Category Archives: The Chocolate Moment

The cup(cake) that cheers

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Earlier today, you may have heard the Girls Around Town talking about the latest episode of GBBO and celebrating National Cupcake Week (which runs from Monday 19 to Sunday 25 September) by sampling June’s Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Avocado Frosting.

Admittedly baking isn’t exactly her forte but they did get the thumbs up from Sue – although it has to be said they didn’t look quite like the one above!

Here’s the recipe so, if you fancy a Chocolate Moment with a bit of a twist, why not print it off and give it a go?

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Avocado Frosting

  • Servings: Makes 12 small or 9 larger cupcakes
  • Difficulty: easy
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For the cupcakes

  • 110g butter or margarine, softened at room temperature
  • 110g caster sugar
  • 2 free range eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 110g self raising flour
  • 1-2 tbsp milk

For the frosting

  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 3-5 tbsp maple syrup (adjust quantity to suit your taste for sweetness!)
  • 4 tbsp cacao powder
  • 3 tbsp almond butter
  • 2 tbsp softened raw coconut oil

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
  2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Beat in the eggs a little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract.
  3. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
  4. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into one of the cakes comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
  5. Blend all of the frosting ingredients in a food processor until the mixture is creamy, glossy and completely combined.
  6. Spoon the frosting into a piping bag with a star nozzle and, using a spiralling motion, pipe onto the cupcakes in a large swirl. You’ll have more than enough to frost the 12 cupcakes from the ingredients above – halve the quantities if you like or just keep what’s left in the fridge in a jar or covered tub to spread on other cakes or biscuits!

Bake my day

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Three episodes in, seven to go and the heat is on in the Great British Bake Off tent…

Whose showstopper will capture the star baker crown this week? Who’ll be making a final appearance on the show? And of course the burning question – what colour lippy will Candice be sporting on Wednesday?!

As if all this hasn’t been enough to inspire bakers everywhere to head for the kitchen, from Monday 19 to Sunday 25 September it’s National Cupcake Week. No surprise then that the Girls Around Town couldn’t resist combining cupcakes and chocolate in next Sunday’s show.

Join June and Sue between 10am and 12 noon, when they’ll be giving their verdict on GBBO so far and on a Chocolate Moment with a bit of a twist. Cupcakes topped with chocolate and avocado frosting – what would Paul and Mary think and, more to the point, will they be a hit or a miss with the girls?

Tune in or listen online to find out and watch this space after the show if you fancy checking out the recipe yourself…

Buonissima!

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June was channelling her inner Italian for The Chocolate Moment on this week’s show – and with no fewer than five guests in the studio ready and willing to sample the results, it wasn’t long before her Torta Caprese was little more than a memory!

This simple but delicious dessert was first made in the 1920s or 1930s on the beautiful island of Capri, from which it takes its name. According to one of the many legends surrounding it, when an Austrian princess who was married to the King of Naples wanted a Viennese sachertorte to remind her of home, the Neopolitan chefs used almonds instead of flour in their cake. And so the torta was born…

The almonds give the cake a dense moistness, while the finely chopped chocolate ensures there’s a big hit of cocoa flavour in every bite. And although it’s not the prettiest looking confection when it comes out of the oven, serving it Caprese-style with a generous dusting of icing sugar soon takes care of that…

There are lots of variations of the recipe online and in cookery books – this is one of the simplest, both in ingredients and method, but even so it’s chocolate heaven.

Or to put it another way, è buonissima!

Torta Caprese

  • Servings: 8-10
  • Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients

  • 200g dark chocolate
  • 4 medium eggs
  • 170g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 250g ground almonds
  • 200g butter, melted and cooled until tepid
  • Icing sugar, to serve

Directions

  1. Line the base of a 24cm-diameter round cake tin with non-stick baking parchment and grease the sides.
  2. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3.
  3. Blitz the chocolate in a food processor until it is finely chopped, though still retaining a little texture. If you don’t have a processor, chop the chocolate finely with a large knife.
  4. Beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl until the mixture is pale and thick enough to hold a trail on its surface when you lift the beaters (about 10 minutes).
  5. Fold in the chocolate, ground almonds and melted butter.
  6. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes or until just firm to the touch.
  7. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out – dust with icing sugar when ready to serve.