Quadruple Chocolate Cookies

Sometimes a little chocolate isn’t enough. Two kinds? Been there. Three sorts? Done that. Four types? Now we’re talking!

For this super simple cookie recipe, I vamped up the chocolate to the the max, with white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and cocoa powder. There’s no such thing as too much chocolate, obviously.

I cut the milk, dark and white chocolate into small chunks. Given that my kitchen was somewhat sweltering (much like the rest of the country), it was like cutting butter and took no time at all. On colder days you could easily pop them into a polythene bag and bash with a rolling pin.

The rest of the ingredients were equally as simple:

And the recipe? Well I adapted this one from my trusty Be-ro book. You can find the online version here.
One of the things I like best about this cookie recipe is that it doesn’t contain any eggs, but still makes beautifully soft, squishy cookies.

The adapted ingredients list:

100g margarine
75g light brown sugar
30ml (2 tablespoons) golden syrup
30ml (2 tablespoons) milk
50g cocoa powder
125g self-raising flour
50g white chocolate
50g milk chocolate
50g dark chocolate

And the method:

– mix all the non-chocolate ingredients together in a big bowl

– add the cocoa and about 3/4 of the chocolate chunks

– roll into small balls, place on a greased baking sheet (or silicon as I used)

– flatten slightly with your fingers, and adorn with the remaining chocolate chunks

I always like to keep some of whatever’s inside, to decorate the top of the cookie, not just for aesthetic reasons, but also because I like the eater to be able to easily see what’s inside. Take for example a cookie I picked up on an event early in the year, “yum, white chocolate chip!”. 2 seconds later I was spitting it back out into my hand as they were actually peanuts, to which I am allergic. Oops. I’m lucky it’s not too serious an allergy and a couple of anti-histamines later I was fine, and lived to cookie another day.

– bake for 7 – 8 minutes at 180 degrees, or more depending on where you want your cookies on the squishy/gooey/crunchy scale

– if you can possibly resist, let them cool completely before eating. There’s something extra special about that combination of chewy cookie and crunchy chocolate.

If by any chance they do last longer than 5 minutes, the cookies are best stored in the fridge in this warm weather, in a sealed container, so they don’t go soggy.

On the other hand, you could just eat one, after another, after another… and give that chocolate craving a big kick!

Personalised Champagne Bottle Celebration Cake

Last weekend we went to a beautiful wedding of a good friend of ours, at the absolutely stunning Stanbrook Abbey in Worcester. She is such a good friend in fact, Lauren is the one who actually introduced Rob and I!

I’d not had time to make a cake for her hen party a couple of months back, but an invitation to dinner with the bride the night before the wedding was a perfect opportunity for me to make this up. Champagne is one of her absolute favourite things, and pink, and sparkles, so it didn’t take long to decide on this one.

To start with, I baked a rectangular madeira cake, using a printed template of a Moet bottle to ensure it would be big enough. I used the same recipe (and tin, in fact!) as my grandma’s 80th cake, which you can find here.

Once the cake was cool, I used a sharp bread knife, and the same paper template, to cut the cake into the bottle shape:

I also thinned down the neck of the bottle, to give a more realistic and 3D effect.

Next up, and one of the most amazing revelations in my kitchen for a long time, champagne butttercream. Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, it’s as amazing as it sounds. And so incredibly simple as well. Simply beat together:

– 100g butter
– 250g icing sugar
– 4 tablespoons of champagne

I had a mini bottle of rose champagne which worked absolutely perfectly, and didn’t affect the colour as well. I covered the whole cake in the buttercream, and put in the fridge for about 45 minutes to firm up (and give me time to lick the bowl of champagne buttercream completely clean!)

Transferring the cake over to its presentation board, I covered in a dark green fondant. Because I didn’t want food colouring-stained hands for the wedding, I bought some pre-coloured fondant – the colour I used was Regalice bottle green.

A quick bit of trimming later, the rest of the bottle of champagne came into play as I took a few minutes to admire my work so far, and decide on how to decorate next.

First up was to colour some fondant for the label and foil neck. As I mentioned pink is a big favourite (and I had insider information that it was part of the wedding colour scheme), so I followed suit from the Moet template with a hot pink colour.

For the main part of the label, I wanted to keep it quite simple, with just Lauren’s name. Using some letter stencils, I carefully imprinted the name across the pink fondant, before filling in with an edible ink pen – the one I use is a Rainbow Dust Double-Ended pen – having both the thick and fine nibs was a great help with this cake.

On the top of the label, I carefully printed the champagne name, finishing with a yellow heart dotted with gold edible glitter. I also used a scalloped edge tool to carefully print a tiny dotted line all the way around the edge.

The finished label:

Next up was the neck section of the bottle. Using the same pink fondant, I covered the top section, and added an extra layer around where the cork would be, using a fine knife to create lines to look like foil.

Again my not-so-steady hand got to some writing, isn’t it funny how you can look at a word for so long and it doesn’t seem to be spelt right any more? Thankfully my second set of champagne lettering turned out ok too 🙂

Following the design of my template, I also added a gold-edged black ribbon, and golden round seal. As a memento of the year of the wedding, I printed 2013 onto the gold seal.

You may also spy rather a lot of sparkle – to look like real champagne foil a lot of edible glitter was needed!

For a finishing touch, I added some stems of gold spray pearls (non-edible), coming out the top of the cake, to look like champagne bubbles.

Well I thought it was a pretty good cake, but I’d no idea the bride would love it quite so much! She promptly whisked it away for use in the wedding, alongside their main wedding cake! With the promise that a helpful family member would add the groom’s name; I hadn’t expected her to put it into the wedding at all, I’d have added it myself if I’d even thought…!

But it all made sense when I saw the setup of the wedding breakfast – of course pink did feature, but the tables were also named after champagne brands, how fantastic! And wedding favours as pink fondant fancies, such a lovely idea.

I was a little apprehensive when I heard how the cake had fared – but actually a great job had been made of adding Ian’s name:

Look closely, yes that is actually a post-it note! But I think it looks better and more in keeping than adding on writing icing any other way.

And next to (half of) the main wedding cake – a match made in heaven 🙂

Lovely cakes for such a lovely couple – congratulations again Ian and Lauren! Long may you enjoy the finer things in life together – cake and champagne being a great start 🙂

 

Afternoon Tea Review: Tower Restaurant, The National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Last weekend a girl friend and I went for a short break in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. We completely lucked out with the weather – gorgeous clear blue skies and bright sunshine the whole time, perfect for a bit of laziness education on some of the Edinburgh Bus Tours.

The Castle and Grassmarket:

Views back to the city (Castle on the right) from Ferry Road:

We’d decided well in advance that afternoon tea was a must for the weekend, and, recommended by the rather amazing www.afternoontea.co.uk , we booked a table at the Tower Restaurant, atop the National Museum of Scotland. I’m pretty sure our decision was made entirely on it having terrace!

The museum itself was well worth a look on the way to tea. It has 4 floors of completely varied exhibits, from Scottish history, to Formula One cars, animals, and a whole heap of interactive stations where you can play games, press buttons, and generally have a play with some amazing things. Plus, there is a great rooftop garden, with all manner of different plants, and amazing views across to the castle.

We arrived at the Tower Restaurant a little early, weary from a days activities, but they were only too happy to seat us early. Having spent a lot of the weekend in the sun already, we opted to sit inside, rather than on the terrace, happily next to some wide-open sliding doors, so we could still see out to the old town and reap the benefits of fresh air.

It was pretty obvious what we were there for – afternoon tea all the way! Our order was taken, and we were then handed the menus:

And as if the food selection was not enough, they had a great range of teas to complement it:

What seemed like a long wait later, but was probably very short (I was hungry!), we were presented with this fantastic solid silver cake stand. A work of art in itself!

And the food! So much! So much choice!

As seems the sensible thing to do, we started from the bottom and worked our way up.

On the savoury layer:

– mini cheese quiche
– smoked salmon and cream cheese bite
– egg mayonnaise sandwich
– chicken and tomato wrap

Next up – cakes and scones:

– plain scone
– fruit scone
– shortbread biscuit
– dundee cake
– chocolate brownie with cream

Scones of course served with jam and clotted cream – wow they were good!

And finally the top layer – belly’s feeling a little full now…

– lemon and white chocolate mousse
– red fruits tart

I had my mousse with the shortbread biscuit on the side – a perfect combination!

We were completely stuffed – but not a crumb left in sight!

A quick amble round before we left, we found the terrace had amazing views of Edinburgh Castle; well we’ll just have to come back, and sit out there next time…

And our review? YUM!

I honestly think it was one of the best afternoon tea’s I’ve ever had. Not only was there a huge amount and selection of food, but every single bite was delicious, even the bits I wasn’t expecting to like.

A definite must next time you are in the beautiful city of Edinburgh!

Baked New York Vanilla Cheesecake

This was never really supposed to be a Fourth of July post (American Independence Day if you live under a rock…), but it occurred to me last night as I was baking the cheesecake, that it was an American recipe, and if I could get a wriggle on and post today, well, it would be quite fitting really! Actually it’s more of a sweetener (quite literally), for Rob, as a sorry-I’m-going-away-again; the last 6 months have been pretty much non-stop with travel (mostly for work, this weekend is for pleasure), but the end is nearly in sight!

According to wikipedia (is it ever wrong?), what makes it a New York cheesecake as opposed to any other kind, is the inclusion of the sour cream (although you could use normal cream as well, apparently.) I think this adds to it’s unique contrasts of flavour – the sour tang of the cream vs the sweetness of the sugar, the sharp lemon vs the sweet vanilla – and of course that gorgeous baked top.

I looked up a couple of recipes for New York cheesecake, but they all seemed to be mammoth! 900g of cream cheese? I don’t even think I have a cake tin big enough to fit that in! So, using inspiration from this BBC recipe, and this one from Jamie Oliver, I down-sized the recipe to create my own, smaller version (it was still baked in a 10 inch round tin, so not exactly tiny!)

I’m not a huge fan of using full-fat cream in recipes, it’s just so heavy, and I found these great ingredients from Morrison’s new NuMe range – using low-fat cream cheese and sour cream absolutely mean you can eat that extra slice 😉

Ingredients

200g digestive biscuits
75g butter / low-fat spread
25g caster sugar

600g cream cheese
200ml sour cream
30g cornflour
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
175g caster sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or similar

Method

Crush the biscuits to fine crumbs (or use a food processor), and mix with the melted butter and 25g of caster sugar. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom of the tin (I’d recommend around an 8-10 inch, springform tin, with high sides).

Bake in the centre of the oven at 180 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Place the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, lemon, vanilla paste and corn flour into a bowl. Beat until well mixed and smooth – taste to see if any more sugar or vanilla is needed. Add the eggs and gently stir until just mixed.

Grease the inside of the tin (I can’t advocate cake release spray enough), and pour the batter over the top of the biscuit base. As it’s quite a liquid mixture it should settle nicely and not need any evening out.

Bake for 45 – 60 minutes at 170 degrees. I covered the top of mine with foil for the first half an hour, so the top did not go too brown. After 45 minutes, keep checking back every 5 minutes, you want the centre to be just-set.

The next part is very important – allow to cool slowly. The best method is to leave with the oven door ajar for an hour or so, and then take out and leave to cool completely in the tin.

You should find that the cheesecake shrinks away from the edge during baking so will pop out easily. If it doesn’t, gently slide a knife around the edge to free it up.

In my haste to get things done I didn’t follow my own instructions – instead I put it straight into the fridge – and it cracked 😦

I prefer not to think of it as a crack, more a window to the smooth creamy inside… look at those vanilla flecks!

Once cool, keep in the fridge and serve in big wedges.

For a real red, white and blue dessert, you could serve with strawberries and blueberries, but in their absence I accessorised with something equally as sweet:

Happy 4th July!

Little and Large Lemon Loaf Cakes

When life gives you lemons, well, who among us would actually make lemonade? Not me, for one! A moist, fluffy, sweet-but-tangy lemon cake? Now you’re talking!

It was one of those weeks in the office, where nobody has brought us cake / chocolate / biscuits / sweets (yes, we are very spoilt, and it’s amazing), and free highlighter pens just don’t quite help with sugar cravings in the same way….
I had some lemons in the bottom of the fridge that had been need a use for a week or so now, and after a long conversation about lemon cake in the office the previous week, whereby we decided it was the best cake for all our tastes, well, it was a match made in heaven really!

After flicking through several recipes, I settled on a lemon drizzle cake recipe that I can’t for the life of me find now. I upped the lemon so it had more flavour, and, as you’ll see, split it into two cakes so I had one for work, and a smaller one to take with me for dinner at a friends the next evening.

The only difference between making these and one big loaf (other than the tin size!), would be the cooking time, which you’d need to up to around 45 minutes, if not more, to make sure it’s thoroughly cooked in the middle.

Ingredients

225g butter
225g white sugar (caster or granulated)
3 eggs
225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Juice and finely grated rind of 2 lemons

For the sugar crust
Juice and finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon
80g white sugar

For the lemon icing
Juice and finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon
80g icing sugar

Method

– Make as per normal sponge cakes – beat the sugar and butter until fluffy, add the eggs and flavouring, then fold in the sieved flour and baking powder
– pour into your prepared tin(s) and bake at 180 degrees C for 25- 30 minutes (2 cakes) or 45-60 minutes (1 big cake), until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean

– if topping with the sugar crust: keep the cake in its tin, and lightly prick small holes all over the with a thin skewer. Mix the sugar and lemon together, and pour all over the top of the cake. Leave in the tin until cool, when the sugar will have formed a crust in the top

– If topping with lemon icing: take the cake out of its tin and allow to cool completely. Mix the icing sugar and lemon well; and pour all over the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy! One recipe and two light, fluffy and so deliciously lemony loaf cakes.

Best enjoyed in big, thick slices. YUM!