Well, good morning all. Robynn here – thanks for inviting me in, Liz! I'm no food blogger normally but I was already on a cooking kick; some friends and I have been challenging ourselves to cook 52 new recipes each year. (Starting in, I think, 2017.) This year got off to a rocking start, I was up to 13 before the lockdown, and now, well, the sky's the limit, right? Clearly there's no better time to start sharing my efforts publicly, especially if things get weird. (Reading that story in January made quite an impression on me. I'm not hoarding toilet paper but I have made damn sure I'm well stocked with coffee beans.)
Yesterday my daughter turned 11. She celebrated with pyjamas all day (topped with her new biker jacket and sparkly kitty ears, because presents!); croissants for breakfast, pancakes for lunch and this highly untraditional cake, eaten garden picnic style.
It's based on this excellent recipe, which we made (slightly modified) two weeks ago for guests. This version was modified again, for lockdown reasons – we didn't have caramel, so we used classic Saffer chocolate bar Peppermint Crisp for the second flavour. (It was our last one! But it's also Claudia's favourite, and hey, she's the birthday girl.) Some of my modifications were excellent (subbing Greek yoghurt for half the cream is brilliant, the tang really helps prevent it being ridiculously sweet). Some a little less so (all Greek yoghurt is Too Much). But even the less good version is still very good.
Ingredients:
175g Lotus caramel biscuits; for Peppermint Crisp version use chocolate digestives.
85g butter
450g jar dulce de leche or caramel (or 150g Peppermint Crisp!)
1 tsp sea salt (omit for Peppermint Crisp version)
300g dark chocolate
300ml double cream
300ml Greek yoghurt
25g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (omit for Peppermint Crisp version)
chocolate sprinkles to finish (optional)
a little cream (optional)
Line a springform cake tin (at least 20cm; mine was bigger) with baking paper. Crush the biscuits, melt the butter and mix. Smoosh it into the cake tin, pressing down firmly, and chill.
Stir sea salt into your dulce de leche, or crush the Peppermint Crisp. If you have the optional cream, reserve a couple of spoons of caramel for finishing; if using Peppermint Crisp, reserve a little of that. Pour the rest (of either caramel or crushed chocolate) into the cake tin, taking care to leave a caramel-free border of around an inch. Chill again (around 20 min for the caramel version)
Melt the chocolate, in the microwave or above a pot of hot water. Slowly stir in the cream and yoghurt, a dollop at a time, until it is smooth and glossy. Sift in the icing sugar; add vanilla if using, and stir. Pour into the cake tin and, you guessed it, chill. If you're decorating with the reserved caramel, stir in a spoon of cream (just enough to make it thin and easy to handle), cover and keep cool until finishing time.
When it's firm (recipe says 5 hours; I reckon it might be ready sooner), decorate: Peppermint Crisp is easy, just sprinkle it all over. For the caramel version you can spoon your creamed caramel into a small sandwich bag, snip off a tiny corner and squeeze over the top in pretty patterns. Or, as I did, not so pretty patterns because I'm a klutz; I fixed it by running a fork over to spread out some more, and covered it all with chocolate sprinkles. Win!
I never have faith in the integrity of my cheesecake bottoms, so I just served this on the base of the cake tin. But it was actually pretty solid. Next time I'll try transferring it to a pretty plate. Wish me luck.
Yesterday my daughter turned 11. She celebrated with pyjamas all day (topped with her new biker jacket and sparkly kitty ears, because presents!); croissants for breakfast, pancakes for lunch and this highly untraditional cake, eaten garden picnic style.
It's based on this excellent recipe, which we made (slightly modified) two weeks ago for guests. This version was modified again, for lockdown reasons – we didn't have caramel, so we used classic Saffer chocolate bar Peppermint Crisp for the second flavour. (It was our last one! But it's also Claudia's favourite, and hey, she's the birthday girl.) Some of my modifications were excellent (subbing Greek yoghurt for half the cream is brilliant, the tang really helps prevent it being ridiculously sweet). Some a little less so (all Greek yoghurt is Too Much). But even the less good version is still very good.
Ingredients:
175g Lotus caramel biscuits; for Peppermint Crisp version use chocolate digestives.
85g butter
450g jar dulce de leche or caramel (or 150g Peppermint Crisp!)
1 tsp sea salt (omit for Peppermint Crisp version)
300g dark chocolate
300ml double cream
300ml Greek yoghurt
25g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (omit for Peppermint Crisp version)
chocolate sprinkles to finish (optional)
a little cream (optional)
Line a springform cake tin (at least 20cm; mine was bigger) with baking paper. Crush the biscuits, melt the butter and mix. Smoosh it into the cake tin, pressing down firmly, and chill.
Stir sea salt into your dulce de leche, or crush the Peppermint Crisp. If you have the optional cream, reserve a couple of spoons of caramel for finishing; if using Peppermint Crisp, reserve a little of that. Pour the rest (of either caramel or crushed chocolate) into the cake tin, taking care to leave a caramel-free border of around an inch. Chill again (around 20 min for the caramel version)
Melt the chocolate, in the microwave or above a pot of hot water. Slowly stir in the cream and yoghurt, a dollop at a time, until it is smooth and glossy. Sift in the icing sugar; add vanilla if using, and stir. Pour into the cake tin and, you guessed it, chill. If you're decorating with the reserved caramel, stir in a spoon of cream (just enough to make it thin and easy to handle), cover and keep cool until finishing time.
When it's firm (recipe says 5 hours; I reckon it might be ready sooner), decorate: Peppermint Crisp is easy, just sprinkle it all over. For the caramel version you can spoon your creamed caramel into a small sandwich bag, snip off a tiny corner and squeeze over the top in pretty patterns. Or, as I did, not so pretty patterns because I'm a klutz; I fixed it by running a fork over to spread out some more, and covered it all with chocolate sprinkles. Win!
I never have faith in the integrity of my cheesecake bottoms, so I just served this on the base of the cake tin. But it was actually pretty solid. Next time I'll try transferring it to a pretty plate. Wish me luck.
Brilliant to see you managing a birthday celebration! Cake is making me hungry, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I fully hear you about cheesecake transfers to plates... Good luck with that one!
Looks like a fabulous cake. One of these days... Do you know of any uses for Lotus Biscoff spread? I'd never seen it before but they had it in the corner shop a couple of months ago. I've just been eating its stroopwaffely goodness out of the jar but there might be receipes...
ReplyDeleteTerrific that you managed to have such a lovely birthday celebration under lockdown. The cake looks delicious!
ReplyDelete