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Posts Tagged ‘Nick Malgieri Bake!’

Chivas Regal Chocolate Cake

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , , , on February 7, 2012| 78 Comments »

Every couple of years, my friend and neighbour PeteV passes me a bottle of Chivas Regal 12YO Scotch Whisky.

He receives the occasional bottle as a gift, but as none of us are spirit drinkers, he’s more than happy for me to use it for cooking (my apologies to Greg and the other whisky drinkers out there who I’m sure will be completely appalled by this).

This chocolate cake recipe from Nick Malgieri’s Bake! provided the perfect excuse to crack open the bottle.  I’ve now made it twice, and I think it only fair to let you know the pros and cons of the recipe before you splurge on a bottle of whisky (or bourbon, as the original recipe specifies) to make it.

First and foremost, the cake is delicious.  It has a moist tender crumb and a deep, dark, grown-up chocolate flavour. Each batch has a whopping 120ml of whisky (four nips!) and according to my friend Rebecca, only 75% of that will burn off during the one hour baking time.  So it’s not a cake to be feeding to little people.

Secondly, it’s made in a very interesting way – the flour, sugar and bicarb are beaten together, and then the butter, softened first to the consistency of mayonnaise, is beaten in gently. It’s worth mentioning that the finished batter is basically a soup, as half a litre (2 cups) of liquid is added at the end.  Go gently on the speed dial of the mixer, or it will splatter all over the kitchen!

The only real negative to report is that I struggled to get the finished cake to release cleanly from the bundt pan.  Of course, I was lazy and didn’t do as Nick instructed, which was to butter the tin, scatter in dry breadcrumbs and then spray oil over the top of them.  But usually a light spray of canola oil is enough in my cast aluminium bundts – although not in this case, as you can see…

Finally, and I’m still not sure whether this is a pro or a con, the batter is absolutely to die for.  It tastes like dark chocolate Irish cream with a little eggnog thrown in for good measure, and  I had trouble ladling it into the pans rather than my mouth.  Pete caught me with my head inside the mixing bowl, snuffling up the leftover mixture. “It wasn’t very becoming”, he told me later.

Are you still interested?  If so, here’s the recipe…

Chivas Regal Chocolate Cake
(based on Maida’s Chocolate Bourbon Pound Cake in Nick Malgieri’s Bake!)

  • 140g (5oz) unsweetened chocolate, cut into small pieces or grated (for the first cake, I used Callebaut cocoa mass, and for the second one, I used Willie’s Cacao)
  • 360ml (1½ cups) hot brewed coffee (I used a strong plunger decaf coffee)
  • 120ml (½ cup) Chivas Regal (original recipe says to use best bourbon whiskey)
  • 300g (2 cups) plain (AP) flour
  • 440g (2 cups) white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 250g (1 cup) unsalted butter, really soft
  • 3 medium (55g) free range eggs, at room temperature
  • 10ml (2 teaspoons) vanilla extract (I used homemade)

1. Prepare tins – either line two loaf tins (mine were 21.5 x 11 x 7cm, or 8½ x 4½ x 2¼”) with parchment paper or butter a 10-cup bundt pan, coat it with fine dry breadcrumbs and then spray over them with vegetable cooking spray. I didn’t actually do this, but I will next time!  Preheat the oven to 160C/320F or 150C/300F with fan.

2. Place the chocolate in a large bowl and pour over the hot coffee.  Allow to rest for a minute or two, then whisk to combine.  Stir the whisky into the mixture.

3. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, gently beat together the flour, sugar, sifted bicarb and salt, using the paddle attachment.  Stop the mixer and add in the butter, which needs to be really soft.  Mix on the lowest speed until the mixture comes together and all the butter is incorporated – the consistency at this point reminded me of choux pastry dough.

4. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat slowly to combine, before turning the speed up to medium and beating for a minute.

5. Scrape the bowl and beater down, and then pour in half the chocolate mixture.  Mix very slowly to start (or you’ll end up wearing it!) and then turn the speed up to medium and beat for a minute.  Now add the remaining chocolate mixture, and again beat very slowly to start with, before turning the speed up to medium for a further two minutes.  Resist the urge to drink all the batter at this point.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin(s) and bake for about 60 – 70 mins – a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake should come out clean. My loaf tins only needed 60 minutes, but the bundt pan took slightly longer.

7. Let the cake rest in the tin for 15 minutes before crossing your fingers and attempting to unmould it.  Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

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Muscovado Brown Sugar Wafers

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on January 16, 2012| 73 Comments »

As you might recall, I’ve recently purchased a copy of Nick Malgieri’s Bake!.

This is first recipe I’ve made, and it’s an absolute winner! I’ve changed the dough shaping method, as I found it too sticky to roll out and cut as Nick suggests, particularly in the middle of a Sydney summer.

The finished wafers are crisp and moreish – the first batch seemed to vanish from the cookie jar in record time, especially when Big Boy discovered he could use them to make icecream sandwiches.

The Muscovado sugar imparts a delicious caramel flavour, but regular light brown sugar would work just as well.  Use medium-sized eggs as instructed, or the dough will be too wet to handle.

  • 300g (2 cups) plain (AP) flour
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), sifted
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 170g (6oz) unsalted butter
  • 340g (12oz) light brown sugar (I used Muscovado)
  • 1 medium egg, plus 1 medium egg yolk (my eggs were 55g each)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used homemade)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, bicarb and salt.

2. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until combined.  Add the egg and the yolk one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the vanilla extract and beat until incorporated.  The batter should be quite light and fluffy at this point.  Scrape down the bowl.

3. Add the flour mixture and mix at the lowest speed until just combined.  Give the mixture a final stir with the scraper to incorporate any remaining flour.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate for an hour or so to make the dough easier to handle.

4. Turn the dough onto a large sheet of clingfilm (parchment paper doesn’t seem to work in this case) and roughly shape it into a log.

5. Using the clingfilm, shape the dough into a smooth log, then twist the edges to tighten.  Refrigerate the log again for several hours until firm enough to slice.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C (360F) or 170C (340F) with fan.  Line two large trays with parchment paper.  Unwrap the cold dough and slice it into thin 5mm (about ¼”) discs.  Lay them out on the trays, allowing room for spreading.  Work quickly, as the dough will warm up and soften with handling.

7. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the trays, and then bake for a further 5 minutes or until golden brown. The wafers will crisp up as they cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe

The dough logs freeze well, which makes it simple to bake these up at short notice.  The wafers are quite sweet, but perfect with a cup of tea.  They’re reasonably sturdy too, despite being crunchy, and survive quite well in an airtight cookie jar for several days.  I can see them becoming a house staple!

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