Уиски кейк

Този страхотен шоколадов кейк съчетава прекрасните аромати на шоколад, уиски и бадеми, допълнени от шоколадов ганаш и шоколадов маслен крем. 

Много съм подозрителна към всякакви рецепти за „шоколадова торта“, „шоколадов маслен крем“ и т.н., в които накрая се оказва, че всъщност няма и грам шоколад!  Просто е възмутително! Направо ми иде да се оплача на Комисията за защита на потребителите!

Миналата седмица прекарах няколко дни в търсене на рецепта за шоколадов кейк с шоколад. Оказа се почти мисията невъзможна – навсякъде имаше какао, но не и шоколад.

Накрая, почти се бях отчаяла вече, попаднах на една интересна рецепта, която комбинираше шоколад, уиски и бадеми. Съвършената торта! Или поне стана такава след малки модификации на оригиналната рецепта. Тук бих искала да споделя едно от най-големите си открития, което направих на Женския пазар – сушените череши! Страхотни са! Без добавена захар (като напр. червените боровинки), цели, запазени и се хидратират прекрасно, ако се накиснат в алкохол или вода. Засега съм правила с тях шоколадови бисквитки, щолен и въпросният Уиски кейк, който сега ще ви представя, и резултатите винаги са били страхотни.

Tipsy Tiramisu

This year I had the chance to spend a few days in Italy as part of our grand Euro Trip. I have to admit that, compared to France, Italy was really nothing much, at least from what I saw. I didn’t like them Italian drivers, either – speeding like mad and not indicating whether they would like to take a turn or go straight on, which basically turns the experience of driving along the Italian motorways into complete hell!

Anyways. What I DID like was the food! We spent about two hours in a huge supermarket on or last day in Piacenza, stocking up on all sorts of yummy supplies which are hard or impossible to find in Bulgaria – various kinds of pasta, balsamic vinegar, pickled artichokes, high-class olive oil, etc. Of course, I HAD to buy something sweet – after all, we were looking forward to an eight-hour drive to the Croatian Mediterranean coast, and no sweet for me means no life! So, casually looking at all the different biscuits and cookies, I glanced upon a couple of types of Tiramisu, shyly standing in the refrigerated section of the store. The only really good Tiramisu I had tried before I had got it from here, so I didn’t expect actually anything much. I thought that this was just another hype, the same as Paris – talked about a lot but nothing much really. That’s why I simply bought the cheapest Tiramisu available at the store.

Champagne Cupcakes with a Blueberry Twist

So, here we go, it’s the last day of 2013 – a year full of events and journeys, tears and joy, emotions and unexpected outcomes.

I’m not gonna have a big party but I wanted to prepare something I had never done before. Generally, I am no big fan of sparkling wines or of anything else fizzy, as a matter of fact. I like my alcohol strong and aged and champagne is just a little too ostentatious for me. However, lately I have been experimenting with various types of alcohol when baking, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try my hand at sparkling wine as well. So found a really simple recipe for champagne cupcakes here and then modified it with some blueberry jam to give it some twits. You may leave the blueberry jam out if you don’t like it, or, alternatively, substitute it with strawberry jam if you prefer.

2013 recap and a Chocolate Banana Cake

You know, 2013 has been the best, the most amazing year of my life so far. Sadly, it is about to end in a horrible, awful way. Because people should never give promises they can’t or are not willing to keep. That’s why I’ve been feeling really sad lately – it’s a shame for such a wonderful year to end like this, no?

I’ve been told that whenever you’re sad, chocolate always helps. I’m not sure if this is really true, I believe that nature, water, sun and sex are the best remedies but chocolate certainly doesn’t hurt. That’s why I simply had to make something with chocolate. Lots of it. To boost my mood. And bananas. Because I was going bananas (geddit?). Anyways, more on that later, let me firs tell you about my year.