My Attempt at Chocolate Cake Perfection - Nut Butter

Don't you just love Nutella? I remember eating it directly out of the jar, in those days when the Nutella jar was made of real glass, not the plastic that we get today. And in those days, cocoa butter was in the ingredients list, which has since been replaced by palm oil. Tastewise, I don't think palm oil gives any significant change in the flavour, but theres something at the back of my mind telling me that I'm not getting the real deal.

And so I started a mini quest to make my own nut butter that I can turn into Nutella, or a praline, or a smooth nut-sugar layer that I can incorporate into my chocolate cake. I tried once long ago to make almond butter but it never turned into butter, only a grain-powder like consistency, like what is sold as almond flour. I was wrong, because the internet says that almonds can be turned into a smooth butter without the addition of any oils or sugar. You just have to blend them long enough. Do pulsed blending, and take your time, because I melted my old Braun food processor when I left it to blend almonds continously for 5 minutes. Now I'm using a Tefal 1000Watt food processor.



After 15 minutes of slow, pulsed blending, the oil seperates from nuts. Almonds have less oil, so a pure almond butter will take a longer time before you start to see oil. Hazelnuts on the otherhand have up 50% oil content, and turn into butter more readily. The tiny darker brown specs you see below come from the almond skins, so if you remove them first, or buy almonds without skin, then you won't taste their grit on the roof of your mouth.



This is pure nut butter, without any oil or sugar or salt. I'm using it as a hydrophobic canvas to insulate my water sensitive feuilletine flakes - and get praline fueilletine.

Almonds raw and almonds toasted have very different flavour profiles. Same goes for other nuts. Its up to you to choose what flavour you like. After several years of nut eating, I think the best toasted almonds are made by Camel, sold in metallic red packets. The best tasting pistachios are the green fleshed california pistachios by Tai Sun, and come in blue packets.



This almond-hazelnut butter above was the product of 20 minutes of pulsed blending. Even so, it's not silky smooth, probably because of the almonds. The toothpaste industry discovered long ago, so long as you have particles larger than 40 microns, you feel the graininess. I felt the graininess. A food processor isn't the machine that will deliver the super smooth texture that is ubiquitously availiable with commercial peanut butter. Nonetheless, my Camel brand toasted almond butter gives such an intensely pleasurable punch that I'm glad I'm having it =)

Forward march to having the best chocolate cake in Singapore!!

My Attempt at Chocolate Cake Perfection - Feuilletine

Feuilletine is something I find very pleasing in chocolate cakes. They are crunchy inclusions that create what I call the 'crunchy berry' effect that will make any cake significantly more appealing to the human brain. As I mentioned in some previous post, a long time ago during the course of our evolution, when we were still monkeys, an innate inclination towards crunchy foods with soft centers developed, and this predilection aided in our stuggle for survival by helping us pick the ripest and juciest berries. Like monkeys when we bite into a ripe thompson grape, we feel the resounding pop as the turgid skin bursts, releasing loads of flavour from the grape interior. This floods our brains with dopamine and gives a pleasurable eating experience. Feuilletine when incorporated into my cake will mimic this effect. I will use lots of it =)



In Singapore, you can hardly get feuilletine because it is a french product and not naturally found here. Cocoa Barry sells their ready to use Pailleté feuilletine, which according to forums has been spray coated with cocoa butter for insulation against moisture, so that the tiny bits maintain their crunch for long hours. It is very expensive, and this tiny amount I bought from Sun Lik costs about $6. Many would think of using corn flakes instead, but the difference is that feuilletine gives a very delicate crunch, breaking and releasing sound at the slighted contact with your molars. Cornflakes on the other hand, are glassy and hard, and require considerable molar pressure to crack. They also aren't pre-coated with any form of fat, so you will have to do it yourself. Otherwise, you'll end up with soggy cornflakes.



One think I noted was that the texture of this feuilletine was highly similar to our local loveletters. They're like loveletters with minimal sugar and a faint vanilla flavour in place of the coconut flavour. So you can technically get a simlar textural result with love letters, which I may try using in the future.

Now that I have successfully obtained feuilletine after scouring the internet for locations to buy it, I have to wait until my exams are over before I continue my chocolate cake R&D.