It’s a Rocky Tiffin Road…

WARNING: this may be addictive!

The basic ingredients are the same although I think if you add raisins & then cover the bar with chocolate you have a Tiffin, if there are marshmallows in it it’s a Rocky Road anything else is a Fridge Cake. As long as it tastes good, who cares?!

If you have been into the Café or Take-Away this week and tried some you may be desperate for another fix, so here’s how to make it:

March Recipe: Retro Rockin’ Tiffin

Generously line a shallow tin/dish approximately 20 x 20 cm square with cling film

Put 125g Digestive Biscuits into a deep bowl and bash with a rolling-pin. You don’t want the biscuits to be completely powdery but at the same time you don’t want the chunks to be too large as it will make the finished bar harder to cut. Mix in any other ingredients such as raisins/marshmallows/nuts/dried fruit, I would recommend doing this by sight as everyone has their own personal preferences.

Put 100g Butter, 2tbsp Golden Syrup into saucepan on a gentle heat until melted & bubbling. Remove from the heat & stir in 200g Milk Chocolate (broken into pieces) and stir constantly until the chocolate has all melted evenly.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together thoroughly until completely combined. Spoon it into the tin, smooth the top & place in the fridge.

 

For my version, I crushed 2 Crunchie Bars with the biscuits for a honeycomb flavor and then threw in a handful of White & Pink Marshmallows. I then melted 200g Dark Chocolate with a small knob of Butter in a bain-marie (bowl resting above a pan of simmering water – make sure the bottom of the bowl does NOT touch the water) and spread it all over my cooling bar. A few Sprinkles later & back in the fridge to set for an hour or two.

I like the thick chocolate layer on top and use dark chocolate only because I find that more milk chocolate makes it a bit too sweet. Just try not to eat it all in one go!

DAIRY FREE VERSION: Use dark chocolate & a cooking spread (instead of milk choc & butter)

TOP TIP: Always have a small bowl of boiling hot water to dip your measuring spoon into when using Golden Syrup. A hot spoon will release the syrup more easily ensuring you get an accurate measure.

 

Valentines Hidden Heart Cake

Black Forest Hidden Heart Loaf Cake!

After the success of my Battenberg with the hidden Union Jack inside  I thought it would be fun to make a hidden heart cake for Valentines Day. I found some amazing Cherry Essence and used Black Forest Gateau as the flavour inspiration. There are a few hidden heart cake recipes on the web, but here’s how I made my Black Forest Valentines Hidden Heart Loaf Cake (now that’s a mouthfull!!)

January Recipe: Valentines Hidden Heart Loaf Cake

First pre-heat the oven to 180ºC and grease & line a 1lb loaf tin (to ensure neat corners, lightly grease the tin then cross over two strips of measured baking parchment)

You need to make two sponges, one red & one chocolate. Each Sponge will be a three egg recipe – this is the easiest cake recipe ever! You weigh the whole eggs and that weight is the weight you need for all the other ingredients.

Cake One: Mix together using an electric whisk or mixer: Butter (or cooking margarine) and Caster Sugar

Add your Eggs one at a time, beating each one in fully before adding the next

Add a few drops of Red or Pink Food Colouring & Cherry Essence (I use red colouring paste to get a bright pink colour)

AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT FOOD COLOURING: As a general rule pastes and gels are better than liquid colourings. Make sure you start with a little and gradually as you can always add but you can’t take away! Make sure you have a definite colour that you are happy with before you bake.

Gently stir in Self-raising Flour

Bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Then leave for 10 minutes before removing from the tin and cooling completely – then put it in the fridge for half an hour to firm up.

When the cake is completely cold & firm, stand it on it’s end and carefully draw your heart shaped cookie cutter down the length of the sponge. You can cut the cake into smaller sections if it makes it easier. When you have done this it is time to prepare Cake Two:

Cake Two:

Re-line your loaf tin with parchment paper as before

Mix together using an electric whisk or mixer: Butter (or cooking margarine) and Caster Sugar

Add your Eggs one at a time, beating each one in fully before adding the next

Gently stir in Self-raising Flour & Cocoa Powder – you need to substitute 25g of the weight for Cocoa Powder

Pour about 1/4 – 1/3 of the mixture into the lined tin then carefully place the heart cut out sponge lengthwise. Cover with the remaining mixture.

Bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer come out clean. Then leave for 10 minutes in the tin before turning out. Dust with icing sugar or drizzle with pink coloured water icing.

Wait for your loved ones to be watching before you amaze then by cutting the first slice!

You could of course use Raspberry or Strawberry Essence instead of Cherry & bake with a lemon sponge – not substituting any flour for cocoa, and adding Vanilla Essence & Lemon Zest

TIP: Turn your pink cake cut-offs into Truffle Pops!

Just crumble up and mix with enough buttercream (icing sugar & butter beaten together) to bind it together, then shape into balls. Refrigerate for an hour before covering in melted chocolate. You can make these into traditional cake pops too, my favourite Valentines themed ones are dipped in pink chocolate melt (which you can buy in Lakeland) & covered in sprinkles with a Love Heart attached.

Love Heart Cake Pops

 

Good, Old-fashioned Carrot Cake

This Carrot Cake recipe, like our Chocolate Coffee ‘Tiramisu’ Cake, falls into the ‘very easy to make’ category as it all gets mixed up together in one bowl. The Cream Cheese frosting needs to be full-fat & mustn’t be over mixed otherwise it goes a bit runny. I would recommend using the more expensive Philadelphia as the cheaper ‘own brand’ cream cheeses go really runny too. It is fine to make with a Soya alternative which are readily available & makes this cake dairy-free.

March Recipe: Carrot Cake

First pre-heat the oven to 160ºC and grease & line a 23cm round cake tin

Put into a large mixing bowl:

175g Plain Flour

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

100g Butter (I use cooking margarine)

75g Sunflower Oil

175g Soft light brown Muscavado Sugar

3 Free-range Eggs, beaten

 

Beat together until smooth (using a wooden spoon or in a mixer with a ‘K’ beater) then STIR in:

200g Carrots, peeled & grated

2 tbsp Orange Juice

60g Crushed Walnuts (or Pecans)

 

Pour into the prepared cake tin, level the top & put in the oven to bake for 60-70 minutes until it is brown, firm & an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool before covering with your Cream Cheese frosting.

Make your Frosting: whisk together 100g cream cheese, 150g icing sugar, 100g butter (margarine)  until smooth.

Spread the Frosting over your sponge and then decorate how you like it with Walnut Pieces? Grated Orange Zest? 

They also make delicious cupcakes or can be cooked in a square tin & cut into traybake bites

NB: For the version I make at the Cafe, I make two of these sponges sandwiched together with some of the frosting then decorated with more frosting & topped with handmade mini Carrots made with Icing

 

Mushroom Soup

With the weather getting chillier what could be better than a delicious warming, filling soup full of natural goodness and VERY simple to make! Perfect heated up in one of our thermal Bento boxes ready for lunchtime. As with all soup, really take your time with the first steps – don’t rush it – as all the flavours should be there before you add the liquid. For all our mushroom soup fans, here’s how we make it:

January Recipe: Mushroom Soup

Makes 1 litre of Soup

Fry 1 finely chopped Onion in a pan with 50g Butter until soft and golden

Add 500g sliced Mushrooms and fry until golden brown

Add 1 litre Vegetable Stock, Season to taste with Salt and Pepper and add a pinch of dried mixed herbs

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes

Add a splash of Double Cream (or Soya Equivalent) and heat through gently before Blending with a hand blender or processor

SERVE WITH: crusty bread

I always have a pot of Vegetable stock at home in the freezer made from all those left over & wrinkly veg boiled up in seasoned water then strained. I would however recommend getting some Marigold Vegetable Stock Powder (also available as Vegan) for your store cupboard.

 

Mushroom and White Wine Risotto

A timely entry as this is currently on our Saturday Night menu. Last weekend one of our customers thought it was the second best risotto she had ever had (the best having been in a two Michelin Star restaurant, well you just can’t compete with that!).

Much has been said about the time-consuming nature of a risotto, however I think this is part of the joy as I find it’s a calm peaceful moment in a kitchen: just you, your dish & the open bottle of white wine…

Don’t worry if you don’t have fresh Vegetable stock, just buy yourself a tub of Marigold Swiss Vegetable Stock Powder (much better than your average stock cube).

May Recipe: Mushroom & White Wine Risotto

serves 4

Fry 1 large diced Onion with 2 crushed Garlic Cloves in 30g Butter for 5 minutes until soft and golden

Add 300g Risotto Rice and fry for 5 minutes until glossy & golden

Add 250ml White Wine and cook until the wine is absorbed into the rice

Start adding small amounts of Vegetable Stock (500ml altogether) one ladle at a time and stir often

When the rice is almost cooked (after approx. 10-12 mins) add 200g Sliced Mushrooms & 100ml Cream and cook until soft and thick

Add Salt & Pepper to taste, Sliced Spring Onions then remove from the heat and stir in 30g Butter

This recipe is a cheese-free risotto so perfect for the dairy intolerant as you can easily substitute the butter & cream for non-dairy alternatives.

 

The best chocolate brownie recipe in the world?

Thanks to a suggestion from a twitter friend, here is the first of my new monthly recipe blog! Every month I shall focus on one of our Cafe Retro favourites for you to try at home. I am beginning with THE best chocolate brownie recipe in the WORLD! You will have everyone talking about these beauties…

March Recipe: Chocolate Brownies

I often make these for the Cafe & take-away as well as friends & family and they are honestly well worth making. Rich & gooey but not too sweet, this is a very simple recipe requiring no special skills just top quality ingredients.

Turn the oven on to 170ºC and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper

Melt 300g cooking margarine in the microwave for approx 2mins, then pour in 300g chopped up dark chocolate (I use 80% cocoa dark chocolate pistoles) and mix until it resembles Willy Wonka’s chocolate river.

Whisk 5 (free-range) eggs into 450g granulated sugar then whisk in the chocolate mix. Whisk in 200g sieved plain four.

Pour into the baking tray and cook for 20-25 minutes until it has cracks around the edges & remains wobbly in the centre (the wobblier = the gooier). Serve warm or cold (great for pudding with ice-cream & chocolate sauce: heat some cream then melt in chocolate & sugar to taste)

Some Variations:

after the flour has gone in you can add 200g of nuts/dried cherries or whatever else you fancy? Perhaps small sliced slithers of orange zest or ground cardamom?

Tip: to ensure even distribution when adding your bits: pour half the mixture in th tin, then sprinkle on your nuts/fruit etc before covering with the remaining mix. There’s nothing worse than wanting a nutty brownie and only finding one in your slice! My father-in-law taught me this when buying nut chocolate: always feel the underneath of the bar before you buy it!