I did it everyone; I made a chocolately hazelnut chocolate cake! Thank you Australian Women's Weekly for the recipe:)
On Friday evening my dad picked me up from work as he was driving past on his way home. I like being driven home from work:) I like avoiding the bus! We went to Foodland on the way home as I wanted to purchase cake ingredients. The staff at Foodland are highly trained in food knowledge. When I applied for a job there I was rejected. I assume I was to stupid to work at a supermarket because you need to be very clever and have a vast knowledge of foods that my brain simply wouldn't be able to handle.
I had some trouble locating hazelnut meal on the shelf, so asked two highly trained 15 year old boys where I could find this product.
Kim: Excuse me, where can I find hazelnut meal? I can see almond meal but no hazelnut meal...
Boy: Ummm *looks on shelf* I can't see them here, but maybe over here in one of the little packets *starts looking at those little packets of SPICES that contain chili powder, curry powder, peppercorns etc*
Kim: *face palm* Umm...hazelnut meal is smashed up hazelnut...so it would be over here *points* with the nuts.
Other boy: Ohh....I don't think we have any.
Eventually I purchased the required ingredients at another supermarket:)
You will need
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup hot water
150g dark chocolate, melted
150g butter, melted
1 1/3 cups brown sugar (1 cup is enough though)
1 cup hazelnut meal
4 eggs, separated
1 tablespoon cocoa powder, for dusting
What you need to do
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and grease a cake tin of 20cm diameter, or radius 10cm (yes, I have a Bachelors degree).
2. Mix cocoa with hot water until smooth.
3. Add chocolate, butter, sugar, hazelnut meal, egg yolks and mix to combine
4. Beat the egg whites (by hand - exercise and being green!) until soft peaks form. Add to chocolate mixture.
5. Pour into prepared tin and bake for around 1 hour. Leave to cool in tin once baked.
6. Dust with cocoa powder.
Mmmmmmmm! The cake tastes somewhat like Nutella, is quite dense and moist. I went a little overboard with the cocoa dusting though.... I would make it again:) It's really good - I'm eating more now as I type:)
Garden party
Yesterday afternoon I went to an open garden. Not something your usual 22 year old would attend but I am not your usual 22 year old. I prefer safe activities such as sitting quietly, baking, walking and blogging as opposed to yahoo-ing around and ending up in a gutter in an unknown suburb at 03.46.
The garden that we (my dad, my auntie, my auntie's neighbour and I) attended is owned by my grandpa's cousin...or something (I just asked my dad for confirmation and he didn't answer...then I realised he is wearing ear plugs, so 'cousin' it shall be). My grandpa's cousin and his wife own the house and their daughter does the gardening. She has planted many flowering plants which all managed to be in full bloom yesterday.
As we walked onto the lawns, the scene reminded me of something from Heart Beat or Midsommer Murders - pretty house, pretty garden, marquee, trestle table full of old fashioned country cakes...Everything is too perfect and so you expect to hear a scream or for someone find a dead body...and then for Ventrice and his friends to make a visit in order to solve the crime.
The, 'it's all too perfect' open garden
It is very important to note that my grandpa's cousin's wife is a professional cake judger. She judges the baking of cakes, scones and biscuits in the home cookery divisions at agricultural shows. She will be able to tell you if your lamingtons are the right size, why your sponge cake didn't rise properly and where you went wrong with your scones. All the guests at the garden were lucky enough to taste her baking, which of course is champion grade! I tasted many items :)
The afternoon tea was worth the $5 entry fee alone
Champion grade baking:)
My favourite cake was the bottom one you see here. It is called a 'honey biscuit', and is normally a biscuit but the lady made them in slice form. I told another lady who is related to me about how much I liked the honey biscuits and she gave me the recipe
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