, until there are no white streaks left.
Gently pour the batter into the prepared cake tine and bake for 45 minutes.
Cool the cake in the baking tin.
Serve with the remaining prunes in the syrup.
My Whisk and I 