April 07, 2007

Liqueur of the Day: Frangelico

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Despite the fact that I haven’t mastered any one technique for cake decorating, I’m always looking for new ones. I’m like a bee that flits around from flower to flower, getting a little bit of pollen from each one, never settling anywhere for very long. I’m kind of annoying that way too, lots of buzzing around the kitchen. But it’s a good idea to keep me around, because like the bee, I produce sweet treats. In this case, it’s a chocolate liqueur cake from Donna Hay’s Flavours. The chocolate decorations are also from Donna Hay’s book, though not as part of this cake. The whipped cream is my own addition too because I thought the cake looked plain. I’ve been adding alcohol to baked goods quite frequently lately. I don’t drink them much on their own but for some reason I love the flavour in cakes and puddings and ice cream. Mmmm ice cream. This new found interest has led me to try more liqueurs too. In this case, it’s frangelico. I’ve always known that it exists, but had no real desire to drink it. Why on earth haven’t I put it in a chocolate cake before? Chocolate + Frangelico = Alcoholic Nutella. That’s genius, pure genius. I’ll post the recipe in a few days, the book is currently a few hundred kilometers away from my current location.


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Frangelico Chocolate Cake (Adapted from Donna Hay’s Flavours)


1.2 oz 86% chocolate

3.5 oz bittersweet chocolate

4.5 oz butter

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 cup ground almonds

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup Frangelico


Preheat the oven to 315F. Place the chocolate and butter over a large bowl over a pot of simmering water and heat slowly until smooth. Remove from the heat and add all of the other ingredients and mix to combine. Pour the mixture into an 8 inch round cake pan that is greased and lined with non stick baking paper. Bake for 30minutes. Allow to cool and then whip cream with a couple tablespoons of frangelico and a touch of sugar and coat the cake. To make the chocolate decorations simply melt chocolate (I used semi sweet) in a double boiler or in the microwave and spoon circles of it onto a silpat. You can decorate them with whatever you’d like, I used silver sugar balls but you could also used coloured sprinkles. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes and then remove and set on counter. When they’re firm, remove them from the silpat and stick them on the cake.




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18 comments:

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I am looking forward to the recipe but more maybe your directions. Are those cookies...chocolate disks with silver...for some reason those strike my fancy!
Enjoy being a few hundred kilometers!

K and S said...

I like this cake! very blingy! :)
Happy Easter!

Anne said...

the cake is simply inviting... yummy!

Lis said...

HURRY with the recipe! Holy crap I would give ANYTHING to shove my head through the monitor for a huge bite!

I love the decorations too.

Happy Easter, my friend!
xoxo

Kajal@aapplemint said...

very innovative.Its nice to make an effort to make your food look different all the time.

Anonymous said...

Happy Easter, Bri! I too am an unabashed frangelico fan... I look forward to seeing your recipe!

Anonymous said...

What a pretty cake, Brilynn! Happy Easter!

Valentina said...

I love Frangellico. My mum is a big lover of liqueurs and we used to sip some in a very ladylike way. However, in my opinion there is none quite as wonderful as Frangelico.Would it be because I love hazelnut?!/ Not sure. I loved the idea of adding to cakes. You achieved great results with yours - decoration and all.

Anonymous said...

yummy looking cake! i love it when you said chocolate + frangelico = alcoholic Nutella! :D

Cheryl said...

This looks beautiful. Love the combination of chocolate and silver. I keep wanting to stick my finger in the whipped cream.

Anonymous said...

Give me chocolate and hazelnut any day! Your cake looks very elegant with those pearly decorated cookies!

Anonymous said...

Looks good! Quit teasing us and send the recipe..ha!!

Anita said...

Very gorgeous cake - and it looks so delicious too!

Anonymous said...

Another gorgeous creation.

Maria of Passion Fruit & Mangos said...

Beautiful cake! How funny, I too made a chocolate cake for Easter and used liquer (I put Anisette in the whip cream topping)

Elle said...

Keep buzzing Bri! It's always fun to see what you're up to. Frangelico is great, but I love Amoretto and Kahlua and Kirsch, too. The whipped cream and chocolate decoration probably would make any cake sing, but anxiously awaiting the recipe, too.
Happy belated Easter.

Anonymous said...

Brilynn, I'm with you about Frangelico + chocolate = Nutella. If you love the combination, you should try Nigella Lawson's torta alla gianduia, which is a cake made with a jar of Nutella and a little Frangelico. It is so good, it's evil. We posted about it many moons ago. Also, I love the addition of whipped cream, which, quite frankly, can make nasty old shoes taste delicious, but just takes this cake over the top. Great dessert.

Linda said...

OH WOW! Beautiful. Absolutely stunning.