Peanut butter cups

I combined a couple of peanut butter cup recipes to come up with this version of peanut butter cups that is vegan, and wheat and sugar free. And addictive...

Ingredients

3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 cup coconut shreds

1/8 cup melted coconut oil

100g dark or raw chocolate

+ crushed almonds/peanuts/walnuts to decorate

1. Mix together everything but the chocolate in a bowl. If it's too dry, add a little more coconut oil, a bit at a time. Spoon and press into lined cupcake tins.

2. Melt the chocolate. Spread evenly over the top of the peanut butter mix. Sprinkle some crushed nuts on top to decorate.

3. Pop them into the fridge for at least 2 hours until set.

Chocolate Fudge Cake with Rich Coconut Cream Ganache

I celebrated my birthday last week by making and eating this super rich vegan chocolate fudge cake. Very easy and possibly the best ganache in memory. Thank you to my friend Sid for passing on the recipe (link here but also copy-pasted below).

 

(From thekindcook.com)

INGREDIENTS (FOR THE CAKE)

1 cup of plain flour

¼ cup of cocoa

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

1/3 cup of oil (I used rice bran oil)

1 cup of rice milk

INSTRUCTIONS (FOR THE CAKE)

Preheat your oven to 180%.

Carefully line a cake tin with baking paper. This is a really important step because it always sticks as it is such a wet fudgy consistency.

Sift all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Whisk all the wet ingredients together. Put the dry ingredients into the wet and gently fold them through until well combined.

Pop in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. The time will vary depending on your oven. You are looking for a cake where the top is not wobbly, the sides have come away from the edge of the cake tin and a bamboo skewer comes out clean. Once cooked, remove and allow to cool.

INGREDIENTS (FOR THE ICING)

2/3 cups of coconut cream

120 grams of icing sugar

½ cup of cocoa

150 grams of Lindt dark chocolate. Must be at least 70% cocoa

INSTRUCTIONS (FOR THE ICING)

Make your icing once your cake is almost cooled, out of its tin and on a serving plate.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.

Melt the chocolate. While the chocolate is melting put the coconut cream into a small pot and gently heat. You don’t want to boil it. You just want to bring it up to a nice warm temperature. Once the chocolate is melted quickly whisk it into the warm coconut cream until well combined.

Add the dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture and whisk until well combined and scrape out onto the cake. Distribute evenly. There is PLENTY so it will be lovely and thick.

Top with your favourite berries and serve.

Servings:  Enough for 8 good slices

Time: Takes about an hour plus allow cooling time.

Freeze: N/A

Notes:  I find this much easier to slice if you make and ice it the day before and refrigerate it over night. Just make sure you pull it out a couple of hours before you serve it so the ganache is nice and soft.

Topping with berries is really recommended because this is such a rich, sweet cake so the bitterness from the berries provides a lovely balance.

Chocolate truffles

This Christmas I did not buy presents; I made them.  I've made rum raisin chocolates before, which I like to make for colleagues and friends now and then, but they weren't quite festive enough on their own for presents, so I decided to try making a (small) variety of other chocolates to accompany them. I opted for chocolate truffles rolled in pistachios and coconut flakes, and rum flavoured truffles rolled in cocoa powder. Finally, I also made chilli chocolate truffles coated in chocolate. All five varieties (including the rum raisin chocolates) took three evenings to make, since the chocolate needs to be melted, mixed, chilled to set, rolled into balls, coated, chilled.

Cocoa-coated, coconut-coated, pistachio-coated, and chocolate-coated chilli chocolates

Rummy chocolate truffles rolled in coconut

A selection

Chocolate truffles coated in pistachio

Chocolates in their box

All of them were easy to make, but took time to roll into balls and coat neatly and evenly. I also found the chilli chocolate recipe a little tricky: at first I chilled the chocolate too long and it set too hard to roll into balls. The recipe calls for less butter and cream, hence is harder stuff, so you need to keep on eye on it if chilling. Also, in my opinion the truffles call for at least 3-4 times more chilli powder than the recipe prescribes (i.e.1-2 tsp). I also need to figure out a better way of doing the chocolate coating. My solution was slightly hilarious: after spooning the melted chocolate over truffle on a cocktail stick and shaking off the extra chocolate, I left it to set by sticking it into a banana! It worked well in the sense that none of them were disproportionately coated, but the downside is that they all have a little hole at the bottom... Oh well. They look pretty and taste lovely, so yay!