Italian Chocolate, Nut & Orange Christmas Cake

rich, moist, nutty, cinnamony , orangy ……..  this is one of my all time favourite cakes

I have been making this cake for a few years now and have tinkered around with the original Anna Del Conte recipe and I hope the grand dame wont mind as I think my method adds a touch more body and is very easy, provided you do have an electric whisk or failing that bionic arms as it involves making a meringue. If you do not the cake will not fail, it will just be more dense and “fudgy”. The method is fun and involves blitzing up dark chocolate into chocolate “crumbs” which then melt into the cake as it bakes. Here I’ve served it with white chocolate ice cream.

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Moroccan Roast Chicken

sunshine in a grey winter

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This is almost like chicken tagine but less intimidating and needs no special chimney stack like equipment.  All you do is rub over some spices and stick some preserved lemons and onions up the chicken’s bottom and shove it in the oven the next day – great for preparing ahead.  I like the fact that the sauce is made separately with the juices of the meat – like an exotic gravy.

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Beetroot, Walnut & Prune Brownie

Too good to be good for you!

A chocolate cake made with beetroot? No flour? no fat? no sugar? How can it taste good? and yet it does.  The beetroot gives body and sweetness too, the walnuts depth of flavour and moistness, the prunes give another hit of chewiness and good quality chocolate gives a strong chocolatey flavour.  Added to that the beetroot is full of antioxidants, as is the chocolate,the nuts pack a powerful Vitamin E punch and prunes…well we all know that prunes work miracles.  I’ve done the maths and yes they come in at less than half the calories of a regular brownie. This is a brownie recipe but I often serve them as little cubes.

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