Category: chocolate

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Mud Cake?!

chocolate mug cake

My daughters have been having healthy week at school the past week. With much excitement my oldest came home on the first day saying, ‘Mum, do you want me to make you a mud cake?’…well that’s what I thought she said – turns out she was actually saying ‘mug cake’.

So later on when she was speaking to her granny on the phone all I could hear was ‘no, mug cake’….’mugggg cake, granny’…..’MUGGGG’…….’cake in a MUGGGG’…!

She’s been making them all week. Three ingredients and no sugar! Just cocoa powder, banana and egg. This particular daughter will only eat eggs if they’re in a pancake or a cake so this is another great way to get an egg in to her now and then.

Later in the week she asked if I could share her new recipe with you all…turns out she’s up-ed it to 4 ingredients with the addition of grapes. Personally I suggest you stick with the original 3 but it’s up to you.

Mud Cake Ingredients:

1 egg
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 banana (eat the other half!)
(3 grapes – optional!!!)

Method:

Watch the clip!

Let us know what you think!

PS If you like this you’ll love Sugar-free chocolate brownies

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Sugar-free chocolate brownies

sugar-free chocolate brownies davina mccall

Lately I’ve been trying to cut out white flour and refined sugar almost entirely. It’s not easy when I’m nearly 8 months pregnant and craving chocolate, cake, crisps, biscuits, sweets….constantly. So I’ve had to find a few ‘sweet’ alternatives. I found this recipe for sugar-free brownies online by Davina McCall.

Sugar free chocolate brownies

As usual I didn’t quite have all the ingredients to hand and I’ll tell you what I did differently, but essentially the were the same. I would love to try them again and make them gluten free too – maybe tomorrow!?…and yes I did sprinkle a little icing sugar on the top but only a little and wouldn’t have if I wasn’t showing them to you!sugar-free chocolate brownies davina mccall

Ingredients

125g Dark Chocolate (100% cocoa)
100ml milk
100g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the tin
175g honey
150g maple syrup
Seeds scraped from ½ split vanilla pod
50g cocoa powder, sieved
3 eggs
150g wholemeal spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder

My variations!

Chocolate – I only had 50% chocolate to hand but would like to try again with darker, my 50% was dairy free though.
Milk – I use oat milk as we’re dairy free, it’s great for baking.
Butter – as we’re dairy free I use Pure sunflower spread in all my baking, it’s perfect, you wouldn’t know the difference – unless you need a ‘buttery’ taste.
Honey – didn’t have much honey left in the cupboard so made up with maple syrup, obviously made it a bit more expensive but yummy!
Spelt flour – didn’t have spelt flour in the cupboard so used ordinary wholemeal flour, figured it was better than white.

Preheat the oven to 190c/170c Fan/Gas 5.

Grease a 30cm x 20cm brownie tin and line it with baking parchment. Leave the paper sticking up at the sides to make it easier to lift the brownie out when it’s cooked.

Method

  1. Put the chocolate, milk, butter, honey, maple syrup and vanilla seeds in a saucepan. Warm over a very gentle heat, stirring regularly, until everything has melted and you have a rich, glossy – looking batter. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder.
  2. Allow the mixture to cool for a couple of minutes and then beat in the eggs. Finally add the flour and baking powder. The mixture at this point will look grainier than usual because of the texture of the flour.
  3. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake it in the oven for about 15 minutes until it is just set in the middle but still nice and gooey
  4. Remove the tin from the oven and use the baking paper to help you slide the whole brownie on to a cooling rack as soon as possible so it doesn’t continue to cook
  5. Cut into squares when cool

SERVES: Makes 15 squares
PAN TO PLATE IN: 20
FROM NEW BOOK: 5 Weeks to Sugar-free

 

This is the first time I’ve made brownies and cooked them perfectly – usually they’re either too soggy in the middle or too hard on the outside because I’ve been paranoid they weren’t cooked right – these were just perfect. I would try them again with spelt flour, or with gluten free flour, or maybe just with ground almonds instead and definitely with darker chocolate and possible dark chocolate chips – or just chunks!

PS If you liked this recipe then you’ll love coconut oil chocolate fudge!

PPS I am a little obsessed with cake, that’s why I became a Flamingo Partner – cos eating cake is part of the job!

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Linda McCartney recipe, altered slightly

These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever come across – Chocolate Chip Cookies from Linda McCartney recipe, altered slightlyI have been using this recipe for the past 20 years, since it was first published in Linda McCartney’s book ‘Linda’s Kitchen‘ 20 years ago. The recipe I use is slightly altered, just to suit personal tastes of added ingredients but these cookies are the most perfectly crunchy on the outside, soft and almost cake-like on the inside and I wouldn’t try anything different now.

Here’s my version of the recipe:

Preheat oven to 180 deg C (fan oven)

4oz (125g) Pure sunflower spread (we’re dairy free in our house, use whatever butter/margarine you prefer)
2oz (50g) Golden Caster Sugar
4oz (125g) Light Soft Brown Sugar
1 free-range egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
8oz (250g) plain flour (gluten free works but might need a little extra liquid and can be quite crumbly)
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
4oz (150g) dark chocolate chopped

Method
Cream the Pure with both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg with the vanilla. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt and sift into the bowl. Beat again – mixture is quite stiff. Fold in the broken chocolate pieces.

Use an ice cream scoop to drop spoonfuls of the dough on to a greased or silicon baking sheet, they will spread in the oven so leave space.

Bake at 180 deg C (fan oven) for 15 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes to allow to firm up, then, if you can resist, cool completely (rarely happens in our house!).

Lovely on their own or still warm with vanilla ice cream. Can add nuts if you wish but huge blobs of melted chocolate suffice us!

I should add that Linda also has a couple of great recipes for Crispy Ginger Nuts and Oat and Raisin Cookies too.

And if you like these chocolate chip cookies, you might like Chocolate Coconut Oil Fudge!

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Coconut Oil Chocolate Fudge

I found this Coconut Oil Fudge recipe and made it for my butterfly tea party. A few people have since asked for the recipe so here it is. I used a jar of coconut oil (costs about £5 in our local deli) and a little honey but I think it would have been sweet enough without any honey or syrup – but you can taste to see as you make it.

Coconut Oil Chocolate Fudge MARCH 13, 2015 BY THE COCONUT MAMA

Super metabolism boosting coconut oil fudge recipe made healthy with natural ingredients like coconut oil, cocoa powder, raw honey (stevia can be used if you prefer) and vanilla extract. That’s it! No corn syrup, marshmallows, frosting or chocolate chips needed. Enjoy!

Coconut and chocolate is a match made in heaven! They pair well together in many of my popular recipes like my homemade chocolate bar recipe, chocolate coconut butter bars recipe, homemade “Mounds” candy recipe, homemade junior mints recipe and my magic hard shell recipe.

I’ve been working on this homemade fudge recipe for months. I wanted a simple recipe that could be tweaked easily for special dietary needs. I used raw honey to sweeten our fudge but other natural sweeteners can easily be substituted in its place. Raw cacao powder can be used in place of regular cocoa powder and expeller pressed coconut oil can be used in place of virgin coconut oil (some do better with expeller pressed because it’s easier to digest). Add a few drops of Young Living peppermint essential oil or 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract for delicious mouth-watering peppermint fudge.

COFudge

Ingredients

1/4 cup Coconut Oil

1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Raw Honey (or other natural sweetener like maple syrup or stevia)

Pinch of Sea Salt

Optional: 2 Drops Peppermint Essential Oil

Directions

1. Measure 1/4 cup of coconut oil and scoop it out into a mixing bowl. Whip the coconut oil with a stand or hand mixer until it’s light and fluffy (like this).  Note: If your coconut oil is room temperature and already liquid you can skip this step.

2. Mix the whipped (or melted if you live in warmer climate) coconut oil, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt together. Mix well and slowly add honey or sweetener of choice. Taste as you go to make sure you don’t over sweeten your fudge. Mix in 2 drops of peppermint essential oil if using.

3. Pour fudge into a 9×5 inch pan  (this is a bread size pan). Spread fudge evenly cover the pan with a lid or plastic wrap. Refrigerate until fudge is set and hard, about 4 hours.

4. Cut fudge into small squares and serve.

via Coconut Oil Fudge – The Coconut Mama.

If you like this, you might also like A Tale of Two Cheesecakes

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Birthday breakfast brownies!

20150513_080808OK, so there’s not really anything breakfasty about them except that they contain marmalade and we ate them for breakfast as it was the only time today the whole family would be together. Anyway, as I can’t really share them with you I thought I could share the recipe.

As you can see I got lots of lovely Phoenix birthday cards! I must have my family well trained lol!

Ingredients

350ml pecans/walnuts (optional)

125g butter (we use dairy free Pure)

150g dark chocolate

225ml (or thereabouts – a small jar) of marmalade

1tsp vanilla essence

1tsp orange extract (or extra zest…don’t worry if you haven’t got it, you won’t need it with the marmalade!)

200g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 large eggs

250g golden caster sugar (we use golden cos unrefined is better for you!)

Method (preheat oven to 180 degrees C or 170 fan oven)

  1. Toast the nuts if you’re using them, by laying them on a baking tray in the oven for a few minutes, or toast in a frying pan (no oil!) but watch them! They will go from toasted to burnt very quickly! You don’t have to toast them, you can just add them in as they are.
  2. Melt butter and chocolate together (I do this in a pan on low heat, you could use a double boiler or microwave, make sure the chocolate doesn’t burn but with the butter in as well it shouldn’t)…then take off the heat.
  3. Stir in the marmalade, vanilla and orange extract (if using) in to the melted chocolate mix until marmalade has melted and mixed in.
  4. In a separate bowl beat the eggs (use an electric whisk – it’s just easier!) then add the sugar and beat well until thick.
  5. Add chocolate mix to eggs and sugar and beat on low speed just to combine them.
  6. Sift the flour and salt into the mix and fold in until the mix has just combined (don’t beat!).
  7. Stir in the nuts, or sprinkle on top if using.
  8. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the top is firm but the mix is still soft.
  9. Allow to cool completely in the tin – no eating straight away – this is the really hard bit!
  10. Cut into squares (when completely cool – honestly – hands off till then!)
  11. Scoff!

20150513_074455

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Chocolate Covered Cashew Truffle anyone?

Apparently it’s Chocolate Covered Cashew Truffle Day – not sure if that’s all one item or not, hard to tell but hey it’s got chocolate in it so I’m happy.

Being a Phoenix Trader I love chocolate, especially cake, and we have a lot of chocolate products, take a look for yourself.

Here’s a fascinating article on what is and what isn’t a Truffle:

History Of Truffles – Chocolate Truffles.

…now you’ve read it, which of these are truffles?