Michelle Darmody: Chocolate layer cake and a biscuit stack for Mother’s Day

The biscuits are flavoured with caraway, which is a favourite in Eastern Europe, added to everything from rye breads to pickles

This chocolate cake is heaven on a plate. 

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and it is always nice to have an excuse to celebrate our mothers, or whoever your guardian might be. 

A note on the chocolate cake, do not worry if your batter looks very runny, it is supposed to be. The long slow bake will firm it up nicely and allow the centre to stay soft and moist.

The caraway biscuit stacks are a little more subtle. Caraway is a slightly unusual flavour so may not be to everyone's taste. Apparently, it is Europe's oldest spice with e vidence found in Swiss lake dwellings suggesting that it dates back at least 5,000 years. The seeds have quite a distinctive flavour so half a teaspoon should do. Its slightly peppery taste shares similarities to its cousin fennel. They are said to aid digestion and look extremely similar not just to fennel seeds but also to cumin. In fact, they all come from the same family. If you prefer not to use caraway seeds you can substitute them for some orange or lime zest.

Caraway is a favourite i n Eastern Europe, added to everything from rye breads to pickles. The seeds are also heavily used in India to flavour curries and dhals, and in North Africa to make harissa. Closer to home a handful of caraway seeds were often tossed into a soda bread. I have an enduring memory of buying delicious flat crispy pastries baked by nuns in Spain, the seeds speckling the golden pastry. We had to knock on a thick monastery door, a small wooden panel was clanked aside, money was inserted into one hatch and delicate, delicious pastries were deposited through another by a mysterious unseen hand.

Decadent chocolate raspberry cake

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

A celebration cake that once mastered, will work in any setting with any flavour combination

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 1 hours 20 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 200g of dark chocolate, broken into small even size pieces

• 200g of soft butter

• 50mls  of orange liqueur

• 75mls of orange juice

• 25g of cocoa powder

• 85g of plain flour

• 85g of self raising flour

• 350g of golden caster sugar

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten

• 85mls of butter milk

• ½ level tsp of baking powder, sieved

• 100g of raspberries, sliced in half

• For the ganache icing:

• 140mls of cream

• 150g of dark chocolate, broken into small even size pieces

• 20g of butter

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 140°C and line a 9-inch round spring-form or loose-based cake tin with parchment.

2. Place the chocolate, butter, orange liqueur and orange juice into a heavy-based saucepan over a low heat until the chocolate has melted. Set aside.

3. Mix the cocoa powder, both flours and sugar. Stir in the chocolate mixture.

4. Beat the eggs, buttermilk and baking powder. Add this to the mixture as well. Pour this into your cake tin. Dot the raspberries on top. They will sink into the cake.

5. Bake for an hour and twenty minutes or until the batter is bake through. Allow to cool completely in the tin.

6. To make the ganache heat the cream until it is shivering then remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate pieces and the butter until the chocolate has melted. Allow to cool to room temperature. It should resemble spreadable butter in consistency. Spread this on top and around the sides of your cake. Decorate with slivers of chocolate or raspberries.

Caraway biscuits stacks with lemon filling

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

Yummy and something different. Feel free to substitute the caraway for citrus zest.

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 2 hours 0 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 2 hours 10 mins

Course

 Baking

Ingredients

• 200g of butter

• 190g of caster sugar

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 2 tbsp of lemon juice

• 1 tsp of vanilla essence

• 500g of plain flour

• ½ tsp of caraway seeds

• 1 tsp of baking powder, sieved

• For the filling:

• 3 tbsp of cream cheese

• 2 tbsp of lemon curd

• 1 ½ tbsp of icing sugar

Method

1. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, lemon juice and vanilla.

2. Mix the flour, caraway and baking powder well and add this to the rest of the ingredients. When the dough comes together knead it for about thirty seconds. Wrap it in parchment and allow to cool in the fridge for about two hours or more if you like.

3. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line two large flat baking trays with parchment.

4. Roll out your dough and cut discs with a scone cutter. Three biscuits are needed per stack. You can freeze some of the dough if you wish and make some at a later date.

5. Place the biscuits the baking tray and bake for about ten minutes until nicely golden. Once cool enough to handle place on a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Lightly whisk the ingredients for the filling together, until they are just combined. Fill a piping bag and place into the fridge to firm up. Pipe onto two-thirds of your biscuits. Stack these on top of each other and top each stack with another biscuit, pressing very lightly. Decorate as you wish and eat them soon enough.