Vanilla and Caramel Cheesecake

Here I am again with another devilishly naughty dessert. Cheesecake really is one of my favourite things to eat ever! Any flavour is good by me. I also have a special love for caramel. I could honestly eat it out of the tin with a spoon. (I havent though...honest.)

So I decided why not combine some of my two favourite things and this delight was made.

Unfortunately, I didnt get any photos of the cheesecake as it was made for a dinner party, as soon as I took it out of the pan I served it up and forgot to take pictures! I only remembered once it had been finished, which must of meant it was really good ;)

Ingredients:

Cheesecake-

• 250g digestive biscuits
• 80g unsalted butter (melted)
• 500g cream cheese - this must be full fat as it will not set otherwise!
• 150ml double/whipping cream
• 4tbsp icing sugar
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 300g caramel/dulce de leche

Decoration-

• milk and white chocolate shavings

You're best to use a spring form pan for this, as otherwise you wont be able to actually remove the cheesecake from the pan and it will be tricky to a get nice slice out of it.

To make the base, place the biscuits into a zip lock bag and literally bash to pieces with a rolling pin, until its mainly crumbs. Add this to a large bowl and mix in the melted butter.

Pour into your pan, press down with the back of a spoon and place into the fridge.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese,icing sugar and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl whisk the cream until soft peaks form then fold into the cream cheese mixture.
Get your biscuit base back out of the fridge and spread a nice layer of caramel on top. (yum)

Over the caramel pour on the cream cheese mixture. Then pop back into the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, better still overnight!

For the finishing touch I grated over some milk and white chocolate. Beautiful.

My Nieces First Birthday - Castle Cake

Ive just got a short post to share today, which is a bit different to my usual, as it wont be a recipe.
But it will be some photos of the lovely cake that I made! I am very proud at my first attempt at this sorta thing (specially as it took me most of the day.)

For my nieces first birthday, I decided to do a very special cake for her, a castle cake!

And here it is! not the most 'fancy' cake ive made, but what one year old wants fancy eh?

The trickiest part was actually putting fondant onto the 'turrets'. It was quite fiddly but I found the best way of getting the fondant to stay onto the cardboard (as I used kitchen roll!) was a bit of apricot jam.

So yes, it was time consuming but all worth it for the smile on my adorable niece's face!

Till next time (promise it will be a recipe for something delicious) ;)

Amaretto and Chocolate Cupcakes

I havent posted in a while so I thought I would make this bake as naughty as possible. Amaretto cupcakes with a rich chocolatey frosting. Delicious.
The amaretto makes the sponge have a sweet almond taste and the cream cheese chocolate frosting just compliments it perfectly. It really is a match made in heaven. Chocolate heaven.
This is definately one to try, dont worry about the alcohol either as it cooks out in the oven.

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes-

• 180g unsalted butter
• 180g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 30ml amaretto (I used a small shot glass full)
• 180g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the frosting-

• 200g milk chocolate
• 200g cream cheese
• 4 tbsp icing sugar

Makes 12 large cupcakes.

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a baking tray with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time beating after each addiction. Pour in the amaretto and mix together.
Sift in the flour and baking powder, and gently fold into the mixture.

Divide the mixture into each cupcake liner and place into the oven for 15-18 minutes.

Once baked (test with a toothpick in the centre of the cupcake, if it comes out dry, they're done)
Place them on a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring after every 30 seconds, until melted completely.
In a medium bowl, beat your cream cheese with the icing sugar (slowely add the icing sugar as it will fly everywhere otherwise) Then slowely add in the melted chocolate and beat until combined.
Place this in the fridge for about 15 minutes, so it firms up enough to pipe.

Fill a piping bag and pipe onto each cupcake. I used a wilton 1M tip.
Then I grated over some white chocolate for extra decoration, but thats totally optional!

Mini Raspberry Pavlova

For the past week, England have been having some nice (ish) weather. A bit of sun always encourages me to make a summery dessert, and a pavlova definately is just that. Light, chewy and sweet these little treats are simple to make but look impressive.

Ingredients:
Makes 4-

• 2 egg whites
• 100g caster sugar
• 150ml double/whipping cream
• 350g/ 1 punnet raspberries (I thawed out some frozen ones)

Preheat your oven to 110c and line a baking tray with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric whisk until stiff peaks form, then by tablespoon gradually add the caster sugar until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Now spoon 4 dollops onto the baking tray and place into the oven for 40 minutes.
Whilst they're in the oven, whip up the cream to soft peaks (be careful not to over whip.)

After the 40 minutes, switch the oven off and leave the meringues in there for 5 minutes.

Now you just need to assemble your pavlovas. Dollop some cream on top of each, followed by a tablespoon (or however many you like) of raspberries. Beautiful!