Hive Top Chef! | Chocolate Berry Flan

When I was prompted by @carolynstahl to get my apron on and fill the kitchen with clouds of flour and cocoa dust followed by the heavenly smell of chocolate cake wafting through the house and enter this week's @qurator's Hive Top Chef! | Chocolate Cake, I was in my element, so thank you Carolyn!

Food blogging, specifically baking, has always been my first love here on Hive, but it had to take a back seat as taking care of Mom Lily took up quite a bit of my time.
Mom also loved baking; pastries, and cookies being her specialty, and even when her balance started playing up, she would order me into the kitchen, and sit at the table rolling the cookie dough into little balls.

This old photo was after a Christmas cookie-baking session - note there are Chocolate Brownies in the front container.

Many would not realize how time-consuming food blogging is, especially when it's a themed food challenge -

• Choosing what to make, getting into the car, or else ordering online to buy the best ingredients, scratching in the back of the pantry, or foraging in the garden and putting something together with minimal ingredients when there's no time to go shopping or when the budget is tight, as many of us experienced after Covid lockdown.
• Then it's into the kitchen, cooking, or baking, setting up props for presentation, and pausing in between steps, to take photographs.
• Final presentation and more photos are taken from all kinds of angles.
• Dishing up, more photos, by which time everyone in the house is ravenous and looking at me with big eyes.
• Almost time to blog, but just one more thing, and that is selecting the clearest photos and editing.

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With this week's challenge, I decided to make a Chocolate Flan, a Chocolate sponge base using oil and water, yes, no butter & milk - filled with whipped cream and topped with Raspberries and Blueberries, ending off with Chocolate ribbons and little squares of Milk Chocolate.

Many are familiar with custard flans, like Creme Brulees, but I'm making a traditional flan with a sponge cake base, resembling a tart base.

A flan is a food that has a base and sides of pastry or sponge cake.
The base is filled with fruit or savoury food.
^Source

Let's go shopping!

I must confess I bought extra Chocolate treats that I did not use, but I can assure you, it did not go to waste:)

Chocolate Sponge recipe

Sift together:

• 250ml Cake Flour
• 20ml Baking Powder
• 60ml Cocoa powder
• 2ml Salt

Whisk together until frothy:

• 3 Egg Yolks
• 200ml Castor Sugar
• 200ml Oil
• 200ml warm Water

Gradually add sifted dry ingredients to oil mix, folding in gently.

• 3 Egg whites
  Beat egg whites till frothy, gently fold into batter.

Spray 2 small flan pans liberally with cooking spray, dust the base of pans with flour, and pour batter into the pans.

Bake at 180° for approx 20min.

Loosen sides with a knife and lightly beat base, turn out carefully by placing an inverted cake cooling rack on top, flip, tap, remove from pan and leave to cool.

Note - these bases freeze well

Fill with:

• 250ml stiffly whipped fresh Cream
• Add a little melted Chocolate and fold in lightly

Top with Berries, Chocolate ribbons and little squares of Milk Chocolate

Anyone for a cuppa and a slice of Chocolate Berry Flan?

BON APPETIT FRIENDS!

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Original Content by @lizelle
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