Classic Chocolate Cake Recipe

This recipe is a classic. A Chocolate Cake is easy to prepare and it will make everyone happy in your household. I usually double the quantities below to make a bigger cake that will last a bit longer (2-3 days...only)! Enjoy it warm with vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Baking time: 45-50 minutes

Difficulty: *

Ingredients:

- 75 g (2/3 cups) flour
- 150g butter (about 1 1/2 sticks)

- 150g (5 1/2 oz) chocolate

- 3 eggs
- 150g (2/3 cups) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- pinch of salt

1. Preheat your oven at 150°C (300°F). Grease and flour a 8-inch baking pan.

2. Melt the chocolate in a heavy bottom pan. Once melted, remove from the heat and add the butter cut into small pieces.

3. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and vanilla extract until the preparation whitens.

4. Pour the sugar and egg yolks preparation into the melted chocolate. Add the flour and mix well.

5. Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer at medium speed until they hold soft peaks.
Very gently incorporate the beaten egg whites to the chocolate preparation.

6. Pour the preparation into the mold and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. To test if the cake is done, insert a metal skewer or sharp knife into the centre of a muffin. It should come out dry.

Enjoy!

Super Easy Recipe for Lemon Soufflé

This recipe is super simple to make and you will be able to put on a show for your guests :) Light, fluffy, the Lemon Soufflé is the perfect dessert after a great family meal. The only trick is to prepare it right on time and serve it immediately because it can go down quickly.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 15 minutes

Difficulty: **

Ingredients:

- 80g granulated sugar (20g + 50g + 10g)

- 3 organic lemons

- 3 eggs

- pinch of salt

1. Place 4 ramekins in the fridge. After about 15-20 minutes, coat the ramekins with butter and sprinkle 20g of the granulated sugar all over the inside. All the sides should be covered.

2. Preheat your oven at 350°F/180°C.

3. Separate whites from egg yolks. Mix the egg yolks with 50g of granulated sugar. Add the zest of 2 lemons and mix well.

4. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until peaks form. Continue beating and slowly add 10g of sugar and the juice of 1 lemon.

5. Slowly fold in the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Pour it into the ramekins.

6. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the soufflés are fluffy and golden on top.

7. Sprinkle each soufflé with confectioner's sugar and serve immediately.

Amazingly light and delicious...!

Bread Pudding Soufflé and Whiskey sauce

How to use bread leftovers? Bake a Bread Pudding Soufflé! This dessert is old fashioned light, and fluffy. My recipe includes raisins and pecans but you can replace the raisins with fresh fruits (diced apples and blueberries are my favorites), other dried fruits (cherries, apricots, figs..) use honey, chocolate chips, etc.

Serves 8
Praparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: **

Ingredients:
Soufflé
- 5 cups (about half a medium round loaf) day-old French bread (from a loaf, not a baguette), cut into 2 cm cubes
- 4 eggs, separated and at room temperature
- 1 cup (225 g) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmated
- 4 cups (1 l) milk
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup raisins, soaked in dark rum (to cover)
- 1/2 cups pecans, chopped
- butter and sugar for the mold

Whiskey sauce
- 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
- 2 egg yolks at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup bourbon


Prepare the soufflé first.
Coat a large, deep baking dish with butter and sugar.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with 3/4 cup of the sugar, the spices, the vanilla extract until creamy. Mix in the milk

Place teh cubed bread in a large bowl and pour the milk mixture over it. Set aside for 30-45 minutes.

Preaheat your oven to 350°F / 180° C.
In a bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt and the remaining 1/4 of the sugar until peaks form.

Add the raisins and chopped pecans to the soaked bread and slowly fold in the beaten egg whites with a metal spoon.

Pour the mixture into the preapared mold and bake for 35-40 minutes until puffed and golden.

For the Whiskey sauce, heat the cream over simmering water in a double boiler.

In a bowl, whisk the yolks with the sugar. Off the heat, whisk the egg yolks into the warm cream.

Return the preparation to the double boiler and cook over simmering water, stirring, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Slowly add the bourbon. Continue to cook until the miwture is lightly thick and smooth.

Serve the soufflé with the warm Whiskey sauce.

Today is the day of crepes!

In France this Tuesday, every family will make crepes to celebrate La Chandeleur. Learn more on these thin delicious pancakes (Wikipedia). I recommend you to make crepes all year long since it's very easy and can be either sweet or sour. This recipe is for sweet crepes but if you want to try the sour version, do not add sugar and replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. You can then fill the crepes with mushrooms, cream, ham and shredded cheese for instance... mmmm!!

About 10-12 crepes
Preparation: 10 minutes + 15 min resting time
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: *

Ingredients:
- 1 cup/125g all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup/25cl milk
- 1 pinch salt
- zest of 1/2 lemon or orange (optional)
Note: you can add any flavor you want to the batter: grand marnier, vanilla extract, orange blossom extract etc.

Heat the milk in your microwave just a little bit (15 seconds are enough): it will ease the mixing of the ingredients.
Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Make a hole in the middle and add the egg, the sugar, the salt and the zest or flavour if you are using any. Add a little bit of milk and start whisking. Gradually add in the milk until the batter is smooth.
Let rest for 15 minutes minimum; if you have more time, you can wait up to 1 hour.
Before starting cooking, check the consistency of the batter: if it is too thick, add a little bit of milk.
Cook the crepes for about 2 minutes on the first side, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, then turn and cook the other side for another 1 or 2 minutes.
Serve warm with your topping: sugar, chocolate spread, jam, fruits, whipped cream etc. My favorite is sugar and lemon: sprinkle granulated sugar on your crepe and then drizzle some lemon juice...