Mocha Torte

By Emma Hawkins | June 23, 2019 | Comments 0 Comment

It’s coming to the end of term, the end of an era and a bit of a change in mind on my part. I started this blog mainly as a project for myself – I wanted to create recipes and have a place to put them, a catalogue if you will. Then, last summer I decided to also use this as a platform to explore the topic of mental health and mental health awareness. These are areas I’m still interested in exploring and writing about, however I’ve now decided to let it come more naturally. I’m one of those people who when they set their mind to something will do whatever it takes to make it happen, even if it isn’t the best thing for themselves. In this case I was determined to turn out two recipes a week, every week. However, as I’m restricted to cooking in my holidays, because I don’t have the space or time here at uni, I essentially binge-cook in my vac and then post later on. I also eat ALL the cakes, pastries and general sweet things I make during those times, (roughly 2 recipes a day), leading to me having a really bad diet and so on. Needless to say that isn’t a healthy way of living.

Therefore I’ve decided to keep on going, but to just be more relaxed and varied with my posts. Rather than sticking to a strict twice a week schedule I’ll post as and when I feel inspired to do so. I’ll keep blogging my own recipes, but will also write about mental health, my culinary travels and whatever else feels particularly inspiring. In essence this will continue to be The Mindfulness Kitchen, I’ll just be looking after myself a little more which at this point in my life is something I need to be doing. It’s slightly worrying that it’s taken me this long to realise this – but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Just because you want to do something, feel like you should do something or feel like you can do something it doesn’t mean you should. Take a second to really think about what you’re doing. Take a minute to think about your life choices and ask yourself is this what’s best for me? Of course, beyond that you should think about others and what’s best for them, but you can’t help anyone if you’re in an emotional pothole, so you should first make sure you don’t end up in one!

(On a side note, anyone else made massively peckish by this wonder of a mocha torte?)

Recipe

Serves 16

Time: 1 hour, plus chilling time

Ingredients

For the base

150g Digestive biscuits
75g Unsalted butter, melted

For the filling

260g Dark chocolate
2 tbsp Golden syrup
600ml Double cream
4 tsp Instant coffee granules

To decorate

300ml Double cream
1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
A sprinkling of cocoa powder

Method

Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin with butter and baking paper. Now make the base. Crush the biscuits with the back of a rolling pin to make a rough crumb. Then add the melted butter and stir to make a mixture that resembles damp sand.
Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and level it out with the back of a spoon. Leave in the fridge until needed.
Put the chocolate, syrup and ¼ of the cream into a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of gently simmering water. Leave for 15-20 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt. Stir to make the mixture smooth, remove from the heat and leave to cool until just warm.
Pour the rest of the cream into a bowl and add the coffee. Leave to dissolve and then whisk until just starting to thicken but not yet holding peaks.
Fold the cream into the cooled chocolate with a stiff spatula or large metal spoon until the mixture is smooth and completely combined.
Pour the mixture over the biscuit base and leave to set in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Pour the cream and vanilla for the topping into a large bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. When the base is set dollop this cream on top. Un-mould the dessert and place it on a plate. Then finish with a sprinkling of cocoa powder and serve!