” Laughter is brightest where food is best.”
Irish Proverb.
Irish Creme Chocolate Cakes with an Irish Creme Caramel Sauce … there’s something incredibly infectious about the green posts that have been falling into my mailbox the past few days. Irish Soda bread, shepherds pie, Irish coffee shamrock cookies, chocolate stout cupcakes, beer battered broccoli, Irish floats, corned beef & cabbage. I had to join in!
Years ago, working for BA introduced us to St Patrick’s Day as we had a sizable Irish crew. The accents always stood out, charming as could be. In 2009, the Irish accent beat its French counterpart as the world’s sexiest, thanks to stars like Colin Farrell and James Nesbitt! How sweet was that.
Loads of green is sweeping the net for St Patricks Day. I had a bottle of homemade Irish creme in the fridge, one that I made a while ago when some liqueur inspiration hit me. I made some kumquat liqueur then too. It’s still sitting in some cool dark place!
Cleaning out the fridge rewarded me with a quarter jar of leftover Irish creme caramel sauce and some almond praline, all from a recent recipe shoot. With a few hours on hand yesterday, I thought I’d put the leftovers to good use. With time limited, I opted to use a recent flourless chocolate cake recipe just because it was in my head.
That Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Gateau served asinspiration for these little cakes. Since I was experimenting with the basic recipe, I made a few changes, including a teeny bit of wholewheat flour to the batter. If you’d like to keep these gluten free, then by all means use the Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Gateau recipe. For 6 small cakelets, just half portions of that recipe will do.
I did an espresso meringue topping, sprinkled over with crushed praline just because I enjoyed doing a meringue topping for the earlier cake. Gave me another chance to experiment. I love the play of textures and colours that different methods bring about. Besides, chocolate is always rewarding to play with!
My touch of Irish green come via mint leaves, and the cakes have the delicious Irish creme stamp all over it. I’ve kept the amounts minimum because of the kids. Feel free to pour another spoon in, or give the caramel a good helping of the same. For the Irish Creme Caramel Syrup, stir your desired amount {upto 1/4 cup} of Irish creme through your to-go recipe of caramel syrup just as you’ve finished making it.
What I loved about these most was the meringue topping studded with crunchy praline. That was literally the ‘icing on the cake’! Do make sure you don’t over bake the little cakes. We want them moist and soft. If they do get a little dry, brush them with a strong coffee solution.
If you are short on time, instead of sandwiching them, you could always serve these with single cream on the side. That would make for a quicker dessert as it’s pretty much together already. A dusting of cocoa, a little dressing up with chocolate shavings, a drizzle of caramel … all done!
Happy St Patrick’s Day to you dear readers.
I love the way food connects the entire globe in such delicious ways!
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Recipe: Irish Creme Chocolate Cakes with an Irish Creme Caramel Sauce
Summary: Irish Creme Chocolate Cakes to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. What’s not to love about these little rustic beauties!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutesIngredients:
Dark Chocolate Cakes
4 eggs, separated
100g vanilla sugar, divided 75g + 25g
1 vanilla bean, scraped
125g dark chocolate, melted
1 tbsp Irish Cream {Baileys or homemade}
25g wholewheat flour
1/2tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp espresso powder
To finish
100ml low fat cream chilled
1 tbsp powdered sugar
2 tbsp caramel syrup
1 tbsp Irish Cream {Baileys or homemade}
2 tbsp crushed praline {or chopped roasted nuts}
Method:
Dark chocolate cakes
Preheat the oven to 180C. Oil 6 X 3″ dessert rings and secure the bases with foil.
In a large clean bowl whip the 4 egg whites with 25g sugar until stiff, reserve.
In another large bowl, beat the 4 yolks with 75g sugar until pale, creamy and mousse like, 5-7 minutes on high speed.
Beat in the vanilla bean.
Sift the wholewheat, baking powder and salt over the yolk mixture, and fold in gently.
Gently whisk in the Irish cream and melted chocolate.
Reserve about 1 cup beaten whites, and fold the remaining whites into the batter.
Divide between rings and bake for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile beat the reserved white with 1 tbsp sugar and the espresso powder until stiff. Transfer to piping bag.
Remove half baked cakes from over, gently pipe over a swirl onto each cakelet, sprinkle over with crushed praline.
Continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes, until done. Cool completely in rings.
Assemble
Run a butter knife around the edges to loosed the cooled cakes and demold. Slice each horizontally into two. Keep the pairs together.
Whip the chilled cream with powdered sugar until medium stiff. Sandwich the cakes with the cream and a drizzle of caramel syrup. Top with the meringue halves, and drizzle with a little caramel syrup.
