chocolate caramel layer cake ...

DELICIOUS !!

This cake is made up of four different layers ... it takes a while to do but it worth the while (I got it out of the good food mag)

For Vanilla and Chocolate sponges:

225g butter (plus extra for greasing)

225g caster sugar

175g self raising flour

85g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

150ml natural yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

5 tbsp cocoa powder

For caramel and caramel-choc sponges:

225g butter (extra for greasing)

175g light muscovado sugar

50g dark muscovado sugar

175g self-raising flour

85g ground almonds

1 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

150ml natural youghurt

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tbsp cocoa 

to assemble:

397g can caramel

140g dark chocolate

140g milk chocolate

300ml double cream

Heat oven to 180 degrees, grease and line bases of sandwich tins with baking parchment.

For the vanilla and chocolate sponges mix together all the ingredients apart from the cocoa, with an electric whisk. 

Scrape half the mixture into a second bowl and mix in the cocoa.

Scrape the vanilla mix into one tin, and the chocolate mix into the other, bake for 20-25 mins.
Repeat the same steps for the caramel and choc-caramel sponges, leaving the cocoa out until you have separated the mixture. Bake the sponges as above. 

While the sponges are cooling melt the chocolate together. Then stir in the cream, and cool or chill until spreadable. 

When the sponges are cool, decide which is the bottom sponge and spread a third of the caramel over it. Choose your next sponge and repeat the process, take your third sponge and use the remainder of the caramel to top it, add the last sponge. 

Spread the cake with the chocolate icing. 

It will last for up to 3 days (if you can make it last that long), I kept mine in the fridge, but an airtight container in a cool place would be ok.

Enjoy making this .... i did! :)

pineapple rice

It's been a little while since I last blogged - we've been away to north yorkshire for easter, so i didnt get a lot of time to blog or bake for that matter.

Tim and me at Marsden beach

This was a simple dish i took as a side to a BBQ at a a mates house the other day.

Pineapple Rice:

1 tbsp veg oil
2 shallots
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp mild curry powder
600g cooked rice
300g fresh pineapple chunks cut into small pieces
4 tbsp soy sauce
pinch sugar
finely sliced spring onion

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the shallot until they start to turn brown and add the garlic and fry for 1 minute. Then add the curry powder and rice and stir fry to separate the grains. Add the pineapple and then the soy sauce and sugar.
Take off the heat and stir through the spring onions.

just a bit of fun ...

This is how i served Tims poached egg on toast the other day when i remembered that the grill no longer works to make the toast!

chicken mash top pie ...

Whoa - i have not blogged in a while and i'm about to go home for easter - so the next couple of weeks may be lacking in blogs too ... seeing as i have a mother-in-law who is awesome at cooking.

Anyway i made this the other day ... and totally forgot to take photos ... so theres just a few silly ones of my wonderful friends showing there appreciation for my pie.

Enjoy - it was an easy dinner ... I made it in advance and freezed it for a week which was great ... however it was not defrosted by tea (having just got it out in the morning) so i think you may need to get it out the night before ... or just make it and bake it!

It's a bit of a rough recipe ... I'm one of those people that doesnt always measure what i'm doing ...

Ingredients:

3 Chicken breasts (cut into bite-size chunks)
tsp paprika
tsp pepper/salt
tsp thyme
1 1/2 onions
carrots, diced and pre-cooked for about 8 mins (4-8 depending on the size) 
mushrooms - as may as you want to use (i know some people dont like loads, I used 3 big handfulls)
stock and gravy
1 bay leaf
12 large-ish potatoes (but it does depend how much mash you like ... we like lots)

peel you potatoes, cut them and put them on to boil (about 20 mins)
start to fry your chicken, adding the paprika, salt, pepper, and thyme .... slice your onions, and add them once the chicken is almost cooked ... then add the mushrooms and carrots.
make up the stock, (about 1/2 pint) i thicken it with gravy granules.
When your potatoes are ready strain them and pour them back into the pan, mash them and put about 2 tbs of butter into the pan and a splash of milk ... then mash (add more milk if the mash is still a bit lumpy).

Put your chicken mix into the bottom of your oven dish and cover with mash, i dollop it on and spread it with a palette knife to smooth it out.

Cook it on 200 degrees for about 40 mins.

proof it was yummy

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake

This was todays pudding! WOW! absolutly delicious - and do not miss out the walnuts in the base - it's out of this world ... every cheesecake base should have walnuts in! I wish i'd discovered it before! It's the best kept secret ever!
It's very easy but does take a while! (an hour for baking and then a few hours for cooling), also it's not that expensive but you do have to buy a few bits that are not everybodies store cupboard ingredients, but it is a nice treat if your having people round.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE BASE:
50g unsalted butter
225g digestive biscuits finely crushed
50g chopped pecan nuts of walnuts

FOR THE FILLING:
275g mascarpone
175g fromage frais
2 eggs, beaten
45g caster sugar
250g white chocolate
225g fresh raspberries

FOR THE TOPPING
115g mascarpone
75g fromage frais
white chocolate curls and raspberries to decorate

Method

Preheat the oven to 150C. Melt the butter in a pan over low heat, then stir in the crushed biscuits and nuts.  Mix well and press the mixture evenly and firmly into the base of a 23cm springform cake tin.

For the filling, beat together the mascarpone and fromage frais, then beat in the eggs and caster sugar until smooth.

Break the white chocolate into smaller pieces and place in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (or use a double-boiler if you have one).  Stir occasionally to check for lumps and remove from the heat when chocolate has melted completely.

Stir the melted chocolate into the mascarpone mixture, then carefully fold in the whole raspberries.

Pour the filling into the springform cake tin and spread it evenly.  Place the springform on a cookie sheet with raised edges - my filling seeped out of the join between the sides and base of the springform and made a mess in my oven.

Bake for about 1 hour or until just set (you can stick a skewer into the centre to check, or just gently shake the tin to see how wobbly things are).  Switch off oven, but leave the cheesecake where it is and allow to cool until completely set.

Release the springform tin and lift the cheesecake onto a plate.  Mix the remaining mascarpone and fromage frais in a bowl and spread carefully over the top of the cheesecake.  Decorate with fresh raspberries and chocolate curls (these are easy to make with a vegetable peeler) or buttons, or chips and serve.

Enjoy this! I know i did ... theres a big slice left in the fridge and i'm very tempted ...

San Francisco Pork Chops

Wowee - I loved this recipe !! Someone passed it on to me the other day and i had to give it a go. It's a slow cooker recipe but if you wanted to I'm sure you could make the sauce marinade your chops for a few hours and then cook in the oven. But anyway i knew yesterday was going to be a busy day so i decided to get out my slow cooker and cheat with a bag of frozen wedges. However on arriving home i realised there wasn't enought wedges for two so i had rice. (the original recipe suggested rice anyway).

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 pork chops, about 1-inch thick
Salt and pepper for seasoning
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup low-sodium chicken stock
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water

Hot Cooked Rice/wedges, for serving

In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it is simmering and hot. Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Brown the pork chops for 1-2 minutes on each side in the hot oil until golden. Transfer the chops to the slow cooker. Add the garlic to the drippings in the pan and stir constantly over medium heat until the garlic is aromatic and golden (but not burned or it will turn bitter!). Stir in the soy sauce, stock, brown sugar and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over chops.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours until the meat is tender. If using bone-in pork chops, fish out the bones from the slow cooker. Remove the chops from the slow cooker to a shallow pan or plate – they will most likely be falling apart in tenderness at this point. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and cold water until smooth. Whisk the cornstarch slurry into the sauce in the slow cooker. Return the chops to the slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker heat to high and cook for 30 minutes to an hour longer, until the sauce is slightly thickened.

Serve the tender chops over rice and garnish with whatever you fancy really … I think if you were serving this to guests you could roast some cherry tomatoes on the vine to pop on top of the plate.

i must admit - i didn't thicken the sauce, I just left it as it was.

krispy heaven !

These were a scrummy little idea i came up with the other day ... I'm sure someone somewhere must have thought to do these before! anyway it's my easy peasy version of a rice krispy cake! Most people just use plain krispies with milk chocolate ... I decided to try ... chocolate krispies with white chocolate ... we had people coming round and we didn't have a lot of time to prepare and so this was 5 min mission to make something presentable. They obviously went down a treat because i didn't even get to try one ... everyone else gobbled them down! I thought these would only work at kids parties ... how wrong i was!!

I used 300g of melted white choc (i just melted it in the microwave) and the poured in krispies a little at a time ... I can't tell you how many i used - i just poured and stirred - until i thought it was a good sticky consistency!

Yum yum x