Chocolate pear molten cakes...

by Karolina, 18th November 2012

I have a sweet tooth...I really do.
It's really difficult for me to say no to the chocolate or cake.Or chocolate cake in that matter...

I do promise myself to not eat sweets anymore...but then again I find recipes like this one:
http://ourchocolateshavings.blogspot.com/2009/10/chocolate-pear-cakes.html

And tell me how can I resist?

Especially that this recipe involves lovely Fall produce - pears.
Pears and chocolate - another match made in heaven!

The recipe is fairly simple and I'm quoting after Chocolate Shavings with a few small changes:

Chocolate Pear Cakes
by Chocolate Shavings (my comments in Italics)
Serves 2

1/2 stick of butter (I used about 50g)
2 tablespoons of lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of cake flour
1 good pinch of kosher salt
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1 tablespoon of milk
2 pears
Pistachios (optional)
Preheat your oven to 350F (180 C). Add the softened butter and sugar to a medium-size mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until just incorporated. Using a small whisk, whisk in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Add the flour mixture to the butter batter in small batches, whisking the mixture until homogeneous. Whisk in the milk.

Peel the pears making sure to leave the steam intact. Using a small knife or melon baller (I used apple corer), carefully scoop out the core of the pear leaving the pear intact. Ladle the batter evenly into 2 individual ramekins. Form a well in the middle of the batter with the back of a spoon and place the pear inside the well. Gently press down so that the batter settles around the pear. (It worked better for me to first place the pears into ramekins and then cover them with  the dough)
Bake for 20 minutes or until the top of the batter is set. The inside of the batter will be gooey so the toothpick test will not be a good indication here. Let the cakes cool and serve with chocolate ganache.
I added some crushed pistachios as well for extra boost and pinch of colour.

If you like gooey, chocolaty desserts - this one is for you. With a little less guilt afterwards - you're eating pear after all :)

Sweet...

by Karolina, 31st March 2012

...and for the end of my book-party theme some sweets. Actually desserts galore :)

Yes, I told you it was quite a lot of sweetness there:
- black and white cheesecake
- quick chocolate mousse (more on it below)
- licorice cupcakes
- chocolate cake
- Earl Grey madeleines
- home-made Raffaelo
- chocolate clouds
- variation on Polish cake called "Karpatka"
- not visible on the picture but still there: kiwi pops and home-made Rocher

I hope your sugar levels are still in norm :)

OK, I do like sweets. If ,by now, you haven't noticed :P
I composed this dessert table to keep the book-theme of the party.
So, first of all it's all black & white - which is not that difficult to obtain in desserts while using loads of chocolate, coconut, whipped cream etc.
I added french madeleines - because they remind me of the book-theme (famous Proust's madeleines) but as well these contained Earl Grey tea which is my boyfriend's favourite.
Following his tastes I created licorice cupcakes (check Sweetalopita's ones) but because I didn't have anise flavour,I actually used star anise finely grounded in mortar. I got a few compliments on these- as they combined sweetness of vanilla cupcakes and whipped cream with strong flavour of licorice - give it a try (if you like licorice of course).
My favourite dessert thought was the simplest but the most attractive one (at least for me)....
Chocolate mousse shots.
I made it previously for my sister's bridal shower and it was a hit. Couldn't be simpler though...
Whipped cream + cocoa powder + sugar + alcohol (in this case whisky). Really!

Ok, I'll be more specific if you need:
1 cup of heavy cream (at least 30%)
2-3 spoons of cocoa (good dark chocolate one)
2-3 spoons of sugar
1-2 spoons of alcohol - I used whisky but you can try any liqueur or just omit is it's for children

Whisk the cream until well set - about 3-4minutes. Be careful not to make a butter out of it though.
Slowly add sugar and cocoa powder (make sure you don't make a mistake of adding all cocoa at ones and having it all on your face and apron, as I did ;)). Add alcohol (if using). Done :)

For party presentation:
- use piping bag to divide cream between little shot glasses
- for easy eating and nicer presentation I used ribbon to attach little spoon to each glass with mousse

How do you like this dessert table?