Sacher torte for world chocolate day

Happy world chocolate day! To celebrate, here are some random musings about chocolate that I tend to have while browsing pinterest, cooking, or generally just living. 

For me, chocolate is extremely nostalgic. I think the first time I saw chocolate as not just chocolate but CHOCOLATE was while reading Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory as an eight year old. I’ve never wanted to eat chocolate more. Until I saw the film. 

Chocolate pudding was the highlight of my childhood. It was one of the limited selection of desserts that did the rounds on our dinner table over the week and I preferred it so much over vanilla custard, fruit cream, stewed peaches, which were few of the others. When i started baking, a couple of years ago, I saw a recipe for ‘chocolate pots de creme’ and I realised it’s nothing more than the chocolate pudding from the 90s! I will always call it chocolate pudding, the more honest, more humble name for the fancy pots de creme. 

Now, I’m a dark chocolate over milk chocolate person, I dream of godiva truffles and ghirardeli 70% chocolate bars and not willy wonka ones, I’m a huge sucker for liquor in my chocolate, or coffee, or sea salt. My mom’s 2-minute chocolate cake is still my favorite but this is a close second.

A sacher torte is essentially a rich, 2-layer chocolate cake,  with apricot jam in between and a dark chocolate glaze on top. YUMMY. A friend sent me some homemade apricot jam and so I gave it a shot! I’ve made many chocolate cakes in my life and I can’t say i’ll ever not like a chocolate cake to be fair but this one really…takes the cake ?! 

You decide - here’s the recipe: adapted from Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Ingredients: 

For the cakes: 
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
45 g unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
150 g flour
200 g sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
140 g unsalted butter
A jar of apricot jam 

For the chocolate cream glaze: 
250 g bittersweet cooking chocolate
1 cup cream

Process: 

Preheat your oven to 180 ˚ Celcius and line two 7-inch cake tins with greased parchment*  
To make the cakes, mix together the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside. 
Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla & eggs. Beat again. 
Mix the cocoa powder and boiling water in a bowl and stir until smooth. Add to the batter. 
Lastly, with the mixer on low speed, add the flour one spoonful at a time. 
Divide the batter equally in two pans and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. 
Let the cakes cool before inverting onto a wire rack. The cakes will be very tender so be careful and gentle. 
Take one layer of the cake and spread apricot jam on top. Place the second layer on top of the bottom layer. 
Place the cake on a wire rack with a tray underneath. 

To make the glaze, melt the chocolate over a bain marie or in 30 second spurts in the microwave. Add the cream and whisk until smooth. 
Gradually pour the warm glaze on top until it fully covers the cake. Decorate with raspberries, cherries or leave as it is. 
Let it cook on the rack and then refrigerate until ready to serve - or eat right away! 

chocolate cheesecake

This week has been an achievement, to say the least. I’ve successfully filled out my student visa application, inched closer toward finding an apartment in Chicago, cooked a vegan meal with my friend, started & finished Rupi Kaur’s Milk & Honey, and made progress on meditation durations (YAY!). 

My mum asked me to bake something for her dinner party and of course i did, but not without the usual ritual of drama that somehow always always makes its way when I’m baking for a special occasion. I decided to make my chocolate cheesecake (a slight variation from the Nutella cheesecake I made on Instagram story a few weeks ago) because it is quick and easy to make and everyone always loves it. But right after it finished cooking on the rack, I was carrying it to the fridge to put it in to set and it fell (!!) - literally slipped off my hands and shattered on the floor, crumbling into a disgusting chocolaty mess. 

Sigh. It happens. Eggs curdle, caramel burns, things that are supposed to emulsify don’t - i could go on. It always feels awful - every time! But the worst kitchen disasters are the ones when everything falls apart (in this case, literally) at the last moment. 

The good news though , is that I managed to make it all over again. I felt like a contestant on Masterchef, competing against the clock to get it done on time and it was delicious. Try making it, and brownie points (cheesecake points?) if you don’t drop it! 

Ingredients: 

200 g crushed oreo
50 g unsalted butter, cold and chopped
One jar Nutella (290 g)
120 g chocolate, finely chopped  
2 packets Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
300 ml cream
Pinch of sea salt

Process:

Line an 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 180 ˚ C. 

Remove the cream filling from all the oreo cookies and set the biscuit part aside. If it breaks in the process, don’t worry. You're going to crush it anyway. .

Next, blitz all the oreo cookies in a food processor or Vitamix. If you don’t have this, then you can simply crush the biscuits manually. Put them in a plastic ziplock bag and run a rolling pin over it a few times until completely crushed. You should have 200 g crushed oreo. 

Using clean hands, mix the crushed biscuit and the butter until fully combined and crumbly. 

Lay the buttery biscuit mix in the springform pan and press it down using a spatula or back of a spoon. It should form a tightly packed base. 

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes at 180 ˚ C

When done, let it cool on the counter. 

Meanwhile, blitz the cream cheese (all of it) for about 1 minute in an electric mixer. It will be fluffy. 

Add the sugar and mix again. 

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix. 

Add the vanilla essence and then the Nutella. Mix until well combined. It will be a faint brownish colour. 

Melt the chocolate in a microwave and add the melted chocolate into the mixture.* Add sea salt. 

Lastly, add the cream and blitz until well combined. Be careful not to over-mix because it will incorporate too much air into the batter which will later create cracks on the surface of the cheesecake.* 

Fill the oven tray with water (upto 1/2 - 3/4th of the tray).  

Pour the cheesecake batter into the springform pan and wrap the pan tightly with aluminium foil.* 

Bake for about 60 minutes. When it’s done it will be only slightly wobbly on the top and should have small cracks on the sides of the surface. 

Let it cool on the counter for about an hour, then transfer to the fridge for it to set (about 4 - 5 hours or overnight) 

Decorate with hazelnuts, strawberries, pecans, cherries, whatever you want! 

Slice and eat! 

Notes: 

When melting chocolate in the microwave, melt in short spurts of 30s and stir well between each. If you leave the bowl of chocolate in the microwave to melt for a few minutes without stopping to stir, the chocolate at the bottom will burn. 

Mixing the cheesecake until it's just about well combined is important. If you over mix, the batter becomes over aerated. This air will try to escape during the baking process causing cracks on the surface of the cheesecake. 

This cheesecake bakes in a water bath in the oven. The steam from the water makes for an even, gentle cheesecake. But be careful to wrap the tin in foil tightly so that the water cannot seep in. 

chocolate chip and pretzel cake

Trying to find as many possible ways to eat chocolate and pretzels together

This yellow butter cake with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting and pretzels is officially my new go-to cake. Will be doing the rounds on all my friends' birthdays! ✌️

This past week (or two…) has been a blurry mix of good things. REALLY GOOD things. Not only did my strawberry ice cream sandwiches get featured on

Saveur magazine’s instagram page

(!!! I KNOW RIGHT) and on

Teen Vogue’s article about summer dessert

, but I ALSO finally got acceptance letters from grad schools!! Did I do a happy dance? I did a happy skip (i never skip) to the kitchen to make celebratory waffles for breakfast - and that means something, because normally I’m up too late for breakfast and I scarf down a masala omelette and iced coffee. Waffles only make it on days when there’s something to celebrate.

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So yeah. Waffles with homemade leftover salted caramel ice cream and pretzels. That’s celebration enough right? WRONG.

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I also made this absolutely incredible chocolate chip yellow butter cake with chocolate frosting and pretzels. It is possibly the best cake I’ve ever had because a) the frosting and pretzels  and make it taste a bit like Mcvities chocolate digestive biscuits and b) it has chocolate chips in it !

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Here’s the recipe:

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For the cake:

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245 g flour + 3 tbsp cornflour + 2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt 

270 g sugar 

150 g unsalted butter, softened  

5 egg yolks 

250 ml buttermilk 

2 tsp vanilla 

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

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In a large bowl, mix the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. 

Beat butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add egg yolks one at a time and then add vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat again.

Gradually add in the flour and buttermilk in alternate turns. continue beating the mixture until it comes together, but be careful not to overbeat. 

When batter is formed, fold in chocolate chips with a wooden spoon

Divide the batter equally into two 8-inch cake tins

Bake in the centre of your oven for about 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

When done, take the cakes out of the oven, allow them to cool, then take out of the tin. These cakes are super tender and soft - so be careful!

Wrap the cakes in plastic cling wrap and refrigerate while you make the frosting. This will make it easier to spread the frosting neatly.  

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For the frosting : 

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100 g unsalted butter 

40 g unsweetened cocoa powder 

400 g icing sugar, sifted  

120 ml cream 

1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

1/2 tsp salt 

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Beat the butter, cocoa, vanilla and salt using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer 

Add the cream and beat again. 

Gradually add the icing sugar one spoon at a time

When done, taste to test. 

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Unwrap the cakes from the cling wrap and place the first layer on a cake stand / plate. 

spread chocolate frosting on the first layer - be generous

Place the 2nd layer on top and frost the top and sides. 

When the cake is fully frosted, add pretzels along the side (the sweet frosting and salty pretzel taste awesome together) 

Serve ! 

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Notes:

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1. If you don’t have store bought buttermilk, just use 250 ml regular milk and add 2 tbsp of white vinegar in it. Let it stand for about 5 minutes, and then use as buttermilk.
2. I recommend using good quality chocolate chips such as Nestle, Hersheys or Choko La