Category Archives: Chocolate

After reading Sarah McInerney’s article on chocolate self-saucing puddings (and it being a freezing cold night here in Sydney) I decided that I had to try Stephanie Alexander’s version.  I have been making the standard version, with no coffee since I was about 10 years old.  I have settled on her recipe from The Cook’s Companion but half way through prep I realise it doesn’t in fact have any coffee in the sauce and I cannot find any other recipe.  Perhaps it was an old recipe that she did for Sarah’s article back in 2011?

Chocolate self-saucing pudding was always a family favourite but this time I wanted to see if there was any benefit to cooking it in the combi on the ‘Cake plus’ setting like I used here with the choux pastry.  Why would there be I hear you ask?  Well, if this setting has a better control of the moisture in the oven during the baking process perhaps it will produce a better result?

What happened in fact was a quicker cooking time!  The recipe quoted 45 minutes, cooked on Cake Plus @ 160°C it took 35 minutes.  Perfectly cooked with a delicious crust and gooey sauce 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 4-6

125g plain flour
scant pinch of salt
60g castor sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
½ cup milk
40g butter melted
1 egg
few drops of pure vanilla

Topping
180g brown sugar
2 tablespoons Dutch cocoa
1 cup boiling water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C Fan forced ‘Cake plus setting’  and butter a 750 ml pudding dish.  If you are not using a Miele combi then just Fan Forced.
2. Sift flour, salt, castor sugar, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl, then stir in nuts if included.
3. Combine milk, melted butter, egg and vanilla and mix into dry ingredients.
4. Pour into pudding dish.
5. To make the topping, mix brown sugar and cocoa and sprinkle over pudding batter.
6. Pour boiling water carefully over all ingredients.
7. Bake for 35 minutes until pudding feels firm when pressed lightly with your fingertips.  Use the ‘smell’ test, it will smell fabulous.  In a standard oven, cook for 45 minutes.

To serve, spoon out cake and its sauce while hot.  Serve with lots of fresh thickened cream….. Yum

I have been doing a few pastry posts lately, but I haven’t done choux!  It is time to discover more joys of the combi steam oven with yet another treat.

This is a really old recipe from my first-ever French cooking classes in Melbourne that I talked about here.  I thought I would do Chocolate Profiteroles for our Bastille Day dessert and, they were delicious!

This is the first time I have done choux pastry in the combi. From my research I have learnt that it requires a ‘rising temperature’ and I do remember from my training all those years ago that it needs a dry oven.  The Miele combi has a ‘Cake plus’ setting that I have never really used.  It seemed to be just set at a ‘moderate oven’ which I thought you could just do manually yourself on the Fan Plus setting.  But after reading up about it somehow it seems to be fine-tuned to make a very dry oven with precise moisture control.  Sounds perfect for choux pastry and something new I have learnt about this appliance!

Ingredients:

150g plain flour
120g butter
pinch salt
300mls water
4 x 60g or 3 x 700g eggs

Method:

1. Sift the flour with the salt onto a piece of baking paper.
2. Place the butter and water into a saucepan over gentle heat and when the butter has melted, bring the water to the boil.
3. Remove the pan off the heat and immediately tip in all the flour.
4. Beat well until smooth and the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
5. Cool slightly, about 2-3 minutes
6. Preheat oven on Cake Plus 170°C.  If your not using a Miele combi then just use Fan Forced.
7. Whisk the eggs slightly and add a little at a time to the cooled dough.
8. The dough should be smooth and shiny and just fall from the spoon but hold its shape.
9. Using a piping bag and plain nozzle or just spoon the mixture into small balls on a lightly greased baking tray or tray lined with baking paper.  Put the tray into the oven and immediately increase the temperature to 180°C.
10. Bake for 25 minutes until browned and crisp.
11. Remove from oven and pierce the bottom or side of the profiterole and return back to the oven upside down to dry out for 4 minutes.  This will let the steam escape.
12. Cool on a wire rack and store in an air-tight container.

There are numerous ways you can serve profiteroles.  Filled with the classic Crème Patissiere, whipped & sweetened cream, chocolate custard or ice-cream.  I personally just like whipped cream and a really, rich warm chocolate sauce drizzled over 🙂

Chocolate sauce:

180g dark chocolate, broken
1/2 cup cream
Dash of alcohol, Kahlua, Grand Marnier etc of your choice

Place broken chocolate pieces and cream into a bowl, cover tightly with glad wrap and steam @ 100°C for 1 minute.  Stir to combine and drizzle over filled profiteroles.

Delicious and always a favourite!