Recipes

Mocha Cupcakes

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April 2010

For my birthday last year I received Dolce!, a book of Italian desserts.  For some reason, it’s taken me until now to make anything from it.

I chose the Mocha Cake purely because all the ingredients were in the cupboard and I couldn’t be bothered heading down the shop.  In many ways, this cupcake recipe may seem like a variation on my easy chocolate cake.  But sometimes simple is best.

Rather than making a whole cake I opted for cupcakes, because they seem to be far easier to take to work!

Start by preheating the oven to 180°C and, if you’re organised, put your cupcake cases in the muffin tins (this recipe will make 12).

Beat 120g of unsalted butter with 100g of caster sugar, before adding 2 eggs, 100g of self-raising flour, and 3 tbsp of cocoa.  Mix well and add a pinch of salt.

Mix 1 tsp of baking powder in 2 tbsp of milk and beat in, before finishing by mixing in an espresso cup of cooled espresso coffee.

Spoon into the cupcake cases and bake for approximately 20 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean).

The original recipe actually has you pour the espresso over the batter once it’s in the tin, followed by a sprinkling of cocoa and sugar – this apparently creates a sort of sauce.  However, with the cupcakes I figured incorporating the coffee into the batter was a far better idea.

Once the cupcakes were cool I iced them with a chocolate rum icing – just melt some unsalted butter and mix in icing sugar, cocoa and a generous splash of rum.

All that’s left to do is eat them … chocolate and coffee cupcakes?  Too easy!

Mocha Cupcakes

Pecan Pie

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A long weekend BBQ, some uncharacteristic (for Adelaide) rain and a request for pecan pie …

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BBQs I like.  They are an excuse to eat a lot of bread, meat and maybe dessert, and the whole salad thing is just an annoyance.  Having a BBQ at home is even better because I can make as much dessert as I want and know that there’s a good chance it will be eaten.

I had already spotted a pecan pie recipe in James Martin’s The Collection* so I knew exactly where to head.

This recipe is ridiculously easy … even more so if you choose to cheat and use ready shortcrust pastry or a pre-made pastry case.

I used James’s recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry – although I had to omit the ground almonds as I had none.

To make the pastry, take 225g plain flour, a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp of caster sugar and 115g of unsalted butter. Whizzy up in the food processor until it looks like small breadcrumbs. This won’t take very long. Then add one egg and just enough water to bring the pastry together. Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes in the fridge (wrapped in cling film). If you have a food processor this takes just seconds.

While the pastry is resting, make the filling. In a bowl, mix 350g of pecans, 55g of dark chocolate, grated (or chopped up, if you’re a bit lazy), 1 tsp of vanilla extract, a pinch or two of salt, 350mL of maple syrup (BEWARE! buy real maple syrup and not ‘maple flavoured syrup’) and 300g of caster sugar.

Beat 4 eggs in a separate bowl and then add to the nut mix. Finish everything off by adding 115g of melted unsalted butter.

If you have made your own pastry, bake it blind (10 minutes or so at 160°C with baking beans and another 10 minutes or so without, finish by brushing with beaten egg and sealing for 2 minutes – this stops the base going soggy), before adding the filling.

If you are using a ready made pastry case, all you now have to do is fill the case with the nut mix.

Whichever route you’re taking, bake at 160°C for about an hour. James Martin makes the point that it’s quite difficult to tell if the pie is cooked, so if you want to err on the side of caution, turn the oven down 20° and bake for an extra 10 minutes.

Allow to cool before serving.

If you use a shallow tart dish you could well have a lot of filling left over. I made a pile of little pies – very cute, perfect for afternoon tea at work!

The pies are gorgeous – the chocolate adds a really subtle depth of flavour that works well with the vanilla and maple syrup.

This is such a simple but delicious pie I will definitely be making it again.

* The Collection is also available from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Chicken Schnitzel Parmagiana

- Alex 3 Comments

Nothing says ‘pub lunch’ (or ‘pub dinner’) like a schnitzel.  The whole time I was in the UK I tried to explain the idea of a ‘parmi’ and failed miserably.

It’s also a dish which is ridiculously easy to put together at home.  Invariably you can produce something tastier, not to mention healthier, than that for which you’ll pay the best of $20 for in a pub.  Pub parmis usually have a remarkably similar lifecycle – one that involves the freezer and the deep fat fryer.

For an ‘at home’ parmi you don’t need anything more exotic than a frying pan.

First, choose your meat.  A chicken breast is very easy – one will do two people and you just need to slice it in half horizontally. If you want to use pork or beef choose a cut which generally cooks quickly and flatten it out by wrapping in cling film and beating with a rolling pin (or meat mallet).

Dip your meat in egg followed by breadcrumbs and quickly fry it in a pan of hot oil (something like peanut oil, which has a high smoking point and is almost flavourless).  The meat needs to be thin enough so it cooks quickly and you want your breadcrumbs to turn golden but not burn!

Set the meat aside (on some kitchen towel to soak up any excess fat) and prepare your topping.  You’ll definitely need mozzarella cheese.  If you want to go the really simple route, then top your meat with a slice of ham followed by the cheese.  For Hawaiian then you’ll need thin slices of pineapple (if you’re using tinned make sure you use pineapple in its own juice, rather than in syrup … you’re not making a dessert!) in addition to your ham and cheese.  A simple tomato sauce will do your basic ‘parmagiana’ , or you can go all out and have a Bolognese style sauce.  Think of it in the same way you’d think of pizza toppings.

When you’re done, top with the mozzarella cheese and finish under a hot grill – the cheese should be melted, bubbling and going brown.  I think in this case I wasn’t quite generous enough with the cheese – make sure you don’t make the same mistake!

chicken parmigiana

Serve with a salad and you can pretend it’s healthy!