Chocolate Cake - Oh yeah!

I've made this a few times and I usually get asked for the recipe for this one. So finally I have managed to get around to writing it up. I found this one in cookbook many years ago. For me it was a revelation. Chocolate cake to me growing up was either my Mam's Sunday sponge with coco powder substituted in for some of the flour or something shop bought. Neither were very satisfactory (sorry Mam). None ever came close to something bought in a little-café-that-cared or the richness of something savoured at the end of a huge restaurant meal. Attempts over the years were disappointing - on a scale with the anticipation of getting chocolate ice-cream only to discover it was some poor relation to that rich chocolate hit you were expecting. Add to this that I have developed a love of really dark bitter chocolate over the years - so the thought of eating anything made from the likes of Cadburys would cloy before it even touches my lips.

So as I said this was a revelation. Another revelation was the availability of decent dark chocolate in the likes of Aldi and Lidl. I had read about how you need "couverture chocolate" which is not so easily available in your local supermarket and can be prohibitively expensive. So walking around Lidl around the same time as I found this recipe and seeing their range of dark eating chocolates meant I could finally pursue my dream of making proper chocolate cake. Maybe the purists out there will tell you its not as good but I have found this cake to be on a par with other chocolate cakes - and the ingredients are readily available and within most peoples' budgets.

300g/10oz dark chocolate, chopped (I think 70% or thereabouts is fine)
250g/8oz butter
5 eggs
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup of ground almonds
1/2 cup of self-raising flour

1. Place chocolate and butter in a bain-marie and stir until smooth. Set aside.
2. Place eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Fold in the almond, flour and chocolate mixture.
3. Pour into greased and based lined 23cm/9inch cake tin.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 160'C for 45 minutes.
5. Cool in cake tin.

Serve with whipped cream.

Carrot Halva (Halwa)

This unusual dish may take many by surprise. It is rarely, if ever, on the menu at restaurants as the idea of carrot as a sweet is alien to European palates. So for some it is an acquired taste - but once you acquire it - you will never regret it! It is reminiscent of rice pudding but more exotic and with less scrunched-up faces from those who have grown up with it. It is also a great way to get kids to eat both carrot and milk, with all their associated benefits.

Method

Ingredients :
500 g carrot grated
2 litre milk
250 g sugar
5-6 green cardamom pods
15-20 Raisins (optional)
1 tbsp (level) Butter/Ghee (optional)
mixture of Cashew/Almond/Pistachio (optional)

Equipment :
Grater - Large Pot - Wooden Spoon

1. Wash and scrape carrots. Grate using broad-holes on the grater.
2. Pour milk into large pot with cardamom pods and turn on the heat. Do not allow to boil over. Watch until first bubbles begin to appear and remove from heat.
3. Place grated carrot in milk and place back on heat and bring to boil again. Again do not allow to boil over.
4. Add sugar and leave to simmer, stirring every 10 to 15 minutes.
5. When milk has evaporated to the point where it is less visible, ie there less milky fluid around the carrot, increase heat and stir constantly.
6. In a frying pan heat the ghee/butter and fry the raisins until plump. Add to the halva mixture.
7. The halva is finished when there is no liquid present. It should be a rich carrot colour and no longer have a carrot texture. Allow to cool before shaping and placing in fridge to cool further.
8. Chop nuts and in a dry frying pan toast the nuts. Sprinkle over halva and serve.