![]() The Chocolate Fondant or Molten Lava Chocolate cake is one of the most loved dessert items out there. This is probably the most asked about dessert from people to me, asking if I can make this. The excitement and anticipation of wondering if it will be perfectly molten inside is what draws in the audience. You can see the faces light up when they crack open the fondant cake with there spoon and they see that thick, rich and decadent chocolate "lava" flow out from the core. (thus also know as the lava cake) Its like your first kiss, you will always remember where you had your first chocolate fondant and how amazing every bite was. For those who had a bad first experience and never had it again, I strongly advice that you give this a go. With this recipe I decided to add something a little different to all my dear friends who absolutely love caramel. You simply make a batch of Butter Scotch sauce and allow it to set. Once it has set is mostly firm, use a parisian scoop to make small balls and place onto a baking tray with silicon paper on. Place into your freezer and allow to become completely frozen. You can use this for many different sauces or filling to make your chocolate fondant your own. Ingredients
Method: 180C/356F for 6-7 minutes
Caramel Centered Chocolate Fondant
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![]() There are three different cakes I hold near and dear to my heart and Carrot Cake is one of them. And not to brag but I do think this is one of the best recipes for carrot cake out there. What makes it a little bit more decadent you ask? Well it's the banana I use in the recipe. I also like the texture this cake has, it being riddled with big chunks of pecan nuts. Then comes the sweet tangy cream cheese frosting, not too much and not too little but just the right amount. I finish it off with some fresh fruits and a sprinkle of pecan nuts. I feel it's truly everything you could want in a cake, but then again that's just me! So as the title of this blog mentions, we have our very first featured baker on Chef Dewet Visser. He is no ordinary baker, neither is he a professional baker, but instead he is my best friend, Craig Woolfson. He baked a cake intending to make his gran's 80th birthday a memorable one. He asked me for some assistance with what cake to bake and we finally decided that he should do the Carrot Cake that I had in my Booklet. He went out and got all the ingredients he needed, followed my step by step instructions, and recorded the process. So today I decided to share this with my fellow bakers and followers of my website. This was his first time baking a Carrot cake of this size so keep that in mind when you see the final product. With that being said, anyone who would like to feature on my website simply email me at chef@chefdewet.co.za and you could have the spotlight on Chef Dewet Visser for the day. Carrot Cake Ingredients
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 160oC/320oF. 2. Place the oil, eggs, and vanilla essence into a mixing bowl and mix well until you have a light, thick consistency. 3. Add in all your dry ingredients (Including the nuts) which you need to sift at least once. 4. Mix until everything is well incorporated. 5. Next add in your carrots and bananas, giving it another good mix. 5. Grease your cake pan, adding silicon paper to the bottom, and finally add your mixture. Place into your preheated oven of 160oC/320oF for 30-35 minutes. It should have a nice golden top once complete. 6. Once out of the oven, allow to cool and finally place into the fridge while you prepare your frosting. White Chocolate & Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
Method 1. Place the larger amount of sugar, water and lemon juice into a pot and bring to the boil. Continue to boil until the syrup is at 114 - 116oC/237.5 - 240.8oF (This is known as soft ball stage). 2. Place your white chocolate over a bain-marie to melt. The water should not be boiling too rapidly but instead just simmering to create steam (If its too hot the chocolate can burn and you wont be able to use it! Also don't move it around too much just stir every now and then). 3. While waiting for your stock syrup to reach soft ball stage whip up your egg whites. When you reach medium peak stage start to add in the smaller amount of sugar (It must be castor sugar), adding it 1 teaspoon at a time while whisking until you reach stiff peak stage. 4. Once syrup is at soft ball stage start to pour at a slow steady rate into your mixing bowl with the meringues, whisking the entire time. The end result should be a glossy meringue with stiff peaks (This is known as a boiled meringue or Italian Meringue). 5. Remove the meringue from the mixing bowl and place soft butter and the zest into a bowl and mix until pale in colour. 6. Next add your cream cheese and follow by pouring your melted chocolate into the bowl with the butter. Whisk well (Your chocolate should not be straight off the bain-marie, it should rest for at least 1 minute before being added). 7. Now adding 1/3 at a time, fold the mixture into your Italian Meringue to create the final product. 8. Allow to rest in the fridge for 5 minutes and then you're ready to frost your cake! Edited by Monique Boaventura What is Transfer Paste. . . ![]() Transfer paste is a paste consisting of four simple ingredients and the coloring or flavouring of your choice. You are able to either pipe different design onto silicon paper with a piping bag. Or you can simply spread the paste onto the whole piece of silicon paper and create patterns but removing the paste with a scraper. The only limitation this great paste has, is the limitations of your imagination and artistic ability. As you might have seen with my previous post of the Japoniase I created a green pattern on the outside of the meringue. The way I managed to do this was by simply spreading the paste on the silicon paper and then using the back of a spoon and scraped off the extra paste. I also used macha to not only flavour the paste but also give it that stunning green color. Ingredients:
Note: If you wish to make your transfer paste a different flavour, simply substitute that for the macha. If its a liquid only use half of the amount so the paste does not get too loose. Method:
You can also use this for Swiss Rolls. I would love to see what kind of pattern you guys come up with. So simply go post it on my Facebook page or tweet it and mention @chefdewetv in the tweet. You can also find me on Instagram @chefdewetv. Culinary Photo Story of KuwaitEach of these picture tell a story of my time in Kuwait up until this point. I will add more photos as they come along. I have put short description below some of the picture so you can get some sort of an idea what the mean. Only thing that could have possibly made this whole experience more rewording is if there was someone to enjoy them with me. Hope you enjoy having a look though all of these and keep an eye out for more post tonight.
![]() Japonaise, the first thing that might come to mind is whether its origins is based from Japan. It would be a good guess as "Japonaise" in French does mean "Japan" or "From Japan". But in this case there is no direct connection between this Meringue and Japan. So I decided to play around with this confusing yet interesting meringue and made it more Japanese. The way this idea come about was when I was asked to come up with new desserts for the menu at work. As I am working in a Japanese Restaurant I remembered this meringue from back in college. I think it stood out too me because I also first though it would have come from Japan or at least have some sort of Japanese history behind it. At first there was only one popular Japanese ingredient I wanted to incorporate, matcha. Matcha is the Japanese name for finely milled green tea leafs which have recently exploded into a huge hype, similar to that of Red Velvet. ![]() The taste of good quality macha for me would be similar to that of seaweed or rather you would pick up some sort of "ocean taste" or "fishy taste" as some people say. This is what we who believe in the term umami could call umami. The meaning of umami when all your taste sensations are stimulated at the same time. This includes sweet, sour, bitter and salt The other truly Japanese ingredient I wanted to incorporate is know as Anko, which is Azuki beans (red beans) which have been cooked till soft and then pureed. It is then sweetened and used in many traditional Japanese pastries. The way I would incorporate this unique flavour into my dessert is simple. I would start by making my own anko, this way you can control the sweetness and don't have to worry about it being over or under the desired sweetness. I would then incorporate it into a Diplomat Cream. Diplomat cream is the combination of whipped cream and creme Pastissiere. This would give you a good smooth and light texture which would go well with the slightly crunchy meringue. I have yet to experiment with this as I have not yet had the opportunity. So now that you know a bit more about Japonaise and the two major ingredients in Japanese pastry world, Im now going to give you the Recipe for Japonaise. Once I have the chance to try the filling I will then also post that recipe, but for now I will just provide you with my first filling attempt. Japonaise Meringue Ingredients: 160C/320F for 8-10 minute
Method:
This is just for you to first perfect the plain Japonaise and then later this week I will place the Filling Recipe as well as the Transfer Paste which allows you to make different patterns on the meringue. Its also in the Transfer paste which I used the matcha, so don't get confused if you don't see it in the recipe. Published By: Chef KwameAfter spending half the day in bed catching up on some Grey's Anatomy, I got a call from a fellow chef inviting me for late lunch at this new Japanese Restaurant Called ORA. So I decided to do little research about the place. Interesting, I must say.... ORA had'nt even opened it doors and yet it was already a hit on instagram and the rest of the Kuwait social media community. But that was not what I wanted to know though. As a Chef myself, when a new place opens, I'm more interested in the people behind the scenes than the name, but thats a story for another day ;-) The Food and DrinksFast forward, we get there... And I must say myself, I was sold from the moment we entered the door. The dining area was spacious, clean, and very welcoming to say the least. We had a look at the menu and it had more lots of beatiful dishes to choose, from Cold Tapas, Hot Tapas, Salads, Sigiture Sushi Rolls, Donburi's ( A Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice), Dessert and finally Fresh Mocktails.... So in the blistering heat, I decided to kick things off with their Ginger & Lemon Ice Tea From Hot Tapas I had the Tiger Creamy Shrimp. Signature Sushi Rolls we tried the ORA Crispy Roll Crispy Rice with Tuna Robata Grilled Lobster Aslo tried thier Fresh Water Melon Juice Cinnamon Bred Pudding (My flavourate*****) and Homemade Ice Cream My Thoughts....The place is beautiful! From the fresh flowers on the table, to the chilled out music playing in the background and the wierd but awesome art piece they have mounted on the wall. You can't help not notice such things. The food as well is on its own level... Nothing out of the ordinary for me but definately something to try out when you are craving for something new and fresh. I must warn you though, the place is a bit pricey and some of the portions are a bit below par.
Other than that I liked the place on a once off basis. So i'm giving ORA a 4* seal of approval. Want to try it out? Swing by at Arabella Mall and check the place out ![]() Choux pastry is a great recipe to have in you cooking arsenal, it is a versatile product that can be used for sweet and savoury dishes. Depending on your piping capability you will be able to pipe eclairs, profiteroles, choux buns and even choux pretzels. Making classic pastries such as Croquembouche, St. Honore, éclaires, Choux Swans and Paris-brest. If you are more of a savoury person, use all of the classics and use them in savoury applications. For example instead of filling the profiteroles with creme patisserie, use a fulling of cream cheese, smoked salmon and dill. Or use the St. Honore as a base for your next sautéed Mushroom medley with fresh ribbons of baby asparagus and a mushroom stock Veloute. Or the next time you want to make your own gnocchi, you will be able to make your own Choux pastry. Choux pastry truly has an endless amount of uses that can make your next dinner party that bit more Extraordinary. Recipe
Method
![]() When you work with some recipes you might notice that they sometimes tell you to bring your sugar to a soft ball stage for an Italian Meringue, or a Hard Crack stage for dipping fruit in to give it a glistening coat of sugar. Yet sometimes they don't include the temperatures to which you need to boil the sugar to in order to getit to that stage. Well now all you need to do is refer back to my website. This information will be available under Culinary Glossary & Ingredients and then Sugar. This will also give you a few uses for some of the different stages of boiling, so if you would like to play around making sugar Angel Hair, now you know to which temperature you need to take your sugar. Also just remember when you work with sugar it retains heat very well and will continue to cook even once its been removed from the heat, so you have to anticipate a minute ahead of time, or place it on a cold surface straight away other wise it will over cook. Please be very careful when working with sugar, its not nice having a lump of blistering hot sugar fall on you! Boiling Stages
Edited by: Monique Boaventura ![]() This sauce can be made and used with many different proteins or stir-fry dishes. It's a very simple and easy recipe to follow, and can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 weeks (ensuring the container which is being used is properly sterilised). For the wine I used a good quality Merlot, it has a lower tannin count than other more full bodied red wines such as Cabernet or Sauvignon. The tannin in wines are what give the wine the bitter and woody puckering sensation. With less tannin in the Merlot, it allows for the fruity essence of the wine to be more present, making it perfect for the sauce. Ingredients
Method
Edited by: Monique Boaventura ![]() Here it is, my rusks recipe I promised you earlier today. I'm going to give you two different variations today, one is a very popular flavour amongst South Africans and the other one is more of a personal preference. The first recipe is a Buttermilk Rusk recipe and the second one is a Walnut and Dried Fig recipe. If I were to have the buttermilk rusk I would go with coffee instead of tea and visa versa with the walnut and fig rusk. You can make these rusks look rustic just for you and your family or you could make them nice and edgy for a High Tea party on a Sunday Afternoon. Buttermilk Rusks: (this is for a large batch, they are easily stored in an air tight container or glass jar.) Ingredients
Method
Walnut and Dried Fig Ingredients
Method
Edited by: Monique Boaventura |
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July 2017
AuthorI'm a chef at heart and by trade, enjoy what I do and have a passion for the culinary world. |