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Chocolate Espresso Cake

Coffee and chocolate – two of my favourite things!! Today those two delicious delights combined, to make the most indulgent chocolate espresso cake in all of history!! Now I just need an espresso martini to top it off, and my Sunday afternoon would truly be complete!!

This cake is flourless and gluten free, and uses almond meal instead of flour. The almond flavour compliments the coffee, making it even more delicious!!

I used this recipe from Jamie Oliver, but made a few small changes, including tripling the amount of espresso in the recipe to make a really strong coffee flavour, and baking it for 40 mins instead of 30 as suggested – you can bake it for less if you want it to be more gooey and pudding like in consistency. I also added flaked almonds, for an extra almondy hit!!

Ingredients

200 grams almond meal
200 grams dark chocolate
175 grams butter
4 eggs (separated)
70 grams caster sugar
60mls strong espresso coffee
Flaked almonds

Method

Melt butter, chocolate and espresso coffee in a bowl over a pot of simmering hot water (make sure the bowl goes not touch the water)
Whisk egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer for approximately five minutes until stiff and creamy
Fold chocolate mixture into egg and sugar mixture. Fold in almond meal.
In a separate clean bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form
Fold egg whites into other ingredients
Coat with flaked almonds
Bake for 40 minutes (or less, for a gooier texture)
Grate chocolate over the top for serving

Go forth and caffeinate, my friends!!

Raspberry Tea Cake

So about 90% of the recipes on this blog seem to be lemon flavoured….lemon bars, lemon yoghurt cake, coconut lemon cake, lemon cupcakes etc etc etc 🙂 If we haven’t already established this, I do enjoy a lemon flavoured baked good!!

Today I was contemplating what other delicious cake I could attempt to bake, when I realise I had neglected the most wonderful fruit of all, the humble raspberry! (p.s, although, at $8 a tub, I used frozen raspberries instead!!)

I did a search and couldn’t seem to find many raspberry cake recipes out there!! I found this one, on the BBC food network, and gave it a whirl!! The only tweak I will make next time is….more raspberries!! I will definitely be adding a second layer of raspberries to the top of the cake before baking next time I attempt this one.

Here is the recipe (you can see above that I’ve already eaten a very large slice of this baby!!

Ingredients

140g almond meal
140g butter, softened
140g golden caster sugar
140g self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g raspberries
2 tbsp flaked almonds
icing sugar, to serve

Method

Heat oven to 180Cand base-line and grease a deep 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin. mix the almond meal, butter, sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract in a food processor until well combined. I don’t have a food processor, and used a hand mixer instead, and it was fine.
Spread half the mix over the cake tin and smooth over the top. Scatter the raspberries over, then dollop the remaining cake mixture on top and roughly spread – you might find this easier to do with your fingers. Scatter with flaked almonds and bake for 50 mins until golden. Cool, remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar to serve.

This only took about 10 mins to prepare – you can mix it all in the one bowl (woohoo, less washing up!!)

Serve with…..raspberries and cream!! Yum!! Do you enjoy a good raspberry!?

Little Lemon Cakes

Just when you thought I couldn’t possibly post another lemon flavoured baked good recipe, I go and prove you wrong!! BAM!!! These lemon cakes are zesty, buttery and delicious!!!

They are quick and easy to make, and great for sharing (or for a rough day where you need to eat a lot of cupcakes).

If you’re looking for a healthier lemon cake, try this lemon yoghurt cake. Or for a dairy free option, try the lemon friands!!

I used this recipe from BBC Good Food, but decided not to ice them. They’re sweet enough without icing, but you can try a butter cream, or a lemon glaze if you want to jazz them up a bit more.

Ingredients

125g of softened butter
125g of caster sugar
2 medium eggs
100g of self raising flour
2 tbsp of milk
2 lemons (zested)

Method

Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
Using a whisk, beat together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, flour (sifted), milk and the zest of the two lemons and a little squeeze of juice.
Mix everything until it is a smooth mixture.
Spoon one and a half tea spoons of the mix into the cake cases.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown

Tomato, feta and basil tarts

What’s that, a savoury recipe on Pop Therapy!? Yes – you heard me – savory!! “You’ve changed man!” I hear you say….but don’t fret, these babies are just as delicious as a lemon cake (or even better, make a great prelude to a lemon cake!!).

I made these for a Sunday afternoon party and they went down a treat!! I used a store bought puff pastry which meant they were quick and easy to make – you can also try substituting different combinations of flavours instead of tomato and basil if you want some variety!!

Here is the recipe!!

Ingredients (to make 16 tarts)

4 sheets of frozen puff pastry
4 eggs, whisked
1 block of Danish feta cheese
Juice of half a lemon
Cherry tomatoes
Fresh basil
1 extra egg (for brushing the pastry)
Sea salt and cracked pepper

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius
De-frost pastry. Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 squares
Fold edges of pastry over to create a border – press edges of pastry with a fork to flatten
To make filling, whisk eggs, then combine with danish feta and lemon juice
Spoon filling in to centre of tart shells
Top tarts with tomato and basil, then season with salt and pepper
Brush edges of pastry with egg
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until pastry has risen and looks golden brown

Coconut Lemon Cupcakes

How do you make a lemon cake even more delicious!? With the addition of coconut!!!! Arrg, these are mind blowing – I thoroughly suggest you give them a whirl!!

I made these on a rainy Sunday with some Belle and Sebastian pumping and my little helper Dash assisting (by assisting I mean yelling and whining, but he was adorable nonetheless!!). They’re really moist with the addition of coconut milk. I will be making these again!!

Here is the recipe – I adapted it from this one at Serious Eats. I added lemon rind for an additional flavour, but you can leave the lemon out if you would prefer plain coconut.

Ingredients

250grams unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut milk
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut flakes
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Rind of one lemon

For Frosting

1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons coconut milk
Additional coconut flakes for decorating

Method

Preheat over to 180 degrees Line 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Whisk butter, sugar, and salt in large bowl until creamy and light. Use an electric mixer to whisk in eggs, one at time, until combined. Whisk in 2/3 cup coconut milk, lemon rind and 1/2 cup coconut.
Add flour and baking powder to the bowl and then whisk until just combined. Spoon batter into cups and bake until just set, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely before icing.
To make icing, stir confectioners’ sugar and remaining 2 tablespoons coconut milk in bowl until smooth. Adjust with more sugar or milk to achieve a thick glaze consistency. Add a drop of vanilla or coconut flavoring if desired.
Spoon icing over cupcakes and sprinkle with coconut flakes.

Lindt Chocolate Brownies

Happy Easter!!! What better way to spend a rainy Easter Saturday than baking brownies and listening to Al Green, with my little Sous Chef Dash!!

In the spirit of Easter, I thought today’s baking post should most definitely be chocolate themed!!

Poor little fella really wanted to sample the goods, but unfortunately wasn’t so lucky!! No chocolate for this bubba!!

I used this recipe by Jamie Oliver – to make it super chocolately I used Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate, and dutch coca (it’s Easter time after all!!). They were easy to make, and tasted delicious (although extremely rich!!)

Ingredients

250 grams unsalted butter
200 grams Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate
80 grams cocoa powder
65 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
360 grams caster sugar
4 eggs
** you can also add additional ingredients such as raspberries, walnuts or whatever you fancy!!!

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a square brownie tin with baking paper
Melt chocolate and butter in a large bowl over a pot of simmering water on the stove (make sure your bowl does not touch the water)
Sift flour, cocoa, sugar and baking powder into a seperate bowl
Add melted chocolate mixture to dry ingredients
Beat eggs and add to mix, stirring until consistency appears silky
Bake for 30 minutes

Top – Country Road

Enjoy your Easter long weekend!! How will you spend it? Eating chocolate? Sleeping in? Chocolate induced naps? All of the above sounds pretty good to me!!!

Lemon and Ricotta Pancakes

I rarely digress from my standard peanut butter and toast in the morning, but this morning I decided for something special I’d make pancakes!! As a child I would make pancakes every weekend for my mum and brother, but haven’t made them in years….to make them a bit more exciting than the standard kind, I opted for a ricotta and lemon flavour…and they were awesome!!!

I served them with extra ricotta cheese and maple syrup. The recipe makes a large quantity of batter so you can easily save some for another day.

Here is the recipe – adapted from this recipe from taste.com.au

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond milk in mine)
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup caster sugar
25g butter, melted – for frying
2/3 cup smooth ricotta cheese
finely grated zest of 1 lemon rind

Method

Whisk milk, egg and vanilla together in a jug. Sift flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in centre. Add milk mixture. Whisk until just combined. Stir in ricotta and lemon rind.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Brush pan with butter. Pour a generous spoon into the pan and cook until bubbles appear on surface before flipping. Brush pan with butter between batches pancakes.

Do you have a Saturday morning breakfast ritual in your house? What is your go-to Saturday breakfast?

Dairy Free Flourless Orange Cake

What better to do on a rainy day than to bake a delicious (dairy free) treat!!! I’m still on the dairy free bandwagon and am running out of ideas (that aren’t lemon themed!!!). It’s also gluten free, which is even better.

This was super easy to make – and the fun thing? You boil the oranges, then puree them whole, skin and all!!! Best thing – you can make this cake with just one bowl and there are only five ingredients.

Here is the recipe – taken from SBS Food Network.

Ingredients

2 oranges, washed
250 grams caster sugar
6 eggs
250 grams almond meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
icing sugar, to serve

Method

Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Wash the oranges and cook in the boiling water for 2 hours. Drain, allow to cool to room temperature. This step can be done ahead of time.
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease and line a 22 cm cake tin with baking paper (or grease with dairy free spread such as Nuttelex and coat with flour).
Beat the eggs and caster until well combined. Add in your oranges (cooked and whole!!). Use a barmix to pulverise the oranges into the mix (you will find they break down really easily once cooked).
Stir in the almond meal and baking powder. Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 1-1¼ hours, until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin. Dust with icing sugar

How to…make almond milk!!

Is anyone else on the almond milk bandwagon!? I’ve been drinking almond milk for two months now, because I’m following a dairy and soy free elimination diet.

I’ve found out which local cafes do almond milk coffees, and have really become used to the taste!! I’ve been buying almond milk for home, but sometimes even the unsweetened stuff still tastes sugary. (Just an aside – my pick of the best almond milk coffee in the inner west is a tie between the Marrick on Marrickville Rd, or Wolf and Stone in Dulwich Hill!!)

Sadly, you do pay big $$ for almond milk coffee!! $4.20 for a small coffee seems to be the going rate, arg!!! So I decided to give it a whirl and make my own!!

Step 1 – I needed to buy….a nut bag!!! Yes, a nut bag – it’s a thing – as I typed “buy a nut bag” into google with trepidation, I was relieved to see that you can buy these things (it’s basically a muslin cloth bag for draining the milk) for a few dollars. If you can’t be bothered buying a nutbag, some muslin cotton or even a stocking can be used.

So once I had my nutbag, I was all ready to prepare a delicious batch of almond milk!!!

Beaker - Freedom

This is how you do it…

Activate those almonds!! Pete Evans Style!! (For the lay person, this means soak some almonds in water, and BOOM, they activate into a superfood!!!) So for one cup of almonds, soak them in 3-4 cups of water depending on how creamy you would like the consistency. Soak them for at least 8 hours, or even longer!!!
Put the almonds and water, along with a generous pinch of salt into a high powered blender (I used my trusty Magic Bullet!!) and blitz the hell out of them under the water looks milky and frothy and the almonds have broken down to pulp.
Place your trusty nut bag over a glass jug or container and pour the milk through the bag to strain. Slowly raise the bag, and squeeze to strain the remaining milk from the bag.
If you want some extra flavour you can add a dash of vanilla, some cinnamon or whatever you would like. I added the tiniest bit of cinnamon to mine!!

Voila, delicious almond milk for all!!!

Dairy Free Lemon Friands

So I’m still on a dairy free elimination diet and have been looking for something lemon flavoured to bake (my love of delicious lemons is well documented here and here!!). Friands are a tasteful looking cake to serve for afternoon tea and were surprisingly easy to make.

I made two batches – one plain lemon, and one lemon and blueberry!! I actually think the plain lemon ones were my favourite, but the berries add an extra flavour if you like them.

I also made a lemon glaze to pour over for an extra lemon kick!!

Recipe

Ingredients

6 egg whites
1 ¼ cups icing sugar
1 cup almond meal
½ cup plain flour
100 ml coconut oil
1tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries (if desired)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of half a lemon and 50grams caster sugar to make optional lemon syrup glaze

Instructions

Heat the oven to 180C/350F
Grease a friend or muffin tin with a little oil
Whisk the egg whites and vanilla extract until frothy
Sift over the icing sugar, almond meal and flour.
Add the oil and lemon zest and berries
Mix gently to combine
Divide the mixture among the friand holes
Bake for 25 minutes
Stand in the pan for 3-4 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack.
To make lemon glaze, simmer lemon juice and caster sugar on low heat until thick and syrupy – drizzle over friands whilst still warm
Dust with icing sugar to serve.