Torta caprese al limone

Italian flourless lemon and white chocolate cake or Torta caprese al limone.

Heaven on a plate right here and the third course of our Valentine's Day dinner.

I'm not really sure where the inspiration came from for this cake. I've never cooked anything like it before, but I am so glad I did. Usually, if I bake a cake or make a dessert, it involves chocolate. But I am learning and branching out and trying different flavours.

This cake was so moist and lemony and sweet and crunchy and lots of other great adjectives. Man of the house said it was 'something I could make again', mumbled around mouthfuls of cake, and the little people will eat anything that looks vaguely like a cake - not the most objective observers - but they liked it too. The house smelled wonderful while this was baking - lots of lemon and almond smells wafting from the oven. I liken it a bit to eating a lemon tart, but as a cake. That's what the flavour's reminded me of.

You could serve this as a dessert with a dollop of cream or natural yoghurt or make it for a morning tea with friends. It is a rich and dense cake, so you don't need a huge slice, but it is well worth the effort.

See our Valentine's entree and main course.

Buon San Valentino!

What you'll need

Made one large cake, approximately 12 to 14 pieces.

200g butter, chopped into cubes
200g white chocolate, broken into bits
5 eggs, separated
200g caster sugar
Zest of three whole lemons
60ml lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence or seeds from one vanilla bean
360g almond meal

Extra butter to grease the cake tin
Icing sugar to dust
Thickened cream or yoghurt to serve

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Prepare your cake tin. I used a 22cm spring-form non-stick cake tin. Grease the tin with butter, then line the bottom and sides with baking paper.

Melt and chocolate and butter together, either over very low heat in a saucepan or in the microwave. Once melted and combined, then set aside to cool slightly.

In a bowl, cream the sugar and egg yolks together with electric beaters until the mixture is pale and fluffy. 

Add the lemon zest, juice and vanilla. Mix well to combine. Add the almond meal and chocolate mixture and stir with a spoon to combine.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold half the egg whites back into the chocolate mixture, mixing very gently. Now fold the remaining egg whites and fold until just combined. 

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin. 

Place in the oven and bake at 180 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 150 degrees and bake for another 75 minutes.  Check if it is cooked using a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the cake. 

This cake is very dense due to the nuts so it will need all its cooking time, if not a little extra.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and let stand in the pan for 15 minutes. Then remove from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

To serve, sprinkle the cake with icing sugar and cut slices. Serve by itself or with a dollop of cream or natural yoghurt.

The outside and top of this cake crisped nicely, and the middle was luscious, moist and dense. The lemon flavour was strong, but I really like that. As I said, heaven on a plate!

Tip

The top of this cake will brown very quickly, so after 10 minutes baking you may want to place a piece of foil or baking paper on the top of the cake to prevent it from going too brown. 

Spanish-style tapas plate

Second course for the Valentine's Day dinner was inspired by tapas-style eating from Spain.

I wanted a few little things that we could taste, but I didn't want anything too heavy, as we were having a three-course meal.

So, we had a grilled lamb cutlet, with a tiny splodge of black olive tapenade; a grilled prawn topped with a slice of chorizo sausage and a sprinkle of chilli salt; and zucchini ribbons with lemon and garlic and some steamed asparagus.

Having a few mouthfuls of each taste was lovely, even though the flavours were very different. It was similar to having three entrees at once.

See our Valentine's entree and dessert.

Feliz Día de San Valentín!

What you'll need

Made four individual tapas plates.

4 frenched lamb cutlets
4 green King prawns, peeled but with tail intact
8 think slices Chorizo sausage
8 fresh asparagus spears

For the zucchini
1 medium-sized zucchini, cut into thin ribbons (I used a vegetable peeler to make the ribbons)
Juice and zest of half a lemon
1 French eschallot, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Salt and pepper
Dried chilli flakes (for the prawns)
Olive oil for grilling
Good quality, shop-bought olive tapenade

What to do

Make the zucchini. Heat a pan over medium heat. Add a little olive oil. Add the eschallot and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook for five minutes until it softens. Remove from the heat and season with the lemon juice and zest and salt and pepper. Set aside to keep warm.

Heat two fresh pans over medium heat. Add a little olive oil to both pans.

In one pan, add the lamb cutlets. Cook for about 3 minutes on one side, then turn and cook on the other side. Season well with salt and pepper.

In the other pan add the prawns and sausage and cook for three or four minutes until heated through. Remove from the heat.

Steam the asparagus in a steamer or a little boiling water until just cooked. Drain.

Now plate the dish. Place the lamb cutlet on one side of the plate. Spoon on a little bit of the shop bought tapenade.

In the middle, place one prawn, top with two slices of sausage, then sprinkle over a few dried chilli flakes.

Finally, make a small pile of the zucchini ribbons, and top with the asparagus spears.

Serve with a glass of chilled white wine or Prosecco. Delicious.

Goat's cheese soufflé

Valentine's Day 2013. We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day in our house, although apparently the little people of the house seem to think we should. No flowers, chocolates or pressies here. But I do cook something a little special for our family to share.

This year, I decided on a Mediterranean-style menu with three courses taking inspiration from three different countries.

First course took inspiration from a little bistro in Provence France,  second course was from a tapas bar in Barcelona Spain, and dessert was from a trattoria in Tuscany Italy (or so we pretended!).

I hope your Valentine's day was a lovely one, whether you celebrate it on not. And I hope you enjoy this little tour around the Mediterranean.

These souffles were very light and tasty. Although it takes a little bit of effort, I like souffles. It is not something to eat every day, but something to save for a special occasion. Bonne Saint Valentin!

What you need

Made 6 small soufflés (made in half cup capacity ramekins)

1/2 cup packet breadcrumbs
40g butter
40g plain flour
250ml milk
50g grated cheddar cheese
50g crumbled goat's cheese
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Extra butter for greasing the ramekins

To serve

Fresh rocket
1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
4 small slices goat's cheese

What to do

Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Boil a kettle full of water for later use.

Grease the ramekins well and place in the fridge or freezer to harden the butter.

While the ramekins are in the freezer, melt the 40g butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Once melted and bubbling, add the flour and mix well until combined . Turn the heat to low. Slowly add the milk and stir continuously until the mixtures thickens. Add the cheese and thyme and mix until well combined.

Set aside for 5 minutes to cool. Add the egg yolks and mix well. Season well with salt and pepper.

In a clean bowl, mix the egg whites with electric beaters until stiff peaks form.

Now, add half the egg whites back into the cheese mixture. Fold gently together with a metal spoon. Add the other half of the egg whites to the mixture until just combined.

Remove the ramekins from the freezer. Place a little breadcrumb in each ramekin and 'jiggle' the crumbs around the bottom and sides to ensure a coasting of crumbs all over the inside of the ramekin. Shake out any excess. (This helps to ensure that the egg mixture doesn't stick to the sides of the ramekin when it rises in the oven.)

Place the ramekins into an ovenproof dish, spaced evenly apart. Fill each ramekin to the brim with the egg mixture. Now pour the boiling water into the ovenproof dish, so that it comes half way up the sides of the ramekins.

Carefully put the dish into the oven.

Cook for 25 minutes until golden and very 'puffed'. Serve immediately with a side salad.

Tips for soufflés

• Do not open the oven door while cooking. 
• Be ready to serve these immediately from the oven to the table so that you will get to see the lovely fluffy soufflés at their best. The soufflés will start to deflate as soon as you take them from the oven.
• I prepared the salad onto some large plates while the soufflés were cooking, so I could just place the little ramekins onto the plate and serve immediately.
• It's all about timing to have a successful soufflé.

Hazelnut, raspberry and dark chocolate muffins

Quick muffin recipe today, inspired by a bag of frozen raspberries in the freezer. 

I used some hazelnut meal in the mix, just for something different. I kept the sugar quite low in the recipe, as I wanted to squidge in some dark chocolate pieces after they were cooked for something a bit different. 

These muffins were lovely and tart from the raspberries, had  a great texture from the hazelnut meal and the melted dark chocolate was just a bit decadent. 

I also made these muffins using ripe banana, instead of the raspberries.  Just substitute the raspberries for one cup of mashed, ripe banana. You could also use blueberries to make another variety of this recipe.

What you'll need

Made 10 medium-sized muffins

1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour (or use white flour if that is what you have)

1 cup hazelnut meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 cup of frozen or fresh raspberries

10 squares of dark chocolate

Butter for greasing the muffin tins.

What to do

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

Place the flour, meal, sugar and baking powder in a bowl. Mix together well. Make a well in the middle.

Add the milk and eggs. Mix together until just combined. The mix should be wet and 'thickly drip' off the back of your mixing spoon. If not, add either more flour or more milk. 

Finally, add the raspberries and mix through.

Grease the muffin tin well with butter.

Spoon with muffin mixture evenly into each tin - you should end up with about 10 muffins.

Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes. 

Check with a wooden skewer placed into the middle of some muffins if they are cooked. If the skewer comes out clean, the muffins are cooked. If the skewer comes out with muffin mixture on it, cook for another 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Now, using a small knife, made a little cut in the top of each muffin. Then slide the chocolate piece into the muffin, leaving a little hanging out. The chocolate will melt inside the muffin. 

Serve the muffins while still warm. Yum!