Tag: Chocolate


Jul
2017

Chocolate {Whole} Pear Orange Loaf Cake

categories: Baking, Breads and Loafs, Breakfast, Cake, Desserts, Fall

Happy ‘world chocolate day’ guys! Hope you are celebrating by eating your weight in {dark} chocolate. I also hope you are able to watch chocolatier Willy Wonka in his delicious chocolate kingdom or see Bruce gobble up THE chocolate cake and eating or drinking some chocolate alongside them!

The weather around here has been so pleasant and downright gorgeous past few days. It hasn’t been raining as much as I would like but it’s been cool and breezy. So on one such lovely Sunday evening, I was craving something chocolatey and wanted to bake this delicious Life By Chocolate Cake from the blog archives which is embellished on top with red pear halves and cinnamon but instead decided to bake something new for the blog. I had ripe red pears which were begging to be used so this time I used them pears whole and added orange zest and juice to the mix! It’s a straight forward recipe using simple pantry ingredients except for red pears which are by the way in season right now so go find them before they disappear.

Have a lovely Friday guys!

 

Print Recipe
 Chocolate {Whole} Pear Orange Loaf Cake
Course Cake, Desserts
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Servings
slices
Ingredients
Course Cake, Desserts
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Servings
slices
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven at 170°C/350°F. Grease the 8×4-inch loaf pan with oil and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together orange zest and cane sugar. One by one, whisk in oil, egg, yogurt and vanilla until completely incorporated. Peel the pears at this stage.
  4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with orange juice, mixing gently with rubber spatula. Start and end with dry ingredients. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick but if the consistency is too thick to even stir add a splash of orange juice.
  5. Pour the batter in your prepared loaf pan and arrange the four whole pears at the equidistance, pushed in to the batter (as seen in the picture below). Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with few moist crumbs. Do not overbake as it may make the final product dry. Let the cake rest in the loaf pan for about 10 minutes before inverting it on a cooling rack. Let cool a bit before slicing. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or a spoon of plain greek yogurt. The cake stays fresh for 3-4 days in refrigerator when stored in an airtight container.
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Jul
2017

No Bake Mango Coconut White Chocolate Cheesecake

categories: Cheesecakes, Desserts, No-Bake, Summer

On a lookout for a can’t-believe-you-could-pull-this-off Sunday brunch dessert? I have this stunner of a cheesecake for you guys!

Mango season is sadly at its end and this might be the last weekend you’ll be able to enjoy these ambrosial fruits (three cheers for frozen mangoes!). This cheesecake would make the most perfect Sunday brunch dessert as it truly lets mango shine. So easy to put together, it requires no baking or cooking, hence comes together in about 20 minutes. This cheesecake is also egg-free and does not require gelatin or agar agar for it to set. It doesn’t get easier than this people, truly a fool-proof recipe!

The cheesecake has a ginger biscuit base which pairs so well with mangoes, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The cheesecake filling is made up of white chocolate, coconut cream, lime and mascarpone cheese. These four ingredients combined with mango are truly a match made in heaven. Simple yet so elegant looking and packs a punch. This one is surely going to be a favourite among your friends and family, trust me!

Don’t have fresh mangoes? Fret not. I have tons of customisation options for you to try. Read the recipe notes below.

Have a fabulous Sunday! ?

Print Recipe
 No Bake Mango Coconut White Chocolate Cheesecake
Course Desserts
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 0
Passive Time 4-8 hours
Servings
slices
Ingredients
For base
For cheesecake
Course Desserts
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 0
Passive Time 4-8 hours
Servings
slices
Ingredients
For base
For cheesecake
Instructions
For base
  1. Blend ginger biscuits and coconut oil in a food processor till fine crumbs form. In a 9-inch loose-bottom tart pan, place the crumb and press towards the sides and down firmly. Press down with flat bottomed glass for a uniform base. Let chill in the freezer till you prepare the filling.
For cheesecake
  1. Without tipping, take out overnight chilled pack/can of coconut milk from the refrigerator. Gently scoop out the thick coconut cream from the top and put it into a large mixing bowl. Store this bowl in the refrigerator till you finish the next step.
  2. Place the reserved liquid from the coconut milk pack/can to a medium-sized, microwave safe glass bowl. Add roughly chopped white chocolate to this bowl and microwave on low-power in the burst of 30-seconds 3-4 times, whisking in between, until the chocolate completely melts. You could also do this step on a double boiler. Whisk in vanilla extract at the end. Let the mix cool on counter and proceed with the following steps in the meantime.
  3. Take out the bowl with coconut cream from the refrigerator. Add mascarpone cheese, zest and juice of a lime, confectioners sugar and salt to it. Whisk on medium-high speed using the beater of the electric mixer until soft peaks form and the mixture is firm for about 2-3 minutes.
  4. Decrease the speed to low and slowly whisk in melted chocolate mix to it, until just combined. Do not overmix.
  5. Take out the tart pan from the freezer, top the ginger base with the cheesecake filling and refrigerate covered with cling film overnight for 4-8 hours.
  6. An hour or so before serving, peel and thinly slice 2 chilled mangoes. Arrange the mango slices in a circular, overlapping fashion (as seen in picture) on top of the cheesecake and return to refrigerator to rest until serving time.
  7. The cheesecake will keep in the refrigerator, stored in an airtight container, for about 3-4 days but tastes best on first day.
Recipe Notes

*You could a create number of variations using this recipe as a guide.
*Ginger biscuits could be replaced with digestive biscuits for a more subtle flavour profile.
*You can easily swap white chocolate with the good quality dark chocolate + some cocoa powder (sans the lime).
*Mango could be replaced with any other seasonal fruit of your choice. Fresh strawberries (or any other berry!), peaches, cherries and kiwi would be especially lovely or combination of fruits to create a beautiful fruit medley!

So many possibilities guys!

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Jun
2017

No Churn Dark Chocolate Cherry Ice cream

categories: Desserts, Ice-creams, Summer

 

Hello beautiful people!

Hope you all had an excellent weekend. I have FINALLY exported all the content from wordpress blog to my own website (yayyy!) and I am ecstatic to be writing this first, fresh blogpost from here. There was a hiatus of 2 months over here due to all the work involved with the website building and understanding all the technical nitty-gritty for a novice like me (using wordpress was definitely a piece of cake!) along with my day job. Please bear with me for days to come (in case you face any technical issues around here) till I work on aesthetics and fine-tune the works. A lot of you had messaged asking for this ice-cream recipe I am sharing today after I posted this picture on my Instagram. So I decided to abandon beautifying the website for now and share the recipe with y’all immediately. So let’s talk about dark dark chocolate, shall we?

This Instagram-fame chocolate ice cream is abso-freaking-lutely delicious. Rich, creamy, decadent, not-over-the-top sweet and most importantly super-simple, no-churn piece of work. Yes sir, no ice cream maker required, just like all the other awesome recipes I have shared with you in the past. No churn does not mean the ice cream is not smooth or forms ice crystals upon freezing but makes utterly good-looking scoops too.

The base of this ice cream is made with the trio of coconut cream, Mascarpone cheese and fresh cream. To this, we add chocolate ganache made with 75% good-quality dark chocolate. Together it forms a fluffy, mousse-like mixture and trust me, you will want to eat it as is, even before it freezes so patience is a key here! Every bite of this over-the-top-chocolatey ice cream is bursting with fresh cherries which are first simmered with dark rum. A-M-A-Z-E-B-A-L-L-S! I urge you to make this ice cream at least once before Summer and cherry season pass you by. Pretty please?

 

Print Recipe
 No Churn Dark Chocolate Cherry Ice cream
Dark, decadent no churn chocolate ice cream bursting with fresh cherries in each bite.
Course Frozen Treats
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Passive Time 6 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Boozy cherries
Chocolate mix
Ice cream base
Course Frozen Treats
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Passive Time 6 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Boozy cherries
Chocolate mix
Ice cream base
Instructions
Boozy cherries
  1. Heat a medium sized fry pan on a medium-high heat and add cherries, rum/water and sugar to the pan. Let simmer for about 20 minutes until syrupy.
  2. Take it off the heat and let it cool for about 10-15 minutes on the counter and then refrigerate until cold, for about 2 hours at least.
Chocolate mix
  1. Put one large mixing bowl and whisk of your electric mixer in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
  2. After 10 minutes, take out the mixing bowl from the freezer. Without tipping, take out overnight chilled pack/can of coconut milk from the refrigerator. Gently scoop out the thick coconut cream from the top and put it into the chilled mixing bowl. Return the bowl to the refrigerator (not freezer this time).
  3. Take the reserved liquid from the coconut milk pack/can to a microwave safe glass bowl. Add milk, chopped chocolate, cocoa powder to this bowl. Microwave on low-power in the burst of 30-seconds 3-4 times, whisking in between, until chocolate completely melts. You could also do this step on double boiler instead. Whisk in vanilla extract at the end. Let the mix cool and in the meantime, proceed to the following steps.
Ice cream base
  1. Take out the bowl with coconut cream from refrigerator and whisk from freezer. Add Mascarpone cheese and heavy cream to the mixing bowl. Whisk with the electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy for about 2 minutes.
  2. Add confectioners sugar and whisk on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, for another 3-5 minutes.
  3. Decrease the speed to low and slowly whisk in chocolate mix to it, until just combined. The ice cream mix will have mousse consistency at this point.
  4. Gently fold in syrupy cherries to the ice cream mix.
  5. Transfer the ice cream to a loaf pan and freeze. Freeze for couple of hours for softer consistency. Freeze overnight for firmer consistency.
  6. Set out for at least 25 minutes prior to scooping and use a scoop warmed under hot water for proper scoop.
  7. Ice cream will keep in the freezer for a week but tastes best when fresh.
Recipe Notes

If you are using water instead of rum to make syrupy cherries, then strain the liquid before folding the cherries to the ice cream base in step-4 (and discard the liquid) as it may form ice crystals after freezing.

 

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Jun
2014

National Donut Day!!! #RecipeRoundUp

categories: Baking, Breakfast, Desserts, Doughnuts

Whether you prefer doughnut over donut or fried over baked doesn’t really matter, because these glazed, filled, sprinkled, and all around glorious treats are uh-mah-zing no matter what you call them or how you make them! In honor of National Donut Day today, I’m sharing some of my favourites (which are all of them!) from the archives.

So, take out your donut-pans and get your sweet donut craving on!
Go get baking! 🙂

Baked Lemon Donuts with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

Baked Lemon Doughnuts with Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

Banana Donuts

Baked Banana Donuts & Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cake Donuts

Red Velvet Cake Donuts

Baked Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Donuts

Baked Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Doughnuts

Baked Chocolate Banana Donuts

Baked Chocolate Banana Doughnuts

Baked Apple Cinnamon Donuts

Baked Apple Cinnamon Doughnuts

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May
2014

Fudgy White Chocolate Lemonies {Lemon Brownies}

categories: Baking, Brownies, Spring, Summer

Fudgy White Chocolate Lemonies1

 

Lemonies… It sounds so exotic and poetic. Some genius thought of this cool name for lemon brownies, I am not sure who did but genius, nonetheless! A simple reason for not calling them brownies has something to do with their color (They are not brown!!). These are pale yellow beauties adorned with bright yellow zest and white chocolate chips in each bite. They are so fudgy and buttery, dense yet light, just how I like my brownies.

These are the perfect treats for summer (or round the year, who am I kidding!?!) and totally irresistible. The lemon flavor really shines through and pairs wonderfully well with all that white chocolate. Be sure to use a white chocolate bar and not white chocolate chips for the batter. It makes all the difference! And have them chilled, straight from the fridge. You’re welcome. 🙂

Have a fun weekend!
xx

 

Fudgy White Chocolate Lemonies2

 

Fudgy White Chocolate Lemonies {Lemon Brownies}

Yields: 12-16 slices | Prep time: 15 minutes | Bake time: about 35 minutes| Total: 50 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 9-oz block of white chocolate, roughly chopped
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 Tbsp lemon zest
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp white chocolate chips, to sprinkle on top (optional)
Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºF / 350ºC. Grease an 8×8-inch square pan; line base and sides with parchment paper and grease with butter/oil (I used foil).
  2. In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and butter in a microwave for 1-2 minute, stirring every 30 seconds. The mixture should be lump-free and glossy. Rub lemon zest and sugar together with the fingers and whisk in to the chocolate mixture. Set aside and let cool for about 5 minutes.
  3. Once chocolate mixture is cooled down, whisk in eggs (one by one) and lemon juice until well combined.
  4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and salt and fold into chocolate mixture with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until just combined. Pour the batter in a baking pan, sprinkle chocolate chips on top (optional) and bake for 33-35 minutes until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely in pan over a cooling rack. (If you’re in a hurry, throw it in a refrigerator or freezer for a while for easy cutting.)
  5. Lift up the ends of parchment or foil liner, transfer the brownies to cutting board and cut into 9 or 12 squares. Store it covered in an air-tight container for a week in refrigerator. It tastes best chilled.
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