Chocolate Orange Mousse Cake

This cake, or pie if you like, is AMAZING. It is so light and lovely....and best of all, it is dairy, egg and nut free. It could also be made gluten and soya free too. I can't claim credit for the recipe as it was shared by another allergy mum on a forum I am on. But it's by far one of the most popular posts on that site.

You could make so many variations to this too...swap the orange essence for mint, or add a few drops of a favourite liqueur for an adult version. To make it taste EXACTLY like a bounty bar, use milk chocolate instead!
For us though, it's perfect the way it is!

Oh and the best bit, it takes about 5 mins to make! (well the base needs to chill, but apart from that...)

What are you waiting for? Dive in!

Chocolate Orange Mousse Cake

Ingredients:

For the mousse:

• 1 x 400ml tin full fat coconut milk, chilled in fridge ( check the label for the highest coconut content - 70%+ is ideal)
• 200g suitable dark chocolate (I used Sainsbury's dark cooking choc as it's dairy free and yummy)
• 2 tbsp icing sugar
• 2 tsp orange flavouring (use vanilla if you want plain)

For the crust:

• Approx 10-15 bourbon biscuits - or Oreos will work too. To make it gluten free, substitute for a suitable biscuit.
• 2-3 tbsp of dairy free butter, melted. (I use Vitalite)

Method:

Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until good and crushed. Add melted ‘butter’ and blitz again until you get to a mouldable consistency. Press the mixture into the base of a loose bottomed cake tin and refrigerate.

Whip the solids from the can of coconut milk (if you use a brand with a high percentage of coconut extract [70%+] and chill first in fridge overnight, it should be fairly thick and you shouldn't need to drain any water off after chilling). I used a brand from the world food section - much higher coconut %, so had very little, if any, liquid to drain off.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, being careful not to burn it. Add the melted choc, orange flavouring and icing sugar to the whipped coconut milk and whip again until well incorporated.

While still silky, pour over the chilled crust and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight to set.

Should last 5 days in the fridge - if you can resist!

You can make mini ones in ramekins too. And the mousse makes a great dessert on its own; just pour it into ramekins and chill.

Notes: 

• I often add raspberries to the top as they add a fresh element to this dish - delicious!
• If you overmix the mixture and it appears to set in the bowl, put it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up ever so slightly and use as normal.

Valentine's Chocolate Mousse

Happy Valentine's Day! A quick post to share the pudding I made tonight for Valentine's Day; it's such a simple yet scrummy dessert. And the best bit, it's totally vegan so even my son could have it. I wanted to make something that wasn't cake based and required very little effort. I knew I had a can of coconut milk in the fridge, so this immediately came to mind. It takes a whole 5 minutes to make, I kid you not.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk - chilled in the fridge overnight

200g chocolate - milk or dark, your choice. I used dark.

1 dsp icing sugar

1/2 tsp orange extract/essence

Raspberries

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second increments until smooth and glossy.
2. Carefully remove the solids out of the coconut milk tin into a medium bowl, discard any liquid.
3. Using a hand held electric mixer, whip the coconut milk solids with the icing sugar and orange essence until fluffy. Scrap the sides occasionally, this step takes only about 2 minutes.
4. Pour the melted chocolate into the bowl and beat together using the mixer until it is combined and still fluffy. If you over mix, as I did tonight and it hardens, this is very easily fixed by putting the bowl into the microwave for 10 seconds to loosen it up again.
5. Pipe into bowls, or just spoon in if you prefer. Top with raspberries.

Notes:

• This is best made just before serving, or if making it into a pie (as I have posted on my fb page) then allow to set in the fridge.

• You could add peppermint extract instead of orange if you prefer.

• I tend to leave a can of coconut milk in the fridge at all times for occasions such as this. Go for a band that has at least 60% coconut solids in it, 70%+ if possible. You get more solids in your recipe then!

• This is quite rich, so smaller portions are advised, but it is soooo light, honestly, it's like eating a cloud. A chocolate one!

Toasted Coconut and Lime Bundt Cake

So I gave in and bought myself the proper Nordic Ware heavy duty Anniversary tin recently - bought here.  I can't rave enough about these tins, they just cook like a dream and produce perfect cakes. Anyway I needed to make a coupe of cakes for a meeting last night and I found his recipe from one of my favourite Bundt bakers, Brooklyn Homemaker. You can find his original recipe here. I changed the recipe a bit, see my version below. 

It was really delicious - I highly recommend it.

Toasted Coconut Lime Bundt Cake

Adapted from the Brooklyn Homemaker recipe

Servings: 12 to 16

Ingredients:

• 3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
• 1 cup butter (250g) softened
• 2 1/2 c caster sugar (granulated)
• 4 - 5 limes (you need to get 1/2 cup of juice)
• 3¼ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
• ⅓ cup corn flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 6 large eggs
• 1 (13.5 oz) can unsweetened coconut milk

Glaze:

• 2 cups icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180deg C. Grease and flour a 10 to 12 cup bundt pan.
2. Spread shredded coconut in an even layer on a sheet pan and toast until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Check every few minutes and stir around if necessary to promote even toasting and prevent burning.
3. Zest and juice the limes. Reserve the juice and add the zest to the bowl of a stand mixer along with the softened butter and sugar. Cream on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, corn flour, baking powder and salt.
5. With the mixer on low add the eggs, one at a time, along with the vanilla and coconut extract, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
6. In a small bowl, measure out and mix together 1 1/2 cups coconut milk and 1/4 cup lime juice. Reserve the remaining coconut milk and lime juice for the glaze. With the mixer on low, alternate additions of flour and coconut milk, starting and ending with flour.
7. Scrape the sides of the bowl and stir in 2 1/2 cups of the toasted coconut. Reserve remaining coconut for garnish. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and level the batter with a spatula.
8. Bake in the center of the oven for about 60 to 65 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack and cool until room temperature.

For the glaze:

1. While the cake is baking, combine the remaining 1/4 cup lime juice and 1/4 cup coconut milk in a small saucepan. Warm gently.
2. To make the glaze, strain the coconut lime through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl. Whisk in icing sugar until smooth and free of lumps. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake and immediately sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of toasted coconut.

A Dairy Free Christmas

 

 

Merry Christmas to all my loyal followers. It's been fun setting up this blog and I'm happy that I am slowly gaining more followers each week. I've only been doing this since August, so feel free to spread the word!

 

Well, what a lovely Christmas Day we have had. Very relaxed, good food and good company. Today's blog post is for my Chocolate and Coconut Bundt Cake, which I served as our Christmas pudding, since none of us are fans of the traditional mixed fruit pudding.

I took this recipe from Brooklyn Homemaker's Chocolate Peppermint Bundt cake, but since my son doesn't like peppermint, I altered it to a coconut flavour instead. I will admit, I loved the sound of the original, but I love all things mint, so it's to be expected.

 

Anyway, I made some slight adaptions to the recipe to make it dairy free, so I will post it below, but you can click the link above to see the original.

 

Today I used my new NordicWare Heritage Bundt Pan, which I only bought last week. I was so very pleased that the cake came out so cleanly. I just love it!

 

 

 Chocolate Bundt Cake with Dark Chocolate and Coconut Ganache

• Servings: 12
• adapted from Brooklyn Homemaker

 

For the Cake:

1 1/4 cups water
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder(or bi carb soda if using buttermilk)
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups soya milk (or buttermilk if you can have dairy)
1 cup sunflower oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted

 

For the Coconut and Dark Chocolate Ganache:

 200g best quality dark chocolate, chopped (I used Sainsbury's dark cooking chocolate as it is dairy free)
 3/4 cup coconut milk
 Desiccated coconut to sprinkle on top

 

 

1. Place an oven rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 180 degrees C.
2. Liberally butter and flour a 10 to 12 cup Bundt pan and set aside.

3. Whisk water and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Remove from heat and let come to room temperature.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs and egg yolk on low for just one minute. Add the milk, oil and vanilla extract and mix on low again for another minute.
5. Add the flour and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes more.  Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes. The batter will seem quite loose and liquid.  Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 55-65, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

6. Let the cake cool completely in the pan and then invert onto a cooling rack. Once cooled I trimmed off the top to make it level once inverted.

7. To make the ganache, heat the coconut milk in a heavy pot, just until it begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Let the chocolate melt for a minute or so, then whisk to combine.

8. Drizzle ganache over the cake while it’s still warm and liquid. Sprinkle desiccated coconut over the ganache.

9. Let the ganache set for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

10. We served with hot custard....soooo good!