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!

Mini egg rocky road

Easy to make and incredible to eat - the perfect treat for Easter!

Makes 8 rectangles or 12 squares
- 125g slightly salted butter
- 200g dark chocolate
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 200g dark chocolate biscuits
- 75g dried cranberries
- 100g mini eggs
- handful of white chocolate chips

1. Line and grease a baking tin and set aside.
2. In a pan, heat the butter and dark chocolate and stir until melted, then stir in the honey.
3. Crush the biscuits until mostly crumbed but with some chunks, then stir into the melted chocolate mixture with the dried cranberries and mix until well combined.

4. Leave to cool down a little for a few minutes, then stir in most of the mini eggs, leaving 8 or 12 to place on top depending on how many rocky roads you're making.
5. Pour/spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth down, then place the mini eggs on top and scatter with the white chocolate chips.

6. Leave to set in the fridge for about two hours, then using a sharp knife cut into rectangles or squares.

Enjoy :)

You might also like to try delicious Creme Egg Brownies this Easter!

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 :)

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 :)

Banana loaf cake

I had never tried banana cake until someone home-made it for a BBQ dessert last summer, and I absolutely loved it. I like bananas but don't usually like banana flavoured things, the exception being this cake of course. I used the recipe in Lisa Faulkner's cookbook, which worked really well. The good thing about it is that it requires very ripe bananas, so you don't have to waste those black bananas in your fruit bowl anymore! It's quite a dense cake but super moist and full of sweet flavour which is what I love most about it, and the end pieces taste particularly good, I don't really know why, it must be the change in texture? I grated some dark chocolate on top before baking, and next time I will probably put dark chocolate chips in to improve the texture and balance the sweetness with a more bitter taste - who doesn't love chocolate chunks in a cake!? If you like bananas, I would definitely recommend trying this recipe, don't be sceptical - it can be just as yummy as a victoria sponge or chocolate cake, it has lots of potential! I also always think of this as quite a British cake so would be the perfect treat to whip up for the jubilee weekend if you are having a party or spending time with family.

For a 1kg cake - serves 8-10 (I halved it)

- 125g butter or margarine, softened

- 75g soft brown sugar

- 75g caster sugar

- 2 eggs, beaten

- 3 ripe bananas, mashed

- 250g self-raising flour, sieved

- 2 heaped teaspoons honey

- dark chocolate, grated

(How cute is this egg box!? I'm sure they're just normal eggs - I don't think the fact that they're called 'baking eggs' changes anything, but they were really large eggs and the best value at around £1.20 for 6! I got them in Tesco)

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees. Grease a loaf tin.

2. Cream together the butter and the sugar until soft and fluffy. Whisk in the beaten eggs and the mashed banana until fully combined.

3. Fold in the flour, then stir in the honey.

4. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and grate the dark chocolate on top.

5. Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes, or until golden on top, and a knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle.

6. Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wired rack and leave to cool. Serve on its own or with some crème fraiche, mm mm.

Enjoy :)

Incredibly gooey chocolate brownies

I've decided to accept that although my brownies never look the most appealing - they always taste delicious. I always have problems getting brownies right (especially when I tried to cook the oreo brownies in a broken oven...) when I follow recipes, so I adapted a few and came up with something extremely chocolatey, gooey and crisp on top - a-mazing! The different textures work so well together. You have got to try these if you love gooey, moist brownies. You can change the recipe yourself - you don't have to use 3 different types of chocolates, just keep the quantities the same. These are best eaten with a fork! (Try and grab an end piece because these are the fudgiest and the edges have a texture like soft cookie mm)

Makes 24

- 100g dark chocolate, 50g milk chocolate, 50g white chocolate, broken into pieces

- 175g butter

- 50g margarine 

- 150g caster sugar

- 100g golden caster sugar

- 50g dark muscovado sugar (optional - you can use more golden, caster sugar)

- 3 large eggs, beaten

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 75g plain flour, sifted

- 1 tsp baking powder

- large square or rectangular baking tin

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees. Grease and line a baking tin with grease-proof paper.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a pan over a low heat, stirring constantly until melted.

3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until thick and combined. Stir in the chocolate and butter mixture and add the vanilla essence.

4. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder, and stir thoroughly until combined.

5. Pour the mixture into the baking tin

6. Bake in the oven (middle shelf) for around 30 minutes. Mine was probably in for about 40 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Buttercream truffles

 Leftover buttercream? The way I see it is that you now have two options - either freeze the buttercream and defrost within a couple of months to use again on cakes, or make some deliciously mouth-watering truffles! (Throwing it away is not an option...) I made a very chocolatey, chocolate finger cake for my friend's birthday the other day with chocolate frosting - the recipe is here. I had quite a bit leftover so decided to have some fun making truffles. Be warned - they can be very rich and sickly, so make them small and only have a couple at a time! The truffles look so cute and way more difficult than they are so they are bound to impress - perfect for any celebration or party.
Oh, and I hope you noticed my new plate (yay) from Matalan, I love the pattern it matches my wallpaper!

Ingredients
- leftover buttercream (can be any flavour) click here to find my chocolate buttercream recipe
- dark chocolate 
- decorations (I used sprinkles and chocolate crunch balls)

1. Make sure the buttercream is really cold from the fridge. This can get quite messy as the buttercream will begin to go soft when you start to handle it (try and make sure your hands are cold first)
2. Gently shape the buttercream into small balls with your fingertips and place on a plate. Put in the freezer for about 20 minutes so they harden and go cold.

3. Melt some dark chocolate and roll each ball in, fishing out with a fork. Place the chocolate covered buttercream balls onto a tray with grease-proof paper on.
4. Immediately decorate with sprinkles or whatever you prefer before the chocolate hardens. If you want to drizzle white chocolate over, or dust with cocoa powder, there isn't as much of a hurry! Have fun with this, experiment with different decorations.

Enjoy :)

St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Creams

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish, but this festive day seems to be increasingly popular in Britain and America so thought I would celebrate with some delicious sugar treats. My family and I usually make peppermint creams at Christmas time, and use Christmas shape cutters such as stars, holly leaves, bells etc. I wanted to make these today 1. because I could use green food colouring since mint is associated with green anyway and 2. because I got the recipe from my favourite baking and treats cookbook of all time (I will put a picture and link at the bottom of this post as per usual!) These are so simple to make, with only a few ingredients, and they are so cute and delicious. They are light and refreshing and go perfectly with dark chocolate decorations. So if you want to whip up something festive today, these are the winners!

Makes 30 (I divided it by 3)

Ingredients:

- 300g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

- 1 egg white

- peppermint extract, to taste

- green food colouring

- dark chocolate, melted for decoration

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Whisk the egg white with a fork in another large bowl until a little frothy.

2. Beat in half the icing sugar to the egg white. Add a few drops of peppermint extract, then gradually add the rest of the icing sugar until you have a firm paste.

3. Add a few drops of food colouring and mix or knead in to the paste.

4. Sprinkle icing sugar on the work surface and roll out the paste.

5. Cut out any shapes you desire and place on a baking sheet on a tray. Leave to dry out in a cool place.

6. Melt the dark chocolate and spread or drizzle on the peppermint creams. Place in the fridge for an hour or two.

Enjoy :)

This is the book I got the recipe from, it is brilliant, it has pretty much anything you could ask for in terms of sweet treats. It even has savoury treats such as muffins, croissants etc. I definitely recommend!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1001-Cupcakes-Cookies-Tempting-Treats/dp/1407573187