Samhain - Chocolate Clementine Cake

I Allow my soul's vision and strength to come into my being.

The track below was my musical inspiration for this beautiful cake/dessert

Fearless - Indra Cooking creative music

Reading through my journal, I came across a list of affirmations I wrote a few years just before my Samhain ritual. Blessings and energies I wanted to welcome into my life, along with a list of all aspects, beliefs and habits I wished to release. All to be released through fire and to welcome in the new energies through the beautiful scented smoke of Bay leaves, and applewood from the fire in the garden.

Coming to 2011 Samhain I came across a recipe originally from Nigella Lawson before it went through the alchemical, magical process of creation, manifestation and energetic process that resulted in this cake.

Clementines



Thinner skinned than oranges, sweeter and juicier, were calling from the fruit bowl - destined for a superior goal than squeezed for juice, wishing for chocolate - always a good theme for Samhain.

Chocolate - always my cupboards have a store of chocolate - bought by the box wholesale - ready for use. Strong dark Green & Black's 85% Cocoa solids chocolate. Rich, intense, beautifully scented. An abundance of free range eggs beg to be used. Reading through the recipe as is often the way, I discover that the cake ingredient tin does not hold ready ground almonds, fresh from the supermarket, but the pantry does hold a jar of toasted flaked almonds from a previous foray into florentines. So I toasted my almonds a wee while more, and ground them in the, Goddess sent, food processor. Almonds will never grind as fine as those you buy, but the rougher texture enhances the cake, and allows this ingredient to shine within the cake.

CHOCOLATE CLEMENTINE CAKE

4-5 clementines (weight between 375 -400g) - I had 440g.

6 eggs

1 heaped teaspoon GF baking powder (leave it out if you wish, I did)

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (don't leave this out)

220g Ground almonds

250g caster sugar (You can used granulated if necessary )

50g Cocoa powder (Green & Blacks unsweetened)

Pre-heat oven to 190 C, or 180 C for a fan assisted oven.

METHOD

1. Put whole clementines into a pan and cover with water, and bring to the boil, and simmer for 1 hour until the fruits are soft and squishy. Do not peel them, skin and all is boiled.

Leave to cool and then process to a pulp in the food processor. Set aside.

2.  Butter 20cm springform tin and line with greaseproof or baking parchment.

3. Place sugar and eggs into bowl and mix. Do not whisk until soft and fluffy because this is a fudgy cake, not a souffle cake. You can use a whisk if you wish but not for longer than 2 minutes. Add rest of ingredients, adding clementine pulp last. Mix thoroughly with each addition.

4.  Pour into the lined tin and bake for 35-45 minutes in the oven. You may need to cover the top with a round of greaseproof to prevent the top burning. When you check the cake, it will come out slightly sticky, and that's perfectly fine.

5. Allow to cool in tin and then remove outer ring, leaving to fully cook on cake rack, on base, until cold. Then you can remove it and put onto to a cake stand or plate.

As you can see it's a bit rough and ready in appearance, but it is soft, moist and absolutely delicious. I will serve it with a little heated orange liquer and honey syrup, and a mix of lowfat creme fraiche and cream. The clementines were almost marmalade like in their texture and the toasted ground almonds added another level to this cake. A resounding success to be remade for Samhain and no doubt tweaked once more.

The decorating and serving process was enhanced by this beautiful track I'm listening to at the moment - Indra - The Other World. I have no idea how to get hold of this music, and I wish I did, so if you have any ideas let me know.

http://youtu.be/gxLEWPIKnjk

Abracadabra - healing journey

ABRACADABRA!

Melody's healing journey through poetry, words and the magic of manifestation of a healing path.

Click on the link

Creating through Love, Perception, and Flow

 http://starhawksblog.org/

I've been reading her blog and have been inspired on the idea of group process, and creating  a world and a situation where all views and opinions are listened to - where no decisions have to be made 'now, now, now!'

Every person talking has value, all is enjoyed and yet the space occuppied is peaceful and the energy is good. The account further down the blog about the energy raised from the spiralling and drumming and how that can have an effect both pacifying and provoking is fascinating.

How do we use this energy of these times to scale up the co-creation and manifestation of the New Earth for all who live on this planet. The higher frequency energies are causing us all to work through and release old patterns, the movement of Chiron through Pisces is allowing us all to work through our deepest held emotions and embrace, work with and cleanse ourselves from the detrius of all that we have stored within our body and mind. All stored because we have fallen for that belief system that asks us to detach from emotions, to deny that we do indeed feel, that creates a vision of a world where we do not feel anger, fear or jealousy - and in the denial of that we are storing up blocked energy.

Now is the time to be with and embrace those feelings, and release through crying, or grieving or whatever method we use to let go.

The potential for magical creation is accelerating!

Think about the whole. Step up and take your place in your power and hold it boldly as a spiritual warrior willing to defend, but never to invoke or create violence. Take action by allowing Love to flow through you - to perceive the other person, no matter how much you dislike them; to acknowledge their right to exist even though you wish they did not; Honour their right to exist and be different to you!


So Mote it Be!

Leeks Love Tomatoes don't they?

Several large leeks sit staring at me from the organic box, and the thought of buttered leeks fails to initiate glee or anticipation. Perhaps time to let got and flow into creation - and see what appears before me.

Butter Pastry with basil and oregano incorporated; leeks sauteed in a little butter and olive oil, in the pan for at least 10 minutes, before added the beautiful fresh tomatoes from the garden. A little dab of pesto and a search through the fridge for various cheese available.

perhaps not cream but cream cheese and eggs whisked together with seasoning. Blind baked tartlets golden from the oven, filled with leek & tomato soft from the hot pan, cheese crumbled over the tart, and filled with the eggy mixture - Light cream cheese to add to the lightness of the tartlets.

hmm, the leeks smell wonderful, but a final touch is needed to beautify the tarlets, perhaps a smidgeon of baked sweet potato to add to the overall theme of golden, solar plexus goodness. Love, healing and nourishing vibrations for the tartlets - to all those who choose to take those blessings.