Chocolate Orange Fudge Sauce

This months Center Parcs Challenge was inspired by Easter and encouraged us to make some sweet treats.  I often make cakes but haven't made confectionery for ages so this was just the excuse I needed to head out, to get the ingredients, to make some yummy fudge. Or so I thought..!

However, I must admit that it went down hill from there as I couldn't decided on a recipe.  I did eventually pick one but even as I was reading it, it didn't sound quite right.  And my prediction was confirmed the next morning when I found the unset fudge mixture sitting in the fridge.

So it was farewell to chocolate orange fudge but HELLO to hot chocolate orange fudge sauce which I can tell you was truly delicious over ice cream.  To be exceptionally decadent I actually decided to have mine in the bath.


Here's the recipe which is really simple.

You will need:

• 250g chocolate (I used dark but you could use milk if you prefer)
• 397g tin of condensed milk
• 1 tsp orange zest

Recipe:

• Pour the tin of condensed milk into a microwavable  bowl.
• Break up the chocolate and add to condensed milk.
• Microwave gently until everything has melted (be careful not to burn).
• Mix util chocolate and condensed milk has combined.
• Add orange zest and stir.
• Reheat as required.

I am writing this post as part of my role as Center Parcs Family Blogger. To be in with the chance to become one yourself and win a short break to a Center Parcs Village of your choice, share your chocolate innovations! Show us your pictures and recipes, and tweet us including the hashtag #CPFamilyBreaks and your blog link to @tots100 and @CenterParcsUK. The challenge ends at 4pm on the 29th March.  

Good Luck!

Spiced Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Christmas has passed but yesterday we used some left over cranberry sauce with some meatballs and I was reminded how delicious it is.  I thought I'd post up the recipe I used for Christmas day as it keeps really well in the fridge and would be great in ham sandwiches and on crackers with cheese. Yum.

Image from Holistic Woman

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

• 3 cardamon pods
• 250g fresh or frozen cranberries
• 50 ml of white wine, I used sweet desert wine
• Juice of 1 orange
• 1 tbsp of sliced peel
• 50g light brown soft sugar

1. Crush the cardamon pods to split the husks and put in a saucepan.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Once the mixture has boiled, simmer and stir for 10 minutes until most of the cranberries have burst.
4. Take the sauce off the heat and leave to cool in a bowl or jar.
5. Enjoy.

Sweet Potato Falafel - Baby led weaning recipe

Photo taken from The Lean Green Bean, recipe my own (I forgot to take a pic.)

As I mentioned at the weekend, we were away for half term which meant that before we left we pretty much emptied the entire contents of Nye's draw in the freezer into a cool bag.  Neil wanted to make sure that Nye would have something to eat for the time we were there.  I insisted that my parents were not people who go without food, and that Norfolk does indeed have supermarkets.  However, there was no deterring him and out came the tupperware

So, since we got home I've been trying to fill the freezer back up by looking around at what we have lying around and how I can make it in to something nutritious and delicious for my baby boy.

My eyes caught sight of a loan sweet potato which Nye loves and it reminded me of some fantastically delicious sweet potato falafel we had at The Horniman Museum Cafe.  I love falafel and used to eat them constently when I was a vegetarian but I have never even tried making them before.  Turns out there is no reason not to try making them as they are wonderfully easy.

Ingredients:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 2 tsp ground corriander
• 1 handful of coriander leaves (chopped)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 100g plain flour (or gram flour if you have it)
• 1 well oiled baking sheet

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 200°C  /180°C fan.
2. Microwave the sweet potato whole for 8-10 minutes until tender.  
3. Whilst the sweet potato is cooking, combine the cumin, garlic, ground and fresh corriander, lemon juice and flour in a large bowl.
4. Leave the sweet potato to cool until you are able to peel, add to the bowl and mash it together until smooth.
5. Use a tabelspoon to shape the mixture into balls (I rolled in floured hands), place on an oiled baking sheet.
6. Bake for 15 minutes until the bases start to brown, flip over and bake for a further 15 minutes.

I didn't season these as they were for Nye and served them in a toasted pitta bread with hummus and fresh red pepper strips.  Perfect for mum and baby and easy peasy to make.

Blackberry and Chocolate Cupcakes

I had a cake craving and there was not much in the house apart from a few pilfered blackberry's from a bush in the park and a tub of coco powder.  They collided and a match made in heaven was born!

I can't actually believe how good these taste, especially since I just threw them together so they were in the oven by the time we sat down to eat dinner.  As they were quite literally thrown together, these are the weights, I think I put together as I didn't use any scales or measurements.

• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 150g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 150g sugar
• 150g margarine (I used olive oil spread)
• 2 eggs
• 2 hand fulls of blackberry's

I first sieved all the dry ingredients together then I added the margarine and eggs and stirred until incorporated.    Once the mixture came together, I put 1 tbsp of mixture into a cupcake case and then pushed in 2-3 blackberry's into each case.

These took about 15minutes to cook at 180 degrees C and the mixture made about 18 small cupcakes.

I then iced them using a simple butter icing which I coloured with lavender food colouring.  To finish them off I swirled in some Cadburys chocolate Philidelphia spread and added some chocolate stars I had lying around.  Even neil, who is a new convert to any kind of fruit, loved these.  They kind of taste like chocolate goodness with little bits of fruity jam bursting in your mouth.

Lemon Creme Fraiche Sponge

Had a friend round for tea the other day and needed to throw some baking together pretty quickly.  It was mid-week and stores in the fridge were dwindling. So I threw the following together, despite a lack of anything similar online (I usually google to check that my ideas of what goes together arent TOTALLY off the wall.)

So here goes:

photo from pinterest (I forgot to take a photo)

Basic sponge a la delia with a fresh lemon twist.

Ingredients
For an 8 inch (20 cm) cake:
6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs at room temperature
6 oz (175 g) very soft butter
6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract (ours has run out so I used a packet of vanilla sugar from Lidl,
For the filling:
7 fl oz (200 ml) (half a tub) Creme Fraiche
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3, 325°F (170°C)

For the topping:

1/2 cup water
1 lemon juice and rind
1/2 cup caster sugar

This recipe is taken from How to Cook Book One and Delia's Complete How To Cook

Method

Put the flour and baking powder in a sieve and sift it into the bowl.

Add all the other cake ingredients to the bowl (soften butter in microwave if necessary).

Use electric hand whisk and whisk everything together until you have a smooth, well-combined mixture, which will take about 1 minute. 

Divide the mixture between 2 tins, and place the tins on the centre shelf of the oven. The cakes will take 30-35 minutes to cook and don't open the oven door until 30 minutes have elapsed. To test whether the cakes are cooked or not, I shove in a fork to see if it comes out clean.

Next, remove from the oven, then wait about 5 minutes before turning them out on to a wire cooling rack and wait till they cool before adding the filling.

Place the first sponge cake on a plate or cake stand, then spread the creme fraiche evenly over the surface.

Next place the other cake on top, press it gently so that the filling oozes out at the edges.

Finally prepare the lemony topping.
Heat the water and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat and add in the grated rind and juice of one lemon and heat until it thickens and bubbles.

Poke a few holes in the top of the sponge for the lemon to drizzle through then poor the sticky mixture on top and quickly spread with a knife before it cools and hardens.

Tuesday Linking love

I've been back on Pinterest with a vengeance.  Here's a couple of images from this week that I've been admiring.

Firstly H&M have tracked me down and started sending me catalougues, this cannot lead to good things.  I bought some stuff from their home range for our bathroom and for dressing our table at Christmas and I am now addicted.  It reflects the seasons trends and is SO cheap.

I'm going to try and copy this, once I get round to it...

and finally some FOOD for thought.

Tis my birthday tomorrow, let's see if I can get round to making a yummy cheesecake as I have been dreaming.  A bit like this...