Chocolate Swiss roll

I had the pleasure of baking for a colleague this past weekend. He just gave me the money and asked me to surprise him. Love it!

I decided to make a Swiss roll with a twist.

RECIPE

You’ll need the following:

·         100g flour

·         3 tbsp cocoa

·         100g castor sugar

·         3 eggs

·         ¼ tsp salt

·         250 ml whipping cream

·         100 ml caramel

·         +- 15 chocolate balls 

·         2 tbsp icing sugar

Method

·         Sift dry ingredients in a mixing bowl

·         Separate eggs and beat egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff

·         Gently fold egg yolks into egg whites

·         Gently fold dry ingredients into the eggs

·         Pour batter into a lined and greased baking tray, ensuring that the mix is evenly spread

·         Bake for 10 minutes at 200  ̊C

·         Once baked, place cake on clean kitchen towel, remove the baking sheet and allow to cool

·         Spread caramel evenly on the cake

·         Whip the cream and icing sugar together and spread evenly on the cake

·         Chop chocolate balls in half (as evenly as you can get them) and place on the cream spread

·         Roll the cake up carefully, slice and enjoy

NOT-SO-FINE PRINT: THIS COULD HAVE SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR THOSE TRYING TO SHED SOME WEIGHT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Christmas in July

My Friday night was spend at Monte casino –at the Christmas in July organised by the Sunday times. We all had to be dressed warmly in something Christmassy with bellies ready to feast. Our 3 courses were served at 3 separate venues in the Monte Casino prescinct. [I honestly didn’t read this part of the brief and was rather upset about all the walking. I wouldn’t have signed up if I knew]

Starters were served at Punchinellos. We had a crab and mussel bisque with red pepper oil. The blobs of red oil in the bisque weren’t too appealing and it had a very pungent fishy smell[someone mentioned that she was highly offended by the smell of Cape town on her plate!] but was rather pleasant and an interesting mix of flavours. I didn’t finish it but enjoyed it nonetheless.

We then proceeded to trek what seemed like 30km through the casino to get to our next venue for our mains. We landed up at a restaurant called Medeo where we had the following:

Honey and five spice roasted turkey, deboned leg of lamb served with balsamic grilled radicchio and Brussels sprouts, caramelised onions and bacon. [And for those who don’t know what radicchio is, check this out.] The leg of lamb and veggies were great but the turkey was a bit of a let down.

Anyway, at the end of this was our next trek…for dessert! This was certainly the highlight of the evening for me. We landed up at Mondo Vino where we had individual molted chocolate pudding and hazelnut praline. I must tell you that I have a serious nut allergy and could die from consuming nuts. I noticed the hazelnts on the plate and had 2 choices – either send back the dessert and live to see another day OR pretent that they didn’t exist so that I could give you all an accurate and full account of the event. I chose the latter, of course, and only because I wanted to do a thorough job at giving you the full details of the courses and event.

The dessert was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. My little chocolate volcano erupted with chocolate sauce spilling gently over my plate as I scooped my first mouthful. It was warm, gooey and sweet - just what the doctor ordered. Oh, it looked pwetty too…



All was well with the world after this. Merry Christmas everyone...

Best of both

I have a friend[name withheld for obvious reasons] who has a very interesting palate. Her habits are sometimes questionable but at best, very interesting. She came to visit me some time ago and had some leftover stew I had made the previous night. I also offered her scones too which, I assumed, she’d have after her stew. She proceeded to put her scones IN THE STEW! She explained that the sweet and savoury combo just worked for her and that’s how she enjoyed her food. Ummm….really?? I have an overly active imagination so my mind started racing – there I was, imagining my sticky toffee pudding and ice cream in the same plate, and spoonful, as my green Thai curry. No. Some things just don’t go.

There are, however, some not-so-conventional combos that do work. Beetroot and cheese on toast is one of my recent discoveries and a new favourite. Beetroot used to be, and still is a staple in my mother’s house. I’ve always disliked the way it discolours anything it comes in contact with on the plate. Now that I’m a grown up myself, I choose NOT to have it on Sundays, or any other day of the week for that matter - except when it’s combined with cheese on toast. It sounds strange but it works, for some reason.

The recipe is quite simple. You need equal amounts of beetroot (premade and grated from the shop will do) and grated cheddar cheese.

·         Mix 2 heaped tablespoons of beetroot and cheese together

·         Add a tablespoon of mayonnaise to the combo and mix well

·         Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste

·         Chop a spring onion (as much as you can stomach) and add to mix

·         Place the filling on your bread of choice (I use ciabatta) and toast

Coffee with Frieda

A good friend ordered a chocolate cake from me a few days ago and sent me this pwetty pic. Thanks Frieda* for taking my labour of love so seriously

*Frieda is the name she stopped using when she left high school. She goes by a far trendier and sexy name these days

Pwetty food

I went to Parys again a couple months ago and had a really great time. The highlight though was when we stopped for dessert at a restaurant along Bree street [I just can’t seem to remember the name as my focus was on the dessert – I do apologise].

I had a fancy cheesecake and my sidekick had some strawberry jelly thing which had an equally impressive form.  I just couldn’t get over how pretty it all looked and had to share this with you.

What would you do?

Sometimes it’s ok to say ‘no’

I have a weakness. My sweet tooth has more control over my body than my sense and reasoning ever could. This weekend was testimony to that.

It was a friend’s birthday on Saturday and she had a get-together at her place and had made all sorts of delicious treats for us. We were greeted with homemade butternut soup as we arrived which beautifully set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Nachos with fresh chillies topped with delectably stringy cheese were served shortly after our soup and I was in culinary heaven. I was forced, however, to share my plate with my ‘date-for-hire’ as he has more restraint than I do. The red wine was flowing quite freely during our meal. I must add, too, that I’m a bit of a lightweight and really shouldn’t overindulge in any alcoholic beverages – I soldiered on regardless. Anyway, the evening turned out to be very pleasant as we had spicy and very cheesy enchiladas and tacos (I’m sure, by now, you’ve gathered that the theme was Mexican) and played a few games of 30-seconds and Charades. (I was the embarrassment of the night and couldn’t really keep up as the wine was starting to talk through me).

Dessert was served a few minutes after our meal and we were spoilt for choice! The birthday cake looked coconutty. Our host’s sister made her Grandma’s orange pudding as well as a chocolate cheesecake. I was asked to bake vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry smash (I shall share details very soon) which were also served. My heart was set on the cheesecake which turned out to be sweet and very rich – just the way I like it.

Shortly before the party ended, I could feel my innards swearing at me. I had overdunnit and was going to pay dearly for it. I’ll leave it there.

So, my lesson for the day – I like my sugar and do very well to satisfy my cravings BUT, it isn’t always necessary. Sometimes…sometimes, it’s ok to say ‘NO’. It really is…