Kahlua Chocolate Cheesecake

The last time I made this cake, I used rum and chocolate glazing. That was because I didn't have any Kahlua and I didn't have any Creme Fraiche supply.

This trip to Hong Kong, I got my Kahlua from the duty free. It only cost about RM70 and it's delicious, I can drink it on it's own. This time I got Creme Fraiche for the topping and more Kahlua was mixed into the topping. The cake was decorated with strawberries (the Korean strawberries are delicious by the way).

The result was a dense, rich and indulging cake with a tinge of coffee flavour.

Couverture vs Compound Chocolates

What is Couverture Chocolate?

Couverture chocolate is the “top drawer” of chocolate, the true art of the seasoned professional. Couverture chocolate is fine gourmet chocolate with a noticeably glossy sheen, made so by its high cocoa butter content and the use of the highest quality and finely ground cocoa beans. The result is a product that is smooth and thin when melted and therefore perfect for covering, in fact the word couverture is a French word meaning ‘cover.’ Its thin consistency works well with molds and when used for hand dipped candies, covers well and sets to form a thin, crisp coating with a distinctively creamier taste than regular chocolate. Due to the unique characteristics of cocoa butter, a technique of heating and cooling (known as tempering) is required to stabilize its crystalline bonds thus enabling it to set. This process is especially delicate with couverture chocolate because of the large quantities of cocoa butter used. Couverture chocolate is available as dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate and sometimes pastry chefs and candy makers will use couverture blends from different chocolate makers to produce particular flavours. Some covertures are better for baking while others may be more desirable for enrobing. Whatever its uses may be, you can be assured that great skill and care will have been exercised throughout its production; from bean selection and blends, conching (the chocolate liquor refinement process) to tempering and packaging, couverture just says quality.

Uses of Couverture Chocolate:

Gourmet Chocolates
Luxury Gourmet Chocolates
Enrobing (covering with Chocolate)
Speciality Chocolates and candies
Hand dipping chocolate
Cake/candy decoration and chocolate molds. Its fine state allows for complex, detailed decorative designs and molds thus giving master chocolatiers oppurtunity to demonstrate their creative chocolate making skill and finesse.

What is compound chocolate?

Compound chocolate is an alternative to real chocolate. It differs by the fact it doesn’t contain any cocoa butter. The cocoa butter is replaced with less expensive vegetable oils e.g. Coconut or Palm kernel oil. The absence of cocoa butter means the chocolate doesn’t require tempering. Low cost and ease of use, makes it a popular choice for regular confectionary makers and home bakers alike. Typically, Compound chocolate doesn’t have the glossy sheen and crisp snap of real chocolate although this is changing due to advances in manufacturing techniques. Compound chocolate will produce a thicker liquid when melted and can (to some extent) emulate the effect of enrobing chocolate. It is ready to use once its temperature has been raised about 5 degrees above melting point.

Compound chocolate may also be referred to as:

Confectioners chocolate
Decorator’s chocolate
Coating chocolate
Cheap chocolate
Chocolate flavoured coating
Confectionery coating

Examples of usage:

Used in a wide variety of confectioneries and chocolate bars
Good for chocolate dipping (dipping chocolate)
Chocolate molding
Home baking
Can be used as an alternative for cake decorating, cake covering, Decorative piping effects, frosting and other such chocolate decorative embellishments
Easy to use therefore ideal for beginners in chocolate baking.

Chocolate Moist Cake - Yellow Flowers

Though many of you like this chocolate cake, I still think that it can be erm... improved further. The milk chocolate icing is very indulging but also sweeter compared with dark chocolate icing. I tried using double cream to create a richer icing instead of using milk but it didn't turn out right. So back to milk. The icing looks a bit dry after a while which doesn't give the cake the appeal.

Made this for a birthday at the office and I made everyone wait till after I microwaved it back before eating the cake. Definitely much better when eaten warm.

Okay, if I have the time, I will experiment with a different method of making the glacing. I want to add something to the cake as well. So, tasters, I hope you have not had enough of this cake yet. :)

Chocolate Mousse

After dinner on Saturday night, I'd imaging completing the meal with a chilled pot of chocolate mousse. Something gooey, indulging... But I didn't have any such dessert in the fridge. Humph... And since MFG said he would share the mousse with me, since he would love to try (hmm... but you've tried it before), I made some. A very small portion.

Made the mousse with bitter dark chocolate. The original recipe said semi-sweet. Hmm... Actually, it can do with a sweeter chocolate, but I only have this 75% chocolate, if not then would be milk chocolate. One thing about making chocolate dessert, especially those with chocolate as the only main ingredient, you need to use good quality chocolate. Then again, not the extreme expensive ones lah, no budget.

What gives the light texture is the beaten egg white.


Recipe makes 4, so 2 each for us. Original recipe called for sherry. The last time I made this with a very sweet port and it was really delicious, since I love sweet stuff. This time, I had used brandy, plus using a bitter chocolate, this is going to be very "kurang manis" (Less sweet).

Chocolate Cupcakes

I baked these last last week. Posted them on Facebook but forgot to post them to the blog. The toppers on these chocolate cupcakes, from left (back) marshmallows, (front) chocolate chips and chocolate mint sticks. Right (back & front) chocolate coated coffee beans.



Also decorated these, supposedly wanted to give to Lady Nina. But didn't seem to get the right timing for both of us. So I had to "force" SSB to take them. :p

Make your own chocolates

If you have left over of chocolates (unlikely is it?) or you have bit and pieces of chocolates which you don't think is "interesting" enough for you, melt them all and customize into something you like. For me, I had a few pieces of dark chocolates of different brands which I used for baking different things previously. And I was also in a mood of combining a few things to make them into my idea of chocolate, I decided to make this.

If you really want to make some chocolate clusters, here's how simple it is to make...

First melt some chocolate of course. Dark chocolates are easier to set then milk chocolate by the way. So, melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a bowl/ pan of hot water - no need to be simmering, just hot will do.

Then prepare whatever you would like to have in your chocolate, I chose raisins (which have been soaked overnight in Brandy), roasted almonds and some digestive biscuit to make the chocolate clusters crunchier. Basically, you can add whatever you like to eat into your chocolate. This is the beauty of making your own chocolate.

How much to put into the chocolate? Depends if you want to eat a lot of the extra stuff you put in, or a lot of chocolate. I would go for really thick mixture. So, just mix everything into the melted chocolate.

After mixing everything evenly, spoon the chocolate mixture either into little paper cups, like these...

Or just spoon them onto baking paper like so. Then put them into the fridge to set.

Make them as after dinner treat or all time snacks. They are real good indulgences.

Otherwise, use them as cake decorative items or cupcake toppers.