cherries

The 113th Bake: Black Forest Chocolate Fondants

There’s nothing like the smell of fresh herbs and freshly blended tea. I recently bought some tea from the market. One brand appealed to me from Grow Eat Heal. It was called heart & soul, and was full of rosebuds and camomile. Sounded yum and smells delicious. hhttps://www.groweatheal.co.nz/ The other I bought for my husband, called Anxietea. Who doesn’t need a bit of de-stressing in their lives? https://www.bettertea.co/

These teas are the perfect accompaniment to my very rich chocolate fondants which I am very excited to say is my second to last bake. Woohoo.

It’s not that I haven’t loved doing this challenge, but challenge it has been, don’t get me wrong. It has been a huge commitment and a lot of work, fun as it was learning and baking my way through a text book of recipes. But all good things must come to an end and I am looking forward to being free and moving on to the next thing/challenge, whatever that may be. I will still bake and post when I get the chance, or see/make a great recipe that I want to share.

For this bake, Richard’s Signature Bake, I knew I was in for more than one process, they are always a bit more complicated these signature bakes. First I made the coulis. Cherries being out of season, I had to use preserved cherries, never mind. So I boiled together cherries, sugar and lemon juice, and then blended this in a food processor.

  • coulis
  • macerate cherries in brandy

I then added brandy to a dozen or so cherries and left these to soak it up! If you’ve never made fondant, you should. It’s not hard or complicated, it’s just the timing of the cooking that’s the important thing to get right. Here’s the recipe in case you are keen! 🙂 https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/richards-black-forest-chocolate-fondants There’s also a link to buy the cookbook in case you are really keen!! So to make the fondants, I

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By Denise, ago

Chocolate Christmas Crunch

I made this last night. It took only 20 minutes and it’s delicious and healthy. If you are looking for a last minute present (homemade is always better you know, makes it look like you put in more effort!!) or just want another GF healthy treat for Christmas day, this is your answer. I got this idea from a video I watched on https://wickedwellbeing.com/ To make it all you do is

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By Denise, ago

The 87th Bake: Paul’s Chocolate & Cherry Loaf

It made a huge loaf 

How decadent is this, and so Christmasy.  Speaking of Christmas, I was at my annual Christmas writer’s lunch and returned to my parked car to find a parking ticket flapping on the windscreen.  I figured maybe it’d be for $12, as I had been 5 minutes late, but on closer inspection saw that it was for a whopping $200!! – expensive five minutes!  After driving around the neighbourhood to try and find the parking meter attendant to contest it, I realized the offense was for “no evidence of inspection” which I discovered later meant, No Warrant of Fitness, of which funnily enough I do have, a current one, that is!! Go figure!    

  • Good way to release stress!

Clearly the parking meter attendant was a bit trigger happy with their infringement notices.  I contested it of course.  It’s pending.

 The moral of the story is it’s Christmas time, we are all a bit frazzled, so let’s be nice to each other, please!  This of course has nothing to do with my Cherry and Chocolate Loaf except it is comfort food and a hot slice of this at least cheered me up.

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By Denise, ago

The 53rd Bake: Cherry & Almond Battenberg Cake

Well this looks interesting.  I’ve been looking forward to having a go at a Battenberg Cake, ever since I saw it being made as a technical challenge on the Great British Bake Off. It was first made in 1884 to honour the marriage of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Victoria to Prince Louis of Battenberg.  It looks hard…Eeeeeeek.  (more…)

By Denise, ago