Chocolate | Charlotte's VVeb

Friday Night Cocktails for National Chocolate Week

15/10/201006/03/2017 by Charlotte J

This week, Britain has been celebrating all things sweet throughout this year’s National Chocolate Week where every self-respecting chocoholic can, and has indulged in every imaginable form of chocolate. Come Friday night why not continue to enjoy chocolate but this time with a real twist, all courtesy of the mixologists at Russian Standard Vodka who have dreamt up this deliciously pleasurable range of chocolate cocktails.

Combining the smooth indulgence of chocolate with a luxurious base of Russian Standard Vodka Original, it’s the perfect way to kick off a week of cocoa based extravagance! You’ll be in chocolate heaven. Check out the recipes below…

Choc-Orange Russian Screwdriver

50ml Russian Standard Vodka Original
100ml freshly squeezed orange juice
25ml crème de cacao
To serve: Slice of orange, a twist of rind & grated chocolate

Shake the Russian Standard Vodka, crème de cacao and fresh orange in a cocktail mixer then pour over ice into a chilled hi-ball glass, add the freshly squeezed orange juice and garnish with a slice of orange and a twist of rind.

Chocolate Russian
50ml Russian Standard
20ml Creme de Cacao
30ml Fresh Cream

Pour Creme de Cacao and Russian Standard over ice and stir gently. Float fresh cream on top.

Russian Standard Vodka Original owes its name and quality to scientist Dmitri Mendeleev’s classic formula, commissioned by Tsar Alexander III. Its optimum balance and purity make it perfect alone or at the heart of a magnificent cocktail.

Step up the celebrations this National Chocolate Week 11th and 17th of October!

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Last-minute Easter Egg Shopping – Visit Maison Blanc

01/04/201019/10/2016 by Charlotte J

Last weekend I was in Hampstead in London and went for lunch with a friend at Maison Blanc, Raymond Blanc’s popular patisserie/boulangerie. The cafe also boasts a charming little shop and this time of year is filled with charming Easter products including Russian decorative eggs filled with praline chocolates. The decorative eggs make a charming decoration, regardless of the chocolate, although it’s a wonderful bonus!

Priced at just £6.99 I thought these would make a perfect last-minute easter gift.

To locate your nearest stockist visit www.maisonblanc.co.uk

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Hungarian Chocolate Cake Recipe

10/12/200918/10/2016 by Charlotte J

I made a promise to some of my colleagues at Glam that I would bake them a cake and as one of my colleagues is Hungarian I took inspiration from the Hapsburg’s traditional confectionary. I am not particularly artistic so my efforts are always going to be rustic rather than looking as if it has been picked up at a patisserie but at least it gives it a real homemade feel. This chocolate cake is a simple chocolate sponge with a mocha buttercream filling and a chocolate and brandy icing topping. I have made this cake once previously and I made the icing on top a lot thiner so it literally ran off the spoon and covered the whole cake and sides but this time I made it thicker and piled it on the top. Depsite the sugar and butter content of the cake, it contains no preservatives or artificial colourings or flavourings and is surprisingly light and not sickly, making it the perfect little treat for your family or friends!

Ingredients

For the cake

125g soft butter or margarine

125g caster superfine sugar

125g self-raising flour (or plain flour plus 1 tsp baking powder)

2 eggs

2 tbsp drinking chocolate

2 tbsp cocoa

1 tbsp cold milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the buttercream filling

75g butter

1 egg yolk

175g icing sugar

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa

2 tbsp strong espresso coffee made with 1/1/2 tbsp hot water

1 tsp brandy

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate icing

125g plain dessert chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

15g butter

2tbsp water

225g sifted icing sugar

1 tsp brandy

1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the cake

Preheat oven to Gas No. 4 or 180 degrees Celsius

Lightly grease two 7-inch sandwich tins

Put all the ingredients into a bowl

Beat by mixer or wooden spoon until smooth and creamy

Divide the mixture between the tins, smooth level with a spatula

Bake the sandwiches for 25 minutes until springy to touch

Allow to cool on a cooling rack

For the buttercream

Cream the butter until creamy in texture and light in colour

Beat in the egg yolk

Sift together the sugar and cocoa and beat into the butter alternating with the coffee

Add the brandy and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and easy to spread

When the two cakes are cool spoon the buttercream spread over the top of one and place the other on top of that

Place in refrigerator to set the buttercream slightly

For the chocolate icing

Break up the chocolate and place in small thick-bottomed pan with the butter

Add the water and warm over a gentle heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until a smooth cream is formed

Gradually stir in the icing sugar, adding more water if necessary to achieve the thickness of the icing you desire

Stir in the brandy and vanilla extract

Take cake from refrigerator and ice the top of the cake and sides if desired

Place in refrigerator for 1 hour to set icing

Store in an airtight container in a cool place

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Like Food? Love Tallinn

07/10/200918/10/2016 by Charlotte J

Estonia’s colourful, pocket-sized capital is fast becoming a culinary centre for food lovers. Restaurants specialising in a new, modern style of Estonian cooking now proliferate and 4* and 5* hotels, spas and manor houses with award-winning chefs and restaurants can easily be found. Visitors to the capital can also try their own hand at chocolate making, making marzipan sweets, cooking Estonian cuisine and visiting vinoteques and breweries.For visitors wanting to taste the source of food in Estonia, specialist and locally produced food can be purchased from local growers and suppliers at the Rotermann Market, which rubs shoulders with historic conversions and high tech buildings in the Rotermann Quarter. There are also smaller specialist food outlets, such as NOP an organic shop and cafe which plans to organise foodie events, such a Saturday morning “Morning at Gourmet Market”, offering produce directly from manufacturers and importers.

Chocolate & sweet production
Anneli Viik Chocolate Café promotes the production, and consumption, of fine chocolate and hand-made sweets. Run by a former successful financier who fancied a career change, the venue combines a café, chocolate shop and the opportunity to see the chocolatiers at work, and for small groups to pre-book to join them in creating hand-made chocolates.

Chocolate and coffee is at the heart of two `Chocolaterie de Pierre’s’ cafés in Tallinn and one in Tartu in southern Estonia. The first Chocolaterie de Pierre café opened in Tallinn’s Old Town in 2003 and has since been offering hand made chocolate, coffees and light snacks, with the opportunity for small groups to create their own confections.