Chocolate Fondants for Two

The other night my boyfriend and I were having a movie night and as I got to choose the film (a rubbish chick flick I can't even remember the name of - gotta love Netflix), he got to choose the food. So, at 10pm on a Friday night we were making chocolate fondants, and they were so so good! On Masterchef, it seems that every contestant tries to make a chocolate fondant and there is always a problem with them, so I didn't really have much faith in our late-night attempt, but they really are a lot easier than they look, and they look very impressive! 

Ingredients (for two people)

1tbsp melted butter

cocoa powder for dusting

50g dark chocolate

50g butter
50g caster sugar

1 egg

50g plain flour

Method

1. Brush two ramekins with half of the melted butter and put into the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes. Once the butter has cooled, brush the remaining butter on top and dust with cocoa powder and tap out any excess. 
2. In the microwave (or over a low heat in a saucepan) melt together the dark chocolate and the butter until it is smooth and runny. 
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the sugar, sift in the flour and mix together until it is all combined. 
4. When the chocolate and butter mixture has cooled, add it to the flour, egg and sugar and mix until all of the ingredients have come together and you have a thick batter. Pour the fondant batter into the two prepared ramekins and place in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 180ºC while your ramekins are in the fridge.
5. Once the fondants have chilled, put onto a baking tray and into the oven for 13 minutes, until a light brown crust has formed and the fondants have come away from the sides of the ramekins. 
6. Leave the fondants for 1-2 minutes in the ramekins and then carefully remove them - I found running a knife on the inside of the ramekins and flipping them out on a plate was the easiest way to do this. 
7. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy! You could also serve with vanilla ice cream and/or salted caramel sauce.

I hope you enjoy this recipe - they honestly are a lot easier than people think!
They would make a fantastic dessert, so just multiply all of the quantities depending on how many you want to make. 

I have added this recipe to #CookBlogShare with SuperGolden Bakes

Lemon and Raspberry Cheesecake

This recipe is perfect for any summer get-together - the lemon in the cheesecake and the addition of the raspberries taste so fresh and complement each other nicely. All you need is a BBQ, a glass of Pimms, a cheesecake and you're good to go! What is even better is that this recipe requires no baking, so there is no need to get hot and flustered in the kitchen, especially when the weather is as hot as it has been lately! This recipe is from Billington's and has been tweaked ever so slightly. 

Ingredients

For the biscuit base

30g molasses sugar (I used Billington's)
90g unsalted butter
200g packet of gingernut biscuits

For the cheesecake topping

500g tub of mascarpone cheese
160g icing sugar, sifted
juice and zest of two lemons


Method

1. In a saucepan, gently heat together the molasses and the butter until the sugar has dissolved. Crush your biscuits and add them to the sugar and butter mixture. I crushed half of the biscuits to a fine crumb, and left half of the biscuits quite chunky - I think it created quite a nice texture for the base. Mix the biscuits into the sugar and butter until they are all coated.
2. Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin and press the biscuit mix firmly into the bottom of the tin with the back of a spoon or your hand (be careful as the mixture may still be quite hot). Leave to chill in the fridge while you make your cheesecake topping. 
3. For the lemon cheesecake, mix together your mascarpone cheese, icing sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice until it has all combined. It may be a bit wet, but don't worry as it will firm back up in the fridge. Spoon the cheesecake mixture onto your chilled biscuit base, smooth out and return to the fridge for at least four hours so it can set.
4. Once your cheesecake has set, remove it from the cake tin and decorate with fresh fruit - I used raspberries, but you can use whatever berries you like: blueberries, blackberries or strawberries! Dust with icing sugar and it's ready to eat!

If it's hot when you're serving the cheesecake, I would suggest leaving it in the fridge until it's ready to be eaten as the heat will make the cheesecake mixture melt, as it did with mine when I was taking photos in the garden! I really hope you enjoy this recipe, I'm definitely going to have a play around with cheesecake flavours and different biscuit bases :) 

Chocolate Celebration Cake

I had a play around with my favourite Victoria Sponge recipe to create this Chocolate Celebration Cake. My mum has an incredible collection of cookery and baking books and Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess is my 'go-to' book every time I want to bake, and it is from Nigella that I learnt how to make the perfect Victoria Sponge. I have altered the quantities in the recipe slightly to create a moist, chocolate sponge and used my ganache recipe to create a rich and velvety filling and topping. If you didn't want the filling to be so rich, you could always fill the sponge with a chocolate buttercream :)

Ingredients

For the sponge

225g softened unsalted butter

225g caster sugar

4 large eggs

140g self-raising flour

90g cocoa powder

½ tsp baking powder

3 capfuls of milk 

For the chocolate ganache

200ml double cream

200g dark chocolate (I used Aldi's 'everyday essentials' dark chocolate)

2tsp caster sugar

25g butter (cut into cubes)

a few squares of chocolate for decoration - optional

Method

Chocolate sponge

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC and line two sandwich tins - for a circular sponge cake I like to butter the tins and then sprinkle flour into the tins and shake until evenly coated - this gives a 'rounder' cake, rather than having greaseproof paper creases on the cake. 
2. Cream together the butter and the sugar until it is nice and smooth. 
3. Weigh out the flour and cocoa powder together and add the baking powder so that you can sift it all together in the next step.
4. Now add your eggs and flour. It is easier to add an egg one at a time and sieve a few spoonfuls of the cocoa and flour mixture in between each egg. Add the remaining flour with the milk - I find three capfuls of milk to be enough to loosen up the mixture.
5. Make sure the cake batter is all incorporated and smooth and pour into your prepared sandwich tins. Even out the batter and put in the oven for 20 minutes. 
6. Take out of the oven once they are cooked through - a skewer or fork should come out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for around 10 minutes and then leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Once the cakes have cooled you can make the ganache.

Chocolate ganache

1. Break your chocolate into small pieces and put into a heatproof mixing bowl along with the butter.
2. Next, pour your cream into a small saucepan, add the sugar and bring to the boil.
3. As soon as the cream begins to boil, pour it over the chocolate and butter and stir until smooth and silky. 
4. Leave to cool and set for about half and hour and then you can assemble your cake!
   Use half of the ganache for the filling and then place the second cake on top, and use the rest of the ganache for the top. I grated some white chocolate to decorate the cake - you could use whatever you like, white, milk or dark chocolate, sprinkles, silver balls - anything you want!
5. Leave the cake to set for a bit and then serve and enjoy!

I think this cake would be perfect for a birthday or any celebration, it's quick and simple to make and has a really lovely homemade look to it unlike supermarket cakes! 

P.S. I can confirm that it tastes incredible warmed up in the microwave with ice cream!

I have added this recipe to #CookBlogShare with SuperGolden Bakes

Virgin Raspberry Mojito Tartlets

If I had to pick my favourite drink I will always choose a cup of tea. But now the sun is (sort of) coming out from behind the clouds here in the UK, it is summer cocktail season! Which to me means one thing: mojitos. To celebrate the start of summer I created a mojito-inspired tartlet recipe. This is a non-alcoholic recipe, but you can easily add a splash of white rum to your cream to add a kick! The raspberries are a fresh and fruity touch and although I love original mojitos, if there is a raspberry mojito on the menu, I will always choose it! I hope you like this fresh, summery pudding. 

Ingredients (for four tartlets)

1 batch of sweet shortcrust pastry
250ml double cream 
1 or 2 limes 
2tbsp caster sugar
a handful of mint leaves
fresh raspberries

Method

For the pastry

1. Make your shortcrust pastry - the ingredients and method for the pastry can be found on my recipe for the Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart. Follow the method for the pastry from steps 1-4. 
2. Once you have completed step 4, you will need to divide your pastry into four, and then transfer each quarter into four tartlet tins. Press the pastry into the sides, but try not to stretch it too thin. If holes appear, you can easily patch them up with any leftover dough. Prick the pastry with a fork and return to the fridge for another half hour. Preheat your oven to 180ºC.
3. When your tartlets have chilled, take them out of the fridge and place a piece of greaseproof paper into each tin and fill with baking beans, packing them into each tin to ensure that your pastry does not shrink. 
4. Bake your tartlets for 12 minutes. 
5. After 12 minutes, carefully remove the baking beans and greaseproof paper and bake for a further 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool and make your mojito filling. 

For the mojito cream

1. Pour your double cream into a mixing bowl. Add the juice of 1-2 limes, depending on how 'limey' you want your cream to taste. I suggest using one or one and a half limes for now, and then adding extra to taste. Add the sugar and finely chop your mint leaves and add those to the lime and cream.
2. Whisk together your ingredients until your cream creates a relatively stiff peak. 
3. Divide the mojito cream between your pastry cases and smooth out. 
4. Decorate with raspberries and mint leaves. You could also add a dusting of icing sugar or a sprinkling of lime zest.
5. Enjoy - with a cup of tea or maybe a mojito if the sun is out!

As this recipe uses fresh cream, make sure these are kept in the fridge, and eat them within a few days of making. I hope you enjoy this baking twist on a summer cocktail! 

I have added this recipe to #CookBlogShare with Supergolden Bakes

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Tart

I have been wanting to make a caramel and chocolate tart for so so long now, but for some reason the idea of making a tart scared me. I think it is because cakes and cupcakes are my 'safety blanket', the prospect of a tart seemed really daunting! A couple of weeks ago, I spied a 9 inch tart tin and four mini tartlet tins in TK Maxx for an absolute steal (£8 for the set!) so I decided to go out of my baking comfort zone and finally make that caramel and chocolate tart.

Salted caramel is very popular at the moment and I have certainly jumped on the salted caramel bandwagon (chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream will be appearing on the blog soon!). So, I thought I would create a tart with a salted caramel filling to contrast a bitter ganache - the sweet and salty caramel really balances out the bitter dark chocolate. I hope you like it!

Ingredients (for a 9 inch tart tin)

For the pastry

250g plain flour

50g icing sugar

125g unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)

1 large free range egg

a splash of milk 

For the salted caramel

220g caster sugar 

105ml water

245ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp salt 

For the chocolate ganache

140g good quality dark chocolate 

(I used Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Belgian Dark Chocolate 72% cocoa solids)

25g unsalted butter (cut into cubes)

200ml double cream

1-2tsp caster sugar

Method

Shortcrust pastry

1. Start by sifting your flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and rubbing the cubes of butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips so that a breadcrumb-like texture forms. 
2. Beat your egg and add it to the mixture with a small splash of milk and mix it with your hands and form a ball of dough, ensuring that the mixture has come together - not too sticky but not too crumbly. 
3. Wrap your ball of pastry dough in some cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour.
4. After half an hour, dust a clean work surface and a rolling pin and begin to roll out your pastry, turning the dough as you roll until it is about half a centimetre thick all over.
5. Carefully roll the pastry onto your rolling pin and place over a 9 inch tart tin. Press the pastry into the sides, being particularly careful not to stretch the dough too thin. If holes do begin to appear (as they did with mine), just patch it up with any leftover dough. 
6. Some recipes say to cut away all of the excess pastry from the tart tin, which is what I did. However, my pastry did unfortunately shrink down once it was baked, so I would suggest leaving some extra pastry around the edges just in case.
7. Prick the pastry all over with a fork and place in the fridge to chill for another half an hour and preheat your oven to 180ºC. 
8. Once the pastry has chilled, put a sheet of greaseproof paper onto the pastry and fill with baking beans, ensuring that the beans are packed in tightly so that there is (hopefully) no shrinking. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes with the beans and a further 12 minutes without the beans, just be careful when removing the hot beans from the pastry case! 
9. Once the pastry case has been cooked, leave to cool and then move on to making the salted caramel filling. 

Salted caramel

1. Measure out your cream in a jug, add the vanilla extract, mix together and leave to one side.
2. Next, put your sugar and water into a medium sized pan and place onto the hob and turn onto a medium to high heat. You will need to bring the sugar and water to the boil, but you must resist the temptation to stir the mixture! If you need to, shake the pan to get things moving, but stirring caramel will crystallise the sugar and then the batch will be ruined. 
3. So, keeping an eye on the caramel and shaking if necessary, you will see it go from white to clear to a dark orangey colour. As soon as it looks orange/amber you need to remove from the heat (it burns very quickly) and pour in the vanilla cream, being really careful not to splash the hot sugary caramel onto yourself. Mix in the cream and you will get a gorgeous silky caramel. 
4. You may find that your caramel has some hard lumps in it - if this happens simply return the pan to a low heat and stir until all of the lumps have gone.
5. Finally, add the salt and stir once more and pour into your cooled pastry case. Put in the fridge for a minimum of 2 and half hours - if you can spare an extra hour or so, then definitely leave it longer. After this time you can make your chocolate ganache. 

Chocolate ganache

1. Break your chocolate into small pieces and put into a heatproof mixing bowl along with the butter.
2. Next, pour your cream into a small saucepan, add the sugar and bring to the boil.
3. As soon as the cream begins to boil, pour it over the chocolate and butter and stir until smooth and silky. 
4. Take your tart out of the fridge and pour the ganache over the top and smooth it out. Return to the fridge for an hour or so or until the chocolate sets. 
5. Slice your tart and enjoy! This tart is very rich, so you could probably get about 16 small slices :)

The salted caramel recipe makes around 300ml of caramel, so you may be left with extra after pouring it into your tart case. It will keep in the fridge for a week or two and can be used as a nice extra for desserts and drinks!

I really hope you like this recipe, I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I doubled the pastry quantities so I had some leftover dough to create tartlets with my new mini tart tins, so stay tuned to see a summery cocktail inspired tartlet recipe over the next few days...

Best Ever Chocolate Brownie Recipe!

This recipe for chocolate brownies comes from Nigella Lawson’s book How to be a Domestic Goddess. Nigella’s recipe makes a big batch of 48(!) brownies. As much as I love them, 48 brownies is quite a lot, so I always halve this recipe. It's not exactly halved - I add slightly more chocolate than half, but that is not necessarily a bad thing! I love putting different biscuits or chocolate into the batter and sprinkled on top, but they are just as good plain. I really hope you like these brownies as much as I do - I have tried other recipes and none of them even come close!

Ingredients (makes approx. 20 brownies)

190g butter

200g dark chocolate

3 free range eggs

½ tbsp vanilla extract

250g caster sugar

115g plain flour

1 tsp salt

Optional ingredient ideas

150g chopped walnuts
1 packet of crushed Oreos

2 bars of Daim chocolate

 Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease and line your brownie pan with butter and foil or baking parchment.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan on a medium heat. Use quite a big saucepan so that you can fit the rest of the ingredients in later. When the chocolate is smooth and runny take it off the heat and leave it to cool.
3. In a mixing bowl beat your eggs with the sugar and vanilla extract. Weigh out the flour, add the salt and leave on the scales.
4. When your chocolate mixture has cooled slightly beat in the egg, sugar and vanilla mixture followed by your flour (which will be better sifted) and salt. If you are using any extra ingredients such as walnuts or Oreos, add most of them in to the mixture here.
5. Combine it all together and then scrape it into your brownie pan. You can sprinkle the rest of your extra ingredients over the top before baking for approx. 22-25 minutes. The top of the brownies will have crusted over slightly but will still be gooey in the middle, but they will continue to cook as they cool down.
6. Once your brownies have cooled, take them out of the pan and remove the foil or parchment and cut into as many brownies as you like – big or small!

I really hope you enjoy this chocolate brownie recipe! They also make a really lovely dessert warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream :)