Tag: white chocolate

Recipe: Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake

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Tea and cake has become almost a sacred ritual for us since the first lockdown. Although it’s not conducive to eat cake every single day (or is it?!) we do treat ourselves quite often and always when we have friends to stay.

I made this cake for the first time one rather stressful day before our friend Ravi came to stay with us and I just crossed my fingers and hoped it would turn out alright. Luckily it turned out beautifully, apart from the icing which was a bit lumpy, but I can live with that.

The chunks of white chocolate that almost caramelise in the oven is my favourite part, but I like every aspect of this cake. It has a nice crumb texture (I did base it on a Mary Berry recipe so would expect nothing less!), just enough moisture and flavour from the raspberries, a little hint of lemon to cut through the sweetness of the chocolate and a simple icing on top. Do try this at home and enjoy with a lovely cup of tea! Or it can easily be turned into a pudding by adding a generous dollop of lightly whipped cream and some fresh raspberries to the plate and maybe grate some white chocolate on top.

Raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake, serves 8

175 g caster sugar

175 g self-raising flour

175 g softened butter

3 eggs

finely grated zest from 1/4 lemon

3/4 level tsp baking powder

80 g white chocolate, roughly chopped

80 g fresh raspberries

For the icing:

100 ml icing sugar, sifted

1-2 tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Beat together the eggs, flour, caster sugar, butter, baking powder and lemon zest until smooth in a large mixing bowl. Add the chocolate and raspberries and mix. Pour the batter into a buttered and lined loaf tin.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 mins, or until golden brown, shrinking away from the sides of the tin and springy to the touch.

Leave to cool a little, then make the icing by mixing together the sugar and water and pour over the cake. Leave to cool and loosen the sides of the cake, then lift the cake out of the tin.

Recipe: saffron cake with white chocolate

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In Sweden anything with saffron is considered Christnassy and festive, and that’s the reasoning for making this chewy saffron and white chocolate cake for the book club Christmas dinner.

It’s very yummy without being too sweet and although quite pretty it would have been even prettier with the intended icing. I was convinced I had icing sugar at home but there was none in the cupboard, so I served it plain and that worked well too. I had creme fraiche on the side (that was intended for the frosting) but lightly whipped cream works well too.

Saffron and white chocolate cake, serves 10

Translated from and adapted after Ica’s recipe.

150 g white chocolate
150 g butter
1/2 g saffran
160 g caster sugar
60 g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
Frosting:
200 ml crème fraiche
50 ml icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Garnish:
pomegranate seeds
Preheat the oven to 175°C. Butter and flour a 24 diameter springform. Melt chocolate and butter in a Bain Marie or in the microwave. Add the saffron and leave to cool/dissolve a for a few minutes. 
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowla and add to the melted chocolate. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the springform and place in the middle of the oven. Bake for 23-25 minutes. Leave to cool. 
Beat crème fraiche, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth and quite set and spread ut onto the cake. Add pomegranate seeds.

 

 

Recipe: chocolate cake with white chocolate truffle

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The last couple of years I’ve had a standing brunch around Christmas time for some of my Swedish friends and their families. As their brood is getting bigger brunch seemed like the ideal concept; there is something for everyone and you don’t have to sit down to eat at the same time.

Sadly, this brunch in December will probably have to be the last one as there’s now too many of us and apart from cooking for a large amount of people there is quite a lot of furniture carrying required to make it happen. But we’ll see, maybe I can work out a way to make it easier… Any ideas welcome!

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The concept has been more or less the same every year; people arrive at midday, and I provide both savoury (always eggs, bacon, different types of bread with toppings such as cheeses, jams, paté, ham etc. – we love our open-faced sandwiches in Sweden as you know) and sweet (usually two types of cake) dishes, and we eat and chat and eat and chat and play with the children.

This year I substituted the usual brunch eggs with my take on shakshuka (recipe to follow) and mum made an large omelette with creamed mushrooms on top as well.

Although people always love the savoury element I seem to have gathered a group of friends with very sweet teeth so I always try my best to come up with something super yummy on the sweet side.

This year I was quite pleased with my efforts of serving madeleines (best recipe ever!) straight from the oven and just lightly dusted with icing sugar. And although people liked them, this chocolate cake was the star of the show: chocolate cake with pieces of white chocolate dispersed like little surprises, covered with a white chocolate truffle and colourful smarties (although you can of course decorate it however you like). The texture is quite dense and chewy (in a good way – just don’t expect a fluffy cake) and rather filling, so one cake could probably feed 10-12 people, but as my friends love sweets I thought it safer to count 8-10 people per cake.

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It’s (sadly) not my own concoction at all, but I know I can always trust fabulous Annika and her reliable recipes.

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Chocolate cake with white chocolate truffle, serves 8-10

Translated from and adapted after Annika’s recipe.

The cake itself (without the truffle) freezes well and can be made ahead of time. Defrost slowly and add the truffle and decorations a few hours before serving so it has time to set.

2 eggs

240 g golden caster sugar 

2 tbsp vanilla sugar or 4 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp salt

100 g melted butter

4 tbsp cocoa

90 g plain flour

100 g white chocolate, broken into 1 cm large pieces

Truffle:

150 g white chocolate

50 ml double cream

Pre-heat the oven to 175 C. Line the bottom of a springform with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the edges of the tin. 

Beat eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until pale and fluffy. Stir in the melted butter. Sieve cocoa and flour and fold into the batter. Pour the butter into the tin and press down the chocolate pieces.

Bake in a low oven for 35 minutes. Leave to cool and cover the tin and let it set overnight. 

Truffle:

Heat up the cream in a saucepan. Break the chocolate into pieces and add to the warm cream. Mix slowly until smooth. Leave to set, then spread it onto the cake. Keep in the fridge until just before serving. Decorate with smarties or other sweets, sprinkles, chopped nuts etc. Serve with lightly whipped cream. 

Easy raspberry and white chocolate muffins

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These not too sweet yet delicious muffins with white chocolate I made by request from a colleague for the office cakes at the end of May, and they went down very well.

The recipe was a total gamble – I googled recipes and liked the look of this one from Mumsnet and it could not be easier to make. Just mix it all in a bowl and add the chocolate and berries at the end. Perfect to whip up when pressed for time or a good recipe to bake with children.

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Easy raspberry and white chocolate muffins, makes12

From Mumsnet’s recipe.

250 g self-raising flour

100 g caster sugar

1 egg

250 ml milk

2 tsp baking powder

90 ml vegetable oil

150 g raspberries

150 g chopped white chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 180C  and line a muffin tray with large paper cases. Place all ingredients apart from the chocolate and berries in a bowl and mix. Fold in the berries and chocolate with a spatula and divide between the cases. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. 

Pumpkin muffins with white chocolate

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These pumpkin muffins with lemon and cinnamon and topped with white chocolate was a real hit in the office before Christmas. Such a lovely winter cake!

The recipe is courtesy of the Swedish blog Matrepubliken.

Pumpkin muffins with white chocolate, makes12 small muffins
Translated from Matrepubliken’s recipe.
125 ml light brown soft sugar
125 ml sunflower oil
2 eggs
150 ml grated pumpkin (I used butternut squash)
1 lemon, the zest
200 ml plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsk cinnamon
150 g white chocolate 
Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Mix sugar, oil and eggs to a mixing bowl. Add the grated pumpkin and lemon zest. Incorporate well. Mix flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a separate bowl and add to the wet mixture. Fill the muffin cases halfway up. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. Leave to cool. Melt the chocolate in a bain marie and dip the muffins in it (or spoon the chocolate on top of the muffins if you’re cases are too tall to dip). Leave the chocolate to set. 

Nigella’s snowflecked brownies

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I used to bake these snowflecked brownies courtesy of Nigella a lot before, pre-blog, and somehow I thought of them again and made it for my brunch between Christmas and New Year. That made me realise what a great recipe this is! A lot of recipes I used to love before the blog are now disappointing, but this is definitely not one of them. These brownies have begun a revival in my kitchen; I’m planning on making them for the office this month and probably some dinner parties too.

The texture is absolutely wonderful; moist and dense, but in a good way, speckled with white chocolate. What’s not to like?!

Nigella’s snowflecked brownies, makes 20 pieces

Adapted from the recipe in Feast by Nigella Lawson

375 g salted butter

375 g dark high quality chocolate

6 eggs

350 g caster sugar 

1 tbsp vanilla

225 g plain flour

1 tsp salt

250 g roughly chopped white chocolate

Icing sugar for serving 

Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Line a baking tin measuring 33 x 23 cm with baking parchment. Melt butter and dark chocolate in a large heavy pan on low heat. Leave to cool. Beat eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the chocolate mixture. Fold in the flour and salt. Add the white chocolate and pour the batter into the tin. Bake for 25 minutes. The top layer should be pale with a dark still moist layer underneath. Leave to cool and cut into squares. Dust with icing sugar and serve. They freeze well. 

Baked figs with white chocolate and muscovado

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I had some left over fresh figs and wanted to make an easy dessert with them, preferrably without having to leave the house to buy any ingredients. After a little google session I found a similar recipe to this on a Swedish dairy website. And lucky me, I had all the (few) ingredients at hand.

Baked figs with white chocolate and muscovado, serves 2

2 fresh figs

50 g white chocolate, roughly chopped

2 tbsp light muscovado sugar

Heat up the oven to 175C. Rinse the figs and cut in half. Almost cut the halves in two and place in a small tray skin side down. Sprinkle the sugar and the chocolate on top and bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve with lightly whipped cream while still warm.