Tag: Chocolate
Firework Bark

Firework Bark

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It’s bonfire night this Saturday, and I can’t wait for the fireworks, wrapping up warm, and hot chocolate which comes with it all. This is a really tasty snack, which can easily be wrapped in clingfilm and popped in a bag- perfect for taking to the bonfires as a little treat. This is also really good for dunking in hot chocolate, giving as gifts, or even as a decoration for the top of a cake, so you can let your imagination run wild!

When I was little, my sister and I would make chocolates full of our favourite sweets. We used to wander around Sainsburys, trying to decide which ones to put into the mix, and then once we got home we’d smoother them all in some melted milk chocolate, and then dollop it onto baking paper to set. Whilst this is shards, and not blobs of chocolate, the same idea applies. You can use any type of chocolate as your base and then top it with any decorations you wish. Here I’ve gone bonfire theme, so I’ve added marshmallows, popping candy, popcorn, and lots of sweets – but you could go much more simple, for example cranberry and pistachio is very good! You’re essentially making your own chocolate bar, so you can stick to my suggestions or improvise your own, it’ s completely your choice!

Recipe

Ingredients 

  • 200g Dark chocolate
  • 200g Milk chocolate
  • 150g White chocolate
  • Edible glitter
  • Popping candy
  • Marshmallows
  • Smarties
  • Sprinkles
  • Haribos
  • Pistachios
  • Pecans
  • Cranberries
  • Raisins
  • Popcorn

Method

  1. Break the milk and dark chocolate and put into a heatproof bowl. In another heatproof bowl put the white chocolate. Put each bowl over a pan of simmering water and melt gently.
  2. Line a shallow tin with cling-film. Put your nuts, berries, sweets and toppings of choice into bowls ready to decorate your bark.

3. Pour the dark and milk chocolate mix into the lined tin and smooth out with a palette knife. Spoon the white chocolate in circles onto the dark chocolate. Using a cocktail stick, or the tip of a knife, spiral the chocolate around the tin to make a firework pattern.

4. Cover the chocolate with your chosen toppings, chopping up any large nuts or sweets into bite sized pieces before putting it into the chocolate.

5. Leave to set before breaking up into shards and serving.

Thanks for reading! Look out for my next post on Sunday…

Emma x
Chocolate Orange Celebration Cake

Chocolate Orange Celebration Cake

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Time for another flamboyant cake! I’m always excited by the prospect of making something big and elaborate, and this one was no exception. Today is my sister’s 21st birthday, and so it followed that a super kick-ass cake was needed for the occasion. This one looks pretty fancy, but it’s actually not too complicated, so it’s a good one to try if you want to turn your hand to big cakes for the first time.

When looking for a flavour combo to go for this was the first that came to mind. It’s my sister’s favourite, and a total classic, so it’s hard to get wrong. We have two chocolate sponges, one orange sponge, lots of chocolate orange buttercream and some Terry’s chocolate orange segments to top it all off. If you know anyone who loves chocolate oranges, you need to make this for them!

Recipe

Serves 10

Time: 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake

  • 170g Unsalted butter
  • 100g Dark chocolate
  • 240g Plain flour
  • 280g Caster sugar
  • 3 tbsp Cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp Bicarb
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 142ml Greek yoghurt
  • 142ml Milk

For the orange cake

  • 175g Butter
  • 175g Golden caster sugar
  • 175g Self-raising flour
  • 3 Large eggs
  • 1 Orange, zested and juiced
  • 1/2 Tube orange food colouring (optional)

For the chocolate orange icing

  • 300g Unsalted butter
  • 675g Icing sugar
  • 1 tsp orange extract
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1/2 Tube orange food colouring
  • 150g Dark chocolate, melted and cooled

For the decoration

  • 1 Terry’s chocolate orange

Method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180˚C. Grease and line three 7.5inch cake tins.
  2. First make the chocolate cake. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
  3. In a bowl mix the flour, sugar, bicarb and cocoa together.
  4. Whisk together the egg and yoghurt. Add this mixture, and the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture, along with 100ml boiling water. Whisk quickly until combine and then pour into two of the lined tins.
  5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean once inserted. Leave the cakes to cool for 15 minutes before turning them out onto wire racks and leaving to cool.
  6. Now make the orange cake. Put the butter, sugar, flour, and eggs into a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon or whisk until smooth and fully combined. Add the orange zest, juice and colouring, and mix again until it’s all combined.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Check if it’s cooked through by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean it’s ready. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
  8. Whilst the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream icing. Beat the butter, 600g of the icing sugar, orange extract and orange zest until smooth. Spoon 280g into a bowl, mix in the orange food coloring and the other 75g of icing sugar, and then set to one side.
  9. In the main bowl add the melted dark chocolate and mix with a spatula until fully combined. Spoon both icings into separate piping bags, fitted with round nozzles.
  10. Now you can assemble the cake. Pipe a small blob of the chocolate icing onto the board or plate you’ll present the cake on – this will stop the cake from sliding around. Put one of the cooled chocolate cakes onto your board. Pipe blobs of chocolate icing onto the cake and then top with the orange sponge. Repeat the piping of blobs on the orange sponge, and then top with the chocolate sponge. Pipe alternate blobs of chocolate and orange icing over the top of the cake and then finish with segments of Terry’s chocolate orange.

Thanks so much for reading! This is the second in a trio of big cakes, so look out for the final one coming out in a week’s time. Meanwhile, the next post is going to be bonfire night themed, so get your sparklers at the ready!

Emma x
Snicker Spiderweb Cheesecake

Snicker Spiderweb Cheesecake

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With my art course in full swing now I’m constantly in need of quick snacks to keep me going, and for some reason I keep on turning to Snickers, (I think it’s due to the relatable adjectives now on the packaging – grouchy and sleepy in particular).  I’m also a big cheesecake fan, and so I thought it was about time that I made a Snicker cheesecake thing.

I’ve named this a ‘cheesecake’ as it’s technically classifiable as one, but I should say now that it’s not your classic cheesecake. As usual I’ve gone pretty OTT with this recipe, and so it’s evolved into more of a cheesecake, torte, puddingy block. We don’t just have some biscuits, cream cheese and icing sugar. We have a peanut base, a liquid salted peanut caramel centre, surrounded by a caramel cheesecake layer, topped with a chocolate torte mixture and finished with a chocolate mirror glaze and chocolate buttercream rosettes. But this is the time of year to go all out with indulgent foods, so why hold back?

If you do want to make a simpler version though, you can leave out the chocolate torte and buttercream, and rather than doing a caramel peanut centre, mix the peanuts into the caramel cheesecake instead. This way you have peanuts, caramel and chocolate (the essentials), but it’ll take half the time to make.

It can’t have escaped anyone’s notice that Halloween is creeping up on the horizon, and so I’ve decorated this with a spider’s web to get in the mood. If you’re making this when spiderwebs are out of season you can pipe the chocolate in spirals over the glaze, rather than in this pattern, to create a more multi-seasonal design that way.

Recipe

Serves 16

Time: 2 1/2 hours (plus lots more time for chilling)

Ingredients

For the base

  • 300g Peanut biscuits
  • 100g Digestive biscuits
  • 170g Butter

For the peanut caramel

  • 310g Caramel (I used Carnations)
  • 100g Peanuts (if salted don’t add the extra 1/2 tsp of salt)
  • ½ tsp Sea salt

For the caramel cheesecake layer

  • 125g Marscapone
  • 125g Philadelphia
  • ½ tsp Vanilla bean paste
  • 50g Icing sugar
  • 80g Caramel
  • 150ml Double cream

For the chocolate torte layer

  • 150g Good quality dark chocolate (at least 70% solids)
  • 300ml Double cream
  • 13g Icing sugar
  • 1tsp Vanilla extract

For the chocolate mirror glaze

  • 150ml Double cream
  • 135g Caster Sugar
  • 55g Cocoa powder
  • 3 ½ Leaves gelatine

To decorate

  • 100g White chocolate
  • 2 tbsp Double cream
  • 200g Butter
  • 100g Icing sugar
  • 75g Cocoa powder
  • 1 Bag Snicker bites

Method

  1. Line a deep round 20cm loose-bottom cake tin with butter and acetate (or baking paper), making sure that the strip around the sides comes above the top of the tin.
  2. Begin by making the biscuit layer. Put the two types of biscuits into a large bowl and break up into crumbs using the end of a rolling pin. Don’t worry if there’s chunks of peanuts because of the peanut biscuits, this’ll just create some texture.
  3. Melt the butter in a pan and then add this to the biscuits. Stir to combine, the biscuits should start to clump together slightly.
  4. Pour this mix into the lined tin and even out with the back of a spoon until an even thickness. Chill in the fridge for 20minutes until firm.
  5. Meanwhile prep the caramel. Put the caramel, peanuts and salt into a small bowl and mix to combine. Spoon this onto the prepare base, leaving a 1-2cm boarder around the edge , so that the caramel forms a smaller circle in the middle. Leave in the fridge to set for 20 minutes.
  6. Now make the caramel cheesecake layer. Using an electric whisk, whisk together the mascarpone, Philadelphia, vanilla, icing sugar and caramel until smooth. Then add the double cream and continue to whisk until smooth and the mixture is thick enough to hold it’s shape – this will only take 1-2 minutes so be careful not to overwhisk.
  7. Pour or pipe around the side of the cheesecake, to seal the peanut caramel in. Then spoon over the caramel, to completely cover it. Leave in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.
  8. Once set you can move onto the chocolate layer. Put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and gently melt over a pan of simmering water. Take off the heat and stir in the cream until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Sift and stir in the icing sugar, and then stir in the vanilla extract. Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes.
  9. Pour the chocolate on top of the caramel cheesecake and then put into the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, until firm.
  10. Once the chocolate layer has set you can make the chocolate mirror glaze. Put the cream, sugar, cocoa, and 150ml water into a small pan. Heat whilst stirring until all the sugar is dissolved, I find using a whisk is a good way to get rid of lumps of cocoa.
  11. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for another 2 minutes. Meanwhile take a bowl of water and soak the gelatine leaves until they’re squidgy. Take the gelatine out of the water and squeeze to remove excess water. Put into the chocolate mix and stir to dissolve.
  12. Leave the glaze to cool for 20 minutes. Pass through a sieve and then test with a thermometer to make sure it’s cooled down enough not to melt the chocolate layer in the cheesecake (below 38˚C should be enough).
  13. Pour the glaze over the cheesecake and leave to partially set in the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile melt the white chocolate in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the double cream and stir to combine.
  14. Pour the white chocolate into a piping bag with a small nozzle and set aside until needed.
  15. When the glaze is just starting to firm up you can start to pipe. Pipe the white chocolate in 8 lines, each coming from the middle of the cheesecake. Then join the straight lines with curved lines to make a spider-web shape – I find having a picture of a spiderweb in front of me helps with this. Leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours to set completely.
  16. Now make the chocolate buttercream icing. Mix the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder together until smooth and uniform in colour. Each butter varies in water content, and so will produce different consistencies of buttercream. If your mixture is too soft to hold its shape add 50g icing sugar and 25g cocoa and then mix to combine. Do this as many times as is needed until a thick mixture is reached. Spoon into a piping bag with a star nozzle.
  17. Once the mirror glaze is set, pipe rosettes of the icing round the edge of the cheesecake, before topping with halved snicker bite pieces. Leave in the fridge until ready to serve!

Thanks as always for reading! I hope you liked this one, any comments or questions just let me know.

Emma x
Pecan Praline Brownies

Pecan Praline Brownies

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Finding the time to write a new post this week was a balancing act. I’ve just started a new job, my course requirements are growing, and drama rehearsals are kicking off, and yet I think this just shows how easy and quick these are to knock up. When looking for an old favourite to fall back on these were definitely the ones to go for. These are the things I make most often, and almost everyone who knows me will have, at some point, been offered one. They’re simple, satisfying, and great for sharing – so if you’re a uni fresher, or just starting somewhere new, these are perfect for making friends. I also use the base mix (without the praline topping) as my chocolate cupcake mix, as they produce chewy, indulgent cakes, with a lot more chocolate flavour than most other chocolate cake mixes. So if you prefer your cakes cupcake-style you can use this recipe for that as well.

The original recipe for this came from the back of a Hersey’s Cocoa Powder pot from when my parents lived in America. Since then it’s been memorised, prodded, and tweaked by my family until we’ve got to the one we see here. Slightly unusually I use oil instead of butter – but don’t let this put you off. In the original recipe it said take a cup of butter and melt it, so I just cut out the middle man and went straight to a liquid fat source. Somehow it works really well to make the brownies moist, and technically it’s healthier as it’s got a lot less saturated fat in it than butter (not that anyone eating these will be THAT calorie conscious, but every little helps). I’ve also slowed down the cooking time to make the finished texture gooey and delicious, which also has the benefit that it’s harder to overcook them.

I usually make my brownies plain, without the praline top, but if you want to make them extra special you can go the extra mile and finish them with this crunchy nutty topping like I do here. The crunchy, nutty, sugar hit on the top just takes the whole thing one step further and makes them truly decadent.

Recipe

Makes 20 squares

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 420ml Vegetable oil
  • 640g Light brown sugar
  • 2 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 8 Medium eggs
  • 160g Cocoa powder (not drinking chocolate, as it has added sugar and less cocoa, and so has much less flavour)
  • 260g Plain flour
  • 75g White chocolate, chopped
  • 75g Milk chocolate, chopped

Topping:

  • 75g Butter
  • 150g Caster sugar
  • 225g Pecans, chopped

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Line a large rectangular tin (mine was 30×25 cm ) with butter and baking paper.
  2. In a large bowl whisk together the oil, sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs and whisk until fully combined. Add the cocoa and whisk again (go slowly here as the cocoa will go everywhere if whisked too fast). Add the flour and the chopped chocolates and whisk until fully mixed.
  3. Pour the mixture into the lined tin and smooth out with a spatula.
  4. Now make the praline topping. In a pan melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Then bring the sugar mix to the boil, before adding the nuts. Stir to coat the nuts and then leave to boil until caramelized (around 3 minutes).
  5. Spoon the pecan mix over the brownies, making sure they’re evenly distributed over the whole tray, and bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes. Be careful not to over bake here, as you want brownies to be slightly gooey in the middle. If you’re used to baking cakes I’d say take them out 5 minutes before you’d think it’d be ready if you were making a cake.
  6. Cut into 20 squares and serve. (They’re really good with raspberries and double cream!).

 

Thanks so much for reading! Check out my social media pages (links on the side bar), and like/follow to stay updated.

Emma x
Chocolate Mint Chequerboard Cake

Chocolate Mint Chequerboard Cake

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It’s mint, it’s chocolate, it’s massive, and it’s cake! What’s not to like? This one is an impressive center piece and will bring a touch of fun to any occasion. Four layers of chocolate and mint sponge, put together in concentric rings to make the stunning chequerboard effect. Smother it in some green icing, drip some chocolate glaze over the edge, pile high with chocolate mints, and you have yourself a winner. Despite it’s large size, it’s also surprisingly light. The chocolate cake is made using yoghurt, so it’s really moist sticky, and then the mint cake gives a beautiful refreshing flavour to partner the rich chocolate. So all in all you end up with a big slice of choco mint heaven, which slips down very nicely.

The decorating is also really fun as you can top it with pretty much any chocolate you wish. Whenever I’m about to make something like this I have a field day in the supermarket, wandering up and down the isles trying to work out what to pile on top of the cake. Generally speaking it’s a good idea to have a range of textures, tones and sizes in your toppings (my inner art student is coming out!), but apart from that go crazy. This is the kinda cake where you have a full excuse to go OTT, so make the most of it.

Being four layers tall, I can guarantee that this cake is HUGE. Therefore I’d recommend not doing what I did and make it on a casual weekday for household of three. Instead, either scale it down to just two layers (so halve the cake mixtures), or wait until an occasion, party or large gathering of people to show up – otherwise you’ll be shipping it out to anyone and everyone you can before it goes stale (I speak from experience). That said, when the time comes, take it. Go full out and make this extravagant cake, top it with whatever your heart desires and slap it (or probably gently place it, as it’s very heavy) in the middle of the table.

It does take a lot of time to make, so I’d recommend either putting aside a day to pull it all together, or make the cakes the day before you assemble it all, otherwise you’ll have a breakdown and I’ll be named responsible. You also need to know a little of what you’re doing for this one, so if you can’t crack an egg, maybe wait a day or two before attempting this. That said, you don’t have to be an expert. I make a lot of cakes, but I’m more of a cupcake gal, so a four layer monster like this was a little daunting. But follow the steps, use your common sense and you should be absolutely fine. On with the recipe!

Recipe

Serves 12

Time: 5 hours (plus chilling time)

Ingredients

For the Chocolate cake

  • 170g Unsalted butter
  • 100g Dark chocolate
  • 240g Plain flour
  • 280g Caster sugar
  • 3 tbsp Cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 Large eggs
  • 284ml Greek yoghurt

For the Mint cake

  • 350g Butter
  • 350g Golden caster sugar
  • 350g Self-raising flour
  • 6 Large eggs
  • 1 tsp Peppermint extract
  • 2 Tubes green food colouring

For the Butter Icing

  • 850g Icing sugar
  • 400g Butter (if using dairy-free spread use another 100g of icing sugar as it’ll be less stiff)
  • 1 tsp Green food colouring

For the Chocolate drip icing

  • 150g Good quality dark chocolate, chopped
  • 100g Unsalted butter

To Decorate

  • Mint chocolate decorations (e.g After Eights, Aero balls, mint sticks, mint leaves, mint Oreos…)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Grease and line four 6 inch cake tins (or two if you only have two, but you’ll need to wash them out half way through to re-use them).
  2. First make the chocolate cake. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water.
  3. In a bowl mix the flour, sugar, bicarb and cocoa together.
  4. In another bowl whisk together the egg and yoghurt. Add this mixture, the chocolate mixture and 100ml boiling water to the flour mixture. Whisk quickly until combine and then pour into two of the lined tins.
  5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean once inserted. Leave the cakes to cool for 15 minutes before turning them out onto wire racks and leaving to cool.
  6. Now make the mint cake. Put the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and peppermint into a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon or whisk until smooth and fully combined. Add the green food colouring and mix again until it’s all the same colour.
  7. Spoon the mixture into the other two lined tins. The exact weight will vary depending on the size of your eggs, but you want about 700g in each tin. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Check if it’s cooked through by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean it’s ready. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
  8. Whilst the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream icing. Beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Then slowly add the green food colouring, mixing between each addition, until you have your desired colour. I like quite a soft green, but you can make it any shade you like.
  9. Once the sponges are completely cooled you can begin to assemble the cake. Take a 4-inch and a 2-inch smooth, round cookie cutter. In all four cakes, cut a circle with the 4-inch cutter in the centre of the sponge. Then take the 2-inch cutter and cut another circle out of the middle of the 4-inch circle. Take the rings out of each other, so you end up with 4 sets of 3 consecutive rings. 
  10. Now is the fun bit. Take the medium size ring of the mint cakes and put them into the now empty large rings of the chocolate cakes. Then take the small chocolate rings and put them in the centre, so you have a cake which looks chocolate-mint-chocolate.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
  11. Then take the leftover medium chocolate rings and put them into the empty rings of the large mint cakes. Take the small mint rings and put them into the centre of the medium chocolate rings, so you have two cakes which look mint-chocolate-mint.
  12. Now it’s time to make the chequerboard. Take one of the cakes which goes chocolate-mint-chocolate, and put into onto the board you’ll display the cake on. Spread some of the butter cream over the cake with a palette knife. Then take one of the mint-chocolate-mint cakes and place it on top. Spread this layer with buttercream as well. Repeat this again so the next layer is chocolate-mint-chocolate, and then the final layer is mint-chocolate-mint, with buttercream sandwiching each layer. From the side the cake should have layers of chocolate, mint, chocolate, mint.
  13. Take a palette knife and blob half the butter icing onto the top of the cake. Smooth the icing out and push it round the sides. Use the palette knife to smooth out the icing in a not-too-thick, smooth layer. Leave the icing to set in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.
  14. Take the cake out of the fridge and do another layer of butter icing over the first, making sure it’s really smooth, as at the end as this layer will be on show. Dipping the palette knife in warm water before smoothing can be a good way to get really smooth icing. Leave in the fridge to set until needed.
  15. Now make the chocolate ‘drip’ icing. Put the chocolate into a heat-proof bowl (glass or metal) and put over a pan of gently simmering water. Once the chocolate is melted, take off the heat and throw in chunks of the butter, a little at a time – stirring to melt and mix.
  16. Using a thermometer, record the temperature whilst adding the butter chunks. Once the butter is melted and the mixture reaches 30˚C you can use the glaze.
  17. To prevent the glaze from melting the icing put it into a jug and then into the fridge for 3 minutes. Any more than this and the glaze will set so be careful. If this does happen, put it into the microwave for 10 seconds to loosen it up.
  18. When ready, spoon the glaze into the centre of the cake. Using the back of a large spoon, spread out the glaze so that it just drips over the edge. You want the drips to be slightly uneven and not to drip all down the cake, so carefully push the drips over in different amounts.
  19. Leave the glaze to set for 5-10 minutes. Then take the mint chocolates and decorate the top of the cake. I went for KitKats, Malteasers, Mint Aero balls, Mint Aeros, chocolate buttons, mint matchsticks, Mint Oreos, and mint leaves. Now you can serve!

Alternative:

Not a big fan of mint? Not a big fan of chocolate? Apart from needing a sanity check, this isn’t a problem. Why not try making a coffee and walnut chequerboard? Or cherry and almond? Simply make both cakes using the mint cake recipe, but instead of adding the green food colouring and mint extract, add chopped nuts, coffee, glace cherries or ground almonds and almond extract.

To get the defined chequerboard it’s a good idea to go for two contrasting colours in your sponges. So in the coffee and walnut one, for example, make sure that the coffee sponge is dark brown from rich coffee, and then leave the walnut sponge pale, by folding chopped walnuts into the cake batter. Then cover in plain or coffee buttercream and decorate however you want (e.g nuts and Fereero Rocher?).

Thanks so much for reading! Any comments, questions or requests don’t hesitate to ask. Next post coming soon…

Emma x