Honey Chocolate Cake

I've been baking quite a bit with Hans Sloane Chocolate beads recently. So far I've made banana, pecan and chocolate waffles, chocolate cookies with ginger or cranberry and a dark chocolate salted caramel oreo pie. Those recipes were made using rich dark chocolate beads or Ecuador 70% chocolate beads. I saw that they have a natural honey with milk chocolate version and was intrigued as I love honey. I absolutely love dark chocolate which is my favourite type of chocolate but I have to say that these natural honey chocolate beads have jumped straight to the top of the favourite list. I've tried honey chocolate products before and often you can't really taste the honey or it tastes artificially sweeter. When you open this pack, the delicious smell of honey hits you immediately. The chocolate is smooth and really tastes like honey. I could have just eaten the whole pack as it is but I had to exert some self control and save it for the recipes. I've also used the natural honey chocolate beads to make a hot chocolate drink and it's absolutely divine.

I started thinking about recipes to showcase the honey chocolate and decided on an old favourite which is Nigella's chocolate honey cake. I've made this recipe quite a few times and it never fails to impress. I have tried different ways of decorating it and I think this is the winner. I put a Kit Kat fence around the cake and added crushed Crunchie bars on top. The bees are my favourite part and they look great sitting in a pool of honeycomb. I also made another cake and decorated it with fresh flowers from the garden and sugar bees.

The cake is light, chocolatey and full of honey flavour. The natural honey chocolate beads adda a really strong honey aroma to the cake and the glaze. The Kit Kats and Crunchie bars add more chocolate and also provides different textures to the cake. The sugar bees are literally the icing on the cake. They look really cute and add a fresh burst of colour to the cake.

 adding honey to the cake mixture 

 adding natural honey chocolate to the cake mixture 

 honey chocolate cake! 

 how cute are the bees in a pool of honeycomb?

 This is the second cake decorated very simply with fresh pansies and sugar bees. 

Recipe adapted very slightly from Nigella 

Makes 1 x 23cm/9 inch round cake
For the cake
100g Hans Sloane Natural Honey Chocolate beads, melted
275g light brown muscovado sugar
225g butter, softened
80ml runny honey
2 large eggs
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
250ml boiling water

For the sticky honey glaze
60ml water
25 ml runny honey
175grams Hans Sloane Natural Honey Chocolate Beads
75g icing sugar, sifted

For the bees
25 grams yellow ready to roll icing
12 flaked almonds

For the decoration

Kit kat

3 crunchie bars

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Grease and line a 23cm/9 inch round springform cake tin. 
• Melt the chocolate in a small bowl over a pan of simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. 
• Beat the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
• Add in the runny honey and mix well. 
• Add in the eggs, one at a time.
• Fold in the melted chocolate, flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder.
• Finally pour in the boiling water and mix well.
• Pour the cake batter (which will be quite liquid) into the prepared cake tin and bake for an hour. 
• Check the cake after 45 minutes and cover with foil if the top of the cake is brown. 
• Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack. 
• To make the glaze, put the water and honey in a small pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat. 
• Add the Hans Sloane Natural Honey Chocolate Beads and whisk gently until the chocolate has melted.
• Add in the icing sugar and continue whisking until smooth. 
• To make the bees, divide the yellow icing into 6 even pieces.
• Roll each piece in the palm of your hand into a sausage shape roll that's tapered at one end.
• Use a wooden skewer to paint 2 stripes on each 'bee' with the sticky honey glaze as shown. Add 2 dots in the front for eyes.
• Place 2 almond flakes, one at either end to form the bee's wings. 
• To decorate the cake, place 4 strips of parchment paper on a cake stand to form a square. This is a great tip from Nigella as the icing is quite runny initially and prevents a mess on the cake stand. 
• Place the cooled cake in the centre of the cake stand.
• Pour the sticky honey glaze on top of the cake allowing it to drip down the sides.
• Gently slide out the strips of baking paper so you have a clean cake stand. 
• Cut Kit Kat bars in half and arrange them around the border of the cake the form a fence.
• Crush 3 Crunchie bars and sprinkle on top of the cake.
• Carefully add the bees on top.
• Alternatively decorate with some fresh pansies and sugar bees. 
• (Note - the sticky honey glaze is very sticky and a little runny so make sure you allow plenty of time for it to set before serving) 

Disclaimer: I was sent Hans Sloane chocolate beads for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

Gooseberry and Orange Drizzle Cake

My colleague gave me a huge box of fresh gooseberries from her garden. I don't think I've ever baked with them before and apart from making a gooseberry fool I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. I turned to twitter and got a few very helpful suggestions including jam, crumble, cobbler or tart. As I was short on time, I decided to bake a cake and used a BBC Good Food recipe. It's essentially a light sponge cake with orange zest and fresh gooseberries and an orangle drizzle to go on top. The gooseberries sunk to the bottom of the cake and gave a lovely tart bite to the cake. The orange complemented the gooseberries well as it's a subtle citrus flavour which has a sweetness to it unlike lemon or lime.

I'm sending this to Formula 1 Foods hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The idea is to cook something inspired by the country that is hosting the Formula 1 race. This time it's in the UK which opens up a lot of possibilities particularly with using seasonal produce. It was good timing then that I got this box of gooseberries as they are very British.

I'm also sending it to Simple and in Season hosted by Ren as gooseberries are in season currently.

 fresh gooseberries 

 adding gooseberries to the cake batter 

 I love the sugary bits from the orange drizzle 

 You can see that the gooseberries sunk to the bottom of the cake 

Recipe from BBC Good Food 

Butterscotch and Pecan Bananas on the BBQ

Hope everyone is enjoying the good weather. This is not really a recipe but I thought I'd share it anyway as it's a really quick and easy dessert to prepare if you are thinking of having a BBQ today. I initially wanted to use chocolate chips and mini marshmallows but then I spotted my butterscotch chips and pecan nuts. It only takes minutes to prepare and makes for a tasty dessert! The butterscotch and pecans go well with the bananas. I can't wait to try the chocolate and marshmallow next. Maybe chocolate and peanut butter too!

Make a slit along the banana but be careful that you don't cut all the way to the end. Stuff it with a handful of butterscotch chips and some pecan nuts. Wrap it up tightly in foil making sure the edges are sealed. Place on the BBQ for about 30 minutes or until the banana has blackened. Split it open fully and serve with some vanilla ice cream.

I'm sending this to Tea Time Treats hosted by Jane from The Hedgecombers and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is BBQ Fodder.

 stuff bananawith butterscotchchips and pecan nuts 

 cook it on the BBQ 

 yum! 

 serve with a scoop of ice cream  

AlphaBakes July 2015

The sun is shining, Wimbledon has started and there's a heatwave. Hurrah for summer! Welcome to July's AlphaBakes. If you haven't already seen last month's "O" round up on Caroline's blog, do check it out. This month the random letter generator has come up with ... U
Look forward to seeing all your Unique U entries! Entry is via the linky tool below and if for some reason it's not working then please email alphabakes@gmail.com by 25th July 2015.

Quick reminder of the rules....

1. Post your RECIPE on your blog and link it to The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes, stating the relevant month's host. If you do not have a blog, email us a picture and a brief description of your entry which we will include in the round-up at the end of the month.

2. You can use your own RECIPE or someone else's RECIPE. The recipe can be sweet, savoury or a mixture! Anything goes as long as the random letter is predominantly featured in the recipe as one of the main ingredients or flavours or in the name of the bake itself (i .e . not as a garnish , or using 'flour' for the letter F!) You can also republish old posts/RECIPES but you must include the information for this challenge as stated in these rules.

3. Add the logo to your post and add 'alphabakes' as a label to your post.

4. Entry is via the linky tool below. Alternatively, you can email your entries to alphabakes@gmail.com by midnight (GMT) 25th of each month. Please include:

• Your name (that you want included in the round up or we will use the name of your blog) 
• Your blog post URL 
• RECIPE title 
• Photo of RECIPE (to be included in the round up) 

5. You can submit as many entries as you like.

6. You do not have to participate every month to join in.

7. You may submit your entry to other challenges as long as it complies with their rules.

8. If you use twitter, please use the tag #alphabakes and mention @bakingaddict and @Caroline_Makes. We will retweet all those that we see. 

9. Have fun! :) 

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Oreo Pie

Hi everyone. Sorry for the long absence. It's just been crazy busy lately with lots going on. I will be posting less for the next few months until things settle down but will still continue to co-host AlphaBakes with Caroline. I do appreciate the loyalty from my regular readers and still enjoy reading all your posts when I can. 

I've been wanting to make this for a while so I'm really pleased that I got the chance recently and I can tell you that it was well worth the wait. It's a very rich, decadent dessert and you only need a small slice. It has an oreo biscuit base, covered with homemade caramel and topped with rich, dark chocolate ganache and a generous sprinkling of sea salt. It's a no bake recipe but it does take some time as each layer has to set before you put the next layer on. I used Hans Sloane Ecuador 70% chocolate beads and it worked beautifully in this recipe as it gave the pie the rich, dark chocolate taste which paired well with the sea salt flakes and caramel. If you use a sweeter chocolate then the pie will be too sweet and you won't get the lovely contrast.

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter this  month is O for Oreo cookies.

Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy from Supergolden Bakes.

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.

Tasty Tuesdays hosted by Vicki from Honest Mum.

 only 5 ingredients required - brown sugar, double cream, chocolate beads or chocolate chips, butter and oreo cookies 

 oreo cookie base 

 making the caramel 

 caramel is almot ready!

 look at that lovely caramel 

 the smudge is from the cling film before the caramel set 

 luckily it's covered in a thick layer of chocolate ganache 

 served with fresh raspberries and raspberry ripple ice cream 

Makes 1 large 10 inch pie

For the base
2 packs of 154g Oreo cookies
100g butter

For the caramel
260g light brown sugar
225g butter
120 mlsdouble cream

For the chocolate ganache
250ml double cream
340g Hans Sloane Ecuador 70% chocolate beads

To serve
Sea salt flakes
Fresh raspberries
Raspberry ripple ice cream

• Start by making the oreo base - place the oreo cookies in a food processor and blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Add the butter and pulse briefly.
• Spread the oreo base on the pie tin and smooth out the top making sure that the base goes up the side of the dish as shown.
• Place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to set.
• In the meantime, make the caramel by placing the butter and brown sugar in a medium sized pan.
• Heat gently over a medium heat until bubbles start to form. 
• Remove from the heat and leave for 1 minute.
• Gently whisk in the double cream and continue whisking until the caramel is smooth.
• Set aside to cool for at least 15-20 minutes.
• Take the oreo base out of the freezer and pour the caramel layer on top.
• Return to the freezer for 20-30minutes to set.
• Make the chocolate ganache by gently heating the cream until it just bubbles.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate beads.
• Continue stirring until the mixture is smooth.
• Remove the oreo pie from the freezer and pour the chocolate ganache on top.
• Refrigerate until set.
• Before serving, add a generous sprinkle of sea salt on top of the pie.
• Slice and serve with fresh raspberries and a scoop of ice cream. 

Disclaimer: I was sent some Hans Sloane drinking chocolate beads for review purposes to create a recipe. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

3 nut butter chocolate cookies with marshmallow

The cookie monster is back! This is an absolutely delicious cookie which incorporates all of my favourite flavours. The base is a chocolate and 3 nut butter cookie with the addition of peanut butter chips and hidden marshmallows inside. I felt like baking cookies one evening and had a look in the pantry to see what was available and this is what I came up with. I overbaked my cookies a little but luckily the marshmallow was still ooey and gooey as you can see! It has a dark chocolate base paired with saltiness from the nut butter and peanut butter chips and sweetness of the marshmallows.

I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary as I used up the end of a jar of 3 nut butter and opened packs of mini marshmallows and peanut butter chips.

 adding the lovely nut butters

 adding peanut butter chips 

 place a small scoop of cookie dough on a baking tray and flatten it. Top with mini marshmallows. 

 Cover with another flat disc of cookie dough and press together 

 melted marshmallow inside!

Makes approximately 20 cookies of the size shown

113g butter

50g brown sugar

50g caster sugar

125g three nut butter (use any nut butter as an alternative)

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

125g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

100g peanut butter chips (you can also use white chocolate chips or plain chocolate chips)

approximately 100 mini marshmallows (I used about 4-5 per cookie) 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.
• Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
• Add in the nut butter and egg.
• Stir in the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda.
• Finally add the peanut butter chips.
• Place a small scoop of cookie dough on the lined baking tray and flatten with your palm to form a disc. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough.
• Place 4-5 mini marshmallows on top of each flattened cookie dough. Cover with another piece of cookie dough and press to seal the edges.
• The cookies look quite large so allow enough space for spreading between each cookie before baking.
• Bake for approximately 10 minutes.
• The cookies will still be soft when you take them out of the oven but will harden as they cool on the sheet.