I want to start off with an apology as this torte post has been REALLY overdue. Since then I have made 3 tortes which has actually educated me further on what works best.
Thanks to all my friends that have helped me, especially Miss Tamsin Wilson who brought me an ingredient which vastly improved the recipe (details to follow)
The original reason I selected this dessert is that I was cooking for me and my family and Josh and his family at Christmas and my mom is allergic to eggs, which limits the elaborate pieces you can create. However, Thanks to the BBC Good Food wizards you gave me
Salted Caramel Chocolate Torte (recipe etc in the link)
Firstly, the buttery biscuit base....
Bashy fun - great way to release stress and tension (thanks to Lovegrove for the fabulous new rolling pin)
Add the butter to the biscuit slowly or the yummy juice will not spread evenly  |
| Try your best to evenly distribute the smashed up digestive biscuits - don't scrape as it will upset the levelling process... |
The Caramel core.....*drool*
For many years I have got through cooking life without a pestle and mortar and I did manage to crush my whole sea salt with a spoon although I now have some funky spoons. On my 3rd making I used my Pestle and Mortar (thanks Emma and Simon and it does make a huge difference to the distribution of the salt in the caramel..
HANDY HINT - Salted Caramel is a GREAT hangover cure.....I recommend having some in your store cupboard in case of emergency.
Although the recipe says 1 tsp of sea salt, I added and tasted throughout (because I wanted to check the balance was right.....honest) I am quite sensitive to salt so this worked best for me.
When putting the caramel on the biscuit base I recommend a lot of care and attention. After mixing in the crushed sea salt the caramel loosens up so it tends to be a lot more runny.
The chocolaty gooey yummy bit...
Here is where Ms Wilson delivered the wonderful Extra Thick Cream. The extra thick cream really reduced the amount of time that the torte had to set and really added an extra shine to the mixture. If you have the option of this DO IT for the torte....
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| The Icing Sugar mixing can be a little messy but it turns out for the best.... |
Once the caramel is set its time to get that bad boy on the road
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| Make sure you add the mixture around the caramel blob to seal it in (it keeps it in the middle....) |
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TA DA!!! |
Leave it to set in the fridge. The extra thick cream meant that this bad boy was ready to roll in around 3 hours unlike the normal double cream mixture which I ended up leaving overnight.
The Decoration
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| Cream and caramel mix |
The icing set
Now as you know my dyspraxia means I am not the best with fiddly things as my hands seem to be all over the place....Thank goodness for Mr Joshua who is wonderful and took the role of executive icer...
Making this dessert has really boosted my confidence in making sweet things as I know its not my strongest point. It helps that friends and family have said that they have enjoyed it too....Think it may be my fave pudding now...
What's your favourite pud?
Eat Drink and Be Merry
H xxx
