april showers and chocolate mousse!

Another blustery wet April afternoon sent me to the kitchen in search of comfort . . .  . .and I found it in the form of Chocolate Mousse!

I've had this recipe from the amazing blog My New Roots earmarked for quite a while, and today seemed like just the perfect day for something indulgent. But, what makes this even better is that it's made from avocado and dates so it's actually good for you too!

 . . . and, it tastes amazing!

I've been aware of vegan/raw alternatives for Chocolate Mousse for a while, in terms of getting the chocolate hit without all the heavy dairy. Although I wasn't quite convinced that it really would taste like the real thing.

I can tell you, it tastes even better! Smooth and creamy, super chocolatey and it leaves you feeling great. Plus it's all good - avocado, dates, cocoa, honey - and topped off with some chopped pecans for a bit of added crunch.

Amazing Chocolate Mousse

( adapted slightly from My New Roots)

2 ripe avocados

6 dried dates - soaked to soften

1-2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp good quality cocoa powder

Scoop the flesh from the avocado into a blender - add all the other ingredients and whizz everything to a smooth paste.

Pile into serving dish and dust with some crunchy chopped nuts and you're good to go!

“Every tear is answered by a blossom,

Every sigh with songs and laughter blent,

April-blooms upon the breezes toss them.

April knows her own, and is content.” 

 - Susan Coolidge -



in search of the perfect Chocolate Brownie!

You know how it is when you have a tried and tested recipe that you come back to time and again.....well, for years I've used a Mary Berry recipe that never fails to produce a dense, fudgy, chocolatey brownie every time. But, being me, I'm always curious to try out new ideas in search of the definitive recipe.

So, when I saw this recipe for Fudgy Coconut Brownies on the Good Food website I was immediately intrigued; coconut in brownies? hmmm, that's an interesting twist! I have had the recipe bookmarked for ages, but the other day was grey and miserable with just enough of a hint of Autumn in the air to make me think of the warm comfort of baking and filling the house with the aroma of chocolate! The perfect excuse to try out - Coconut Brownies!

This time I didn't make any adjustments to the original recipe because I really liked the way they turned out. Unlike other brownie recipes there is no melted chocolate in the mixture, but they tasted so deeply chocolatey that you would never guess. Despite the name there is really just a hint of coconut in the taste, but it gives the brownies a lovely chewy texture.....and they are very addictive; I had eaten two before they'd even cooled down!

Coconut Brownies

(Recipe from BBC Good Food)

100g cocoa

250g butter

500g caster sugar

4 eggs

100g self-raising flour

100g dessicated coconut

Heat oven to 180C / Gas 4 and line a 21cm square tin with baking paper - I used a standard size swiss roll tin

Melt the butter gently in a large saucepan and then stir in the cocoa and caster sugar until melted and combined. Be careful because it will catch and burn if not stirred constantly

Take off the heat and cool for a few minutes then beat in the rest of the ingredients until well mixed

Pour into prepared tin and bake for about 40 mins until set. Leave to cool in tin and then turn out, dust with icing sugar and cut up into chunky pieces

Beware - they won't last very long!

chocolate puddle cookies...and fluffy pink marshmallows

Is it wrong to eat Chocolate Truffle cupcake for breakfast?......

well.....I just couldn't resist when I'm surrounded by them! Over the last couple of days I've baked and iced dozens of cute Valentine Chocolate Truffle cupcakes - chocolate heaven, seeing them all lined up neatly, ready to be boxed and delivered in time for Valentine's Day.

I always love delivering the cupcakes.....to see the smile on people's faces, but delivering the Valentine ones has been especially enjoyable. I've dropped them off with an air of planned subterfuge, and have shared the sense of excited anticipation as I've handed over the gift boxes filled with decadent chocolate treats, knowing that they will later be presented to unsuspecting loved ones!

So,...... with all these chocolate truffle cupcakes in production I found myself left with surplus Pink Velvet cupcakes . and lots of egg-whites that needed using up, and.....the obvious solution was Pink Cloud cupcakes!! Moist fluffy raspberry vanilla sponge, topped with clouds of the pinkest marshmallow meringue frosting

......and these little fluffy pillows of delicate pink raspberry marshmallow using this marshmallow recipe from James Martin.....I'm a sucker for anything pink and edible, especially when it's so pretty!

Coincidentally, I'd also come across this recipe for Chocolate Puddle Cookies the other day on one of my favourite blog sites while looking for some healthy dinner ideas - honestly! (it's amazing how easily distracted I become with chocolate) It was a perfect coming together of serendipitous circumstances; a recipe for fudgy chocolatiness, and spare egg-whites.....

These are soooooo good. I couldn't wait for them to cool, and had to have one while it was still warm from the oven. It was chocolate heaven, soft, fudgy, and dense in the middle, and what's even better - they don't contain any wheat so they're gluten-free, a perfect indulgence, so that even those chocolate lovers with a wheat intolerance don't have to miss out, or compromise on chocolatey bliss!

hazelnut truffle torte....in search of the ultimate chocolate cake!

In my truly altruistic (well, that's what I tell myself anyway!) quest for the ultimate chocolate cake I have tried many, many, many recipes; searching for that all-elusive tangible experience of dense, velvety chocolatiness; not too sweet, not too bitter - not too heavy, not too dry. Just lately, I've decided to go along the gluten-free route, and following on from the truly indulgent chocolate mousse cake, I was after something a little more firm, that would cut and serve more like a traditional 'cake'. Of course this meant trying out lots of recipes - it's a tough job!........and, in the end I settled on the best bits of all of them. The result is a VERY rich, dark and wicked, truffley chocolate 'cake' that gives you the just the sense of hedonistic guilt that only a true chocolate lover would settle for!

So here it is.....

hazelnut truffle torte

(by Alfie)

400g good quality dark chocolate

6 eggs

50 g caster sugar

175g ground hazelnuts

250mls double cream

topping

75g good quality dark chocolate

2 tablespoons double cream

25g butter

• to make the cake, grease and base line a 20cm deep spring-form tin, and set the oven to Gas 2 / 150 C / 325 F
• break the chocolate into pieces and put this together with 50mls of the cream in a bowl set over simmering water until it has melted
• whilst the chocolate is melting, whisk the eggs and the sugar together for 5-7 minutes until it is thick and creamy and will leave a trail across the top of the mixture
• slacken the melted chocolate mixture by adding a little of the egg/sugar mixture (about 2-3 tablespoons) until it becomes a bit more runny, and then stir the chocolate and the egg/sugar mix in together with the ground hazelnuts
• whisk the remaining cream until it forms soft peaks, and then quickly fold this into the chocolate batter so that it is all amalgamated
• pour into the lined tin - if your tin is not completely water-tight you will need to wrap it in foil
• place the cake tin into a roasting pan and pour in enough hot water to come half-way up the cake tin - about 2cms
• bake in the oven for about an hour until a skewer comes out clean

for the topping

• melt all of the ingredients together over a pan of simmering water. Leave to cool and thicken just slightly, and then pour over the cake
• decorate with whatever takes your fancy, and enjoy........but be warned, you know what they say about too much of a good thing!

when life blows you a raspberry.....

...blow it right back with White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Cupcakes with a raspberry cream cheese frosting! Ha!... right back at ya with sprinkles on - or raspberries!

These are actually a bit of a mish mash of lots of things that I love all mussed into one, a desire to use up a cream cheese 'surplus' from a carrot cake recipe, plus a whimsical notion to put it all together with white chocolate.....and why not!

So, what I ended up with is a white chocolate cupcake, based on my Banana Chocolate Muffins, using white chocolate instead of dark chocolate. Thrown in with a smattering of fresh raspberries and cheesecake (I snuck the idea of how to incorporate this from David Lebovitz's ..... Cheesecake Brownies )

Then, as if that wasn't enough gorgeousness overload in one cake, I felt like topping it all off with a raspberry ripple cream cheese frosting, based on the cream cheese frosting for the carrot cake!

Definitely just the thing to make the world right again!

banana chocolate muffins with banana fudge glaze - definitely not for the faint-hearted!

I make no apologies for yet another post about chocolate (I feel there may be a theme developing here!) after all, chocolate is possibly one of my favourite things (what, you hadn't guessed!) and always seems to work wonderfully well in any context; this recipe being no exception......and these muffins have got banana in them, so that makes them healthy, right?

Adding the banana to these chocolate muffins was the result of needing to use up some sad looking bananas that were sat in the corner of my kitchen slowly turning a deeper and deeper shade of black! When they were cooked they looked a little bare, so I made up a fudge sauce and threw in some more chopped bananas (well there were quite a few to use up!) and voila, there you have it.....soft, chewy chocolate/banana muffin, drizzled with buttery banana fudge mmmmmm!....

Banana Chocolate Muffins with Banana Fudge Glaze

(Recipe) Cabbage Roses & Cupcakes

225mls single cream

50g cornflour

100g dark soft brown sugar

3 tbsp cocoa

75g butter

125g dark chocolate

75mls sunflower oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

125g golden caster sugar

125g plain flour

2 and a half tsps baking powder

1 large banana chopped

Fudge Glaze

50mls double cream

175g soft brown sugar

50g butter

1 chopped banana

Put the cream, cocoa, brown sugar, and cornflour into a saucepan and whisk together over a medium heat until boiled and very thick and smooth. Take off the heat and beat in the butter and broken up chocolate until melted and combined into a thick, glossy batter. Next, add the oil, vanilla, one of the eggs and mix this in. Finally add the caster sugar and the remaining egg and beat again until smooth.

Then, sift the flour and baking powder into the chocolate mixture, add the banana and beat through until combined.

Pour the batter into muffin cases or tins and bake for 25-30 mins at 180C/ 350F / Gas 4.

To make the glaze, melt the butter and sugar together in a small pan until the sugar has melted. Add in the cream and boil for 2-3 minutes stirring all the time. Take off the heat and add in the chopped banana. Stir and leave to cool until it has thickened enough to drizzle over the muffins and cover them.

These are best eaten on the day that they're made, but they also make a delicious, and very tempting dessert eaten warm with ice-cream and extra banana fudge sauce!

decadent chocolate mousse cake

Is it a cake - or is it a mousse? Well, whichever it is, it tastes delicious! When I saw this recipe by Annie Bell I knew I had to make it. What is it, I wonder, about our love affair with chocolate, perhaps it's the velvety texture, or is it the irresistibly rich and decadent taste that wraps itself around your tongue, and into your psyche, leaving you helpless to resist?

This gorgeous cake cum mousse is a very simple cake to make, and it looks stunning. I love the way that the sides bulge under the weight of the just-set, unctuous, moussey, chocolate centre, hinting at the delights within. This is chocolate heaven, and I make no apology at all for posting this luscious recipe; it may be gratuitous in it's extravagance, but it's worth every calorie!

Chocolate mousse cake

Recipe

2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

150g golden caster sugar

450ml double cream

1 and a half tablespoons rosewater

300g good quality dark chocolate

Heat oven to 140C/ Gas 1, and then butter a deep sided 20cm cake tin with a removable base (the 'cake' is so soft when it's cooked that it's best not to try and get it off the base!)

Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar until very pale - almost white, in fact, and doubled in volume. Meanwhile heat the cream and the rosewater to boiling point and then pour over the broken chocolate pieces. Stir gently every so often until the chocolate has melted and then add the chocolate mixture to the eggs and sugar and mix together. Pour into the prepared tin and then bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on your oven) until the cake is just set and still has a bit of wobble in it!

Leave to cool in the tin and run a knife around the top to release the crust if it has stuck to the tin. As it cools the top will crack a little but I think makes it look even more appealing! Eat this on the day that it's cooked to get the maximum gooey moussiness, although this will keep well covered in the fridge for a couple of days. Allow it to come back to room temperature before serving.

Lovely served with cream, or real vanilla ice-cream - or if you want a bit of a tang to cut through the rich chocolate, try it with Greek yoghurt!

chocolate fix...chocolate crinkles

You know, I'm not entirely convinced that there is such a thing as too much chocolate! Easter seems to have become a time of seasonal chocolate overload, so....in keeping with the custom, I couldn't resist making these as a gift for my family as an alternative to the gaudy foil-wrapped chocolate offerings that we usually succumb to (of course we did have those as well - it is tradition, after all!)

I have been meaning to make these for a while, having come across the recipe on 'Good Food' and been mesmerised by the vivid contrast of the rich dark chocolate and pure white powdered sugar, creating this amazingly beautiful craggy effect. I just had to have a go at making some myself! The method is very similar to making brownies, as is the texture; biting through the brittle crust reveals a velvety chocolate fudge that is very addictive! Use the best quality chocolate that you can find as this makes all the difference to the flavour.

Because you can make up the mixture the day before, these are the perfect, quick and easy cookies if you have friends round for coffee. What could be more delicious than warm chocolate cookies straight from the oven?

Chocolate Crinkles

(adapted from BBC Good Food)

200g dark chocolate - the darker the better!

50g butter

100g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

200g plain flour

pinch of salt

half teaspoon of baking powder

icing sugar to coat

Melt chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water. Take care not to overheat or scorch the chocolate. Remove from heat and leave to cool for a while

In another bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy, and then add the vanilla. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Finally, mix in the flour, salt and baking powder until you have a smooth batter, and then cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, but preferably overnight.

When ready to cook, heat the oven to 350F / 180C / Gas 4. Roll teaspoonsful of dough into balls and coat in Icing sugar until all the chocolate is covered....this is important as it's what creates the cracked effect of the sugar casing. Place on a sugared baking sheet and press each one down lightly.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and then.... voila!

.....you have gorgeous orbs of fudgy chocolate indulgence - who says chocolate isn't good for you!

chocolate celebrations!

Yesterday we had a belated celebration for daughter number two's 21st Birthday.....

just a small family affair, but, well......a Birthday is just not a Birthday without 'Birthday Cake' is it! I've always enjoyed making Birthday cakes for the children, even though it's sometimes more of a 'challenge' than I'd anticipated! It's just the fun of putting it all together, more of an engineering exercise than cooking really!

Anyway, as she's not a fan of fondant icing I opted for chocolate - you can't go wrong with chocolate really can you! I was debating whether, or not, to post the recipe for the actual cake since I wasn't overwhelmed by it's chocolateyness, and it did crust a bit on top (but that could be down to my oven being a bit temperamental!).....but, in the end I thought I would post the cake recipe anyway, in it's entirety, so that you could make up your own mind.

I was pleased with the Ganache Icing though - an amalgamation of various recipes - it was lovely and glossy, and was so easy to use; sometimes the ganache goes from too runny to set before you can get it on the cake, leaving a crummy mess! The filling was Chantilly Cream so it wasn't too heavy, and I cut out the numbers from white and dark chocolate melted and then spread out and mixed in a layer on a tray. The feathering around the edge was done simply with melted white chocolate piped onto the ganache while it was still runny, and then drawn out lightly with a skewer.

Chocolate celebration cakeChocolate Cake

(from Good Food Magazine)

250g butter

300g light muscovado sugar

100g plain flour

100g self-raising flour

5 eggs

300g good quality dark chocolate

Heat oven to 160C / Gas 3 and butter and line a 20cm cake tin.

Beat butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy and then beat in the eggs one at a time - adding flour as necessary if the mixture starts to split.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over simmering water - cool slightly and then beat into cake mixture. Fold in the remaining flour and then bake for 1 hour 3o mins (mine actually took nearer to two hours!) The cake should be well risen and a skewer will come out clean when the cake is cooked. There will be a crust on the top, but you can cut this off when assembling the cake.

To make the Chantilly Cream whip together 250mls of double cream with 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2-3 tablespoons of icing sugar. Use this to fill the cake.

For the Ganache:

300g good quality dark chocolate

100g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons double cream

Melt all the ingredients together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Cool a little until it reaches a workable consistency - I found that I could out it onto the cake almost immediately!

So, there you have it,............. nothing too complicated, just a really good chocolate celebration cake...........the few remaining crumbs on the plate were proof of the pudding (um cake)!