the Mud Cake

Everyone loves Mississippi Mud Cake. It is a cake that is more-ish. It should be more-ish. If it's not more-ish then it's not worth making! First time making this I knew instantly it was going to be a dry one. After an hour in the oven I got too anxious and took it out to dust, slice and serve. It was nice. But nobody went back for more.

Thinking about the outcome again. I realized that this mud cake was not more-ish. Therefore, I tempt you for more, first by images, and then by taste. Let me make the recipe more-ish then I will tell what kind of mud cake it should be!

the First Pumpkin Soup

It's mid winter in Hong Kong now and as usual my annual soup making days are continuing into the new year. Though I have made many soups containing pumpkin, I've never actually dedicated a soup just to pumpkin. So here is my first pumpkin soup. The key to this soup is choosing the right pumpkin - I have cooked with various pumpkins and for this particular one I chose a local pumpkin that had a very light flavour! Actually now I look at it, it looks more like Rock Melon! Maybe I should attempt to make Rock Melon soup in the summer! See if you can get a stronger taste for yours...

Chop 1 large onion, 500g of potato and 600g of pumpkin in chunky cubes. Slice the a stalk of celery. Heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a big soup pot and soften the onion for about 4 - 5 minutes on low heat. Add the potato, pumpkin and celery into the pot, cover and sweat for 10 minutes - stir occassionally to make sure they don't stick to the bottom! Pour 550ml of vegetable stock onto vegetables and bring to boil for about 10 minutes. Add a generous amount of dried or fresh tarragon and a pinch of nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to cool a bit before blending it all up. 

Once blended stir in 200ml of milk slowly on low heat. 

Serve in giant soup bowls next to a fire..... bliss. Or in my case a little space heater!