DC Recipies

Subject: Re: DC Recipies Mon Aug 26, 2013 6:26 pm

This is a chocolate pistachio cake recipe (from Nigella Lawson) which is really really really nice but admittedly time consuming and somewhat messy to make (it uses like a million bowls and the food processor and just everything really) I made it as cupcakes the other day and they turned out really well Smile

Ingredients for the cake:
150g dark chocolate
150g caster sugar
150g pistachios
150g soft unsalted butter
6 large eggs, separated
1/2 lemon (I didn't use this and it was fine, dunno what I'm missing XD)
A pinch of salt

Grease and line a 23cm springform tin. Preheat the oven to 190C.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave on medium. Leave aside to cool slightly.

Process 50g of the sugar with the nuts until they are like dust. (dw if they aren't literally, just until they're as small as you can get them) Add the butter along with another 50g of the sugar; process until smooth. Add the yolks one at a time, pulsing after each addition. Then, with the motor running, slowly pour in the chocolate.

Wipe the inside of a bowl with the lemon half (I didn't bother with this step, but the bowl must be scrupulously clean and free of any fat to allow maximum aeration of the egg whites) (<----This was written by the website I've copied the recipe from so it's obviously not important XD). Whisk the egg whites with the salt until peaks are starting to form. Then slowly add the remaining 50g of sugar while still beating until the egg whites form firm peaks.

Add a large dollop of the egg whites to the cake batter and pulse to lighten the mixture. Then add the cake batter to the whites, one third at a time, and fold in gently but firmly.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 180C and bake for a further 20-25 minutes, or until cooked. The cake will be starting to come away from the sides of the tin when it is ready.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes on a wire rack before removing from the tin. Wait until the cake is completely cooled before icing it.
~*~
I made buttercream icing using like 300 grams of icing sugar and 150g of butter, then added some raspberry liqueur for flavour/right consistency plus a bit of food colouring to make it pink. The recipe says chocolate ganache which I think would be as nice/better but we didn't have any cream when I made the cakes so Sad

Anyway the recipe says:
150g dark chocolate
150ml cream
drop of orange-flower water (optional)
2-4 tbs coarsely chopped or slivered pistachios

Add chocolate, broken into pieces, and cream into a saucepan, along with the orange-flower water. Stir over a low heat until the chocolate is melted. Keep stirring off the heat until the ganache is thick enough to coat, then pour over the cake. Sprinkle over the pistachios.

And that's it! Very Happy