Dairy-free Chocolate Cheesecake

I know, that sounds terrible, right? It's actually amazing. And all I needed to make it was a small aubergine... (well in my case, a large aubergine, because my cake pans were a different size to what they suggested!) I don't know how many people this serves, but it's so rich that we were eating it for lunch-dessert and real-dessert for about a week!

Ingredients

• 3 small or 1 large whole aubergines (weighing roughly 600g)
• 450g best dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), broken into squares
• 75g good quality cocoa powder
• 100g ground almonds
• 4 large or extra-large eggs (could substitute tofu to make this vegan)
• 300g clear honey (could substitute sugar or agave syrup to make this vegan)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp brandy

Line two 8″/20cm springform tins with baking parchment and lightly brush the base and sides with a little oil. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Peel the aubergine(s) using a vegetable peeler and place in a large microwaveable bowl, then microwave on high for 8-10 minutes until soft and collapsed. Roughly dice and pour away any thin watery fluid. Blend/puree using an electric blender. Again in a microwaveable bowl, melt the dark chocolate in the microwave, this time on a medium setting, for 5 minutes, stirring several times. As soon as the chocolate and aubergine are less than 50C, combine with the pureed aubergine, then add all of the other ingredients and mix well (no need to worry about overbeating as this recipe has no flour!)

Divide the mixture equally between the two tins and bake for 30 minutes. A skewer probably won't come out clean, as the final texture is more like a cheesecake or mudcake than a spongecake.

Homemade Chocolate-Chip Ice Cream

I must write up my mint ice cream, but in the meantime, here is a very successful vanilla, which we (of course) spiced up by adding shaved 70% dark chocolate. Totally yum yet strangely elegant.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup thickened cream
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• dark chocolate

Chill the ingredients well, then pour into the ice cream maker and mix until thickened. Freeze again for 3-4 hours, then churn again and serve, topped with finely chopped or grated dark chocolate.

A Special Someone's Birthday Cake

I'm a terrible wife! I planned out a lovely surprise for hubby's birthday, but didn't know that his work colleagues were expecting him to bring in a cake on his birthday. So the poor long-suffering man had to make his own birthday cake. On the plus side, that meant he got exactly what he wanted: a cake that combines chocolate and beer. He did a great job, making a couple of rounds and then sandwiching them together with goobery icing. He even kept this little ramekin-sized one back for us to share :)

Then for his birthday, I took him out to see Tripod, and he broke a rib laughing. Literally. I really am a terrible wife >.<

Banana Split

MONSTER CRAVING!! I blame the afternoon swim plus a light vegetarian meal :) This is a couple of bananas sliced lengthwise, some really excellent Italian-style gelato, some stewed plum juice, and a chocolate sauce from melting a couple of squares of Whittakers dark, whisked together with a little milk. Totally decadent and delicious :D

Serves two!

Christmas Eve Down Under

Following a tradition established years ago in our family, we tend to make an exciting and rather gourmet meal for Christmas Eve, usually trying out something new, often related to the region we're in. In France, we had bouillabaisse, in Norway, reindeer, and here of course, we have kangaroo!

Starters are a selection of oysters au nature, with parsley, lemon, Tabasco and Pernod ready to add. Even mum bravely downed a couple, and we enjoyed a few glasses of bubbly to go with.

Next came the kangaroo, which we seared on the BBQ for just 50 seconds per side, leaving it beautifully rare and tender. We served it on a bed of lentils, bacon and parsley, with our 'classic' (i.e. we've been making it every Christmas for three years now) red pepper & pomegranate salad, and mashed potatoes with mustard.

To finish, we had a delicious flourless chocolate cake, the recipe for which I googled around for until I found something that looked almost right.

I should have taken a better photo, as it was an absolutely wonderful cake, moist and delicate, with a delicious almondy aroma from the almond meal. But we certainly couldn't have decorated it, as it was very rich and needed to be served with nothing more than a cup of strong coffee. Next time I make it, I'll try to get a nice photo of a single slice with a strawberry or other cheeky photographic aid for contrast. In the meantime, here's the recipe, which we found served 12, rather than 8!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp of strong coffee
• 100g butter
• 150g dark chocolate
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs at room temperature (eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
• 170g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
• 200g almond meal (ground almonds)

Make a espresso for your tablespoon of strong coffee. Drink any leftovers.

Grease the side and base of a 20cm diameter (inside top measurement) round, preferably springform, cake pan. Line base and side of the pan with non-stick baking paper. (Mum showed me an awesome method for this; I must post photographs next time I do it.) 

Place butter, chocolate, vanilla and coffee in a pyrex bowl and microwave, stirring every minute, for five minutes, or until chocolate and butter have melted. Set aside to cool.

Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks, taking care not to break the yolks. Using electric hand-held beaters or an electric mixer, beat egg whites with about half the sugar in a large, clean bowl. Beat until soft peak stage (when the beater is lifted, a peak will form and then droop over). Or slightly more, if you're not ready with the other stage.

Gently fold the yolks into the cooled chocolate mixture. Break up any lumps of almond meal before stirring it into the chocolate mixture. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg white mixture and fold gently to combine, stopping as soon as you can see no further large pockets of pure egg white. (Don't burst all of the lovely bubbles!)

Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and cover with a clean tea towel, allowing it to cool in the pan. Serve slices of the cake with whipped cream, berries, ice cream, chocolate sauce or simply dusted with icing sugar. Or just with more coffee.