Big claims to live up to

Whilst researching (wasting time??) on Pinterest and Instagram, I see all sorts of claims of 'best ever' - chocolate cake, lamb roast, curry, salted caramel sauce, rhubarb icecream (yes, I made that one up)... the list is endless.  But really can anything ever actually claim to be the best ever? Now usually I like to think I'm a glass half-full kind of a gal, but continual claims of 'best ever' have me frowning, shaking my head and definitely becoming the glass half-empty type.  That's not to say that it's not possible, I just think that if we bandy it around far too much, it will ultimately dilute or make it meaningless.  Think about when you last heard the following terms: hero (think sporting references); awesome (I know I use it too much) or worse, totes awesome; unpack (and no I'm not referring to your suitcase or shopping); and my personal favourite - omg.

By now, if you're still reading, you're no doubt wondering why I'm carrying on about this on a food blog?  Because I can, because it annoys me and because I've now cooked 'The Best Chocolate Cake Ever', aka Anne.  It's a big cake that has a lot, and I mean a lot, of sugar in it (2 cups!), but let's just move on.  It's a really simple cake to make and you don't even need to remember to take your butter out of the fridge to soften, because you melt it.  This is a throw-it-all-in-the-bowl and beat on high for 2 minutes kind of a cake - what can be simpler!  I guess that's part of the reason it's a 'best ever' recipe.  In the versions I'd read, many bakers were saying it took a lot longer to cook than the 45 minutes of the original recipe, and I concur.  With this in mind, I used my bundt cake tin (the swirly one with the hole in the middle) as I thought that might help.  I suspect in one way it did, the cake was cooked through and didn't fall down, and in another way it didn't, as it still took 65 minutes to cook.

One thing I realised when I came to ice this cake, is that I've never actually iced a cake I'd baked in my bundt tin.  Usually with these cake I just dust with icing sugar or pour melted chocolate or a syrup over.  The biggest challenge was icing around the hole in the middle. If you're using a bundt tin, you've been warned!

It's a good and tasty cake, easy to prepare and it makes a big cake. The top of mine, which became the base because of the tin I used, was still a little soft and fudgy, I think in part because of the lower oven temperature.  I will make this cake again and this time try it with less sugar.

Do I think it's the best ever?  Only time will tell!

Best Ever Chocolate Cake
185g butter, melted
2 cups self-raising flour
2 cups white sugar (regular is fine)
4 tablespoons cocoa
4 eggs
1 cup cold water with 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda mixed in
2 tablespoons hot water

1. Melt butter over a low heat in a small saucepan.  Allow to cool a little.
2. Sift flour and cocoa into mixing bowl. Add sugar give the dry ingredients a little mix with a spoon.
3. Add  eggs and cold water, then start your mixer on medium.
4. Add hot water, then drizzle melted butter in.
5. Turn mixer to high and let it go for 2 minutes.
6. Meanwhile grease and flour your tin (24cm round tin or bundt tin).  If using a normal tin, grease, flour and line base with baking paper. You could also dust with cocoa instead of flour.
7. Pour batter into tin.  Tap on bench to release some of the air bubbles.
8. Bake at 160C for 45 - 60 minutes.  Check after 45 minutes and rotate in oven.
9. Cool slightly in tin, then turn onto cooling rack.
10. Ice with chocolate icing when completely cool.
11. Decide if it's the 'best ever' chocolate cake you've made/eaten. Discuss! 

 Original recipe from Baby Mac


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Bellissima

I hesitate to write this post, about the most-cooked dish in my kitchen - pizza.  Why do I hesitate?  Well, shortly I'm off to Italy for a few weeks.  Whilst there I'm spending a week at an Italian cooking school south of Rome, learning how to make pizza, pasta and other amazing Italian food properly.  I'm thinking it's probably good to document my pizza-making tips and recipe now, then see what changes in 8 weeks time!

Making your own pizza base is not difficult.  The only thing it requires is time - at least an hour.  If you don't have an hour then don't bother, just have something else for dinner and try again tomorrow. You don't have to work on it for an hour, you have to leave it alone for an hour, so the yeast can work it's magic. Whilst it is doing it's thing, why not have a glass of wine and decide what your toppings will be!  Let your creativity shine through in your toppings and whatever you dream up to add to your base.  Make it pretty or just make it tasty.  Once you've made your own dough, you'll never use store-bought bases again.

Pizza Dough
300g (2 cups) Bread/Pizza Flour (I use this one)
7g sachet dry active yeast
1 teaspoon caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
200mL warm water (not hot)
extra flour

1. Sift flour into a large bowl.
2. Stir in yeast, sugar and salt.
3. Make a well in the centre, add warm water and oil.  
4. Bring together using a wooden spoon or your hands.  Turn onto a floured surface.
5. Knead for 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth.  Add flour as necessary.
6. Wash out and dry your original bowl, then lightly oil it.  
7. Place the ball of dough into the oiled bowl and cover with glad wrap or a tea towel, and set aside in a warm place to prove for 1 hour (or until doubled in size).
8. On a floured surface, knock back the dough and knead again until smooth.
9. Divide the dough into two and roll out to form two thin bases.
10. Add sauce, cheese and toppings.  Bake at 240C for 8 - 10 minutes.

Activate yeast; mix dough; let it prove.

Other ideas:

• Make sure you have some flour on your hands before working the dough.
• If it's a cool day, then mix the warm water with the yeast before adding to dry ingredients.
• Some say you can use normal plain flour instead of bread/pizza flour.
• Dough can be wrapped in gladwrap, then a snaplock bag and frozen for another time. Just thaw it in the fridge, then allow it to come to room temperature before kneading and rolling out.
• Add fresh or dried herbs, such as oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary etc, to the dry ingredients.
• Add a few tablespoons of dried turmeric and finely diced red chilli (or chilli flakes) to the dry ingredients. The pic on the bottom left is an 'indian dough', which I topped with tandoori chicken, coriander and some mango chutney to finish
• Try not to have more than 3 - 4 other toppings, as well as cheese and sauce.

 

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