How many of us have asked ourselves where the concept of eating dessert actually originated? The word dessert comes from an old French word, desservir,  which means cleaning the table. The trend to eat desserts at the end of the meal is comparatively new in the western culture – if we turn back the clock, we’ll see that eating fruit and nuts after a meal has been has been customary since ancient Egyptian times and it is this practice that eventually led to the desserts we know today. Before the development of the sugar industry in the 19^th century, sweets and cakes were so expensive that middle classes didn’t eat

them too often and it was eaten on high days and holidays only. The aristocracy, however, indulged with vigour which is one of the reasons that they were so terribly unhealthy at that time.  Most southern Europeans still eat it only occasionally and fruit is often served at the end of the meal with a little cheese, while most anglicized countries have a culture of dessert after a main meal – in a country like South Africa, children are often tempted with something sweet after a meal as a ‘prize’ for eating vegetables or whatever it is they don’t like.

Ingredients

Cake

• 320 g good quality dark chocolate (about 70 % cocoa solids)
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
• 9 large eggs
• 300 g butter
• 300 g sugar
• ½  dried pasilla chile, seeded
• ½  dried ancho chile, seeded
• 1 level  tsp cinnamon
• ¼ ground cloves
• ½ tbsp pure vanilla pulp

Tamarind custard

• 250 ml  heavy cream
• 62 ml tamarind paste
• 2 extra large egg yolks
• 50 g sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Caramel

• 125 ml sugar
• 450 ml freshly squeezed orange juice

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 150 C
• Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl over hot water (or a double boiler) and then keep it warm.
• Heat the butter until golden brown – it shouldn’t take more than about 7 – 8 minutes and set it aside.
• Put the chiles, the sugar, the cinnamon, the cloves and the pumpkin seeds in the food processor and grind until very fine.
• Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract on low speed in a mixer and then add the ground chilli mixture and whisk for another 10 minutes.
• Add the melted chocolate carefully, whisk to incorporate it into the mixture and then, slowly, pour in the butter until everything is well combined.
• Pour the batter into about 8 lightly oiled ramekins (they should be about 120 ml) and place in a water bath.
• Transfer to the oven and bake for around 13 to 14 minutes – the little cakes will feel only slightly firm.
• Remove the ramekins, allow them to cool down a little and put them in the fridge until about an hour before serving.

CUSTARD

• Put the cream, the sugar, the vanilla and the tamarind in the saucepan and bring to a boil very slowly, breaking up the tamarind with a wooden spoon, when ready set aside to cool down a little.
• Whisk the egg yolks in a mixing bowl and slowly pour in the cream mixture while whisking energetically.
• Return this mixture to the saucepan again and cook over low heat, continuously whisking,  until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.
• Strain through a medium sieve and set aside to cool down.

ORANGE CARAMEL

• Heat the sugar and about 250 ml water in a heavy bottomed saucepan over high heat – as soon as the sugar turns from golden brown to amber, turn off the heat and slowly whisk in the orange juice – at first the caramel may become hardish but it will melt again when it reheats.
• Turn the heat back on to medium and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring more often than not.
• Allow it to cool down completely before serving it, otherwise your guests may end up with very burnt tongues and most likely in the ER.