Happy Birthday

My husband's birthday is this week. So I've made him this birthday cake this week end. He loves chocolate(but of course that's not his first love) and so I am making a Chocolate Almond Cake for him. It turned out almost like a chocolate mud cake. But it's lighter and moist but still rich.

Ingredients
250 grams of chocolate
125 grams unsalted butter
250 grams semi sweet chocolate
1/2 cup orange juice
6 eggs, separated
200 grams almond meal
1 cup castor sugar

Steps

1. Line 20 cm round tine and preheat oven to 170C.
2. Put the butter and orange juice in a saucepan and heat over low heat until the butter has melted. 
3. Take of the heat and add chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted.
4. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl and gradually add 1/2 cup of the castor sugar until soft peak. Leave this for later.
5. Beat the egg yolks with the other 1/2 cup of castor sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the cooled chocolate & butter mixture.
6. Fold in the almond meal. Fold in the beaten egg white.
7. Pour in tin and bake for about 45 - 50 minutes.

I decorated it with dark chocolate ganache and white chocolate ganache. The ganache is chocolate melted in hot cream. I do not have the exact measurement of cream to chocolate. 

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Avacado, Mango, Tango

I've just started work recently after being a stay at home mum for four years. So I do not get the time to surf the internet as often as before. For September's Daring Bakers' challenge, I assumed that posting date is the last day of the month. So I was going to do it this week end. I found out yesterday after visiting FBB's website that it was yesterday. So, I made my lavash about 2 hours ago. This month's challenge was hosted by Shellyfish . These are the short description of steps to make lavash (to view the full description, I'm sure shellyfish would post it on her site) :-
Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers

* 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
* 1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt
* 1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast
* 1 Tb (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar
* 1 Tb (.5 oz) vegetable oil
* 1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature
* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings.

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, sugar, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.


2. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes. The dough should not be tacky.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. Roll the dough to about 15 inches by 12 inches. But I manage to roll into 1 1/2 sheets. One thicker and the other thinner. You might need to rest it every 5 minutes so that it relaxes and does not shrink back. Dust the top with some flour.
Transfer onto tray.


5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit(I used 180 degrees Celcius) with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough. I used sesame seeds on the thin dough and cumin seeds, sesame seeds and cracked pepper on the thick dough. I cut the dough using a pizza cutter. You can leave it in one piece and break it after baking.

6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

7. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.




These lavash can be served with dips or salsa. Mangoes are starting to get into season. So I've made 2 salsa to go with it. I've used mango and avacado in one and avacado, seeded tomato and capsicum in another. Mixed it with some olive oil, squeeze of lemon juice and salt. Could add some red onions, herbs and chilli too. Tasty, healthy and yummy. Big hit with the kids.

Ingredients used for my salsa.

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