Friday 3 October 2014

Flourless Honeycomb Chocolate Cake


Flourless Honeycomb Chocolate Cake

Preparation Time – 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time – 40-45 minutes
Feeds – 6-8

Ingredients –

3 Bars of Dark Chocolate / 300g broken into small pieces
Knob of Butter for greasing your tin
225g Caster Sugar
6 Eggs - Yolks and white separated
225g Salted Butter – Cut into chunks
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract
175ml of boiling Water
1 Tablespoon of Icing Sugar
Honeycomb – Big chunk

Instructions –

Take a springform cake tin around 24cm wide and dot with butter before lining with parchment. Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
In a food processor add the broken chocolate and caster sugar and whizz until it turns to fine crumbs. Next add your six egg yolks, butter, vanilla extract and finally the boiling water. Whizz again until thoroughly combined.
In a large bowl whisk the six egg whites until they form stiff peaks and set to one side.

Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and gently fold in the whisked egg whites. Once combined pour the chocolate mixture into your cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes. The cake will sink a bit when you take it out and could even form a crack. Don’t worry though, it will still taste delicious and will remain almost mousse like. It keeps really well in the fridge so you can make it well in advance of any dinner party…Before serving sprinkle with icing sugar and drizzle over the honeycomb.


Garlic Fried Samphire, Courgette & Chilli Lumaconi

Garlic Fried Samphire, Courgette & Chilli Lumaconi



Preparation Time – 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time – 20-25 minutes
Feeds – 4-6

Ingredients –

500g Lumaconi Pasta
Sprinkle of Salt Flakes
2 Generous glugs of good quality Olive Oil
4-5 Large cloves of Garlic – Crushed and finely chopped
1 Red Chilli – Finely sliced
2 Courgettes - Finely chopped or put through a ‘Spiralizer’
Large handful of Samphire
3 Slices of stale Sourdough - Roughly chopped/blitzed into breadcrumbs and roasted
Small handful of Parsley – Roughly chopped
Generous sprinkle of freshly ground Black Pepper
120g of Vegetarian Parmesan – Finely Grated

Instructions –

Start by boiling a large pan of water (use the kettle to help speed things up). Add a sprinkle of salt then add in the pasta, stirring and cooking for 12-15 minutes until al dente. Drain once cooked.

While the pasta cooks, roast the breadcrumbs by spreading out on a tray and roasting for 3-5 minutes 190 degrees Celsius or until golden.

In a large frying pan combine the garlic, chilli, breadcrumbs and oil over a medium to high heat and cook for a minute or so being careful to not let the garlic brown. Next add in the courgette and samphire, cooking for a further minute or two before adding the pasta. Stir to ensure an even coating before serving with generous amounts of black pepper, parsley and veggie Parmesan.