January location for the Book Club Meeting

This month I would like to meet the ladies in Andalucia (Spain) surrendered by olives and orange trees.

 I would like to spend time drinking fiti-fiti (Fifty-fifty a mix of 50% Pedro Ximénez - sweet wine and 50% vino fino - dry) ...

...and nibbing tapas.

What do you think? Does it suits January book?

No yolks Chocolate cake

I had lots of egg-whites in my fridge and I didn't know how to use them. Nobody at home likes egg-whites omelet or soufflé, and preparing meringue for an army didn't look appealing at that time. 

I didn't want to throw them away, too. That's why I searched the web for a recipe without yolks and found this easy chocolate cake. Sooooo light and soft... It's chocolicious!

Ingredients:

100gr Dark Chocolate (60% or more)
100gr Refined Sugar
80gr Unsalted Butter
50gr Flour
30gr Cornflour
5 Egg-whiites
10gr Baking Powder 
Pinch Salt
Powdered Sugar or Cocoa

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter and sprinkle with flour the bottom of a 22cm round cake pan.

With the electric mixer beat the egg-whites on high speed until they are firm and fluffy, slowly adding the sugar. Meanwhile, in a bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.
Add carefully the melted chocolate and butter mix to the whites. Then gently fold the cream with the dry mix.
Put the batter in the buttered pan and gently level the surface. Bake for about 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Extract the cake and leave it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with powered sugar or cocoa.

And the giveaway winners are...

Congratulations ladies!

Greeting the new year with new friends!

Happy 2014 folks! 

I decided to start the new year making presents :) 

I'll give away three of the best books I read during the 2013 because I loved them so much I can't keep them only for me ;)

So, here we go. Enter the giveaway and cross your fingers!

The giveaway is open internationally and to avoid problems of any sort the prizes are three ebooks purchased at Amazon.com (The giveaway isn't sponsored). It will start on January 6th at 12am (Rome Time Zone) and will end on January the 27th at 12am (Rome time Zone).

Prizes:

THREE WEEKS FOR THREE BOOKS! 

GOOD LUCK!

And tell your friends about the giveaway!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hurry up! Hurry up! The December book club meeting is coming!

The lovely ladies and I are reading a historical romance (My absolute first time!) as December book, but I can't get my head around a tea party since it's Christmas time... 

I wish I could sit with them around a tiny table surrounded by chill air and spices scent. I wish we could meet at the Weihnachtsmarkt just after sunset, drinking Gluhwein in the typical mug and nibbing delicious Lebkuchen (I love the ones covered with milk chocolate;P) while we talk about the charming Captain... I wish... I wish... I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :D

Amour et Chocolat - The Chocolate series by Laura Florand

"Delve into the world of Paris chocolate, and all the passion and intensity—and the extraordinary sensuality—of luxury artisan chocolatiers and pâtissiers" 
Laura Florand.

Click in the image to reach the relative Amazon page with blurbs, infos, reed a sample.... 

I have to thank Cat's review for introducing me to what has become one of my favorite contemporary romance series (I didn't read the books in order but that's not a problem, they can be read as stand alone).

The heroes in this series are charming chocolatiers or pâtissiers which nature is revealed through the detailed description of their seducing creations! Literally to die for... The chocolates... AND the guys ;)  There is the rambunctious Gabriel and his quixotic desserts, like the memorable Chocolate Rose of the title; or the somber Dominique expert in all the rich, bitter, wild dark chocolates...

The heroines are likable too. They have strong, interesting personalities and in every book Mrs. Florand found the perfect balance for the couple.

Chocolates from Jacques Genin (vincen-t)

Just a little taste about my favorite Chocolate book (So far ;P)  The Chocolate Rose:

Her father’s worst enemy...
Top chef Gabriel Delange never forgave his old nemesis Pierre Manon for all the other chef had cost him.
One stolen rose...
And he most certainly couldn’t stand the sight of his own most famous dessert, the legendary Rose, claimed as Pierre’s own on the cover of his new cookbook.
A substitute victim...
But even Gabriel could hardly go through with a lawsuit when he learned the older chef had just had a stroke. Especially not when Pierre had one very cute daughter willing to be Gabriel’s victim instead.
Jolie Manon...
As a child, Jo had seen her family torn apart by her top chef father’s obsession with his work. She had given years of her own adult life to trying to pull him out of depression, after he lost a star. Now a food writer, she might be fascinated with a chef’s work, but she knew how to guard her heart. She would never allow another chef into her life.
Unless he blackmailed her into it...
Welcome to the heat and sun of Provence, where jasmine and roses climb up old colored walls, where fountains play in ancient stone villages, and where even a beast can prove he is a prince at heart…

A Delicate Chocolate Cake

I'm always looking for the recipe of the perfect Chocolate Cake. Sometimes they're too spongy, sometimes they're too dry, sometimes too heavy. This one I'm posting below is one of my favorites. I split the cake in half and filled with Santin's whipped chocolate ganaché and then put simple whipped cream on top.

Silvia's Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
100 gr All Purpose Flour
100 gr Cornflour
100 gr Unsalted Butter (Melted)
5 eggs
100 gr 55% Dark Chocolate (Melted)
10 gr Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
150 gr Granulated White Sugar
16 gr Baking Powder
4 tablespoons Water


Preheat oven to 340 degrees °F (175 degrees °C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter and cover with flour a (26 cm) cake pan. Or line the bottoms of the pan with baking paper.
Separate whites from yolks and beat them on high until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised. Put the whites aside.

In a small pan mix sugar and water, put over medium heat and let the syrup boil for 5 minutes.

Beat the yolks for 3 minutes then add the hot syrup, beating the mix for 5 more minutes. Keep the mixer going and add the melted butter and chocolate.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter.
At this point add a third of the egg whites to the batter (using a spatula) and fold them in gently.
Finally add the remained third and continue to gently pull the whites into the batter.
Put the batter in the buttered and floured pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Then remove the cake from its pan and cool completely on a greased wire rack before frosting.