The Recipe Room

The Mayans were amazing and sophisticated people. They learnt how to cultivate cocoa trees, and they developed ways of fermenting and roasting the beans so that they could be consumed. At the same time the Roman Empire was peaking, the Mayans were building their huge pyramids.

So here’s a recipe inspired by those incredible Mayan Pyramids.  To create the unique shape of this chocolate triangle cake, the mixture is poured and set into a tilted cake tin.  I have used almonds and raisins in this recipe but you can substitute any dried fruit or nuts you like; for example hazelnuts, mixed nuts, dried apricots, de-stoned prunes, dates, or glacé cherries to name a few.

Ingredients:

• 300g milk chocolate, broken into pieces
• 100-150g good dark chocolate
• 170g digestive biscuits, broken into roughly shaped pieces
• 125g raisins
• 100ml evaporated milk
• 100g almonds, roughly chopped
• 100g white chocolate

Preparation Guidelines:

1. Take an 18cm square cake tin and line the base and 3 upright sides with clingfilm, leaving one side without film.
2. Pour the evaporated milk into a heavy-bottom pan, add the milk chocolate and on a low heat, gradually melt and stir the mixture together.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool, but not to set.
3. Stir in the nuts, raisins, and biscuit pieces.
4. Place the cake tin at a 45 degree angle by propping it up on one side with a box.  It should sit with the unlined side of the tin being the side that is propped up, and therefore raised above the level of work surface. Transfer the cake mixture to the propped up tin, smooth the top surface and leave until it is firm.  At this stage you can put the tin into the fridge to set the cake completely.
5. Once thoroughly set, remove the cake from the fridge, turn out of the tin and peel off the clingfilm.  If any bits of biscuit sit above the level of the chocolate mixture, you can slice these off so that the cake will sit flat on a serving plate.
6. Melt the dark chocolate and spread it in a very thin layer over the top sides of the pyramid.
7. Melt the white chocolate and drizzle in a decorative pattern for presentation.

Time:  20 minutes to prepare plus cooling and setting

Cocoa Treats: 10 servings

For this recipe, I’ve combined two recipe favourites into one – meringue with fruit and cream and iced forest fruits with hot chocolate sauce. My recipe uses white chocolate and contrasts the tartness of the dark berries with the sweetness of the meringue and chocolate cream sauce. It’s great because you take the hot sauce to the table and let your guests pour as much or as little as they like over their fruity meringue mountains. (Also try frozen berries with white chocolate sauce, which is very similar but doesn’t use meringue.)

Iced Fruit Mountains and Hot Chocolate Snow is a sumptuous melting pot of a dessert. It looks and tastes heavenly, and makes a great finish to a special meal. It’s also achingly easy. Small fruits definitely work best for this because larger ones (like strawberries or large blackberries) take too long to defrost. If you really want to use larger fruits, you’ll need to defrost them in advance so that they’re not hard and cold in the middle – then they should be perfectly defrosted as the hot sauce pours over them.

Ingredients:

• 4 small individual meringue nests
• 400g frozen berries, small raspberries or fruits of the forest
• 200ml double cream
• 200g white chocolate

Preparation Guidelines:

1. 15-30 minutes before you want to serve, place the meringue bases on individual serving dishes or plates, and heap the frozen berries onto them to create little mountains of fruit. Keep at room temperature so the fruit begins to defrost.
2. Break the chocolate into small pieces, and put in a heatproof bowl.
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate, and heat this mix over a pan of simmering water for 10-15 minutes until hot and blended.
4. Pour the hot chocolate cream into a warmed jug and take straight to the table together with the meringue fruit mountains.
5. Let your guests pour on the melted ‘snow’.

Note:    You can freeze your own selection of fruit throughout the year for this and other desserts by laying fresh berries on a tray in the freezer, freezing until solid, then bagging up. This process stops them from solidifying into large clumps that are difficult to thaw or separate. It also makes it easier for you to extract the berries a bit at a time without damaging their appearance.

Time:   15-20 minutes to prepare

Cocoa Treats:  4 servings

To my palette, there’s nothing much more exquisite than the combination of chocolate and liqueur.  A rich round off to a romantic candlelit meal with someone special, accompanied by a glass of cava or champagne.  White chocolate doesn’t contain any cocoa solids and in truth is masquerading as chocolate, but we adore the divine blend of cocoa butter, milk solids and sugar.  The composition of white chocolate gives it a lower melting point than chocolate made with cocoa solids, and this just serves to accentuate it’s melt-in-the-mouth sensuality. This white chocolate mousse is one of my favourites.  Make it and you’ll find out why.

Ingredients:

• 230g good white chocolate, broken into pieces, and a little grated to decorate
• 4 tbsp orange liqueur
• 295ml double cream
• 2 egg whites
• 30ml water
• A few shavings of orange zest to decorate

You will also need an electric whisk.

Preparation Guidelines:

1. Melt the chocolate slowly in a heat-proof container over hot water, mixing in the water and the liqueur, and stirring gently.  When molten and combined, allow the mixture to cool.
2. Whip the cream in a large bowl with the electric whisk, until the cream is firm and peaking.  Then fold it gently into the melted chocolate.
3. Clean and dry the whisking blades on your electric whisk, and use them to beat the egg whites in a clean bowl.  Once light, fluffy and aerated, stir the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.
4. With a spatula, gently tease the mousse mixture out into 6 wine glasses or serving bowls and chill them in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
5. Just before presenting the mousse, decorate it with a little grated chocolate or orange zest, and serve it up for the pure pleasure of your company.

Note: Equally as pleasure-inducing are mint, raspberry or coffee liqueurs in place of the orange liqueur.  Have a little experiment with the toppings too!

Time: Less than 30 minutes preparation time, plus a minimum of 1 hour chilling time

Cocoa Treats: 6

If you love this version, also try this rich chocolate mousse.