FOOD PORN THURSDAY // CHOCOLATE RIPPLE CAKE

Food Porn Thursdays.

This kind of cake is something you'd probably consumed as a wee little one. Memorable, oh yes but definitely long forgotten or so I'd thought. We were only recently reacquainted at a dinner party a few weeks ago when our lovely host presented us with this heavenly and very impressive black and white concoction with a cute side of fresh raspberries. It wasn't until a few bites in that I realized what the cake actually was, and to my delight so did everyone else. It was a gracious trip down memory lane and once the nostalgic giggles surpassed us all and our side plates virtually licked clean that we suddenly realized our dear friend had caused quite the culinary faux pas!

Chocolate ripple cake was so last year! In fact it's so 80's! And being the ultimate food snobs that Melbournians tend to wear with pride had us all in shock; what the hell was he thinking?

Well thing is this guy seriously deserves a medal. Honestly, why has this not been done before! Why do we shy away from this as something that had it's hay-day back in the swinging 70's or whenever it was utterly du jour? Well screw trends! I say we bring this bad boy back into the mix guys - come on! It's easy to make, taste's hella good and looks pretty impressive too.

So the good ole' chocolate ripple cake, utterly nostalgic and something that we'd had previously considered quite dated that is most probably older than most of us but none the less as iconic and as Australian as the pavlova. The only difference between them is that addictive television programs like Masterchef has shone new light on the classic pavlova and brought it back in trend. Now I patiently await for them to do that very thing and bring back this glutinous goodness back in culinary fashion.

So it may or may not be as complicated or technical as a pav but hey, that's what shows like that are for.

Reinvention!

Either way this bad boy is back in my good books and shall be seeing the light of day again soon. Very soon. I've also learned a few lessons into perfecting it myself now things like limiting cookies per row regardless of high wide your dish is. Four cookies is very much enough any more like mine was and it starts getting a little too dense and dry.

And to my dear and lovely readers who do not reside in Australia and have absolutely no idea what the hell I'm raving about here, never mind me and do yourself a favor and made this for yourselves. Make it with any firm chocolate cookie you can find et viola!

You will thank me later. Cheques gratuitously accepted.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 INGREDIENTS: 
500ml thickened cream
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
250g Arnott's chocolate ripple biscuits

Beat cream, sugar and vanilla essence until firm peaks form.
Spread a thin layer on the base of a serving platter.
Spread cream on one biscuit then stand it on it's edge on the base. Repeat with a second biscuit and sandwich together. Continue to layer biscuits, around four per row to form a log like shape.
Spread the entire surface with cream and cover.
Leave in a refrigerator to set overnight.
Top with berries and serve, making sure to cut diagonally.

Et voila.

-Sxx