We’ve seen the first episode of the ninth series of The Great British Bake Off already which means it’s time for me to bake along with the show. The first episode of the series was Biscuit Week and the challenge I chose to attempt was the Technical which was Wagon Wheels. I chose to invent…
Tag: dark chocolate
Dark Chocolate and Strawberry Mini Rolls
Last night we watched the first episode of The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 with Sandi Toksvig, Noel Fielding and Prue Leith. Prue set her first Technical Challenge of the series and did she choose a cracker (not literally a cracker, it was Cake Week after all)! She chose the kids party favourite,…
Dark Chocolate and Black Sesame Biscuits
Black sesame is an ingredient commonly used in many Chinese desserts such as black sesame soup called ji ma wu (a type of tong sui, or sweet soup – I’ve got a recipe for one here!) or as a filling for mochi or tong yuen which are glutinous rice balls. In the UK however, black…
Giant Homemade Jaffa Cake
We were all transfixed to The Great British Bake Off when Mary set them the challenge of making 12 Jaffa cakes. Whether it was making sure the cakes weren’t stuck to the tin or putting on the jelly the right way up, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome. But I’m giving it a go,…
Simple Rich Chocolate Pots
Desserts are a fantastic time to show off a little bit of skill and flair using your culinary skills to leave a lasting impression on your guests. My Rich Chocolate Pots take hardly any time to make, uses only 1 bowl so there’s hardly any washing up and are rich tasting and a delicious way…
White Chocolate Hemispheres with Truffle Centre
Chocolate shops all over the country will see a boom in sales as some frantically rush around to find a Valentine’s Day gift for their loved ones. I tried making my own chocolates which I think could possibly eclipse many of the chocolates you’ll find on your high street. My White Chocolate Hemispheres have a…
Chocolate Brownie Pudding
Sometimes you just really need a pudding on a cold night to make you feel so much better. And in amongst the revision for my first university exam, I managed to find a bit of time to rustle up a Chocolate Brownie Pudding. This pudding is rich and chocolatey and is just so utterly comforting;…
Day 11 of 12: Chocolate Slabs and Chocolate Bark
While it’s all good spending money on gifts from the shops, usually the gifts that mean the most are the ones with the most thought behind them and sometimes this means making them by hand, whether that’s wrapping up a shoebox for Secret Santa or making a homemade Christmas card. Edible gifts are always much…
Day 6 of 12: Melted Snowman Chocolate Cupcakes
Back on Day 2 of 12 Days of Christmas, I posted my recipe for Melted Snowman Chocolate Chip Cookies. The story behind those was the idea of seeing your snowman melt away slowly and needing some comfort with some warm chocolate chip cookies. I’ve since seen quite a few melted snowman themed bakes which involved…
Day 2 of 12: Melted Snowman Chocolate Chip Cookies
The saddest part of a snow day is seeing your lovingly built snowman, fit with a bright orange carrot nose, button eyes wrapped in your favourite scarf and woolly hat, start to melt away and fall into the ground. At the risk of sounding like a John Lewis advert, you can certainly forget the melancholy…
Exploring Chocolate Tarts: Cremamocha Tart
The final chocolate tart in my series ‘Exploring Chocolate Tarts’ is my Cremamocha Tart; a shortcrust pastry base filled with a coffee flavoured smooth chocolate ganache. The coffee flavour comes from the addition of Camp Coffee, a chicory-based coffee flavoured essence which can be used in baking to produce a coffee flavour as well as…
Exploring Chocolate Tarts: ‘Nuts for Chocolate’ Tart
You might have seen my recipe for Dark Chocolate Teacakes using Mr Toms but I chose to reinvent the way in which I used it in a bit of an experiment to make my Nuts for Chocolate Tart. Mr Tom is essentially a peanut praline bar and so I decided to crush it up into…
Exploring Chocolate Tarts: Bitter Chocolate Tart
The second of the chocolate tart recipes in my ‘Exploring Chocolate Tarts’ series is my Bitter Chocolate Tart. The shortcrust pastry base is filled with an intensely flavoured chocolate ganache-style mixture and is baked in the oven to set, giving it a smooth texture. The foundation of the filling is a ganache made with milk…
Exploring Chocolate Tarts: Chocolate Brownie Tarts
I’ve been wanting to do a series of different versions of the same bake and everything seemed to come together all at once. I found another one of my reduced bargains from Marks and Spencer and it was ready rolled shortcrust pastry for 80p and it tied in perfectly with the arrival of my Food Thoughts…
Dark Chocolate Teacakes with Marshmallow Meringue and Mr Toms
You may remember that I told you that I bought some silicone hemisphere moulds from my time in Hong Kong when we went to Shanghai Street in Yau Ma Tei, which you can read about here. I just couldn’t resist having a play with them as soon as we got back and I decided to…
Andrew in the Kitchen 