Desserts – Page 5

Chocolate Mousse Torte

July 4, 2011 Posted in Cooking, Desserts, RecipesLeave a comment

I found this recipe in one of Coles free food magazines. It looked like a really nice mousse and I guess that’s how they get you! By having attractive and delicious looking pictures. I commend their photographer for making it look delectable.

I made a couple of alterations to the recipe. I substituted the Oreo cookies with just a packet of Arnott’s Chocolate cookies and 250g of Dark Chocolate. I also reduced the sugar to around half as well, and with the top layer I reduced the butter by just half and I used Crunchy Peanut Butter.

Here is the recipe below;
Chocolate Mousse Torte
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Serves 10

Chilling Overnight
150 g Oreo Cookies
40 g butter melted
250 g Coles Milk Chocolate chopped
50 g dark chocolate chopped
½ cup thickened cream

Chilling Overnight
4 Coles Free Range Eggs separated
10 g sachet powdered gelatine
¼ cup boiling water

Chilling Overnight
¾ cup caster sugar
small Easter eggs and white chocolate curls to decorate

Ganache Topping
¾ cup dark chocolate melts
½ cup Coles Smooth Peanut Butter (see tip)
40 g butter chopped

Method
1. Line base of 20cm springform pan with plastic wrap. Spray sides of pan with cooking oil and line with baking paper.

2. Place cookies in a food processor. Process until crushed. Add butter and process until combined. Press into base of prepared pan and refrigerate while preparing filling.

3. Melt milk and dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in cream. Whisk in egg yolks. Whisk together gelatine and boiling water until gelatine dissolves. Add to chocolate mixture and mix to combine.

4. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, beating constantly until thick and glossy. Carefully fold into chocolate mixture until just combined. Pour over biscuit base. Refrigerate overnight until firm.

5. To make ganache topping, combine chocolate, peanut butter, butter and ½ cup of water in a small saucepan. Stir on low heat until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool completely.

6. Pour ganache evenly over top of mousse and refrigerate for 2 hrs, or until ganache is firm. Unmould cake and place on a serving plate. Decorate with Easter eggs and choc curls.

Tip: You can replace the peanut butter in the Ganache ingredients with ½ cup cream and then omit the water added in the method.

Impressions
While the torte was pretty easy to make, I wasn’t too fond of the top layer. Either I over heated the chocolate or I probably should have used the correct amount of butter because it wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. Also the nuts probably may have made a slight impact on the texture too.

The bottom layer wasn’t as rich and tasty as a Oreo base would have been, it didn’t taste like those cookies you find in a Cookies & Cream ice-cream or the bottom of ice-cream cakes. I was just confused on whether the filling of those Oreos were to be processed too so I opted for a different brand.

The mousse of the other hand, was light and fluffy. It was moist and smooth, and nicely aerated. So I deemed the whole cake a success because the mousse was just how I wanted it. Maybe my cake base was too big for the mixture, but I’d also prefer a higher mousse filling so maybe If were to make it another time, I’d use a smaller base.

Crisp Lemon Tart @ Le Petit Gateau

June 22, 2011 Posted in Desserts, Food Reviews, Melbourne, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

Le Petit Gateau is a small well known patisserie on Lt. Collins St in Melbourne.

As I’ve mentioned before, their macarons are really good but what they are known for is their delicious cakes. Their Praline Mud Cake is a definite must try so please go visit this shop when you have the chance, and despite their need to increase prices nearly every year, I think it’s still worth it.

Their Crisp Lemon Tart is only available in one size, unlike the other cakes. I’ve always had a liking for lemon because of it’s sour, acidic taste and combined with sweet desserts, it’s the perfect combination.

I actually bought this for my birthday because of my love of lemons. If you were old enough to watch Rugrats as a child, I will always remember this one part where they made lemonade and it made their face all scrunchy. Haha.

Back to the tart though. The pastry is unbelievably good. It’s just so delicate, but filled with flavour and the lemon curd is both sweet and tangy. Just how I like it! It is covered with a nice glaze of some sort, but I’m no expert as to what that’s called but it adds another layer to it.

One thing that might be of concern is that you can’t save it in the fridge! Or my fridge just adds too much moisture to it and makes the pastry too wet and the bite and crunch of the base disappears. So it’s unfortunate I couldn’t savour the taste for many days.

Overall, it’s one of the best lemon tarts out there and Le Petit Gateau just make top quality, delicious products that everyone with even a slight sweet tooth will love.

Le Petit Gateau

458 Little Collins St
Melbourne
Tel: 03 9944 8893
Opening Hours

Monday to Friday, 7:30am-5pm

Homemade Ice Cendol

April 22, 2011 Posted in Desserts, Food, Malaysian, Recipes6 Comments

After holidaying in Malaysia for around three weeks late last year, and after eating Ice Cendol and Ice Kacang nearly every single day. I wanted to make these green jellies myself.

So my mother found a recipe she wanted to try and it was on this website that I am unable to find now. Luckily, I saved the recipe but I cannot give my thanks to the Indonesian site for their recipe.

It’s actually quite simple but pushing out the dough to make the worms is quite tough if you don’t have a cendol mold. We just used a strainer and it didn’t work out too well and took ages to push it all through the pasta strainer but we just had to use what we had in the kitchen. Might have to go buy the cendol mold when I get the chance to go back to Malaysia because it looks much easier with it.

Here is the recipe:

Green Jellies Ice (Cendol)

Ingredients:

For Jellies:
50g mung bean flour (hunkwee)
40g rice flour
10g tapioca flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs sugar
625ml pandan / screw-pine leaves water (by blending 100 gr chopped pandan / screwpine leaves with 650 ml water)
Half basin iced water
Cendol mold

For the coconut milk:
1000 ml coconut milk
1/4 tsp salt
3 pandan leaves

For the palm sugar syrup:
250g palm sugar (or coconut sugar)
250ml water
3 pandan leaves

Directions:
For jellies:
1. Bring 425 ml of the pandan leaves water to boil.

2. Meanwhile, mix mung bean flour, rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, sugar, and the rest (200 ml) of the pandan leaves water in a bowl.

3. Pour the mixture into the boiling pandan leaves water. Keep stirring until the mixture co-mixtures with the pandan water. Turn the heat off when the liquid thickens and forms a transparent colour.

4. Prepare a basin filled with iced water (1/2 basin). Put the mold on top of the basin. It is easier when the diameter of the basin is more or less the same with of the basin’s.

5. Pour the jellies liquid in the mold, press it. The liquid soon becomes jellies when it gets into the iced water. Continue pressing until no liquid is left.

6. Set aside. Let it for some time to give a sufficient firmness. When it is firm enough, drain it.

For coconut milk:
1. Meanwhile, bring the coconut milk, salt and the pandan leaves into boil. Do not leave unattended as over heated coconut milk will be ruined.

2. Immediately turn off the heat once the surface is starting to raise.

For palm sugar syrup:
1. Boil the palm sugar, water, and pandan leaves. Strain if necessary; sometimes they are not well strained in the making.

How to serve:
1. Pour the palm sugar in the bottom (approx. 5 tbs)

2. Add the jellies (approx. 5 tbs)

3. Add the coconut milk

4. Add ice cubes if desired

It was really tasty and you don’t really need shaved ice, ice cubes will do just fine. Homemade cendol is always nicer then those you can buy, they are usually a bit too sweet and too hard and stale. You can even have cendol warm since it’s getting colder and closer to winter.

ohdenny

Category: Desserts

Chocolate Mousse Torte

Crisp Lemon Tart @ Le Petit Gateau

Homemade Ice Cendol