Chocolate

A Taste of Home……

I come from a small country called Uruguay. Mostly people know about it because of our superb soccer players, sometime for our beaches, beef, leather and wool and if you’ve been there you will never forget our special BBQ’s!

One thing we are not really known for is our desserts but let me tell you this, for a small little country our bakery’s do know how to shine.

32 years ago, a Cake Shop by the name of “Cakes” opened it’s doors and started making the most delicious cakes.

As a tradition, every time I got back home, its a MUST to get at least a piece of cake from this fabulous shop. I am hooked on one called “Ramon Novarro”.

So, seeing that I don’t make it down there too often, a friend of mine inspired me to make this cake so that I can feel like I am kind of there …..and of course it comes in handy for February birthdays ❤

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This famous delectable cake is made out of 6 layers of light and buttery sponge cake filled with alternate layers of a chocolate/Dulce de Leche mix and Dulce de Leche.

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Topped with the chocolate/dulce de leche mix and then decorated with some whipped cream with a slight touch of cocoa. The original recipe is decorated with some walnuts but I like leaving them out of the equation 🙂

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So here is my rendition to our sweet treat “Ramon Novarro”

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Valentines Treats……….by Andy’s Kandy

Yes its that time of year when I get busy making sweet treats for this special lovers day!

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I think that Valentines day is more of a Hallmark Day than anything else, as I was brought up believing that everyday with your loved ones is a special day, therefore being nice on just this one day doesn’t make it that special after all…..but that’s just me right?

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Anyway, for those of you who have purchased my Valentine’s treats, I do put in a lot of love and care into every order and wish you and your loved ones a very Special Sweet Valentines Day ❤

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PS: Check out my sweet treats on my Facebook page at Andy’s Kandy and remember, you can give a gift of love every day of the year ❤

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Profiteroles………

It’s the middle of the week and tomorrow night I will be having all the kids and their grandma over for dinner.

After a while, cooking the same meals over and over gets a bit boring, so I try and make a special effort and come up with something original every time (well most of the time :-))

I haven’t fully decided on what’s for dinner yet but have for sure made up my mind about dessert.

How about some light and fluffy profiteroles filled with Orange Brandy Cream Cheese and dipped in chocolate? And for those who are not crazy about the Orange part (my lovely son), how about some profiteroles filled with Dulce de Leche and dipped in chocolate?

I made my choux pastry by:

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  • Boiling 2 cups of water with
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter, as soon as they came to a boil
  • stir in 2 cups of flour and beat until it forms a ball of dough
  • add 8 eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly

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Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper by the spoonful or using a piping bag. Bake in a 400 deg oven for aprox 15 minutes, then raise temp to 425 and bake for an extra 10-15 mins or until they are nicely puffed and golden in color.

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For my filling I used:

  • Cream cheese
  • Orange rind
  • Orange Sherry and fresh orange juice
  • Powdered sugar

The proportions are up to you, usually the ratio is 1 brick of cream cheese to 4 cups of powdered sugar, I only used 2 1/2 of sugar as I didn’t need it too stiff and didn’t want it too sweet. Orange flavoring to taste…..

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Pipe lots of filling into each profiterole and then dip generously in some lovely milk melted chocolate.

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And this my friends is what I call, the perfect bite………if you have ever seen The Mirror has Two faces with Barbara Streisand you will understand my fixation with the “perfect bite”!

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Bacon Meet Chocolate……

Chocolate Covered Bacon, that is what you get when bacon meets chocolate!

Most people love bacon and most people love chocolate, so here is the perfect combination and trust me it only takes a bite to fall in love with it ❤

They are really simple and easy to make:

Cook your bacon in a 375 Deg F oven for 20 minutes

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Pat down nicely to remove any fat residue and let it cool down.

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Melt chocolate with a little bit of shortening to make it a bit runnier and they either dip each piece for a nice thick coating or brush on with a pastry brush for a thinner coating like I did.

Lay each piece on a sheet of parchment paper and place in the fridge for it to harden.

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For the holiday season I like adding a sprinkle of edible glitter but you can also add chopped nuts, drizzle with white chocolate, or just dip the tip as shown below.

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What are you baking for the season? Would love to hear of any out of the box delicious original ideas……..

22 days to Christmas but who’s counting! lol

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Adding a Little bit of Spain to my Christmas Season

There are some traditions that we all look forward to during the Christmas Season.

For me its the fond memories of wishing that we would have Turron in the house for that special occasion, play hide and seek in our huge yard with the neighbours and of course opening gifts. I guess it sound kind of silly as nowadays you can get Turron everywhere! But there was something special about eating that wafer thin top layer followed by the gooey nougaty and chewy texture mixed with the crunchy nuts.

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A few months ago I came across this funky bottle decorated with a cow pattern and a hanging bell called “Licor de Leche Merengada”.

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Leche Merengada is another traditional spanish kids drink that I grew up singing a song about, but never got to taste it till my early twenties when I went to Spain and totally fell head over heels with it.

So on this note, with all the above memories swimming through my crazy brain, I decided to add a touch of Spanish into my Christmas spiked fudge.

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Tonight I made a lovely batch of Rich Chocolate Fudge laced with quite a bit of Leche Merengada Liquor, and Ole Ole it fits in perfectly with the Christmas Spirit!

Chocolate OR Cream OR Chocolate

What could be better than a chocolate cupcake?

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A chocolate cupcake filled with Vanilla Cream and topped with some rich luscious chocolate ganache!

So here is how it all went down.

Make your chocolate cupcakes……and while they are baking……..prepare your cream and make your ganache.

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Once the cupcakes have cooled down, gently remove a core, fill the hole with cream and top it off again with the piece of cake you had removed.

Wait for the ganache to set and cool down (for faster results place in fridge or freezer depending on how in a rush you are), get your hand blender and whip it up. Place in piping bag and pipe away!

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I finished them off with a Monogram of the birthday boy in question and a little sports detail!

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So whoever takes a bite of one of these cupcakes will experience the mix of a light devils chocolate cake filled with a refreshing vanilla cream and wrap it all up with a rich chocolate ganache!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!

It’s a Cupcake Halloween Ball!

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Here are some simple chocolate cupcakes, topped with some chocolate buttercream and dressed up to go to the Halloween Ball!

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Tomorrow’s the day,

To go out and play,

They’ll be plenty of candy,

Costumes and Ghosts,

Some lovely cupcakes of

M&M’s and Owls!

Sorry obviously not a poet but suddenly got inspired…..lol

M&M Cupcakes Ingredients – Chocolate Cupcakes, chocolate buttercream, 4 different colors of fondant (or use white and dye it with food coloring), candy eyes

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Owl Cupcake Ingredients – Chocolate Cupcakes, Oreo Cookies, Orange M&M’s, candy eyes