Seville Mess

This recipe is my local version of Eaton Mess. It was inspired by a chocolate meringue recipe by Donna Hay.

I have a beautiful orange tree at my front door on the street and it is full of oranges. Those of you who have visited Seville at this time of the year might have been impressed by all the orange trees full of fruit. These oranges are picked every year by the city hall and sold to make the famous Seville Orange Marmalade.

It's beatiful to look at in winter and in spring when the orange blossom "azahar" is in blooming it is just incredible the scent in all the town. It's undescribable you just have to come and experience it.

Ok so as I see the oranges every day decided I would make a dessert with oranges, chocolate meringue and cream.

Recipe

Ingredients for the chocolate meringue

3 egg whites
150 gr. of sugar
100 gr. of 70% cocoa solid chocolate

Ingredients for the chocolate sponge
2 eggs
120 gr. of sugar
20 gr. of cocoan powder
100 gr. of self raising flower
120 gr. of butter

250 ml of double cream
1 large orange cut into segments

Method for the meringues

1.- Preheat oven to 100º centigrade
2.- Beat the egg whites until soft peaks begin to form
3.- add the sugar gradually a bit at a time beating after each addition
4.- with a metal spoon add the cooled melted chocolate. dont over work it ass we want to see chocolate ribbons.
5.- spoon even quantities of the meringue mixture on to a baking tray linned with baking parchment
6.- placce in the middle shelf of the oven for 2 hours.

Method for the sponge

Preheat oven at 180 º centigrade
1.- Put all the ingredients into a food processor and beat for 2 minutes.
2.- Pour into a swissroll tray and bake for 15 minutes.

Assemlying the Seville mess:
I made two different verssions one in a glass for this version I put some sponge on the base; I squezed some orange juice over it, put some orange segments, some cream on top of it and some broken meringues.

The second verssion vas made the same way but without the glass, so I used a metal ring mould to assemble the differnt layers.

The 3c`s Carrot Cake Cupcakes

This one is a favourite among friends it is a recipe that I got from one of my aunts at my Grandfather`s funeral. That is something very Irish and not very Spanish.

In Spain we don`t understand that for the Irish funerals are all about celebrating the live of the person that passes away, so for me and my father who were the only foreigners there it was an incredible experience.

I adored my grandfather, I had the priviledge of living two years with him while I was at university and he taught me many things.

And even from his funeral , where people came from all over Ireland and England to remember him with us I have a sweet memory.

One of the many cakes that were brought into the house that night was this carrot cake. I usually make is as a cake but yesterday I decided to make it into cupcakes. It makes about 30.

Ingredients

For the cake

240 gr of self raising flour

1 1/4 ts of cinamon

1/2 ts of baking soda

1/2 ts of salt
180 gr of sugar

60 gr of raisins

60 gr of walnuts

210 gr of grated carrots

6fl oz of olive oil

For the icing

200 gr of cream cheese

100 gr of soft butter

300 gr of icing sugar
1 tsp of vanilla essence

Method for the cake

1.- Preheat oven at 210º C

2.- line two 20 cm sandwich tins

3.- Beat the eggs and sugar together until it becomes pale in colour add the oil little by little

4.- Sieve all the dry ingredientes together into a bow

5.- Begin folding in the dry ingredients and the grated carrots

6.- Mix in the walnuts and raisinspour into the two lined tins and bake por 30 minutes

Method for the icing

Mix together all the ingredientes, the icing sugar should be sieved before incorporating it.When the cakes are cold sandwich the two cakes with the icing and cover the top with the icing you have left. You can decorate it with walnuts or orange peel.

Thermomix, chocolate cupcakes

Carlos this entry is specially for you. Of course you can make gorgeus cakes with Thermomix. Just for those of you who are not Spanish and not so familiar with thermomix, I must tell you that this is a kitchen applience that heats, blends, mixes and many more things, you can find all about it here.

Well, this applience is wellcomed into newly weds homes with as much expectation as a new baby. And ... my friend Carlos is at this moment the proud father of a new thermomix. We were discussing today the capabilities of our gadget ( I also have one but mine is a teenager now, a bit rebel at times). As a matter of fact it will not beat up merengue to the soft peaks stage so it is impossible to make italian meringue with it. C. insisted in the different number of beatiful cakes he has made since he got his, and beeing a bit temperamental as a good spaniard I told him IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to make nice cakes in thermomix.

Here is my humble apology, I just made these beatiful and really nice chocolate cupcakes for my daughter M. and her 4 friends who came for tea today. They ate all of the 18 I had made with the help of ´J. and P. So now the recipe.

Thermomix Chocolate cupcakes
For the cupcakes
3 eggs
180 gr. of sugar
180 gr. of butter at room temperature (soft)
130 gr. of flour
50 gr. of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
a pinch of salt

For the chocolate icing
60 gr. chocolate
120 gr. butter
1/4 cup of cream
1/2 cup of icing sugar
Preheat oven to 200º

Method for cupcakes in the Thermomix
1.- put the eggs and sugar in the Thermomix with the butterfly and beat for 3 minutes at speed 4 and temperatura 40 for 3 minutes.
2.- now put the butter into the Thermomix and beat for a further minute at speed 4
3.- Put all the dry ingredients into the thermomix and beat for 6 seconds

You have enough mixture for 18 cupcakes. put the mixture into 18 cupcake cases and bake for 10-15 minutes until well risen. Put on a wire rack and let them cool.

Method for the chocolate icing
1.- Put the cream and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, until the chocolate

melts .
2.- Using the butterfly beat the butter with the icing sugar in the thermomix at speed 3 for 2

minutes, you can add the chocolate sauce when it is cold and beat for a further minute. You

can now put the icing into a piping bag with a size 5 nozle and let it cool for a further 30

minutes .
3.- Decorate the cupcakes with a spiral of chocolate icing on top of each of them. For these ones I

put a few drops of mint essence into the chocolate icing .

If you don't have a Thermomix it doesn't matter beat with whatever gadget you got for your wedding!! And if your not married what you got from your mother when you moved out , and follow all the instructions. good luck!

J. thank you for the photos

My alter ego

Today I would like to share with you, just in case anyone apart from my family is reading, a company to which I profess great admiration. Its name is Chocolate Pancracio and from my point of view it has made a difference with its approach to creating, designing and selling high quality chocolate products from Spain to an increasing number of countries. You can read all about them here where if you like chocolate your mouth will turn into water.

I have tried several of their recipes and they always turn out right so I urge you to do the same.

Until I get more photos of my own that's all for today.

The recipes

I guess whats the point of having a food blogg if you don't share your recipe's? I would like to start with the recipe for what I call "The best chocolate cake in the world". As a matter of fact it is a versión of the 70's classic Gateau Diane, which you can find in a Cordon
Bleu recipe book from 1973.

I found the inspiration in a cake I tasted in Lisbon called "El meior bolo de chocolate du mondo". I like a challenge so I decided to contest the portuguese version for the world leadership in chocolate cakes.

So as I was begining with my meringue baking and selling adventure, I decided this should be one of the cakes to offer. And I must say it is working very well, even though I say so myself as M.Tabb says.

Th recipe


Chocolate Meringue base

6 eggs whites
300 gr. of sugar
50 gr. of cocoa powder


Chocolate cover

6 egg yolks
150 gr. of butter
200 gr. of milk
100 gr. of sugar
300 gr. of best quality 70% dark chocolate

Method


For the meringue base
Preheat oven to 100 Centrigrade
Beat the egg whites until soft white peaks begin to form
Add the sugar and cocoa little by little, beating up after every addition.
Draw 3 23 cm diameter circles on baking parchment and with a piping bag make three "meringue" circles
Put them into the oven and bake for two hours

For the chocolate cover
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and milk, pour into a heavy based pan and bring to a simmer, ad the butter cut into pieces stirring continously, when you have a smooth custard turn of the heat. Brake the chocolate into small pieces and drop into the hot custard. Leave it for 5 minutes before stirring vigorously. You should have by now a shiny chocolate sauce. Let it cool.

To assemble the cake sandwich the 3 meringue circles with the chocolate filling, covering the top of the last circle aswell. If you wish you can also cover the sides. You can decorate it with little merigues.


I hope you like it as much as me and my friends do.

Gasparini

Why Gasparini and why meringues? Well, Gasparini is supposed to be the father of italian meringue. Meringue has always been my favourite dessert, I suppose because my Irish grandfather had a poultry farm and we always had plenty of eggs and books about how to cook them.

One of my first vivid memories is when I was aboaut 5 years old and my mother had baked a batch of meringues, she did this on rare and special occasions, as they took so long in the oven, while they were baking my parents, my two sisters and I went to seal a deal on a car they were buying, one of those volswagon station wagons, it was a fishy deal as on our first ride from the dealers to our house the car broke down. By the time we got home the meringues were incinerated! the tears fell down my cheeks, and meringues became something of an obsession.

When I was small I used to look at the recipes in my mother's cookery books as a teenager I lost interest and in my firs years of marriage they were a challenge I would bake them with little success every time we had friends for dinner , it has taken me years and a lot of eggs to master them.

With the aid of J. my 15 year old son I hope to use this blog as a space where I can share my baking experiences.