super moist chocolate cake

So I'm getting into this baking lark. I like the philosophy behind it all too; a bit of prep, mix stuff together, throw it in the oven, sit back and wait for the thing to cook itself. Hmmm, that might not be exactly how it is in reality it seems...

Arguably easier than making a tart for dessert (no pastry, no blind baking, all that malarkey) I decided to try and perfect the humble chocolate cake. What could be simpler thinks I? Well, very recent experience tells me many things could be simpler actually.

I did make a few chocolate sponge cakes when testing this out, and all of them were pretty much edible. The problem I had was that they weren't perfect. Sinking, cracking, refusal to set, refusal to leave the tin; these have been some of the problems I've faced over the last couple of weeks. The biggest issue I've had however is getting the thing moist enough. I'm glad to report I've fixed this though!

Follow this recipe and you'll get a fantastically moist and tasty chocolate cake every single time; really straightforward too (I think?!). And thank goodness for that...

Ingredients

• 250g self-raising flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 300g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g butter
• 200ml cola
• 220ml full-fat milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180c / 160c (fan) / gas mark 4. Grease a 24cm deep cake tin with butter or a light coating of sunflower oil and line it with greaseproof paper.
2. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract and beat well with an electric mixer.
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low to medium heat. Stir the cola into the butter then stir in the milk. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly for 2 or 3 minutes.
5. Gently whisk the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and pour into your greased tin.
6. Bake for around 40 minutes, until a skewer or small sharp knife comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
7. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove the cake from the tin , remove the greaseproof paper.
8. Stand back in amazement, dive in. And remember to come up for air every now and again. Oh and if you can bear it, share the thing; that's a lot of cake for one person and you can win some serious brownie points with this one...

baked cheesecake with raspberry compote

Talk about a simple recipe! This dessert is baked in the oven rather than just chilled in the fridge, so more of a New York/American style. But yep, tasty nonetheless! It isn't as sweet as a typical cheesecake so needs the extra kick & sweetness of the fresh berries I think. Preparation only takes around 5 minutes, and then just whack it in the oven to do it's thing. And the raspberry compote only takes 5 minutes too. I said it was easy didn't I?!

Ingredients

• 800g cream cheese (Philadelphia or similar)
• 200ml double cream, whisked until it thickens slightly & turns glossy
• 3 eggs
• 25g caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g fresh raspberries
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C (fan 170C) / 375F / gas mark 5
2. Lightly grease a 23cm springform cake tin with butter or oil.
3. Whisk the cream cheese until fluffy, then add the cream, eggs, caster sugar and vanilla extract, and mix in until well combined.
4. Pour into the cake tin & place in the middle of the oven for around 40 minutes, until the cheesecake starts to colour on top. It may also crack a little but that's completely normal!
5. Allow to cool completely in the tin (it will firm up a little and make slicing much easier).
6. For the compote, just place the raspberries in a small pan with the icing sugar and heat up over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. The raspberries will soften & start to turn mushy - that's when they're done!
7. To serve, place a slice of cheesecake on a plate and drizzle the warm compote on & around, before getting stuck in.

Serves 10-12.

the best malteser cake

There comes a time in your life when you just have to go for it, and try to make the richest, sweetest, chocolateyest (is that a word? Definitely should be!) cake possible. After much searching around, and even more experimenting, I decided to go for a tried & tested recipe. Not only that, it just looked so good!!

Lorraine Pascale is a former model and pâtissière who is rising in the TV chef world recently in the UK, and it's Lorraine's recipe I had a stab at last week.

There's a link to the original recipe here, but I've also listed it out below for those of you too lazy to click!