Desserts

Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake

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Is there anyone who doesn’t love the combination of chocolate and orange and of course a Terry’s Chocolate Orange is always a treat!

This loaf cake uses orange extract to get the right hit and it’s a light chocolate orange sponge, packed full of chocolate orange pieces and finally decorated with a chocolate orange buttercream. Oh did I mention it’s decorated with Chocolate Orange pieces too? Yea a lot of chocolate orange here but absolutely no one is complaining!

The cake is baked at a low heat and for around an hour to prevent it drying out and it works really well.

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Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumble – Gluten Free

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We in Ireland have a great rhubarb season where we’re so lucky to be able to get fresh, zingy rhubarb and use it in our favourite dishes. The sweetness of strawberries combines really well with rhubarb in this crumble and we up the nutritional value of the overall dish by adding in oats.

If you are watching your sugar intake, you can substitute the caster sugar for a sweetener of choice. I would err on the lower end of the sugar quantity as sweeteners can be more intense than regular sugar.

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Easy Tiramisu Recipe – Gluten Free

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A rich, coffee and boozy tiramisu will always be greeted with joy and eagerness. It’s one of those desserts that has never gone out of fashion and there’s a good reason for that. It’s so easy to make. It’s a no bake recipe. It’s actually better made ahead of when needed and then it also lasts well in the fridge for a few days. It’s a host of ticks for a great dessert!

You can of course keep it alcohol free and simply sub more coffee in place of your chosen tipple. I go with brandy as I always have it in the house but Kahlua works really well too and brings out the coffee flavour even more. I would stick with espresso coffee for the sponge fingers as you do need that strong coffee taste in the dessert.

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Frangipane Mince Tart – Gluten Free

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A wonderful change from the usual mince pies with it’s delicious frangipane topping. It’s also easier to make as there’s far less cutting and shaping with pastry. I used my own homemade mincemeat which is gluten free and vegan. The recipe is here on my website if you would like to make it. It’s very simple and can be made ahead once stored in sterilised jars. A great dessert to serve with cream or custard after a lovely dinner.

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Maple Glazed Gingerbread Cakes

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These Maple Glazed Gingerbread Cakes with are a delicious little bake that has all the warm, cosy feel of winter with the rich mix of wonderful spices. I have made mine in a Nordicware Heritage Bundtlette tin that holds 6. It measures 4″ across. You could also use a silicone bundt mould which would make 12 cakes. They usually measure about 2.5″ / 3″ across the top.

Silicone will take longer to bake than a metal tin so that’s worth noting. Also, you should only fill your tin about 2/3rd way up and leave them to sit in the tin for at least 10 minutes before attempting to remove them. If you follow my tips for preparing the tin, they will simply slip out!

The recipe seems to have a lot of ingredients and please don’t let that put you off. It’s mainly all the spices.

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Coffee and Walnut Fudge

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This fudge recipe is made in the traditional way so there’s no fear of any crumbly bits. It’s so smooth and so delicious but does take a little time when you’re bringing it to boil but this is what gives you that smooth, professional and really beautiful finish so for special occasions, it’s definitely worth it.

The flavour is gorgeous, full of rich coffee which cuts through the sweetness perfectly! Homemade fudge is so different than more commercial versions. It’s full of flavour and doesn’t get lost in an overly sweet taste.

The recipe is perfect to give as gifts. I put 3 pieces into cellophane bags, wrapped with pretty ribbon and gave them as gifts. People raved about the flavour and even though it doesn’t sound like much, 3 pieces of this fudge is more than enough for most people!

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Mango Ice Cream – No Churn

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After running a poll on what ice cream flavour to make over on the cozebakes Facebook page, the winner by quite a big margin was Mango Ice Cream.

I make this a little differently than the other ice cream recipes on here as you could chop up fresh mango and mix it in but there’s a chance you would be eating frozen pieces of mango with ice on them after the freezing process and that wouldn’t be very nice! The solution I felt was to pulp the mango in my food processer and mix this in to get the flavour throughout.

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Peaches & Cream Ice Cream

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Most of my other ice cream recipes use condensed milk and they are all really good. As peaches are in season, I tried a recipe with fresh peaches and using the same method. I had no complaints, everyone loved it but I wasn’t happy. I felt the condensed milk was the primary flavour instead of the peaches so I set about trying to work around this.

I’m happy to report that the second test worked out much closer to what I wanted to achieve 🙂

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Date & Apple Cake / Traybake

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I first sampled this delicious cake at a Neff Cooking Demonstration to help me understand my new cooker better and not use just 3 settings! After tasting it I asked for the recipe and the ladies very kindly gave it to me.

I made it in an 8″ / 20cm round tin but ideally if you want it to do the same, you need to use a 9″ / 23cm tin or as a traybake, use a 30cm x 20cm rectangular tin. You can serve up to 16 people so it’s a great crowd pleaser.

Don’t worry at all if you don’t like dates; one of my friends is not a fan so I blitzed the dates in a blender before adding them but you can of course just mush them with a fork or potato masher.  Continue reading →