Battenberg Cake

Once upon a midnight dreary, while we pondered long and weary,
Over many a cake and what to bake,
Our minds settled for the chequered log
Whose only sight our jaws made drop.

Thus began the epic journey of Divine Cherry's Battenberg Cake. And what a journey it was. At first, there was reticence, fear and uncertainty. After all, the Battenberg is a worthy foe. One heart and one mind, Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon studied the enemy from every angle, analysing its every strengths and weaknesses: upper left hand, lower right hand, upper right hand, lower left hand; its enrobing cloak; the sweet-moist texture; the assemblage. Then, after the initial fear was overcome, there appeared in Divine Cherry's heart a sense of challenge, of rivalry with all those who before her had managed to slay the beast (although the actual slaying was done by Celestial Dragon). With the challenge came the will to fight, to go on, to tackle the obstacle and surmount it, just as she had, previously, managed to conquer the insidious twists and turns of the croissants.
This is the story of how Divine Cherry was able to perform such a feat, how her capable hands, besmeared with dough and paste and the lust to knead everything into submission, to mould and shape and create her own Battenberg (some equate the Battenberg with the universe; personally, I think that's going too far--although I can see a case for it, for is there not contained, in the fourfold square, the essence of all that is not round, that is to say, nothing at all? If the Battenberg is thus -literally- Void squared, can it not be thought of as the universe itself? And conversely, is it not the root of all that is?) were able to come to terms with the very principle of ultimate pleasure, both aesthetic and culinary. Needless to say, then, that the result was phenomenal. Celestial Dragon, to this day, relishes the memory of that victory over the forces of impossible bakery, for the impression it has left on his tastebuds has wandered all the way into the tips of his whiskers so that the left whisker has now turned green from the pistachio and the right brown from the chocolate.
As always, divinities ought to set an example. That is why you will find the recipe here below. Not because Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon expect you to do it, but rather because they give you the possibility do so should you wish to. It is said in the scriptures (of A Posteriori Baking - How To Train Your Tongue) that whosoever manages to bake a proper Battenberg shall be elevated by their loved one into a new sphere of heaven. It certainly was the case for Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon.

Blog-checking lines:  Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

Battemberg cake  recipe adapted from the June Daring Bakers challenge recipe proposed by Mandy
Cake:

- 175g  unsalted butter, softened & cut in cubes

- 175g  Caster Sugar

- 175g  Plain Flour

- 1and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

- 3 Large Eggs, room temp

- 35g Ground Almonds

- 35 g Ground Pistachios

- 2 teaspoons of cocoa

 -40 g of chocolate cut in tiny pieces

Preheat the oven at 180C.  Butter and flour a baking tray. Create a divide with some kitchen foil. Make a rectangle and then cover it with baking paper. Locate it in the middle of the tray, so that you can house the two mixture together (see picture).

Prepare the two mixture.  Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder. In a separate bowl,mix the butter with the eggs. Then mix together all the ingredients until just combined. Divide the mixture in two bowls. Add to one half the almonds, the cocoa and the pieces of chocolate. Add to the other half the ground pistachios.

Pour the chocolate mixture into one side of the prepared tray, and the pistachio batter in the other half. Bake for 25-30 min until well raised and cooked.

 

Plastic chocolate

- 200 g dark chocolate

- 60 g glucose

Melt the chocolate in a pan over simmering water. When cool add the glucose. Let it cool completely and wrap in cling film. Store in the frige. When needed, warm it up with your hands and use it.

Butter cream

- 250 g icing sugar

- 125 g butter

Mix the icing sugar with the soft butter. Mix until well combined.

Assembly

Trim the edges of the cakes so to have to rectangles of the same sizes. Cut each cake in half, lengthwise, so as to have 4 long stripes. Trim again the edges to pair them. Glue the stripes together with a thin layer of butter cream, alternating the colours (one black stripe next to one green one). Spread a thin layer of butter cream over all the sides of the cake.

Roll out the plastic chocolate with the help of some icing sugar. Wrap the cake with the plastic chocolate sheet. Neaten up the edges of the cake. 

Battemberg Cake ricetta adattata da quella proposta da Mandy per la sfida di giugno dei Daring Bakers 

Torta

- 175 g burro non salato, a temperature ambiente e tagliato a pezzetti

- 175g zucchero

- 175 g farina semplice

- 1 e ½ cucchiaino di lievito in polvere

- 3 uova grandi a temp ambiente

- 35 g di mandorle a farina

- 35 g di pistacchi a farina

- 2 cucchiaini di cacao

- 40 g di cioccolato fondente finemente tritato

Riscaldare il forno a 180C.  Imburrare e infarinare una teglia da forno. Prepare un divisorio con della carta stagnola: creare un rettangolo, sistemarlo nel mezzo della teglia e coprirlo con carta forno (come in foto).

Preparere l’impasto. Mescolare farina, zucchero e lievito. In un’alta ciotola mescolare uova e burro. Unire i due composti, e mescolare poco solo per incorporare. Dividere l’impasto in due metà. Aggiungere il cacao, le mandorle e i pezzetti di cioccolato a una metà e i pistacchi all’altra metà. Versare il composto al cioccolato in una metà della teglia e il composto ai pistacchi nell’altra metà. Cuocere in forno per 25-30 minuti fino a che sarà ben lievitato e cotto.

 

Cioccolato plastico

- 200 g cioccolato fondente

- 60 g glucosio

Fondere il cioccolato a bagnomaria, aggiungere il glucosio. Aspettare che si raffreddi un po’ e poi conservarlo coperto da pellicola in frigo. Al momento dell’utilizzo, riscaldarlo con le mani e lavorarlo come pongo.

Crema al burro

 - 250 g zucchero a velo

- 125 g burro

 Incorporare lo zucchero a velo al burro morbido fino ad ottenere una consistenza cremosa.

Assemblaggio

Sfilare i bordi delle due torte in modo da renderle della stessa esatta dimensione. Tagliarle nel senso della lunghezza in modo da ottenere 4 lunghi rettangoli. Incollare i rettangoli l’uno con l’altro (uno nero affianco a uno chiaro etc in modo da alternare i colori), usando un sottile strato di crema al burro come collante.  Spalmare un sottile strato di crema al burro anche sui lati esterni della torta (servirà per tenere insieme il cioccolato plastico di copertura). Stendere il cioccolato plastico con un mattarello, in modo da ottenere un foglio abbastanza sottile. Avvolgere la torta nel foglio di cioccolato. Sfilare le estremità in modo da parificarle.

Enjoy,

And spread the Mess

Brownie Cupcakes

Easter Saga 2


The next chapter in this Easter Saga is the dessert: chocolate brownies. I am aware that I am not complying with the Aristotelian law of time and space (as one would, after the amuse-bouche, usually find oneself in front of the first course), but then again Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon themselves stand above Aristotle's law. In fact, they were the ones who suggested it to him. It happened many years ago, in a land far, far away.
Back then, Aristotle was but a young lad. He was running after girls in the same ways satyrs do, smoked in secret, and was fond of drag-racing his friends in his parents' 2bhp, 5 mph horse cart (which he simply, for the life of him, couldn't park properly). One day, at the end of one of those races, he saw a couple of travellers on the road. As he was trying to park the horse cart, he didn't pay them much attention but focused on his vehicle instead. As such, he constantly looked back and forth, up and down the street and the curb of the pavement in order to better judge his position. Being a bright boy, however, he soon noticed that he saw the two travellers whether he was looking forwards or backwards. He was very much confused. When Celestial Dragon and Divine Cherry noticed the small boy's bewilderment (for, as you will have surmised by now, the two travellers were our two divines), they went up to him in order to try and explain the impossibility of what he'd just seen and so talk some sense into him. And so it was that they were, the three of them, soon discussing the inherent inconsistency of theatre, in which an action might take place, in the logic of the play, over a longer period of time and an impossible geographical distance than the actual play being performed does. Young Aristotle was very confused. He didn't understand a single word. And so Divine Cherry brought forth a mouth-watering chocolate brownie and said: "See this brownie? In your time, and in your world, this brownie does not yet exist. Indeed, chocolate has not been brought to Europe yet. But in the future, this brownie will be delicious, and I will bake it for one of my Easter Lunches. Of course, you don't even know what Easter is, but that's the point." Aristotle was now utterly bewildered. Celestial Dragon then stepped in and made him forget everything. Except for one small thing: a fading, glimmering image of a brown, sweet-smelling and utterly amazing brownie...


Chocolate Brownie Cupcakes (12 mini cupcakes + 6 regular cupcakes)
-100g of dark chocolate cut in small pieces
-125g of unsalter butter, cubed
-220g of sugar
-3 medium-sized eggs
-85g of plain flour
-2 tablespoons of cocoa

Melt the chocolate in the microwave at medium strength. When it's half molten, add the pieces of butter and melt everything together. Be careful not to heat the mixture too much or the chocolate will be ruined.
In another bowl, use a hand whisk to mix together the eggs and the sugar. Add then the flour and the cocoa, as well as the molten chocolate and butter. Mix well until you get a smooth, non-grainy mixture.
Pour everything in muffin moulds patted with paper cases. Instead of using paper cases you can just need to butter anf flour the surface of the moulds a bit. Put in the preheated oven at 180°C for +- 30mins.

Decoration
-50g of dark chocolate
-25g of butter
-3 mini eggs per brownie

Melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave - just like you did earlier. Stir the mixture with a spoon in order to cool it down a bit (once it's reached room temperature it will become less liquid and easier to handle). Pour a teaspoon of molten chocolate on a brownie and balance the three mini eggs on top of it. The chocolate frosting will act as a glue.


Tortine di cioccolato (per 12 tortine piccole + 7 tortine grandi)
-100 g cioccolato fondente, tagliato in piccoli pezzetti
- 125 g burro a pezzetti
- 220 g zucchero
- 3 uova medie
- 85 g farina
- 2 cucchiai di cacao

Fondere al microonde il cioccolato a potenza media. Quando è sciolto a metà, aggiungere il burro a pezzetti e fondere il tutto insieme. Attenzione a non scaldare troppo altrimenti il cioccolato sarà rovinato.
In un'altra ciotola, mescolare con una frusta zucchero e uova, aggiungere la farina e il cacao e il cioccolato fuso con il  burro, mescolare bene per non avere grumi ma non troppo a lungo.
Versare il composto negli stampini da muffin foderati con i pirottini di carta (i pirottini sono facoltativi, se i vostri stampi sono in silicone non servono oppure se sono in metallo potete anche semplicemente imburrare e infarinarli bene). Cuocere in forno già caldo (180°C) per 30 minuti circa.

Decorazione:
- 50 g cioccolato fondente
- 25 g burro
 - 3 ovetti per ogni tortino

Fondere il cioccolato con il burro nel microonde come prima. Girare il composto con un cucchiaio per farlo raffreddare un po' (quando è a temperatura ambiente è meno liquido e non scivolerà da tutte le parti). Versare un cucchiaino di composto su ogni tortino e incollare 3 ovetti di cioccolato.


Enjoy,
And Spread the Mess