Chocolate and Hazelnut Torte

A Torte is a rich cake of European origin that is essentially flourless or made with very little flour. Ground nuts and beaten egg-whites make up the body of the cake. Most of the tortes are layered and iced but you can also make them unlayered. I had been eyeing this Chocolate and Hazelnut Torte  recipe for some time. Although you will find many other similar recipes, I chose this one because it is nicely illustrated and also has an accompanying video.

I am usually for easy and less time-consuming types of baking recipes but the occasion called for an elaborate cake. It was our anniversary and I decided to make it sweeter with this Chocolate Hazelnut Torte. As this type of cake is new to me, I watched the recipe video a few times to get confidence of the techniques involved. Also I have been slowly stocking up the ingredients with the intention of making this cake.

Some of my tips and notes for the recipe:

- To make ground hazelnuts at home, roast the hazelnuts in oven or in a pan and grind it into a coarse powder using a spice-grinder/coffee-mill.

- For best results, use good-quality dark chocolate having atleast 70% cocoa solids. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it using double boiler i.e. put the chocolate pieces in a bowl and keep the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl containing chocolate does not come in contact with water below.

- For orange liquer use Cointreau or substitute with grated rind of one orange and three tablespoons of orange juice.

- To separate egg whites from the yolk - crack egg in the middle and then break it slowly while transferring the yolk to one half and allowing the egg-white to fall into a bowl. Keep transferring the yolk between the two shells until all the egg-white has drained off. Put the yolk into a separate bowl.
 
If the pictures in the original recipe are not enough, then here are some more to tease your tastebuds! Don't get me wrong, I just meant to inspire you :-)
 

Easy Chilli Garlic Focaccia

Finally I baked a bread from scratch for the first time today! I have been thinking about it for a long time but was apprehensive about using yeast correctly. So I settled for a simple soda-based Focaccia recipe that I found in Rachel Allen’s book "Baking".

Focaccia is an Italian bread characterised by its flat pizza-like appearance. It has dimples all over its surface and is generally flavoured with cheese, garlic, onion in combination with other herbs along with generous drizzle of olive oil. The resulting bread is very tasty and can be eaten on its own as snack or along with soup/pasta.

Easy Chilli Garlic Focaccia

Ingredients

450 gms Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
400 ml Buttermilk/Sour Milk
Olive Oil - about 60 ml
Sea salt for sprinkling - optional
Flavouring of your choice - see Notes below

Notes

• Typically cheese, garlic, onions, sun-dried tomatoes and Italian herbs are used to flavour this bread. I used  five cloves of garlic crushed and a teaspoon of red-chilli flakes.
• To make sour milk, add about half teaspoon of lemon juice to milk and keep it overnight at room temperature. You can use this milk in place of buttermilk for making the dough.
• Use Extra Virgin Olive oil to get better flavour.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 220 C. Grease a swiss-roll tin with olive oil.
• Mix flour, soda and salt together and sieve it in a big bowl. Add chilli flakes to the flour and mix using a spoon.
• Make a well in centre and pour almost all the buttermilk/sour milk at once and mix well using your fingers. Once the dough starts coming together, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and work it gently to bring it together.
• Roll it into a big rectangle to fit into a swiss-roll tin (14" x 8") and transfer it to the tin.
• Make dimples over the surface of the dough and sprinkle garlic on the surface. Also sprinkle sea-salt if using it.
• Drizzle olive oil all over the surface.
• Transfer the tin to the oven bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden-brown in colour.
• Take it out from oven and drizzle more olive oil on the bread.
• Allow it to cool and cut into squares for serving.