more baking: Black & White

So first the sponge:

6 eggs, separated
150g caster sugar
115g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
40g melted butter

Whip the egg whites with half of the sugar until stiff, then in separate bowl whip egg yolks with remaining sugar until creamy and fluffy.  Add butter to the yolks, add 1/3 of the whites to loosen up the mixture. Add sieved flour and cocoa, mix together. Add the rest of the whites and fold gently. It's important not to knock out the air. Pour into a lined baking tray (I used square 12in one with loose base). Bake for approx 30 min or until inserted stick comes out dry.

In a mean time prepare gelatine - 2 leaves or 2 heaped tbs just cover with hot water and let it dissolve.

For cream in a classic it is just 500 ml double cream and 2 tbs of icing sugar. However I changed it and used 200 ml of double cream and approx 250ml  of stracciatella yogurt. Whipped the cream, added the yogurt and the gelatine.

When the sponge was ready I cut it in half, used the plum vodka to soak it, put the cream on the bottom layer, top it up with second layer and put chocolate ganache on top. Chill it in a fridge for at least 2 hours, or even better overnight.

Chocolate ganache: 100ml of double cream- heated, 100g of dark chocolate (74%) melt in the cream and pour all over the cake.

Enjoy.

More seasonal food. Spinach.

Went to the garden and seen this:

It was obvious that I have to make something with it.

So I started with filo pastry and butter.

Once I lined the baking dish with overlapping layers of pastry I made the filling.

I put approx 500 g of spinach, blanched in a blender with 2 cloves of garlic, 500 g of drained cottage cheese, (you can use feta, but I prefer less salt) and an egg, a bit of salt and a lot of ground nutmeg.
Then I put this in the filo wrapping.

Covered it with more pastry, generously brushed with more melted butter. So it was sealed all over.

Then baked it for 45 min in 200 C.

Came out like that.

It was yumm.