Moist and decadent Chocolate Manjari Cake


This decadent Chocolate Manjari cake that I made for my birthday and posted on facebook two days ago, lived up to my expectations. It had that distinctively rich, pleasurable cocoa flavour but wasn’t at all heavy, due to the addition of egg whites. Every mouthful was silky and smooth and melted away against my tastebuds. Unlike stodgy mud cakes, which I find are over rated and sickly sweet, the slender slices of Chocolate Manjari managed to round off our lunch of Eggplant Parmigiana perfectly. We all felt satisfied without feeling overly stuffed. I would best describe this cake as a hedonistic hybrid concoction, a cross between my chocolate brownies and a classic French mousse. A little fiddly to make, but certainly worth the effort. 

I admire the photography and styling of food in Australian Gourmet Traveler magazine and although their recipes are enticing, I find the methodology can sometimes be overly complicated. There are often ways to simplify a recipe and make the entire process far more manageable and less time consuming. The method described below is the one I used to make this cake. The term “manjari”, refers to a type of chocolate in the Valrhona range that contains 65% cocoa butter. I didn’t have time to traipse across town to source this brand and so I substituted Lindt 70% dark chocolate and Cadbury Dairy Milk instead of the 50 grams of Valrhona Jivara variety. The food writer and source of the recipe, Nadine Ingram of Sydney’s Flour and Stone bakery, specifically commented on having successfully used bars of Dairy Milk. She was correct. The results were sublime. So much so that I am looking forward to making this same cake for our Orthodox Easter on Sunday 12th April.

Chocolate Manjari Cake to serve 10 to 12 people

Ingredients
200 grams Valrhona Manjari or Lindt 70% dark chocolate
50 grams Valrhona Jivara or Dairy Milk chocolate
3 eggs
125 grams caster sugar
125 ml milk
Juice of 1 lemon
50 grams cocoa (original recipe called for Dutch process but I used Cadbury which was in the pantry)
3 egg whites (use large eggs)
200 ml pouring cream

1) Preheat the oven to 140 degrees on a conventional setting. Line a 25 cm diameter springform cake tin with baking paper on the base and sides.

2) Put the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat on a high speed until thick and fluffy (5 minutes). This is where a free standing mixer comes in handy – hail the KitchenAid. In a separate bowl whisk the cream until soft peaks form and then set aside in the fridge until needed later in the recipe. 

3) In the meantime, bring the milk and lemon juice to the boil. It will curdle, which is fine, as this makes the cake bitter sweet.

4) At the same time, melt the chocolate. I did this in the microwave for 90 seconds but you must take care that it does not burn. If you are not confident, put the chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl, resting over a saucepan of boiling water and stir until it melts. Once melted stir through the cocoa.

5) Allow the chocolate to cool a little and in the meantime in a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form and set aside. 

6) Add the creamy egg and sugar mixture to the melted chocolate in three batches, folding though carefully. It’s fine if the mixture is a little streaky at this stage. 

7) Fold through the whipped cream in small amounts until it is combined.

8) Finally, gently fold in the fluffy egg whites again in batches – I did this in 4 lots. You want to try and aerate the mixture to create a mousse like consistency.

9) Pour into your prepared cake tin and bake until the mixture comes away from the sides of the cake tin. The recipe says 1 – 11/4 hours but I found that 1 hour was enough. Leave the cake in the oven with the heat turned OFF and the oven door AJAR for about 15 minutes to reduce how much the cake sinks in the middle.

10) Dust with extra cocoa and decorate with berries if preferred.

The cake can then be served warm or cooled to room temperature. This will keep in an airtight container for 4 days in the pantry.



Breakfast bruschetta at Deckhouse

I really enjoyed our relaxed family birthday breakfast at scenic Woolwich restaurant Deckhouse – this place has it all… water views, attentive service with a smile and equally impressive food http://deckhouse.com.au

Readers have by now gathered that I DO enjoy my food and this continued into the evening of my birthday. 


On Saturday night I swapped my usual flats for a pair of Jimmy Choo heels and a fab dress for a birthday dinner with my husband at Felix restaurant  http://merivale.com.au/felix

Tucked away in an unassuming laneway off Angel Place, this chic eatery, another gem in the Merivale group, offers a slice of fantastic French fare in the middle of Sydney. One could be easily mistaken for being in a Parisian bistro were it not for the conversations from fellow diners spoken in English. As we perused the menu I noticed the similarities between Felix and the popular New York restaurant Balthazar. Even down to the distinct hexagon tiled floor! We soon learned that the fit-out of Felix was based on the established NYC counterpart. 

I have high standards when it comes to restaurant food so my hopes for Felix were up there. From the first glass of champagne, to the entree, mains and finally dessert, I was smiling with delight between mouthfuls. Here is a selection of the dishes that we enjoyed. Can’t wait to go back! 

Started with a platter of smooth chicken liver pate …

Continued onto the quintessential French bistro classic of Steak Frites…

Sampled my husband’s Rainbow Trout…


Finished with fragrant Tarte Tatin and creme fraiche.