The first time I encountered and tasted chocolate with chili was a muffin in Stockmann bakery in Helsinki. It was 7 years ago. I didn’t even think of the combination before. I liked it when I tasted that time but I wasn’t in love with it. Over the years, I grew to like it more.
My aunt used to bake the best version of this cake. Moist chocolate cake… It was one of my favourite cakes when I was a kid. In later years I forgot about it, until suddenly I woke up one day a few weeks ago and I immediately craved for this cake. It could be because I miss my aunt and five o’clock tea time in her home in Istanbul…
You know what? Since I started getting to know gluten free baking more than a year ago, I realised how great cakes and cookies and other baked goodies you can get without the use of regular flour. It is much more challenging, but it pays off always with each cake’s unique texture and taste.
Back in February, I made a fully gluten free yoga brunch here in Helsinki. As usual, the brunch was vegetarian, and there were also many vegan options. This chocolate mousse was one of the sweets in that brunch, and it was a hit. Especially my friend Essi, who did the yoga part of the brunch loved it very much!
I have a new obsession: overnight oats. I have never been a porridge or cereal person – not in the mornings, not ever. I only had regular oat bran at home to make pancakes when I was on a Dukan diet a few years ago. Other than that, anything oat related in my kitchen was to be used for baking. Until recently…
I like using unusual ingredients in baking. Using zucchini in a sweet recipe to give moisture is a rather unusual thing to do (ok, not the most groundbreaking idea, but still..).
Oh my, I’ve been planning to put this recipe on the blog for I don’t know how long. I just didn’t have the photos for final, baked cake and that’s why the recipe lingered in the waiting list for months and months, for more than a year actually. I am so happy that I can finally publish it, because it became a serious burden!!
Ok, gotta admit: I always work on a new recipe for the new taste, but this one I did almost entirely for how it looks – I saw the original recipe on Better Homes and Gardens website and I fell in love with it!
I watched the movie “Stranger Than Fiction” last night, about a millionth time probably. I love the whole movie but the scene where Harold brings Ana Pascal “flours” gets me every time. I told to myself, if a man ever brings me a box of “flours” like him, I will break my oath of not dating anyone anymore, and I will give this person a chance. Otherwise, my heart is locked. But that’s not all about the movie from last night. While watching it, I realised that I haven’t baked cookies for a while and I decided to get back to a very basic but majestic cookie: chocolate chip cookies! And this time, there is also roasted pecans added to it.
I am sitting alone in my apartment. It is February 12th, 2016, 23:05. It is just a regular winter night. A Friday night. Last year this day was a Thursday night. And it was a night when I was feeling very happy, completely unaware of what was about to come. That moment, that feeling I had was real, although, it wasn’t.
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