Malteser rocky road

Crunchy biscuit, maltesers & honeycomb with white chocolate chips and soft, squidgy marshmallows

 All coated in rich dark chocolate

 Everyone needs to taste these

Makes 12 rocky road
- 125g slightly salted butter
- 200g dark chocolate
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- 200g dark chocolate biscuits, crushed
- 100g Maltesers, cut in half
- large handful of honeycomb pieces
- large handful of mini marshmallows
- handful of white chocolate chips

1. Melt the butter and chocolate in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring frequently. 

2. When melted and smooth, take off the heat and leave to cool down for a minute or two.

3. Next, stir in the golden syrup to the melted chocolate and mix in all of the other ingredients - biscuits, Maltesers, honeycomb, marshmallows and white chocolate chips.

4. Grease and line a tin then spoon in the rocky road mixture, and flatten down with the back of a spoon. Top with some extra white chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.

5. Leave to set in the fridge for around 2 hours, then cut into 12 squares.

Enjoy :)

You may also want to try Mini Egg rocky road!

Marbled chocolate cheesecake

I wish I could say that I created this recipe but unfortunately, the triumph goes to Mary Berry. I made this for an anniversary party and was nervous because I'd never made a chocolate cheesecake before and didn't know how the marbled effect would turn out, but it was a massive success! Everyone loved it and it turned out to be the most popular dessert. It will definitely impress - super rich, creamy and chocolatey will always be a winner - people didn't believe that it was home-made! Don't shy away from making this because it's baked and more effort than just whacking it in the fridge, baked cheesecakes have a much more velvety texture and are just to die for. You have to make this, and it will be a recipe you are passing on for years, I just wish it was my own!

(I did change the measurements slightly - the original recipe only had 100g biscuits and I found that this just wasn't enough to fill the 8 inch tin)

Quick tip: use only the best ingredients when making a luxury dessert - for me this means McVitie's biscuits, lurpak butter, philadelphia cheese and proper belgium cooking chocolate!

Serves 8-10

- 150g plain chocolate digestive biscuits, crushed

- 75g butter, melted

- 150g plain chocolate

- 700g full fat soft cheese

- 225g caster sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

- 2 eggs, beaten

1. Grease an 8 inch spring bottom cake tin and pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees / gas mark 3.
2. Mix together the melted butter and crushed biscuits and press firmly into the bottom of the cake tin.

3. For the cheesecake mixture, beat the soft cheese in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the sugar and vanilla essence and beat until glossy, then gradually stir in the beaten eggs until fully combined.
4. Melt the chocolate in a separate bowl.
5. Meanwhile, spoon half of the cheesecake mixture onto the biscuit space in separate blobs with gaps in between.
6. Add the melted chocolate to the other half of the cheesecake mixture and mix together until smooth and silky.

7. Spoon the chocolate mixture in between the cheesecake mixture already in the tin, then swirl the top to give a marbled effect.

8. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cheesecake is puffy round the edges but still soft in the middle. Turn off the oven but leave the cheesecake in there to cool. 

9. Once fully chilled (best overnight in the fridge), run a knife around the edge to loosen the cheesecake then gently remove and you are ready to serve!

Enjoy :)

Rocky road

I didn't know whether to call this rocky road or refrigerator cake - but either way it's biscuity, chocolatey goodness. I didn't put raisins in which I would prefer, and there are no nuts either since I'm not that keen, but the good thing about these is that you can basically add anything you want to them. They're so quick and easy to make with no baking at all!

Makes 8 squares

- 50g butter

- 100g milk chocolate

- 1 tbsp runny honey

- 100g dark chocolate digestives, crushed

- handful of marshmallows, chopped

1. Simply melt the butter and chocolate in a pan over a low heat. Stir in the honey.

2. Mix in the crushed biscuits and chopped marshmallows.

3. Line a baking tin with grease proof paper and pat down the mixture into it. At this stage I decorated it with edible glitter and chocolate hearts.

4. Refrigerate for about two hours then cut into squares. 

Enjoy :)

Festive baking

This is a very late Christmas baking post but I really wanted to show you what I made over the festive period. Since Christmas has been and gone, I won't actually provide the recipes like usual but if you do want to know more information then feel free to leave a comment or contact me via the links above and I will happily give you the recipes and method etc. Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year and that you enjoy the pictures!

Yule Log

I made this for Christmas day but because the Christmas period is so hectic I opted for the shop-bought chocolate swiss roll which I then cut up and positioned in the below shape (my mum's influence!) and  made the chocolate buttercream to spread on top. It looks and tastes better than the finished shop-bought ones but takes almost no time at all and is really simple. It would not have been Christmas without this!

Mince Pies

Again, you are going to think I'm really lazy, but I 'made' these gorgeous mince pies with ready-made shortcrust pastry and a jar of mincemeat! And I'm actually not ashamed to admit this since they were so yummy and although one day I would love to make them entirely from scratch, this way means you can whip them up in under an hour and they still look really impressive. It is never too late for a mince pie so I definitely recommend making these while the weather is still cold - warm from the oven mm mm.

Cinnamon and chocolate biscuits

Half of these were chocolate and cinnamon, and the other half just mixed spice and to be honest, I couldn't really tell the difference but they were so warming and delicious all the same. The stars and holly leaves I just used cutters and then decorated with writing icing, and the snowmen I used royal icing, food colouring, writing icing and silver balls. I loved making the snowmen, I think they look so cute. These biscuits are basically just the same as any recipe but just add the spices and they're even more delicious! 

Viennese fingers

Wasn't really sure what to call these - I thought I was just making shortbread, but the way I piped the biscuit and put chocolate on some of them makes them more like viennese biscuits. Not much to say about these other than that they were divine buttery, sugary delights! Really light but still comforting, so a definite winner. The reason why only some of the biscuits are dipped in chocolate is because these were soo fragile - they kept breaking when I was covering them in chocolate ahh! Shortbread is meant to be crumbly but I think I must have made these slightly too thin...

Makes about 16

- 100g butter

- 25g golden caster sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 100g self-raising flour

- 100g plain chocolate

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3 and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and stir in the vanilla extract.

3. Stir in the flour to make a fairly stiff dough.

4. Place the mixture in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe about 16 fingers onto the baking sheets.

5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until pale golden. Leave to cool.

 6. Melt the chocolate and gently dip the ends of each biscuit in the chocolate to coat. Leave to set in a cool place.

My mum bought me this 'bake' ornament thing in the picture below which is so cute, I'm hopefully going to find a place for it in our kitchen at uni, otherwise I will just keep it in my room. Couldn't resist featuring it in a photo!

Enjoy :)

Chocolate smartie squares

Do you have a particular food that you associate with your childhood? Well, these are mine! My mum used to make these for parties and other special occasions, and I practically begged her for the recipe today. As a kid you can imagine how chocolate squares with bright smarties on top can be so exciting - and they still are... They are no-bake cakes - just need to set in the fridge so are really simple to whip up. They are great for making with children because they are easy and fun. They are also perfect treats for Easter if you don't want to splash out on a ton of expensive shop bought cakes and eggs. For Easter celebrations you could top with cadbury's mini eggs instead of smarties. If you're making these for a party or event with a large number of people then I would recommend doubling the recipe because they don't last for long! (In fact they're so good, my mum was reluctant to give the recipe away, haha)

Makes 16 squares

- 50g margarine

- 150g dark cooking chocolate, broken into pieces

- 2 tbsp runny honey

- 250g digestive biscuits, crushed

- 16 smarties

1. Line a square tin (7 inch) with grease proof paper, and grease with margarine. (make sure the paper sticks up out the sides of the tin as you will need to use this to grip when removing the squares from the tin)

2. Melt the margarine, chocolate and honey in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from the heat and add the biscuit crumbs, mixing thoroughly until coated.

4. Spoon into the tin and push down, smoothing the top. Mark into 16 squares with a sharp knife, and place a smartie in the centre of each.

5. Leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours, then break into the squares and serve.

Enjoy :)