"GRAN'S BIRTHDAYS...AND A FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE & TOASTED ALMOND TORTA"

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ #49         Gran’s birthdays….and a royal Chocolate-&-Toasted Almond cake, PLUS a bonus of wheat-free conversions!

I’ve spoken of  “ Granny Dolly ” in earlier blogs…

but I have never told you that NO-ONE  ever questioned “ Gran’s ”  decisions…

In those years, the Matriarch of our family, “ Granny Dolly ”  ruled with a rod of iron…well, more like a silver soup ladle, I suppose.

“ Gran ” had a very  Victorian  attitude, and Proper Morals too, and as long as there was wonderfully tasty food in her home, why would ‘Young-cookingwithmavis-to-be’  EVER  question , nor query?                

“ Gran ”  NEVER celebrated the“Christian”   holidays, and couldn’t condone us -  a traditional Jewish family - having a Christmas tree , such as we did, each year.  

So, for “ Gran ”, Christmas festivities were OUT-OF-THE-QUESTION, but when  “ Her ” birthday arrived every mid-January, We, the immediate family, would be treated by her, to a wonderful Birthday Lunch (welllll… “ dinner ”, to her).

A GRroaniNG table, adorned with streamers and paper hats..a-an-and those wonderful “Christmas Crackers”  – you know… those colourful cylindrical paper crackers filled with a trinket or toy, which two “Birthday  Guests  ”  would grab at end each, and >-*!-ya**nk -!*-<  as hard as can be  – towards themselves, hoping with all their might, that  THEY would be the receiver of that trinket at that very moment when the strand with gunpowder, would tear with a loud

* BANG!  *, and the toy would burst forth from the colourful ( Christmas ) cracker

And, together with that fun, her menu began with ½ a ruby grapefruit, sprinkled with a smidgeon of sugar, the segments neatly separated for easy eating, by ISAKHAYA her cook.

The point of eating the grapefruit, said “Gran ” , was “ to aid digestion prior to consuming a heavy midday dinner!”

Main course, at her Birthday  Dinner, was always the roast goose ( why not look at my very first blog#1 ), and the tasty accoutrements that accompany a roast.

But best of all   was dessert  - the homemade Steamed Christmas Pudding , having steamed in her kitchen for many long hours..steeped in brandy, and studded with a myriad of silver “tikkies”…  “ tikkies ” ??......yes, these were a tiny silver coin …in those days,  coin-operated Public Telephone booths used tikkies  –  so those telephone booths were referred to by All, as “Tikkie Boxes”…thank goodness this is a vague memory, and I haven’t a bluddy clue as to their value at the time… I was thankfully too young! ….although I can recall using Tikkie Boxes to make a telephone call-or-two!

But, getting back to “ Gran ”  and her Birthday  Dinner, in fact, back to her Steamed Christmas Pudding… she’d boil those tikkies to sterilize them first!...then hide them in the pudding, for us children to discover with great excitement.  So, for all those years, the uncelebrated secular festive dinner was enjoyed mid-January….

Of course, I must remember to mention her  Birthday  celebration to Fiddler-On-The-Roof, the musical…

The year when, with great excitement, that very, very new musical, Fiddler-On-The-Roof , came to town, tickets were chosen, yes -  at  “ Her ”  behest,  for us, the whole family to go to Cape Town’s glorious (now no more) ALhambra Theatre ….with it’s wonderfully fantasy decor of Rococo stucco, of fake balconies, and  theatrical pseudo buildings adorning the periphery of that interior…… Voluminously high ceiling with sparkling stars in painted trompe l'oeil, and the stepped ‘Stalls’ of balcony seating. It was a true theatrical wonderland fantasy, it was!

Yes, the best for “ Gran ”  was the FRONT row…and as NO-ONE EVER  questioned “ Gran ” , so we sat, us the whole family, in the FRONT row,  craninG  our necks from the deepest depths of the lowest level of the ALhambra Theatre , the most expensive seats in the house. Up…up to the nether regions of the floor-level of that stage, and the bottom halves and delectable ankles of the acting cast.

We saw the whites of Tevya’s  eyes, yes we did! ……..on “ Gran’s ”  Birthday, in the FRONT row……on “ Gran’s ”  Birthday .

And so to recipes…

We’re flourless this week! Yes, wheat-free…

                            plus……..  

Exciting substitutes for Gluten-free  / wheat-free  Basics…

I’ve been asked frequently about wheat-free recipes recently, and have successfully adapted some old tried and tested recipes, converting them very successfully, by using the following substitutes (all easily found at a good Healthfood store / or section in a supermarket too)

- Not to even mention the ‘brain gym’, how daunting, having to wrap your mind around baking with such different substitutes!

Initially this can be a change-of-‘mind-set’, having to purchase such specific ingredients, but, I’m sure it is worth that effort for those wanting the gluten-free/wheat-free option …

I’ll start with an easy, conventional ‘no-extra-hassle of specialized ingredients’ dessert/cake  - the Chocolate and Toasted-Almond “torta” , and then give you some easy basics too, to follow on a wheat-free/gluten-free journey…

   La P rincipessa’s ‘Flourless Chocolate & Toasted-Almond torta’

* The perfect dessert to impress! *..and WHEAT-FREE by ease!

INGREDIENTS

225g dark chocolate – chopped

225g toasted almonds / or hazelnuts

1 cup (250ml) castor sugar

6 extra-large eggs – separated yolks from whites

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Pinch (⅛ teaspoon) cream of tartar

RICH CHOCOLATE & TOASTED ALMOND TORTE

METHOD

1)  Heat oven to 150*C (300*F)

2)  Spread the almonds (with their skins on) onto a baking sheet and lightly toast for 20 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.

3) Grease a 23cm round springform baking pan, covering the base with greased  foil / or baking paper.

4) Sift a Tablespoon cocoa powder into the pan and coat all over.

5) In a food processor, chop the chocolate, then add the cooled nuts, and sugar, and blend this all till grainy. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

6) Beat egg yolks with the vanilla,  and mix into the grainy nut/choc/sugar mixture.

7) In a large, dry bowl, beat the eggwhites and cream of tartar till stiff peak stage.

8) With a large metal spoon, gently fold stiff eggwhites, a couple of spoonfuls at a time, into the chocolate mixture (See instruction for “folding-in” below… *)

9) Pour batter gently into the prepared baking pan, bake at 160* C (325*F) for 60 minutes.

10) Remove from oven and leave to cool, then loosen the edges very carefully with a flat knife, remove from pan and serve with whipped cream or icecream

* “Folding-in” mixtures:

To successfully “fold-in” one mixture into another,  best to do so with a large metal spoon, gradually adding a couple of spoonfuls at a time, and using a generous hand-movement lifting / ‘scooping’ from the bottom of the bowl of mixture, bringing up and over and down again, careful to keep the mixtures aerated.

Remember to always fold the lighter mixture into the heavier mixture…here, the whipped eggwhites into the chocolate mixture.

GraciePrincipessa,Gracie!GraciePrincipessa,Gracie!GraciePrincipessa,Gracie!GraciePrincipessa

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A ROYAL DESSERT: CHOCOLATE & TOASTED ALMOND TORTE AND CREAM

THE CRUMBS

Here are some great gluten-free basics to start you off…  replace normal ingredients in recipes by adapting them with the following: 

1) Gluten-free/ wheat-free marvellous  flour mix:

             (Yield:  5 cups of flour)

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups rice flour

1 cup potato starch flour

1 cup tapioca flour

¼ chickpea(garbanzo bean) flour

¼ cup cornstarch(“Maizena”)

2 ½ Tablespoons xanthan gum

Method:

1)    Sift all the ingredients into a bowl

2)    Stir ingredients well with a whisk

3)    Spoon this mixture into an airtight container, or a self-seal freezer bag, until needed(can store in the freezer).

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2)  Gluten-free  baking powder

Ingredients:

½ cup cream of tartar

¼ cup bicarbonate of soda

¼ cup cornstarch(“Maizena”)

To store the baking powder:

 Mix well and keep in an airtight container

Note: If you are making a small quantity that you are going to use immediately:

Just use 2x quantity cream of tartar, to 1x quantity bicarb.

Basic :

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon bicarb.

           This yields 3 teaspoons baking powder.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

3)  Gluten-free/wheat-free  Self-raising flour:

                          (Yield:  for 1 cup)

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 cup of my flour mix (above)

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Next week, as well as my usual surprise recipe, there will be more wheat-free recipes options to follow!

    

So as usual - ‘til next week,

    ‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’