Fall Colours in the Park, Cooking

Wednesday morning we were finally expecting a painter to fix the wall/ceiling where there had been a leak so I got cracking as far as getting dressed was concerned. When I went into the bedroom to put on my clothes, I was struck by how nice the park looked and how good the colours were right outside our window. This picture looks better on my desktop and the colours really stand out. Hope they look good on your computer. This picture is particularly for Fil.



A propos, the leak damaged area has been fixed.

Today we are bowling again, just for a change. Actually this has been a somewhat boring week for us. I spent a fair time yesterday cooking. I had boiled up the turkey remains so today I made a vegetable soup. I also made Alice’s Beets but I left out the sugar, the beets are quite sweet enough. We ate some for supper, they are very good. Luckily I was wearing an old shirt as it is covered in beet juice. Not happy with the soup, something missing, Matt says seasoning, but I think it is lacking "mouth feel" if you know what I mean. I tried a spoonful with a tiny drop of olive oil in it, it seemed to be better.

Did everyone get frightened off by my conservation statistics? I haven’t had so few comments in a long while.

I was asked for more chocolate, here’s more chocolate from BBC Good Food. Of course, as I say so often, this would be so much better with thick English cream.

Espresso, chocolate and chilli cake with coffee cream

Serves 8 - 10

The warmth of coffee and chilli combine beautifully with chocolate in this impressive dinner party dessert, finish with double cream.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for the tin
• 250g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 250g salted butter, softened and chopped, plus extra for greasing
• 1 tbsp instant espresso powder
• 2 red bird's-eye chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
• ¼ tsp chilli powder (optional)
• 6 medium eggs, separated
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 175g caster sugar
• ½ tsp cream of tartar
• 4 tbsp ground almonds
• cocoa powder, to serve

For the coffee cream

• 300ml double cream
• 1 tbsp instant espresso powder

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 22cm springform cake tin with soft butter and line the bottom with baking parchment. Shake a little flour around the buttered edges.
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together over a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave. Once melted, whisk together until smooth and add the espresso powder and chillies and chilli powder, if using. Whisk the egg yolks with the brown sugar and caster sugar, either in an electric mixer or with an electric hand whisk, for 5-10 mins until thick and pale. In a separate bowl, using a clean whisk, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft rounded peaks form.
3. Pour the chocolate mixture onto the beaten yolks and sugar, and gently mix until smooth. Add the almonds and flour and mix again. Spoon the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and gently fold together. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 mins until the cake is set but with a slight jiggle in the centre. (If the cake is starting to brown too quickly, cover with a piece of baking parchment.)
4. Leave to cool in the tin – it will sink a little as it cools. Run a knife around the inside of the cake tin to loosen. Remove the baking parchment and place on a cake stand. Whisk the cream and espresso powder until soft peaks form. Serve on the side or spoon on top of the cake dusted with a little cocoa powder.

Have a great day