Rocky Road

This is a fabulously easy and utterly irresistible recipe that even the kids can make. Sweet, deliciously crunchy and really tasty. There are so many varations, you can add nuts, dried fruits and biscuits it really up to you.

Ingredients:

• 125g soft butter
• 300g best quality dark chocolate ( minimum 70% cocoa solid) broken into pieces
• 3 tbsp golden syrup
• 200g rich tea biscuits
• 100g mini marshmallows
• 2 tsp icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan. Scoop about 3/4 cup of this melted mixture and put to one side.

Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and then bash them with a rolling pin. You are aiming for both crumbs and pieces of biscuits.

Fold the biscuits pieces and the crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, and then add the marshmallows.

Tip into a foil tray ( 9 inch square), flatten as best as you can with a spatula. Pour the reserved cup of melted chocolate mixture over the marshmallows mixture and smooth the top.

Refrigerate for about 2 hours or overnight.

Cut into 24 fingers and dust with icing sugar by pushing it gently through a tea strainer or small sieve.

Orange Cream Cake

Found this recipes from wendyinkk@blogspot. This recipe uses some corn flour. It makes the cake much lighter than the sponge cake. I prefer to eat the cake the same day as as the cake taste moist and tender at room temperatur  and it's quiet a delight to eat. If you keep the cake chilled, you can reheat each slice for 15-20 seconds in a microwave. Eating the cake cold will be a bit too firm, unless you enjoy it this way.

Ingredients:

• 100g butter
• 100g sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 185ml milk
• zest of 2 oranges, plus some extra for garnish
• 3 egg whites
• 50g sugar
• 50g corn flour
• 150gplain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Cream:

• 150ml fresh orange juice
• 100g sugar
• 25g plain flour
• 40g unsalted butter

Method:

To prepare the cake: Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the base. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Sift flour,corn flour and baking powder and set aside. Beat the egg yolks with sugar until pale and fluffy. Add in the butter and beat until smooth.

Put half of the sifted flours into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until smooth. Gradually pour in the half the milk and beat on a low speed until well blended. Finally put in the balance of the flours into the butter mixture and again beat until smooth. Pour in the remaining milk and orange zest and beat until all the mixture are well incorporated.

In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until foamy. Put in the sugar and beat until stiff.
Add 1/4 of the beated egg whites into the batter with a ballon whisk, fold until no lumps are seen.Repeat with another 1/4 of the egg whites.

Use a spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl. Fold in the balance egg whites. Divide the batter into the 2 prepared sandwich tins.

Bake for 180C for 30 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean. Let the cake cool down in the tin for 10 minutes then tranfer into a wire rack to cool completely.

Prepare the cream filling: Combine flour and sugar in a heavy saucepan and mix until the flour is free of lump. Pour in the orange juice and butter. Cook the mixture on medium low heat until the mixture thickens and turn translucent. Pour into a bowl and let it cool down before use.

To assemble the cake: Spread 80% of the filling onto the top of the cake and top it with the other cake. Sift icing sugar over the cake as much as you prefer. Put the remaining orange cream into a small plastic bag, snip away a small corner and pipe the cream over whichever way you prefer. Sprinkle with some of the reserved orange zest.

 

Carrot and walnut cake with cream cheese icing

For this classic carrot cake recipes, it is important to use full fat cream cheese for the icing. If you use a low fat version, the icing will just rin off the cake. Carrot cake is beautifully moist, so keeps well. If your kitchen is warm, store the cake in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• 250ml sunflower oil
• 4 large eggs
• 225g light brown sugar
• 200g carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 300g self raising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 75g walnuts, shelled and chopped, plus 8 halves to decorate

For the icing:

• 50g butter, room temperature
• 25g icing sugar
• 250g full-fat cream cheese, room temperature
• a few drops of vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C/160C for fan oven. Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases of the cake tins with baking parchment.

In a large bowl, put the oil, eggs and sugar and whisk until all the mixture is well combined, lighter and thickened. Gently fold in the carrot into the cake batter. Then stir in the flour, baking powder, mixed spice, ginger and chopped walnuts until evenly blended. Spoon the mixture evenly between the tins.

Put the cakes intothe oven and bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown, risen and shrinking away from the side of the tins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing: add the butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and vanilla extract into a bowl and whisk until smooth and thoroughly blended.

Spread half of the icing on the cake, sit the other cake on top and spread the remaining icing on top. Decorate the top of the cake with halved walnuts.