white chocolate Archives - Page 2 of 2

Chocolate Teacakes With Strawberry Ganache

February 5, 2014 by TheWhiteRamekins

Few days back, it was dreary from the intense cold and a couple of showers. Rains in winter makes it worse. And that needed to be fixed. It was the perfect time for a chocolate dessert. Brownies were playing on my mind, but then I had to bake something in my new mini bundt cake pan as well.

So, I chose to bake these tiny beauties over tried and tested brownies. I served these mini chocolate cakes both with a strawberry and white chocolate ganache and a dark chocolate ganache, thinking kids would love white chocolate and strawberry ganache more.

In fact, I myself had been in love with the beautiful pairing of white chocolate with strawberries, after I made this yummy mousse. And kids definitely preferred the white chocolate one.

And adults enjoyed their cakes with dark chocolate ganache and a generous serving of vanilla ice cream. That’s another classic favorite of mine. The cakes were not the regular dense bundt cakes, but rather came out to be light and airy.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup yogurt
150 gm unsalted butter, plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

200 ml low fat cream
300 gm fresh strawberries, hulled
150 gm white chocolate, chopped
pink color {optional}

Directions

To make the cake, preheat the oven at 160 degree C. Butter two 12 cup mini bundt cake pans and keep aside.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt and keep aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk and yogurt and keep aside.
In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar together, until butter is pale and creamy. Beat in eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
Add flour mixture, alternating with milk mixture, ending with flour.
Divide batter into greased pans and bake for about 25 – 30 minutes, or until cakes spring back when touched lightly on top. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes and then invert on to a wire rack, to let cool completely.
To make the ganache, chop the strawberries finely and add to the cream. Let cream stand in fridge overnight.
Heat the cream to bring it to boil. Pass the cream through a fine sieve into a bowl and press the strawberries gently to extract the maximum flavor into the cream, without letting the seeds pass through.
Add the chopped white chocolate into the hot cream and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir well to mix the chocolate thoroughly. Add the color, and mix well if using.
Drizzle the ganache on top of cakes and serve.

White Chocolate Mousse With Macerated Strawberries

January 1, 2014 by TheWhiteRamekins

What else could be a better way to welcome the new year 2014, other than making something out of luscious and beautiful strawberries. I had already thought about how I am going to start my new year this time, when I saw this wonderful white chocolate mousse with strawberries recipe in Nigella Lawson’s show on TV sometime back.

Chocolate pairs so well with strawberries and we all know that. And it just takes me back to the memory lanes of my childhood, whenever there is a mention of white chocolate. I suppose every kid has a huge crush on that big bar of Nestle’s Miklybar white chocolate, and I was no different.

White chocolate isn’t any chocolate, but does that bother a kid? Nah, it still remains my most loved chocolate from childhood. Kids are like that, carefree with an honest living of life to the fullest.

And that is the spirit, I want to embark this year with. Completely invigorated, living life to the fullest, as the new year brings hope and a meaning to life! A very happy and prosperous new year 2014 to all you wonderful people!

Ingredients

300 gm white chocolate
100 ml milk
2 egg whites
3 tbsp sugar
200 ml cream
1 vanilla bean, slit
400 gm strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
few mint leaves for garnish

Directions

To make, macerated strawberries, toss strawberries, icing sugar and lemon juice in a bowl and keep aside for an hour. Adjust sugar depending upon the tartness of berries.
To make mousse, melt the chocolate with milk and scraped vanilla bean caviar on a double boiler and keep aside to let cool to room temperature.
Beat egg whites to soft peaks. Add 3 tbsp sugar and continue to beat egg whites to form hard peaks, until glossy and smooth.
Beat cream a to make soft peaks.
Gently fold in the egg white mixture followed by cream in melted chocolate.
Divide the mousse into serving glasses and let chill in fridge for an hour.
Top the mousse with macerated strawberries and garnish with mint leaves, when about to serve.

Spicy Pumpkin Bundt Cake With White Chocolate Glaze

July 24, 2012 by TheWhiteRamekins

These few rainfalls of the season have succeeded in baffling the scorching heat of summers and thus bringing down the temperature from 45 degrees to 35 degrees Celsius. It is still a respite. Thinking of rains, a few common yet quintessential things come to the mind.

The first and the foremost thing about rains is the sudden craving for Pakoras, the great Indian fritter like savory snack, along with a cup of hot and milky tea. It’s taste gets some magical transformation to it especially when it is raining {my mouth is watering, while I am writing this}.

And after your cravings are satisfied, next thing which comes to mind is the long drive. Again the feeling of cool silky breeze caressing you, right after it has rained, is simply divine. It just leaves you wanting more of this natural spa. The weather is so perfect, that you tend to enjoy the every bit of it. And when it comes to doing different things, I get a bit excited about trying out something different.

This time it was a warm spicy and ultra moist pumpkin cake which had smitten me. The aroma of spices infused through out of my house willfully complemented the coolness of weather. I know, it’s a bit early for this kind of warm and spicy recipe. It’s my attempt on baffling and taking advantage of this slight temperature decrease. No no, this isn’t really true.

Actually, my good friend had sent me these golden and sweet sugar pumpkins a month back. And at that time, it was so hot that I couldn’t dare to bake something out of them. And I had been procrastinating them, looking forward for a day when there is a slighter dip in the temperature. This weekend, it rained and I had decided, that I wouldn’t let them age more in my refrigerator. This great recipe is from Joy Of Baking. I topped it with a velvety white chocolate glaze which added to it’s moistness. And I loved the sweet aroma of all those spices which accentuated it’s flavor.

Ingredients

Pumpkin Cake

100 gm unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup fresh pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature

White Chocolate Glaze

50 gm good quality white chocolate
50 ml milk

Instructions

Preheat oven at 180 degree C and grease a 12 cup bundt cake pan.
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices.
Add the flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to the pumpkin batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 25 – 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then invert and remove the cake from pan.
For the glaze, melt chocolate and milk together in microwave for 10 seconds or on a double boiler.
Drizzle over the cake, when it is still warm.