Chocolate pate can be eaten alone in slices, or scooped into small balls to decorate cakes.

I have been making chocolate pates for more than 25 years. They are remarkably easy to make, and most of the ingredients you probably always have in the kitchen.

I have lost track of how many I have made; in my notes are a list of pates for customers that stopped somewhere around 150. After that it is anyone's guess! The recipe below is for a one kilogram pate. This should easily be enough for a party of 10 people.

Dark Chocolate (60%+) 400g
Heavy Cream 200ml
Butter 100g
Cookies/Nuts/Fruit/Cake 300g

Hack the chocolate into very small bits.
Place your cookie, cake, fruit, nuts - whatever is going into your pate - into a mixing bowl.
Bring the cream almost to a boil in a saucepan.
Remove from the heat, add the room temperature butter, stir in to melt.
Add the chocolate until it melts.
Pour the chocolate, cream, and butter in the saucepan over the dry mass in the mixing bowl. Gently mix together.
Sccop your pate mass into the form you have chosen.
When cool, place the pate into the refrigerator until set and ready to unmold and slice.

Kick it up a notch! Wrap the pate in a layer of chocolate, or cocoa, or literally anything you like - as long as you are going to eat it. Let your creativity take off!

You do not taste the sauerkraut, so it is perfect for slipping into everyone's diet! :o)

Sauerkraut Cake. Don't be scared now! This is a real Hausfrau or Hausmann chocolate cake. It is a solid, simple, easy to make cake.

150 gram butter / vegetable oil
250 grams sugar
2 eggs
Packet vanilla sugar
300 grams flour
100 grams cocoa
Packet baking powder

Blend together or put in your Thermomix:
100 ml milk
50 grams coconut flakes
100 grams apple mouse. You can also rough cut fresh apple and add to the cake for texture, should you have no apple mousse.
150 grams plain sauerkraut, or canned sauerkraut with apple. I soak the sauerkraut in water for an hour beforehand and then drain fully.

Garnish selection:
Chocolate Ganache. (see Red beet Cake for the Ganache recipe below)
1 Apple sliced. Caramelise in butter and white sugar.
Package of coconut flakes.
White chocolate chopped to taste.
You can also just garnish this with powdered sugar.

Preheat oven to 350°.
Cream the butter and sugar.
Add eggs. Add vanilla. Whip to a smooth, whiteness, circa 2 minutes.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder.
Add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk.
Stir in sauerkraut apple puree. 
Pour into a round baking dish.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a chopstick comes out clean. 
Cool. Slice. Garnish. Enjoy!

This recipe uses roasted beet puree to create an incredibly moist texture and a deep, earthy richness that pairs perfectly with dark chocolate. Hey - you can not taste the beets. Don't be scared now!

This cake can be left without the ganache - perfect for the lunch box - it can have a simple ganache coating, and it can be pimped to the max! Bonne Femme to Kitchen Goddess - whatever your mood, this cake has you covered.

1 cup red beets (roasted, cooled, and blended or just grate them into the cake for added texture - I add a splash of balsamic cream, oranges, and red currant jelly for an extra kick!)
2 large eggs
2 cups flour - one cup white, one cup whole wheat
1 cup white sugar - or brown sugar if you have it will make the cake moister
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil - or butter (butter makes the cake slightly drier but less oily)
2 tsp vanilla extract - or vanilla sugar

Ganache:
6 oz semi-sweet dark chocolate (chopped)
3/4 cup whipping cream

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch round cake pan with parchment paper or grease it to ensure a clean release.
Whisk together the flour, cane sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and sea salt.
You can puree the beets in the blender, or use your Thermomix - how much you puree depends on your taste. Chunky is also good!
In a separate medium bowl, beat the eggs and stir in the beet mixture, milk, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir gently until the flour is just incorporated. Do not overmix nor "beat" the batter!
Transfer the batter into the pan. Bake for 50–55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let the cake rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Bring the whipping cream to a boil in a small pot, and add the chopped dark chocolate. Mix gently until glossy and smooth.
Let the ganache sit for about 3o minutes. Then it is spreadable. Alternatively, pour it over the cake.
After the ganache is firm enough to your liking, slice, decorate with grated orange zest, a spoonful of red currant jelly and a few grains of sea salt, serve, and enjoy!

 

What to Do with the Extra Fruit and Nuts? Make Chocolates!

I always lay down too much of the fruit and nuts. Leftovers go well in mince tarts and pies. Still, there was leftover fruit! So I made chocolates. I have a nice flat of Valrhona dark chocolate rounds which I received from Kiki's Pralinenwelt, so I decided to put them to good use.

Step 1: Puree the fruit and nuts very fine.
Step 2: Carefully fill the chocolate rounds. I used a piping bag made from baking paper.
Step 3: Seal and garnish with white chocolate.
Step 4: These rounds roll! So I filled a plate with cocoa, and set them in the cocoa ready for the party.

What do you do with your leftover Christmas Cake fruit and nuts? Or, are you a much more careful baker than I am?

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