Showing posts with label chocolate tart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chocolate tart. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

A Gooey Mint Chocolate Birthday Surprise



My hubby's birthday was a few weeks ago, and the boys and I had a special surprise waiting for him when he came home from work - his favorite chocolate dessert! It's a Swedish cake called kladdkaka, which translates to "gooey cake", and is a version of a molten chocolate cake. I grew up with this chocolaty goodness, and we would make it for birthday parties, whenever we had guests over, or just on a regular Friday night. As a matter of fact, I would even dare to say that there's a 90% chance that this is one of the things you will be served at any Swedish birthday party. And since we're a chocolate loving family, this easy recipe has become a staple at our house.


 
 
My oldest son, Jacob, loves to help out in the kitchen, and William, my youngest, loves to get messy, so this was a great baking adventure for them. I love finding recipes that are kid friendly, that only uses a handful of ingredients, and doesn't take too much time to make. The best part was seeing how excited they were to make something for daddy!


 
 
A good thing about this specific recipe, is that it doesn't use any active ingredient such as baking powder or baking soda, so you can stir until the cows come home without it having affect on how it turns out! And as you can imagine, there was a whole lot of stirring going on.




I've made a lot of kladdkakas over the years, and I've tried different versions of it; traditional, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, mint chocolate, chocolate raspberry, a dulce de leche version etc. Sometimes I'll stick with the traditional recipe and serve it with vanilla sugar whipped cream and a raspberry sauce, just to make it a little more fun. The bottom line is, you can't go wrong with this one if you love chocolate.


 
 
This time we made a mint chocolate version, because it's one of Matt's favorites. The recipe calls for After Eight, but you can also use Andes Mints or something similar. Just don't be intimidated by the amount of mint used, it's not going to be overpowering! Even the kids loved every bite of it.




 
 
The boys made sure we quality tested the chocolate. Because, I mean, we wouldn't want to use bad chocolate. I just had to make sure there was still some left to use in the cake. Luckily, there was!






The boys where so proud to present the cake to daddy, and of course he was so impressed and loved the surprise!


 
 
Personally, I think kladdkaka is best served with vanilla bean ice cream or with whipped cream, but some like it plain Jane. I usually go with ice cream, especially in the winter time, when I like to bake the cake in small ramekins and serve the chocolate cake warm.
 
 
 
 
Look at that fudgey goodness! Now you have something to bake Friday night to celebrate that another work week is over!
 

 
After Eight Gooey Chocolate Cake
from the magazine Hembakat

150 g butter
270 g sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp. cacao
105 g flour
1 pinch salt
2 tsp vanilla sugar*

8 After Eight pieces

Mint chocolate glaze
25 After Eight pieces
powdered sugar


*If you can't get your hands on vanilla sugar, just substitute with confectioners sugar and add a 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.

Instructions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 355 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. 
  2. Pour the batter into a buttered 9" spring form pan.
  3. Chop up 8 After Eights and put them in the batter.
  4. Bake in on the center rack for about 25-30 minutes. Make sure it's not too wobbly when you take it out. Let cool in the pan.
  5. For the mint chocolate glaze: Melt 25 pieces of After Eights over a water bath.
  6. Pour the chocolate over the cooled cake and let harden in the fridge. Dust with powdered sugar before serving. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. 



Lyxig After Eightkladdkaka
från tidningen Hembakat

150 g smör
3 dl strösocker
3 ägg
3 msk kakao
1 ¾ dl vetemjöl
1 nypa salt
2 tsk vaniljsocker

ca 8 plattor After Eight

Mintchokladglasyr
ca 25 plattor After Eight
florsocker



Gör så här

1. Sätt ugnen på 180 grader. Smält smöret i en kastrull. Tillsätt resten av ingredienserna och blanda snabbt ihop allt till en slät smet.
2. Häll smeten i en smord och bröad springform, 23–24 cm i diameter (bröa gärna formen med kokos i stället för ströbröd).
3. Skär ca 8 After Eight-plattor på mitten och stick ner dem i smeten.
4. Grädda kakan mitt i ugnen i 25–30 min beroende på hur kladdig du vill ha den. Låt den svalna i formen.
5. Mintchokladglasyr: Smält ca 25 After Eight-plattor över vattenbad.
6. Bred ut mintchokladkrämen över kakan och låt den stelna i kylen. Pudra över lite florsocker före servering. Servera gärna med vispgrädde eller glass.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Chocolate Tart with Cardamom and Baileys Cream Truffle



For all you chocolate lovers out there, finally, here is a blog post involving chocolate! I made this decadent chocolate tart for the first time for a potluck we had at our friends' house this past weekend, and it was a hit.

Personally, it's pretty much a no-brainer for me when it comes to chocolate. One of my favorite things to bake is the Swedish style molten chocolate cake, known as kladdkaka. It's so easy to make, doesn't take that much time, and will satisfy your chocolate cravings for sure. This fudgy chocolate tart is a type of kladdkaka, but has a few more elements that makes it a little more fancy and complex in flavor. Still, it's very easy to make.




The first thing that sets it apart from other chocolate tarts, is the use of cardamom in the recipe. The cardamom gives it an interesting depth, and a nice surprise when taking your first bite. Some friends made comparisons to the taste of Earl Grey, and I can see that. Even though I would describe it to have more of an adult flavor, the kids scraped their plates clean and asked for seconds. That must be a good sign, right?

What really makes this a five star in my book, is the truffle. You just can't go wrong here. Irish cream whiskey that is heated up with heavy whipping cream, then stirred together with milk chocolate and butter, makes an amazing truffle top layer on this cake.




When decorating this tart, you can go any direction you want. Melt chocolate (white or dark) and swirl it on top of the cake, make chocolate shavings, or your own chocolate designs you can arrange in an upright position. If you have extra time on your hands, it's fun making your own chocolate covered truffles to decorate with, otherwise you can buy your favorite chocolate candy and put them in a pattern you like. I used chocolate sprinkles, a handful of chocolate covered coffee beans and a few malt balls, which I bought by the pound from the Fresh Market. To make the standing triangles, I melted some dark chocolate, spread it out on a parchment paper and sliced some straight lines, dividing it into triangles. When set, you just remove it from the paper and use to decorate. Lastly, I dusted the malt balls and chocolate triangles with some edible gold dust I had bought at a specialty baking store a while back.




If you want to avoid getting this chocolaty goodness stuck to the pan and not being able to transfer it onto a beautiful plate (d'oh!), you can use parchment paper at the bottom, and wait until the cake has cooled and is firm enough to remove from the paper. I missed this step, and if I had tried to move it from the pan, it would have collapsed.



  
A plus with this cake is that you don't need any electrical equipment to make it. All the ingredients are stirred together or whisked with a hand whisk, which is perfect when your making it at night and don't want to wake up your little ones. Or you know, those times when your hubby's watching Game of Thrones and gives you dirty looks for making too much noise in the kitchen. This chocolate tart is a win-win situation for everyone.




Chocolate Tart with Cardamom and Baileys Cream Truffle
from Mitt Kök

100 g butter
100 g dark chocolate
4 tbsp. cacao
200 g sugar
1 msk vanilla sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cardamom
75 g flour
2 eggs

Truffle:

100 g heavy whipping cream
100 g Baileys Original Irish Cream
180 g milk chocolate
60 g butter

 
Instructions:
  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Chop the chocolate, and mix it into the butter until fully melted.
  2. Using a whisk, add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa, salt, cardamom and flour to the melted chocolate. 
  3. whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until you have a smooth batter.
  4. Pour the batter into a buttered spring form pan. Bake in the oven at 320 F, for about 20-25 minutes. Let the tart cool.
  5. Truffle: Chop the milk chocolate and put it in a bowl with the butter.
  6. In a sauce pan, bring the heavy whipping cream to a boil. Add the Baileys and heat up the cream to about 175 F. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and butter. Mix until a smooth truffle.
  7. Pour on top of the cooled tart and let set in a cool place.



Baileys fina kladdkaka
från Mitt Kök

100 g smör
100 g mörk choklad
4 msk kakao
2 dl socker
1 msk vaniljsocker
1 krm salt
2 tsk kardemumma
1 1/4 vetemjöl
2 ägg
 
Tryffel:

1 dl vispgrädde
1 dl (100 g) Baileys Original Irish Cream
180 g mjölkchoklad
60 g smör


 Gör så här:
  1. Smält smöret i en kastrull. Hacka chokladen, lägg ner den i smöret och rör tills all choklad smält.
  2. Vispa ner socker, vanilj, kakao, salt, kardemumma och vetemjöl.
  3. Vispa till sist ner äggen, ett åt gången, tills smeten blir en jämn massa.
  4. Fördela smeten i en form med löstagbar botten. Baka i ugn, 160 grader, cirka 20-25 minuter. Låt kakan svalna.
  5. Tryffel: Hacka mjölkchokladen och lägg den i en skål med smöret.
  6. Koka upp vispgrädden. Häll i Baileys och värm upp grädden till cirka 80 grader. Häll den varma grädden över chokladen och smöret. Mixa ihop till en slät tryffel.
  7. Häll och bred ut tryffeln över den kalla kakan och ställ svalt att stelna.