Classic Chocolate Cake

Get your chocolate fix with this strikingly simple chocolate cake. 

Who doesn’t love cake? This is a great basic cake recipe that everyone should know. I remember the first time I made a cake, my mum helped but didn't know what to do when the eggs curdled, so we rang my dad (who was at work) and badgered him to instruct us remotely. That cake turned out well and ever since I've remembered the mantra four, four, four, and two (4oz sugar, 4oz butter, 4oz self-raising flour and 2 eggs)  or six, six, six, and three (6oz sugar, 6oz butter, 6oz self-raising flour and 3 eggs) for a sandwich cake, ever since and it has proved invaluable when a cake is needed in short order.

Topping the cake with a simple ganache elevates a simple cake to a whole new level and will impress anyone.

Decadent Boost Brownies

I gave up drinking diet coke at the start of June and genuinely haven't missed the stuff but when I tried to stop eating chocolate at the same time then that was a whole different kettle of fish! In an attempt to get temptations out of the house, I made these brownies with all of my chocolate and sold them for charity (Cleft Palate). The results were extremely more-ish and went down well with all who tried them.

You don't have to use Boost bites, instead you could pick any of the sharing bags of mini chocolates. Maltesers . . . twirls . . . even chocolate buttons. I had a mix of twirls and boosts in my cupboard, which gave a lovely richness and texture to the finished brownies.

Birthday Dessert

I turned 22 on the 26th of December and was sick of cakes after a spate of birthdays recently. Initially I decided to have a birthday starter instead (of cheese soufflé) but one of my friends posting a photo of some caramel that she was making swayed me in favour of homemade vanilla ice cream drizzled with salted caramel (my current, and long-lasting, weakness - last year's cake was a set of salted caramel fondants). Previously I've always bought in my salted caramel sauce from the excellent Artisan du Chocolat in London as I don't want to see just how bad for me it is, but they sadly don't have an outpost in Poitiers nor Talmont (they should really look into that) so I had to bite the bullet and make it myself.

First off, I'm sorry but it is as bad for you as you think it is, however, it's even more scrumptious than you think it will be so just enjoy it! My pan of caramel is currently cooling and every time I pass it I take a spoonful, thankfully there's a lot of it!

Scrumptious Sorbet

I love sorbets but have never been brave enough to make one before - my dad had told me I needed to stir it every 30 minutes until it had set and thought egg whites were involved. Well, the former is true, though it's more like every hour at the beginning, and the latter is not true in the case of this recipe. I took the plunge and made raspberry sorbet to end an Italian themed dinner party. It was the perfect finale: light, refreshing and yet full of flavour. The second sorbet I made was a week later as I spotted some blood oranges at the grocers and thought it might be nice to make something with them as they were in season. Finally, my third sorbet was made the other night, once again with blood oranges, when my neighbours here in France (salut!) came over for a thai meal.

It's a terribly easy recipe and can be adapted to lots of different fruits as suits your tastes. I will give the instructions for blood orange or lemon sorbet and for raspberry sorbet but you could change it to strawberry, blackcurrant or pretty much anything. If it's berries don't forget to add a little lemon juice to counteract the sweetness and that berries will take longer to make as they have to be blitzed and then strained, whereas once the citrus fruits have been tested and juiced they can be tipped straight into the sugar syrup.