Chocolate and Liquorice Cake with Fennel

Every so often I see or read something and think that it will be worth trying.
I'm thinking this is one of those recipes...
So it's being put on this blog in order that I can find it easily.
Thanks to Cuisine magazine, Issue 206, July 2021 page 118
I'll be back to update once I've had a chance to give it a go.
I still haven't got a conclusion on the correct way to spell licorice/liquorice

Chocolate and Licorice Cake 
This makes 1 cake that can serve 4 to 6 people

150g caster sugar
130g plain flour
40g brown sugar
7g baking powder
3g baking soda
1g salt
1g powdered star anise
100ml molasses
100ml vegetable oil
100ml orange juice
90ml licorice water
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius
In a bowl, sift the dry ingredients.
In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients and eggs.
Pour this into the dry ingredients bowl 
and mix gently with the whisk  until smooth.
Pour this batter into a lined 24x15cm cake tin.
Bake for 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Cool cake in the tin before turning it out.
Trim the top of the cake with a serrated knife to make it flat.
Place cake on a cake rack set over a tray.

Warm the ganache gently in a saucepan stirring constantly.
Pour over the cake to cover the entire surface.
Place in the fridge to set.
Once set, trim away the edges to make it squared up
so the delineation between cake and ganache can be seen.
Garnish with macerated fennel and fronds, if desired.

Licorice Water
1 bag hard aniseed candy
500ml water

Bring candy and water to a gentle simmer over low heat.
Stir occasionally until candy is completely melted.
Set aside in the fridge.

Chocolate Licorice Ganache
260g soft organic licorice
400ml water
100g 70% dark chocolate (broken into pieces)

Finely chop the licorice and combine with water
in a saucepan over a low heat on the stove.
Stir often until nearly melted.
Pour into a blender and blitz until smooth.
While the mixture is still hot, add the chocolate
and mix until the ganache forms.
pour into a container and set aside.

Garnish (optional)
80g sugar
80ml water
30ml white vermouth
half fennel bulb
fennel fronds

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan.
Heat until sugar is dissolved.
Take it off the heat to cool.
When cool, add the vermouth.
Peel the outside of the fennel bulb.
Shave it thinly with a mandolin.
Macerate the fennel in the vermouth syrup
and keep it in the fridge to serve cold.
Garnish with fennel fronds. 

So, there you have it - and me for future reference.

Ciabatta bread recipe in breadmaker

If only bread-makers could make artisan styled products... No, not really.
If I'm not in the mood to start from scratch then I see nothing wrong using gadgets to help me on my way. Ciabatta is a great bread - easy enough to buy from the supermarket when getting groceries - but so much tastier when made fresh at home.
So, here's an easy recipe for Ciabatta that lets your bread machine do all the kneading and tastes like you spent hours on it.

Ciabatta breadmaker recipe

1½ cups water
1½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3¼ cups flour
1½ teaspoons yeast

1.  Put all the ingredients into your breadmaker in the order above. 
2.  Select the dough only cycle and press start. 
3.  In this recipe - sticky and wet dough = a fluffy loaf - so leave it be.
4.  Once the kneader blade stops churning and the dough cycle beeps "finished", leave the dough alone for 15 minutes.  
5.  Tip the rested dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 2 loaves
6.  Line baking paper onto a baking tray and place the loaves on the baking paper
7.  Dimple each loaf with your fingers and LIGHTLY dust the top of the loaves with flour
8.  Cover with a teatowel and let the loaves 'rest' for 45 minutes
9.  Preheat oven to 200°C
10. Place the tray on the middle rack and bake for 20 minutes
11. Let bread cool then enjoy

This same Ciabatta dough can be used to make square rolls instead of loaves. Just divide the dough into 4, 6, or 8 equal amounts - 12 if you're going to make sliders. Nice and easy.


Ciabatta bread maker recipe

Ginger Beer recipe

I've always liked ginger beer. As a kid, I was given a rustic bottle of it - cloudy, fizzy and refreshing. The drink was even more exciting when one or a few raisins were found in it. On rare occasions, the sediment at the bottom used to be unpleasant, but I soon learnt how to drink the fizz without the 'mud'.
Nowadays, we buy it in bulk and always have some in the fridge ready to be consumed whenever we like. But it's not the same as my memories.
So I decided to find out how to make ginger beer the old fashioned way.

Gotta have a starter - yes, this takes time and patience - and a little effort every day, but seriously, how much of an effort is it to add two half teaspoons of ingredients per day? I simply ticked off on the calendar in our kitchen each time I did it so an easy way to keep track.

Ginger Beer Starter/Bug/Plant - call it what you want

1 teaspoon dry yeast
half teaspoon sugar (I prefer raw sugar)
1 cup warm water
half teaspoon ground ginger

Find yourself a large jar
Put all the ingredients in the jar and mix
Cover the jar with muslin or cloth

Every day - for eight days - add half a teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of ground ginger to the jar.
When you've done this - strain the starter through muslin and add it to the ginger beer syrup

Ginger Beer Syrup

6 litres (24cups) water
4 cups sugar
2 cups lemon juice - or one cup if you're chicken

Put the sugar in a large pot and mix with 6 cups of water
Heat until sugar dissolves
Remove from heat and add the rest of the water and lemon juice
Add the strained ginger beer starter
Mix well
Pour into bottles and put a lid on them
Leave for 5 days
Then refrigerate and enjoy


Ginger Beer recipe