Tag Archives: we should cocoa

Aubergine chocolate cake (GF, DF)

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aubergine chocolate cake

I really hope seeing the words ‘aubergine’, ‘chocolate’ and ‘cake’ in the title don’t put people off reading this – it sounds odd, but it works, I promise!

I first learnt about this cake from the pony’s sister – she told me she’d heard about a flourless chocolate cake that used aubergines but didn’t know where the recipe was from. I was intrigued, and did I find a couple of bloggers who had made aubergine cakes, but I didn’t manage to track down the original recipe and then sort of forgot about making it.

Several months on, I was given the Green & Black’s Ultimate Chocolate Recipes, and while flicking through the cake section I landed upon a recipe for a ‘Heartache Cake’ by Harry Eastwood – top of the list of ingredients was aubergines and I realised I’d found the actual recipe!

I first made this when the pony was going to stay with his family, and although the feedback from them was great, I didn’t get to try any myself and I knew I would have to try it again at some point to satisfy my curiosity.

The cake is wheat and gluten free, dairy free, and also uses no refined sugars. The sweetness in the cake comes from honey, and so when I saw that was Choclette‘s pick for this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge, it gave me the perfect reason to revisit the Heartache Cake.

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I’ve renamed it a slightly less emotive ‘aubergine chocolate cake’, partly because I’m not really a fan of the flowery language used by Harry Eastwood, but also because there is nothing sad about this cake whatsoever – it’s delicious!

EDIT – the fact that I’ve renames this cake means it’s also eligible for this month’s AlphaBakes challenge, hosted alternately by Ros at The More Than Occasional Baker and Caroline at Caroline Makes – A for Aubergine!

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I understand the chemistry of how these ingredients can come together and actually make a cake, but they do, and it is so worth trying, and I am especially glad to have a recipe I know I can turn to if I need to cater for multiple dietary requirements that no one would ever guess is a ‘free-from’ cake’.

I am now keen to expand my vegetable baking repertoire – I’ve done courgette, carrot and squash, and I’ve seen a few recipes for beetroot and parsnip, but is there anything even more unusual out there? If you have any weird and wonderful recipes, let me know!

Aubergine chocolate cake (adapted from Harry Eastwood’s recipe in the Green & Black’s cookbook)

  • 2 medium aubergines (400g raw weight)
  • 300g dark chocolate
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 200g clear honey
  • 50g cocoa powder
  • 60g ground almonds
  • 2 tbsp baking powder
  • cocoa powder to dust

Start by piercing the aubergines with a sharp knife, placing in a bowl covered with clingfilm, and microwaving on full power for about 8 minutes, or until completely soft. If you don’t have a microwave I think baking the aubergines whole would work too, it would just take a lot longer.

When the aubergines are cool enough to handle, peel off the skins and blitz the flesh in a food processor with the dark chocolate, until the chocolate has completely melted and there are no lumps of aubergine left. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, honey, cocoa, almonds and baking powder until bubbly and doubled in volume, then fold in the chocolate aubergine mixture.

Pour the cake mix into a greased and lined 9″ round tin, and bake on the bottom shelf of your oven at 170 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until risen at the edges and starting to crack. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out onto a serving place and dust liberally with cocoa powder.

Ginger chocolate shortbread bars

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Ginger chocolate shortbread bars

Ginger is one of my favourite flavours and when I hosted We Should Cocoa back in October I came very close to choosing it before settling on pumpkin instead, so I was more than a bit happy that birthday girl Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes chose it for this month – the only difficulty was deciding what to bake!

I was toying with a few recipe ideas that used chunks of either stem or crystallised ginger, but the pony and I are attempting to have a bit of a money saving month (although he is doing a bit better than me!) so I ended up using what I already had on hand, in the form of ground ginger.

Inspired by these ginger crunch bars at Technicolour Kitchen, I set about making a sort of ginger version of millionaire’s shortbread, which is one of the pony’s favourites.

I used my own shortbread recipe, the icing from Technicolour Kitchen, and finished it with a layer of dark chocolate. If you are a ginger lover like me, then these bars beat millionaire’s shortbread hands down – the icing is so so good and the ginger really cuts through the sweetness.

I made quite a large batch of these, so I’m really hoping the pony devours them quickly or I can see myself heading back to the tub again, and again, and again…

These bars are my entry to We Should Cocoa, founded by Choclette and Chele and this month hosted over at Blue Kitchen Bakes. Be sure to check out all the other ginger goodies at the end of the month!

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Ginger chocolate shortbread bars

Makes 18 bars

For the base:

  • 250g butter
  • 330g plain flour
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 110g caster sugar

For the topping:

  • 150g butter
  • 80g golden syrup
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
  • 225g icing sugar
  • 200g dark chocolate

To make the base, stir the ginger into the flour and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar then press into the base of a greased and lined 9×11″ shallow rectangular tin. Bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until just starting to go golden, then leave to cool in the tin.

For the ginger layer, heat the butter, golden syrup and ginger in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring until the butter has melted. Sift in the icing sugar then whisk until no lumps remain. Pour over the base and leave to set at room temperature.

Melt the chocolate over a low heat, don’t let it get too hot, then spread over the set ginger layer. Leave at room temperature until the chocolate has just hardened then cut into bars.

Wheat, dairy and (almost) sugar free chocolate oat bars

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Wheat, dairy and (almost) sugar free chocolate oat bars

When Choclette at Chocolate Log Blog picked ‘sugar free’ as the health-conscious theme for this month’s We Should Cocoa, I had a fairly good idea of what I would make – something similar to the chocolate fudge bites I made last year, but in a bar form that the pony could take to work.

It worked out quite well, as for the past three weeks I haven’t had a working oven, so no-bake treats are about all I’ve been able to make (don’t worry, the oven issue has now been sorted, so no more moaning I promise!)

I adapted this recipe from Love Veggies and Yoga, switching the cinnamon and vanilla for cocoa powder for added chocolatey-ness. I also forgot to add the milk, and wondered why the mixture didn’t seem to be sticking together – oops! But luckily adding extra honey sorted it out, and had the benefit of turning them into a dairy-free treat as well.

Technically speaking, these aren’t 100% sugar free, as the dark chocolate I used wasn’t 100% pure, but they definitely needed the extra chocolate on top in order to be acceptable to the pony, so hopefully Choclette will let me off!

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I’m really looking forward to seeing the round up and all the ingenious ways WSC-ers manage to go sugar free – although I do kind of hope I’m not the only person to cheat a bit…

Wheat, dairy and (almost) sugar free chocolate oat bars (adapted from Love Veggies and Yoga)

  • 300g rolled oats
  • 200g smooth peanut butter (I used a 25% less fat version)
  • 120g pitted dates
  • 20g cocoa powder
  • between 100-200g clear honey
  • 120g dark chocolate, melted
  • 40g dark chocolate, chopped

Add the oats, dates, peanut butter, cocoa powder and 100g honey to a food processor and blitz until everything is finely chopped and the mixture starts to come together. It needs to stick together if you press it into clumps with your fingers, so if it’s not doing that keep adding more honey until it gets to the right consistency. Press very firmly into the base of an 8×8″ square cake tin and leave to set in the fridge.

Melt the 120g dark chocolate and spread in a layer over the oat bars. Sprinkle the 40g chopped chocolate on top white the melted chocolate is still runny so the bits stick, then leave to set before slicing into squares.

Nutella-filled cinnamon sugar muffins

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Nutella-filled cinnamon sugar muffins

I absolutely adore cinnamon (despite spending the first 22 years or so of my life hating it) so when Choclette chose it as this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge ingredient it should have been easy for me to think of things to bake.

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In a way it was, I had plenty of ideas, but things have been a bit manic in my kitchen recently, what with making Christmas gifts, food for parties and catering to the pony’s rather specific needs (quick to eat breakfasts and bars he can take to work), so finding a way of squeezing cinnamon in was actually harder than I expected.

Attempt one was cinnamon chocolate shortbread, which was a disaster, but attempt two, these Nutella-filled cinnamon sugar muffins, was a resounding success.

I’m aware my last post also featured both muffins and Nutella, but who cares because it’s a great combination.

The Nutella is baked into the centre, so when you eat one warm you get a lovely melty surprise when you bit into it, and the tops are brushed with melted butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar which make them a lot like cinnamon sugar doughnuts – basically, finger-lickingly irresistible.

Even the pony, despite claiming not to like cinnamon, has been happily having two a day for breakfast, which I put down to Nutella’s having the baking equivalent of the Midas touch – it just makes everything into food gold!

Nutella-filled cinnamon sugar muffins (recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction)

  • 70g butter
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
  • 125ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 180g plain flour
  • 1.5 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • pinch nutmeg
  • pinch salt
  • 8 tsp Nutella (about 50g)

For the topping:

  • 25g butter, melted
  • 35g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add in the egg and vanilla followed by the milk, beating until you have a smooth, fairly liquid batter. Sift together the remaining dry ingredients, then fold into the batter gently until no white flour bits remain.

Butter and flour 8 holes of a muffin tray, then drop a good tablespoon of cake batter into each. Place a teaspoon of Nutella in the centre of each muffin, then finish by dividing the remaining cake batter between the cops, completely covering the Nutella. Bake at 200 degrees for 5 minutes, then drop down to 170 degrees and cook for a further 15-20 minutes, or until the muffins are well risen, golden and springy to the touch.

Transfer to a wire rack as son as they’re cool enough to handle – it’s easier to get them out of the tin that way. Brush the tops with melted butter, then mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and roll the muffin tops in it to coat. Eat while warm, or leave to cool and pop in the microwave for a few seconds before serving.

We Should Cocoa – the Pumpkin round up

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As soon as I set the challenge for this month’sWe Should Cocoa, I immediately went into panic mode – would anyone enter? Would this be the lowest WSC turn out ever?

Luckily I needn’t have worried – loads of you took part for which I am eternally grateful! There have been some absolutely delicious chocolate and pumpkin creations sent through, so without further ado…

First up was Dom from Belleau Kitchen, who had handily already made this fantastic sounding pumpkin, walnut and white chocolate loaf cake. Not only does it sound like a great combination of flavours, but it’s finished with a cream and cream cheese icing which I can’t wait to try.

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The next entry was another loaf cake, from Suelle of Mainly Baking. I’m definitely with Sue on the love of Autumn baking, and I think the pumpkin and maple would pair up brilliantly in this pumpkin, chocolate and maple loaf.

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Loaf cakes were a popular choice for this challenge, and I had a go at one myself for my first entry – this chocolate and pumpkin marble loaf. I slightly underbaked it but it was enjoyed nonetheless!

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As I was hosting, I decided to take the liberty of entering twice this month – my second effort being some pumpkin spiced chocolate chip flapjacks. They turned out well and were even a little bit healthy!

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Next up, Ros from the More Than Occasional Baker, who already had a tin of pumpkin puree on hand after stocking up on Halloween baking goodies in America. Ros put it to great use in these chocolate chip pumpkin bars, which also have the great mix of spices that compliment pumpkin so well.

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This month’s first savoury entry came from Hannah of Corner Cottage Bakery, who came up with a very inventive way of combining pumpkin and chocolate – a pumpkin seed bread sandwich, with butternut squash and cocoa maple glazed bacon. Even though I’m a veggie I do have to admit it looks kind of good…

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These triple chocolate pumpkin cookies from Cake of the Week were eaten so quickly that Janine had to rustle up another batch to enjoy some herself – always a sign of a good cookie! Even the carved pumpkin got in on the act…

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While pumpkin was a very seasonal choice for those of us here in the Northern Hemisphere, for Mel of Sharky Oven Gloves in New Zealand they’re not quite so easy to come by in the spring! Luckily she got inventive and came up with these Aztec roasted pumpkin seeds – I’ll never throw seeds away again!

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For Zimt und Chili this chocolate cheese pumpkin tart was their first ever We Should Cocoa entry, and a first attempt at making cheesecake, but was a resounding success – well done!

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Another We Should Cocoa first-timer, Louisa at Chez Foti came up with a chocolate pumpkin cake that looks so dense and moist it’s almost brownie-like, and it’s even a little bit healthy.

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Pumpkin was also chosen as the ingredient for this month’s One Ingredient challenge, and Laura at How To Cook Good Food combined the two challenges to come up with this dark and delicious looking spiced pumpkin, rum and choc chip loaf, which looks like just my sort of cake.

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How cute are these pumpkin-shaped pumpkin pie fudge bites from Alicia at Foodycat?! I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to fudge, so I liked Alicia’s handy tip about melting white chocolate into the fudge to make it creamier – will have to give that a try!

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I was really hoping someone would make the American classic, pumpkin pie, so I was delighted to see Alice’s twist on it at Italian Inspiration – caramel pumpkin pie with chocolate. It does indeed look incredible.

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The way food can bring back memories is amazing, and I loved reading Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe recounting how she used to carry a pack of McVities chocolate digestives in her backpack while travelling around England – it is the quintessentially English biscuit! These homemade pumpkin chocolate digestives look delicious and I can’t believe how simple the recipe is – another one to try in the future…

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As much as I like sweet treats, I think savoury use of chocolate is brilliant, and this roasted pumpkin with mole sauce is no exception! Jill at Lapin d’Or and More adapted a recipe for Mole sauce usually used with meat, and added home grown chillies which I am more than a bit jealous of!

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Inspired by watching Chocolat and reading Like Water for Chocolate, Debby at Storm in a Teacup also created a vegetarian dish using a mole sauce, with this hearty looking pumpkin and chocolate chilli – a lovely warming winter meal.

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Also going down the savoury route was Karen of Lavender and Lovage, who made a brilliantly titled Bonfire Chilli with beef, pumpkin and chocolate. Have a read of Karen’s post for her celebration of all things Autumn – it’s almost enough to make me stop missing the summer sun!

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Loaf cakes were definitely a popular choice this month, and this is another great one from Eira at Cookbooks Galore. Eira’s pumpkin and oatmeal loaf cake has a chocolate and sour cream icing, which I reckon would be perfect as a mid-morning cake with a cup of coffee.

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Susan at The Spice Garden came up with another great way of using chocolate and pumpkin, in these rather tempting pumpkin eclairs. The eclairs are filled with a pumpkin spices pastry cream and topped with a chocolate hazelnut ganache, and for a first ever attempt at eclairs look pretty impressive to me!

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After fretting that no one would like my choice of ingredient, I was really over the moon that not only did it get lots of entries but also attracted several WSC virgins – Helen from The Crazy Kitchen being the third. Despite being rather disappointed by the pumpkin she bought specifically for the challenge, Helen managed to come with an amazing ‘Devilishly Chocolatey Chocolate Orange Pumpkin & Potato Cake‘ using leftover butternut squash and potato mash topped with a chocolate spread icing.

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Katharine from Leeks & Limoni started her post by apologising for blogging about two chocolate cakes in quick succession – certainly not something that needs an apology in my book! This chocolate and pumpkin cake is described as having a fudgy, moist texture, rich, chocolatey flavour and a hint of spicyness – who wouldn’t want a slice of that?

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This pumpkin chocolate mud cake, from Claire at Under the Blue Gum Tree, is a Dan Lepard recipe which I’ve had bookmarked for ages but never got around to making. Claire’s description and photos make me think I really should, and I wholeheartedly agree that a splash of rum can never be a bad thing…

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Dan Lepard’s pumpkin chocolate mud cake was the first recipe that came to mind for Caroline of Cake, Crumbs and Cooking as well, but realising she had already made and blogged about it Caroline instead went with these ginger pumpkin chocolate cupcakes  - an adaptation of another DL recipe, very different but equally delicious looking.

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Lucy from The Kitchen Maid did well to find a pumpkin in the Southern Hemisphere at this time of year, and put it to good use in this chocolate pumpkin mousse. A pumpkin cheesecake with a lid of chocolate ganache – sounds rich and compelling to me!

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I was a little surprised not to see more brownies and blondies this month, as I thought they would be something pumpkin would lend itself well to, but they have made it in thanks to Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes, who came up with these nutty pumpkin blondies. Combining nuts with the pumpkin and chocolate has been quite popular, and these are another great example.

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Fleur from Homemade By Fleur found that pumpkin puree can be baked into pretty much anything, and like me had a go at adding it to flapjacks, to great effect. These pumpkin, cranberry and chocolate flapjacks look great, and went down very well as a healthy snack in her girls’ lunchboxes.

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I have to say, I was a little concerned when come October 24th I still hadn’t seen an entry from We Should Cocoa founder Choclette, of Chocolate Log Blog, and wondered if she might have accidentally drowned in salted caramel, but at the last minute she sent over these pumpkin, goats cheese and chocolate muffins – definitely an unusual combination of ingredients but it sounds like they worked well!

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EDIT!

This chocolate pumpkin cheesecake came in as a last minute entry from Caroline Makes – although it’s a few days after the deadline I LOVE cheesecake so I couldn’t really say no! And especially not when the cheesecake involves a chocolate swirl and Hersey’s Kisses…

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So there you have it, a fantastic line up of chocolate and pumpkin delights – thank you so much to everyone who entered and to Choclette for inviting me to host – I’ve really enjoyed it!

Pumpkin spiced chocolate chip flapjacks (GF)

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As the host of this month’s We Should Cocoa, I am taking the liberty of entering twice – no one can stop me! Mwahahaha…

The pony’s new job involves quite a lot of physical work meaning he needs to eat EVEN MORE than before, so I’ve been trying out quite a few recipes for various bars that are easily transportable and can snacked on whenever he has a spare minute.

I found this recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip granola bars at Two Peas and Their Pod that seemed to fit the bill, as well as tying in nicely with my selection of pumpkin for We Should Cocoa.

In my mind, granola bars implies more add-ins, clumps and crunchy bits, which is why I’ve renamed these flapjacks, but really the name isn’t that important – the incredible smell of them baking is!

I have absolutely fallen in love with my pumpkin pie spice and am using it wherever I can. I don’t think I’ll be getting bored of it for a while, so apologies to any spice-haters – normal non-spice service will be resumed eventually…

I made a few substitutions to make the recipe fit what I had on hand, including swapping apple sauce for a mashed over-ripe banana and honey for golden syrup, but they turned out fine, and I think this recipe could probably be adapted a lot further if you wanted to.

Added bonus is that these bars are both gluten and dairy free (and vegan) with the pumpkin and banana taking the place of butter. If you wanted to make them healthier, you could probably swap the sugar for calorie-free sweetener – something I will be trying soon…

Pumpkin spiced chocolate chip flapjacks (GF) (recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod)

  • 325g rolled oats
  • 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 100g dark chocolate, chopped
  • 125g fresh pumpkin puree
  • 70g (1 small) ripe banana, mashed
  • 65g golden syrup
  • 150g light brown sugar

Add the oats, spice and chocolate to a large bowl and stir to mix together. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, banana, golden syrup and sugar until no lumps remain, then add this to the oat mixture, stirring in until all the oats are covered. Press down firmly into an 8×8″ square baking tin, lined with baking paper, then bake at 180 degrees for around 35 minutes, or until golden and crisp on top. The bars will stay chewy because of the pumpkin, but undercooking could make them soggy so be warned!

This is my second entry for We Should Cocoa - thanks again to Choclette and Chele for letting me host!

I’m also going to enter these flapjacks to the One Ingredient Challenge, hosted by Laura at How To Cook Good Food and Nazima at Franglais Kitchen, who chose pumpkin as this month’s ingredient.

Pumpkin and chocolate marble loaf

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Having prepared my pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice at the weekend, I set about making my first pumpkin and chocolate creation for this month’s We Should Cocoa.

My home page on Pinterest has been full of pumpkin for the past month or so, and it’s an ingredient which has featured heavily in a lot of the blogs I follow, so I certainly wasn’t short of inspiration when deciding what to make.

I wanted to do something where you could clearly see it was pumpkin and chocolate, rather than something that was completely chocolate coloured (if that makes sense) so I decided to go for a marble cake.

I found plenty of recipes for marble bundt cakes but, despite the pony’s huge appetite, they tend to be a bit big for just the two of us.

As I couldn’t find a recipe specifically for a marble loaf, I used this recipe for pumpkin muffins as the base, then divided the mixture adding cocoa powder to one half, which worked out pretty well.

For a bit of added chocolatey-ness, I made some of my favourite chocolate fudge icing to go on top, and at the pony’s suggestion finished it with a dusting of cocoa powder – you can never go over the top with chocolate in our house!

Unfortunately I decided to make this on Sunday morning, before going to a Christening, and left myself with a maximum of 45 minutes to bake it before I had to turn the oven off and run out the door. It wasn’t exactly undercooked, but I reckon 5 or 10 minutes more would have been perfect, so if you try baking this make sure you leave yourself enough time!

Pumpkin and chocolate marble loaf (adapted from Table for Two)

  • 200g self raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 115g butter, melted
  • 2 medium eggs
  • 250g (1 cup) pumpkin puree
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2 tbsp milk

Sift the flour, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice into a large bowl and mix in the sugar. Whisk together the melted butter, egg and pumpkin puree in a separate bowl,  then stir into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Transfer half of the mixture into another bowl, then add the cocoa powder and milk into one of the bowls and mix well. Add alternating dollops of each mixture into a greased and lined 2lb loaf tin, then swirl a skewer through it to marble. Don’t swirl too much or it will all mix together.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 50 minutes – check with a skewer to see if it’s done.

For the icing:

  • 50g dark chocolate
  • 25g butter
  • 40g icing sugar
  • 1 tbsp milk
  • cocoa powder to dust

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir once, then beat in the icing sugar and milk. Leave to cool, then once thickened spread on top of the loaf. Dust with cocoa powder then cut into slices and serve.

I’m entering this for the October We Should Cocoa challenge, the theme of which is pumpkin and this month is being hosted by me! Thanks very much to founders Choclette and Chele for letting me be involved – if you want to enter, you can read the rules here.

We Should Cocoa – the October challenge

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I am INCREDIBLY excited to be the guest host for this month’s We Should Cocoa Challenge!

For those of you who aren’t familiar, We Should Cocoa is a monthly blogging challenge, started by Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog and Chele of Chocolate Tea Pot, which each month selects an ingredient or theme to be paired with chocolate.

When Choclette messaged me on Twitter and asked if I’d like to guest host, it talk all of 0.0001 seconds for me to tweet back ‘yes!’ Choosing the ingredient wasn’t quite such an easy decision though…

Despite We Should Cocoa celebrating its 2nd birthday last month and having 24 themes already taken, trying to think of something new wasn’t the problem – trying to narrow down a ridiculously long shortlist was!

I wanted to do something seasonal and autumnal, that would be a bit of a challenge but hopefully not so much of a challenge that it puts people off entering, so in the end I decided on – PUMPKIN!

Pumpkin seems to be an incredibly popular baking ingredient on the other side of the Atlantic, but not so much here in the UK. I think this needs to be rectified, and what better way to do it than combining it with chocolate?

As pumpkins might not be that readily available until later in the month, I will extend the challenge to include other members of the winter squash family. You could also use tinned pumpkin puree, pumpkin seeds, or make something that looks like a pumpkin (giant Halloween pumpkin cake anyone?), so it shouldn’t be too difficult really…

To enter, just make something with chocolate and pumpkin, blog about it with a mention for We Should Cocoa, and email a link and picture to weshouldcocoa@yahoo.co.uk by the 25th. Make sure you link to Choclette, Chele and me in your post, and if you’re on twitter then tweet me @natblachford and I’ll share your posts. You can see the full rules here.

Can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Cosmopolitan truffles

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Happy second birthday We Should Cocoa!

Sadly I haven’t been involved with Choclette and Chele’s chocolate challenge since the start (largely because this blog hasn’t even been running that long), but in the year or so that I have been taking part I’ve had a fantastic time coming up with chocolate creations that use the chosen ingredient or theme.

Thanks to We Should Cocoa I’ve discovered I love blackcurrants and can eat them without an allergic reaction, that chocolate pairs well with goat’s cheese, and that crocodiles make surprisingly cute cakes…

This month Choclette decided the best way to celebrate WSC’s birthday was with a cocktail – an excellent idea, I think everyone will agree.

After much deliberation, I decided the cocktail I wanted to use as inspiration was the Sex and the City favourite, the Cosmopolitan – a properly girly concoction of vodka, orange liqueur, cranberry juice and a twist of lime.

White chocolate seemed like the natural partner for those flavours, and rather than bake an overcomplicated cake I thought a simple truffle would be best so all the flavours could come through.

These are definitely best suited to people with quite a sweet tooth, but the flavours work well – if you like the cocktail, you’ll probably like these!

Cosmopolitan truffles

  • 50g dried cranberries
  • 2 tbsp (30ml) triple sec or other orange liqueur
  • zest of an orange
  • zest and juice of a lime
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 150g white chocolate
  • 10g butter
  • 80ml double cream
  • 100g white chocolate to coat

Put the cranberries in a non-metallic bowl with 1tbsp (15ml) of the triple sec, the orange zest, lime zest and juice and sugar, and leave to soak for half an hour. Transfer to a small saucepan and heat gently until the cranberries soften, then blitz in a food processor until the cranberries are chopped into very fine pieces.

Chop the 150g white chocolate and place in a bowl with the butter. Heat the cream until almost boiling, then pour over the chocolate and butter. Leave for a minute then stir until all the chocolate has melted. Stir in the cranberries and remaining 15ml of triple sec, then whisk with an electric whisk for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is cooled and has thickened a bit.

At this point I added a couple of drops of pink food colouring, because the cranberries alone hadn’t quite achieved the vivid pink colour I was hoping for, but this is totally optional – depends how much you care about looks!

Chill the mixture in the freezer for an hour or so, then spoon small amounts of the mixture and roll into balls (it’s a fairly soft truffle so I found dusting my hands with icing sugar helped a lot). Put back in the freezer while you melt the remaining white chocolate, then either did the truffles in the chocolate or spoon the chocolate over the truffles, whichever way you find easiest. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to eat!

Cherry chocolate brownie cupcakes (GF)

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My original plan for this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge, hosted by Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen, was to make a classic black forest gateau – I’ve never tried it before and what better way to pair cherries and chocolate?

Unfortunately, I just haven’t had an occasion to bake a massive gateau, so I had to think of something else.

I decided to make some small cakes to take round to a friend’s house, and as she is gluten-intolerant I wanted to find something that was flour-free but with black forest flavours.

Even after buying the ingredients I still wasn’t entirely sure what to do, but I went ahead and used this recipe for flourless chocolate muffins as the base.

I was a bit sceptical that a mixture with no flour, no whisked egg whites and no direct flour replacement would produce a cupcake, and to be honest it was a bit more like a brownie in texture – but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone complain about being given a brownie!

I decided to cut holes in the tops of the cupcakes to put the cherries in, then add a simple swirl of whipped cream on top.

For a cake that hadn’t really been planned, they turned out pretty well and got good reviews from my friends. I also discovered (with some of the extra batter) that microwaved for 60 seconds in a ramekin the mixture turns into a delicious hot pudding – added bonus!

Cherry chocolate brownie cupcakes

  • 155g dark chocolate
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 165g butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 55g cocoa
  • 12 cherries, stones removed
  • 150ml double cream
  • 1tsp icing sugar
  • chocolate shavings to serve

Melt the chocolate and butter over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the sugar, then the eggs, one at a time. Sieve in the cocoa powder and fold until just combined, then pour into 12 cupcake cases (it will be very liquid so I actually used a jug to pour). Bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until risen and springy to the touch.

Once the cakes have cooled, use an apple corer to remove a hole from the centre of each one. Place a cherry (make sure the stones are removed!) in the centre of each. Whip the cream and icing sugar together until it holds it’s shape, then pipe small swirls on top of each cupcake, covering the cherry, then sprinkle chocolate shaving on top. Store in the fridge but leave out for 20 mins or so before serving to come back to room temperature.

This is my entry for the August We Should Cocoa Cherry Challenge!