Chocolate Beetroot Cake

I have been kicked out of the kitchen where Thai Green Curry is being made so I thought I would update the latest chocolate news.

I just spent Christmas in the Lake District where my Chocolate Chip Cookies appeared to go down rather well. (For the recipe go to http://www.chocolateecstasytours.com and sign up for the newsletter.) I also made some oatmeal and raisin cookies too. the cookie supply ran dangerously low so I improvised in the cottage kitchen and made some Christmas Cookies - nutmeg, raisin and orange.

One of my Christmas presents was the Chocolate recipe book from Green and Blacks. As soon as we returned to a full kitchen I headed to Tesco for inspiration (having spent some time poring over it beforehand). I saw the beetroot in the vegetable section (would you believe the organic beetroot is cheaper than the regular kind?) and decided I had to try to make beetroot cake. I first saw chocolate beetroot cake at Chatswood House but I didn't buy it, and then I saw the recipe in this book.

It is such an easy cake to make, you don't need to cream butter and sugar, or whip eggs. Though I guess you do need to process the beetroot to mush and melt the chocolate with butter. I was going to take a picture but I couldn't remember where I left my camera (in my handbag!) until after it was already cooked and cut.

I hope you all had a nice chocolatey Christmas!

visions of Chocolate from Russia

I finally have my photos on my computer. There was just so much chocolate on display here!

Chocolate Christmas pudding

I remember when I was a kid and we used to be served Christmas pudding, the only reasons my brothers and I used to accept it was for the promise of coins. And the brandy butter. We use to dig around in the dessert, eating little bits of pudding with large amounts of the accompaniments until we found coins.

Now that I'm all grown up I like Christmas pudding more - though still mainly for the brandy butter. I went searching on the internet for a chocolate Christmas pudding recipe. Though in November I was so organised and made my recipe for the December newsletter I decided last week that I would try and make a chocolate Christmas pudding instead. So the newsletter has been delayed because today has been the first day I have been able to make it. Actually, I started last night. I've never made any kind of steamed pudding before and didn't realise it is supposed to stand in the dish overnight. So I finally took it off the boil at about midnight (did you know they have to boil for 1 3/4 hours? The tedium. Fortunately I was simultaneously making several batches of biscotti.

The final unveiling occured at midday today. The bowl was not quite right, but the pudding still tasted good. A quick trip to the supermarket in the afternoon to get some milk because I was going to make custard. Then I decided brandy butter would be easier, so the milk is still sitting in the fridge. I wouldn't normally use milk for anything but custard is so precarious to make from scratch I decided I better not risk using rice milk or a similar substitute.

Here is the pudding and the recipe can be found in the December newsletter which I will send out tomorrow. I took the picture before I had any cream or anything else pretty to decorate it, so please excuse its nakedness.

Happy Holidays!

(Oh, how politically correct!)

Dominiques Chocolate

I confess, I took some chocolate with me to St Petersburg. I had no idea if Russian knew anything about chocolate. Whether you could get any good chocolate. I wasn't going to risk it.
We walked past Grand Hotel Europe and saw they had "Europe's finest afternoon tea". As we had eaten a very late (and large) breakfast and booked to go to the ballet that evening, we decided afternoon tea might be better than dinner. On the mezzanine we discovered now only a selection of cakes (which, incidentally, the ones we tried weren't that great) but CHOCOLATE! The hotel has begun making their own selection. We tried 13 of their 15 (I don't like praline that much) and totally fell in with their green apple and madras curry. I also really liked both of their cassis chocolates. And the banana and vodka pepper was nice too!

from Russia, with Chocolate

We are definitely staying in the right hotel. It was obvious from the moment we arrive in the room. Two blue-paper wrapped squares bearing the hotel name sitting on a silver tray on the desk, on the underside the words, "60% Kakao". Excellent. Not so much the quality but the knowing that there was some chocolate to hand. And I was so grateful I had dropped one in my handbag as it was a life saver in the Hermitage when my blood sugar was dangerously low but I didn't want to leave as we hadn't yet seen all the highlights on our list. It tied me over till our lovely Russian lunch.

Got to, off to dinner. More later on the Russian chocolate discoveries.

Low Battery - Noooooo.....

I’m on the plane to Russia and the Low Battery warning is popping up. No…. I’m sure I remembered to pack the adaptor. I know I packed the cord, because I was careful to avoid putting the still-warm hair straighteners too close to it when I was packing the suitcase. I was rather hoping that delaying the trip to St Petersburg until December might mean there would be snow on the ground, but no, it will

Just be cold. That’s where it went into hibernation. Still over an hour to go on the flight. I didn’t know how to pass the time. I’m such a geek. I don’t take books travelling, I take my laptop.

Anyway, am in Russia now so will enjoy being in Russia and write more on my return! (Yes, I found chocolate!)

Chocolate IS good for you!

I picked up London Careers magazine on my way into the tube this morning. No – definitely not looking for work, just wanted to read the articles. I haven’t taken one in about a year and interestingly this particular issue, apart from having a very strange error in printing that positioned an article on cures for diseases next to an unsmiling photo of Cameron Diaz, had an article about chocolate. How the dark stuff is useful in people at risk of heart attack. According to this article it thins the blood. They found this out because in a trial where people where on a restricted diet to minimise the extraneous variable some of the participants refused to give up chocolate (smart people) so they decided to monitor them separately. They had healthy readings! Hooray! Long live chocoholics!

Discovering country chocolatiers

A perfect weekend for country driving, though it felt and sounded like someone was throwing full buckets of water onto the window last night this morning the sky was washed clean and blue again. Perfect for family visiting. We went to visit Donnington brewery, where my grandmother grew up. Described as the prettiest brewery in the UK, with its lake and old stone buildings it really is beautiful as though painted into life. It is not open to the public. Nearby is gorgeous Stow-on-the-Wold. My father was born there. It is such a pretty town. Not a high street chain in sight. Plenty of quality food shops, making me very happy. Even better a chocolatier opened about six months ago. The lovely Katherine owns and runs Miette in Stow. A chocolatier and patisserie. In the lead up to Christmas the patisserie has been put on hold because the demand for chocolates is so high. Which is a shame, because I do like quality baked things, especially when baked by a chocolatier – you can guarantee they would have used good chocolate. Miette means small, sweet thing. According to Katherine some of the locals seem to think it is called “meat”; a little unfortunate but it doesn’t seem to affect the rave reviews.

Whilst not all the range that I would have liked to have sampled were available yesterday the fig and orange marmalade truffle was just lovely. Not too orangey. One or two left to try still…

The brownies from Maby’s are also worth trying if you happen to be in Stow.

Fountains of chocolate

It seemed only right that being the chocolate girl I am that I have at least some chocolates at my birthday party. I was planning on serving chocolate cake, but then lovely friends offered to loan me their chocolate fountain – even though they couldn’t come to the party! So I ordered 2.5kg of 72% Callebaut from Raj (my new supplier ;-) ). Delighted that I could get cocoa butter to use to thin it down rather than vegetable oil (ick!). It was rather popular. (Understatement.)The marshmallows went quickly. Sponge cake, apples, grapes and bananas also were divine. Mmm…

I am grateful people never arrive on time because I still had my dressing gown over my dress to protect me from blending the dips! I kind of invited lots of people, rather casually, not really sure who might turn up, and not remembering to invite everyone (sorry!). Funny how those parties always end up the most fun. To be honest, I think most people came because I promised them food and cake! Well, I delivered, and the bonus fountain seemed a pleasant surprise and kept the party kicking until well after 2am (love that chocolate stuff! OK, so all the bottles of champers on the "bar" may have helped too).

I finally went to bed about 3.30am, leaving my brother and a couple of his mates and the mess, and more chocolate… Though we made quite a dent on the 2.5kg, I’ll be making more cakes and things soon I think, with this stock I will have to!

A chocolate birthday

Today is my birthday and I was given chocolate flowers. The most precious of all the cacao plantations in the world is the Porcelana plantation in Venezuela. Valrhona have created a signature gift box of three layers of chocolate pieces laid in the shape of an open flower. When you lift the cardboard layers that open like petals (and then the protective plastic) the smell is just divine! I had to leave the house at 7am to train 25 boys in public speaking so I decided to hold off on my treat until I returned.

I was treated to chocolate cake by the lead trainer after we finished. We debated whether the quality of the local Literary Café’s chocolate cake might only disspoint me but I was so desperate for chocolate by the end of this long day that if I was going to eat sugar it had to be with chocolate. It was a very satisfying cake. Moist and made with cocoa, just like the quick cakes I used to make when I was younger. A comforting, nostaligic treat.

Tonight I’m being taken for a surprise dinner… as long there is chocolate somewhere on the menu! :-D

5 desserts, but no chocolate?

Five desserts and not one of them chocolate. Surprising.

I had been counting down the days to last night's dinner in the Library at Sketch. I went with my foodie friend Kevin and his fiance and Kevin's friend Matt who runs a very cool cookery school for everyone: www.undergroundcatering.com

The lack of chocolate in the five dessert selections was made up for by the petit fours to follow: a white chocolate and chartreuse ever-so-light whipped ganache, a piece of milk mendiant bark, with pistachio, hazelnut and dried fruit, an incredible milk chocolate case with a passionfruit and salted caramel centre; and a (non-chocolate) rhubarb jelly square. I could have eaten a plate of the passionfruit chocolates. The five desserts were also very good. The first course of my taster menu was divine too: a beetroot and raspberry coulis with coco beans.

Newtons Chocolates in Clapham.

My uncle is visiting from South Africa and he took us out for dinner last night. We went to Newtons on Abbeville Road. It was almost empty when we arrived just before 8pm but gradually filled up. The staff are really friendly with just the right amount of attentiveness. My brother and uncle loved their lamb shanks. When it came time for dessert we had trouble deciding. We couldn’t decide who should get the chocolate brownie and who the lemon tart, with the plan to share but knowing that like with all siblings we probably wouldn’t if one of them was especially good. We both got the brownie. It was served hot and very dense. With walnuts which apparently so rare in brownies these days that my brother wondered what they were doing in there. Also on the menu were Newtons Chocolate truffles. After ordering the brownie I quizzed the waitress: “They are made with Valhrona”. Darn it. This meant I just had to try them. We ordered 6 to take away after dinner, and each ate one at the table. They were just taken from the fridge so apart from recognising they were good it was impossible to tell just how good. The liqueur was so subtle we couldn’t even taste it, and the chef who had made the batch earlier that day had left and so couldn’t tell us what it was. Upon trying another truffle again this morning I could see that they really were made with Valhrona. It’s amazing what a difference it makes tasting it at room temperature. Having them cold completely dulls the taste.

La Plaisir Chocolates

I have now tried all of the chocolates. I bought so many at once that I haven’t actually eaten them all, but I have at least had a small taste of each. I found them really buttery, so I went back (under the guise of asking the question but really because I wanted to try one of their other cakes). Of the 25 or so I selected (and I avoided all of the white ganaches) there were three that I would return to try: the Bitter almond and apricot, prunes and armagnac and the Laphroang. I am told there is no butter in the ganache, it is perhaps due to a high quantity of cocoa butter in the chocolate. They use Callebaut but are looking at commissioning their own couveture soon. The flagship store in Edinburgh opened 7 years ago and, except for the store where they are made, all the other stores and Harvey Nichols concessions were opened in the last 18 months: Manchester, Edinburgh, London and Dubai.

Chocolate in Edinburgh

The things we have to do in the name of research. Ahem. OK, I would seek these chocolate shops out wherever I go regardless, I just conveniently have managed to attribute my tasting of chocolate to the necessary role I have of sharing these tastes with the rest of the world. Ok, ok, I’m quite sure no one is hanging on my every chocolate-centred word, but regardless I shall write about the chocolate shops of Edinburgh that I visited yesterday.

Despite being the last weekend in October, Edinburgh is actually not too cold. It is only in the last two weeks that I have finally acknowledged that summer is indeed over, by beginning to wear boots instead of sandals and coats over my skirts and sleeveless tops. Even this far up North I still haven’t had to don gloves or even a scarf. And have incredibly poor circulation and I do not cope well with the cold.

Sorry, back to the chocolate. Well, I had already heard about La Plaisir du Chocolat and so made a target of finding it as soon as possible. We had a lunch date and upon seeing the enormous selection (especially the range of cakes!) we realised we would have to return. So I bought just one cake to take away as I hadn’t had breakfast and in this case felt it was appropriate to begin with dessert because it was already after noon. Raspberry ganache. So incredibly rich that I am not sure how anyone could eat one slice to themselves in one day, let alone in one sitting. Very very yummy. Thick, thick layers of quality ganache interspersed with thin layers of sponge cake and raspberry. I suppose it was a raspberry jam but a quality one.

I discovered Coco of Bruntsfield by chance on the way to lunch and was forced to wait until after eating to go and in and explore. Coco specialises in bar infusions and hot chocolates. They also make two truffles and praline balls. The lovely Rebecca, originally from Sydney let us sample whatever we liked. The rose and peppercorn was great. As is the dark with cinnamon and cardamom and dried cranberries that I took away. You can sit and have hot chocolate at the little bar inside and a short walk away can view their kitchens (though they weren’t open yesterday so we could only peer through at spice jars and barren marble slabs. Coco has been nominated for Independent Retailer of the Year awards. Results are out this week!
I then returned to La Plaisir to get a take-away bag of about 25 of their 40+ chocolates. A little chocolate-weary from the ganache cake (which I didn’t even finish!) I will wait to try these. Though being made with fresh ingredients I only have a week to do so….

New Chocolate store in London: Demarquette

There’s a new chocolate shop on the block. I popped in today to visit. The first I heard of them was because they won a few awards in the Annual Chocolate Awards last week. One of the award winners was the house truffle, a 75% cocoa content blend with honey. A well-deserved award. It is interesting how all of the top end chocolate shops still manage to be unique to each other. Though they have a similar style of serving their ganaches in enrobed rectangular pieces as La Maison du Chocolat and L’Artisan du Chocolat, Demarquette transfer an edible print of the type of chocolate directly onto the top. Rather than consulting a menu you can see right there what you are about to consume. I guess it’s not the place to go if you enjoy the guessing game! Rather than design, it is the tastes of each chocolate shop that gives them their individuality. I have no one favourite chocolate shop, rather many favourite chocolates that I have to go to different stores to get. Then of course there is mood dependent choices. Demarquette has several flavour combinations I have not seen before, a Japanese cherry blossom and coconut and banana. Of the six I tried the one I will return to have again would definitely be the cassis (I don’t drink Ribena anymore but loved it as a kid!). But there are over 20 varieties so I will definitely be back - if only to taste my way through the rest!

Raw chocolate cake

Last night I ate a completely “raw” chocolate cake, made by my friend Peter. You would barely know it wasn’t raw. I have no idea how it was created because he keeps his recipes top secret, though having been to one of his classes I daresay it included an awful lot of equipment that normal kitchens don’t have: pulverising-thingies and dehydrators and all sorts. However, fortunately for those of us who don’t have the goods (nor the inclination to spend the time playing with superfoods) he will be selling them to the general public soon.

The Chocolate dinner last week

Chocolate Week Chocolate Week Chocolate Week

I've been too busy trying fine chocolate this week to write (oh, and working a bit too!).



I have just finished the second of the two luxury chocolate tours and am now relaxing on the couch, laptop on lap (hmmm...) completely buzzed from all of the chocolate. Now, in general chocolate shouldn't really have this much of an effect on your biochemistry, but when you consider just how much I have consumed in the past three days, well, over 300 compounds are having some effect. :-)

So, how much chocolate have I eaten?

Well, I didn't go to that many of the chocolate events this week but I spent all of today and all of Thursday touring London's best chocolate stores sampling lots at each. Thursday's tour was followed by the chocolate soiree, a 3 course chocolate extravaganza at Volupte lounge with Burlesque dancers and a musical trio playing show tunes.

Last night I went to a presentation by Damien Allsop, the former chocolatier from Melt. He makes very cool chocolates with a water-based ganache (ganache is the soft chocolate centre of the best kind of chocolate, made from warm cream and chocolate mixed together). So, no cream, though he does add some clarified (ie. flavourless) butter to help maintain the creamier texture. The main reason for not using the cream is to keep the flavour as pure to the original chocolate flavour as possible. It was a very delicious evening, we tasted squares of pure chocolate, he made a water based chocolate mousse and we tried some ganache chocolates he'd "prepared earlier". It was really interesting to learn all the science-y stuff behind chocolate making.

Back to Morel

This time for a family dinner. This is my third three course dinner in a row and I feel that perhaps I need to be doing a little more running! Despite the dodgy fish I felt it was worth another try here. Exceeding expectations. My seared tuna was reminiscent of Joey's in Canada... aah. My bro thought the portions were a little skimpy, which is interesting because normally he eats less than me in a meal. Having already tried the chocolate and orange fondant I decided to try the Apple Tart Tatin. OMG. Goood. You should try it. Really.

A chocolate confession

Um, if you're thinking that I had another chocolate fondant last night when I went out for dinner then you'd, er, um, be right. Though to be honest, me being me, a chocolate confession is more likely to be that there was chocolate fondant on the menu and I didn't have it. Well, there was chocolate fondant on the menu, and I did have it. We went to a restaurant-that-was-a-pub called the Olive Tree (I think) and I really wished I'd taken my camera so you could see their dessert board menu. It was laughably written for me. Of eight options only 3 of them didn't have chocolate. There was a white chocolate and raspberry tiramisu (I know! Like, what?), a sticky chocolate pudding, a chocolate chip bread pudding and some others I don't remember now... But I had to have the fondant because that's what I do (and they take 15 minutes to cook). Also, I did ask the waitress what she thought and she said the fondant was best. It was good. I don't think any have compared to one that I had in Santorini (Greece) two years ago. But perhaps it's deliciousness is in part manufactured by my memory, and the fact it was perhaps my first introduction to the dessert.