Rasa Pelham Baking

Chocolate amaretto cake

A chocolate amaretto cake topped with fruit slices, placed on a lace surface next to a glass of amber liquid.

What a lovely weekend we had. My mum was visiting all the way from Lithuania and we were invited to Lola and David’s beautiful wedding. Aww.

When weekends like that end, I always look for a way to stretch the feeling just a little longer. So I baked this chocolate amaretto cake. Because really… who doesn’t love chocolate?

It definitely deserves a little attention. Try it for yourself.

A close-up of a chocolate amaretto cake on a white plate, garnished with fruit slices, set on a crocheted tablecloth.

CHOCOLATE AMARETTO CAKE

  • 115g unsalted butter (softened)
  • 115g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs (separated)
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 40g flour
  • 150g dark chocolate (melted)
  • 2tbsp amaretto (almond liqueur)

(For the chocolate glaze)

  • 90ml double cream
  • 100g dark chocolate (chopped)
  • 10g butter
  • 1tbs amaretto (almond liqueur)
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. In the bowl  or food processor cream butter with sugar.
  3. Add egg yolks, almonds, flour, chocolate and amaretto to a creamed butter and mix well to combine.
  4. In separate bowl whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.Carefully fold the egg whites into the mixture.
  5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread evenly. Bake for 30-35min, until the edges are puffed but the centre is still soft.
  6. Cool the cake on the wire rack before glazing.
  7. To make the chocolate glaze, bring the cream to the boil in a saucepan. Remove the cream from the heat and add the chocolate, butter and amaretto. Whisk everything until smooth.
  8. Pour the glaze over the cake to cover it completely. Decorate with the bits of fruit or serve it with ice-cream while still warm.
A slice of chocolate amaretto cake topped with a piece of fruit, served on a decorative plate with a dotted pattern, resting on a crocheted tablecloth.

Happy Monday!
Rasa 😀

Rasa Pelham Baking, Everyday Life

My 30th birthday dinner party

A dinner table set with a large tray of cooked chicken and sides, including salads and potatoes, with hands serving food.

Yesterday I have celebrated my memorable 30th birthday with a dinner party. So since my blog has had really really long holidays I thought this was a good occasion for it to come back to “work”.
Anyway… for my party success I am giving a big credit to my friends Joana and Lina who were my loyal slaves all day long and a little bit to myself (I did set up this wonderfully harmonious menu after all). I would also like to grant a massive credit to the “BBC Good Food” website (not that they care), but the recipes there are always tested and the food always comes out like they say it would. Really recommend it for anybody.  Here is one recipe for the cake I made. Practically copied it and pasted it as I did not need to change anything (except the deco since fresh cherries were out of season here in Lithuania). Enjoy!

A beautifully decorated Black Forest cake layered with cream, cherries, and fresh berries, topped with green leaves, placed on a white plate.

BLACK FOREST GATEAU

  • 175g salted butter , plus extra for greasing
  • 200g bar dark chocolate
  • 300g plain flour
  • 375g golden caster sugar
  • 25g cocoa
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 200g buttermilk or natural yoghurt
  • 425g can pitted cherries, 2 tbsp juice reserved, rest drained
  • 100g morello cherry jam
  • 4 tbsp kirsch(or more juice from a can if you want it to be non-alcoholic)
  • 500ml tub double cream
  • 3 tbsp icing sugar1 small punnet fresh berries (optional)
  1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base of 3 x 20cm cake tins. Boil the kettle. Put the butter and 75g chocolate broken into chunks in a small pan and gently heat, stirring, until completely melted.
  2. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda with a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk or yogurt together. Scrape the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the dry ingredients, add 100ml boiling water and whizz briefly with an electric whisk until the cake batter is lump free.
  3. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 25 mins, swapping the tins round after 20 mins if they’re on different shelves. To test they’re done, push in a skewer and check that it comes out clean.
  4. Prick the cakes a few times with a skewer. Mix together the 2 tbsp reserved cherry juice and the kirsch (or more juice) and drizzle over the cakes. Cool the cakes.
  5. Mix together the remaining drained cherries and jam. Tip 200ml of the cream into a small pan and heat until just below simmering point. Chop the remaining chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl, pour over the hot cream and stir until melted. Set aside until spreadable.
  6. When the cakes are cool whisk the remaining cream and the icing sugar together until softly whipped. Spread over two of the cakes, then spoon over the jammy cherries. Stack the cakes together. Spread the chocolate cream over the third cake and sit on top of the other cakes. Pile the fresh berries in and around the cake and serve. I added black current leaves to make it look slightly wild, but this is totally optional!

Enjoy!
Rasa xox

Rasa Pelham Making, Recipes

The ways you can distract yourself from overeating…

A group of four people engaged in a knitting club meeting, sitting around a table with yarn, candles, and drinks, smiling and crafting.

I am known for overeating and even when I am full I can still fit the whole cake into my mouth (literally). So no wonder after Christmas (which obviously long time gone) I have put on sooooo much weight! I felt so discouraged as I could not fit into any of my jeans (except boyfriend or loyal cut)… 🙁
Anyway, I am back to normal and this is only because I kept myself distracted by my second favourite activity after cooking and eating: knitting and crochet. I found that there are a lot of social groups going on in London doing different kinds of interesting things. But I was only interested in joining the knitting club. My friends think that this is where I meet my granny friends… ha ha. But, no no… I am not the youngest there, you will have to believe me on this. There was a girl last week aged around 10 years, really eager to learn!
So far I finished most of my knitting projects and I am on something new at this moment. I am crocheting a collar! You might think that I got the idea from my “granny” friends that I met in the knitting club, but that’s not truth, I always liked this style (my friend Vicki call it “old-lady style”). I am not finished yet, but there you go….

A black crocheted collar piece laid on a colorful background, showcasing intricate patterns and circular motifs.

So far I have been crocheting circles and joining them together to fit the pattern.

Close-up of a black crochet pattern featuring circles and open stitches.

Will defiantly update you when I finish it. Meanwhile if you are not the biggest fan of knitting or crocheting then this truffle recipe is for you! My friend Vicki thinks is the best thing you can eat as it contains all the vitamins you need like a vitamin bomb (she is a health freak). She says that whatever is healthy tastes the best… I normally disagree, but wow these are good!

A plate of homemade dried fruit and nut truffles, some coated with cocoa powder and others with sesame seeds, displayed artistically against a patterned background.

DRIED FRUIT AND NUT TRUFFLES

  • 200g hazel nuts
  • 200g walnuts
  • 200g raisins
  • 200g prunes
  • 200g dry apricots
  • 1tbsp honey
  • 1tbsp lemon juice
  • sesame seeds or coco powder or chopped nuts or whatever to roll the truffles in


Just put all the ingredients into food processor, whiz for a minute, shape the balls out of mixture and roll it into coco powder or sesame seeds or what ever else suitable in that department.

Enjoy your healthy snacking!

Rasa xoxo

Rasa Pelham Everyday Life, Recipes

Away from London

A box of assorted chocolate truffles, including dark chocolate covered truffles, truffles rolled in cocoa powder, and those coated with shredded coconut, arranged in pastel-colored paper liners.

It has come up to a month since I exchanged my busy lifestyle in London for royal Windsor and I am ready to give you my feedback  so far. For those who did not know I left my old job for a cafe managing job so I get to learn practical ways to run my own cafe at some point and so far it have been life changing! Although I am learning a lot about the cafe industry (really enjoying that) the biggest thing that changed is my lifestyle. I am not saying that I am less busy, just that I am not living in such a rush anymore. The most amazing thing that now it takes me around 15min on the bike to get anywhere I need in town (that is a big difference to 1hour in London). So if I get a moment of “woops… I forgot my sandwich at home!” I have no regrets of coming back and getting it back. Well… that does not happen exactly like that, but you get the picture!
… And for the end here are some “royal” treats for you – the truffles…

ROYAL TRUFFLES

  • 250g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa content)
  • 120ml double cream
  • 50g butter
  • 1-2 tbsp brandy or dark rum or any other liquor (I used “Tia Maria”)
  • 15-20 glazed cherries
  • cocoa powder, ground almonds, desiccated coconut etc (for rolling)
  1. Melt butter and chocolate together in microwave or in the bowl over boiling water.
  2. Remove melted butter, chocolate from heat and add double cream while mixing it well.
  3. Let the mixture to cool and then put it into the fridge for at least an hour
  4. When the mixture is hardened scoop with the spoon the small pieces of chocolate and cover the glazed cherries with that and shape them into to the small balls. Roll the balls into the cocoa powder or ground almonds or desiccant coconut.

These would go splendidly with the tot of sweat cherry!
Rasa 😉

Rasa Pelham Recipes

Illustrated me… and a chocolate mousse for Vicki

An illustration of a woman riding a bicycle with a basket filled with flowers, wearing a polka dot dress and a helmet.

Here it comes, The Friendly Nettle Icon (see picture above)!
I’m still grinning at it because it is practically me on paper. My friend Vicki drew this for me and honestly, the detail is spot on. The dress, the helmet, even the bike… all exactly the ones I actually own. And yes, I really do cycle everywhere, so this feels very much like a little illustrated snapshot of my life.

Thanks, Vicki! And since you’ve been asking for ages, here is the chocolate mousse recipe I promised. I came up with it after trying the most amazing chocolate mousse tartlet at Hurwundeki café by Cambridge Heath station in East London. I love that place. It’s all arty antiques and little quirks, and only recently I realised they also have a boutique and a hairdresser hidden inside. How did I miss that?

Normally I serve this mousse in a sweet pastry case, but I know pastry isn’t your thing (you always say it’s “pointless extra calories”), so I didn’t dare add it here. If you do like pastry, go ahead and use a sweet one, or just pop the mousse into little ramekins. I recycled my Gü Puds ones because, judging by the number I have, past me was clearly obsessed with those desserts.

So here it comes…

Four ramekins of chocolate mousse topped with fresh raspberries, arranged on a wooden cutting board.

VICKI’S FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

  • 150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa content)
  • 100g unsalted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 30g caster sugar
  • 1 handful of raspberries (or other berries)
  1. Preheat oven to 170C
  2. Put both chocolate (broken into pieces) and the butter in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Leave it there until everything there are melted.
  3. Whisk the egg and caster sugar together until pale and thick and increased in volume. Pour the warm melted chocolate and butter into the whisked mixture and and combine it well.
  4. Spoon the mixture into the ramekins (or into pastry if you prefer) and bake them for 8min EXACTLY! (In fact once I forgot to bake it and me with my friends kept guessing why the butter have set on the top…. only later it got to me that I did not even baked it… it was quite embarrassing to admit that to my friends while we were eating it!)
  5. Put the pots in the fridge for at least two hours (after cooling it down of course as apparently it would hurt the fridge)

Enjoy!
Rasa 🙂

Rasa Pelham Baking

Forget love: I would rather fall in chocolate

A close-up view of a chocolate brownie mixture in a baking dish, topped with caramel chunks and chopped walnuts.

It’s a Valentines day today and if you have not met your Mr right (or Miss right) there is always time for chocolate day! I am big chocoholic myself and this is my favorite recipe for chocolate brownie (my friends love this too, just try to leave it unattended and it will be gone before you notice it). Just whatever you do don’t make the same mistake I do: don’t bake it only for yourself (it is selfish and can be really unhealthy)

A plate of chocolate brownies topped with caramel and surrounded by fresh strawberries.

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE

  • 200g dark chocolate
  • 250g butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 200g sugar
  • 150g flour (Very important: don’t put more flour then it is written here)
  • 2tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • a pinch of baking powder
  • 100g of caramel (canned type)
  • 50g or more of chosen nuts (I used walnuts)
  1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a square shape form (roasting tin is perfectly fine) with greaseproof paper.
  2. Melt chocolate and butter. Best way to do it is to place glass/metal bowl (with pieces of chocolate and butter in it of course) over boiling water and watch until becomes chocolaty cream… hmmm! Make sure that the bowl bottom does not touch the water
  3. In separate bowl whisk egg with sugar. Don’t overdo it!
  4. While stirring the chocolate mixture add the eggs, flour, cocoa powder, salt and the baking powder.
  5. Pour the whole mixture into lined and ready baking form
  6. Now it’s the fun part! Imagine you are Jackson Pollock and start “decorating” the brownie by trowing in caramel chunks and nuts on the top of chocolate mixture.
  7. Press nuts and Caramel lightly into the Chocolate dream so it sinks in a little. Bake it for around 25min (I beg you, please don’t over bake it as I have done in the past. Not a very pleasant result). Enjoy and eat it quick before everyone else gets to it. Oh, and don’t forget to keep it overnight in the fridge before that!

Happy Valentines Day!
Rasa xox