Vanilla Soufflé

A soufflé can be one of those dishes we shy away from but it truly isn't that difficult and the finished result is delicious. Don't be intimidated by all the steps, it's really quite easy. This recipe is delicious with fresh cream or a sauce; here we have served it topped with a caramel.

INGREDIENTS:
2 vanilla pods
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla essence
7 egg yolks
3/4 cup caster sugar
6 Tbsp flour
8 egg whites, at room temperature
icing sugar, for dusting

PREPARATION:
Grease and dust with sugar 6 x 10cm round ramekins or soufflé dishes. Open the vanilla pods, scoop the seeds into the milk and add the vanilla essence. Heat the milk until it reaches just below boiling point.

Beat together egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar until the mixture is thick and pale. This is called ribbon consistency; you should be able to lift the beaters from the mixture and draw the figure eight and still see its imprint when you have finished drawing. Beat in the flour.

Gradually stir in the hot milk and place in the top of a double boiler or heat-proof bowl and cook over a saucepan of simmering water for about 3-4 minutes, stirring with a whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy. Set aside for about 10 minutes too cool.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar until a soft meringue consistency. Do not over- beat, as the soufflé will not rise well.

Stir one third of the meringue mixture into the custard with a whisk. Fold the remaining egg whites in with a holed spoon. Transfer the mixture to the prepared soufflé dishes making the mixture level with the top. Use a knife or thin spatula to cut around the inside of each dish – this will ensure the soufflé rises straight up and does not grip to the sides of the dish.

Place the dishes on a preheated oven tray and bake at 200°C for 8-9 minutes. The soufflés should still be moist and slightly unset in the centre; this acts as a sauce for the soufflé. Dusted with icing sugar and serve immediately with fresh cream or a chocolate or caramel sauce.

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Soft Centered Chocolate Tortini

Tortini means "little cakes" in Italian. This means it can be just about anything, either savoury or sweet. But this recipe makes a beautiful little pudding best enjoyed with ice-cream and raspberry sauce. This tortini uses dark chocolate, which contains a higher percentage of cocoa solids than other types of chocolate. Studies have shown that dark chocolate has ingredients that lower blood pressure and fight disease. So its not only delicious, its also good for you! (well, better than a milk chocolate tortini anyway). This recipe serves 6.

INGREDIENTS:
Tortini
160 gm dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
160 gm butter, coarsley chopped
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
75 gm (1/3 cup) caster sugar
50 gm (1/3 cup) plain flour
To serve: vanilla ice-cream
Raspberry sauce
240 gm raspberries
240 gm caster sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice


PREPARATION:
Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stir to combine and cool. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs, yolks and sugar for 8 minutes or until thick and creamy. Gradually add flour and whisk to combine, then add chocolate mixture and whisk for another 5 minutes. Divide mixture between 6 lightly greased and floured 10cm-diameter round pie tins, place on an oven tray and refrigerate for 1 hour.

For raspberry sauce, combine raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until syrupy. Cool. Makes about 1 cup.

Preheat oven to 170C. Bake tortini for 10 minutes or until they are firm but their centres are soft. To serve, remove tortini carefully from pie tins and place on plates, top with a scoop of ice-cream, drizzle with raspberry sauce and serve immediately.

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Dark Chocolate and Star Anise Mousse

For sheer simplicity and luxurousness, nothing comes close to a velvety dark chocolate mousse. This recipe makes more than is needed for two so keep leftover desserts in the fridge for a treat the next day. Serve liquorice on the side to complement the anise flavour.

INGREDIENTS:
200g dark chocolate
3 eggs at room temperature, separated
¾ cup cream at room temperature
40ml Baileys, Kahlua or brandy
½ teaspoon ground star anise
Liquorice sticks to serve

PREPARATION:
Melt dark chocolate in a double-boiler or in the microwave on medium power until smooth. Cool slightly then whisk in egg yolks, cream, liqueur and spice.

Beat egg whites until firm then fold into chocolate mixture until evenly combined. Pour mousse into serving glasses and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours. Serve with liquorice. Serves 4-6

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White Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Frosting

These gourmet cupcakes are the most charming of treats, a little piece of delightfulness to enjoy on your own or share with those that deserve a little. These cupcakes will keep in an airtight container for up to three days and serves 8.

INGREDIENTS:

125 gm soft unsalted butter
110 gm (½ cup) caster sugar
3 eggs
80 gm white chocolate, melted
110 gm (¾ cup) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

Raspberry frosting:
250 gm soft unsalted butter
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
150 gm raspberries, puréed and strained

PREPARATION:

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each, then add white chocolate and stir to combine. Sift flour and baking powder over cake batter and fold in until combined. Line two 6-hole (1/3 cup-capacity) muffin tins with 8 paper cases, then divide mixture among cases and bake at 180C for 20 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly pressed.

For raspberry frosting, using an electric mixer, beat butter until pale and fluffy, add icing sugar and beat until soft peaks form, then add raspberry purée and beat until combined. Spread frosting over cupcakes and serve.

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Apple Charlotte

The British have an age-old way with bread and hot puddings, as this apple-filled bomb shows. Take day-old white bread, mould slices of it into a round casing, cemented with lashings of butter, fill it with fruit and bake it until the bread is golden and the centre explosively pulpy. Traditionally filled with apple, variations can include almost any fruit, from bananas and berries to pears or pineapples... but nothing beats the classic.

INGREDIENTS:

6 golden delicious apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
55 gm (¼ cup) caster sugar, plus extra for baking
325 gm unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1 lemon, juiced and rind finely grated
2 cinnamon quills
20 slices (about 1 loaf) day-old white bread, crusts removed
170 gm (½ cup) apricot jam
To serve: pouring cream


PREPARATION:

Combine apple, sugar, 75gm butter, lemon rind and juice and cinnamon quills in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until liquid has evaporated, then cool.

Preheat oven to 190C. Melt remaining butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Skim scum from top and discard, then pour clarified butter into a bowl, discarding milky solids on the bottom. Keep butter warm until required.

Lightly brush six 1 cup-capacity (6cm-diameter base) dariole moulds with a little butter and dust with sugar. Using a 6cm-round cutter, cut rounds from 6 slices of bread to fit base of moulds, then cut a 3cm-wide strip from the remains of each slice. Cut remaining slices into three (3cm x 9cm) pieces. Brush bread rounds liberally with butter and place in bases of prepared moulds. Brush remaining pieces liberally with butter and line each mould with 8 pieces of overlapping bread, allowing bread to overhang and pressing gently against side of moulds.

Divide apple mixture between moulds, then fold over bread to enclose filling. Place Charlottes on an oven tray and bake for 20 minutes or until bread is golden and crisp. Remove from oven, place another oven tray on top and weigh down with food cans for 5 minutes.

To serve, turn Charlottes onto a lightly greased oven tray, scatter with sugar and bake for another 5 minutes or until golden. Warm apricot jam in a small saucepan over medium heat for 1 minute or until warmed through, breaking up fruit with a spoon and adding water if it becomes to thick. Serve Charlottes drizzled with apricot jam and cream passed separately.


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Fudge Sundae With Honeycomb

Sundaes makes great chocolate desserts. Everyone loves a Sundae, and somehow adding the beautifully simple crunch of the honeycomb makes this even better. Be careful when adding the bicarbonate of soda, as the mixture will bubble up. Allow for this when choosing pot size.

INGREDENTS:
250 ml(1 cup) heavy cream (45%)
3 tsp caster sugar

Honeycomb
160 gm caster sugar
25 gm (¼ cup) honey
62 gm (¼ cup) glucose
7 gm (2 tsp) bicarbonate of soda

Hot chocolate fudge
130 gm good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
20 gm unsalted butter
150 gm (2/3 cup) caster sugar
140 gm glucose
1 tbsp cocoa powder

To serve: good-quality vanilla bean ice-cream
To serve: coarsely chopped salted peanuts

PREPARATION:

For honeycomb, combine sugar, honey, glucose and 30ml water in a saucepan. Cook over high heat, stirring to dissolve and brushing down sugar crystals from sides of pan, until light blonde and reaches 150C on a sugar thermometer (8-10 minutes), being careful it doesn’t become too dark. Remove from heat, add bicarbonate of soda, whisking vigorously for about 5 seconds, then pour onto a baking paper-lined tray (work quickly as the honeycomb will continue cooking if left in the pan). When honeycomb has cooled and hardened (20-30 minutes), break into bite-sized chunks and store in an airtight container. Honeycomb will keep for a week.

For hot chocolate fudge, melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Combine remaining ingredients, 160ml water and 1 tsp sea salt in a saucepan, bring to the boil, then add chocolate mixture. Return to the boil and cook over high heat, shaking pan to dissolve any lumps, until well emulsified (3-5 minutes). Set aside in pan and keep warm.

Whisk cream and sugar until firm peaks form. Set aside in refrigerator. Reheat chocolate fudge over high heat until warmed through. Scoop ice-cream into 6 serving glasses, followed by a generous dollop of whipped cream. Scatter with pieces of honeycomb and peanuts, drizzle chocolate fudge over and serve immediately.

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Easy Cherry Tartufo

Tartufo is an Italian ice cream dessert that usually is made of gelato, and is somewhat like a large ice-cream truffle. You can make this from different flavors of ice cream and fruit - try pecan praline ice cream with peaches, or fudge ripple ice cream with dried blueberries.

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups chocolate ice cream
1 cup frozen pitted cherries, thawed and chopped
15 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup finely chopped peanuts
2 tsp. oil

PREPARATION:
Mix chopped cherries into the ice cream. Scoop ice cream mixture into six balls using an ice cream scoop. Roll in crushed cookies. Place on wax paper-lined cookie sheet and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

In small saucepan, melt semisweet chocolate chips with oil, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in milk chocolate chips, stirring constantly until chips melt and mixture is smooth again. Cool to lukewarm.

Place frozen ice cream balls on a wire rack. Spoon melted chocolate over each ball, coating the top and sides. Sprinkle on chopped peanuts. Freeze again until firm, at least 1 hour. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6

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