Salted Chocolate and Almond Cheesecake

Ive made another cheesecake I couldn't help myself, the last one was so delicious not making another seemed bad and almost wrong like a puppy or a fairy ( Fairies are real) would die somewhere if I didn't...at least that's what I told my boyfriend when he asked why I was making cheesecake again, think of the puppies and fairies God damn you. I made my cheesecake with Lindt chocolate and I used there 70% coco bar and two of the salted almond bars which were heaven, that tiny bit of salt seasons the chocolate so well and it made the most delicious cheesecake. I always make no-bake cheesecakes and one day I may change that but for now I am happy just mixing melted chocolate with cream cheese, creme fraiche and double cream mmmmmmmmmm

Triple Chocolate, Dime Bar and Raspberry Cheescake

There are loads of recipes that I have never made but really feel like I should have and cheesecake is definitely one of them, it also happens to be one of my most favourite things to eat so what the hell have I been doing for the last 26 years for the love of God?! I wanted to make a chocolate and raspberry cheesecake but then I thought why just use one type of chocolate when I could use three? So I used three, dark chocolate, white chocolate and two large bars of Milka with bits of dime bar in it, yea boy!!
I'm not gonna lie guys I didn't measure anything as usual because I like to live dangerously, so here is what I put in my cheesecake minus the measurements....

Dark Chocolate
White Chocolate
Milka with Dime bar
Chocolate Chip digestives
Butter
Coco Powder
Double Cream
Cream Cheese
Creme Fraiche
Icing Sugar
Raspberries
Caster Sugar




I used the choc chip digestives, coco powder, caster sugar and butter to make my base


I combined my cream cheese, cream, icing sugar and creme fraiche


Chocolate!!!!




I tried swirling in all the different chocolates to give it a marbled effect and the I added my raspberry's


Here she is in all her glory ready to be put in the fridge to set


My beautiful cheesecake...TA DA!!!!!

Stawberry and Raspberry Trifle

I adore trifle, laden with all that cream, custard and lovely fruit, it reminds me of long hot summer days, pimms with mint, cucumber and strawberries and running through sprinklers! It also reminds me of Christmas when my Mum makes one with Damson's or plums with crystallized violets on top which is delicious(My Mum said I mention her a bit often in my blog but I have just done it again so take that Mother!)
This is a very very simple version without jelly or sherry and I have cheated by using good quality shop bought Maderia cake and vanilla custard and the result was absolutely fabulous darling!!

One packet of maderia cake
Large pot of whipping cream
pot of vanilla custard
punnet of raspberries
punnet of strawberries
Good quality strawberry jam


My naughty shop bought Maderia cake cut into slices.


I covered the slices of maderia cake in 'Bon Mamma' strawberry jam.


I then covered the cake in strawberries and raspberries.


Look! The custard I used instead of making my own, I'll tell you what though Sainsburys 'taste the difference' Madagascan vanilla custard is truly delicious and has lot's of real bits of black vanilla in it which can't be a bad thing.


Instead of the usual one layer of cake and fruit, I went for two with a layer of custard in between.


I can assure you that is custard and not cream, if you look very closely you can see the vanilla..ooohhhhhh


Sorry about the less than great view from my balcony but I think my trifle needed some natural light to show it in all it's trifle glory!


The best thing of all about my trifle is that my stupid boyfriend doesn't like trifle so ha bloody ha to him because I'm going to eat it all and if I put on any weight then it's his fault for not liking the trifle.

Carrot loaf and cupcakes

I'm not the baking type because I find it almost impossible to follow instructions and be exact with my measurements and you need both those skills to bake anything really so I never bother, but today I really fancied carrot cake so somehow I managed to make them, bake them and eat a couple with no measuring and do you know what they are bloody good! Although I have tried to bake before without measuring and it was a disaster so it was very lucky they worked and I would definarly reccomend you did measure things! I made a yummy orange and cream cheese icing to go on top and have eaten three cupackes in about half an hour so well done me.


More random photography in my bedroom, this time by the windowsil with the light of my lamp!

Humming Bird Brownies with hazlenuts and chocolate chunks

This is just a quick little post about the unplanned brownie making at around 11.30pm last night with Mercer. We bought the ingredients a few days ago to make the brownies but never got around to it until last night at a highly unusual hour! You don't tend to bake chocolate loaded treats at this time of night unless you a stoned teenager or pregnant but to hell with it we thought and went ahead and made them.
I used the Humming Bird Bakery recipe for them and just added a few extras.

Humming Bird Brownies

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
175g unsalted butter
325g caster sugar
130g plain flour
3 eggs
Hazelnuts
White chocolate cut into chunks

Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and melt until smooth.
Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and stir until well incorporated. Add the flour and stir until well incorporated. Finally, stir in the eggs, nuts and chocolate chunks and mix until smooth.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until flaky on the top but still soft in the centre.
I did not use a baking tray and just baked mine in an oven dish but it worked well enough and as it was so late we didn't wait for them to cool down or slice them so the picture is a bit messy but hey you get the idea!