Honey chocolate cake

First of all, how incredibly pretty is my cake stand???? Searched high and low for something like this and finally found it for a 7 quid steal. I cant stop gushing about it. Ok, on to the recipe now...I have this ongoing relationship with honey and honey based recipes desserts/cakes...at least for now. One fine day I could wake up and just flip it around and would never want to see or even be called honey, for that matter!!! I was so obsessed with it at one point that I used to search for honey based desserts and cakes, make it, bin it, struggle with it, and on the very rare occasions savour it. Yes, most of it were disastrous, but that's how a food blogger rolls right? No don't answer that, I'd just be upset if that's not how you guys roll.

Anyhoo, two of my favourite recipes to this day when it comes to cakes (and honey) is the Jewish honey cake and this honey chocolate cake by none other than the Domestic Goddess Nigella. Say whatever you want, but I love Nigella and her super duper, throw-in-whatever-you-can recipes. I have tried loads of her recipes and its always a hit, except for the one time I tried a banana butterscotch muffin and that wasn't a fav, but that could be because I bought wrong butterscotch and the bananas weren't ripe enough. 

 

I have made this honey chocolate cake quite a few times and its never failed me. I cant believe it took me this long to post it on my blog, its simply because I've not had any left over to take pics. I realised that honey and chocolate is a match made in heaven and it pairs so beautifully. There is a faint taste of honey when you bite into a piece, and the chocolate just takes it to a whole different level. Sorry about being dramatic about this..but being pleasantly surprised by how chocolate paired with something can make it likable..is worth mentioning, especially to someone who doesn't think chocolate makes the world go round. Yeah, I'm talking about myself!

Its a dense, moist cake, rather than a light airy one which makes it perfect as a dessert/ party cake if you do all the glaze and stuff. But it work just as fine if you omit the fancy stuff and just bake the cake on its own for a tea time accompaniment. I've tried it both ways and personally, I would chuck the glaze and just serve the cake with a dollop of ice cream and a generous splash of Kahlua. ITS DIVINE! trust me. 

I am only giving you the recipe for the cake and not the sticky honey glaze. Also, feel free to halve the cake.

Recipe adapted from here

Dark chocolate- 100 gms, broken into pieces (more than 70% cocoa preferred)

Dark Brown sugar- 275 gms

Unsalted butter- 225 gms, softened

Honey- 125ml (runny)

Eggs- 2, medium

vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp (optional)

Plain flour- 200 gms

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Cocoa powder- 1 tbsp

Boiling water- 250ml

Kahlua (coffee liqueur)- 3 to 4 tbsp (optional)

 

Place the chocolate chunks in a large bowl and melt over a pot of simmering water till smooth and keep aside to cool slightly. You can also do this in the microwave by heating it in bursts till all the chocolate melts. 

Sift/ mix together the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder and keep aside.

Into a large mixing bowl add the sugar and butter and beat together till light and fluffy, either using a hand beater or the paddle attachment of a free standing mixer. You can also just use a strong whisk to do this.

Add the eggs, one after the other beating well after each addition, followed by vanilla extract (if using).

Fold in the melted chocolate with a spatula, making sure its all well mixed.

Tip in the flour mix and mix well, making sure there are no lumps.

Finally add the boiling water and beat well to get a slightly runny batter, but smooth and without any traces of flour.

Pour into a 9inch baking pan which has been buttered and lined with baking paper, and bake in an oven pre heated at 180C for about 1.30 hours.

Check the cake after about 45 minutes and if you think its browning on top, cover loosely with foil paper and continue baking. Keep checking every 15 minutes or so to see if its done.

Once a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, you can take it out of the oven and cool on a rack.

While still a tad hot, poke small holes in the cake using a skewer and pour over the Kahlua so it soaks up well. Alternatively, you can just do as I'd mentioned above.

 

Notes: Original recipe calls for light muscavado sugar, but brown sugar works perfectly fine.
Use good quality honey.

Nigella's procedure is slightly different from the one I have mentioned, both methods work fine, I just prefer to do it this way because its more organised (that's right, I said organised).

She also says you can blitz together everything except the boiling water which you can pour down the funnel with the motor running. Haven't really tried doing that, but if she says it works, IT WORKS!

Replace Kahlua with coffee for an almost similar taste.

The cake stays for about 3 days at room temperature, provided you can manage to keep it that long.

Nigella's triple chocolate cookies

The husband came back one day after a conference at some fancy hotel and kept raving about the double chocolate cookies they served with tea. I didn't really care for it much, since I don't have the hots for chocolate. A couple of days later he brought home some chocolate cookies which he claimed came close to those he had, but still not there yet.

It lay on my kitchen counter till one day I got back after my swimming session so totally hungry and since there was nothing in the house I could eat (without preparation) I opened one cookie packet (they came in individual tiny packs) and popped into my mouth.

It tasted good, not divine or absolutely awesome, but good. I thought, why not make some for Ro since he keeps begging for chocolatey things all the time. I scouted around the net for a while and landed on Nigella's recipe. Its weird that I say this, but somehow all Nigella's chocolate based recipes have turned out pretty decent for me. This one didn't fail me either. It was as chocolately as Ro wanted and disappeared in 2 days, like I wanted, win-win situation if u ask me.

I love any kinda cookie straight out of the oven and after that don't really care for it that much. This too made its way through to my stomach immediately after it was taken out of the oven and after that it was all left for Ro. Its not the crunchy cookies, its more like a cakey, slightly chewy cookies which are so easy to make and as per Nigella, you can even freeze the dough for later use. She says you get 12 large cookies out of the measurements, but I halved it and made smaller cookies which are much easier to handle. Feel free to double it and make huge chunky cookies if you please.

On another note, I'm thoroughly enjoying my time at home doing absolutely nothing. Tried to bake some cupcakes but i seriously had no patience. Hats off to you guys in India who manage to bake well. I hated the fact that there was no brown sugar available, no ready made confectioners sugar, hated the heat which caused the frosting melt etc...wayy too much trouble to go through for a batch of cake. So I just decided it I shall never be baking if at all I get back to India. The convenience of UK has spoilt me, there I said it.. :)
Hope you all have a fabulous New Year with your loved ones. I will NOT be spending NYE with the husband this year, instead we are heading to two different parties. What fun :)

Recipe halved from here

Dark chocolate- 62 gms

Plain flour- 75 gms 

Cocoa powder- 15 gms

Baking soda- 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Butter- 62 gms (softened)

Dark brown sugar- 38 gms

Caster sugar- 25 gms

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Egg- 1 small

Dark chocolate chips- 125 gms

Break the dark chocolate into smaller pieces and melt in a double boiler or in a heat proof bowl kept over simmering water.

Keep stirring till the chocolate has completely melted. Keep aside to cool a bit.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Into another bowl add the butter and cream it along with both the sugars till light and fluffy. A good wire whisk would do the job with a bit of an effort.

Pour in the melted chocolate and stir well to combine evenly.

In goes the vanilla extract and egg and beat it in to combine well.

Tip in the dry ingredients and using a wooden spoon combine well, making sure there are no traces of flour seen.

Finally fold in the chocolate chips.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the dough and place at least 2 inches apart. (if you are making large ones, you would get about 6 of them).

Bake in an oven pre heated at 170C for about 10 minutes. 

Get a tooth pick and gently insert it into the centre of a cookie, if it comes out clean (without any wet batter sticking to it) then you are good to go. If you have accidentally punctured a chocolate chip, then try again in another part of the cookie.

leave to cool for about 5 minutes on the tray and then transfer to a rack and cool completely before storing in containers.

Notes: The original recipe called for about 175 gms of chocolate chips, but I thought that was a tad too much, although next time I may try it out that way.

As per Nigella, make the dough as per instructions, scoop them into the baking tray as mentioned above and freeze just so they become hard enough. Then remove them from the tray, transfer to freezer bags and stash it back into the freezer till you are ready to use. I guess you can then bake directly from frozen, just that it might take a tad longer than usual.

Add some raspberry liqueur to the dough and I'm thinking it would be heavenly, or all spice for that matter.

Replace caster sugar with granulated sugar, I don't see that much of a problem there.

Kept them out for Santa on Christmas Eve and there was none left. He definitely loved these with his glass of milk, I hope you do too :)
Sending these to Forever Nigella: #10 Christmas Presence hosted by the lovely Sarah of Maison Cupcake

Nigella's saffron scented chicken pilaf

I am obsessed with trying out new rice recipes. Maybe its because we have rice only over the weekend, that too just for lunch, and instead of the boring plain rice I'm always looking for a variety of ways I can play around with rice. I keep getting updates from nigella.com and this recipe was updated on one of the days. I realized I had everything in hand and so made it.

I must say that it tasted good, except I may not actually add the chicken henceforth. It would be perfect on its own, with maybe a side of chicken curry or something. I love the fact that the procedure is easy and of course Nigella just makes it a tad more exotic. I watched her video for this recipe and the first few minutes I was completely distracted by her home and kitchen. Then the next few minutes I was trying to understand why she uses so many adjectives to describe food. Seriously this is how she describes the pilaf on her website:

"The cinnamon and lemony yoghurt marinade gives the chicken a soft, perfumed tenderness; the saffron in the rice, itself studded with nuts and the musky breath of cardamom (??????), is almost lit up with gold. "

Are we describing a hunk out of Mills & Boon or just some random Pilaf??? So while I was serving the rice, I started talking like Nigella (sans the fairy lights in the background) and telling Ro, "here's a touch of the Arabian nights in sunny Greenwich ...mmm beautiful isn't it?" Ro was annoyed and said I'd soon look like a "fat" version of Nigella if I didn't stop making rich carb-high food like this. That was uncalled for, but anyways, I enjoyed making this rice and eating it too :)

Recipe adapted from here

Skinless, boneless chicken thighs/ breasts- 250 gms, cleaned and sliced into small cubes

Yoghurt- 100 gms

Cinnamon powder- a little less than a 1/4 tsp

Pepper- to taste

Salt- to taste

Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Basmati rice- 250 gms (approx. 1 1/3rd cups)

Chicken stock- 500 ml (approx. 2 cups) I dissolved a cube of instant chicken bouillon in boiling water.

Saffron threads- 1/4 tsp

Cardamon pods- 2, bruised

Oil- 2 tbsp

Lemon zest- of half a lemon

Lemon juice- of half a lemon

Coriander leaves- to garnish

Marinate the chicken pieces with yoghurt, cinnamon powder, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Toss well and keep aside for at least an hour or overnight. Whichever is convenient.

Soak the saffron threads in the chicken stock.

In a large pan, heat the oil and add the rice.

On medium heat, sauté till the rice turns lightly translucent/ glossy.

Add the chicken stock with the saffron followed by lemon zest, lime juice, some salt and crushed cardamom pods. Give a good stir and cover with a tight fitting lid.

Turn the heat to very low and cook for about 15 minutes, or till you have noticed that the rice is cooked, and all the water has been absorbed.

While that's taken care of, remove the chicken from the marinade and shallow fry it in a pan with little oil or like I did, grill it on high in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Once the rice is cooked, remove from the fire and fluff it with a fork.

Transfer the rice into a serving dish, arrange the fried/ grilled chicken pieces on top and garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.

I served this with some chilled cucumber raita, baby tomato salad and some glorious white wine.

Notes: Now the original recipe calls for roasted pine nuts, cashew nuts and almond flakes. I didn't go there because for one, I don't really like the whole idea of biting into the nuts in rice and two, didn't want to add to the calories and three and most importantly, I was too lazy to dry roast it :)

Coriander leaves can be substituted with parsley leaves. I didn't have any fresh leaves and dried ones would have been bleh!

The chicken stock is salty, so watch before you add more.

The cinnamon taste in the chicken is quite obvious, so reduce or omit if you are not a big fan

Double the recipe to serve about 4 to 5 people.

Nigella's sweet and salty Crunch Bars

We were invited to a birthday party of a one yr old fella last weekend and this was on the menu. It tasted so good, I actually ate quite a bit of it. Even Ro for that matter kept going back and taking two or three pieces each time and I had to ask our host how it was made. She said she saw it on Nigella's show and gave me an outline of what it was, and some tips as well.

A few days later, I wrote to her asking if she had a concrete recipe and she passed on the details. Exchanged a few emails, googled a bit and there, I was ready to make the yummiest chocolate bar ever!

I mean I gasped when I saw the amount of butter it used, but what the hell...when its a one time thing, its OK to go a bit berserk right? I made this a couple of days back and have stored it in an air tight container in the fridge and its perfectly fine. Ro takes it to work for his sweet intake after lunch and I munch on it when I'm desperate for a sugar high. I am thinking this will make perfect 'take to a friends house' gift or do it up it small colourful wrappers and it would be great at parties as well.

The recipe has been adapted from her show and from here

Dark chocolate- 200 gms

Milk chocolate- 100 gms

Butter- 125 gms

Golden syrup- 3 tbsp

Unsalted peanuts- 250 gms

Cadbury's Crunchie bars- 4 x 40 gms

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Place a saucepan on low-medium heat, break the chocolate into smaller chunks, add butter and golden syrup and melt.

While that's taken care of, in another bowl break the Crunchie bars into smaller chunks and add the peanuts to it. Add the salt and mix well.

Take the chocolate-butter off the heat and stir to check if you have a smooth mix. Tip in the peanut-Crunchie bar mix into the chocolate and stir gently to coat the nut mix. 

Pour on to a foil tray (which is ideal) or on to any baking dish and smoothen it out evenly.

Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.

After the bars have set well, remove them from the foil tray and cut into smaller pieces and store in an air tight container.

Notes: The original recipe calls for salted peanuts, but I was advised that they were a tad too salty and so I went with regular peanuts and added the salt just to get that salty feel.

The chocolate too, you can make it all milk, all dark or equal quantities. We prefer dark choc to milk ones, but since I was a little concerned about it being too bitter, I decided to use 100 gms of milk chocolate.

You can also use any nut of your choice...hazelnuts, cashew nuts, walnuts etc

Using a foil tray is great because the whole thing just comes off as a large bar and you can chop it up on a cutting board.
Updated to add: A lot of you wrote in asking what Crunchie bars are..well they are like a honey comb coated in chocolate and is made by Cadburys in the UK. It may be available elsewhere as well but for those who cant get a hold of it, Nigella has her own version of the Crunchie bars called Hokey Pokey and you can make it on your own. Its super easy, here is the link http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/hokey-pokey-36

Sending this to Food Palette series brown over at Torviewtoronto

Hot chocolate, a blanket to cozy up and a chick lit in hand

....bliss??? I'd say so especially on a weekday when otherwise I'm running around like a headless chicken trying to finish off chores and deadlines and gym before I take my vacation end of this year. I was thinking of not taking any more freelance assignments this year, but a lil extra pocket money wont hurt right, especially when you are going on holiday.

Hot chocolate at the restaurants and cafes are not really a favourite of mine because I am not a sucker for the bitter dark choc taste and will have to douse so much of sugar into it and Ro gives me the stare. But at home, I made Nigella Lawson's 'Adults Hot Chocolate' with loads of sugar and honey as the recipe called. 

My current obsession are these lovely caramel flavoured tea biscuits called Lotus which I more or less have with anything and everything these days. Dipped them in the hot chocolate, wrapped myself up in a blanket and read to my hearts content the Shopaholic series, in between drifting off to the Prada, Dior and Versace sections at Harrods ;)

Adapted from Nigella's Chocolate Heaven on Nigella Feasts (makes 1 large coffee mug)

Milk- 1 cup (preferably full fat..yeah go all out)

Dark chocolate- 50 gms

Cinnamon powder- 1/4 tsp (or about 1 inch of a cinnamon stick)

Honey- 2 tsp

Dark brown sugar- 1 tsp

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Dark rum or Kahlua- 1 tbsp or to taste (optional)

Pour the milk into a saucepan and break in the chocolate along with the cinnamon sugar and honey. Stir well on medium heat until the chocolate melts.

Splash in the vanilla extract and rum (if adding) and whisk till it slightly starts bubbling around the edges, but not boiling. It should be a slightly creamy, thick consistency.

Add more sugar at this stage if required.

Take out the cinnamon stick (if using) and pour into a coffee mug and sip on it while its still steaming hot.

Notes: You can add Baileys, whisky or even brandy as your choice of alcohol.

Brown sugar can be replaced with normal sugar, probably need to add a wee bit more.

I preferred cinnamon powder instead of the stick because the flavour was a bit more stronger and strangely I loved it in hot chocolate.