Festive fare for the New Year can be made at
home in these times of restricted movement
Kainaz Messman Harchandrai and Tina Messman Wykes share five recipes from their book, Baking A Dream — The Theobroma Story (see "Happiness is a warm chocolate walnut brownie,” Books, pg 92). Their family confectionery venture, Theobroma, which means the "food of the gods,” has expanded into a signature brand with 50 outlets across three cities.
WALNUT BROWNIE
Salted butter (125 g)
All purpose flour (50 g)
Caster sugar (175 g)
Cocoa powder (30 g)
Vanilla essence/extract (½ tsp)
Eggs (2 large)
Chopped walnuts (50 g)
Whisk together butter and sugar till pale, light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and continue whisking. Ensure first egg is fully incorporated before adding the second one. Add vanilla.
Sieve flour and cocoa together and fold into egg-butter-sugar mixture. Fold 25 g chopped walnuts into the batter. Pour batter into a greased and lined six-inch square baking tin. Sprinkle remaining 25 g walnuts on top of the batter.
Bake in a preheated oven at 165° C for 15 to 20 minutes. Check after 15 minutes; the cake tester should come out with a little batter clinging onto it, but the batter should not be uncooked. Do not over bake, or the brownie will become dry and crumbly.
DIPPED CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
For ganache
Dark chocolate (180 g)
Dairy cream (120 g)
Chop chocolate into small chip sized pieces and place in a glass bowl. Heat the cream in a saucepan until it starts to simmer on the sides. Pour cream over chopped chocolate, cover with cling film and leave for 15 minutes. Mix cream and chocolate with a spatula until smooth, shiny and well combined.
For truffles
Chocolate ganache (300 g)
Cocoa powder (10 g)
Dark chocolate melted (60 g)
Icing sugar (10 g)
Unsalted butter (50 g)
Vegetable oil (or any tasteless oil) for greasing
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, cling wrap and refrigerate to cool/set (for a minimum of four hours or overnight).
Grease your palms with a little oil, and roll the truffle mixture into balls of approximately 15 g each. Arrange balls on a tray, cling wrap and refrigerate again for a minimum of 60 minutes or overnight.
For dipped chocolate truffles
Dark chocolate (150 g —
chopped
Melt chocolate in a microwave oven or in a double boiler over gently simmering water. Please use real dark chocolate only, not chocolate compound. Stir the melted chocolate with spatula until smooth and shiny. Dip each truffle ball into the melted chocolate to coat. Lift with a chocolate fork and leave to set on a lined baking sheet. Allow chocolates to set in an air-conditioned room.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Unsalted butter (90 g, at room temperature)
Caster sugar (60 g)
Brown sugar (60 g)
Egg (1 large)
Vanilla extract/essence (½ tsp)
Salt (½ tsp)
All purpose flour (160 g)
Baking powder (½ tsp)
Real chocolate chips (220 g)
Vegetable oil (or any tasteless oil) for greasing
Whisk together butter, caster sugar and brown sugar till light and fluffy. Beat the egg and vanilla together and gradually whisk it into the butter-sugar mixture.
Mix the dry ingredients (baking powder, salt and flour) in a bowl and sieve. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
On a pre-lined tray, flatten the cookie dough, cling wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of two hours (or overnight). Remove batter from refrigerator. Grease your palms with a little oil.
Roll the mixture into balls (approximately 50 g each), place on a lined baking tray and refrigerate again for 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 170° C for 10-13 minutes. The cookies will feel soft as they come out of the oven, but will continue to cook as they cool.
MAVA CAKE
Mava (220 g — best quality, unsweetened)
Caster sugar (100 g)
Salted butter (110 g — at room temperature)
Whole eggs (2)
All purpose flour (110 g)
Baking powder (½ tsp)
Vanilla extract/essence (½ tsp)
Whisk together softened butter and sugar till pale, light and fluffy. Grate mava, then add to butter-sugar mixture and continue whisking. Beat the eggs and vanilla together and gradually whisk into the butter-sugar-mava mixture. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and fold into the batter using a rubber spatula. Pour batter into a greased and lined seven-inch square baking tin.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160° C for 30 minutes. The cake tester should come out clean. If not, cover the cake tin with foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the cake tester comes out clean.
RED VELVET CAKE
For sponge
All purpose flour (140 g)
Caster sugar (130 g)
Salted butter (70 g — softened)
Plain yogurt (110 g)
Natural red food color (2 tsp)
Cocoa powder (10 g)
Baking soda (1 tsp)
Vanilla extract/essence (2 tsp)
White vinegar (2 tsp)
Eggs (2 large)
For sponge
Whisk butter till pale, using an electric beater. Add sugar and continue whisking till light and fluffy. Add sieved cocoa and red food coloring to butter-sugar mixture and whisk. Beat eggs and vanilla, add gradually to the butter-sugar mixture and continue whisking. Beat yoghurt until smooth. Add yogurt to butter-sugar mixture and mix well.
Sieve flour and baking soda together, then add to the batter. Mix well with a spatula, there should be no lumps. Add white vinegar and mix again. Pour into a greased and lined six-inch round baking tin.
Bake at 165° C for 20-25 minutes or till a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow cake to cool.
For frosting
Cream cheese (160 g)
Icing sugar (160 g)
Unsalted butter (40 g — softened)
Lemon juice 1 tsp
Vanilla extract/essence 1 tsp
Place unsalted butter in a large bowl and whisk until smooth and creamy. Add cream cheese (at room temperature, please do not use a cheese spread) and whisk until combined and smooth.
Add icing sugar gradually and continue to whisk. Add vanilla and lemon juice and whisk till mixed thoroughly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Icing should be cold but spreadable.
Assemble and decorate
Once the cake has cooled completely, cut horizontally into two equal layers. Sandwich the cake layers with cream cheese frosting. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the frosting.