Celebration Chocolate Log

People who know me know that I’m not fussy with pudding. Crumble, pie, a cookie, a tart, – I’m with you. But there are certain occasions that just cry out for something a bit extra special. Occasions like, perhaps, a second blogoversary? Or, reaching 100 posts? Or…both? Yes, Teen Baker is in the midst of celebrating both these milestones! I realise I am slightly late with celebrating these on the blog, and am a little over 100 posts now – but hey, when there is a cake this good around, who is complaining? And this cake is definitely this good. With nearly half a litre of cream and half a kilogram of chocolate I had no doubts that this was the perfect cake for my 2nd and 100th celebrations ;)
This cake is from Orlando Murrin’s book called A Table in the Tarn which I have used before a while ago and now shall certainly be using again. Intended for Christmas or New Year, this cake is decadence on a plate. It consists of…
- chocolate cake layer
- chocolate/cointreau mousse layer
- chocolate cake layer
- chocolate/cointreau mousse covering
- chocolate ganache coating
- chocolate shavings and strawberry topping
Can you say YUM?
Now, this cake is a celebration one not just because of the calorie count but because of the time it takes. Each step is only 5-10minutes, but most steps end in ‘Now refrigerate for 2 hours until firm’. Perhaps some of these firming-up periods are unnecessary, but with the large scale ingredients involved I was determined not to ruin this cake and followed it to the T. My favourite part of this was the chocolate and Cointreau mousse because it was so silky smooth, rich and deep with flavour. I would definitely like to make just this component again for a dessert, although as it is so rich it would have to be in very small servings! The cake layers are very thin and have a brownie-like texture which is great for supporting those thick layers of mousse. All in all – a resounding success! Because the recipe is so long and special, I don’t feel I should post it here but do buy the book or I think it would be easy to create using your own log with your favourite recipes for a rich chocolate cake and mousse. Happy Baking!

Ode to Delia – Squidgy Chocolate Log

Names. You can love your name or hate it. You can have a long name, short name, have a middle name or no middle name. It could be double barrelled, single barrelled, unique or traditional. My full name is Lucinda, but I’ve always been a Lucy. I have two middle names, one inspired by my Mum’s maiden name. For the first six weeks of my life, I was simply Baby Sunshine. But my parents almost opted for a completely different name. Delia.
Delia Smith is the celebrity chef who, it wouldn’t be unfair to say, has changed the way the British cook. Spanning four decades now, Delia has “informed, entertained and educated” with her shows, books and articles. She’s targeted every aspect of cooking: having Summer and Winter recipe collections, creating her back-to-basics How to Cook series teaching everyone everything and her controversial How to Cheat series using pre-peeled garlic and frozen mash. When she used cranberries in an episode of her show, they sold out across the UK. Gelatin in many supermarkets here are sold in the quantity you need for a Delia chocolate cake. See the power of this woman? This is why I wonder, if I had been called Delia, what would life be like?

Imagine trying to become a footballer when your name was John Beckham. It would be impossible for me to “make it big” in the food world if my parents had eventually plumped for Delia. Anytime the name’s mentioned, Delia Smith would enter peoples minds. I’m happy I’m Lucy, and I’m especially happy that Delia makes such gorgeous food. This is her chocolate log recipe, and this post is my Ode to Delia.

I’ve been meaning to make a chocolate roll for a while but the truth is that it scared me. I had visions of a gorgeous log becoming a regular sponge cake as it totally snapped in two. But, with Delia, I knew I was in safe hands. And I was right! Cracking doesn’t actually really matter in chocolate rolls – cake wasn’t meant to roll after all and the cracks (I think) just makes it look even more delicious. Delia’s recipe is a fat-free chocolate cake, layered with chocolate mousse and whipped cream. Not an everyday pud – but gorgeous! Perfect for a treat, all rich and dark and, yes, squidgy. Don’t delay making it, and discovering the true joys of Delia!

Lemon Loveliness

There are a lot of times in winter, like I touched on a while ago, when I crave warm comforting dinners. A bowl of stew or fat “wodge” of crumble is always going to make a chilly night all cosy and delicious! But as you leave autumn and edge towards winter, there are times when I also crave something light, refreshing and zingy: just to wake me out of the dark winter stupor. This little dessert does just that…

It is a light lemon mousse with little lemon madeleines! I’ve found that I tend to just make a cookie, or a cake, rather than say a pie with a fancy sauce or something, you know? Such as in restuarants – they do fancy things such as “Textures of Strawberry” where you get a strawberry donut, strawberry milkshake, chocolate strawberry and little strawberry tart all as one dessert. Whilst I’m not about to start bringing out foams and emulsions any time soon – I think it is nice to have two little treats accompanying each other for pudding: its sort of the difference between a pudding and a dessert!

Ooh, I do like a little bit of lemon! In fact, lemon is the second most popular flavour of things I have baked on this blog, just behind chocolate. Can’t go wrong with a bit of citrus :) Although saying that, this mousse didn’t turn out quite as delicious as hoped. The comments on it were, “a bit too sweet” and “slightly curdled tasting” – not perfect but sadly true! I can’t pinpoint exactly where or why this mousse turned out wrong, but there was just something wrong! It didn’t have the texture of lovely smooth tangy mousse, just very fluffy and eggy. I’ve given the recipe at the bottom anyway as maybe some people like their mousse like that (?) or maybe one clever blogger knows why it wasn’t good. Thankfully, the madeleines were a different story!

The madeleines were light, zesty, full of lemon flavour – yum :) My one problem with these was, in the picture they turned a pretty golden brown when they were cooked. Once these were cooked nicely – they still hadn’t changed colour! Still, nothing a pretty coating of icing sugar cannot hide.

Both the mousse and the madeleines were from the most gorgeous book – Bills Food by Bill Granger. I so recommend this book. The photos are stunning, and most pages in here just make you want to move to sunny Australia! Plus, the recipes aren’t half bad – another one from this book coming up shortly! I’ve given the recipe for both the mousse and madeleines, but I honestly would not give the mousse a go :S !