Pavlova

How do you zero in on a dessert recipe? I basically look at the amount of butter, sugar, and flour that a recipe calls for and usually pick the one that has the least amount of these ingredients. The idea of putting in a lot of sugar, butter, and maida into anything scares me quite a bit. My cousins were coming over lunch and on given a choice between chocolate and mango opted for a mango based dessert. Pavlova was on my list of things for a long time. I decided to make a pavlova topped with mangoes.

I looked through Nigella’s Kitchen and came across a recipe for Mini Pavlovas that required 6 egg whites, which I felt was excessive. I then came across another recipe by her on you tube which required only 4 whites. Big difference! Anyway, you will be amused to know that I had to crack 8 eggs to get 4 egg whites. I am going to blame it on the Delhi summer. It was so hot that the yolks just melted into the whites. Thankfully, I had some eggs sitting in the fridge. I used those and managed to separate the eggs. Now, I was left with 4 eggs and 4 yolks! When life hands you a lemon you make lemonade.  But, what do you do with 4 eggs and 4 yolks? Googled my quandary and found that I could make Gordon Ramsay’s Chocolate Fondant. Will share that in another post.

Coming back to the Pavolva – I realise that watching the pavolva being made is far more useful than just reading the recipe. I also found that there are so many tips that are shared on the tube, which simply do not appear in print. For instance, Nigella said that we must start by wiping the inside of the bowl in which you are going to whip the whites with lemon. It helps get rid of grease and makes the white “sparkly”.  Also, the vinegar and cornflour are what make the pavlova chewy and marshmallowy on the inside. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

4 egg whites

4 tbsps of sugar for each egg white [I know this is a lot!]

1 tsp of vinegar

2 tsps of cornflour

Vanilla essence

300gms-500gms cream

3 Alphonso mangoes or any other fruit

Process

1. Preheat the oven at 180C.

2. Wipe the inside of the whisking bowl with lemon. Then add the egg whites and whisk till firm, but not stiff peaks are formed. This takes a while. You have to watch carefully to ensure that the peaks are smooth and not stiff.

3. Add a tbsp of sugar at a time and whisk gently.

4. Once all the sugar has been whisked in, add the vinegar and the cornflour and fold them under and over. Do not whisk.

5. Draw a circle (20cm diameter) with the help of a plate on a butter paper. Pour the batter on the paper and use a spatula to smoothen the sides.

Ready to go in

6. Put the pavlova into an oven that has been preheated at 180C and then crank it down to 150C and bake for 1 hour. Let it cool in the oven for 30 minutes before taking it out. You can leave the oven door ajar.

Pavlova

I was super excited to see it swell and rise.  I made this a day in advance. Next day, I got down to whipping the cream.   

 

 Though it looked messy, the pavlova was crisp, chewy, and marshmallowy and went well with the mangoes. I am going to give this a shot again and pray that the whipped cream doesn’t let me down.

By the way, see what my cousins gifted me – planning to make savoury muffins and cupcakes to adorn this beauty:

Dense Chocolate Cake & Cornflakes Crispies for Christmas

Time flies. It is already our second Christmas in Delhi. We arrived in winter last year not knowing what to expect.  The husband started by underestimating the cold and dismissing suggestions that we place a blanket on the bed and lie over it. When the temperature dipped a little he marched to the cupboard, pulled out the blanket, and laid it on his side of the bed.  I kept my grin to myself.  We were also faced with an interesting problem in our rented apartment. The tiles in the drawing room were slowly shifting one at a time. I first noticed it in end December. Slowly, a sizeable chunk of tiles were shaking every time we walked over them. In Jan, I asked a carpenter to drop by and survey the problem.  He said that the tiles in the whole room (we have a drawing-cum-dining) had to be replaced and the whole job would take anything between to five days! I conveyed this to the husband and emphasized on the need to act on this. He kept putting it off week after week. Many a fights took place over this. Then miraculously, when the mercury rose, the tiles slowly slid back to their corners. Come summer, the tiles were fit phaat! The problem seems to have taken care of itself with a little assistance from the husband’s inaction.

This winter when the first tile starting shaking, the husband and I looked at each other and grinned widely. We hope to get by this shaky winter soon!

I decided to try two recipes from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess. This book was a gift I received on my birthday from two dear friends. We spent Christmas eve at their place and I thought it’d be nice to carry some goodies along. We are all chocoholics and so I zeroed in on a Dense Chocolate Loaf and an easy peasy Cornflake Crispies. I also attempted a Coconut Macaroon which flopped and was dubbed a coconut laddoo by the husband 😦

Here are the recipes extracted from the book:

DENSE CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE

Ingredients:

225 g soft unsalted butter [I bought unsalted butter from Morning Store in GK -1, M Block Market]

375 g dark muscovado sugar [My boudi sent this for me from California]

2 large eggs , beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

100 g best dark chocolate , melted [I used Morde’s Dark Chocolate]

200 g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

A weighing scale for exact measures

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/gas5. Grease and line a 23x13x7cm cm (9x5x3in) loaf tin. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating in well.

2. Next fold in the melted and cooled chocolate, taking care to blend well but do not overbeat.

3. You want the ingredients combined: you don’t want a light airy mass. Gently add the flour, to which you’ve added the bicarb, alternately spoon by spoon, with 250 ml of boiling water until you have a smooth and fairly liquid batter.

4. Pour into the lined loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes. Turn the oven down to 170C/gas mark 3 and cook for another 15 minutes. The cake will still be a bit squidgy inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won’t come out completely clean. I did not have a loaf tin and used my round springform pan instead. Also, the convection mode on the micro did not have 170C or 190C. I put the cake in at 180C for 30 minutes and then at 160C for 15 minutes. It came out absolutely fine.

5. Place the loaf tin on a rack and leave to get completely cold before turning it out. It improves if left for a day or so before eating. This cake will probably sink in the middle because of its denseness. I totally agree about it tasting better the next day!

Dense chocolate cake

CORNFLAKE CRISPIES

Ingredients:

100g milk chocolate [Morde’s Milk Chocolate]

25g unsalted butter

1 teaspoon Golden Syrup [Solar Golden Syrup bought from Le Marche]

50g cornflake [Kellogg’s K cornflakes – healthy :)]

Process

Melt the chocolate and butter and then add the golden syrup. Fold the cornflakes into this mixture and place them in petit-four cases. Since I did not have these, I put them in cupcake liners. Put it in the fridge and let it set for at least an hour or two. As you can see, I put K Cornflakes to some good use!

Cornflake Crispies

Chocolate Cake and Mousse

Two weeks ago I left my mobile home when I was rushing to meet a doctor. It was the day on which my parents were flying from California to Delhi. Once at the clinic, I knew I had hours to kill before my two minutes with the doctor would come. I was not carrying a book and the only thing to do was to fiddle with the phone. Unfortunately, no phone! I had a panicky one minute in which I considered heading home, getting the mobile, and coming back. But, what if I missed my turn? It wasn’t worth it. With nothing else to occupy my mind, I began fretting. What if my brother was trying to reach me in connection with my parents’ flight? What if my father was trying to reach me? What if my friend who was approaching her due date called? What if there was any other family emergency? I calmed down and began to wonder how we managed to live without a mobile phone for so many years? I remember making plans with friends to meet at a particular time and place. We always did meet up without calls flying forth asking about our location. Life without a mobile phone is unimaginable now. The only two friends who had resisted owning one, have also given in. Anyway, 3.5 hours later (yes, that’s how long I had to wait to get a glimpse of the doctor) I reached home, unlocked the door and rushed to check the mobile. I broke into a huge grin when I saw that I had no missed calls or unread messages waiting for me. I am seriously considering switching off for at least a day or two.

Coming to pertinent subject-matter, I baked Nigella’s Old fashioned chocolate Cake for a dear friend’s birthday.  I actually wanted to make a chocolate mousse cake. I scanned several recipes but decided to settle with Nigella’s tried and tested recipes. Plan was to make Nigella’s instant chocolate mousse and top the cake with that. I did make the mousse. I was apprehensive about whether it would set atop the cake. I did not want to take a huge risk as this was a birthday cake. I settled with using the mousse to ice the cake instead and carried the mousse separately.

Cake & Mousse

Here are the recipes extracted from Nigella’s website:

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

Ingredients FOR THE CAKE:

200g plain flour

200g caster sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

40g best-quality cocoa

175g soft unsalted butter

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

150ml sour cream (I used regular cream, not Amul cream)

1. Take everything out of the fridge so that all the ingredients can come to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C and line and butter two 20cm sandwich tins with removable bases.
3. Now all you have to do is put all the cake ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream – into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.
4. Bake for about 30-35 minutes.

Nigella says that the batter should be divided into two and should be baked separately. I, however, did not divide the batter. Once the cake was done  I sliced it through and then topped the layers with mousse.

Chocolate Cake topped with mousse

Instant Chocolate Mousse

Watch this to see how it’s done

Here is the recipe extracted from Nigella’s website:

 150g mini marshmallows

50g soft butter

250g good dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces

60ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle

1 x 284ml tub double cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method – Serves: 4-6 Put the marshmallows, butter, chocolate and water in a heavy-based saucepan. Put the saucepan on the hob, over heat, though keep it fairly gentle, to melt the contents, stirring every now and again. Remove from the heat. Meanwhile, whip the cream with the vanilla extract until thick, and then fold into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth, cohesive mixture. Pour or scrape into 4 glasses or ramekins, about 175ml each in capacity, or 6 smaller (125ml) ones, and chill until you want to eat.

 

Can you see the layer of mousse in between?