No-cook Malted Chocolate Tart

No-cook Malted Chocolate Tart

Whenever I indulge in a pudding at a restaurant I automatically skip over the obligatory chocolate option. Don't get me wrong, I like chocolate, but often find chocolate desserts and cakes disappointing – brown sponge cake anyone? For a chocolate dessert to hit the spot it either needs the requisite fudgy goo, or another flavour to give an extra dimension.

This pudding that I whipped up (if you pardon the pun) in no time for dinner with friends at the weekend fulfils both of these criteria. Gooey yet light, chocolatey and malty, it was ridiculously easy to make considering how delicious it tasted and impressive it looked.

I'll probably continue to skip the chocolate option on restaurant menus, but I will definitely add this to my arsenal of go-to desserts.

No-cook Malted Chocolate Tart

Serves 8

Base

·         200g malted milk biscuits

·         75g butter (plus a pinch of salt if using unsalted)

·         1 tbsp golden syrup

Filling

·         200ml double or whipping cream

·         A dash of vanilla extract (not essence)

·         100g milk chocolate

·         100g dark chocolate

·         25g butter

·         1 tbsp golden syrup

·         120g Maltesers

1.    Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs with a rolling pin or food processor.

2.    Melt the butter and golden syrup together in the microwave and stir into the biscuit crumbs.

3.    Tip the mixture into a loose bottomed cake tin, pressing down firmly to a flat layer using a potato masher. Put into the fridge to chill.

4.    Whip the cream with the vanilla to the soft peak stage.

5.    Finely chop both kinds of chocolate and put into a microwaveable bowl with the butter and syrup.

6.    Microwave on high for 30-40 seconds, stir and repeat the process until thoroughly melted and smooth. Meanwhile, bash most of the Maltesers (reserve a few for decoration) in a polythene bag with a rolling pin. You want a mixture of fine dust and chunkier pieces.

7.    Stir a blob of the cream into the chocolate to lighten the mixture, then gently fold the remaining cream, folding in most of the crushed Maltesers at the end.

8.    Pour the chocolate mixture on top of the base, smoothing out with a rubber spatula to make a nice swirly top.

9.    Sprinkle over the rest of the crushed Maltesers, and poke the reserved whole Maltesers randomly into the topping.

10.  Chill for at least 2 hours. If keeping for longer, ensure that the tin is covered with cling film.

11.  Take the tart out of the fridge 10 minutes before serving. Remove from the tin and slice into 8, serving perhaps with a little cream, ice cream or crème fraiche.

Waffle Berry Pudding

Waffle Berry Pudding with lovely caremised bits around the edge

This is a little like bread pudding only made with waffles, tangy raspberries and creamy white chocolate. I first had this at a fete and thought it was absolutely delicious. Here is my approximation of that recipe. I can't decide whether I prefer it hot or cold.

Waffle Berry Pudding

Makes four to six servings

·         A 200g pack of waffles

·         100g white chocolate, roughly chopped

·         100g fresh or frozen raspberries

·         2 tbsp cornflour

·         6 tbsp sugar

·         3 eggs

·         4 heaped tbsp Greek yoghurt

·         200ml milk

·         Dash of vanilla

1.    Break the waffles into small pieces and put a layer on the bottom of a baking dish.

2.    Add half of the chocolate and half of the raspberries.

3.    Add another layer of waffles and raspberries, then top with the last of the waffles.

4.    Whisk together the sugar and cornflour to disperse any lumps of cornflour.

5.    Add the vanilla, eggs, yoghurt and milk and whisk to a smooth batter.

6.    Pour slowly over the waffles so that all of the top is soaked in the batter.

7.    Leave to soak everything up for 20 minutes or so.

8.    Bake at 170° for 40 minutes to an hour, until the top of the pudding is browned and the middle cooked through, but retaining a wobble.

9.    This is best after leaving to sit for 20 minutes. It is also very good served cold. Serve with Greek yoghurt or pouring cream. 

No-Churn Brandy Butter Ice Cream

Making ice cream is a right palava, right? Making a custard, ensuring that it doesn't split or overcook, then, if you don't have an ice cream maker, all that tedious stirring at regular intervals, and even then it often ends up with ice crystals. Yawn...

This brandy butter-inspired ice cream is ridiculously easy to make. There is indeed no churning, just five minutes of gentle stirring and whisking and you're done. The alcohol is the magic ingredient here, preventing the ice cream from freezing solid. This is lovely and soft set and scoopable.

There isn't any actual butter in this ice cream. I was just going to call it something incredibly lame like Christmas Ice Cream, but when I tasted it, I was instantly reminded of brandy butter. It's kind of brandy butter plus, with the clementine, spices and vanilla. It's absolutely delicious, and would make a splendid alternative accompaniment to your Christmas pud. Or served melting over a warm mince pie. Or eaten straight from the container in front of a film where a young widower learns to love again, reconnects with his wayward children and rediscovers the true meaning of Christmas. Sniff...

In case you were wondering, the true meaning of Christmas is love. Apparently.



No-Churn Brandy Butter Ice Cream

• 50g icing sugar
• 50g soft light brown sugar
• Pinch of salt, to give the suggestion of butter
• Juice of 1 clementine
• 60ml brandy
• A few drops of vanilla extract
• Dash of Angostura Bitters (optional)
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 300ml double cream

1. Mix together all of the ingredients except for the cream, until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Add the cream and whisk until floppy and just forming soft peaks. Incidentally, this is also delicious at this stage and, if so inclined, you could dispense with the freezing altogether.

3. Transfer to a container and freeze overnight.

Lemon and Ginger Trifle

Last week I succumbed to one of the various viruses that seem so prevalent at this time of year and spent most of the weekend on the sofa (please, no jokes about man flu). However, even in my incapacitated state this delicious dessert was a cinch to rustle up, the whole thing taking only a few minutes. And good golly, was it worth it! Somehow rich, yet tangy and light, it was essentially a hot toddy in cold dessert form. No wonder it did me good.

The key to it is using a good quality lemon curd, with a decent level of acidity to cut through the cream and sweet sponge. If you are enterprising enough to make your own lemon curd, by all means use that.

If you would like a stronger ginger taste, please feel free to add more ground ginger to the cream. Or, you could add some of the syrup from a jar of stem ginger instead of the icing sugar, stirring though some chopped stem ginger at the end.

The portions here are rather generous, perhaps too generous to follow a big meal. Still, somehow we forced it down! If you have a smaller appetite, you could always make this in smaller wine glasses, reducing the quantities of cake, lemon curd and cream. Alternatively, you could double the quantities and make one large trifle to serve four to six people.

Lemon and Ginger Trifle

2 generous portions

Shop bought Madeira cake, about 50g per person
Good quality lemon curd
150ml double cream
1tbsp icing sugar
6 tbsp ginger wine
1 tbsp brandy
1/4 tsp ground ginger, plus extra to sprinkle on top

1. Crumble the sponge into two large wine glasses. Drizzle 2 tbsp of ginger wine per glass over the sponge, making sure you soak every last bit in boozy gingery goodness.

2. Dollop some lemon curd liberally over the sponge. As much as you like really. I used 2 heaped tbps per portion.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the sugar, ginger, ginger wine and brandy then add the cream. Whisk together to a soft peak stage and spoon over the trifle.

4. Dust with extra ground ginger. Some strips of lemon peel might be a nice touch. Or some toasted slivered almonds for some crunch. I could go on...