“Chocolate is natures way of making up for Mondays”
Anonymous
Almost Flourless GF Bittersweet Chocolate Cake … just one of those thoughts you wake up with and possibly one of the easiest cakes to bake. One of the most indulgent as well, if you love intense, deep, dark chocolate that is. The cake tastes better the next day as it chills in the fridge, and the flavours mature.Sorry I keep going missing from the blog ever so often. Life seems to be on some kind of race track. Even though I don’t feel like I’m doing much, the months are galloping by. Bat an eye lid and you’re into the next month. I have dozens of unposted blogs in my drafts folder, all waiting in the sidelines for want of images to be processed. I promised myself in the beginning of the year that I would be better organized, blog more often, and what not.Clearly that didn’t happen! It’s simpler bakes like this that I feel the immediate need to share, like something that everyone should bake. It uses kitchen staples, minimal ingredients, is minimum fuss and quite delicious to serve up. If you don’t have ground oats, use normal ones. The texture might vary slightly. If you don’t have oats at all, think different flours. Wholewheat flour {aata} will work if GF is not your concern. Alternatively, you could use buckwheat flour {kuttu ka aata}, amaranth flour {rajgira}, even almond meal or walnut meal. If using different flours, please begin checking for doneness 45 minutes after you pop the cake in. Different flours, nut meals etc have different liquid absorption ratios. We wouldn’t want an over baked, or for that matter, an under baked cake, would we?Baking with alternate grains and nut meals is always fun. Here’s a Chocolate Walnut Gateau I baked with walnut meal and oats a short while ago for Fit Foodie. It’s gluten free and quite moorish. You can find the recipe here. This Almost Flourless Bittersweet Chocolate Cake is a twist on the first cake I ever baked for Saffola Oats at FitFoodie.in, one that was shot for Food Food channel too. The engagement was one of the best I had as it’s pushed me to experiment like never before. The collaboration continues and is a really enjoyable one.
[print_this]Recipe: Almost Flourless GF Bittersweet Chocolate Cake
Summary: Almost Flourless Bittersweet Chocolate Cake … one of the easiest cakes to bake. One of the most indulgent as well, if you love intense, deep, dark chocolate that is. The cake tastes better the next day as it chills in the fridge, and the flavours mature.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour Ingredients:
210g bittersweet couverture chocolate {70%}
90g unsalted butter
100g brown sugar
25ml honey
5eggs, separated
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
20g good quality cocoa powder
20g oatmeal
15g brown sugar for top
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160C. Line the base of an 8″ dessert ring {or loose bottomed tin} with parchment paper, then wrap foil around.
Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and simmer over boiling water until the chocolate has melted {else microwave for one minute at a time on high}. Whisk until smooth.
Whisk in the brown sugar, honey, vanilla extract and egg yolks.
Fold in the cocoa powder and oatmeal.
Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold in 2 tbsp to loosen the chocolate mixture, then fold in half of the remaining beaten whites, then the rest.
Turn batter into prepared tin, tap gently to level out, sprinkle over the remaining 15g of sugar.
Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until done. Tester should come out clean.
Allow to cool completely in tin.
Serve with salted butter caramel sauce, unsweetened single cream, ice cream, seasonal fruit or as is.
The flavours mature after the cake sits overnight.
“Good food is very often, even most often, simple food.”
Anthony Bourdain
Ptasie_mleczko or Birds Milk Cake …my adaptation. With a name as intriguing as that, I quickly jotted it down as my Ukranian friend translated it out of her mothers cookbook in Sydney earlier this month. There is an eternal charm in handwritten recipes of times gone by, this recipe book is from the 1960’s. Neat, and well explained, the recipes all written In Ukrainian, talk to you, explaining each step. The measures are often in glasses from the Old Soviet Union, standardised at 200ml, a measure my sweet friend continues to use as her mother once did.
Ptasie Mleczko (Polish) is a soft chocolate-covered candy filled with soft meringue (or milk soufflé). In Russian it is called ptichye moloko (птичье молоко) and in Romanianlapte de pasăre. All these names literally mean “bird’s milk” or crop milk, a substance somewhat resembling milk, produced by certain birds to feed their young. However, this is not origin of the name; rather, ptasie mleczko is also a Polish idiom meaning “an unobtainable delicacy”. In Poland, Jan Wedel, owner of the E. Wedel Company, developed the first Ptasie mleczko in 1936. Wedel’s inspiration for the name of the confectionery came from his voyages to France, when he asked himself: “What could bring greater happiness to a man who already has everything?” Then he thought: “Maybe only bird milk.”
This must be one of the quickest birthday cakes I’ve ever made. And yet another very very delicious one. You can find my coffee take on it at the bottom as Ulyana decided to bake one for us the night before we were due to fly out. No pictures of the cake in Sydney as we were racing against time. I didn’t get too many pictures of the cake I baked here too as coming home after a vacation is always far too busy. It was however tasty as hell!!
Our trip Down Under was great fun! All trips there always are! Sydney has been one of our fave places to go when possible, and this was our fourth trip. Like every earlier trip, this too was packed and flew by like a heartbeat. This trip was short, just a week ‘long’, but we had a great time. With hosts as good as ours, the days went by driving from mountains to beaches, with great food and drinks thrown in. Mindless banter, endless shopping what with the daughter with us, too much food, overindulgence … ad before we knew it, time to fly back.
We flew in comfortably, sleeping all the way on Cathay Pacific, with a short stopover in HKG. There too the daughter shopped till we dropped for 3 whole hours. Hurriedly dug into some delicious street food, raced back to the hotel, showered and hopped onto the Sydney flight. A long 9 hour flight, some great food, Aussie wines too, Pamela’s book kept me entertained and nostalgic as we landed there into a crisp 4C at 6am. We were really blessed to see great weather the few days we were there.
We’ve done most of the iconic must see places on the earlier trips covering The Rocks, Opera House, Botanical Gardens, Tiranga Zoo {to date one of my sons fave places}, Butterfly Park, Harbour Bridge, Harry’s original van at Wooloomooloo, the Blue Mountains … and so much more. Yet a visit to the Blue Mountains is a quintessential part of Sydney for us, and that’s where we headed pretty soon. It as a freezing COLD day but we managed to stop by some breathtaking spots, taking in the gift that only nature can offer. Knocks your breath A W A Y!
We went off piste, little walkways dot the Blue Mountains, each with a signboard telling you how long it takes to get to the destination, level of ease …and more! There’s loads to do. Did I mention stunning beaches? Yes those too!Beautiful beaches, birds, crabs, shells, nature, left over pizza from the Italian pizzeria from the night before, chilled beer though not as chilly as the cold winds, great company … couldn’t have asked for more.Of course I shopped some too. It’s always good to know the ‘right’ people, who in turn know the right places…and a Sunday morning market later, I was back a happy camper. There was loads I could have gladly bought to ‘prop’ up the blog, but sense had to prevail. It was a struggle I tell you!
No trip to Sydney for me is complete without a visit to Victoria’s Basement. Though short on time, we did a quick walk through, a near impossible task in itself given the treasure trove you can find under a roof! I shopped a wee bit more here and there, constantly thinking of how much I could stuff back into suitcases. You know! Oh the choices we have to make!
With travel comes food, and most good memories are tied to taste! Knowing the right folk is great! It’s satiating to explore a country through it’s cuisine, and then comes the added bonus of exploring the flavours they brought from their native lands. So we were spoilt. Ukranian cusine filled our days alongside Aussie quintessential. Gourmet sausages on the barbeque that made the tastiest hotdogs, slow cooked {read dropping off the bone good} lamb-shanks with chickpeas and spinach, Caesar salad galore, smoked Polish sausages and cold cuts, Ukranian potato latkes with garlic and sour cream, artisan pizzas, more Aussie reds, red wine too, pancakes for breakfast with whipped cream and local preserves, cheese in every avatar to die, then more local artisanal unripened cheese as if that was not enough …Sweet stuff too, though no pictures. Fresh cherry strudel, macadamia and caramel ice cream, divine coffee gelato, berry gelato too, and then of course this beautiful Birds Milk Cake flavoured with the organic lemon from the yard the night before we flew out. I dreamt of the cake as I slept on the flight back home. I knew I just had to make one soon, my pet flavours dancing in my head.
That’s just what I did the next day for the son’s birthday. As we melted into a sizzling North Indian summer at 45C, desperately trying to hang on to memories of 12C, the crisp and beautiful Aussie winter we left behind, Ihit baking mode. This cake bridged the gap beautifully, and that is what good food & travel is all about. Makes you come full circle, flavours and memories sharing a plateful! What a delightful {and delicious} journey this food business is!
Recipe: Ptasie_mleczko or Birds Milk Cake
Summary: Ptasie_mleczko or Birds Milk Cake finds it’s roots possibly in the Old Soviet Union. A preparation for the light as air filling quite as intriguing as the name ‘birds milk’, it’s a moist and delicious cake that takes well to added flavours. Make ahead and chill for the flavours to mature. It tastes wonedrful as a fresh tray bake as originally intended to be too. Serves 8
Prep Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 1 hour {plus cooling and chilling} Ingredients:
Cake
130g butter
200ml / 1 glass brown vanilla sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
200ml / 1 glass all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cocoa powder
Filling
150g butter
400ml / 2 glasses milk
100ml/ 1/2 glass sugar
3 tbsp semolina /suji
2tbsp instant coffee
1 tbsp Kahlua {optional}
Topping
50g dark couverture chocolate
100ml low fat cream
1 tbsp honey
White chocolate shavings to garnish
Method:
Cake
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line 2 X 8″ round baking tins with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Reserve.
Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one, ten the vanilla extract.
Slowly fold in the dry mix. Turn batter into tins and bake for approximately 30 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Cool in tins for 15-20 minutes then cool completely on rack.
Filling
Make this while the cake is baking {or a few hours before too}
Place the sugar, semolina, coffee and milk in a heavy bottom pan. Stir over low heat until the mixture thickens. Leave to cool completely.
When the cake is ready and cool, make the remaining filling.
Place butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the coffee semolina and Kahlua if using.
Assemble
Place one layer on serving platter and keep in place with an 8″ dessert ring. ladle over half the filling and top with second layer. Top with remaining filling, cover and refrigerate for a few hours {or overnight} for flavours to mature.
Take the ring off gently, top with chocolate ganache {recipe follows} and white chocolate shavings.
Chocolate Ganache
Place ingredients in a heat proof bowl and microwave 1 minute at a time until the chocolate has almost melted. Stir until smooth and glossy. Cool to room temperature before use.
“When you celebrate, there is sure to be cake.”
Florence Ditlow
Coffee Dark Chocolate Roulade … that’s what I made because I was craving coffee in cake. It’s been a while since I did coffee in a dessert. Roulade or Swiss Roll also because a load of my friends have been making them of late, and yes, I got tempted. First it was Himanshu, then Ruchira. Yesterday, I sauntered into the kitchen with no specific plan in mind, and this is what I came up with. Was yum! Hit the right coffee spot!
Just a short while ago, I got an email confirming that I made it to KitchenAid India’s Probaker challenge, one of top 50 Indian home bakers. It’s going to be a fun challenge, and for me, hopefully will give me more creative exposure. Will be baking with friends, and cannot wait to see how differently ‘baking minds‘ think when presented with similar ingredients. ‘Marching‘ ahead in anticipation!
I love this month. Come March, and there is inspiration galore. The weather fills you with energy, the air is nice and crisp, new blades of grass, ladybugs, flowers… so much INSPIRATION! There’s also something terribly inspiring about a cake that rolls. It’s a whole lot of fun too! My recipe for a V E R Y simple roulade lives in my head. I’ve made it with variations for years. 3 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour. Quick, simple, fun!
A roulade is a dish of filled rolled meat or pastry. Traditionally found in various European cuisines, the term roulade originates from the French word “rouler”, meaning “to roll”. Some roulades consist of cake (often sponge cake) baked in a flat pan rolled around a filling. Cake rolled around jam, chocolate butter cream, nuts or other fillings, is an example of a sweet roulade like the bejgli or the Swiss roll. The bûche de Noël or “Yule log” is a traditional French Christmas cake roll, often decorated with frosting made to look like bark.
I find it comforting that everything sits snug inside a cake. It’s a funny way to look at it, but nice. One of my most memorable ones was a savoury Ricotta & Spinach Rouladefrom Ottolenghi. That was special and carried trademark Ottolenghi flavours and philosophy. Fresh, seasonal, simple. And then another, the Raspberry Pistachio Swiss Roll{or Spring Roll to herald in Spring one year!}
I’ve done a couple of gluten free ones as well. Those I loved heaps! A GF Mango Almond Quark Roulade and a GF Strawberry Almond Roulade. I also like that you can customise them to moods and ingredients on hand. So Spring often sees loads of strawberry flecked roulades, while summer will definitely see a mango and cream. Oh and summer will also see an ice cream roulade. That is even more fun!
This one went the coffee way. I prettied it a lil too as everything came together really quick which meant extra time. I had forgotten how soon these come together. With March still quite cold, the bake cooled a lot faster too. So I saved some ganache in a piping bag and did some free hand doodling over the roll. Wasn’t sure if the contrast would work, but I think I did OK. It looked pretty, subtle but pretty!
Oh and before I go, did I show you the very sweet Barnis {Indian Pickling jars} I got in the mail 2 days ago? My dear and very talented food blogger/food stylist friend Sanjeeta mailed them from Chennai. It was love at first sight. I couldn’t resist filling one with coffee beans and sneaking them into the frame!
You can find loads of COFFEE in my desserts here. That’s my most favourite flavour ever!
[print_this]Recipe: Coffee Dark Chocolate Roulade
Summary: A quick Coffee Dark Chocolate Roulade that comes together with minimal fuss. If you like love coffee, then this is for you. Paired with a dark chocolate ganache, flavoured with a hint of Kahlua, dressed up with doodles, what’s not to love about it! Serves 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hours Ingredients:
Coffee Roulade
3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup – 1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1tbsp instant coffee
Coffee Syrup
1/4 cup water
25g brown sugar
1 tsp instant coffee
1tsp Kahlua {optional}
Filling/Chocolate Ganache
120g dark couverture chocolate
100g single cream
1 tbsp Kahlua {optional}
Icing sugar for sifting
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C. Line a jelly roll pan with baking parchment.
In a large bowl, using an electric beater, whisk the eggs and brown sugar until tripled in volume and light and mousse like, about 8 minutes.
Add the coffee and vanilla extract, and beat for another minute.
Sift the flour over the bowl, and gently fold in making sure you don’t release the beaten in air.
Turn batter into prepared tray, smoothen out and bake for approx 25 minutes until light golden and firm to touch. Keep an eye during the last 5 minutes.
Lay a kitchen towel flat on the counter and sift over with powdered sugar. Turn the baked cake onto it, and gently peel off the parchment. Sift over with icing sugar, cover with sheet of parchment and roll gently into a tight roll, using the kitchen towel to guide you. Leave to cool completely.
Coffee Syrup
Place all ingredients in a small pan and simmer until the sugar dissolves. Cool and stir in the Kahlua if using. Reserve
Filling/Chocolate Ganache
Place the chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Heat until the chocolate is 3/4 done in the microwave, one minute at a time, or over a double boiler. Whisk until smooth. Add the Kahlua if using, whisk again. Cool completely. Reserve 2 tbsp in a piping bag if you wish to decorate the outside.
Assemble
Gently unroll the cake, paint over with syrup, and then spread the chocolate ganache all over it. Roll back gently but firmly, wrap in cling wrap and allow to chill seam down for an hour or two {or overnight} to allow the flavours to develop.
Unwrap and place on serving platter. Pipe a design over the roll if desired, slice and serve.
“Food is a gift and should be treated reverentially, romanced and ritualized and seasoned with memory” Chris Bohialian
Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake … a nostalgic favourite with ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’. It brings back memories of the quintessential ‘malai’ or ‘top of the milk cream’ cakes from yesteryear. Decades ago, every Indian household use to boil milk, collect the top of the milk cream, use some as is and make sweet butter of the rest. The more adventurous ones used to bake a delicious homey comforting cake with ‘malai’. This is my rendition of those good old days!
I am possibly among the few who still boil milk everyday, collect the ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’ and religiously make sweet butter at home. Some butter finds itself being clarified into ghee, while some cream escapes into cakes like these. I first made this cake for Saffola Fit Foodie, and loved the way it turned out.
Just a few days back, the very large hearted Cookaroo shared some fabulous Danish cocoa powder with me. How generous can generous be, but she is! So is the very sweet Amrita who gave the boxes of cocoa to her! One look at my stash, and it was time to bake. I did the Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake first, this time using gur {jaggery} instead of sugar, and adding walnuts too. {Gur/jaggery is a type of unrefined, solid brown sugar made from boiling sugar cane juice until dry. It has deep, earthy undertones}.
I also experimented with some cookies, wholegrain and oats, and hopefully they will see light of day on the blog soon. I know the poor blog is being neglected, but believe you me, it is just too cold up here in the North to do anything. Hopefully this too shall pass, the weather will become a little bearable and I shall begin typing sweet nothings again! That’s not to say I am not baking. I am. Loads!
[print_this]Recipe: Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake
Summary:Dark Chocolate & Walnut Wholewheat Cake … a nostalgic favourite with ‘top of the milk cream’ or ‘malai’. It brings back memories of the quintessential ‘malai’ or ‘top of the milk cream’ cakes from yesteryear. This is my rendition of those good old days!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 1hour, 15minutes Ingredients:
130g top of the milk cream / malai
175g gur/jaggery {or brown sugar}
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
175g whole wheat flour
50g cocoa powder
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
150ml plain buttermilk
75g dark chocolate chips
75g walnuts, chopped fine
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Grease lightly a 9 X 5” loaf tin. Line the bottom with baking parchment.
Sift the whole wheat flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt twice. Reserve in a bowl.
In a large bowl, with an electric beater, beat the malai and gur until light. Beat in the eggs one by one, followed by the vanilla extract.
Add 1/3 of the dry mix. Fold in with a spatula. Add 1/3 of the buttermilk, fold in. Then add another ⅓ of the dry mix, fold in. Fold in remaining buttermilk, followed with the remaining dry mix.
Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts, reserving 1tbsp of walnuts for the top.
Turn into prepared tin, sprinkle with reserved walnuts and bake for about an hour/ until tester comes out clean.
Cool in tin for about 20 minutes, then gently take out of tin and place on cooling rack.
“Celebrate what you want to see more of” Thomas J. Peters
Orange Almond Cake {gluten free} … wafts of sweet almond with citrusy notes of orange float through the kitchen, virtually transporting you to the Mediterranean. One bite and you will find it hard to believe that the cake is flourless with no added fat. It is delightfully moist and orange flavoured. Almond meal adds interesting texture, and pairs beautifully with the choice of fruit.
It’s the peak of winters here, cold as cold can be. Day before was the coldest at 2.6C, the lowest temperature recorded in December in the past so many years. The statistics don’t leave you, neither does the deep chill. It gets into your very bones. This is North Indian winter for you. In the background the TV plays endlessly; CNN telling you about the latest aviation disaster. Dreadful news at the end of the year. I’m ready for a new year. Bye bye 2014!
It’s easier to immerse yourself in what comforts you most. I click. Loads. Moody shots mainly. Sometimes you crave good news. Sometimes you wish you could turn the clock back to simple living. For times like this, I head for the kitchen, get embraced by the warmth, lose myself in the aromas that warm the cockles of your heart!
Speaking to Cookaroo a couple of days ago, she mentioned she was off to make an Orange Almond Cake. Snapped me out of my somnambulant frozen state. I had an Orange Almond Cake sitting here in my drafts, one I had done for Travel & Leisure Asia a few months ago. I’ve remade it recently since oranges and back in season.
With the market flooded with ripe, orange juicy fruit, it’s a great time to bake this cake. I’ve baked this a couple of times, both with oranges and with kumquats too. Always good. Made a couple of trifles as well. Orange Almond Cake, whipped cream with Grand Marnier, and some almond praline made the layers. Divine!
The recipe is inspired from passover cakes that find root in cuisine of the Sephardic Jews who originate from the countries of the Middle East. The cake is ‘leavened wheat free’ which is the diet that defines the passover holiday. Interestingly, ancient Greeks also savoured the combination of fruit, nuts and honey. Sugar only appeared later during the Ottoman times. The recipe first appeared in Travel & Leisure, Asia May 2014.
Bidding adieu to 2014… Have a warm and wonderful 2015. HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Summary: The Orange Almond Cake also doubles up as a great gluten free dessert if topped with mascarpone, creme patisserie or lightly whipped cream. Serve seasonal fruit like a balsamic orange vanilla strawberry reduction spooned over the top, or on the side.
Place the whole oranges in a pan, cover completely with water and simmer covered for 30-45 minutes until soft. Drain and cool. {You can do this a day before and bring to room temperature before using}. Halve the cooked oranges, remove the pits and puree skin and all. Reserve.
Preheat the oven to 170C. Line the bottom and sides of a 7″ round baking tin with parchment.
Place the egg whites and 25g castor sugar in a large bowl and beat to stiff peaks. Reserve.
Place the egg yolks in a large bowl and beat until light and mousse like, about 5 minutes.
Beat in whole orange puree and honey, followed by the vanilla bean powder, yogurt and baking soda until just mixed.
Fold in the almond meal.
Fold in 2 tbsp of the beaten egg whites to loosen the batter, then fold in half the remaining egg whites. Fold gently so that the beaten air is not released. {This will help give rise and volume to the cake}. Fold in the remaining egg whites gently, and transfer batter to prepared tin.
Place tin on baking tray and bake for approx 1 hour 15 minutes / until a tester comes out clean. {Place the tin on a tray since honey tends to cook and get dark faster than sugar.}
Cool in tin for 30 minutes, then cool on rack.
Sift over with icing sugar and top with fresh orange wedges. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.
Another nice dessert idea is to use some for trifles layered with liqueur spiced low fat cream, crunchy almond praline and cubes of almond orange cake.
Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free}…a cake inspired by so much avocado goodness that we saw at the New Zealand Avocado Season Launch. Last week saw loads of avocado recipes churned out by the very talented and sweet Chef Kunal Kapoor at the New Zealand High Commission, New Delhi.
Celebrity Masterchef Kunal Kapur said “New Zealand Hass avocados are an amazing healthy and versatile wholefood that contain the good fats needed to maintain a healthy heart. They interestingly blend with everyday Indian meals and the soft buttery texture and nutty flavour goes really well with many traditional dishes such as Bhel Puri and Tawa Pulao. They also blend seamlessly with curries”.
It’s always interesting to see what the chef does with food, creating innovative recipes, often off the beaten path. He put avocados right into the heart of Indian cuisine, the pairings quite unexpected and intriguing. I loved the idea of a New Zealand Avocado and Cheese Parantha, New Zealand Avocado Bhel Puri, New Zealand Avocado & Cucumber Soup, AVAVZA Avocado & Vanilla Srikhand and a New Zealand Avocado and Kiwi Lassi. Other recipes included New Zealand Avocado and Chicken Kebabs, New Zealand Avocado and Coconut Stew, New Zealand Avocado and Tuna Cheese Toast, New Zealand Avocado Tawa Pulao, New Zealand Avocado & Coconut chutney.
Beautiful skin The vitamins & antioxidants in Avocado can improve your skin from the inside Energy & vitality The iron, niacin and vitamin B6 in Avocado support energy levels and help to unlock energy from your food Healthy heart The good fats and omega acids in Avocado help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels Nutrient booster Avocados help your body absorb more nutrients from other foods they are eaten with Protection Vitamin C in Avocado contributes to protection of cells from free radical damage Healthy digestion Fibre in Avocado keeps your digestive system in shape
It was an interesting and fun evening, with loads of good company too. Two of my favourite chefs I recently spoke about were there – Kunal and Saby, or formally Master Chef Kunal Kapoor and Chef Sabyasachi Gorai. Also present were a great bunch of foodies. The evening disappeared amidst non stop banter, laughter, fine avocado based bites, and choicest NZ wine.
We came away with an avocado each. I swapped my normal green one for this ripe one because I fell in love with the pinkish red hue. It seemed a good fit for Pinktober too! I had an idea in my head after all the avocado talk! Back home, my ripe and ready to eat av headed for a gluten free chocolate cake; a cake where the New Zealand Avocado and Indian buckwheat flour aka kuttu ka aata met. Fab pairing!
The cake was yet another experiment. A delicious one. I was fairly confident it would work, but you really never know until you slice it, nibble at a few crumbs etc. It was divine. Fudgy fudgy fudgy. Sinfully chocolaty too; a fallen chocolate cake.
I substituted 50% of the fat {butter} with the mashed avocado to reduce the fat content and add some fibre, iron, niacin etc. The Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free} tasted even better the next day. Maybe the flavours matured. It was fudgier, the chocolate taste was deeper, and it stayed as moist as moist could be. The crumb is delicate because the only flour in here is a gluten free buckwheat flour, or ‘kuttu ka aata‘ as locally called. Handle it with care!
Try this if you like. You can always use almond meal to keep it gluten free, or use whole wheat flour to keep it healthy and whole grain. It’s been a while since I’ve used plain all purpose flour, and I’m not in a hurry to do so! Hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I might skip the butter altogether next time.
Well now I’m going to keep my eyes open for more avocados as I have a few sweet and savoury ideas brewing in my head. Avocados are not commercially grown in India. They do grow down south in a few private gardens as I remember seeing the beautiful fruit hanging off trees when we went on a midnight walk while attending the IFBM in August! Until then, it’ll have to be New Zealand avocados for me!
[print_this]Recipe: Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free}
Summary: Avocado Dark Chocolate Buckwheat Cake {Gluten Free} is divine.Fudgy fudgy fudgy. Sinfully chocolaty too, this fallen chocolate cake tastes even better the next day. It is fudgier, the chocolate taste deeper, and it stays as moist as moist can be. The crumb is delicate because the only flour in here is a gluten free buckwheat flour.
