The Ultimate Chocolate Cake

Last week, I got this lovely book from the library - Great Cakes from Good Housekeeping. It had the loveliest recipes, really well explained. The most enticing one was called The Ultimate Chocolate Cake. And I HAD to try it. I followed the recipe to the letter and trust me, all that effort was well worth it. I'm definitely making this one again!

Ingredients:

• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 375g plain chocolate
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g ground almonds
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 75g fresh brown breadcrumbs
• 3tbsp cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 125g white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 125g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
• 142 ml carton double cream

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C(160°C fan ocen) mark 4. Grease a 20.5 inch square cake tin and baseline with greaseproof paper. (I used a silicone tray. Saves you the trouble of using paper and greasing.)
• Break 225g plain chocolate into a bowl and melt. Cool for 10 minutes. Click here to know the right way to melt chocolate. 
• Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the cooled melted chocolate with the almonds, egg yolks, breadcrumbs and cocoa powder.
• Whisk the egg whites and salt until they form soft peaks. Fold into the chocolate mixture with the chopped chocolate.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour 20 minutes, covering loosely with foil if necessary. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack to finish cooling.
• While the cake is cooling, place the remaining 150g plain chocolate and the cream in a bowl and melt. (I heated the cream to almost boiling point, switched off the stove and added the chocolate. The chocolate melts by itself and this makes the perfect glazing according to me.) Cool for about 30 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pour over the cake to cover and swirl with a palette knife, then leave to cool. Cut up into squares, store in an airtight container for up to five days.

I don't feel like returning the book. 

Sausage and Egg Pie

Something to make on a very lazy day - requires minimum effort and tastes good too! 

For the pastry 

I needed an easy recipe for making the pastry for the pie. Not a big fan of playing around with butter. Searched online and found this really simple way to make butter-less pastry. 

Ingredients

• 225g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 4 tbsp mild salad oil
• 1/2 beaten egg
• 3 tbsp hot water
• If you're making something sweet, add a tablespoon of caster sugar

Method

• Put all the ingredients into a lidded plastic box and shake it for at least a minute. When you take off the lid, you will find a lumpy mixture; form it into a ball with your hands, and roll it out on a floured surface.
• Place the rolled out pastry onto a pie dish. I didn't have one and used a loaf tin instead.

For the filling

Ingredients:

• Onion - 1 sliced
• Green Pepper(Capsicum) - 1 sliced
• Chicken Sausages sliced- 2 cups 
• Eggs - 4
• Salt
• Pepper
• Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180°C.
• Heat oil and saute the onions, green pepper and sausages till cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Add chilli powder if you want extra heat. 
• Once done, remove from flame and cool.
• Beat the eggs, add salt and pepper and mix with the sausages.
• Pour this into the pie dish lined with pastry.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Slice and serve!