I wish i could begin by telling you how absurdly easy and quick this dessert was to make, but unfortunately that was not the case. If you’re looking for a magnificent challenge in the kitchen today, you should totally try this recipe out!
This dessert has immaculate components like the caramel ornament, the layers of cake and oat cookies and cream coated in nuts and the fudge truffles that together make the most beautiful harmony in your mouth.
I named this recipe in Estonian and the translation is simply 'Nut in a shinning plate' inspired by 'Knight in shining amour' and the pronunciation is simply -pa-kel sa-ra-vas- pla-dis
Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Yield: 5 dessert meals
Ingredients
¾ cups roasted and finely chopped peanuts
½ cup melted chocolate
For the vanilla cake
1 cup cake flour
½ cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the oat cookies
⅔ cup oats
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
⅔ cup flour
5 tsp milk
1 ½ tbsp syrup
For the caramel ornaments
¾ cup brown sugar
½ tsp mint extract
For the shiny purple ball
1 cup cake flour
½ cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp nutmeg
½ cup raisins
½ cup icing sugar
A few drops of purple food colouring
1 tbsp silver food dust
For the fudge truffles
3 tbsp melted butter
1 ¾ cup icing sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 ¾ tbsp milk
¼ cup cocoa powder for the coating
For the cream
2 ½ cups whipped heavy cream
2 tbsp dissolved coffee
½ cup icing sugar
For the plates
½ cup icing sugar coloured green
¼ cup cocoa powder
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Combine all the dry ingredients for the vanilla cake in a large bowl.
- Mix all the wet ingredients and add them to the bowl with the dry ingredients and ensure that everything is well combined.
- Place the cake batter in the prepared sheet pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.
- In the meantime, line a loaf tin with parchment paper.
- Now combine all the dry ingredients for the fruit cake in a large bowl.
- Mix all the wet ingredients and the raisins before adding them to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mixing.
- Place the cake batter in the prepared loaf tin.
- When the vanilla cake has baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
- Place the loaf tin with the fruit cake batter in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes (till a wooden skewer comes out clean when inserted).
- To make the caramel ornaments, first take a baking tray and cut out a sheet of parchment paper that is the size of the baking tray.
- On one side of the parchment paper, draw (in pencil) the shape and size of what you would like the ornaments to be(i drew long crescent shapes) .
- Place ¼ tsp of butter on each corner of the baking tray and place the parchment paper in such a way that the side you drew on is the bottom side and the side not drawn on is the top so the molten sugar does not get in contact with the pencil drawings.
- Then, place the sugar and mint in a 2-quart saucepan and let the sugar melt over high heat.
- You may stir the sugar with a wooden spoon to quicken the process. (The sugar should start melting after about 5 minutes).
- When the sugar has completely melted, take a teaspoon and pour the sugar within the borders of each of the drawn crescent shapes. (The drawings are basically the guidelines ).
- Let the sugar solidify for about 3 minutes before GENTLY lifting each ornament off the baking sheet.(The caramel ornaments can easily break so please be extremely careful when lifting them off.)
- In the same 2-quart saucepan, place all the ingredients for the fudge truffles and bring them to a boil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.
- Transfer the mixture to a small bowl and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- When the 15 minutes are up, remove the bowl from the freezer.
- Wash your hands.
- Place a teaspoon of the thickened fudge mixture on the palm of one hand and roll it into a bowl. You may place a bit more water on your hands so the balls are perfectly shaped.
- Place the ¼ cup of cocoa powder in a bowl.
- Next dip the truffle into the cocoa powder and ensure that it is entirely coated.
- Do this with all the remaining truffles.
- When the fruit cake has baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.
- For the oat cookies, combine all the ingredients in a bowl. (It is alright if the mixture is slightly dry)
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Get a medium-sized round cookie cutter and place a bit of the oat-cookie mixture into the cookie cutter, and press the mixture down before lifting off the cookie cutter.
- Do the same for the remaining 9 cookies.
- Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius till they are slightly golden in colour.
- Next, to make the shiny purple balls, first place a few drops of the purple food coloring in the bowl of icing sugar and make sure it is entirely purple.
- After that, use an ice cream scoop to scoop out a scoop of the fruit cake and then coat it in the icing sugar. Do this for the desired number of balls.
- Sprinkle some of the silver food dust on each one of the balls.
- For the cream, add the icing sugar to the whipped cream as well as the dissolved coffee.
- To assemble the desserts, cut out 10 circles from the vanilla sheet cake.
- Place just a bit of the whipped cream on top so that the next layer sticks on.
- Next place an oat cookie, the whipped cream, then another circle of the vanilla cake, then a cookie.
- After that, cover the entire mini tower you would have just made with a thin layer of whipped cream and place the nuts on a cutting board, then roll the mini tower in the nuts till it is completely coated.
- Then dip the top and bottom of the nutty towers in the chocolate, and let the chocolate harden for a few minutes.
- Repeat that for the remaining 4.
- For the plates, sift the icing sugar with green food colouring and cocoa powder on each plate and sprinkle some of the silver food dust onto the plates.
- Take a paper towel and wipe off some of the cocoa powder and green icing sugar in the shape of an arch to create the pattern.
- Place the nutty towers horizontally on each plate, the caramel ornament leaning against them and a shiny ball on each of the nutty towers, as well as some chocolate fudge truffles.
*I know this was a long recipe, so a big WELLDONE to you for pulling it off!
