Chocolate Chip Pancakes

This chocolate chip pancake recipe is from the GU cook book (yes GU the amazingly chocolately pudding GU), it's a bit more fussy than your usual pancake recipe but its definitely worth doing.

First sift 100g of plain flour, 1tsp of baking powder and 2 tbsp of cocoa powder into a bowl. Then in a jug whisk together 150ml milk with 3 egg yolks, before combining it all together.

In a separate bowl whisk the three egg whites together until they form soft peaks, then add 25g of caster sugar and a pinch of salt until it resembles 'shaving foam'. Mix in one third of the the whisked egg whites into the batter before folding in the rest.

Heat a non-stick pan (I added a small amount of butter just to make sure they didn't stick) and spoon on the mixture (to make one pancake I used roughly a tablespoon and a half). They only need 30 seconds on each side but you'll know when they need turning as bubbles will start to form on the top of the pancakes.

Depending on what time of the day you are eating them, they are even tastier with chocolate sauce and ice-cream...but maybe not for breakfast!

Cake in a Mug

I've seen several microwave mug cakes on Pinterest recently (unfortunately mine doesn't look quite as good as them), so I thought I'd give it a go and it turns out it is even easier and quicker than I thought.

             1. Add 4 tbsp of S.R. flour, 4 tbsp          2. Stir in one egg until all the 

             of caster sugar and 2 tbsp of cocoa      ingredients are combined.

             powder into a mug and mix.

              3. Add in 3 tbsp of milk and                  4. Put the mug in the microwave
              3 tbsp of vegatable or sunflower          on a high heat for 4-5 minutes
              oil. As well as any extracts or               or until it has stopped rising.
              additional chocolate drops.

Then tah-dah, you've made a cake in less than 10 minutes!

Whilst I can't say it was the tastiest thing I have ever baked, it was by far the quickest bake I have ever done.

Chocolate Smartie Bark

If you're struggling to get through your Easter eggs or trying to start your diet again but you've still got lots of chocolate lying around the house, why not throw it all together and just be done with it.

Chocolate bark, layered chocolate topped with sweets, nuts or even more chocolate, is probably the easiest thing you could possibly make. I can't even pretend any effort went into making it but it is fun to do and looks great afterwards.

First I melted a Cadbury's Easter egg in the microwave - be careful as the chocolate is so thin it is easy to leave it in the microwave until the lumps have melted completely but it will more than likely be burnt by then so take it out whilst there are still chocolate pieces and mix them in. Then pour this into a baking tray which is already lined with grease-proof paper.

Then put it in the freezer until the chocolate has set (I'm sure this isn't normally how you do it but I was too impatient to wait). 

Then I melted a bag of white chocolate buttons and spread it evenly over the milk chocolate (make sure the white chocolate is cool as it will melt the milk chocolate and it will no longer be white). Alternatively you could drizzle or splatter this on top to make it more decorative. The great thing about using white chocolate is you can colour it too, a drop of pink food colouring would look great for chocolate bark.

Then it is up to you how you decorate your chocolate bark, I used smarties (half whole and the rest crushed) with a sprinkling of silver dust (obviously).

Then all that's left to do is smash it up into pieces of chocolate bark. 

Easter Chocolate Nests

If there is one thing that has to be baked (or thrown together in this case) on Easter weekend its chocolate Easter nests, especially as it gives you another excuse to eat mini eggs.

Unsurprisingly it only has three ingredients; chocolate, shredded wheat (or cornflakes/rice crispies if shredded wheat is not a popular choice in your household) and mini eggs. I tend to double the recipe as I find it never makes enough (but that could just be me!).

First smash up 170g of shredded wheat before melting 400g of milk chocolate. You can either do this in a bain marie or the microwave. I find it quicker (and less washing up) in the microwave but it burns much easier, therefore put it in for 1 minute to begin with and check it every 50 seconds after, stirring each time.

 Once the chocolate has melted add it to the shredded wheat and stir, it may not appear like there is enough chocolate to coat the shredded wheat but just keep stirring.

 Place a tablespoon of the mixture into individual cupcake cases in a tray (should make around 18) and pop the mini eggs in the centre.

Then put them in the fridge to firm up for half an hour/an hour and they're ready to eat! Unless like me you choose to decorate them with little chicks (and gold glitter) - from past experience I would suggest putting these on once the chocolate has set as I find otherwise the chicks set with the chocolate and you end up with very fluffy nests.

Cadbury Mini Egg Cupcakes

Everyone loves a good vanilla cupcake, especially an Easter themed one with a butter cream icing topped with crushed Cadbury Mini Eggs. The good thing about this recipe is each ingredient requires the same quantity (4oz). 

First combine 4oz of butter with 4oz of caster sugar until it makes a creamy, fluffy mixture. Then add in two eggs (one at a time) before adding in 1tsp of vanilla essence.

 

Then add in 4oz of self-raising flour (and if you think it is a needed, a few drops of milk to loosen the mixture) before spooning into the cupcake cases. The mixture makes exactly 12 cupcakes - whilst it may not seem as if there is enough in each they will raise and it also allows for room for the icing on top. 

 

To make the butter icing, combine 10oz of icing sugar and 5oz butter (it will always be double the amount of icing sugar to butter). If it seems too thick, you can add a small amount of milk but I found 

it wasn't needed for these. 

Then place the icing into a piping bag before piping onto the cupcakes.

 Then take a handful of mini eggs and place them in a sandwich bag before giving them a good bash with a rolling pin. Then sprinkle the crumbs on top of the iced cupcakes before placing a mini egg on the top of each. 

Then all that is left to do is sprinkle them with gold glitter (obviously).

Chocolate Melt-In-The-Middle Puddings

If you're a lover of Gu chocolate puddings, you will want to try these out! These individual melt-in-the-middle chocolate puddings are very quick to make with only four steps. 

First butter four ramekins (I only made two this time as you can see). Then melt 100g of dark chocolate and 100g of butter in the microwave - a top tip to make sure it doesn't burn (which is a lot easier than you think) is not to wait for the chocolate to completely melt as the smaller lumps will melt when you stir it.

Then set the melted mixture to one side for 15 minutes. Once cool stir in 150g light brown sugar, before adding 3 eggs one at a time, along with 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence. Then finally add in 50g of plain flour to the mixture. These then need to go into the oven at 200C for between 10-12 minutes. You'll know when they're done as they will be crunchy on the outside but gooey on the inside.  

The trick to these is to not underestimate when they are cooked, as it is easy to leave it in for just a minute longer which is all it takes for the gooey centre to turn into the outer sponge.

Chocolate Eclairs

This was my first time making chocolate eclairs and to my surprise they weren't that difficult to make at all. However there are quite a few stages to making them with the pastry, filling and topping.

First melt 115g of butter in 250ml (9fl oz) of water in a saucepan before beating in 200g of plain flour, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of caster sugar until the mixture is a smooth texture. Then leave this to cook for 2-3 minutes - make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn at this point. 

Then remove the pan from the heat and beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, until the mixture appears smooth and glossy.

Then spoon this mixture into a piping bag before piping it onto a tray which needs to be sprinkled with water beforehand to prevent them from sticky to the tray once baked. 

As you can see my piping skills leave much to be desired as mine turned out looking like bugs. These then need to go into the oven for 20-25 minutes but keep an eye on them as they will be done when they turn crisp and golden brown in colour.

To make the glossy chocolate topping, melt 50g of dark chocolate with two tablespoons of water in a saucepan - keep the heat low to prevent the chocolate also sticking and burning to the bottom of the pan. Then add this hot mixture to a bowl of 150g of icing sugar and 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to make a thick mixture.

Then for the cream filling, whip 450ml of double cream to form stiff peaks before spooning the mixture into a piping bag. If like me you forgot to put the nozzle on the end of the piping bag, or your nozzle is too big to make a small insertion, use the tip of a knife to insert the bag into the pasty. Then squeeze the cream into the pastry until it begins to come out back out of the little hole.

Then you can coat them in a thick layer of chocolate icing, if you're fancy enough you can show off your impressive piping skills...or like me you can spoon it on with the back of a spoon. 

Then all that is left to do is devour them!