Chocolate Peanut Slice

I could eat the base of this slice by itself. Seriously good.

• 200g butter, cubed
• 1⁄2 cup caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1⁄4 cups plain flour
• 1⁄2 cup peanut butter
• 150 grams dark chocolate
• 75ml cream
• 3⁄4 cup icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Line a slice tin with baking paper.

To make the base, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg, then add the flour and peanut butter and mix until combined. Spread in an even layer in the tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin.

To make the topping, melt the broken-up chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Mix well, then sift in the icing sugar and mix to combine. Cool to warm, and pour over the slice. Refrigerate. Makes 12 pieces.

Chewy Choc Cookies

I absolutely love this recipe. It comes from the wonderful ‘Everyday Delicious’ by Chelsea Winter! The end result is incredibly moreish and I doubt you’ll be able to stop at just one! They are chewy, fudgey and oh so chocolatey. Yum!

• 225 grams butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 100 grams dark chocolate, chopped
• 100 grams white chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Line a tray with baking paper.

Cream the butter, and sugars together until pale. Add the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda in. Mix with a wooden spoon to combine. Add the chocolate. Mix again.

Roll into golf-ball-sized balls using clean hands. Grab a fork and press down on each ball. Place on try about 5cm apart (seriously they spread and make large bikkies!). Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Amen!

Makes about 20 cookies.

Cheesy Chilli Scrolls

This weekend, for the first weekend ever, I made a batch of cheesy scrolls. They could not have been easier! Make sure you try this recipe – you’ll just love it!

• 2 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup milk, plus extra if needed
• 50g butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce
• 2 cups grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

To make the dough, sift the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the salt, egg, milk and melted butter. Fold until just combined into a rough dough. You can always add more milk if it’s too dry or more flour if it’s too sticky.

Turn out onto a floured benchtop, knead a few times to bring it together to a smooth dough, and roll out to a rectangle about 1 cm thick.

Spread the dough with half a cup of sweet chilli sauce, spreading right to the edges. and sprinkle with cheese. Carefully roll up lengthways into a tight log, sealing the end with a little milk. Cut into 3 cm thick slices and arrange on the baking tray, a few centimetres apart as they will expand.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until golden brown and the cheese is bubbling. Cool slightly before serving or you may end up with a severely burnt tongue – trust me! Enjoy.

Gooey Lemon Slice

This slice is deliciously tangy and the filling just oozes out from between the base and the light crust and just melts in your mouth. If you are lucky enough to have your own lemon tree, and you have a sudden abundance of lemons on hand, this recipe is for you!

Base

• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup icing sugar
• 150 grams butter, cubed
• 1 tbsp lemon zest

Topping

• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1½ cups sugar
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zest only

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Line a 30cm slice tin with baking paper.

To make the base, place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until they resemble breadcrumbs. Tip into the tin, then gently press down to even out.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden in colour. While the base is cooking, make the topping by whisking all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour this mixture onto the hot base and bake for 25 minutes until firm to the touch.

Remove from the oven and run a knife around the edges while still warm.

Dark Chocolate Stout Cake

This cake is my go-to recipe! One word: devine. I used a bottle of Tuatara’s limited edition Black WCF Chocolate Stout in this recipe, but a regular bottle of stout will do the trick!

Dark Chocolate Stout Cake

For the cake

• 500 ml stout
• 250 grams butter
• 75 grams cocoa powder
• 400 grams caster sugar
• 142 ml sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 275 grams plain flour
• 2 1/2 tsps baking soda

For the icing

• 300 grams cream cheese
• 150 grams icing sugar
• 50 grams butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, and butter and line a 23 cm springform tin.

Pour the stout into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and the baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

When the cake’s cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese with the butter until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them all together until it makes a spreadable consistency. Spread the icing on top of the cake.

Dark Chocolate, Beetroot and Salted Caramel Layer Cake

Little and Friday is the name of a cafe in Auckland. It is the brainchild of Kim Evans and after just two visits, has quickly become one of my favourite cafes. If I opened a cafe one day I’d want it to be just like this one. Excellent coffee, a great range of delicious treats (the savoury brioches, the frittata, mini cakes…) and a fantastic relaxed atmosphere with a great little outdoor garden area with seating, and home to to the cafe’s herb garden and vege patch.

I have a number of favourites at Little and Friday – the lemon and passionfruit custard slice, and the savoury sun-dried tomato and pesto brioche. I have bought both cookbooks and they have become my go-to if I’m looking for something new to bake or cook.

This weekend I decided to try out Little & Friday’s delectable chocolate, beetroot and salted caramel cake as something new and a bit different. I ended up using just the one cake tin, instead of three, so it did take a bit of extra time to cook in the oven. I highly recommend this recipe! Enjoy.

• 5 eggs
• 2½ cups caster sugar
• 300ml canola oil
• 250g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup good-quality cocoa
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 100ml milk
• 1 cup grated raw beetroot
• 3 cups Chocolate Ganache, to decorate (see below)

Salted Caramel

• 1½ cups caster sugar
• 300ml cream
• ½ tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 160°C. Grease and line three 23cm round cake tins with baking paper. Using an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar on medium speed until mixture is pale and creamy and tripled in volume. With mixer on medium speed, slowly drizzle in oil and combine.

Melt chocolate in a glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add chocolate to egg mixture. Stir to combine.

Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl. Using a large metal spoon, fold a third of the dry ingredients into chocolate mixture. Add a third of the milk and combine. Continue in this way until all combined.

Fold grated beetroot through chocolate mixture. Spoon mixture into prepared tins. Bake in centre of oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in tins before turning out.

To assemble, use a serrated knife to cut the domed tops off the cakes. Spread ½ cup Salted Caramel over the top of two cakes and stack to form one triple-layer cake sandwiched together with caramel.

Spread a thick layer of Chocolate Ganache over top and sides of cake using a palette knife.

Salted Caramel

Place sugar in a small saucepan and just cover with water to achieve a wet-sand consistency. Bring to the boil but do not stir. Using a wet pastry brush, remove any sugar crystals from sides of saucepan. Continue to boil until mixture turns amber. Remove from heat.

In a small saucepan, heat cream to boiling point. Gradually add to caramelised sugar, stirring constantly until smooth. This takes a while but eventually combines. Season with salt.

Chocolate Ganache

• 1/2 cup cream
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, grated

In a saucepan, heat cream to just below boiling point, Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until melted and smooth. Allow to cool and thicken before using.

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

Hello! Apologies for not blogging since early October! How many slack of me. Truth is, it’s been an extremely busy last few months and the last thing I’ve felt like doing is blogging my evenings away. Excuses, excuses..I. know. I do wonder, sometimes, how all you other bloggers carry on with such momentum…it’s truly awesome.

I’m back though, with some festive treats over the next couple of weeks. First up is a delightful recipe, and something that truly reminds me of my childhood, and also rather fitting for this time of year. They make a perfect treat for your workmates, or just wrap in cellophane for a cheap, and easy gift.

This recipe is so unbelievably easy to prepare, using the food processor. The smell of gingerbread will be wafting through your kitchen within minutes!

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

• 2 cups flour
• 2-3 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 150 grams butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• Lollies to decorate (pebbles are great)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

This is the easy part! Sift flour, baking soda and ground ginger together and place in a bowl or food processor. Add butter and rub in with fingertips or pulse in food processor until resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and stir or pulse to mix. Ta da!

If the dough is too sticky, you can add a little more flour to the mix and wrap in cling wrap. Likewise if a little too dry, add 1 tbsp of warm water. Refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes.

Roll out on lightly floured surface until 5mm thick. Using cookie cutters, cut shapes and place on tray. Form leftover dough into a ball and re-roll and repeat cutting out until all the dough is used up.

Bake the gingerbread cookies for about 8-10 minutes or until cooked and golden. Remove from oven and cool on baking rack.

Of course these cookies taste superb on their own, but if you’d like to get a little creative, make the icing by adding 11⁄2 tsp water to the icing sugar. Drop a small amount under each spot where you wish to place a lolly.

When you’re done, store the cookies in an airtight container. Enjoy.

Cherry Ripe Mud Cake

I really enjoyed making this cake. Mainly, because it made a change from to my usual fall back recipe – chocolate guinness cake.

Stupidly,  I left a bunch of my recipe books out recently, and my flatmate picked up my copy of Food We Love – a great little collection of favourite recipes from the Australian Women’s Weekly Test Kitchen. He came across an extremely mouth-watering image of a very dense chocolate cake, made with Cherry Ripe bars. Next came a request for a birthday cake. I didn’t really need any more convincing…

P.S. I really wish I had a much more exciting, colourful image to post with this recipe, but sadly that will have to wait until next time…..enjoy.

Cherry Ripe Mud Cake

• 250gm butter, chopped
• 1 tbsp instant coffee
• 400ml coconut cream
• 200gm dark cooking chocolate
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (110gm) self raising flour
• 1 cup (150gm) plain flour
• 1/4 cup (25gm) dark cocoa
• 2/3 cup fine coconut
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 5x (50gm) Cherry Ripe Bars, chopped coarsely

Preheat oven to 150°C, grease and line 1 x 23cm springform tin. Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Add coffee, sugars and stir in chocolate until melted. Add coconut cream, stir till combined then set aside to cool. Whisk in sifted dry ingredients then coconut, vanilla and egg. Stir in ½ the Cherry Ripes (chop coarsely). Sprinkle rest of Cherry Ripes on top of cakes. Pour mixture into the tin and bake 40-50 min until top is set and is still a bit wobbly. Stand cake  for 10 minutes then remove sides and cool on wire rack.

This recipe is also my entry for Sweet New Zealand this month – hosted by Lucy from Lucy Eats. Check out all the fancy recipes on her blog at the end of the month.

Sweet New Zealand: By After Taste

Jeepers! June tomorrow, what the? Uh, where did this month even go?! Where has the year gone. Just to remind me of this, I walked past a shop the other day and saw a sign saying “Christmas countdown: 210 days”..things I didn’t need and/or want to know. Admittedly, they were a children’s toy shop…

More importantly, during the month of May, After Taste hosted ‘Sweet New Zealand’. This event was originally started by Alessandra Zecchini in 2011 and really encourages kiwi food bloggers to share their secret recipes, discover new delights and of course, get to know other New Zealand food bloggers, living both here and overseas.

Here are the entries from May:

1. Dulce de leche cupcakes by Alessandra Zecchini

These look incredible Alessandra, and yet another great photograph from you! I have heard a lot about dulce de leche but I am yet to try it or use it in my baking. I will definitely be bookmarking this fabulous entry. Looks like I might also have to plan a trip to Uruguay, Chile, or Argentina. If you’d like to make your own dulce de leche, follow the instructions here.

2. Dolce Milanese by Greedybread

Michelle at Greedybread sent in this recipe for Dolce Milanese this month. I’m also quite partial to a good fruit bread, Michelle so you certainly hit the spot with this one. Fruity, rich, and buttery..a perfect accompaniment to a large cup of coffee on a cold Winter’s day. Beaut.

3. Nutella muffins by Greedybread

Another excellent recipe from Michelle! What a great idea for a treat for Mother’s Day – if they last that long. They look like they would be wonderful straight from the oven. Nothing wrong with a bit of  choc overload every now and then!

4. Torta Caprese by Italian Kiwi

Lisa (all the way from France) from the blog Italian Kiwi has sent in a recipe for a typical chocolate cake made in Southern Italy, which she was lucky enough to experience (and get the recipe for!) while on holiday in Puglia. The cake has a great brownie-like consistency, and uses a secret ingredient called Strega, which translates as “Witch” in English – excellent. For everyone else in New Zealand, Lisa suggests using Cognac to replace the Strega. Thanks for the great accompanying photograph, Lisa! 🙂

5. Rose Water, Cranberry & Pistachio Truffles by My Little Chequered Kitchen

Monique has sent through a lovely recipe which, quite frankly, the title kind of makes me drool. This recipe has been adapted from Jo Seagar’s recipe in “It’s Easier Than You Think” book. I enjoy anything with the combination of nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit. Looks like this recipe might be just perfect for Christmas. Thanks Monique!

6. Chocolate Banana Loaf by eat, etc …

Lesley from eat, etc.. has presented us with what looks like a beautiful, yummy dense, chocolate banana loaf! Short, sharp, and ALL the icing is the message I get from this blog post. Thanks Lesley – it looks very inviting!

7. Manjar and Alfajores by Delissimon

Thanks to Monica from Delissimon for two fabulous recipes this month – Manjar (meaning delicacy) and Alfajores which are little shortbread biscuits sandwiched with dulce de leche. After another recipe that includes dulce de leche this month, I’m pretty much sold on this. And it seems that only way to do this properly is to make it from scratch. I now have a project and so fitting for the long weekend ahead. I must say, the photography on Delissimon deserves a special mention too – love it!

8. Plum Oat Bars by Couscous & Consciousness

Sue from Couscous & Consciousness presents us with plum oat bars – this is an adapted recipe from the book Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi. I was particularly sold by the tartness of the plum combined with the  sweetness of the caramel nut topping. Definitely going on my list of items to try next month. Thanks Sue.

9. Gooey Salted Caramel Slice by After Taste

Now, I haven’t had much time to get into the kitchen myself this month and get creative! So here is a delightful recipe I go back to time and time again – gooey salted caramel slice! I thought it was also quite fitting with our string of caramel-related entries this month too. Enjoy.

Thanks for all the fantastic and salivating recipes this month guys! I will leave you with a great big shout-out to the next host for June, Sue from http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.co.nz! Enjoy, and have a great Queen’s Birthday Weekend.

Chocolate Guinness Cake

I’m pretty sure I’ve come across a winner here. The first time I sampled this gorgeous cake, which a friend made, it was absolutely to die for. That was it, I sourced the recipe and I don’t think I’ve made another chocolate cake recipe since.

I’m not a huge beer fan but it works perfectly with the chocolate, and the end result is super moist, chocolaty with an ever so slight taste of the Guinness.

For a slightly less elaborate presentation, you can definitely get away with a dusting of icing sugar. However, because I am pretty much in love with cream cheese, I definitely can’t pass up a decent spread of icing. And the combination of the creamy white topping on the dark black cake is visually stunning in my books.

This is hands-down the best chocolate cake ever. Moist, dark, chocolaty, and with a great silky texture so make sure you try it 🙂

Chocolate Guinness Cake

For the cake

• 250 ml guinness
• 250 grams butter
• 75 grams cocoa powder
• 400 grams caster sugar
• 142 ml sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 275 grams plain flour
• 2 1/2 tsps baking soda

For the icing

• 300 grams cream cheese
• 150 grams icing sugar
• 50 grams butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, and butter and line a 23 cm springform tin.

Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and the baking soda.

Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

When the cake’s cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese with the butter until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them all together until it makes a spreadable consistency. Spread the icing on top of the cake.