Miercurea fara cuvinte….2….My cooking..
Wordless wednesday starts here here
Chocolate and you…
Le Chocolat de Paris
I have two true loves,
You and fine chocolate!
Rarely enjoying milk chocolate-
(Composed of chocolate and lightly caramelized sweet milk)
I must refrain from calling myself
a true chocoholic….
Yet, I have no restraint
When I find myself in the presence
Of a Paris Chocolaterie.
French chocolate is seductive,
reverent, oh, so heavenly!
Chocolate lingers on my enamored tongue,
glistening, teasing my senses, while intoxicating my mind!
Silky smooth, delicious, handcrafted tidbits of bliss-
perfectly placed in gold foil boxes.
Glistening ganache, cocoa-dusted truffles
hinted with ginger and Malabar cardamon,
artisan praline clusters, cloudy-dipped meringues
dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate-
Oh my, chocolate!
My Parisian passion for chocolate
shines in contrast to
my wholesome background
lacking true chocolate delight.
Reared on divinity fudge and frosted chocolate cupcakes,
my “can’t resist” attitude binged only in private.
I was advised to keep my dark chocolate secret…
silent.
Although I do love chocolate,
do not be jealous,
for you
my true love
have the finesse of the chocolate of Paris,
tempting me with your irrestible charm.
Your sweetness lingers
long after we kiss-
melting my heart,
like chocolate drops
in the Paris sun.
– Sherry Pedersen
Androxa’s Banana and Strawberry duo…
Photo and food by me full view here
Strawbeery cake on the left and the banana caramel cake on the right
STRAWBERRY CAKE
Ingredients:
* 200 g strawberries
* 2 eggs
* 200 gr sugar
* 200 g self-raising flour
Preparation:
. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
Wash strawberries and remove the crowns. Cut the large ones in half.
Beat the sugar and butter fluffy. Stir in the eggs one by one.
Sift the flour and stir into the batter.
Add a dash of milk mix well
Grease a baking pan and pour the batter in it. Divide the strawberries on top.
Bake strawberry cake in about 40 minutes in the oven. Cool on a wire rack.
Banana caramel cake with nuts
Ingredients :
* 30 grams sugar
* 1 tablespoon water
* 10 grams butter
* 1 ripe banana , mashed with a fork
* 30 grams of nuts (walnut pecans etc.)toasted and chopped
* 100 grams butter , soft at room temparature
* 80 grams sugar
* 2 eggs
* 125 gram wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* A few drops vanilla extract
Make the caramel first. Put 30 grams of sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat. When the sugar turns brown, take the pan off the hob. If you want a more bitter caramel flavor, let the sugar cook a bit longer.
Add 10 grams of butter to the cooked sugar and put the pan back on the hob. Stir well. Add mashed banana and nuts and stir well. Let the caramel-banana mixture to cool.
Beat the eggs. Put the butter in a bowl and beat with whisk until the butter is still soft as mayonnaise. Add sugar to the soft butter. Add the beaten eggs bit by bit to the butter-sugar mixture. Beat well each time.
Add the caramel-banana mixture to the butter mixture. Then add flour and baking powder. Mix well until no dry flour see more.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in a preheated oven (160 degrees C) in 45 minutes.
Androxa’s frozen white chocolate and mandarin parfait…
Full view photo here
Ingredients :
# 2 eggs
# 2 egg yolks
# 30 g sugar
# 2.5 dl cream
# 200g white chocolate, grated
# 2 tablespoons milk
# half shot glass Grand Marnier or gin ( I used gin )
# lemon juice
# grated zest of one mandarin
Boil some water in a pot , place a metal bowl on top,reduce heat to simmering
Beat the eggs, yolks and sugar till thick and creamy like a custard,will take 5.10 minutes.make sure you keep whisking so you dont get scrambled eggs.
Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk till lukewarm.
Melt the chocolate gently in the milk. Do not let it boil . Beat the
cream till it stands in soft peaks. Fold the chocolate, cream, liqueur/gin , the mandarin zest
and lemon juice carefully into the egg mixture.
Pour into small ramakins or line a caketin with clingfilm or baking paper and poor the mixture in .place in freezer for a few hours or overnight. if using a caketin as form ,cut slices and fan them on a plate and serve with a sauce. the sauce shown on the photo is made from half measure water and half measure sugar slowly dissolved on the fire and then I added staranise,vanilla,cinnamon and cardamom and a handfull of frozen berries and simmered for about 30 minutes and thickened lightly with cornstarch and finished it off with a squeeze of fresh lime.
Androxa’s Chocolate and Lemon pie…..
Full size image here
RECIPE :
Ingredients for the tart dough (for 2 tarts)
½ cup (110 g) butter, softened
½ cup (100 g) sugar 2 cups (230 g) all-purpose flour
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
Ingredients for the lemon filling
2 cups (440 g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2dl lemon juice
Grated peel of 2 lemons
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking powder
Ingredients for the chocolate frosting
½ cup (1.2 dl) heavy cream or whipping cream
7 oz (200 g) semisweet chocolate (40-50% cocoa)
Method
1. Line the bottom of a springform pan of 9 inches (23 cm) diameter with greaseproof or other non-stick paper and grease the sides of the pan.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter and sugar. Add flour and cocoa powder, and finally the egg. Reserve in the fridge for a few hours or more.
3. Preheat oven to 350 deg F (Gas mark 4 or 180 deg C).
4. Using your fingers, pat down half of the tart dough into the bottom of the springform pan (not the sides); keep the rest frozen until next time.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 7 minutes.
6. For the filling, mix sugar and egg for 2-3 minutes with an electric mixer.
7. Add lemon juice, , grated lemon peel, flour and baking powder, and mix well.
8. Transfer to the springform and bake at 250 deg F for about 30 to 40 minutes. A wooden pick inserted in center should come out clean.
9. Using a knife, loosen carefully the cake from the sides of the springform pan. Let the tart cool to room temperature in the pan.
10. For the chocolate frosting, heat the cream almost to a boil, add chopped chocolate, and stir until smooth. Let it cool until it thickens.
11. Spread the chocolate frosting evenly on top and sides of the tart.
This is very sweet and rich…just look at the inside and does it not look moist….Go on ..try it…
Sometimes you need to indulge (for whatever reason)………
ANDROXA’S PEAR CAKE…
The cake is here
INGREDIENTS :
# 4 eggs
# pinch of salt
# 100 grams sugar
# 1 sachet vanilla sugar
# almond flavoring 
# 50 grams melted butter
# 200 grams flour
# 0.5 teaspoon baking powder
# 3 ripe pears
# 0.5 lemon
# powdered sugar
PREPARATION :
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.Grease a pan with butter of Section 24.
Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and then separate the egg yolks with the sugar, vanilla and lemon flavor to a creamy mass. Put the egg yolk in the frothy mixture. Add the cooled butter and fold in the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt gradually through. Pour half of the batter into a 24 cm greased springform and place therein the peeled and sliced pears(which you mix with the juice of half a lemon) ,pour the rest of the batter over the pears and smooth out..sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake on the rack in the middle of the oven for 60 minutes until golden.
Let cool for a few minutes and then remove the form from the cake .Eat warm with vanilla icecream.or just serve at room temperature with some sour cream.
androxa 