I know I’ve written about chocolate ad nauseam but I actually dreamt about the stuff last night so I took it as a sign. This morning I had a moment because the chocolate cake in a local deli wasn’t edible, so I tweeted for help and got the most amazing response, the first one coming from @food24 (thanks guys for getting the ball rolling) and I found myself on the chocolate trail again. At the moment, I have two new favourite chocolates apart from my usual poison, the 85% or 99% Lindt; I’m in love with the salt and the Madagascar chocolate and if you

think that’s a hint, you’ve hit the nail on the head. To finish off the cake debate, at this stage there’s only one place to go for chocolate cake in Cape Town and that’s Charly’s but I’ll keep you updated as I go along; Bron says that the “best choc cake in London is at Patesserie Valerie 44 Old Compton Street Soho” and if she say’s it is, believe me, you need look no further; Abu Dhabi seems to be a bit of chocolate cake desert and according to Annie, “the bakeries here don’t do choc cakes too well so we have a network of homebakers to feed the cravings“; Marc swears by the chocolate cake & brownies from Schmidts Pastry, 5564 S. Redwood Rd in Salt Lake City, Utah; I discovered Sage & Thyme in Somerset West for all things cake (certainly the best chocolate cake) in Circle Centre, Shop 28, Caledon Street; Steve reminded me about the Sachertorte at Café Sacher in Vienna, silly of me to forget that (in mitigation, I only had it once)since I included my version of the recipe in an earlier post. My son Richardt was spoilt for choice in New York but with singular determination found and settled on The Chocolate Room in 86 Fith Avenue, Brooklyn. He’s the fussiest eater I know and if he say’s it’s good, believe me, it is. I’ll keep this space updated as they come in. As I said, I’d keep you updated on the matter of cake: Moyo in Stellenbosch have an incredible chocolate cake on their dessert menu. If you can’t find a decent cake, pop into the Lindt Chocolate Studios and prepare to be blown away with the courses they offer. If you can’t find it, do it yourself. (Well, in this case it isn’t a cake but the chocolate is out of this world.) Before I continue, let me explain my thinking with the recipes here today: they’re going to look dead difficult and if you’re not too clued up about chocolate, you may feel like running but don’t. I’ve worked out every step I take, cut out the unnecessary bits and left you with the basic bones. Just do as I say, step by step, and you’ll be fine.

CHOCOLATE WORTH EATING

• Dark: as a committed chocaholic, this is the only kind I eat because anything else makes me feel cheated.
• White: this is made from at least 20% cocoa butter, milk, emulsifiers and a variety of flavourings – it contains no cocoa solids whatsoever.
• Milk: this is a mixture of dark and white chocolate, lots of sugar, full cream milk (or even cream) and usually flavourings.
• Special: these are made from either of the chocolate types above and are flavoured (like my current new favourites); they’re fashion conscious chocolates and nowadays found in just about any flavour you can think of.
• Single origin or single estate: these have also become quite well known recently and as far as I’m concerned, it’s high time; like wine, cheese and whisky, they’re only made on their estates under stringent conditions or under ‘license’ by suitable production houses.
• Green: these are organic or made under ‘green conditions’ like the fair-trade chocolates.
• Dessert: they’re made from dark, white or milk chocolate and are found in chocolate houses (those fancy chocolates that you eat far too much of).
• Liqueur: these are chocolate shells containing a variety of liqueurs that are specially distilled with cocoa beans and you get them from the fancy chocolate houses I spoke about above.
• Ground cocoa: this is probably the most important chocolate item in your kitchen; when the cocoa paste is pressed and all the cocoa butter is removed, whatever is left is processed to make the ground cocoa (which then undergoes a process to improve the colour) which is sent on to the professionals for manufacture; it is not to be confused with chocolate powder or chocolate spread, both of which you should throw out immediately because it contains too much sugar and just about no cocoa;

ICED CHOCOLATE SOUFFLÉ

This is a tricky dessert and I had an argument with myself about putting it here but since all of you do have electric whisks and I am going to talk you through it, I won and you’re getting it!

Ingredients

• 100 g fine caster sugar
• 1 generous tsp butter, softened
• 5 large egg yolks
• 200 g dark chocolate (70%)
• 35 g bitter cocoa powder
• 120 ml thick cream
• 5 large egg whites
• 50 g icing sugar

Method

• Start by cutting 4 strips of baking parchment in the following sizes: the size of the circumference of your dish plus a little for overlapping X 1 ½ times the height of the dish – iow, 3 cm higher than the dish(if it’s a normal sized soufflé dish it should work out around 15 x 6 cm by my measurements).
• Wrap the strips of paper around the outside of the soufflé dishes and use a simple elastic band to keep the thing on the dish – don’t get clever and try to use adhesive tape because the water in the freezer will destroy the glue and it will flop off (I know from bitter experience)
• Once you’ve done that and put the strips to one side, you can start on the sabayon – that’s the egg custard and you make it by putting the egg yolks, the caster sugar and 3 tbsp of water in a reasonably high bowl.
• You need a high bowl because it’s going to splatter a little when you start whisking (especially if you’re not used to this).
• Put this bowl over a pot of hot, simmering water and start whisking; you’ll be whisking for about 15 minutes so get comfortable and switch off your phone.
• Once this  mixture is well aerated after the 15 minutes (that means it’s fluffy and puffy), add the butter and whisk in.
• Remove this from the heat and whisk again for about 12 minutes until it cools down and set it aside – I know this is a bore but it is a soufflé and you’ll be so glad you did.
• You’ve set aside, right? Now grate the chocolate and melt it in exactly the same way as you did in the ganache recipe and set it aside.
• Bring the cream to boiling point in another pot, add the melted chocolate and the cocoa powder and whisk well so that everything is well combined.
• In yet another clean, dry bowl whisk your egg whites until the form stiff peaks and then start folding in the icing sugar, little by little and continue whisking for about 3 minutes.
• The next three steps are crucial, fold the sabayon mixture (that’s the one you made with the yolks) into the chocolate and then you fold the egg whites into the chocolate carefully (because you don’t want to lose all the air) and then pour this into the soufflé dishes and freeze them overnight.
• Remove the baking parchment just before you serve them.

TASTING CHOCOLATE

Despite the fact that whole books have been devoted to tasting chocolate, it really boils down to 3 things that you do anyway: you put it in your mouth to taste it and then the perfume hits you by which time it has melted in your mouth and you feel it. If someone would like to tell you more, ask them to pass the chocolate and allow them to speak because you’ll learn a lot. I’ve been to a great many chocolate tastings and whilst I loved the events I was only any good when tasting the dark and single origin chocolates, I dislike milk chocolate and try as I might, I just don’t get it.It’s important that one starts a tasting with the blandest chocolate first but I think i’ts pretty useless if too many different kinds are used. The tongue has only so many taste-buds. Here are some basic guidelines if you want to have one:

• Dark and single origin: 6 – 7 different kinds
• Milk: around 8
• White: if you manage more than 5, I’d be surprised
• Specialities: I have no idea

CHOCOLATE DICTIONARY

• Alkalinization: the process used to improve the colour of ground cocoa (iow, to make it darker).
• Chocolate confectionary: a fancy word for chocolates.
• Cocoa: the substance made from the bean (there are many beans in one cocoa pod) and the basis of all cocoa products. The process was discussed in an earlier post.
• Cocoa butter: the fat produced when the cocoa beans are ground and is necessary for melting the chocolate and it helps to form the chocolate into various shapes.
• Conching: when the cocoa mixture is blended at a certain temperature.
• Couverture: it’s just the coating chocolate and chocolate makers buy huge blocks; it’s also available in retail outlets for home use and it’s not bad for eating when you’re desperate.
• Enrobing: when confections are given a chocolate coating – you must have seen it on television: the chocolates are placed on a conveyor belt and the chocolate is poured over the whole lot to cover them (of course this can be done by hand too).
• Ganache: it’s as simple as combining chocolate with cream, butter or even crème fraiche; the flavoured ganache has flavouring added – as simple as that.
• Gianduja: when nuts are roasted and pound into a paste with sugar and chocolate.
• Nibs: these are tiny fragments of cocoa bean kernels that have been fermented, dried and then roasted.
• Tempering: when chocolate is heated to a certain temperature to improve shine and texture.

THE BEST THINGS TO HAVE WITH (DARK) CHOCOLATE

• Coffee
• Wine
• Armagnac
• Cognac
• Tea – preferably white tea or yellow teas and if you want to show off, make a ganache and add a little tea (like a good Lapsang souchong); red tea is great with white chocolate

THE IDIOTS WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Ingredients

• 300 g of the best white chocolate you can find (don’t even think of using the cheap stuff, rather make something else)
• 80 g unsalted butter
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 ½ tbsp caster sugar
• 500 ml double cream, well chilled

Method

• Place the yolks, the caster sugar and 3 tbsp of cold water  in a bowl and put it over a pot of fairly hot simmering water (when I say simmering, I mean that the water has to roll, not splatter and dance) and whisk with an electric whisk for 15 minutes.
• Once again, if you aren’t used to making this kind of dessert just use the highest bowl you can find otherwise you will panic and think it’s difficult; it’s not.
• Once the mixture is well aerated (fluffy & puffy) and thick, remove it from the water, put down on the table and continue whisking for another 12 minutes while it cools down.
• Don’t try and cheat on the time or the whisking because it simply won’t work otherwise.
• Melt the white chocolate in a metal bowl over the pot of warm water until it has just melted – because it’s white chocolate it will react differently to dark chocolate, so it’s a good idea to use a wooden spoon and beat  the white chocolate a few times whilst it is over the water just to make sure that it is melting properly.
• Melt the butter separately and make sure that it doesn’t get too hot because it will separate and you don’t want that.
• Pour the melted white chocolate over the melted butter and beat well with said wooden spoon to mix everything together.
• Whisk the double cream separately  until it is very firm and then add the beaten egg yolks to the melted chocolate & butter and fold that into the cream.
• Put in the fridge for about 4 hours to set.

And just so that you know what to look for when it comes to the best  chocolate cake of them all (and yes, Sacher’s cake is way better than Demel’s), here’s a reminder:

Lindt Chocolate Studios have come to town and not only offer any course in chocolate making, eating and dreaming that you’ve ever thought of but they also bake dreams for parties, make truffles from heaven and sew chocolate fantasies.