Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins

Raspberry & White Chocolate Muffins

I would suggest that you only make this recipe if you have friends coming over or youwill end up eating too many of them yourself! This recipe makes 8 generous muffins.

Ingredients:

Topping

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 cup plain flour

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Muffin Mixture

1 1/2 cups plain flour

3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

milk to make 1 cup total liquid

1 cup frozen raspberries

1 cup white chocolate (I use the bags of nestle white cooking choc buttons)

Directions:

To make the topping place the sugar, flour and butter in a bowl.

Using a knife cut the butter into the flour and sugar until it is in small pieces.

Rub the butter into the flour using your fingers until the mixture looks like crumbs

Gently stir in the cinnamon. Then leave this mixture to one side.

In a measuring cup or jug measure 1/3 of a cup of oil, add the egg and then top up with the milk to make one cup total liquid. Stir with a fork to mix.

Place the flour, sugar and baking powder in a new bowl and whisk (this adds air and gets rid of any lumps).

Add the raspberries and white chocolate and stir.

Pour in the liquid.

Mix until just combined.

Spoon into muffin cases.

Sprinkle the top of each muffin with some of the topping (if you have leftover topping just freeze it for next time in a ziplock bag).

Bake in the oven at 180 degees C for about 20mins or until just firm to the touch.

Eat immediately while the white chocolate is still oozing and the raspberries are warm. Or save for later when the chocolate and the topping are crunchy and delicious.

Honeycomb

Honeycomb

Ingredients:

365g caster sugar

140g glucose syrup

110ml water

1 tsp bicarb

1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Sieve the bicarb and baking powder into a small bowl.

Line a medium sized bowl with baking paper.

Collect together everything else you need, including a baking glove, pastry brush and extra water and a whisk.

Put the sugar, glucose syrup and water into a wide based pan and put on high heat.

Stir until it begins to boil, then wash down sides of pan using the wet pastry brush. This washes down the splashes of sugar from the edges so they do not burn.

Then leave on high heat without stirring, until it JUST begins to brown in one spot. N.B. on gas stove tops this is likely to be at one edge, on electric it is likely to be in the middle. This will take about 5 minutes but keep watching it as timing is crucial. If you add the bicarb too early it won't set, too late and it will taste burnt.

As soon as you see a light golden patch remove from the heat, stir a couple of times with the whisk to evenly distribute the heat. Then sprinkle over the bicarb and baking powders

Stir about three times with the whisk until just combined. It will start to bubble but still looks too pale for honeycomb - don't worry it gets darker in the bowl.

Do not over stir. Pour immediately into the lined bowl.

Leave for about an hour to cool right through - this is the hardest part, as the smell of honeycomb wafts through the house everyone wants to eat it now. It may sink a little in the middle as it cools.

Once it is completely cool peel of the paper and turn upside down.

Smash into pieces and eat! Tastes especially good dipped in melted chocolate, ideal with chocolate fountains.

Enjoy

Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Ganache

This is easy to make and can be used to top any chocolate cake or hot as a sauce with desserts. sing the proportions below it will set about as hard as butter in the fridge so is good for truffles or if you want it to hold its shape when piped. You can use equal portions of cream and chocolate for a thinner ganache.

Ingredients:

200g chocolate

100ml cream

optional - 1 tablespoon glucose syrup & 1 tablespoon butter - these help make it shiny.

Directions:

Place chocolate in a bowl

Heat cream until it just starts to boil (note if you want flavoured ganache add extras to the cream before you heat it eg: a few mint leaves or grated orange rind - then strain it once it is boiled).

Pour the cream over the chocolate,

making sure it is all covered. Then let sit for a couple of minutes.

Stir

until it becomes smooth.

Pour it over a cake just like that or as I prefer leave bowl on the bench until ganache reaches a spreadable consistency and pipe in swirls onto cupcakes. You can also mix ganache into butter cream for a real chocolatey tasting icing.

Best Chocolate Cake Ever

Best Ever Chocolate Cake

Have you ever been disappointed by a dry and tasteless chocolate cake? Well then this is the recipe for you. This is my all time favourite chocolate cake recipe. It makes a rich moist cake that tastes like chocolate.

The photos below are from making four times the quantities listed in this recipe - to make a cake big enough for 100 people. The picture above is from one quantity of this cake, layered with chocolate mousse, centered with orange creme brulee, coated in chocolate glacage and decorated with tempered milk chocolate.

Ingredients

200g 70% cocoa chocolate

1 1/2 cups margarine (or unsalted butter)

8 eggs

2 1/4 cups caster sugar

1 1/4 cups of flour

1/4 cups cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Break up chocolate and put in bowl with margarine.

Melt in the microwave (30seconds, stir, 30sec, stir...).

Whisk in eggs and sugar together

Combine egg and chocolate mixtures

Sift flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together and mix into cake mixture until well blended.

Pour into cake tin or cup cake cases. (tip: if you don't have a cake tin the right size or shape you can use a plain card board box lined with glad bakewell, make sure the box does not have shiny print or photos on it as then it will have a thin coat of plastic which will melt).

Bake in slow oven if making a large cake, so it has time to cook through without burning on the edges- depending on the size of the cake this can take over an hour. Moderate oven is fine for cupcakes - approx 20 mins.