Dessert| Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise with Crème Chantilly & Balsamic Cherry Sauce … when God created mothers!

“When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.”
Erma Bombeck

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! Finally the day to celebrate the toughest job in the world, one that makes you wonder ‘Why?‘ over and over again. As always there are no right answers, but this wonderful piece by Erma Brombeck written way back in May 12, 1974 for her Mother’s Day column tries to explain!

Dear Mother,

When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into his sixth day of “overtime” when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.
And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order?

She has to be completely washable, but not plastic;
Have 180 movable parts… all replaceable;
Run on black coffee and leftovers;
Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;
A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;
And six pairs of hands.”

The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands… no way.” … you must read the rest here When God Created Mothers

Woke up this morning to find a beautiful new ipod nano that the kids bought for me as a Mothers Day gift. The teen paid for it, and on last count she was still trying to wrangle the half the lad owed her! The way he’s trying to wriggle out of it is hysterical, both equally persistent! I am so touched with the gift … they downloaded all my favourite songs onto it {Tracy Chapman, Dire Straits, Enya, Scorpions, Eric Clapton, Gordon Lightfoot, Eagles … 1000s more, all there!}, my fave FM music channels, pictures etc, wrapped in pretty hot pink paper!I made these delicious little desserts for today. One the the high points of summer in North India is the advent of stone fruit, especially cherries and peaches. The first sight of luscious deep red cherries takes my breath away. Always priced high, the way to announce the seasons first, yet temptation wins over resolve and the heart sings a song again! This year the crops better, sweeter and even more tempting!Came home 2 days ago with a box that weighed just under 800gms and had many happy thoughts, the first being a lattice cherry pie, or maybe a cherry clafoutis. The teen had other ideas however, being a cherry lover, and soon most of the box was history. Yet it was my bake a dessert day as it had been a while since I made an indulgent dessert.The Internet has magical powers and drags you into its web, pulling you deeper and deeper. I was quite happily lost in Canelle et Vanilles beautiful pictures, when I googled for a cherry gelee to replace a strawberry gelee. Of course I got distracted, landed up at Epicurious and got searching for cherries. Cherry Syrup? Mmmmm, yes please. That sounded good, but underneath was something that sounded even better, something that I had never heard of – chocolate marquise!

Chocolate marquise is a delicate chocolate dessert made of dark chocolate, heavy cream, egg yolks, butter and sugar. Though chocolate marquise is fairly simple in its ingredients, it makes for an elegant dessert as it can be molded in various shapes and served with fresh or chocolate dipped fruit and shaved chocolate pieces. Chocolate marquise requires no baking, but you will need at least three hours to allow it to chill in the refrigerator before serving.

It’s tough to leave a tempting title like a Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise without an in depth read. Expectedly, pretty soon I was lining molds and humming a sweet song! Yum Yum Yum is all I thought! One thing was definite, that my marquise would be individually plated, a form of serving dessert which I enjoy most. Of course you can line a loaf pan, or rectangular mold and set the marquise. Chill and slice prior to serving. Else do what I did with some leftover – set in individual goblets. Outstanding and fun! I think if you are short on time, the goblets work best and offer visual delight. I layered in a big hurry as I wasn’t too sure of what to expect. From experience I can now say – expect the best!If you like bitter chocolate, then use a nice dark couverture like a 65-70% one, else you can even go with a medium. In that case, maybe reduce the sugar a bit if you like. For an adult variation, maybe spike it with a liqueur and top it with a complimentary fruit pairing. Chocolate holds endless appeal and pairs well with a variety of fruit – cherries, strawberries, oranges, mangoes etc. If cherry season isn’t there yet, try a pairing with strawberries in balsamic syrup.

[print_this]Recipe: Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise with Crème Chantilly & Balsamic Cherry Sauce

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients
  • 200gms dark chocolate, melted {I used 55% couverture}
  • 85gms unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
  • 2 tsp cherry liqueur
  • 1/8 cup water
  • 200ml low fat cream, chilled
  • 1/8 cup powdered sugar

Method:

  1. Blend 50gms {2/3rd} of the butter with 1/8 cup of sugar, then add the cocoa and whip again. Set aside.
  2. Place the remaining butter, yolks, scraped vanilla bean, remaining 1/8 cup sugar and water in a metal saucepan and whisk until well blended.
  3. Place the saucepan over simmering water, and stir constantly until the temperature reads 160F. Take off heat and blend with an electric blender for about 5 minutes till it becomes smooth and cool.
  4. Whip this into the butter, sugar, cocoa mix, add the cherry liqueur if using, blending until homogeneous and smooth. Fold in warm chocolate. Adjust sugar if you like.
  5. In another bowl, whip up 200ml chilled low fat cream with 1/8 cup powdered sugar until it holds peaks. Fold this gently but firmly through the chocolate mix.
  6. Divide the marquise into your prepared molds, smoothen out to the edges and leave to set for at least an hour.
  7. Top with the crème chantilly if using, {recipe follows}, drizzled with a balsamic cherry sauce {recipe follows}.

Recipe: Crème Chantilly
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 1/8 cup powdered sugar
  • 100ml low fat cream, chilled
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla powder {or 1/2  vanilla bean, scraped}

Method:

  1. Whip all ingredients together to medium firm peaks.
  2. Place crème chantilly in a piping bag and top the mold with it. Using an offset spatula, level the tops. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe: Balsamic Cherry Sauce

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 200gms fresh cherries, pitted
  • 20gms brown sugar
  • 3/4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method:

  1. Place all ingredients in a metal saucepan and simmer until the cherries appear glossy, hold their shape and the syrup become thick.
  2. Transfer to a bowl and reserve. Use warm or chilled.
  3. If the syrup appears very liquidy, remove the cherries to a bowl, and reduce the syrup to desired consistency.

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Swiss Black Forest Cake … whipping up low fat cream into submission!

“Bakers are born, not made. We are exacting people who delight in submitting ourselves to rules and formulas if it means achieving repeatable perfection”
Rose Levy Beranbaum
Was missing from bloggerville for a while as we took the kids for a vacation to a charming town called Gangtok tucked away in the Himalayas in the North East of India. It was a 2 hour flight from New Delhi, and then a 5 hour bumpy car ride to the resort. From there, I thought I would tweet and blog a bit, but surprise surprise … we had no connectivity there! It was a surreal feeling in some ways not to be able to keep in touch with the external world. In my free time I experienced twitter cravings, FBC withdrawal symptoms etc and at times felt I had disappeared into oblivion. Thankfully there was loads to do there, so these feelings were pretty short-lived!

Time to return after a good 6 day break in the beautiful Himalayan hills, and we landed on the eve of the lad’s birthday! Didn’t know what hit me as I faced his extreme birthday excitement, piles of laundry, the feeling of extreme food disconnect, and the panic that in 6 days I might have forgotten how to cook & bake! I was mighty relieved that I had baked the basic sponge for his birthday cake and frozen it before we left. Phew!!

Crept out early the next morning, while the rest of the family luxuriously snoozed in dreamland, cursing my luck, but the cake had to be assembled, and that too in soaring temperatures! Yes indeed, we were back into summer. From a cool 15C in the hills, we landed the night before at 39C The day highs here are back to 42-44C. The impending task of frosting a cake in such smoldering conditions was not exactly appealing, but I was  determined to stick to my choice of Swiss Black Forest Cake. The upside was that almost all parts of the cake can be made in advance, so assembling it is a breeze! In retrospect, it was the best Black Forest Cake we’ve ever had! Am still ruing the fact that it disappeared rather too quickly!


Rose Beranbaums version of the Black Forest Cake, a German Classic, was inspired by Confiserie Tschirren in Berne, Switzerland. They brought the recipe from Germany after World War II, and it has since become the national cake of Switzerland. In her words, the Swiss version is far lighter and more delicate than the original German one, which also includes buttercream.

My version of the cake is one which is quite popular in bakeries and patisseries all across India. I think it’s referred often as the Black Forest Gateau here, and is made with whipped cream and canned cherries. I took advantage of fresh cherry season, and loved the way the cake came together. The crumb was light and very moist, the filling luxurious and the flavours outstanding. Mr PABs verdict … the best BFC he’s ever had!

A very sweet reader of my blog, Zareena from the UAE sent me this beautiful book a short while ago. I used The Cake Bible last month to make these Cherry and Matcha Cheesecake Pots. I waited impatiently for the son’s birthday to arrive so I could bake a cake from it. On the cover it says, “If you ever bake a cake, this book will become your partner in the kitchen”! Words that ring true for me! I am also happy to blog about this because I get a large number of requests from home bakers especially in India for a BFC recipe, and even more queries for whipping up low fat cream. Our basic problem in India is that we get just one sort of cream here, a 25% low fat cream {Amul}, and in warm weather, it almost never gets whipped up. I was thrilled to read how Rose Beranbaum found a way to get the butterfat back into the cream. To quote her, “I am both abashed and delighted to announce that it is the very soul of simplicity“… music to my ears!!

Swiss Black Forest Cake
Minimally adapted from The Cake Bible, Rose Beranbaum
Serves 12-15
2 moist chocolate genoise cakes {recipe follows}
500gms cherries {fresh, frozen or canned}
1 cup syrup {recipe follows}
1 portion Real Old Fashioned Whipped Vanilla Cream {recipe follows}
Fresh cherries, grated dark chocolate and chocolate flakes for garnishing

Moist Chocolate Genoise
Adapted minimally from The Cake Bible, Rose Beranbaum
230gms dark chocolate
3/4 cup water
8 eggs
1 cup vanilla sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornflour

Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare 2 9 x 2″ spring form cake tins – greased, bottoms lined with baking parchment, greased and floured again.
Sift the flours. Reserve.
In a large pan, bring the chocolate and the water to boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the chocolate thickens to a pudding like consistency. {The original recipe has 1 cup of water, but I found it way too much and the chocolate took forever to thicken}. Cool completely.
Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl on high speed till tripled in volume, about 7-10 minutes. {I use an electric hand beater}
Sift 1/2 the flour mix over the beaten egg mixture, and fold in gently but rapidly until some of the flour has disappeared. Repeat with the remaining flour until all the flour has disappeared. Fold in the chocolate mixture until incorporated.
Pour immediately into prepared pans {about 2/3 full}, and bake at 180C for 30-35 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Loosen the sides with a metal spatula/butter knife, and invert onto lightly greased cooling racks. Re-invert to cool. {At this point, the cake stays at room temperature for 2 days, in the fridge for 5 days, and in the freezer for 2 months. I froze it for 10 days, and brought it down into the fridge the night before I was due to use it}
Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp cherry brandy / liqueur / kirsch {optional}
Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Take off heat, stir in the liqueur if using, cover and allow to cool. {Can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month}
Cherries:
500gms fresh cherries, pitted {reserve 8-10 for topping}
1/4 – 1/2 cup sugar {depending on how sweet they are}
I tossed the cherries in the sugar and froze them as suggested by Rose Beranbaum in The Cake Bible. The sugar helps them hold shape. I brought them down into the fridge the night before, drained any liquid, and roughly chopped them up for use. I think you can use freshly pitted, chopped ones too. I have used canned cherries in the past. Halve the cherries if they are too big.
Real Old Fashioned Whipped Vanilla Cream:
Adapted from Rose Beranbaums recipe
800gms low fat cream {I used 25% Amul Cream}, chilled
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean scraped
3-4 tbsp powdered sugar {increase if desired; as per taste}
Refrigerate the bowl and beater for 15 minutes.
In a small pan, melt the butter and 1/2 cup cream, stirring constantly till the butter has completely melted. Add the scraped vanilla seeds, and bean, mix well. Transfer to a heatproof measuring cup to cool to room temperature. {Remove the bean before use}.
Beat the remaining cream with sugar until soft peaks are reached. Now begin adding the butter in a gradual stream, beating constantly on low speed, until stiff peaks are formed. {Because the temperature that day was about 43C, I didn’t get very firm whipped cream, but it was good enough to fill and frost the cake.}
Assembling the cake:
Split the chocolate genoise horizontally to get  4 layers. Sprinkle both sides of each layer with the syrup, and reserve on platters. Place the bottom layer on the serving platter.
Reserve about 1/2 the cream for the topping and frosting. Take a third of the remaining cream and spread over the bottom later. Distribute 1/3 of the cherries over the cream, poking into the cream. Repeat with the remaining 3 layers.
Put about 1/2 a cup of cream in a piping bag to make rosettes on top if desired. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cream. Cover the sides with grated dark chocolate. Pipe rosettes on top, sprinkle chocolate flakes in the centre, and place cherries on the rosettes. Chill until ready to serve. {I found the cake easier to cut with a serrated knife because of the cherries in the filling}
Note: The cake will taste better if allowed to chill for at least 4 hours to help the flavours to mature.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

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Baking| Chocolate Cherry Muffins … healthy muffins we l♥ve!

“Life is just a bowl of cherries.”
Proverb
There’s so much to do as always, & so little time. With the kids still at home on vacation, the day gallops by so fast. Still, I can’t figure out why it’s taken me so long to post these muffins. They’re on my file for quick reference, one of the quickest & best chocolate fixes I have on record. Found them on this blog – Cooking During Stolen Moments as I browsed the net for recipes for ‘muffins using dried cherries’. I amended the recipe a teeny bit to make them a twitch healthier, with some whole wheat flour substitution.
What do I love about them? E V E R Y T H I N G !! To begin with, they’re chocolate & a great fix for sweet cravings. The recipe uses cocoa which is more easily available in India vis a vis baking chocolate. Secondly, they use oil instead of buttah! I’m actively trying to substitute butter with oil as often as possible. Nothing but a personal attempt to try incorporate healthier food choices into our ‘ daily bread’, so as to say! Further, you don’t need a beater to get the batter together. A simple whisk is good enough. What’s more, no sifting! Here’s a recipe that falls together in 5-7 minutes flat, and also allows for easy substitution. No cherries = no problem. Use chocolate chips &/or walnuts instead. I love it! The muffins taste great the day they’re baked because the tops are crisp & crusty in a moreish way … almost endearing! They maintain a wonderful taste, sans crisp top, thereafter, and keep moist & delicious stored in the fridge, thanks to the oil!
They remind me of the Cappuccino Muffins I make when I have coffee cravings, which is quite often! That recipe belongs to Nic’s @ Cherrapeno, and is a firm favourite for it’s ease & wonderful flavour, and is in my ‘quick to make’ recipe file. The kids love cappuccino muffins. A close contender, jostling for space right on top has been this bundt cake from the Food LibrarianCinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake is another huge favourite at home these days. Now, we have another fighter in the ring, & more competition is always healthy! The Chocolate Cherry Muffins have marked their permanent abode in this file, & are a lot of fun. I’ve made them thrice already, & sometimes place fresh cherries on top prior to baking. A sprinkling of vanilla sugar adds to flavour!

CHOCOLATE CHERRY MUFFINS
as adapted minimally from Cooking During Stolen Moments
Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. wholewheat flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 T. cocoa powder
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. chocolate chips
1/2 c. dried cherries
1 c. milk
1/2 c. oil
1 egg
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Method:
In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, including the chocolate chips and dried cherries.
In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until completely moistened and combined.
Pour about 1/3 – 1/2 c. batter into greased or lined muffin tin. Bake at 200C for about 20 minutes, or until the muffins are done.

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