Steamed Chocolate Cake

Hey Guys and Girls! 

SInce I discovered baking, I've forever been trying to get the best chocolate cake - that is, the type of cake that is light, moist, fudgy, and tastes like real chocolate! So this recipe comes from Add a Pinch but uses the oven to bake it. I steamed this cake, and I've found that it gave this beautiful texture to the cake that a baked one would probably not have. When steaming it, I used the same technique as in my Steamed Orange Syrup Cake, but it did take long, but I can assure you, the wait is well worth it. So here goes!

Ingredients:

Cake

• 2 cups Plain Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• 3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Espresso Powder
• 1 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
• 2 Eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Boiling Water

Chocolate Buttercream

• 1 1/2 cup Butter, softened (375g)
• 1 cup Cocoa Powder
• 5 cups Icing Sugar
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp Espresso Powder

Method:

1. Prepare your springform cake pans, or any 2 cake pans that will fit your steamer, by spraying with a non stick spray and lining with baking paper. 
2. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt and espresso powder until thoroughly mixed.
3. In a jug, whisk the milk, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined. 
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk, using a hand blender on HIGH until the mixture is smooth.
5. Slowly pour in the hot water and whisk on HIGH until the mixture is smooth again. 
6. Split the cake batter into 2 prepared pans and steam, one at a time until a skewer comes out clean. * When I made this cake, I steamed the first cake for 3 hours and then the second cake for 2 hours - this is because my first cake pan was fuller then the second cake pan.

TO STEAM

1. Boil 4 cups of water in a kettle.
2. In the bottom of a 5 litre casserole dish, place a ramekin or a stainless steal 1 cup.
3. Place the prepared cake pan on top of the cup and fill with the cups of water. It should go 3/4 of the way up the cup/ramekin.
4. Cover the dish with its lid, and steam for 2 hours, topping up the water, as need be. 

ICING

1. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Meanwhile make the buttercream icing.
2. Whisk the softened butter, vanilla, espresso powder and cocoa powder until the chocolate butter is smooth and free of lumps. 
3. Alternatively whisk is 1 cup of icing sugar and a tablespoon of milk until all the icing sugar is combined.
4. Place 1/4 of a cup of the buttercream icing on the bottom layer of the cake and then sandwich the cakes together.
5. Cover the cake with the rest of the icing and place in the fridge to set until the icing is dry to the touch.
6. Your cake is ready, so slice it up and enjoy your chocolate heaven. 

Thanks for Reading, 

Lusciously Decadent Writer :)

Peppermint Ice Cream

Hey Guys and Girls! 

So here's a recipe that I tried a couple weeks back when I wasn't sick and is sitting in my freezer waiting to be eaten - its a Peppermint Ice Cream and guess what - its eggless, it super easy and it doesn't require an ice cream maker! 

Just a headsup - you may think - why do you need to put Vanilla in a Peppermint Ice cream? But what you need to know is that its crucial as it elevates that peppermint taste and makes it even stronger! The recipe comes from Chef Masterclass but with a few adjustments, its just as perfect! So here goes :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Milk, cold
• 1/2 cup Caster Sugar
• 2 cups Thickened Cream, cold
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• 1 teaspoon Peppermint Essence
• Few drops of Green Food Colouring

Method:

1. Whisk the sugar and the milk together, until fully dissolved.
2. Pour and whisk in the cream, both the essences, as well as the food colouring until thoroughly mixed. 
3. Pour into a freezer safe container and freeze for 3 - 4 hours or until frozen.
4. Break up the ice cream and blend on high for 3 - 4 minutes, or until smootha and return to the freezer for 1 hour.
5. After 1 hour, blend again and freeze once more. Repeat this step 2 more times or until the ice cream is smooth.
6. It is now ready to serve. 

This recipe makes the best peppermint ice cream, and if your any fan of those airy mint chocolate bars then you will absolutely love this recipe. So next time your looking to make an ice cream that is delicious and easy, try this out!

Thanks for Reading, 

Lusciously Decadent Writer :)

Steamed Orange Semolina Syrup Cake

Hey Guys and Girls! 

Right now, at this moment in life again, I have been struck with a cold. In saying that, apparently eating Oranges, is meant to act as an anti-inflammatory thingamabob which helps to cure you faster. And seeing as though their meant to help your body, i figured I'd incorporate them into a cake, and whats better than eating cake when you're sick with the added bonus of something healthy - being Oranges! 


I got this amazing recipe from Yahoo Lifestyle - Food, but then in the process of following it, a few issues occurred, to which I modified the recipe but the result was as beautiful as it should have been if I followed the recipe word by word. I also steamed this cake, because I wanted to have an alternative to using the oven. So here goes!

Ingredients:

Cake

• 4 Whole Eggs + 3 Egg Yolks, at room temperature
• 1 cup Self-Raising Flour
• 1 1/2 cups Fine Semolina
• 3/4 cup Caster Sugar
• Zest of 1 Orange
• 155ml Vegetable Oil (1/2 cup + 1/8 cup)
• 155ml Orange Juice (1/2 cup + 1/8 cup)

Syrup

• 1 1/4 cup Orange Juice
• 1 cup Caster Sugar
• 1 Orange, sliced thickly

Method:

1. Grease and line a springform pan with baking paper and set aside. 
2. Whisk the semolina and the self raising flour in a separated bowl until thoroughly combined and set aside.
3. In a jug, whisk the vegetable oil and the orange juice and set aside. 
4. Place the eggs in a bowl and beat until frothy. Slowly incorporate the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. 
5. Slowly pour the oil/juice mixture into the eggs while beating until all combined.
6. Pour in the semolina/flour mixture and beat on high for 2 minutes or until smooth. Pour into prepared pan.
7. Place a piece of baking paper, greased with butter on the side that will touch the cake, on top of the pan and secure it tightly around the pan with a piece of kitchen string.
   
8. Wrap two pieces of foil tightly on the top of the pan, shiny side up.
9. Boil 4 cups of water in a kettle.
10. In the bottom of a 5 litre casserole dish, place a ramekin or a stainless steel 1 cup.
11. Place the prepared cake pan on top of the cup and fill with the cups of water. It should go 3/4 of the way up the cup/ramekin.
12. Cover the dish with its lid, and steam for 2 hours, topping up the water, as need be. 
13. Remove the cake when a skewer comes out clean. Place the cake on a wire rack lined with baking paper to cool.
    
14. Using a jug, whisk the sugar and the Orange Juice until all the sugar has dissolved. Pour this mixture into a saucepan.
15. Bring this mixture to the boil and place the orange slices (with the skin intact) and allow the mixture to thicken until it comes to a honey like consistency. This should take about 15 - 20 minutes on medium-high heat.
16. When the mixture is ready, place the cake on a serving plate and prick holes all over. This is to allow the syrup to moisten the cake. 
17. Pour the mixture all over the cake, in intervals to allow the syrup to absorb into the cake.
    
18. Once all the mixture has been poured into the cake, allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 - 60 minutes. This standing time, allows the syrup to sink in thoroughly.
19. When the time is up, slice the cake and enjoy!

This cake is amazing on its own, or with a dollop of cream! It brings the house beautiful aromas of orange and has this crumb that will bring you so much texture because of the semolina, that it'll make you enjoy every last bit. 

SO until next time...

Thanks for Reading, 

Lusciously Decadent Writer :)

Coconut Milk Sorbet

Hey Guys and Girls! 

Its coming to the last month of Summer, here in Australia and I figured making cool treats before the cool days of Autumn sets in, is a good idea. I got this amazing recipe from a fellow blogger, The Hungry Mouse and with a few tweaks its still as amazing! 

This sorbet exerts the aromas of coconut, and tastes absolutely beautiful! Its so light and refreshing as a sorbet should be and is extremely creamy! This recipe yields an entire square cake pans amount of sorbet, if that makes any sense.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cans (400ml each) Coconut Milk
• 1 1/2 Cup Caster Sugar

• 1 - 2 tsp Vanilla Essence (depends on your taste)

Method:

1. Place the sugar and vanilla in a bowl and mix until the vanilla essence is fairly distributed through the sugar.
2. Pour half a can of the Coconut Milk into the bowl with the sugar and whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Slowly incorporate the rest of the Coconut Milk and place into a blender. Blend on high for 2 - 3 minutes until the mixture is foamy and thoroughly blended.
4. Pour the mixture into a freezer safe container. I used a square cake pan that you would normally use to make brownies in. Freeze for 3 - 4 hours, or until firm.
5. When the coconut mixture is frozen, break it up and blend the mixture on high for 2 - 3 minutes until smooth. Pour the mixture in the container and freeze once again. Repeat this procedure two - three more times, until the mixture is frozen smoothly (meaning without any ice crystals).
6. The Coconut Milk Sorbet is now ready to serve.
   

SO until next time...

Thanks for Reading, 

Lusciously Decadent Writer :)

Nutella Mousse

Hey Guys and Girls! 

As you can probably tell, I'm in a Nutella Phase at the moment and that's cause I'm gonna be out of the house and I don't want our jar of nutella to go off or get wasted while I'm gone. So i figured I'd go on a dessert rampage including Nutella, and as a result, here's my second Nutella recipe. This mousse is so light, fluffy, simple, and mouthwateringly good! So  definately give it a go.

This recipe approximately yields 4  - 1/3 cup mousses 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup (180ml) Thickened Cream
• 2 - 3 tablespoons Icing Sugar

• 1/ Cup Nutella, at room temperature

• 1/2 teaspoon Instant Coffee Powder*

• 2 - 3 tablespoons Boiling Water

• Pinch of Salt**

* You may have heard this tip around, and may I add, it makes any chocolate dish that tiny bit more AMAZING. I'm not a coffee drinker, in fact I despise coffee, it's way to bitter. But in saying that, when you add brewed coffee into any chocolatey mixture, the tastes of that chocolate elevates so much that you'll be thinking why didn't I do this earlier. So definately do this. Also the amount of water you'll need depends on how strong the taste of coffee you want to be present in you mousse. I used roughly 3 tablespoons water and it gave me this nice background flavour whilst still making my mousse amazing!

**the salt may seem unusual, but it is crucial, as it brings out the sweetness and the intense flavours that are present in any sweet/baked goods. 

Method:

1. Place the instant coffee powder and the water  in a bowl and stir to combine.
2. Stir in the Nutella and the Salt, until the mixture is beautifully combined. 
3. Whip the cream with the sugar until hard peaks form.
4. Whisk in 1/4 of the cream mixture into the Nutella mixture and stir till combined.
5. Pour the Nutella mixture into the entire Cream mixture and then lightly fold until all combined. 
6. Pour into prepared glasses, and refrigerate until firm, 3 4 hours minimum but overnight works best as it allow the Nutella to infuse and obtain this beautiful chocolatey taste.
7. Remove from the fresh, garnish with what you would like, such as Strawberries, more cream, etc and ENJOY!

SO until next time...

Thanks for Reading, 

Lusciously Decadent Writer :)

Nutella Truffles

Hey Guys and Girls! 

Truffles - pure heaven in your mouth, and its chocolate, so nothing can beat it! I got this recipe again from the wonderful Laura Vitale and tweaked it just a little. It is so simple and easy and makes a beautiful little christmas gift. Just a note, I doubled up on the recipe, so I made roughly about 46 teaspoon sized truffle balls. So here goes!

Ingredients:

• 475g Milk Cooking Chocolate, chopped roughly
• 300ml Thickened Cream
• 80g Butter, cubed and softened
• 1 cup Nutella (Chocolate Hazelnut Spread)
• 2 pinches of Salt*
• Your choice of coating - Sprinkles, Cocoa Powder, Icing Sugar, Coconut, Hazelnuts etc. 

*the salt may seem unusual, but it is crucial, as it brings out the sweetness and the intense flavours that are present in any sweet/baked goods. 

Method:

1. Place the chocolate into a heat-safe bowl and set aside.
2. Place the butter and the cream in a saucepan, and bring up to a simmer, making sure to mix to ensure the butter melts and turn off.
3. Pour the cream mixture on the chocolate and set aside for 2 minutes.
4. Whisk the chocolate and cream mixture until smooth and shiny. Make sure to whisk a lot to ensure the chocolate is smooth and that the heat escapes to allow the next step to be effective.
5. Whisk in the salt and the Nutella and ensure all is combined.
6. Pour the mixture into a Lamington tray and place in the fridge to set for 3 - 4 hours. 
7. Using a teaspoon, take the mixture and roll into a bowl and dip into your desired dipping. I used sprinkles, coconut, cocoa powder and icing sugar. 
8. Place the complete truffle balls, onto  a tray lined with baking paper and place in the freezer for 2 hours or until firm.
9. After the freezing time is complete, return to the fridge and enjoy.

I used these as a cute Christmas gift, for my family and friends. To do what I did in the below picture, I used paper cups that I had remaining from my brothers 21st - 2 years ago and i followed this tutorial, Zakka Life, and as you can see, the finished product is adorable! I just decorate the cups with some Christmas writing along the base and a paper ribbon, as well as a label to say what was inside. 

SO until next time...

Thanks for Reading, 

Lusciously Decadent Writer :)

Garlic Naan

Hey Guys and Girls! 

Naan - a beautiful bread that many people have come to love! I went through numerous recipes for Naans, with yeast, without yeast, with eggs, without eggs, with yoghurt without yoghurt, and finally I came across this one. AussieGriller Naan Bread's recipe has got so many compliments, so I figured this is the best recipe for me to test. And this recipe is the BEST! I did tweak the recipe slightly because initially I didn't have enough yoghurt, but the recipe worked just as good. Also, I added more flour because the dough was far to sticky. This recipe also makes 6 Long naans, so here goes!

Ingredients:

• 340g Plain Flour + 1 Cup* Plain Flour Extra
• 190ml Lukewarm Water
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2/3 Cup Yoghurt**
• 1 Teaspoon Sugar
• 7 grams Yeast Sachet
• 1 tsp Salt
• 6 Tablespoons Butter/Meadowlea
• 3 Cloves of Garlic, finely sliced/diced
• Some Coriander

* This depends on how sticky your dough is when kneading
** Because I had very little Yoghurt, I did 135g (1/3 Cup + Half 1/3 cup) Yoghurt and then 40ml (Half 1/3 Cup) of Milk, and it worked well, as you can see in my below picture. 

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and then submerge the garlic and coriander. Set aside for when you're cooking the Naan. 
2. Mix the sugar and yeast together with the water. Set aside for 5 - 10 minutes to activate.
3. Sift the plain flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
4. Once the yeast is activated, whisk in the Yoghurt and Olive Oil.
5. Make a well in the centre of the Flour mixture, and slowly using your hand or a spoon, mix until all the flour is combined. At this stage the mixture will be really sticky.
6. Add the extra flour, 1/2 at a time, and knead until the dough is no longer sticky and becomes elastic (roughly 10 Minutes). ***
7. Oil a bowl and place the round dough and cover with Cling/Plastic Wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 2 Hours to rise. ****
8. Once the prooving stage is done, the dough is ready to be rolled. Punch the dough to release the air and split the dough into 6 equal balls. 
9. Heat a Tawa on high and then lightly oil the plate.
10. Place 1 dough ball in between 2 sheets of Baking Paper and then roll out to a thin tear shape. Do this for all the dough balls.
11. Once the tawa is hot enough, place the rolled Naan onto it and cook till it bubbles, and then turn and cook on the other side.
12. Once the naan is cooked, brush on the butter mixture and set aside to cool ever so slightly.
13. Do this for all the Naans and serve!

***I used roughly 1 cup, maybe more for my dough to become elastic, so it depends on how your dough is at that time. It is a mere estimate of 1 cup, so don't be dependant on that. Just add as much is needed. 

****I place any dough that needs to rise, in my Microwave. The Microwave is off, but because its a compartment where hardly any air drafts can come, this allows the dough to activate quicker. A special thanks goes to Laura Vitale for this awesome tip!

. 

You can tell how fluffy the naans are, and the garlic butter mixture just exerts the aroma's of garlic which is just beautiful! SO until next time...

Thanks for Reading, 

Lusciously Decadent Writer :)