Nigella's Not-Just-For-Vegans Vegan Chocolate Cake

In a recent episode of her new series Nigella shared a recipe for her "Dark and Sumptuous Chocolate Cake" that she says "might just be one of the best chocolate cakes you have ever eaten". There's a challenge if ever there was one. Better than her Chocolate Marmalade Cake? Better than a Chocolate Guinness Cake? And vegan?? Hmmm.

I'm always up for a challenge though when it comes to sampling chocolate cakes so, for the benefit of anyone who happens to read this, I thought I'd give it a try.

Vegan, of course, means no butter and no eggs (or any other animal product of course). Instead the recipe calls for coconut oil and coconut butter. Luckily I already had some coconut oil and managed to find coconut butter in my local Holland and Barrett. Beware though, this stuff is not cheap. A 250g jar is over £7 but luckily I had a 20% of voucher to soften the blow a little. Add to that 150g of dark chocolate and you have a pretty costly cake.

So was it worth it?

In short, yes! Seriously, this is a pretty amazing cake. The cake itself is dark and moist but still light with just the vaguest hint of coconut in the background (but don't let that put you off if you're not a fan). Ultimately though, this cake is all about the icing. Obviously the fact that it contains 150g of dark chocolate is a big help and this, combined with coconut butter, sugar and instant espresso power, made for something pretty special. Overall it has a very dark, rich chocolatey flavour so if you like your chocolate cakes more on the sweet side then this may not be for you but it was a big winner for me.

You can find the recipe on Nigella's website here.

For the record...

* The expensive coconut oil and butter can be substituted for 90ml of any vegetable oil and regular butter or margarine.
* I was concerned that my cake tin wouldn't be watertight enough for the running mix so decided to line it with foil before greasing and lining the base with parchment. This worked just fine.
* It took around 15 minutes longer than the recommended time for mine to cook through to the centre.
*My icing was not very runny by the time the cake was cool enough but it was still spreadable so didn't cause me any problems.

Nigella's Chocolate Cheesecake

This is another of those can't-believe-I-haven't-written-about-it-before recipes as it's such a favourite of mine. Like so many of my most used recipes I love it because it's so simple to make and also completely heavenly to eat. Also, as with many cheesecakes, you need to prepare it in advance the day before to give it time to set, which makes it a perfect dinner party dessert.




Very little effort is required to put it together. Yes, you need to wrap the tin in cling film and foil and bake it in a waterbath which sounds like a bit of a faff, but as you will be doing this a day before you need it all the hard work is done in advance. The result is rich and creamy but, thanks to the cream cheese, not overly sweet. The chocolate sauce made to serve with it is a great addition and looks good drizzled over the top before serving. This needs to be made just before you need it but if you have the ingredients ready it only take a few minutes.

You can find the recipe on Nigella's website here. Don't wait too long to try it!

Black Forest Gateau

Here, at last, is my post about my contribution to the last Bury St Edmunds Clandestine Cake Club which took place in July. For my full write and pictures of all the gorgeous cakes have a look here.

The theme was Summer Fruit & Veg and I asked everyone to use seasonal British produce where possible. I decided to use one of my favourites, the cherry, which is a key ingredient in the all-time classic Black Forest Gateau. There are many, many versions of the recipe out there but I decided to use one I found on the Waitrose website. A lot of recipes use cherry jam for the filling however this one appealed to me as it uses fresh cherries.

I had high hopes for the cake as I was making it however when I came to remove the sponge from it's tin I was disappointed to see that it hadn't risen nearly as much as I'd expected. If you compare the picture next to the recipe to mine you can see that my sponges are half the size. I really wonder if the Waitrose picture contains two whole sponges rather than one cut in half. The recipe does, however, require the folding in of egg whites so maybe I was just too heavy handed.  

If I'd had the ingredients to hand I might have tried an alternative but I didn't so had to make do with what I had. Thankfully, when I had finished filling and topping the sponges it looked pretty good and I think it tasted fine too. Not surprisingly the cake was quite dense but the fruit and cream helped to balance it out a bit.

I loved the flavours in this cake and I think it looks pretty impressive but next time I'll try a different recipe.

You can find the recipe here.

Fruited Chocolate Cake

You might remember me writing about hosting my first Clandestine Cake Club a few weeks ago. Well here at last is the recipe for the cake I took with me.

The title Fruit Cake often brings to mind something quite plain and unexciting (well it does to me anyway). Lots of dried fruit, maybe some nuts, but nothing particularly indulgent unless you decide to cover it in marzipan and icing. Well this cake breaks all the rules by being anything but plain and boring. Yes it has plenty of dried fruit, but this is immeasurably boosted by the large amount of milk chocolate and the small but crucial ounce of cocoa powder added to the mix. The other bit of magic in this cake comes from the chunks of ginger which add a delicious spicy warmth. It does still look like quite a plain cake but trust me, this is a real gem.

The next Bury St Edmunds Clandestine Cake Club has been arranged for Saturday 14th July and you can find all the details here. Alternatively you can find details of all the events coming up across the country and beyond here.

Fruited Chocolate Cake

(adapted from the Marks & Spencer book, Chocolate)

2505/8oz unsalted butter or margarine, softened
250g/8oz light muscovado sugar
275g/9oz plain flour
25g/1oz cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
4 eggs
200g/7oz mixed nuts, eg Brazil nuts, almonds and hazelnuts, roughly chopped
250g/8oz milk chocolate, chopped
100g/3 1/2oz chopped glace ginger
250g/8oz mixed dried fruit

1) Preheat the oven to 150c/300f/Gas Mark 2. Grease and line a 20cm/8 inch round cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar together until softened.

2) Add the eggs and beat until smooth. Sift the flour, cocoa and mixed spice into the bowl and mix together.

3) Reserve 25g/1oz of the chopped nuts, 40g/1 1/2oz of the chopped chocolate and half the glace ginger. Add the remainder to the cake mix, together with the mixed dried fruit, and stir until evenly combined.

4) Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface. Scatted with the reserved nuts, chocolate and ginger.

5) Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/12 hours until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin.

Serves 12-14

Nigella's Flourless Chocolate Lime Cake with Margarita Cream

A new blog post at last! Unfortunately, I've been having trouble finding the time to sit down with my laptop lately what with visits from family, upcoming trips and birthdays and various other things that come under that general heading called "life".  But I just had to share this fabulous recipe from Nigella's most recent book Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home that, like so many, I had been wanting to try for ages.

It's a well know fact that chocolate and lime sit very happily together in recipes as I'd previously proved with Nigella's Chocolate Key Lime Pie - a triumph of flavour combinations.  This recipe takes similar flavours and mixes them up to make a delicious, flourless chocolate cake.  This cake has plenty of chocolate and eggs and a small amount of ground almonds in place of the flour. These combine to form a rather runny cake batter which transforms into a rich, moist but still light cake. The lime juice adds a citrusy edge that reminded me of a Chocolate Marmalade cake that I've made a number of times.

The thing that really takes this cake to the next level though is the Margarita Cream that you can serve with it. Lime juice, Cointreau, Tequila and icing sugar are added to cream and beaten to produce something that is nothing short of heavenly.  The usual rich, heavy cream is transformed into something light, fragrant and utterly delicious. As Nigella suggests, this could easily be served as dessert in it's own right with just a biscuit or two on the side.

The whole thing was very easy to put together. If making it for a dinner party the cake can be made several hours, or even a day in advance and the cream takes just 5 minutes to whisk together before serving.

You can find the recipe for both the cake and the cream on Nigella's website here and I urge you to try it!

Banana & Chocolate Cookies

If I ever write a recipe book I think I'll call it "Recipes to Make Your Home Smell Fabulous" and I've already got the first recipe right here.

The recipe in question comes from Hungry?, a book I reviewed earlier in the year and I'm still using on a regular basis.  I've been wanting to try these for ages but, until this week, never quite managed to have all of the ingredients in the house at the same time.  They were definitely worth the wait though.

They're quite unusual, being wheat and egg free, and have a more cake-like texture than normal cookies but don't be put off as they taste great, especially when they're still warm from the oven.  Plus, as I mentioned above, while they're baking your kitchen will filled with the deliciously comforting aroma of banana and coconut.

Banana & Chocolate Cookies
(adapted from Hungry? from the Innocent Drinks people)

3 ripe bananas
100g/4oz butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
2 large handfuls porridge oats
100g/4oz ground almonds
100g/4oz unsweetened desiccated coconut
a handful of raisins or chopped dried apricots
a pinch of ground cinnamon
100g/4oz milk or plain chocolate, chopped into small bits (or just use a bag of chocolate drops)

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4.  Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper (you may need two).

2) In a big mixing bowl, mash up the bananas with a fork then add the melted butter and vanilla and give it a good stir.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the chocolate, and mix well. Fold in the chocolate pieces.  It probably won't look quite as firm as normal cookie dough but don't worry.

4) Spoon the mix onto the baking sheets, using about 2 teaspoons per cookie.  Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until golden. (The original recipe suggests leaving space for them to expand but mine didn't grow that much).

5) Leave to cook on a wire rack for a few minutes.  They're best eaten while still warm but will also keep just fine in an airtight container for up to a week.

Makes about 25

Chocolate Rice Pudding

Yes, Chocolate Rice Pudding! I found this recipe in the children's section of Nigella Lawson's recipe book Feast, but don't let that put you off. This will appeal chocolate, rice pudding and warm-stodgy-comfort food lovers of all ages.

It was a breeze to make too, although I did have a bit of a problem with the cooking time. The book advises leaving the puddings in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, however mine showed no sign of being ready at this stage and needed considerably longer. I think the book probably should have said an hour and 30 to 40 minutes so have amended the recipe below to what I think the correct time should be.

Oh, and I found I needed bigger dishes than suggested too. The first dishes I used measured exactly 150ml as specified by the recipe but were full to overflowing when everything was added so I switched to larger ones with a capacity of about 250ml.

It was all worth in the end though. While the absence of the cream and full fat milk you usually find in rice pudding meant that these weren't quite as rich as the traditional recipe, they were still delicious. The children loved them too and the small portion sizes made them easy to assemble for tea (assuming you allow enough time!).

Chocolate Rice Pudding

(adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson)

a knob of butter

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon boiling water (ie 4 teaspoons)

250ml milk

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

2 tablespoons pudding or arborio rice

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1) Preheat the oven to gas mark 2/150c, slipping in a baking sheet as you do so. Butter two small pudding dishes (see comment above).

2) Put the cocoa into a small measuring jug and dissolve with the boiling water then, stirring, pour in the milk. Add the vanilla extract and divide between the buttered dishes.

3) Add 1 tablespoon of rice and the sugar to each dish, stir then put them on the hot baking sheet in the oven and cook for one hour and 30-40 minutes. Let stand for a while before eating.

Serves 2 children or 1 hungry adult

Banana Rock Cakes

This another great recipe for those times when you have some spare bananas sitting in the fruit bowl. I love rock cakes anyway as they are the perfect store cupboard bake and you can have them on the table in about 45 minutes, but adding some mashed banana to the basic recipe is an inspired idea. The banana adds an extra sweetness and they make your kitchen smell fabulous while they're in the oven.

The recipe comes from The Little Red Barn Baking book, an American book which I really should dig out more often as it contains some great recipes.

Being American, the measurements are in cups, which I've always found a bit of a faff to be honest, so I've converted the flour and butter into ounces and grams. I used cup measures for the raisins and chocolate but if you don't have these you can use something of a similar size as the amounts don't have to be exact. For reference, 1 cup = 250ml.

Banana Rock Cakes

(adapted from The Little Red Barn Baking Book by Adriana Rabinovich)

1 3/4 cups/250g/9 oz all-purpose (plain) flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup/75g/2 3/4 oz unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped semisweet chocolate

1 cup ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 egg

1) Preheat the oven to 400f/200c. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

2) Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter then stir in the sugar, raisins and chocolate.

3) In another bowl, mash the bananas then add the lemon juice and egg, and mix well. Combine the bananas with the flour mixture to make a sticky dough.

4) Spoon the dough equally into 10 lumps on the baking sheet, leaving some space for spreading. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cakes are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 cakes

Peanut-Butter Squares

This is why I love blogging. Because it gives me the opportunity to share fantastic recipes like this one!

This recipe has been on my (very extensive) to-do list for a very long time now but last weekend I finally found myself with all of the necessary ingredients AND an excuse to make it and boy do I wish I'd tried it sooner!

Peanut butter and chocolate make such a great pairing and this recipe brings them together in a simple but devastatingly effective way, with just the addition of sugar and butter to create a rich, sweet and very addictive mouthful. These squares take just minutes to prepare, especially if you have a food mixer to do the hard work for you. Even melting the chocolate in the microwave was quick and easy (why have I not tried this before?). I imagine they keep pretty well for a few days but I doubt a batch of these would ever last long enough to test that theory!

For another fabulous way to use up peanut butter have a look at this recipe for Snickers & Peanut Butter Muffins.

Peanut-Butter Squares

(adapted from How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson)

For the base

50g dark muscovado sugar

200g icing sugar

50g unsalted butter

200g smooth peanut butter (if you keep it in the fridge, take it out well in advance for easier mixing)

For the topping

200g milk chocolate

100g plain chocolate

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1) Line a 23cm square brownie tin with baking parchment.

2) Stir all the ingredients for the base together until smooth and press into the lined tin. If some of the muscovado sugar stays in small lumps don't worry.

3) To make the topping, put the chocolates and butter in a large jug or bowl and melt in the microwave (this should take two to three minutes on medium). Once melted together spread over the base and then put the tin in the fridge to set.

4) When the chocolate has hardened cut into small squares.

Hotel Chocolat's Adventurous Chef's Collection - Part 1

A few weeks ago I was very excited to receive a large parcel from Hotel Chocolat which contained one of their amazing hampers from their Cocoa Cuisine range. This particular hamper is their Adventurous Chef's Collection and contains a range of both sweet and savoury products beautifully presented in a large white box bound with black ribbon.

The first, and most intriguing, product I tried was their Penne Cocoa Pasta. This is just traditional penne with unsweetened cocoa powder added to it and can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. The uncooked pasta had a lovely chocolatey smell but when cooked I found the flavour a bit more subtle than I expected, hence the addition of the chocolate chips to the recipe below.

Not surprisingly I decided to use it in a sweet dish rather than savoury and created a dessert version of a pasta bake, inspired by a favourite Cheesecake Brownie recipe. This turned out really well and the chocolate pasta worked really well with the rich cheesecake topping and sharply sweet raspberries.

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Pasta Bake

125g penne cocoa pasta

handful chocolate chips

1 egg

200g cream cheese

75g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Handful of raspberries

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Cook the pasta as normal until cooked then drain and empty into a small oven-proof dish. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

2) Beat the cream cheese, egg and icing sugar together until smooth then pour over the pasta.

3) Top with the raspberries and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until just firm.

Serves 2

Next up was a packet of Pure Cocoa Bean Shavings. This is just pure cocoa, with nothing else added to it, and it can be used in sweet or savoury dishes.

These are ideal for adding to savoury dishes to add some depth of flavour or to sweet dishes for an extra chocolatey kick and were perfect for a smoothie recipe I tried out recently. Have a look here for the recipe. I also added some to a chicken marinade I made using another of the products from the hamper and the recipe for that will appear in my next post.

The third and final sweet item was a packet of 70% Dark Chocolate Drops. I've used these before and they are definitely one of my favourite Hotel Chocolate products, mostly because the chocolate drops are so practical for cooking with and they come in a generous 400g bag so will usually last for two or three recipes.

Most of this particular pack were used to create a fantastic marmalade version of the classic chocolate brownie. Have a look here for the recipe - this is definitely one of my favourite recipes so far this year!

As I mentioned above, the hamper also contained three products designed for savoury dishes and the details of these items will follow in a separate post in the next couple of days.

Chocolate Butterscotch Biscuits

I seem to be making a lot of biscuits at the moment. Mostly because they're just so handy for the large number of packed lunches and picnics I'm preparing on a regular basis, with it being the summer holidays. Oh, and of course they're yummy too!

The following recipe is an adaptation of my go-to biscuit recipe that I decided to try out following the discovery of these in Saisnbury's the other week.

For some reason I though they would be chewy and a bit fudge-like but they turned out to be quite crunchy - a bit like the middle of Daim Bars (can you still buy those? I must find out). Yum! In the absence of any chocolate chips they seemed like a good addition to a batch of biscuits together with some cocoa powder for an extra chocolatey kick.

They didn't turn out quite as I had expected as the butterscotch pieces completely melted, leaving small holes in the tops of the biscuits and little bits of butterscotch oozing out of the sides. Ignoring their slightly odd appearance though, they tasted delicious. The butterscotch pieces added lots of caramel flavour and I'll definitely be making a chocolate version again, maybe using white chocolate chips next time.

If you want to make regular chocolate-chip biscuits just substitute the cocoa powder for an extra ounce of flour and use a 100g bag of chocolate chips instead of the butterscotch pieces.

Chocolate Butterscotch Biscuits

5oz/150g self raising flour

1oz/25g cocoa powder

3oz/90g butter at room temperature

3oz/90g brown sugar

3oz/90g caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

4oz/100g bag butterscotch pieces

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking paper.

2) Put the butter and sugar and beat together until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Mix in the flour and cocoa powder until well incorporated then fold in the butterscotch pieces.

3) Spoon dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto the baking sheets and flatten slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes. If you want chewy biscuits then it's important not to overcook them, in fact they should seem quite undercooked when you take them out of the oven. The edges should feel just done but middles will still feel quite soft.

Makes about 20, depending on the size of biscuit you make.

Chocolate Key Lime Pie

This is recipe has gone straight into top ten favourite dinner party desserts, ticking every box along the way - it's super easy to make, you can prepare it the night before, oh and it tastes fantastic too!

I chose to make this recipe as part of this month's We Should Cocoa challenge. Each month, participants have to make a recipe that includes chocolate and another pre-selected ingredient.

This month's challenge is being hosted by Chele of The Chocolate Teapot and the extra ingredient is lime which was a fantastic choice. I love cooking with limes and immediately thought of two chocolate lime recipes that I'd come across recently in Nigella's Kitchen book. I ummed and ahhed for ages but eventually settled on this one and I am so glad I did (the runner up was Chocolate Lime Cake with Margherita Cream). It really is so straightforward to make (I think it took about 30 minutes tops) and I absolutely loved the lime/chocolate combination. A 5 star recipe for sure.

Chocolate Key Lime Pie

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

300g/10 1/2 oz digestive biscuits

1 x 15ml tablespoon cocoa powder

50g/1 3/4 oz soft unsalted butter

50g/1 3/4 oz dark chocolate chips

1 x 397g can condensed milk, preferably chilled

4 limes to give approx 2 x 15ml tablespoons finely grated lime zest and 175ml juice

300ml double cream

1 square best quality dark chocolate

1 x 23cm x 5cm deep fluted tart tin with loose base

1) Put the biscuits, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate chips into a food processor and process to a dark, damp sandy consistency. Tip into the tart tin and press on to the base and up the sides. Place in the fridge to chill.

2) Pour the condensed milk into a bowl (and if you're using a tin be VERY careful when you lick the lid - which you will). Zest the limes into another bowl and reserve for decoration later. Add the juice of the limes to the condensed milk, whisking to mix.

3) Pour in the double cream and whisk together - in a freestanding mixed or with a hand-held one - until thick, then spoon the mixture into the chilled biscuit crust and use the back of the spoon to finish off the top in a swirly fashion.

4) Chill the pie in the fridge for 4 hours (if the condensed milk was chilled), until firm or, ideally, covered overnight. When you are ready to serve, unmould the pie from the tart tin, but leave it on the base.

5) Grate the chocolate to give a light dusting to the top of the pie then sprinkle with the lime zest. Serve immediately, as it will become soft if kept out of the fridge for too long.

Serves 6-8

The pie can be made 1 day in advance. When chilled and firm, tent with foil (try not to touch the surface of the pie with the foil as it will leave marks) and store in the fridge. Store the zest in a bowl, tightly covered with clingfilm. Decorate with zest just before serving. The pie with keep for a total of 2-3 days in the fridge.

Forever Nigella - Seduced by Chocolate

This is the second Forever Nigella blogging challenge, a monthly blogging event using recipes from Nigella Lawson's many books based on a different theme each month. You won't find the ingredients or instructions for the recipe selected here as the aim of this event is to encourage people to go out and buy Nigella's books which I'm more than happy to support - I think every kitchen should have at least one of Nigella's books on the bookshelf.

This month's theme is "Seduced by Chocolate" and I found selecting a recipe particularly tough this time. Frankly, you could win me over with a slab of Dairy Milk, however I thought I should make the effort to find a recipe with that little extra something. But which one of the many, MANY chocolate recipes that Nigella has written about over the years should I choose? I spent a lot of time searching through all of her books and narrowed down the field to maybe half a dozen. I then agonised over the shortlist and made my decision. Then changed my mind. Then bought the ingredients I needed. Then changed my mind again.

I was going to use one of my favourite recipes that I've used many times before (her Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies in How to be a Domestic Goddess, if you're interested) but, in the end, and at the very last minute, I decided to make the Devil's Food Cake from her latest book, Kitchen:Recipes from the Heart of the Home. I have been salivating over this recipe ever since I saw her make it during her recent television series and this was the perfect excuse to try it out.

The method for making the cake is quite unusual. The cocoa powder and brown sugar are mixed with boiling water before being added to the cake mix at the end. This gives a particularly runny cake mix but it's this that gives the cake it's dense, moist texture. Making the icing is also an exercise in faith as Nigella explains in the recipe. While still warm the icing looks delicious but way too runny to be spread onto the cake. As promised, though, when left for an hour or so it firms up and becomes perfectly spreadable. Be warned though, left too long and the icing becomes quite stiff. I left mine for over two hours and it was almost too stiff to spread.

And the verdict? Well this cake is unquestionably delicious. Rich and incredibly chocolatey. There is a lot of dark chocolate in the icing (350g) which results in a correspondingly dark, intense flavour so if you're looking for something sweet and sugary this might not be for you. I thought it was fabulous and a real indulgent treat.

Rock Cakes & Hot Chocolate

When I received my delicious box of treats from Hotel Chocolat last year they also included a jar of their Liquid Chocolat drinking chocolate.

Not surprisingly I have thoroughly enjoying putting this to the test over the last few months. I was sent the Classic Milky version which has lovely rich, but not overly sweet, chocolatey flavour. Dark Chocolate fans might prefer the Classic Dark version, or, if you have a sweeter tooth, the Caramel might be the one for you. This has done a great job of warming me up through this chilly grey winter served, as you can see below, with the obligatory squirty cream and marshmallows.

I've served it here with one of my favourite afternoon teatime treats - the humble rock cake. If I fancy something quick and easy to rustle up I often turn to these, using a recipe from my old reliable Dairy Book of Home Cookery.

I'm not so fond of the traditional raisiny recipe and more often than not substitute them with the more indulgent chocolate chips.

Rock Cakes

(adapted from The Dairy Book of Home Cookery)

225g/8oz self raising flour

100g/4oz butter

75g/3oz caster sugar

100g/4oz mixed dried fruit

1 egg, beaten

10-20ml/2-4 tsp milk

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6. Grease or line a baking sheet.

2) Sift the flour into a bowl and rub the butter into it until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

3) Add the sugar and fruit (or chocolate chips) then mix to a stiff batter with the beaten egg and milk.

4) Place 10 spoonfuls of mixture, in rocky mounds, on the baking sheet, allowing room between each one as they spread slightly).

5) Bake for 15-20 minutes then cool on a wire cooling rack.

Thanks again to Hotel Chocolat for supplying me with these lovely samples to try out.

Blondies

I came across this recipe one Sunday afternoon when I was looking for something to satisfy my baking urge. It was the first recipe I found that I actually had the ingredients for and it had been on my to-do list since I unwrapped my cookbook du jour, Nigella Kitchen, at Christmas. I've never made Blondies before partly because, for some reason, I had always thought they would be a bit plain and uninteresting. How wrong I was!

These ones in particular turned out to be so delicious that I've already made another batch since I made the first one. The recipe includes a whole tin of condensed milk which gives them a lovely toffee-sweetness, porridge oats add substance and chocolate chips complete the picture. These come highly recommended from me!

Blondies

(adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson)

200g/7oz porridge oats

100g/3 1/2 oz plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150g/5 1/2 oz soft unsalted butter

100g/3 1/2 oz light muscovado sugar

1 x 397g can condensed milk

1 egg

170g packet dark chocolate morsels or chocolate chips

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4 and line your square cake tin with foil.

2) Combine the oats, flour and bicarb in a bowl

3) In another bowl mix or beat the butter with the sugar until pale and creamy, then beat in the condensed milk followed by the oats, flour and bicarb mixture

4) When these are well mixed, beat in the egg, and into this relatively thick mixture fold the chocolate chips

5) Dollop the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth it down with a spatula, then cook in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes. When ready it will be quite a pronounced dark gold around the edges and coming away from the tin. It will look and feel cooked on top, though just beneath it will seem frighteningly squidgy. But it firms up as it cools in the tin, so to end up with the requisite chewiness you have to take it out of the oven while it feels a little undercooked.

Makes 16 pieces

Chocolate & Cobnut Meringue Pie

Aswell as thinking of ways to use my recent supply of chocolate from Hotel Chocolat, I've also been on the lookout for a recipe that fits the bill for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge - a monthly baking challenge where participants have to cook with chocolate and another, pre-selected, ingredient. This month's challenge is being hosted by Choclette from The Chocolate Log Blog and she has selected cobnuts or hazelnuts as the added ingredient.

Cobnuts, as I have learnt since embarking on this challenge, are just a variety of hazelnut. I was initially just going to stick with hazelnuts, but by chance I came across a big pile of cobnuts for sale at a local farmers market so grabbed a bagful while I had the chance. If you fancy learning more about cobnuts then you might want to take a look at the Kentish Cobnuts Association website.

The recipe I selected this month is one I've had my eye for years and the title suggests great things. Chocolate pastry and a chocolate filling topped with nut-speckled meringue sounded like my kind of pudding and I'm pleased to say it lived up to all my expectations. The pastry was deliciously sweet, the filling was rich and the meringue topping was light with added crunch from the cobnuts.

It was also pretty straightforward to make. Chocolate pastry can be notoriously tricky to roll out but I used my tried and tested method of rolling it out between two pieces of clingfilm and had no problems. I had a bit of a hitch with the filling when I realised I didn't have enough cornflour but I topped it up with plain flour with no obvious problems. The chocolate custard turned out quite thick but I won't know until I try it again whether that was down to the flour. All in all it tasted pretty fantastic and I think it tasted even better the next day when the filling had cooled completely and set even more. This is definitely a 5 star recipe.

Chocolate & Cobnut Meringue Pie

(adapted from Chocolate by Marks & Spencer)

Pastry

175g/6oz plain flour

75g/3oz unsalted butter

25g/1oz plain chocolate, grated

25g/1oz icing sugar

1 egg

1-2 teaspoons cold water

Filling

50g/2oz cornflour

3 egg yolks

25g/1oz caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

600ml/1 pint milk

175g/6oz plain chocolate, chopped (I used my lovely Hotel Chocolat 70% Dark Chocolate Drops again)

Meringue

3 egg whites

175g/6oz caster sugar

25g/1oz cobnuts (or hazeluts), toasted and finely chopped

1) To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and add the butter, cut into small pieces, then rub it into the flour (I blitz it together in my food processor). Stir in the chocolate, icing sugar, egg yolk and enough water to mix to a firm dough. Knead lightly, then wrap and chill for 30 minutes (I left mine overnight in the fridge but it needed to sit for a while at room temperature to warm it up a bit the next day).

2) Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to line a 23cm/9 inch plain or fluted flan ring set on a baking sheet. Bake blind, (by lining the tin with greaseproof paper and filling it with baking beans or dried beans) in a preheated oven, 200c/400f/gas mark 6, for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes.

3) To make the filling, mix together the cornflour, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla essence and a little of the milk in a large bowl. Bring the remaining milk to the boil in a saucepan. Pour over the egg mixture, stirring.

4) Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring until thickened. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted. Pour the mixture into the pastry case.

5) To make the meringue, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Gradually whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Stir the nuts into the meringue.

6) Spoon the mixture over the pie, shaping peaks with the back of a spoon. Place under a preheated hot grill for about 2 minutes (pay attention to this bit! The meringue can turn from pale brown to almost black in seconds - I just caught mine in time!) until the peaks are golden. Serve warm or cold with pouring cream.

Serves 8

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Two Varieties

Since my last post about the lovely parcel sent to me by Hotel Chocolat I have been putting my samples to good use. This post is about the first two recipes I tried - both for chocolate chip cookies. When I first saw the chocolate drops in my parcel cookies were the first thing that sprang to mind so I searched through my recipe books for some new inspiration. The recipes I settled on are fairly similar but I thought I try them both anyway. I've been meaning to try the Books for Cooks one for ages and Rachel Allen's peanut butter version sounded really appealing. I was also interested to compare the two different methods for making them with one batch being cooked straight away and the other stored in cling film in the fridge over night before being sliced up and cooked.

So, first up is the Books for Cooks version which were cooked straight away. I found these spread quite a lot which resulted in them having quite thin edges (compared to batch number two below). Nevertheless they tasted really good although I would say they probably didn't need quite so much chocolate in them.

Sarah's Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from a recipe by Sarah Benjamin in The Book for Cooks Collection Volume 6)

150g/5oz plain flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

125g/4oz/1 stick butter, softened

125g/4oz soft brown sugar

50g/1 3/4oz caster sugar

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

1 egg

175g/6oz dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used my Hotel Chocolat 70% Dark Chocolate Drops)

1) Heat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment

2) Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg with a tablespoon of flour. Add the remaining flour mixture in three batches, blending until the mixture forms a dough. Fold in the chopped chocolate.

3) Drop tablespoons of the cookie dough on the baking parchment lined baking sheets, leaving at least two inches between each one as they will spread.

4) It's best to cook one baking sheet at a time but if you do bake them together be sure to rotate the baking sheets half way through the cooking time. Bake until the cookies are just slightly coloured on top and golden around the edges, about 10-12 minutes. They should be baked until just set - if you over back them the cookies will end up crunchy rather than chewy.

5) Place the baking sheet on a wire rack for a few minutes to allow the cookies to cool slightly and firm up a little, then transfer the cookies to the wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 30 cookies

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Next up, Rachel Allen's Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies. For this batch I followed Rachel's suggestion to wrap the cookie dough in cling film and store it in the fridge until needed. I found this to be a brilliant method and ideal if you if you don't have much time to prepare the cookies right before you need them. All the work can be done a day or more in advance and on the day all you need to do is slice up the cookies and bake as usual. The other benefit, as you can see below, is that you get much neater looking cookies!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

(adapted from Food for Living by Rachel Allen)

200g/7oz crunchy peanut butter

200g/7oz butter, softened

250g/9oz light muscovado or soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

250g/9oz chocolate, chopped (I used my Hotel Chocolat 40% Milk Chocolate Drops)

350g/12oz plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

pinch of salt

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4

2) In a large bowl beat the peanut butter, soft butter, sugar and vanilla extract until soft and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then add the chocolate. Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and stir to mix.

3) Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough in your hands to form balls, then place them spaced apart on baking trays (there is no need to grease or line them). *

4) Bake in the oven for 12-16 minutes until light golden in colour. Carefully lift them off the trays when cooked and place on a wire rack to cool.

* Alternatively (as I did), roll the dough into a log about 2cm in diameter. Roll up in cling film and place in the fridge. When ready to cook, unwrap the log and cut into slices about 8mm thick. Place on the baking trays and cook as above. The dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can cut slices from the frozen dough and cook straight away.

Makes about 60 cookies