LIGHT AND RANDOM CHOCOLATE CAKE

Remember back in school, there was always a "cool" gang?  They always had the coolest shoes, their socks were always casually half mast and they had boys signatures on their school bags (I went to an all girl school with a strict uniform code - it was hard to be individual!!!!) - well recently all the "cool" bloggers have been baking up a storm from Dan Lepard's new book Short and Sweet, and I have to admit that I was feeling a bit left out (tragic I know!!!!). Well, all is right with the world and I can still aspire to the "cool" club, my son bought me his book for Christmas :-)).

Dom over at Belleau Kitchen challenged us to randomly choose a recipe from one of our new Christmas books and blog about it - nice one!  Then I thought my luck was really in when the book opened at The alchemist's chocolate cake which has half the fat and quarter of the carbs of a normal uniced chocolate cake, relying on blended tinned pears to provide the moisture and texture, and therefore being perfect for Chele's We Should Cocoa Challenge which this month involved chocolate bakes and healthy in the same sentence! I think I'm a bit late on Chele's challenge but am going to chance my arm!!!

The link to Dan's recipe is here, but I have to say that unless I were under doctor's orders I'd just have a small slice of a normal cake instead.

WITH APPLE OR WITHOUT??

It looks burned, doesn't it?  Actually it didn't taste burned .... maybe it is the dark chocolate - very, very dark chocolate!!

I was watching a re-run of Nigella's kitchen, and her Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding just called to me, then I thought that it would be a good idea to incorporate it with Chele's  ingredient  for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge.  Like many fellow bloggers, I had fretted as to how I could add apple to a chocolate recipe, but I thought that some apple through this pudding would be delicious.  Unfortunately Brownieville Boy #2 spotted me adding the apple, and wasn't too enthusiastic!  So I compromised and added apple to just half of the pudding - and I have to say that the non-apple half was just a fraction nicer.

The pudding was light and fluffy, and deliciously creamy (despite containing only 125ml of cream) I would recommend that you give it a try. 

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

250g    stale bread, cut into 3cm cubes
100g    chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
3          eggs
40g      light brown sugar
30ml    dark rum
125ml  cream
500ml  full fat milk
4 tsp    demerara sugar
1          apple (optional)


butter a pie dish (about 1.5 lt)
preheat oven to 170 C

Place the bread cubes, chopped chocolate and chopped apple in the dish, toss but make sure there aren't too many chocolate pieces on the top (to prevent the burned look!!)
Whisk the eggs, light brown sugar, rum, cream and milk together.
Pour over the bread and press the cubes down to make sure they are well soaked.
Leave to soak for at least 20 minutes.
When ready to cook, sprinkle with the demerara sugar and place in the oven for 40-50 minutes.
Allow the pudding to cool slightly before serving.
Enjoy.

I'M SUCH A WUSS!!!

I have been looking forward to this month's We Should Cocoa challenge - each month I have willed Choclette or Chele to nominate chilli as the companion in our monthly chocolate challenge, and it's come - and what did I do?  I chickened out - and just used Lindt Chilli Chocolate. I didn't risk chopping up some hot, hot, hot chilli and mixing it in there - I'm such a wuss!!!!

That said these mini chocolate pots, from Catherine Fulvio's wonderful book Catherine's Family Kitchen were delicious - I used chilli chocolate instead of the plain and omitted the Baileys Irish Cream (something told me that chilli and Baileys might not be the best combination possible!!!!)  The chilli chocolate gave a very slight kick to the back of your mouth - subtle and simply yummy.



Mini Chocolate Pots
adapted from Catherine Fulvio's Family Kitchen

100g        chilli chocolate
50g          butter
1              egg
1              egg yolk
2 tbsp       caster sugar
1 tbsp       ground almonds

Preheat oven to 180 C
Butter 4  or 5 espresso cups

Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water
In another bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy
Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture
Add in the almonds
Pour the mixture into the prepared cups (up to 3/4 level) and pop into the oven
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes - they still need to be gooey in the middle.
Serve - but be careful not to burn your tongue!!

BROWNIES 19

Here in blogland we have a very significant event approaching, Chele's and Choclette's baby has reached the ripe old age of ONE! Yes, the wonderful We Should Cocoa has come of age - not bad when they have to decide on different ingredients to challenge us to team up with chocolate every month - some have been more difficult than others (you know what they were Choclette!!!!!). 

This month Chele has asked us to bake something for the birthday celebration, and what could Brownieville Girl bake but some brownies - these were my maiden voyage in my new oven - and I probably underestimated the amount of  time they needed - the center was maybe a teeny weeny bit too squidgy - but that said they were just delicious.

Walnut Brownies
adapted from Rachel Allen's BAKE

175g               70% Cocoa Chocolate
175g               Butter cubed
25g                 Good Cocoa Powder sifted
3                     large eggs
1 tsp               vanilla extract
225g               light brown sugar
100g               plain flour, sifted
50g                 walnuts - to place on each brownie

Preheat oven to 180 C
Line a 20cm x 20cm tin with parchment paper

Melt the chocolate, butter and cocoa powder together in a bowl over simmering water.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract for at least 2 minutes, while still whipping add the chocolate mixture and continue to whisk until combined.
Add the flour and fold through with a metal spoon.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and place the walnuts on top.
Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until dry on top but still slightly fudgy in the middle.
Remove from the tin and allow to cool in the tin.
When cool cut into squares and serve.

Enjoy.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

This month's We Should Cocoa challenge was to create something lovely using both rose and chocolate. Choclette really does like to keep us on our toes!!

My first thoughts were to team the rose with some white chocolate - there is something so delicate about a rose (and rose water) that I immediately thought to pair it with the subtle vanilla sweetness of some good white chocolate.  White billowy meringues, perhaps?  But then life got in the way (as it does), I was getting short on time and I needed a kid friendly, throw it all together type bake.

The kids are not great fans of white chocolate - milk chocolate gets the vote every time!  So I decided to play around with one of my stock recipes - add some rose water and see what happens!!

I had a hit and a miss - the cake was very popular, the hint of rose being very subtle, gave an extra dimension (just a little something that stopped you wolfing down a slice and encouraged you to nibble it thoughtfully), it married very well with the milk chocolate, one flavour not overpowering the other.  The icing on the other hand was not popular (even with me!!) Firstly the cake was sweet enough and did not need the extra sweet injection of the icing.  Secondly the rose and orange flavours (which I thought would be fantastic together) just didn't jell, and thirdly it was all just too much when combined.  Luckily I only iced a small section of the cake - so there was plenty of happy munching!!


Chocolate Rose Cake

200g               butter
200g               caster sugar
200g               milk chocolate
250g               self raising flour
1.5 tsp            rose water
3                    eggs, beaten.


Prepare a 24x33cm (13x10inch) tin by lining with baking parchment paper
Preheat oven to 180 C

Melt the butter and 75g of the chocolate.
Add the sugar and combine.
Gently stir in the flour.
Chop up the remaining 125g of chocolate and add to the batter.
Add the eggs, stirring gently.
Pour into the shallow tin.
Bake for 20 - 30 minutes.

Icing (though I wouldn't bother!)

100g     icing sugar, sieved
1 tsp     rosewater
orange juice to get to correct texture.

Combine.

Enjoy!

MESSED UP MUFFINS

I haven't blogged in ages, and now I have to come back with an unmitigated failure!  These apricot and chocolate muffins were just nasty, the actual muffins were rubbery and the apricots therein had an unpleasant jammy texture.

When I read Chele's challenge for this month's We Should Cocoa, I feared that I would be unable to source any fresh apricots, but as luck would have it there were some delicious specimens in the shop the very next day.  Murphy's law being what it is, everyone who visited over the next couple of days, spotted them, and said "you never see fresh apricots, may I take one?" and the punnet disappeared in no time!!!!  Fortunately I managed to get the last of the apricots the next time I went shopping, and even more fortunately (or not when you consider the way the muffins turned out!!) I managed to hide three of them to use for the challenge. 

I won't bother giving you the recipe* - why would I when this recipe is a million times better.  As for the apricots - they are just so nice when fresh and ripe (and so hard to locate) that I will stick to dried or tinned for my baking in future.  I have a lovely recipe for an apricot tart which uses tinned apricots - I must bake and blog it soon.

As I tell the kids, your mistakes are just as important as your successes, so I'll put this one down to furthering my culinary education!  They did look nice though!!

*All I'll say is that Ms Smith isn't totally infallible.

SCONE IN NO TIME!!

The newest Brownievillers on the block have been raving about the delicious scones with raspberries they had when they were visiting my sister in Galway recently,  I just knew they had this one right - like having the jam inside the scone - nice one!!!

This month's We Should Cocoa Challenge was to create something delicious with both chocolate and strawberries - wonderful timing, our local strawberries are just perfect at the moment, deep dark red and brim full of flavour (I actually find it hard to use them in a recipe - I just want to gobble them up straight from the carton!!)  I decided to try my hand at some scones, with nuggets of strawberry and grated white chocolate within - figured it would please the little ones anyway!!

As regular readers will know, I have been striving to find the perfect scone recipe for some time - I have finally decided the the two things necessary for really good scones are: frozen butter and slightly sour cream!  You might think I'm mad (join the queue!!) but try it and see  - I'd love to know how you get on.



It is much easier to cut scones into these shapes then the usual rounds - no rerolling of the dough!



The scones turned out really well, the soft sweet nuggets of strawberry were just about prefect - no jam necessary!  The chocolate on the other hand didn't really have any impact on the taste - next time I plan to use chunks of chocolate (similar in size to the strawberry pieces) - but these were so nummy, that there will definitely be a next time!

Strawberry and White Chocolate Scones

adapted from the Avoca recipe

450g/1lb          self raising flour

pinch                baking powder

pinch                salt

50g/2 oz           caster sugar

110g/4oz          frozen butter (I keep a few weighted out butter blocks in the freezer for when the scone mood strikes!)

1                     egg, beaten

50ml/2fl oz      cream (I think it's best if slightly sour)

200ml/7fl oz     milk (more if necessary)

10                    medium strawberries

100g/4 oz        white chocolate (grated or chopped into chunks)

1                     egg - to make the glaze

Preheat oven to 180 C

Sieve the flour into a large bowl.

Add the salt, sugar and baking powder.

Grate the frozen butter into the flour - I use the large grate size on my box grater.

Add the chocolate and mix gently with your hand.

Add the egg, cream and most of the milk.

Mix well until it has a soft texture - it's important that it's not too moist.

Add more milk if necessary.

Gently add the strawberries.

Gather the mixture into a ball and place on a floured surface.

Press out into a rectangle shape about 2.5cm/1 inch thick.

Cut into your preferred shapes - keeping everything to a similar size.

Make your glaze with a beaten egg and a tiny amount of water, and brush over the scones.

Transfer to a greased/lined baking sheet.

Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, or until well browned.

Enjoy.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?

The wonderful Chele over at The Chocolate Teapot challenged us to come up with our best roulade recipe (containing chocolate of course!) for last month's We Should Cocoa - the (wonderful) round up is on Choclette's blog (well worth a visit).

My late sister was the queen of roulades (my son once ate an entire one of her roulades in minutes flat - they were that good!! (luckily she had made quite a few on that occasion!)), as I could never compete (as if I would want to!!)  I thought that I would go down the meringue roulade route for a change.

I had made the Strawberry meringue roulade from the Avoca Cafe Cookbook some time ago and decided that with a bit of tweaking it would be just the thing.  I pretty much followed their recipe, but added grated white chocolate (going from fine in the cream to very coarse in the meringue) and it worked a treat. I was conscious that the chocolate could take a sweet dessert over the edge, so added an additional egg white, and I think it did the trick.  The white chocolate element wasn't too powerful, but it did add a wonderful deep vanilla hit - a perfect summer dessert!



When the meringue came out of the oven I wondered if I would be able to roll it!!



I was tempted to serve it as a (flat) pavlova!!



Raspberry and White Chocolate Meringue Roulade

5                large egg whites

225g          caster sugar (I think golden is best)

250ml        whipped cream

200g          white chocolate

2                punnets raspberries

Line a 30x20cm  swiss roll tin with parchment paper

Preheat oven to 150 C

Grate half the chocolate with a fine grater, the other half with a coarse one.

Beat the egg whites and half the sugar to snowy peaks (electric beater and clean bowl essential!)

Gradually add the remaining sugar, continuing to whisk for 10 minutes, until it forms stiff peaks.

Fold in the coarsely grated white chocolate carefully.

Spread the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.

Turn out onto a fresh sheet of baking parchment (or a clean tea towel) and carefully peel of the lining paper.

Spread over the cream (which you have whipped and folded in the finely grated chocolate to) and scatter the raspberries all over.

Roll up as best you can - doesn't really matter how good you are at this, it tastes so good you will be forgiven!!!

Enjoy!

CHOCOLATE TEA BRACK

You know the way that sometimes a recipe just comes to you - you wonder if x and y would be a good combination, throw a recipe together and bing bang boosh - perfection, it just works like magic, the work of the cake fairies.  Well this recipe wasn't like that at all !!!!!!!!!!!  It took a number of attempts to get it right, although all edible (Brownieville Man enjoyed the judging process) they just weren't wonderful, not blog worthy.  I think that the main problem was that two of the ingredients (tea and dried fruit) are two of the few foods/drinks that I don't really like.  But I battled on, and have been assured that this is a good one - and nice and easy too.

Choclette over at Chocolate Log Blog asked us to come up with something delicious which contains both chocolate and tea for this month's We Should Cocoa challenge.  Originally I thought I might use a fruit tea (which I love) but then thought that might be cheating (and that would never do!) so I decided that I would go with ordinary everyday tea (I use Barry's tea because my Mother told me that it was the best in the world (!) and I've bought it ever since!).

This is a tea brack (tea bread) with a pleasant chocolaty back taste, using the cocoa almost as a spice rather than a full on flavour (one of the mistakes of an earlier edition) and is perfect for an after dinner treat with a nice cup of tea, or an afternoon tea, or a morning coffee .... versatile cake!

It is worthwhile soaking the fruit for 24 hours, and if you have any dried fruit lurking in your cupboards from Christmas, this brack would be a perfect way to use it, as the long soak will revive it to plump moistness.  The choice of fruit is totally up to you, I have used sultanas, raisins, figs, and cranberries all to good effect.

Tea Brack with Cocoa


150g           soft brown sugar
300 ml        strong hot tea
400g           dried fruit (I recommend a combination of sultanas, raisins and cranberries)
50 ml          orange liqueur (or brandy) or use extra tea.
150g           wholemeal flour
75g             white flour
2 tbsp          cocoa powder, sifted
1.5 tsp        baking powder
1                 large egg

                                                                                                 
the day before

Add the sugar to the hot tea and stir until dissolved.    
Add the fruit and alcohol and leave to soak for about 24 hours.

when ready to bake

Preheat oven to 170 C
Line a large loaf tin with parchment paper

Add the flours, sifted cocoa, baking powder and the beaten egg to the fruit mixture, and mix well.
Pour this mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake for about 1 hour, test before this time with a skewer, it should come out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes.
Then remove to cool totally on a wire rack.

The publishers of a new foodie magazine Baked and Delicious have contacted me to ask if I would let you know about their new publication - looks good to me!

BROWNIES 17

I'm feeling very grateful towards Chele this month, she nominated leftovers as this month's ingredient for the We Should Cocoa challenge - this really made me put my thinking cap on! (and helped with my resolution to waste less food!!).

There were plenty of options available to me - copious amounts of sprouts (!), about a tonne of strawberry "Roses", scraps of pastry, a half can of chestnut puree and half a pack of vacuum packed chestnuts (from Christmas dinner's sprouts, chestnuts and pancetta), to name a few - I decided to go with the chestnuts, and then for some reason grated them before I looked up any recipes (go figure!!!).

Of course any recipes I read used whole chestnuts (typical!), so I had to improvise and  decided to use the grated chestnuts as a flour substitute.  I hadn't made brownies for a while,  so brownies it was - I played around with my favourite brownie recipes and this is the result.

Even if I say it myself - they were gorgeous!  Moist with a fudgy centre, deeply chocolaty with a lovely nutty back note, lovely crispy top - these lads are going to the top of the brownie league table. 

Chestnut Brownies

375g        caster sugar
4              eggs
100g        cocoa (good quality)
200g        butter
1 tsp        vanilla extract
100g       grated (cooked) chestnuts
1 tbsp      self raising flour
1 tsp        baking powder

Preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
Prepare a 9"/23cm brownie tin (I line mine with parchment paper)

Beat eggs and sugar together until light, fluffy and doubled in volume.
Melt the butter and then add the sieved cocoa - make sure there are no lumps.
Add the butter and cocoa to the eggs and sugar, stir well. 
Add the vanilla.
Add the grated chestnuts, flour and baking powder, combine well.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes.
Remove from the oven when it is cooked at the edges but still nice and slightly wobbly in the centre.
Allow to cool for 20 minutes in the tin, then remove to a wire rack.

CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS CAKE

This month's We Should Cocoa Challenge, is to create something delicious with both cocoa and dates.  Chocolate yummmm, dates - not so much!!!!!  Actually when Choclette suggested this months challenge,  I thoughts it was incredibly coincidental as I had just bought some medjool dates the previous day.  Those dates had been intended for Brownieville Man to nibble on,  but they now had to be redirected towards the baking cupboard!

As a non dried fruit eater (except for dried cranberries for some strange reason!) I fretted about this one a little bit.  I have been enjoying Eric Lanlard's Home Bake, and had marked his Chocolate and Orange Christmas Cake as one to try.  I wondered if I could substitute some of the raisins and sultanas in this cake for some of my dates - worth a try!!

The cake turned out to be a beautifully moist, rich confection.  Judging by the length of time it spent in the cake tin, it went down very well with the taste testers here!  Actually the only comment was that it was delicious, but perhaps a little bit too chocolaty (I didn't think that was possible!!)

Chocolate and Orange Christmas Cake
adapted from Home Bake by Eric Lanlard

150g/5oz         raisins
150g/5oz         sultanas
100g /4oz        dates - stoned and chopped
100ml/3.5oz    orange liqueur (plus some for soaking)
200g/7oz         butter, softened
100g/3.5oz      soft dark brown sugar
50g/2oz           molasses sugar
3                      large eggs
150g/5oz          plain flour
175g/6oz          really good dark chocolate, broken into pieces.
1 tsp                 ground mixed spice
1/2 tsp              cinnamon
1/2 tsp              freshly grated nutmeg
1                      lemon (juice only)
100g/3.5oz       chopped candied peel
75g/3oz            roasted hazelnuts. (I didn't bother with these)

The day before baking soak the fruits in half the orange liqueur, leaving them to plump up overnight.

Preheat the oven to 150 C
Prepare a 20cm/8" tin spring form tin, by greasing and lining with a double layer of parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugars together using an electric whisk (I use the kitchen aid) until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, whisking all the time. (if the mixture splits add a small amount of the flour)
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.  Allow to cool slightly.
Add the cooled melted chocolate to the egg and sugar mixture.
Sift in the flour and spices, and fold in until everything is combined.
Now add in the lemon juice and the remaining orange liqueur.
Finally add the soaked fruits, nuts and candied peel, mixing well.
Spoon the mix into the prepared tin, level the surface and cover with a piece of baking paper.
Bake for 2-2.5 hours, test that a skewer comes out clean to see when done.
Cool the cake in its tin on a wire rack.
Remove from its tin and feed with some more liqueur.
Wrap up in clingfilm (feeding from time to time) until ready to indulge!

Enjoy.

LATE BUT LOVELY!

Oh man, I really am a ninny - I spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking of the ideal caramel and chocolate combination for this months We Should Cocoa Challenge - and then I forgot to actually post my creation!!!!

Anyway, I have to write about these chocolate/malteser/rolo morsels - everyone I have given them to has asked for the recipe.  My walking buddie's daughter wants it as her birthday cake this year and my nephew has requested it for Christmas Dinner!!

I have to say that it should be hidden from anyone with cholesterol or diabetes issues - not recommended!!  But for the rest of us - this has to be tried.  You can of course play around with the different sweets, whatever you fancy will be good.

I got the original idea from the dishy Eric Lanlard's book Home Bake, and altered it to suit my taste - just don't make this when you are going to be alone with nobody round to help you eat it - you have been warned!!!

Malteser and Caramel Squares

Line a 8/9" (20/22cm) square tin with baking/parchment paper.

100g/3 1/2oz                butter
200g/7oz                      milk chocolate (broken into pieces) (or a mixture of dark and milk if you prefer)
3 tbsp                           golden syrup (I'm sure honey would be good too)
225g/8oz                      digestive caramel biscuits (or whatever biscuits you fancy)*
37g                               Maltesers
130g                             Rolos (chocolate covered caramel sweets)
48g                               Galaxy Caramel Bar - chopped.

For Topping (Optional)

74g (2 pkts)                 maltesers
50g/2oz                        melted white chocolate


Melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a medium sized saucepan.
Add the crushed biscuits and coat well with the chocolate.
Add the sweets and stir together quickly so the chocolate  on the sweets doesn't melt.
Pour into the prepared tin, press into an even layer.
Leave in the fridge until cold.

If using the topping -
Chop the Maltesers and sprinkle over the cake - while still warm.
Drizzle with the melted white chocolate.

* The original recipe asks for plain digestives - the caramel chocolate ones are even better.

Enjoy.

MOVE OVER COCOA POPS!!!

During the school/work week I normally prepare a hot breakfast for my darlings (!) but I feel weekends are about R&R and cooked breakfasts are not an option (other than the odd lazy brunch).  Son #2 has recently joined a new soccer team that can require quite early Sunday morning starts, and I wanted to have something nutritious and filling available (which would still allow me/us to milk every last second of lie-in time!!!).

Brownieville Boy (!?!) has a slight massive chocolate addiction, so I reckoned that if I sneaked some healthy ingredients in with some chocolate I'd be onto a winner!!  Then when I saw that this month's We Should Cocoa Challenge was to prepare something with both chocolate and hazelnuts, I clicked !  What would a cocoa and hazelnut granola taste like????  What about making a granola, chock full of healthy seeds and nuts, flavouring it with cocoa and then adding some small chocolate chunks? He'd have his chocolate hit, and also the slow release carbs to fuel his exploits on the pitch.  Would I create the next (much better looking!!) Wayne Rooney? Would it taste good?  Will Trappatoni (Irish Football Manager) come calling???

The granola is actually really good - I have made a couple of batches, and have discovered that if I make it minus chocolate chunks Brownieville Man (!) loves it too.  The cocoa gives a subtle background flavour that really works well at breakfast time - he actually prefers it to my more normal cinnamon version.  RESULT!!!

Cocoa and Hazelnut Granola


300g                      porridge oats
2 heaped tbsp        pumpkin seeds
2 heaped tbsp        sesame seeds
2 heaped tbsp        linseeds
2 heaped tbsp        sunflower seeds
1 heaped tbsp        cocoa (sifted)
2 heaped tbsp        soft brown sugar
100ml                    honey/maple syrup
150g                      toasted hazelnuts (or just plain if you don't mind the skin)
1 tbsp                    rapeseed/sunflower oil
75g                        good dark chocolate - chopped small (optional)

Preheat oven to 150 C

Pour all the ingredients (except chocolate) into a baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes, stirring regularly after 10 minutes.  Ovens vary greatly, it could be ready after 20 minutes (you'll know when the oats begin to colour and the nuts release their beautiful smell).
Allow to cool completely. 
Add chocolate pieces if using.
Store in a pretty jar (if you're into that type of thing!!)

I'll let you know about all offers for the sporting big time!

SEMIFREDDO

I love to have something special hidden away in the freezer in case of unexpected guests - or even expected guests and no time!!  I wholeheartedly recommend this semifreddo for such an eventuality (or for any eventuality, or even "because we're worth it"!!).  It is really scrumptious!

This recipe originated in Catherine Fulvio's delightful new book Catherines Italian Kitchen, the photo looked so appealing  that I had to give it a go.  Then a little light pinged in my head, and I thought of the wonderful  Choclette and her pal Chele's new competition We Should Cocoa - where they asked us to come up with dishes containing chocolate (of course) and this months special ingredient Raspberries.  Bing, bang, bosh with some changes to the original (which is titled Limoncello, White Chocolate and Cherry Semifreddo) I have come up with this recipe - somewhat lower in calories than the original, but really, really good despite this!!


Raspberry, Cherry and White Chocolate Semifreddo

100g          raspberries  (fresh or frozen)
50g            cherries       (fresh/frozen or tinned)
85g            caster sugar (divided in two)
290 ml       double cream
400ml        yoghurt (I used Greek)
4 tbsp        Lemoncello (or Framboise would be good too)
100g          white chocolate chips or a bar chopped up


Line a 1kg/2pint loaf tin with cling film.

Chop up the cherries and place in a bowl with the raspberries and half the sugar.
Whisk the cream and the other half of the sugar until soft peaks form, stir in the liqueur and the yoghurt.
Fold in the fruit and the chocolate.
Pour into the tin  and smooth the top, cover with more cling film and freeze.
The semifreddo should be frozen for at least 6 hours and for up to 3 weeks.

When ready to serve make the coulis:


Coulis
100g cherries (I used  frozen)
150g raspberries (I used frozen)
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp Lemoncello or Framboise

Place the fruit, liqueur and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves.
Allow to cool.
Blitz with a stick blender (if you wish)
Press through a nylon sieve to remove the pips.


Remove the semifreddo from the freezer an hour before serving - keep it in the fridge.
Remove the cling film and drizzle with the coulis.
Serve and enjoy!