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Mars Bars Squares June 16, 2018

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts,Uncategorized — delishuss @ 7:42 am
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I’ve made these twice recently for different BBQs and they go down a treat with adults and children alike. They are so easy to make. It would be a great recipe to get the kids involved with and take dibs on who likes the bowl.

I don’t have any photos yet but you can rest assured that anything with chocolate, butter and mars bars is going to taste good.

This recipe makes two tins of 21 x 21 cm size, about 18 portions. It comes from the Avoca Cafe Cookbook 2. The Avoca cafes are my heaven, I love the stores, the food and all of it’s home-wares. Worth a visit, if you are a foodie. The best ones are Powerscourt Gardens and Rathcoole in Ireland.

Ingredients

200g butter

6 x 65g Mars Bars

200g Rice Krispies or Coco Pops

250g milk chocolate

 

Method

  1. Cut the Mars Bars and butter into small chunks. Add them into a heated saucepan (medium heat).
  2. Melt the butter and Mars Bars.
  3. Fill a saucepan 3/4 full of water. Place a large bowl over the saucepan and turn on the heat to medium. Add the chocolate and let it melt. Stir occasionally.
  4. Mix the melted butter and Mars Bar mixture with the Rice Krispies in a large bowl.
  5. Spread the mixture into the tin you plan to use, leveling it out.
  6. Once the chocolate is melted, pour over the chocolate and spread it evenly.
  7. Leave to set in the fridge or at room temperature if it’s cool enough. When you are ready to eat, turn the mixture out on a board and cut into squares.
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Easy Peasy Pav with Passion Fruit Cream February 5, 2017

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts,Tarts & Pies — delishuss @ 8:46 am
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I’ve attempted making pavlova in the past with lots of failure. I found this recipe in the Taste magazine. It’s one of Matt Preston’s. His recipes are always straight forward and tasty so I thought I’d give it a try. It’s pretty fool proof. I’ve tried it twice now and it’s worked both times. I’ve altered the topping recipe but the base ingredients are the same. You can add whatever soft fruit you like. It’s best to make the pav the night before.

Ingredients

6 egg whites

315g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used essence the first time around and it wasn’t very nice, so I’d go for the extract or leave it out)

300g thickened cream

3 large passion fruit

3 tblsp icing sugar

1 mango, diced

75g raspberries

75g quartered strawberries

75g blueberries

1 kiwi, chopped

 

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius, 130 degrees Celsius for fan assisted. Draw a 22cm circle on a sheet of baking paper. Place the paper on a baking tray.
  2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks using an electric beater. Add the cream of tartar. Add one tablespoon of sugar at a time and beat until the sugar is dissolved in the egg whites. It’s worth taking your time to mix it in properly; I think that’s where I have slipped up in the past.
  3. Beat in the vanilla extract. Your egg whites should now be glossy and stiff.
  4. Spoon some of the mixture onto the baking paper and spread it out in the shape of the circle using a spatula. Do this repeatedly until all the mixture is on the baking paper. Try and get some height as it looks better and it collapses a little when cooked. Also, put a dip in the middle as this will be for your topping.
  5. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 110 degrees Celsius or 90 degrees fan forced. Cook for a further hour and 20 mins. The meringue should be crisp and dry.
  6. Turn off the oven and leave the meringue in the oven overnight.
  7.  Scoop out the passion fruit pulp from the fruit into a bowl.
  8. In a separate bowl add the cream and sieve in the icing sugar. Stir in half of the passion fruit pulp.
  9. Spread the cream mixture over the meringue base.
  10. Sprinkle over the remaining passion fruit pulp and scatter over the fruit.

 

 

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake February 18, 2016

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts — delishuss @ 9:51 am
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I saw Nigella Lawson making this recipe on tv and thought I would make it for Valentine’s day for my beau. It doesn’t rise that high, which I imagine is because of the density of the mixture. You could if you wanted to make two and layer it but there’s no real need. It’s so luscious that you only need a smallish slice. I loved it, it has a brownie like consistency. It gets extra brownie points (pardon the pun) for being gluten free and if you don’t melt chocolate over it like I did, it’s also dairy free. Just double check the cocoa that you use as it may contain dairy. I made a little change to the recipe by adding half olive oil and half coconut oil.

Ingredients

 

  • 150 ml regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
  • 50 grams good-quality cocoa powder (sifted)
  • 125 ml boiling water
  • 2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
  • 150 grams ground almonds (or 125g plain flour / 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour)
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 200 grams caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs

 

Method

1.Preheat your oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325ºF. Use some oil spray to grease your 22-23 cm/ 9 inch cake tin. Line it with parchment paper.

2. Add the sifted cocoa powder to a bowl and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey viscous consistency.

3. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool while you are getting on with the rest. In another bowl, mix the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.

4. I used a hand held mixer because I don’t have a freestanding one. Either way, add the sugar, olive oil and eggs into a mixing bowl and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes you have a pale yellow coloured cream mixture.

5. Turn the speed down and add the cocoa mixture little by little. Do the same with ground almond (or flour) mixture. Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour the chocolate mixture into the baking tin.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks a little bit soggy still. Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin. Remove from the tin after the 10 minutes. You can top it with melted chocolate and some fresh fruit or pistachios. For a bit of a change I served it with some vanilla flavoured Greek yogurt. It cut through the delicious dense chocolate.

– See more at: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/CHOCOLATE-OLIVE-OIL-CAKE-5551#sthash.fhQTcIGW.dpuf

 

 

 

 

Oh So Good Cheesy Savoury Muffins June 13, 2015

Filed under: Breakfast,Cakes,Vegetarian — delishuss @ 8:15 am
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My work colleague brought these in to work one day and they were devoured so I had to have the recipe. It’s  a while ago since we had them so I can’t really remember if mine were similar. They didn’t rise as I expected them to but they still tasted yum. I probably put too many vegetables in it, so the mixture may have been too dense. These would be great for a kids lunch box, a great way to get them to eat vegetables as well. The original recipe is from: http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2012/0910/3273-oh-so-good-cheesy-veggie-savoury-muffins/

Makes 8

Ingredients

250g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

2 eggs (small)

130 ml milk

4 tblsp olive oil

1 cup chopped veg (I used peppers, corn, tomatoes, shallots and courgette)

1 cup chopped greens (rocket/spinach)

1 cup grated cheddar

1 cup grated parmesan

Salt and pepper to season

Sprinkle of seeds of your choice (I use chia seeds)

Oil spray

Method

1. Heat a frying pan and spray with the oil spray. Saute the chopped veg (not greens) for 5 minutes and set aside.

2. Sieve flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl, make a hollow in the centre.

3. Mix milk, eggs and oil in a bowl and all to the hollow and mix gently.

4. Add all the veg, salt and pepper and cheese and mix.

5. Grease a muffin tin and fill the wells 2/3 the way up.

6. Sprinkle the seeds over each of the muffins. Bake for 15-20 minutes (check if cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre of one of the muffins and if the skewer comes out clean they are cooked, if not cook for another 5 minutes). They should be golden brown on top. Best eaten hot.

 

Roxy’s Rockin Cheesecake July 3, 2013

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts — delishuss @ 10:07 am
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I told my work colleague that I had a blog and she said I made the nicest cheesecake at the weekend so she shared her creation with me and I said I would post it. I have to try it myself soon, it sounds gorgeous. I’m a sucker for cheesecake.

EQUIPMENT

20cm spring form tin
Food processor
Electric mixer with mixer blade

INGREDIENTS
1 packet Nice Arnotts Biscuits
125g melted butter
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 vanilla bean pod
3 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup thickened cream
500g (2 blocks) Philly cream cheese, diced
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 teaspoon gelatine
1/4 cup boiling water

METHOD
Base: In a food processor, blend whole packet of Nice biscuits until a small crumb. Add cinnamon and quick blend to mix in.  Add melted butter and blend to combine.  Scoop out combine base into a spring form tin.  Press base and sides.  Chill in fridge while making the filling.

Filling: Boil water and dissolve gelatine in a small bowl, stir until dissolved. Place a plate or lid to allow stubborn crystals to dissolve and set aside.

Set up your electric mixer with the mixer blade (not whisk). Add caster sugar and diced Philly cheese.  Mix until completely smooth and creamy.

With mixer running on low, gradually drizzle in cooled desolated gelatine and beat until just combined.  Add vanilla bean seeds, vanilla extract and thickened cream and continue beating until smooth and fluffy.

Remove chilled base from fridge and scoop mixture into pre-prepared base.  Gently smooth to edges, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

 

 

Tia Maria Cheesecake November 14, 2012

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts — delishuss @ 9:06 am
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I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I reckon I will make it for Christmas. Catherine passed this recipe on to me and thought I would like it. It sounds fab. It’s from bbc.goodfood.com

Cuts into 16 slices

Prep 30 mins plus cooling

Cook 35 mins

 

Ingredients

85g hot melted butter, plus extra for greasing

140g plain chocolate digestive biscuits, finely crushed

3x 300g packs full-fat philadelphia cheese

200g golden caster sugar

4 tbsp plain flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsbp Tia Maria

3 large eggs

300ml pot soured cream

For the topping

150ml pot soured cream

2 tbsp Tia Maria

Cocoa, for dusting

8 Ferrero Rocher chocolates

 

Method

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius, 160 degrees fan assisted oven, gas mark 4. Line the base of a 25cm springform tin with baking parchment. Blend the butter and biscuit crumbs and press onto the base of the tin. Bake for 10 mins, then leave to cool.

2. Increase oven to 240 degrees celsius/ 220 fan assisted oven, gas mark 9. Beat the cheese and sugar with an electric whisk until smooth, then whisk in the flour, vanilla, Tia Maria, eggs and soured cream.

3. Grease sides of the cake tin with butter. Pour in the cheesecake mixture and smooth. Bake for 10 mins, then decrease oven to 110 degrees celsius/ 90 degrees fan assisted oven, gas mark 1/4 for 25 mins. Turn off the oven, open the door and leave to cool inside the oven for 2 hrs. Don’t worry if it cracks a little.

4. To make the topping, mix the soured cream and Tia Maria, then smooth over the top of the cheesecake. Chill. To serve, remove from the tin and slide onto a plate. Dust with cocoa through a tea strainer until the top is covered. Lightly mark the cheescake into portions with a knife, and place a chocolate on every other portion.

 

 

 

 

Carrot Cake October 22, 2012

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts — delishuss @ 10:42 am
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I haven’t actually tried this recipe yet but my friend Kathy has and I have it on good authority that this cake is awesome. So I thought I would share it with you so that you could try it. It’s a Rachel Allen recipe from Bake! I must give it a try some time.

Prep time: 25 min

Cook time: 1 hr 15 min

Serves: 12

 

Ingredients

For the carrot cake

140 ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing

2 eggs

200 g light brown sugar

300 g grated carrots, (grated weight)

100 g raisins

75 g pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

180 g self-raising flour

1 pinches salt

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp mixed spice

For the orange cream cheese icing

250 g cream cheese, chilled

50 g butter, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

275 g icing sugar, sifted

1 orange, zest only

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/gas 2. Oil and line a 13 x 23cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

2. For the carrot cake: beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, raisins and chopped nuts.

3. Sift in the rest of the dry ingredients and bring the mixture together using a wooden or large metal spoon until well combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the surface and bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for about five minutes before removing. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

6. For the icing: beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, icing sugar and finely grated orange zest and mix until the icing is smooth and thick. Using a palette knife, spread the icing evenly over the cooled cake, dipping the knife into a bowl of hot water if the icing is hard to spread out. Cut into slices to serve.

 

 

 

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake October 18, 2012

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts,Uncategorized — delishuss @ 11:06 am
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I had been meaning to try this recipe for ages, so I had the opportunity when a couple of friends came around for dinner.  It’s really lush. It’s pretty straight forward to make as well and it can be made a day before you need it. I didn’t have a weighing scales so the biscuit base was a bit crumbly, it needed a bit more butter. The chocolate is not that prominent in the recipe, so next time I think I would add a bit more white chocolate in it. Other than that I think it’s a winner. My friend Catherine passed on the recipe, I think she got it in a cookery class she went to.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Ingredients

For the base

175g digestive or ginger nut biscuits, coarsely crumbled

100g butter melted

For the filling

2x 200g cream cheese

60g caster sugar

Zest of lemon, finely grated

1 tbsp of lemon juice

300g good quality white chocolate

300ml double cream

250g raspberries

To decorate

White chocolate curls

Fresh raspberries and toasted almond flakes

lemon, zest

Equipment: 20cm loose bottom cake tin or springform tin

Method

1. Put biscuits in a plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin until coarsely crushed. Mix together the biscuit mixture and the melted butter.

2. Press the mixture over the base of the cake tin and chill.

3. Beat the cream until stiffly whipped.

4. In a separate bowl, using an electric whisk, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and zest.

5. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Pour it into the cream cheese in a thin stream, whisking as you do so.

6. Fold in the whipped cream. Stir the raspberries through the chocolate and cream mixture.

7.  Spoon the mixture over the biscuit base and level the top.  Leave in the fridge to chill for 3-4 hours.

8. To serve, decorate the top with curls of white chocolate, sprinkle over the fresh raspberries and cut into wedges.

Notes: You can use frozen raspberries if they are not in season or are too expensive. I made a little raspberry coulis but putting some frozen raspberries in a bowl with two tablespoons of sugar and ding it in the microwave for about a minute and a half and mash it up with a fork. If you want to be posh you could put the mixture through a sieve, I like it a bit rustic and drizzle the mixture over as is.

 

White Chocolate, Pineapple and Bananna Loaf March 14, 2012

Filed under: Cakes,Weight Watchers Recipes — delishuss @ 10:54 pm
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I saw this recipe in this months Weight Watchers magazine and I had to try it. I must spill the beans though, I didn’t cook it right, I had the oven too hot so the top was cooked but not the middle. I loosened the cake from the edges, and then shook it out and it fell apart, disaster.

A trick that you can use is stick a skewer in the middle of the cake and if the skewer comes out clean then it’s done. This is a case of do as I say and not as I do because I didn’t follow my own rule. I’d say it’s to die for if done properly 🙂

20 minutes to prepare

55  minutes- 1 hour to cook

Serves 10

4 propoints per slice

 

Ingredients

80g low fat spread

80g caster sugar

227g can pineapple rings in natural juice, drained and chopped

1 small banana, mashed

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

60g white chocolate, chopped

150g gluten and wheat free plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark, 4/180 degrees celsius/ fan 160 degrees celsius. Line a 450g loaf tin with baking parchment (don’t leave out this part like me, mum reckons this was my fatal flaw).

2. Melt the low fat spread and sugar over a low heat, ensuring it doesn’t get too hot. Pour into a mixing bowl and cool for a few minutes, then stir in the pineapple and banana. Add the egg and vanilla extract, then half the chopped chocolate.

3. Sift the flour and baking powder together, then stir into the mixture. Transfer to the prepared tin, then bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 55 minutes-1 hour, or until a fine skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

4. To decorate, melt the remaining chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Drizzle over the cooled cake using a teaspoon, then serve.

 

Chocolate Brownies with a Twist December 19, 2011

Filed under: Cakes,Desserts — delishuss @ 10:19 pm
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My colleague Miro makes tasty desserts and cakes every weekend, so we pressured him into making something nice to go with our afternoon tea. He certainly excelled with these tasty treats. The recipe detailed below has been written by him for us. I think it is worded quite skillfully 🙂

Ingredients:

185g unsalted butter (well I used salted and it didn’t really matter :-)) 185g dark chocolate 85g self-raising flour 40g cocoa powder 3 large eggs 275g golden caster sugar

Optional – zest from 1 lemon, handful of roasted nuts (I got mixture of peanuts, peacan nuts, cashew nuts and roasted them in hot oven for 10 min), crushed chocolate bars, maltesers, or whatever you have handy 🙂

Method

I’m sure you don’t really need me to explain how to mix it all together, but just in case, here we go:

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a hot water (make sure it’s not boiling too much, as we don’t want the mixture to burn ;-))

While this is nicely melting, beat the crap out of the three eggs with sugar until nice and fluffy (well, not really fluffy, but it should at least double in size, you know the drill….)

Pour in the melted chocolate mixture (make sure it’s not too hot, it should be at room temperature) and mix in gently as we don’t want to loose all our fluff from the egg/sugar mixture 🙂

Then sieve in the flour and cocoa mixture – and mix together – again nice and gently.

And if you wish so, you can now add the lemon zest, roasted nuts cut into chunks and crushed chocolate bars.

Pour the mixture to a square tin – well, mine was a silicone one, so not really a tin, but if you have a proper tin, then you should grease it or use a greaseproof paper, as we don’t want to end up with everything stuck to the tin. Think mine was around 20x20cm (no idea what it is in inches, but who cares ;-))

Put into preheated oven – fan 160C/conventional180C/gas 4 (to cover all options) and bake for 25 min. After 25 min, open the oven and shake the tin to see if the middle is still wobbly – if yes, put it back for another 5 min. If not, just take it out and let it cool down in the tin. Once cooled down, you can cut it to to your wildest imagination – I just cut it into 4 equal squares, then each square into 4 more squares and then each square diagonally into triangles – god, that sounds very complicated (but it’s not, I promise ;-)).

And finally (if you managed to get to this stage without any hick-ups) – enjoy eating it 🙂