by Jenny Colgan
•4 eggs
•1 cup sugar
•1⁄2 cup cocoa powder
•1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
•2 cups flour
•4 tsp baking powder
•1⁄2 tsp salt
•1 cup strong coffee (espresso or just very strong)
•zest from 1 or 2 oranges
•1 tsp vanilla
To make:
Beat eggs, sugar, and cocoa powder, and add the oil gradually. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt, then add the zest and vanilla at the end. Pour, then 40 minutes in the oven, but do check it—it can be very runny. Mine had to go back in for a bit longer. Ice with Nutella. Delish!
Chocolate Cookie Cake
My friend Jim first made this, and I got totally addicted to it. I really, really love this cake. Thanks, Jim. N.B.: He says Shamrock fruit and nuts because he’s an Irishman. We just mean mixed, really. And please invoice him for the slimming classes afterward, not me. :)
Ingredients:
•14 tbsp unsalted butter
•2 (very generous) tbsp corn syrup
•8 ounces good quality chocolate
•1⁄2 x 14 ounces packet of chocolate cookies (roughly crushed)
•1⁄2 x 14 ounces packet of rich tea biscuits (roughly crushed)
•3⁄4 cup shamrock nuts (walnuts, brazils, almonds), optional
•3⁄4 cup shamrock fruit (sultanas, apricots, cherries), optional
•1 Cadbury’s Crunchie honeycomb toffee
To make:
Line a 6-inch, round cake pan or a 2 pound loaf pan with a double layer of greaseproof paper. I used a silicone loaf mold. There is no need to line the silicone mold.
Melt the butter, syrup, and chocolate in a pan over low heat. This took some time, as I used the lowest setting on the stove. Make sure the pot is large enough to take all the crushed cookies, etc. Stir to make sure all the ingredients are well mixed together.
Add the cookies, fruit, and nuts. Stir well. Make sure to break the cookies relatively small, as they will not fit in the mold/tin otherwise.
Transfer to prepared pan. Level it on top and press down well to avoid “air gaps.” Allow to get cold and hard. It needs about two hours in the fridge or about 45 minutes in the freezer. The longer, the better. It tastes even better the next day. Wrap completely in greaseproof paper and store in a fridge.
Brownies with Coffee and Chocolate Chips
Of course we have to have a brownie recipe, and this one is just the ticket:
Ingredients:
•43⁄4 cups flour
•1 tsp salt
•1 tsp baking powder
•3⁄4 tsp baking soda
•2 ounces ground coffee
•16 tbsp of butter
•21⁄2 cups packed dark brown sugar
•21⁄2 cups chocolate chips
•3 eggs, lightly beaten
To make:
Set the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and coffee.
In a double boiler or carefully in a microwave, melt the butter, brown sugar, and half of the chocolate chips, stirring to combine well. Let cool slightly, then stir the dry mixture into it. Stir in the eggs. Pour into an ungreased pan. Sprinkle the remaining half of the chocolate chips on top.
Bake until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the pan, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool, then refrigerate until completely chilled. Remove and cut into squares. Eat cold or at room temperature. Makes 24 brownies.
Best Ever Hot Chocolate
This works well on freezing days for tired children. I don’t think I can specify how many marshmallows you may need. Just assume two times as many as you think you’ll need.
Ingredients:
•1⁄2 cup double cream
•1⁄2 cup milk
•31⁄2 ounces excellent quality dark chocolate
•pinch cinnamon
•marshmallows
To make:
Gently heat the cream and milk mixture—do not allow to boil! Or get a skin! So very, very, very gently! Melt the dark chocolate carefully, and mix slowly together. Serve with a pinch of cinnamon on the top and marshmallows. If you’re a grown-up and were visiting us, you’d get a slug of either Drambuie or Lagavulin in yours too.
Mum’s Cheesecake
Here is my friend Lauren’s mum’s amazing chocolate cheesecake.
Ingredients:
Crust:
•10–12 chocolate cookies
•4 tbsp butter
•1 tbsp honey or corn syrup
Filling:
•5–6 eggs at room temperature
•2 cups sugar
•1 pound Philadelphia chocolate cream cheese
•2 tbsp flour
•1–2 tsp vanilla
Glaze:
•1 pound cherries in syrup
•1⁄2 cup sugar, optional
•2 tbsp corn starch
To make:
Preheat oven to 300°F.
Crust: Melt butter in medium saucepan. Whizz cookies in a food processor to fine crumbs. Stir into butter with honey. Grease a pan with high sides and press in crust evenly over the bottom. Bake 10 minutes, then cool.
Filling: Separate eggs and whisk yolks till thick and pale. Gradually beat in sugar, then the chocolate cream cheese, flour, and vanilla, till smooth. Whisk whites till stiff but not dry and fold into yolk mixture with a metal spoon. Pour over crust and bake 70 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave it in for another hour. Chill.
Glaze: Drain cherries, reserving juice. Add water to juice to make one cup. Combine with sugar and starch in a pan and cook, whisking constantly, till thickened. Boil 1 minute. Remove, add cherries, and cool. Spoon on top of cheesecake and chill.
Chocolate Meringue Cake
OOH, I do love this. And it is flour-free, which is good for people with intolerances. It’s lovely and crunchy on the top/bottom, depending on how you like to turn it out, and gooey in the middle.
Ingredients:
•121⁄2 ounces good dark chocolate
•1 shot espresso/strong coffee
•2–3 tbsp brandy/liquor of your choice (gin is amazing with chocolate)
•4 large eggs, separated
•7 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature, broken up into small cubes
•pinch salt (chocolate always benefits from salt)
•7⁄8 cup superfine sugar
•More chocolate for grating over the top, if you like that sort of thing
To make:
Oven to 350°F.
Grease an 8-inch springform pan and line the bottom with baking parchment.
Make your espresso/strong coffee and add to the brandy. Pour over the top of your chocolate, broken up in a heatproof bowl, and melt together, either in the microwave or over a pan of simmering water, until it’s smooth and glossy. Set aside to cool.
Beat the butter and egg yolks together until they’re creamy, then add the cooled chocolate mix and beat again.
In another very clean bowl, whisk the egg whites and salt to soft peaks, then add the sugar, bit by bit, beating with each addition until it makes a lovely glossy meringue.
Fold the meringue, about a third at a time, into the chocolate mix, then spoon it all into the springform tin and level it out.
Bake for about 40 minutes. What you want is a crispy, slightly cracked top and a middle that’s still soft but not actually liquid.
Turn the oven off and leave the cake inside to finish cooking in the diminishing heat. It should be done in about an hour. Take out and leave to cool completely, then turn out by running a knife around the side in t
he tin, taking off the walls, then either turning upside-down onto a plate if you like a crunchy bottom or sliding it onto one if you like a crunchy top. Grate chocolate over the top if you think it needs more decoration, but I never bother.
Chocolate Chip Cookies!
So easy, so delish.
Ingredients:
•23⁄4 cups unsifted flour
•1 tsp baking soda
•pinch salt
•9 tbsp softened butter
•3⁄8 cup granulated sugar
•41⁄2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
•1 tsp vanilla extract
•2 eggs
•5-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
•3⁄4 cups chopped nuts
To make:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla; beat until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Chill the mix an hour or so if you have the time, then make little cookies onto baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes.
Chocolate Mousse
I am unashamed to relate that the first time I made this and it came out perfectly I was INCREDIBLY excited. I had a guest over who’s a wonderful cook, so I had to pretend I totally knew it was going to be fine all along. Anyway, I have made it a few times since, and it seems pretty fail-safe and impressive; you just need a little time. You can also add flavoring to it, if you like—Grand Marnier is delicious in it.
Ingredients:
•7 ounces chocolate, half light half dark
•13⁄4 tbsp butter
•3 egg yolks
•1 cup water
•1 cup whipped cream
•3⁄4 cup sugar
To make:
Melt the butter and chocolate with a 3⁄4 cup of water. (I do this very slowly and carefully in the microwave, checking every ten seconds, but you can use a double boiler, if you’d rather.)
Whisk the egg yolks, the sugar, and the rest of the water over a low heat, and whip the cream if it isn’t already.
Combine all the ingredients and chill 3–4 hours in fridge.
Cherry Ripe
My husband is from New Zealand, where this is a national treasure of a chocolate bar, so I recreated it for ANZAC day and it worked very well. Well, I think it worked well, the entire tray was gone by the time I turned round…this kind of treat that chops up into a bar is great for parties/school fetes etc.
Ingredients:
Base:
•11⁄2 cups self-rising flour
•2 tsp cocoa
•7⁄8 cup sugar
•1⁄2 tsp baking powder
•7 tbsp butter
•3⁄4 cup milk
Filling:
•11⁄3 pounds glacé cherries
•1⁄2 cup condensed milk
•5 ounces desiccated coconut
•vanilla extract
To make:
Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Butter and line square pan.
Mix the base and bake for 15–20 minutes.
Whizz filling ingredients together and spread on cooled base.
Top with melted dark chocolate and leave to set, if possible.
Malteser (Malt Ball) Cake
The great thing about this really simple cake is that it looks much more beautiful and finished than it actually is. It is a big cake, I shall tell you now, for big occasions and works very well for birthdays.
Ingredients:
Cake:
•13⁄4 cup sifted cake flour
•2⁄3 cup sifted superfine sugar
•101⁄2 tbsp softened butter
•4 eggs
•31⁄2 tbsp cocoa powder
•81⁄2 tbsp sour cream
•1 tsp baking powder
•pinch salt
•1⁄2 tsp vanilla essence
Icing:
•23⁄4 cups superfine sugar
•7 tbsp cocoa powder
•171⁄2 tbsp butter
•1⁄2 tsp vanilla essence
•milk if the mixture gets too stiff, to water it down
To make:
Preheat oven 350°F degrees and grease and line two (same-size) cake pans.
Mix ingredients till nice and smooth, bake 20–30 minutes, or till a toothpick comes out dry.
Ice the cooled cake between the sandwich layers and all over the top.
Then, take four bags of malt balls (actually, scratch that, buy five, just in case you eat one) and start decorating. Even a total klutz like me can make lovely straight lines from malt balls, and once it’s done it looks like something out of a fancy patisserie shop window. Hurrah!
Heaven and Hell Cake
I am including this cake not because I have ever made it—I am terrified, quite frankly—but because I thought it was so beautiful and amazing. It’s the winning Heaven and Hell Cake from John Whaite, which won the 2012 Great British Bake-Off. This is a show I love dearly and watch religiously. I do bake some things from it and, like any right-thinking person, worship Mary Berry as the queen she so clearly is, but this was just so full of chutzpah and imagination and amazing baking, I could only applaud its skill and ambition, and it made John a worthy winner. Thanks to the BBC for letting us reproduce it here, and if anyone has a good go at it, please let me see it! I might just make the “hell” half…
Hell: dark chocolate and orange cake. Heaven: lemon and coconut meringue cakelets. A stunning cake worthy of a Bake-Off final.
Equipment and preparation:
You will need an 11-inch cake tin, 2-inch cake tins, a chef’s blow torch, half a dozen straws, and a piping bag with a small nozzle.
Ingredients:
For the hell cake:
•9 free-range eggs, separated
•5 tbsp cocoa powder
•1 cup hot water
•11⁄3 cups plain flour
•1 pound golden superfine sugar
•11⁄2 tsp baking soda
•11⁄2 tsp salt
•3⁄4 cup sunflower oil
•21⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
•2 oranges, zest only
For the heaven cake:
•13⁄4 cup plain flour
•3⁄4 cup water
•1 tsp baking powder
•11⁄2 tsp salt
•1 cup golden superfine sugar
•4 fluid ounces sunflower oil
•2 unwaxed lemons, zest only
•6 free-range eggs, separated
•1 tsp vanilla extract
For the hell filling:
•21 ounces dark chocolate
•11⁄3 cups double cream
•1 cup good quality cherry jam
For the hell mirror glaze:
•2 leaves gelatine
•1 cup sugar
•2 tbsp golden syrup
•11 tbsp cocoa powder
•1⁄2 cup double cream
For the heaven meringue and filling:
•3 free-range eggs, whites only
•3⁄4 cup superfine sugar
•1 tsp corn syrup
•1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
•7 ounces best quality lemon curd
•13⁄4 cup desiccated coconut
•1 booklet (5 sheets) gold leaf, to decorate
For the hell piping and chocolate shards:
•7 ounces dark chocolate
To make:
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease and line an 11-inch cake pan.
For the “tartarus” hell cake: Beat the separated egg whites in a bowl
until stiff.
In a large mixing bowl, mix the remaining ingredients for the hell cake together. When well combined, fold in the egg whites.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake for 75 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven, and once hot enough to handle, turn out, upside down, on a cake rack to cool.
For the “caeli” heaven cake: Grease and line 16 2-inch-diameter cake pans.
Repeat the process for making the hell cake with the heaven cake ingredients, but pour the cake mixture evenly into the 16 molds rather than one cake mold.
Bake for 17 minutes. Remove from the oven, trim the cakes to make them exactly the same size, then turn them out upside down onto a cake rack to cool.
For the hell cake filling: Make a ganache by placing the dark chocolate and cream into a bowl and heating in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, until the chocolate has melted. Mix the cream well into the chocolate. Set aside in a bowl.
For the hell cake mirror glaze: Soak the gelatin in cold water for five minutes until it softens.
Heat the sugar and 1⁄2 cup water in a pan until boiling. Add the corn syrup, cocoa, and cream. Heat through, then strain the glaze through a sieve into a jug. Add the soaked gelatin to the strained glaze, stirring to make sure it’s evenly dissolved. Set aside until needed.
For the meringue coating for the heaven cakes: Place the egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, and two tablespoons water in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk the mixture for 7–8 minutes, or until stiff and glossy. Add the vanilla extract and mix in well. Set aside.
Cut the cooled hell cake horizontally to make two disks. Wrap each disk in cling film and place in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up and cool further.
Place the lemon curd in a piping bag with a small nozzle. With a small knife, cut a hole into the heaven cakes, to create space to pipe the curd into. Pipe the curd into the cakes.
Cover the filled heaven cakes with the meringue (reserving a little of the meringue to hold the heaven cakes in place) and roll in the coconut.
Stack the heaven cakes on a 6-inch cake board using straws to hold in place.
Remove the two hell cake disks from the freezer and spread one with one-third of the ganache and another with the cherry jam. Sandwich the cakes together. Using a palette knife, cover the outside of the cake with another third of the ganache.