Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake.

My boyfriend's birthday was last weekend and this called for chocolate cake! I made an easy peasy "all in one" method with white and dark chocolate ganache. Oooft. Aaaand marbled chocolate shards to decorate. It was simple to make, simple to put together and incredibly yummy! :)

Ingredients

Sponge:
4 Medium eggs
Softened butter
Self raising flour
Caster sugar
50g Coco powder
4 tbsp Warm milk

Ganache:
150g White chocolate
150g Dark chocolate
500ml Double cream 

Chocolate Shard Decoration:
150g White chocolate
150g Dark Chocolate


Method

1. Weigh out the 4 eggs in their shells. Note this weight as this will be the weight of the butter, sugar and flour. Now add all the ingredients for the sponge into a large mixing bowl adding the milk whilst using an electric hand mixer. 

2. Once all the ingredients have come together and you have a chocolaty batter add this to greased sandwich tins and bake in an oven at 180c for 30-35 mins. Check the sponge with a skewer after 30, if it comes out clean it is baked. 

3. For the ganache: Put 250ml of cream in each saucepan and put on a low heat to warm through. DO NOT LET IT BOIL! Whilst the cream is heating up chop up the white and dark chocolate separately.  Take the cream off the heat and add the white chocolate pieces to one pan and the dark chocolate pieces to the other and stir until the chocolate has melted. Leave to cool.

4. For the chocolate shard decoration: Lay out a 1m long piece of baking sheet. Separately melt the dark chocolate and the white chocolate. Then take 8 Tbsp of melted dark chocolate and splodge 8 separate splodges on to the baking sheet. Now take 8 Tsp of melted white chocolate and splodge these on top of the 8 dark chocolate splodges. Swirl together with a fork to create a marbled effect. Leave to completely harden.

5. Now the cake is cooked and cool place the white chocolate ganache on top of one of the sandwiches. Place the other Sponge on top and cover the entire cake with the dark chocolate ganache ensuring you cover the sides too. This will be the yummy glue to stick the chocolate shards on the side. 

6. Take a sharp knife and dip in a cup of hot water to warm. Now cut the chocolate shards to create a neat straight line on the bottom of the shards. Don't cut off the pretty feathers you've created but just find a bit that can be trimmed. Now carefully peel off and stick on to the side of the cake. Paper side to cake side and cut side on to bench.

Keep the cake covered and in the fridge as it's covered in yummy ganache!

Side view of the chocolate shard decoration.

Shiny chocolate ganache. 

Waste not want not!

Last Sunday we had our first Roast in our new flat! A full blowout of roast chicken and all the trimmings went down a treat on a wet and windy afternoon. :) There was lots of leftovers to fill crusty bread and I made my very first chicken stock and I thought I'd share this simple recipe!

You'll need:

1 Roast chicken carcass
2 Large white onions
2 Carrots
1 Small apple
4-5 Cloves
1 Tsp Salt
5 Peppercorns

1. Ensure you've removed all the lovely meat from the roast chicken carcass and add to a very large pot.

2. Chop the carrots, apple and onions into large pieces and add these and the rest of the ingredients to the pot with the chicken carcass.

3. Add enough cold water to cover the ingredients by around an inch. Leave on a low heat for 3-4 hours but make sure it doesn't boil.

It does require  long and slow cooking but in the end you're rewarded with stock to flavour, broths, soups, risotto and gravy!

Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups.

This recipe is inspired by an amazing meal we had in New York at Ruby Foo's- an oriental restaurant just off Times Square. It's a very low fat dish and there's so many alternatives to try.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients

200g Minced Chicken
1 tsp Hot chilli powder
2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
2 tsp Sugar
2 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tsp Sunflower oil
1 Small white onion OR 3 Spring onions finely sliced
1 Iceberg lettuce OR 3-4 Little Gem lettuce
Sweet Chilli/Soy/Hoi Sin sauce as accompaniment 

1. Carefully pull apart the lettuce ensuring the leaves aren't shredded and they keep their shape in order to be filled with the mince.

2. Finely chop up the white onion/spring onion. If using a white onion cut into fine strips. Or chop spring onion very finely from the white to the green end. 

3. Heat up a large frying pan with 1 tsp sunflower oil then add the chicken mince when the oil is hot. Ensure all the mince is sealed and add the chilli powder, 5 spice and sugar. Stir fry the mixture until all the spices are mixed through. Add the soy sauce and ensure the mixture is cooked through and of a dry texture- just like beef tacos. 

To eat: take a lettuce leaf, add the mince, sauce and onion and enjoy! 

These Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups are family friendly and a really healthy alternative to fajitas. You add plain boiled rice to each cup, use beef mince and Mexican inspired spices and soured cream, pork mince with grated apple or add stir fried peppers.