Rocky Road

As a teacher the summer term is normally my favourite time of year. Sunshine, sports days, less stress, the count down to the summer holidays. Unfortunately it's not quite working out like that at the moment. It's been a busy few weeks so I thought I whip up a batch of rocky road to keep us all going. I also made some banana muffins but these were an EPIC failure (both in looks and taste) so I'm not even going to post them (yes, they really were that bad!)

My introduction to rocky road came about 6 years ago when I used to work with a teacher who made THE most amazing cakes. She would make a batch of rocky road which she'd bring in and they would be gone in minutes. We were pretty much obsessed with them in the staff room and they were always requested. This was my first attempt and I think future attempts will need a little refining. The beauty of it is that it requires no baking. When you look at recipes on the Internet you will find all sorts of different versions with different ingredients. The combinations and possibilities are endless. Do you go for rich tea biscuits or digestives? Milk chocolate, dark chocolate or both? Fruit or no fruit? Nuts or no nuts? I opted for a simple Nigella recipe from the BBC website that you can find here. There is also a Christmas version as well. I decided to add some glace cherries as I had some that needed using up - Mr Birdie was not keen on these and has advised me that in future raisins would be a better addition (this has been noted!)

Ingredients:

125g unsalted soft butter
300g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
3 tbsp golden syrup
200g rich tea biscuits
100g mini marshmallows
150g glace cherries (optional extra)
2 tsp icing sugar, to dust

Method:
1) Heat the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat.

Once melted, remove from the heat, scoop out about 125ml of the melted mixture and set aside in a bowl/jug.
2) Place the biscuits into a freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin until some have turned to crumbs but there are still some pieces of biscuits remaining (this can be very therapeutic!)
3) Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, then add the marshmallows and the cherries.

4) Tip the mixture into a 24cm/9in square baking tin and smooth the top with a wet spatula.

5) Pour over the reserved 125ml of the melted chocolate mixture and smooth again.

6) Refrigerate for about two hours or overnight.
7) To serve, cut into 24 gingers and dust with icing sugar and enjoy!

Having a cracking time - Nigella's Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova

We had our friends Emma and John over for Sunday lunch today so it was time to try a new dessert. The lovely Emma is pregnant so that meant cheesecake was out. I am a bit scared of tarts (pastry - eek!) so decided that following the success of my previous pavlova it was time to try a different pavlova. I have been wanting to try Nigella's cappuccino pavlova that featured in her Nigellissima Christmas special last year (you can find the recipe on the BBC website here or on her website here) but decided that as the sun was shining maybe something a little bit more summery/spring-like was required. After a bit of research I found Nigella's recipe for chocolate raspberry pavlova and decided that this was the recipe to try. It's from her Forever Summer book and can be found on her website here.

Ingredients:

For the chocolate meringue base:
6 large egg whites
300 grams caster sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (sieved)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
50 grams dark chocolate (finely chopped)

For the raspberry and cream topping:
500 ml double cream
500 grams raspberries
3 tablespoons dark chocolate (coarsely grated)

Method: 
1) Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Using a plate (or ruler) draw a fat circle (approximately 23cm in diameter) onto the paper ready for the meringue,
2) Using an electric whisk or free-standing mixer beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form (Now here I ran into trouble - my egg whites just didn't do what I wanted them to do. I had separated the eggs, wiped and washed the bowl but sadly my confidence evaporated as I was left with a foamy blob rather than satiny peaks! I can only think some rogue egg yolk had sneaked its way in. I persevered anyway but think my meringue suffered.)
3) Beat in the caster sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. Sprinkle over the cocoa, vinegar and the chopped chocolate and carefully fold in.

4) Mould on to a baking sheet in a fat circle to fit the 23cm circle drawn on the baking parchment. Smooth the sides and top. (As my meringue wasn't quite right this was quite tricky. This was what mine looked like before it went in the oven.)

5) Place in the oven, then immediately turn the temperature down to 150C/ gas mark 2 and cook for about 1 - 1 1/4 hours. When it's ready it should look crisp round the edges and on the sides and be dry on top. When you prod the centre it should feel slightly squidgy. Turn off the oven, leave the door slightly open and leave the meringue to cool completely. As you can see I had some serious cracking issues. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong but I have had this problem twice now - it was cracking during the cooking rather than afterwards. I thought that it might fall apart completely but luckily it held together. If anyone can shed any light on why I am such major cracking issues I'd be very grateful!

6) When you're ready to serve, invert it onto a large plate (ideally flat-bottomed). Whisk the cream until thick but still soft and pile it on top of the meringue, then scatter over the raspberries. Coarsely grate the chocolate over the top and sprinkle over.
7) Enjoy! It is delicious and was a big hit. The meringue is chewy and the cream and raspberries are the perfect topping. I would definitely recommend and make this again.

Happy baking,

Dil :-)