Tag Archives: easter

Perfect, imperfect Lemon Meringue Pie

Posted in Recipes, Sweet Treats by

What is your ‘death row’ dessert – this is mine, absolutely hands down. I just adore it’s melt in the mouth full on sweet, lemony deliciousness. The pastry in this recipe is part of the secret as it is really, really light and is the perfect host or backdrop for the lemon filling and the soft, sweet, crispy meringue topping.

Pastry is not one of my strong points – something always seems to go wrong and this was no different.

The pastry base bubbled up from the base of the tin when it was baking in the oven (not lined with enough baking beans to weigh it down) then it shrank and a little part of one side fell in completely. Then to top it off some of the filling leaked out of a little crack in the pastry when it was baking in the oven. Disaster!

Guess what ?? It tasted divine and all of the ‘disasters’ made no difference at all!

Sometimes things don’t go to plan however sometimes that’s ok

So go get yourself some lemons and some eggs and give this a shot to see if it is a contender for your favourite dessert.

Continue reading →

Advertisement

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

Posted in Sweet Treats by

Chocolate Biscuit Cake 2

It’s Easter so it just has to be chocolate for this week’s post! This simple ‘no bake’ biscuit cake recipe is one I have adapted from a Darina Allen’s cookbook ‘Easy Entertaining’ – the cake can be made in a loaf tin or in a circular loose-bottomed cake tin like my one in the picture. The ‘cake’ is quite rich and a small slice of it is delicious with a cup of tea or coffee. I had great fun as decorating it, the only problem now is having to wait until tomorrow to eat it!

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

2 tablespoons raisins, soaked in boiling water
225g (8 ozs) dark chocolate (60/70% cocoa solids)
225g (8 ozs) butter preferably unsalted
225g (8 ozs) plain biscuits, broken into pieces
1 dessertspoon castor sugar
2 eggs, preferably free range
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Decoration

50g dark chocolate

8 inch / 20cm loose-bottomed cake tin, lined with cling film

  • Melt the chocolate in a bowl over hot water.
  • Whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and fluffy,
  • Melt the butter and whisk into the egg and sugar mixture while it is still hot – the mixture should thicken slightly.
  • Add in the melted chocolate, drained raisins and vanilla essence and finally the broken biscuits and mix well.
  • Press the mixture into the lined tin.
  • Allow to set in a cold place until firm enough to cut.

To decorate

  • Melt the chocolate over a bowl of hot water and spread lightly over the cake
  • Decorate as you wish – chopped nuts, smarties, jellies …… have fun!
  • Serve in (small!) slices.

Note: You can also make this in a loaf tin 5 x 8 inch (12.5 x 20.5cm) – top the mixture with chopped nuts before you leave it to cool.