Sunday 10 October 2010

Brownie Gateau


Only Jamie Oliver would call something an 'Epic Brownie Gateau'. What a name. 

I made this for a big dinner last night - I finally had enough people to feed this half recipe to. It's quite a dessert. I served mine with either some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. The honeyed almonds were gorgeous and really rounded the flavours out. 

Epic Brownie Gateau
(Adapted from Jamie Oliver's Magazine)

For the cakes:
200g unsalted butter
200g 70% chocolate
40g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tbsp cocoa powder
125g whole almonds
4 eggs, separated
150g golden caster sugar

Grease and line two 6" tins. Preheat to 180C. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whizz the almonds up in a food processor until they are fine. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together. When the chocolate mixture is melted and smooth, take off the heat and set aside. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks, then add the caster sugar and whip again until combined. Beat the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture.  Lightly fold the chocolate mixture into the whites until there are no streaks lefts. Add the flour/cocoa and the ground almonds and fold in. Divide between the tins and bake for 25 minutes. Leave to cool before removing from tins. 


For the honeyed almonds:
50g flaked almonds
2 tbsp honey

Line a small tray with some greaseproof paper, then sprinkle the almonds onto it. Drizzle the honey over them and then use your hands to coat them fairly evenly. Pop into the oven when you take the cakes out.  Bake for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool then smash up and pile on top.


For the ganache:
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream

Chop the chocolate finely and put it in a medium bowl. Heat the cream up until it is nearly boiling then pour over the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes then stir until smooth. 


To assemble:
Place one cake on a plate then spread with ganache. Top with the other half and the remaining ganache. Top with the honeyed almonds. 

12 comments:

  1. EPIC...love it!! I'm sure this would be a hit at any dinner party I host too! great job!!

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  2. Jeni -Emma's mum11 October 2010 at 13:26

    Back to me salivating over the posts rather than tasting the lovely baking!!!

    It looks delicious,

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  3. Wow, this does indeed look epic! What a gorgeous dessert. I love the honeyed almonds on top. Your pastries all look wonderful!

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  4. I was wondering what did you serve for the dinner preceding this moment!? Looks wonderful!!

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  5. Maria - I took it to a friend's party so I didn't make the main course - my friend made a lovely parmesan risotto with chicken.

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  6. Hello! I've just discovered your blog and your recipes are quite appetizing! You really have a gif for cakes. And yeah, this epic brownie is truly tasty!

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  7. Ohh God!!! I mean Goooood! This looks exquisite over the top! I love your other cakes too!

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  8. your ganache broke...

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  9. Your cake looks wonderful.

    FYI-I love your blog. The photos are always so beautiful and the desserts-always stunning.

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  10. Thank you for all your lovely comments.

    Anonymous - I know it did. I felt that as I had been going on about my failures in the past few posts, nobody needed to hear about it. I know it was my fault, not the recipe. Besides, it still tastes good.

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  11. Just the one thing to say;
    Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

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