Chocolate chequers cake

This morning the youngest child wanted to make a "big, stacked up cake" so we decided to go for a 4 layer chocolate chequers cake. Usually this is made by making one chocolate and one vanilla sponge cake but on this occasion purple was required and 4 layers! So we made 2 chocolate sponges and 2 purple ones.

Once cooled we cut a central circle out of each sponge and then cut round a bowl for a slightly larger circle then it was time to swap the central circle from each sponge with one of a different colour and then stack them up, making sure we alternated the main sponge colour, with jam or buttercream holding the layers together. Finally we coated the entire 4 layer cake in chocolate buttercream and sprinkled with decorations. 

It just looks like a large chocolate cake until you cut into it....

Now to find a tin tall enough to keep it in......

Chocolate

For some reason today I just need some chocolate! I really wanted to make something chocolatey but can't quite put my finger on what.... certainly not chocolate cake or a mound of chocolate cupcakes..... not even chocolate cookies..... hmmmm......

A bit a web browsing whilst munching on a dime bar (I was going to use it for Nigella's dime bar ice-cream so will have to replace it next time I am shopping) I came across cocoa moi, a blogger devoted to chocolate and there is a link to an even more devote chocolatier, chocolate alchemy, who clearly has too much time on his hands to be roasting his own cocoa beans!

Now, as I munch on the caramel chocolate digestives just discovered in the biscuit tin, I am contemplating my own chocolate thoughts, no that doesn't involve roasting my own beans, but perhaps roasted venison with chocolate vinaigrette or maybe hot chocolate wine both of which I just discovered on the bbc food website, in the meantime, pass the biscuits.......

Gluten free quinoa

A number of my friends have to stick to a gluten free diet so I have been exploring a few recipes. I found what looked to me like a fantastic recipe - quinoa curry - on the bbc good food website and immediately went out and bought the ingredients! Then I read all the comments and started to panic about the quinoa with someone liking it to "wallpaper paste"!! This put me off a little (to put it mildly) but having bought the quinoa I had to at least give it a go. Not wanting to spoil a whole batch of curry I simply read the instructions on the packet and cooked up a portion of the tiny grain. Before my eyes it changed colour and seemed to "uncurl" - facinating! I was really worried about the reaction to it so gingerly offered it to sample. It went down really well, not much taste, rather like cous cous in that respect, certainly no bad taste to it and I can't imagine where the likeness with wallpaper paste came from. I wonder if, like cous cous, it would take on the flavours of what it is cooked in? Well, next step is the quinoa curry so we will soon find out.......

Julie Child's Boeuf Bourguignon

Those of you that have seen the film Julie and Julia perhaps like me fancied giving the Boeuf Bourguignon a go!! Of all the recipes shown or mentioned on the film this one appealed to me as a must do (along with the boning of the duck which is an exprience I absolutely HAVE to try!)

Having spent a while searching for the bacon "chunk" I settled for the ready prepared lardons that the chunk was to be cut into anyway! Other than that there was no difficulty finding the ingredients. On advice from a friend who had already tried the recipe (and recommended the film to me in the first place) I didn't add as many small onions to the Bourguignon as the recipe stated - 18-24. She didn't feel they added to the end result and I have to say I was pleased I had taken her advice - I only added about 6. I will also admit at this point to a slight misread of the recipe adding 1 1/2 pints of red wine instead of the stated 1 1/4 pints. Apart from having to explain to my other half what had happened to, almost, his entire bottle of red wine this wasn't disasterous!

I decided to serve this with creamy mash potato although Julia Childs also recommends buttered noodles! This is one of my favourite recipes since stating the blog, along with the venison-less pie. It was absolutely gorgeous, loads of flavour, filling but not stodgy and such tender meat. I have already been asked to make this again and the leftover portion, reheated for lunch at work the next day, was clearly relished from the reaction the following evening!  

Caramel ginger crunch cookies

I really wanted to make these because I loved the idea of the caramel sweets melted on the top of the bite size cookies in the picture in the recipe book! Sadly mine did not turn out quite as pictured, I think perhaps I added a little more syrup than was required and they spread. Also I couldn't find any "wrapped hard caramels" that weren't covered in chocolate so I improvised with some little blocks of toffee smashed up and sprinkled on top!

Having said all that these cookies are amazing! They are like soft ginger nuts with a chewy centre and topping. Everyone in the house loves them and they will definitely have to be made again. I will keep looking for those hard caramels and if anyone else finds any please let me know!

Spicy butternut squash soup with tomato or olive bread

This was a recipe that we all helped to make on the cookery day at Swinton Park. I enjoyed it then so decided to give it a go all by myself! We also made the bread but we did a couple of other flavours, I decided on these after a visit to the deli counter!

The soup was fantastic and even met with the approval of the butternut squash disliker in the house! It has a thai curry type of flavour but if you like things milder put only a small chilli in.

This was my first attempt at breadmaking since leaving school (apart from the team effort at Swinton Park) and I was amazed at how well they turned out! After the first kneading a kneaded in chopped up sun-blushed (or something similar!!) tomatoes into one batch and chopped up olives into the other. Then left to prove as usual. Neither bread has an overpowering flavour and I can even eat the olive bread despite being unable to stomach olives! I loved this, really therapeutic to make and fantastic flavours, definitely one to repeat and I'll be looking out for some alternative flavours for the bread too.

Spinach Barley Risotto

Well I thought I'd give the resourceful cook website another go so this time I went for the Spinach Barley Risotto. I love risotto, I know it can be a bit time consuming but it's not complex so it's great for those evenings when you really can't face anything too complicated! Usually my risottos have anything thrown into them I have handy, leeks, mushrooms, courgettes, and are made with the usual arborio rice. I have strangely (considering my love of it) never used spinach in one before and I didn't realise that pearl barley, as used in this recipe, could be used in place of the aborio.

The portion size wasn't huge but probably about right. I loved the spinach in it and the flavours were all really good. Not sure about the pearl barley though, I think I would prefer to use the aborio if I did the recipe again. The barley seems to take longer to cook and felt a little bit like hard work to eat even once cooked. The rest of the flavours were good though so overall a good, simple recipe from the resourceful cook and I only had to buy the barley as I had everything else in stock!