Flourless Chocolate Cake

I thought it was about time I made something gluten free and this was the perfect dessert to start with.

If you love chocolate (like I do) then this is the dessert for you.

Rich and decadent, I served it with a white chocolate and raspberry cream from tesco, but you can serve it with whatever you like!

Ingredients-

• 200g milk chocolate
• 120g unsalted butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• white chocolate, melted

Firstly preheat your oven to 150c and grease a cake tin with butter and dust with cocoa powder.

In a bowl over simmering water, place the chocolate and butter until melted, leave to cool slightly.
In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light in colour.

Pour a small about of the chocolate mixture in and stir, so as to not curdle the eggs.

Once combined add the rest of the chocolate mixture.
Pour into your tin and place into the oven for 40 minutes.

When baked, leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

I drizzled over the white chocolate and then dusted with icing sugar and served with the white chocolate and raspberry cream.

Snowman Cupcakes

This really is my favourite time of the year, specially because you can bake things like this!  I actually cant help myself.

I doubt here in Kent we will be making real snowman any time soon, as it's pouring it down as I write this,so I decided to make cupcake ones instead! (No getting cold and falling over in the snow, instead stuffing my face with cake, which is always the winner ;).

Ingredients:

Cupcakes-

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g self- raising flour

Buttercream-

• 150g unsalted butter softened
• 300g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

Decoration-

• Marshmallows
• Cadbury chocolate fingers
• Coloured fondant icing

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a muffin tin with 12 cases.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.

Gradually add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

Sift in the flour and fold in gently with a large wooden spoon until incorporated.

Divide between the muffin cases and place into the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick

inserted comes out clean.

Once baked, leave to cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating.

For the butter cream, beat the butter until really light and fluffy (this is the key to great butter cream.)

Gradually mix in the icing sugar, and milk until a thick consistency.

Spread a mound of butter cream onto each cupcake.

Place a marshmallow on top, and break a chocolate finger in two for the arms.

Then decorate how you like with the fondant icing! 

Reindeer Cookies

After decorating the Christmas cake I had a ton of white fondant icing left, as I wanted to bake some Christmas cookies anyway, this is what I did. How cute are they?!

Almost too good to eat. I say almost as they went very quickly.

These are the type of thing everyone likes, so don't expect them to last long! They're soft sugar cookies so, even my little niece could enjoy them.

Ingredients:

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g caster caster
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 320g vanilla plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Decorations:

• white fondant icing
• milk chocolate, melted
• red sweets

Preheat your oven to 180c, and line two baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

Gradually add the flour and baking soda until a dough forms.

Leave the dough in the fridge for at least an hour to chill.

Once chilled, scoop out spoonfuls onto your baking tray, I managed to roll them into balls then flatten them but the dough is very sticky.

Bake them for 10 minutes until light golden in colour.
Once baked leave to cool on a cooling rack before decorating.

For the decorations, roll one bigger ball of fondant for the mouth, and two small balls for the eyes, then lightly flatten onto the cookies. Then add the chocolate eyes, antlers and sweetie nose! (I used a piping bag with a small round tip for the chocolate.)

Cherry Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

After having hardly any time to bake the past couple of months, I am back with a new recipe and will have many more over the Christmas period, yay!

These are my cherry filled cupcakes with a chocolate truffle topping, they didn't last long in my household so they must of been good.

The topping is actually a chocolate truffle mixture that I made, which may or may not have gone wrong and ended up too soft to make actual truffles... buuuut it was perfect for cupcakes!

Ingredients:

Truffle Topping-

• .120g milk chocolate
• 30g butter, chopped
• 100ml double cream
• 25g caster sugar

Cupcakes-

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g self raising flour
• 100g glace cherries, rinsed and dried

Optional-

• chopped pistachios
• white chocolate chips

First of all make your truffle topping.

Break up the chocolate in a bowl with the butter and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the cream and sugar until the sugar has melted and until just boiling.

Pour over the chocolate and butter, and mix well.

Cover and place into the freezer for an hour to set.

Now for the cakes, preheat the oven to 180c and fill a muffin tin with 8 cases.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Gradually add the eggs, then the vanilla and beat well.

Sift in the flour and gently fold in with a metal spoon until incorporated.

Chop up the cherries and mix into the cake batter.

Divide between the cases, and place into the oven for 18-20 minutes, until a knife inserted

comes out clean.

Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack, before decorating.

When your ready to decorate, whip the truffle mixture lightly to soften, and place into a piping bag.
Pipe a blob onto each cake, and sprinkle on your choice of topping, then enjoy!