Torta caprese

The description of this Italian cake is "rich with a fudgy brownie texture". The recipe was similar to the Julia Child's chocolate almond cake I usually made in that you separate the eggs, beat them, then combined them together. This recipe uses no flour, it's nutty and quite sticky. It's Valentine's Day tomorrow hence the heart on the top of the cake.

Recipe (by Belinda Jeffery in Delicious magazine May 2010 pg 46 with modifications by me)

Ingredients:
1 & 1/4 cups of walnuts (BJ's recipe use 1.5 cups of pecans)
180g cooking chocolate (BJ uses dark chocolate)
4 eggs separated (my eggs are very small thus I reduced the amount of nuts)
1 cup of caster sugar
220g melted butter
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 170C
2. Grease and line springform cake pan, dust side with flour
3. Grind chocolate and nut in food processor until fine (not pasty)
4. Cream egg yolks and sugar, then mixed in butter, vanilla extract and nuts/chocolate mixture
5. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until quite stiff then mix into the egg yolk mixture (The recipe whisk in 1/4 of the egg white mixture first then fold in the rest, as long as you mix properly but gently that's fine I think)
6. Bake in oven for 45 minutes (recipe says 50 munites) until cake begins to pull away from the side and feels firm and wobble gently.
7 Cool and dust with icing sugar (BJ dust with cocoa and served with whipped cream)

ps I didn't follow the recipe of inverting the cake after cooling on rack for 10 minutes so the bottom of the cake is a little too sticky. I took it to Parents-in-law's tonight (Mothe-in-law did roast chicken), MIL and Lara liked it.

Zucchini Slice

I first saw this recipe in a ABA (breastfeeding) magazine. It was submitted by Alyssia from the Leeton ABA group. I imagine a lot of mums have to keep an eye on kids while cooking so you want a recipe that is simple and works every time. This is such recipe.

I love this recipe. I have made this over half a dozen times. You don't have to be precise with the ingredients. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare (slightly longer if you are a slow grater like me) and it tastes delicious. It tastes like a quiche -perfect for a satisfying lunch or a light dinner and something Lara can eat as well.

Ingredients:
370g zucchini (I use 3 medium to large zucchinis, it does not need to be precise)
1 large onion
3 rashers bacon (I put in 4 or 5 rashers sometimes depending on what is lying around)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (I use Colby cheese)
1 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup oil (I use olive oil or canola oil. I tried 1/4 cup oil and it's equally delicious)
5 eggs
salt and pepper to taste (I don't put extra salt just a little pepper)

What to do:
Grate unpeeled zucchini coarsely. Finely chop onion and bacon. Combine zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese, sifted flour, oil, and lightly beaten eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a well-greased lamington tin (16cmx26cm base). Bake in moderate oven (I use 140-150C) for 30-40 minutes or until browned. cut into small squares. Freezes well. Can be eaten hot or cold. Serves 4-6.


Steaming hot out of the oven.