It is a rich chocolate cake, which is highly suitable for any family celebration.

Cake

Ingredients 

7 7 120g 100g 100g 100g 1 tsp 1tbsp

Eggs yolk Eggs white Unsalted butter Dark chocolate Grated almond / walnut   Sugar/honey Vanilla extract Corn flour

For baking you should use baking tin with diameter of 20-25 cm.

Preparation of the tin:

·       If it is a non- sticky coated tin you oil it and after sieve little flour to cover the surface thinly.

·      If it is silicon baking tin you just oil it.

Set the oven 180 ⁰C

Method

·      Soften the chocolate in a bowl placed in water bath (pan with boiling water in it)

·      Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until you get a hard froth.

·      Beat the egg yolks with butter than add the sugar and vanilla extract.

·      Add the melted chocolate, almond/walnut and flour to the mixture.

·      Gently fold in the egg foam

·      Transfer the mixture into the tin.

·      Place the tin into the preheated 180 ⁰C oven. 

·      The baking takes approximately 35-40 minutes (you can check it with a fork, if the pastry does not stick to the fork it is ready)

·      When it is ready you empty the tin onto a kitchen towel finely covered with icing sugar (in this case the cake does not stick to the towel) and you cover the top of the cake with a damp kitchen towel.

·      Leave it to cool.

Cream

Ingredients

100g 100g 200g

Melted dark chocolate Icing sugar Mascarpone cheese

Method

• Soften the chocolate in a bowl placed in water bath
• Mix the sugar, mascarpone cheese and dark chocolate to a light cream

Finally:

Cut the cake horizontally into two.

Put the ¾ of the cream on one half.

Place the other half on it.

Decorate the top with the remaining cream and whole almonds or walnuts.

Our traditional winter seasonings

The traditional winter foods are flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and honey. They are also rich in chocolate, dried fruits, nuts, almonds and chestnut.  These spices, nuts and dried fruits raise the festivity.

Inspect the health benefits of these spices:

Cinnamon	Nutmeg	Cloves
Protects healthy heart  and brains. Benefits for dental health and hygiene. Fights infection and diabetes. It has anti-inflammatory properties. It contains antioxidants, which can help lowering cancer risk.	Nutmeg is a pain relief It is liver and kidney detoxifier. Benefits for dental hygiene and health. Nutmeg can also help for digestion related problems.	Cloves reduce inflammation, fight against upper respiratory infections. Improve digestion. Enhance sexual health.

Honey is a traditional winter sweetener.  It is a natural treatment for our winter flu, reducing cough and throat irritation.  It helps regulate blood sugar. It provides antibacterial and antifungal effects. It helps to fight against cancer and beneficial for healthy heart.

Maple syrup

Acer known as maple is a genus of trees or shrubs. The genus is places in the Sapindaceae family. Most species are deciduous, but few in southern Asia and the Mediterranean area are evergreen. Prominently use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol.

Maple syrup is a healthy alternative to cane or beet sugar if it is used moderately. Maple tree syrup, or more accurately sap, has been used for centuries. The dominated sugar in sap is sucrose 66%. Sucrose is a disaccharide, within a glucose and a fructose molecules are bonded. The leaves of plants produce sugar during photosynthesis, which is stored as starch in the roots. During the winter months taphole is drilled, a tube is inserted and a bucket is attached. When spring comes the fluctuation of temperature increases the pressure within the tree causing the sap to flow from the taphole into the bucket. So unlike refined sugar, which undergoes complex of processes: harvest, washing, milling, extraction, filtration, purification and crystallisation, maple syrup is natural unrefined product, which depends only on the chemicals introduced to the soil.

Nutritional values of maple syrup:

Maple syrup contains proteins, fat, carbohydrates, water, sugar, minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, sodium, potassium, zinc and iron and vitamins such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin B6.

Health benefits of maple syrup:

·      Maple syrup holds various antioxidants in the form of phenolic compounds, which are helpful for reducing free radicals that can cause various chronic diseases. It may help protect against cancer.

·      The presence of zinc is beneficial for the heart and cardiovascular disorders.

·      Glycemic index score of maple syrup is lower than regular refined sugar.

·      Maple syrup nutrition also supplies inflammation-reducing polyphenol antioxidants helpful in preventing certain diseases like arthritis.

·      Zinc found in maple syrup helps in maintaining male reproductive health particularly the prostate gland.

·      The maple syrup extract may help the antibiotics work better.

The maple syrup nutrition impacts your blood sugar levels a bit less drastically than table sugar does and it also supplies some trace minerals and antioxidants, while sugar lacks both of these.