I had promised my chocolate loving Florian, that I will attempt a dessert he used to love in Ubon times, the Chocolate Bento Box. That one was served in a posh little box with green tea ice cream on the side. The first recipe that Google coughed up was Fucking Gordon’s, but I decided to use it, it looked easy and I like the idea of being able to store it in the fridge overnight before cooking. As I’m busy massacrating my lawn, I think it will be handy tomorrow to have a dessert nearly ready.

For 5 fondants I used 100g of good, dark chocolate, same amount of butter, plain flour and sugar, plus 2 egg yolks and 2 eggs. First I prepared the ramekins, brushed them with melted butter in a similar way like for the souffle ( upwards) and dusted with cocoa.

I melted the chocolate and butter in a bowl above boiling water, then chilled while I whisked the eggs with sugar. The flour went in with the eggs and then the chocolate, all of that into the ramekins and in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

I baked them in 200 Celsius for 12 minutes. The smell in the kitchen was fantastic, but tomorrow I will keep them in  for a bit longer. It’s supposed to be runny in the middle, mine today were a bit too runny, but tasted great. Florian finished his. 🙂

First ever, quite well executed, I have to say. Greg Wallace’s recipe, that I have actually followed step by step, as I have never made it before, hoping for an honest opinion from Florek, who loves everything that’s toffee.

For 2 portions I chopped about 40g of dates and simmered them in a little water until nice and mushy. About 40g of butter, 25g of brown sugar, one egg, 80g self raising flour and a touch of baking powder all made a nice, thick mixture, plus the dates. It was all baked in a bain marie for about 35 minutes in 180 Celsius. Mine had a slightly crispy bottom- wrong, apparently, will cover them with foil next time. While they’re baking, I made a nice and simple toffee sauce. 150 ml double cream, 75 g of brown sugar, 25 g of butter went into it. I heated up half of the cream and all the butter and sugar, stirring often, let it bubble for about 5 minutes until glossy and thick, then added the remaining cream. Very nice sauce and bloody simple.

The taste of the  pud itself, I thought can be improved by a bit of cinnamon, maybe even a few chopped hazelnuts, to be done next time.

The photo does it justice today, does it not?

Presentation – wise, not as stunning as I was hoping it would be, but just had a look at other pictures on the net and it really is not too bad! And Florian just had the second helping. 😉

I baked the puff pastry in between two sheets of baking paper, with a heavy baking dish on top to keep it even. It worked quite well. I then sliced it in 3 layers.

The filling is a whipped double cream + vanilla paste, lemon zest and icing sugar with chopped fresh strawberries, all folded in. I grated some white chocolate as well and put in between the layers, as well as on top. And chilled for about an hour before serving.

Looking at the pictures I think I will click the Room for Improvement box as well, as the bottom layer of the pastry is not baked well enough. It tastes very nice though!

Last weekend on a random visit to Tk Maxx with Moka I bought 2 iron dishes, heavy, nice ones, wasn’t quite sure what for, but I bought them. This evening I though I’d have a great use for them, I could make the dessert that used to make us drool over the table in Zizzi’s in Canary Wharf, where we used to spend our breaks ( and money).

It took me 5 minutes to place sliced bananas in the dishes, pour over them a mixture of honey, lemon juice, cinnamon and brown sugar, dot them with butter and bake off for about 12 minutes. Next time though I will take my time and make proper caramel for them. Those in Zizzi used to be served with delicious pistachio ice cream, I didn’t have pistachio, I had coffee ice cream. I served it hot, with slightly melting ice cream on top.

Yum.

Last weekend Alice served some lovely ginger cake with the tea. It came from one of the Suffolk farm shops, it was moist, sticky on top and oozing with ginger. I loved it.

At home I looked through the net, found a recipe that I thought would be closest to the one I wanted and made it last night. It is excellent, but I will double the amount of ginger next time.

• 250 g butter
• 275 g soft brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• AT LEAST  4 tbsp of fresh grated ginger
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 250 ml milk
• 320g plain flour
• 4tsp baking powder
• 4tsp ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Oven 180 C/gas mark 4.

Prepare the cake tin, grease it and line with baking paper.

Sift all the powdered ingredients and flour.

Cream the butter and sugar, then add eggs one by one. Add ginger ( and some more ginger! ) and vanilla. Beat in all the powders and milk. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

They look gorgeous, don’t they?

That was the second take on them on Friday evening, the first ones were definitely not cooked and as I had some mango puree left, I quickly whipped up the second batch, Florian made sure the temperature in the oven is 375 exactly, like in the recipe and in they went. They were much better than the first ones, but still only half cooked, the lower down, the more raw they were.

Bea reckons it might have to do with uneven temperature in the oven or the ramekins.

All I know- the cooked bit tasted lovely and I’ll keep on trying until they’re perfect.

To be continued….