Double Chocolate Vanilla Cake

Okay so you want to make a cake and you want it to look special without a lot of extra cost or effort?! You might have your own recipe for the cake, but if not here is one we used in the past from Dr.Oetker ... Just using the cake from that you can match it with the icing below and create something that looks, and tastes, delicious!

Delicious Chocolate Brownies

Recently, I searched high and low for a chocolate brownie recipe that would cater for both a nut and gluten allergy. I couldn't find something (they all either had nuts or 'normal' flour) so I adapted a recipe from BBC Good Food - see their recipe here.

The Best Cookies!

Everyone loves cookies right?! We here at Yummy Yummerson adore them; not only because of how delicious they can be but also because they are so easy to make and you can get really creative with your fillings!

Christmas Cupcakes

I wanted to make another Christmas item to bring into work (yes they're a lucky bunch) and I decided on Cupcakes! I had already picked up the Dr. Oetker chocolate stars and chocolate balls in gold for a specific thought in my mind but wasn't sure if it would work or not. I said i'd give it a try anyway and if it failed miserably nobody would need to know!

To make the buttercream (enough for about 28 cupcakes) I used the following ingredients:
400g Butter, room temperature
1KG Icing Sugar, sifted
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
200ml Milk
2 tsp Green Food Colouring

Method:
1. Beat together the butter and icing sugar until combined.
2. Add your vanilla extract and mix to incorporate.
3. Add the milk gradually (Take note here that you can add a bit more or a bit less depending on the consistency you want your buttercream icing to be at. So add it bit by bit to ensure you don't put in too much. You want a thick consistency to the buttercream for piping so that it doesn't fade away)
4. Add your food colouring and mix until it is evenly distributed throughout the buttercream.
5. Fit the piping bag with a star shaped nozzle and then fill it with the butter cream.
6. Hold the piping bag above the cupcake and squeeze out the buttecream at a slow pace while circling around the edges of the cupcake, getting higher as you move towards the centre. (Imagine an ice cream cone being filled with soft serve icecream).
7. Add the gold covered chocolate baubles and place the chocolate star on top.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Chocolate Biscuit Cake is such an easy dessert to make. It's absolutely excellent to bring to a party. It looks great, you can cut it into loads of pieces (quantity) and it tastes fab (quality)! 

On this occasion I wanted to make something Christmas themed (and easy) for the office, and so I decided on the easy option of the Chocolate Biscuit Cake - with a few twists. 

The first twist was the way it was displayed - usually a loaf or cake format, this time I went for the Christmas Pudding look! Secondly I added in Crunchies & Oreos with the regular digestive biscuits!

Ingredients:
1 Can Condensed Milk
350g Cadbury's Chocolate, broken into pieces
125g Real Butter
250g Digestive Biscuits, crushed
50g Oreos, crushed
50g Crunchies, crushed

Method:
1. Place the digestives, oreos and crunchies in a sealed bag and give it a good whack with a rolling pin (or something to that effect). You can leave these as big or as little as you want, but don't crush them so much that they are only a fine powder. You won't have any crunch element. Then pour these crushed pieces into a large bowl.
2. In a microwaveable bowl place half the chocolate and all the butter into the microwave. 
3. Turn the microwave on for 20 seconds. After the 20 seconds - take out the bowl and give it a stir. (At this stage it might not be soft, but give it a little mix.)
4. Continue to repeat step 3 (20 seconds in the microwave, followed by a good stir) until the chocolate and butter are melted together. Note that the butter will definitely melt before the chocolate. Just keep mixing!
5. Add the other half of the chocolate to the butter/chocolate mixture and mix until the chocolate has melted into the mixture. At this point, you may need to put the mixture back into the microwave for 10 - 20 seconds to get the last few chunks of chocolate to fade away.
6. Add the condensed milk and mix until incorporated.
7. Add the dry ingredients and again mix until incorporated.
8. Grease & line a loaf tin (or in this case a pudding bowl) and pour the mixture in. Pat down with the back of the spoon. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for 4 hours.
9. Once set, turn out onto a plate. You can then cover it with more chocolate or whatever decorations you see fit!


Note 1 - this can be made gluten free very easily by omitting the oreos and using gluten free digestives or other biscuits (I love the bourbons). Just make sure to check all your ingredients are also GF but they should be.

Note 2 - The reason we melt the chocolate this way is so that the mixture does not split. If you melted the cadburys chocolate and butter together for 60 seconds on a high heat the butter would be completely melted and sizzling while the chocolate might not be anywhere near melted and the two will not merge together.

Cookies Cookies Cookies

Everyone loves cookies right?! We here at Yummy Yummerson adore them; not only because of how delicious they can be but also because they are so easy to make. Two hours and you can have 40 huge cookies. They're perfect for a party - or a Friday night in on your own - am I right?! We adapted this recipe from other cookie recipes we had used previously, and it works wonders! What is great about it is that it works well with so many different fillings!

Okay so the basic cookie recipe (chocolate chip) is as follows. Note that you can half the quantity if you don't such a large amount.

Ingredients:
500g Plain Flour, sieved.
1 tsp Baking Soda.
1 tsp Salt
340g Real Butter, melted.
400g Soft Brown Sugar (Preferably Dark, but either will do)
200g Caster Sugar
2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract 
2 Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
600g of Chocolate Chips.

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (fan oven)
2. Line baking trays with parchment paper
3. In one bowl; add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix together.
4. In another bowl; mix together both sugars and the melted butter until incorporated.
5. Add in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
6. Add in your chocolate chips and mix again until evenly dispersed.
7. Scoop 2 tbsps of dough out of the bowl, and roll into a ball with your hands. Place on the baking tray. Continue to do this until all your dough is used. Space each ball about 3 inches away from the next.
8. Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are starting to brown.

Note: The cookie will be soft when it first comes out of the oven. Once it cools, it will begin to harden. This could take a few minutes. Once they are hardened slightly, you can move them onto the wire rack to finish cooling.


The alternative recipe is to use different fillings. So where-ever you see 'Chocolate Chips' above - you can change this to whatever you want. Yes- WHATEVER you want. Now don't complain if you put broccoli in and they don't taste so good. I'm talking about the good stuff - M&Ms, Smarties etc. 

Some flavours we have gone with previously that have worked a treat:
- White Chocolate & Cranberry (Split 50/50)
- Milk Chocolate & Cinnamon (550g chocolate, 3 tbsp cinnamon)
- Smarties/M&Ms
- Dime (Chopped)

Why not give it a try! This is where you can get creative, so go wild! 

Raisin Scones

I was asked to bake some scones for a charity bake sale and I decided to try a new recipe. I fell to the safe bet - Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I only recently watched her make these scones on her TV show (Food Network) and they looked delicious. To accompany the scones, I made Raspberry Butter and whipped some cream. The scones turned out great; light and fluffy and golden all over.

                      

The recipe I used can be found here. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/raisin-scones-recipe.html

Notes about this recipe:

1. Use 1 tsp of salt instead of 2.

2. Heavy cream = Double Cream.

3. I used a round cutter that was 3 inches wide- you don't have to use the square cutter here.

3. Recipes makes 14-16.

4. Bake in fan oven at 180 degrees for 18 minutes.

If you are unsure if your scones are done, just cut one open and look inside to see if they need a few minutes more. This is also a great excuse to eat the scone, because you can't serve a cut up scone to someone, right?!

Once you are happy that your scones are cooked, place them on a wire rack and allow them to cool.

Along with this I also whipped together 1/4lb of Kerrygold butter with 1/3 cup (about 2-3 heaped tbsp) of good raspberry jam and a pinch of salt to make the Raspberry Butter.

With the raspberry butter, I suppose you are just cutting out the "extra hassle" (I put that in quotations, because it's NOT an extra hassle) of having to spread butter AND jam onto your scone, but together they make a lovely creamy and sweet topping for your scone.

I also used the leftover cream I had and whipped this up to serve with the scones. 

I found a tray and covered it in a nice linen tea towel, and placed the scones inside. This can then be served with the butter and cream in their jars.

                   

Casual Dinner Party Food.

Casual Dinner Parties. It’s what we love to do! We always have friends over to our place for food and drinks. We love to prepare these for friends and family - and of course eat the food! It may seem daunting, but entertaining your friends doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. Below I have laid out a simple and cheap night of food (drink post will follow later) that didn't take too long to prepare and allows you to sit back and enjoy your night with your guests.

A few weekends ago, we decided very last minute that we would have some friends over. There were about 10 people in total attending. Because it was so last minute, we were a bit restricted to what we could make. Luckily we were used to entertaining, and we were able to fall on our 'safe' items that we have prepared time and time again.

Time: 2 Hours

Items on the Menu: Chili/Jalapeno Poppers, Potato Skins, Chicken Wings, Mini Pizzas.

Ingredients Bought:

Four packs of Chicken Wings (12 in each)

One Jar of Franks Hot Sauce

Butter (Kerrygold)

3 Bags of Potatoes (Microwave in the bag)
2 Mixed bags of Cheddar and Mozzarella (grated)

1 Tub Sour Cream

1 Pack Spicy Chorizo

1 bunch Scallions

2 Packs of Pita Breads

1 Jar Passata

1 Bag of Mozzarella

2 Packs of Chillis/Jalapenos (whole)

1 Tub Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1 Pack of Bacon Strips

We also picked up some Tortillas and Dips, just to tie people over when they first arrived, as the food wouldn't be ready right away. It’s important not to have it ready too early, because nobody is ever on time and the food will be gone cold.

There were two of us in the kitchen. He started on the wings and chili's, I started on the potatoes and pizzas. Below is how we prepared and cooked, item by item, step by step.

Potato Skins:

1.     I threw the bag of potatoes into the microwave as they took 13- 15 minutes to cook. I know some people might not like this option, so it’s exactly the same to steam or oven cook your potatoes yourself, but I was caught for time and this was a saviour!

2.     While those were cooking, I was prepping the items that were going on the potato skins. I sliced the chorizo and then cut each slice in half. I threw these onto a dry frying pan over a medium to high heat and let them simmer away. You don’t need oil for these because a lot of oil comes out of the chorizo while cooking. Once these got sizzling, I turned the heat down low to let them continue to cook but not burn. Once they were crispy enough, I turned off the heat and removed the chorizo pieces and placed them in a bowl. I left the chorizo oil in the pan as I use that for the wings later.

3. I washed and chopped the scallions and placed these in another bowl. The grated cheese was placed next to these bowls and a chopping board. That was all the prep for the potato skins done!

4. Once one bag of potatoes is done, I carefully (it gets hot) removed the bag from the microwave and placed them on the draining board. I popped another bag in and started it cooking. Slice open the bag and be careful as hot steam does come out of the bag initially. Once this has gone, you can remove the hot potatoes and place them on a chopping board. I slice these in half - length ways- and again leave them cool a small bit. 

5. Once they are cool enough to touch - scoop out as much or as little potato as you wish. You can save this potato for the day after or you can mix the ingredients into this potato and scoop it back in. I choose to scoop out about half of the potato and leave it for the next day.

6. I repeat this for the following two bags. Once all the potatoes are cooled, sliced and scooped - you can start to assemble. (Top Tip - you can turn the potato halves over, so they skin is pointing up, and brush these with some oil or butter. Place these in a hot oven for a few minutes until the skin is crispy. Remove and then you can continue with the assembly as per usual). Place the potato halves on the oven tray (skins side down) and sprinkle the grated cheese on top, ensuring there is good coverage over all the potatoes. Then add the crispy chorizo and scallions. Pop these into the oven and allow to cook until the cheese is melted and the skins have crisped up. Serve with Sour Cream.

Mini Pizzas:

We tried to get a pizza base like we used to find in our local shop in Dublin, but could not find it in SuperValu in Cork. Therefore we went for the pitta bread option, and it turned out well.

1. I cut open pitta breads as you usually would, but sliced these the whole way through. Once these were open, using a round shaped cutter I cut out circles from the pitta that were about 2-3 inches wide.

2. I placed these on a tray and brushed them with oil.

3. I then put these into the oven and allowed them to crisp up for about 7-10 minutes at 180 degrees. You might think that these have gone too crispy but they will soften once the sauce and cheese have been added later so it’s how they are meant to be!

4. While these are cooking, you can make the tomato sauce. One jar of passata sauce into a bowl. Add two tbsp. of olive oil and a tbsp. of oregano/basil. Then sprinkle some salt and pepper in and stir altogether.

5. Once these are out of the oven and cooled, you can add 2 tsps of the tomato sauce (per mini pizza. Any more than that and the base will get soggy.

6. Slice or tear the mozzarella ball and place pieces on your mini pizzas.

7. We added Prosciutto & Oregano on top and had them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until you are happy that the cheese has melted. Easy and Delicious!

Chili Poppers:

We were nervous about people not wanting to eat these, but they were actually the first item devoured by our guests. Everybody loved them! These are also so easy to prepare and cook, and are definitely something you can prepare well in advance and just throw into the oven when your guests arrived.

1. Wash the chili’s (You can use regular chilies or Jalapenos here) and slice lengthways but only half way or just enough so you can remove the white pieces and some seeds inside.

2. Put the Philadelphia into a piping bag and pipe the cream cheese into the chilies (fill them right up).

3. Wrap each chili in bacon strips.

4. Place each of these poppers onto an oven tray and put in the oven until the bacon has cooked and crisped up and the cheese has melted. Some of the cheese may overflow out the top but only slightly.

Told you these were simple!

Chicken Wings:

1. Place your chicken wings in a deep oven tray, Sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper and cover in foil.

2. Place into the oven for 45 minutes at 160 degrees.

3. Remove the foil and allow the skins to crisp up for another 20 minutes. You can put the grill on in the oven as well to get extra crispiness.

4. Once these are done, you can allow them to keep warm in the oven while you prepare the sauce.

5. Pour the Franks Hot Sauce in the pot and turn on the heat to medium/high heat.

6. Add 100g butter and the oil from the chorizo that was used earlier. Stir until it comes to a simmer and then lower the heat to keep simmering.

7. Once the butter is melted and the chorizo oil is incorporated, the sauce should be hot through it all.

8. You can pour this sauce over the wings ensure they are all covered, or you can serve them separately in case anyone does not like this sauce.

Step by Step how we prepped the 4 items above that night:

Potato Skins

Chicken Wings

Mini Pizzas

Chili Poppers

1.     One bag of potatoes are put into the microwave for 12 – 15 minutes, depending on what it says on the bag. If you rather steam or oven cook your potatoes, start this process now too.

2.     Chicken Wings were put into two oven pans, drizzled with oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Oven temp 160 degrees Celsius. These will cook for 45 minutes to an hour.

3.     Bottle of ‘Franks Hot Sauce’ was opened and poured into a saucepan. The heat is not turned on at this stage.

4.     Slice chorizo and chop each slice in half. Throw these pieces into a frying pan (dry) and leave at a medium/high heat until they start to sizzle. You can lower the heat and allow them to crisp up. Once complete, remove from the pan and put into a bow. Leave the chorizo oil in the frying pan as you will use this in a minute.

5.     Wash and chop your scallions and place in a bowl.

6.     Grate your cheese and place in a bowl/leave the packet of grated cheese next to the scallions and chorizo.

7.     Once the potatoes are cooked, remove the bag (CAREFULLY as they are hot) and place on the draining board. Put the second pack of potatoes into the microwave and start cooking. Slice open the bag, again be careful with the steam that comes out of the bag, and then remove the potatoes and place in a bowl. Repeat this for the other two bags of potatoes that are cooked.

8.     While waiting for all the potatoes to cook, you can start on the mini pizzas. Slice open the pitta breads fully, and using a round cutter cut out circles from the pitta bread. Place all the mini pitta circles on a tray and brush each one with oil. Put the trays in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes.

9.     Prepare the mozzarella and prosciutto pieces in a bowl on the counter. Place next to a chopping board/preparation plate.

10.  Pour the passata into a bowl and add 2 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp oregano/basil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

11.  Remove the pitta breads from the oven. They should be crispy. Don’t worry if you think they are too crisp, as they will soften with the sauce and cheese. Remove and leave to cool.

12.  The Chili Poppers are easy to prepare. Wash the chilis and slice lengthways but not the full way – just enough so you can remove the white pieces and seeds from inside. Pipe the philadephia cream cheese into each chili using a piping bag (make one here). Wrap each chili in bacon strips. Leave in a tray until ready for the oven.

13.  Spoon 2 tsps pizza sauce onto each mini pizza base and place a piece of mozzarella on top. You can add the prosciutto pieces and some oregano on top too. Once these are all prepated, place on a tray and into the oven. These can remain on a tray in the kitchen until ready to cook.

14.  The most time consuming piece is slicing all the potatoes in half and scooping out the potato. I keep the leftover potato for the following day, but some people add the ingredients into this and spoon it back into the potato shell. It will just take a small bit longer to crisp up and can make people a lot fuller faster.

15.  Once the potato is scooped out, place each half on a tray and sprinkle the cheese, chorizo and scallions evenly over the potatoes. Cook in the oven until the cheese is melted and the skins have crisped up. Serve with sour cream. These are also another item that sits on a tray nicely until ready to pop into the oven.

16.  The last thing to do, which needs to be done before serving, is the wings sauce. Pour the Franks Hot Sauce in the pot and turn on the heat to medium/high heat. Add 100g butter and the oil from the chorizo that was used earlier. Stir until it comes to a simmer and then lower the heat. You can cover the wings in this sauce and ensure they are all covered, or you can serve them separately in case anyone does not like this sauce

Baked Crunchie Cheesecake

I was looking for a baked cheesecake to make for a dinner party we were throwing. One of the guests is Coeliac and therefore my choice had to be a careful one.

I had posted before about a Gluten Free Crunchie Cheescake that I had made but this time I was looking for it to be baked!

It turned out really well and is able to last in the fridge for days. It didn't make it that long though as we devoured it over the space of 24hours. 

Ingredients:

300g Biscuits - chocolate digestives, bourbons, etc (gluten free or normal)

100g butter, melted

5 Crunchie Bars

300g Sour Cream

500g Philadephia Cream Cheese

115g Caster Sugar

3 eggs

1.5tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:

Preheat fan oven to 170 degrees

Put the biscuits in a bag and crush util broken down into small pieces. 

Add the melted butter to the biscuits and mix.

Pour the biscuit mixture into the tin (I used a 10" tin with a pop out base) and pat down with the back of the spoon.

Bake in the oven for 10 mins

Beat Philadelphia, Sour Cream, Vanilla and Caster Sugar in a bowl. 

Add in crushed Crunchie Bars and mix.

Add eggs and mix again.

Pour the mixture on top of the cooled biscuit base in the baking tin and bake in the oven for an hour. The cake will feel a little under done if you feel the centre of the cake. This will firm up when cooling.

Let the cheesecake sit in the oven for a few minutes with the oven off. Remove and let it cool at room temperature. Then move to the fridge. For best results refrigerate overnight. 

Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict is something I always order for breakfast/brunch and finally I tried and successfully made it by myself. It definitely was not as daunting as I thought it would be...

Serves 2
Ingredients:
5 eggs
Salt & Pepper (1/2 tsp each)
Lemon juice (1.5tbsp)
Butter (140g or 10 tbsp)
4 bacon rashers
2 bagels (toasted)


Method:
Start by grilling (or frying) 4 rashers. While these are cooking you can start preparing the rest.

Eggs:
This is not necessary if you are only doing one or two eggs, but if you were trying to do this dish for a large group; preparing the eggs in cling film will allow you to cook the eggs at the same time, for the same amount of time, and they be ready at the same time.

Place some cling film in a ramekin dish, and crack the egg into it.
Bring the ends of the cling film together, twist and tie into a knot. Set aside until read to boil.
Once the water is at boiling point, lower it to a simmer and add in the eggs. Put the lid on and let these cook for 4 minutes.
Once cooked, open the cling film and take out the egg.

Sauce:
Put 3 egg yolks, lemon juice and salt & pepper into a blender.
Whizz this in the blender for 2 minutes.
Once this is done, melt the butter.
Turn the blender onto the lowest speed and add the butter slowly.
Blend for another one minute at low speed.
Taste to season if needed.


Once everything is ready - plate the toasted bagels with rashers on top. Add the cooked egg and pour some of the sauce on top. And Enjoy :)

Mars Bar Squares

Cheap and cheerful... and so very simple! I've been making these for so long and nobody ever gets sick of them. People's eyes light up when they see them. They are that good.

Ingredients:

4oz Butter
4 Mars Bars (chopped up)
3 - 4oz Rice Crispies
200g Plain chocolate (for topping)

Method:

1. In a pot, add both the butter and mars bars and turn the heat on to a low setting.
2. Stir frequently until melted, the mixture won't be completely smooth but it should be nicely incorporated together. Remove from heat.

3. Add the rice crispies bit by bit, stirring to make sure they are all covered in the chocolate mixture.

4. Stop adding the rice crispies once you feel there is no room for many more to be covered with the chocolate mix.
5. Pour into a tray (the bigger the tray, the thinner the square will be).
6. Flatten out mixture with the back of your spoon, and put in the fridge.
7. Once set and cooled, melt chocolate and pour over the top and smooth out.

Cut into squares, and serve!