Easter No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake

There has been a constant flow of Easter cakes, bakes and puddings in the food magazines over the past month. This leaves me with a long list of recipes to try, however in reality, the four days off over this bank holiday weekend has soon become jam-packed with friends, family and entertaining. This chocolate biscuit cake is one that can be quickly whipped up when you have people dropping in throughout the weekend- a very useful biscuit tin filler. My sister is keenly waiting at the fridge door to tuck into this chocolate biscuit cake after her chocolate-free Lent, I however tucked in as soon as they had been photographed!

There are many variations of chocolate biscuit cake but this simple recipe is straightforward and quick to make. You can experiment with the type of biscuit you use- personally I think the crunch of the Rich Tea biscuits are a cut above adding crumbly digestives. A selection of dried fruits or nuts could also add a nice twist to the recipe!

To Make Approx 20 Pieces You Will Need...

-400g Rich Tea biscuits 

-220g butter

- 85g caster sugar

-2 eggs

-2 tbsps drinking chocolate powder

-2 tsps cocoa powder

-2 tbsps golden syrup 

-100g milk chocolate

You will need to...

- Line a baking tray with cling film, I used one that was 28cm x 18cm.

-Put the biscuits into a sandwich bag- sometimes I use two to avoid holes in the bag, and crush using a rolling pin.

- Melt the butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat, remove from the heat and stir in the drinking chocolate, cocoa powder and golden syrup.

- In a small bowl, beat the eggs. 

- Pour the chocolate butter mixture into a large mixing bowl, stir in the crushed biscuits and the beaten eggs. Mix with a wooden spoon until the mixture is all incorporated. 

- Spread the mixture out evenly in the baking tray.

- In a small saucepan, heat some water and place a pyrex bowl over it to make a Bain Marie, break the milk chocolate into the bowl and stir occasionally until melted. 

- Pour the melted chocoalte over the biscuit mix in the baking tray and spread out using a spatula. 

- Place in the fridge or freezer for a few hours until set, or over night. 

Happy Easter 

Z x

Hotel Chocolat Easter Treats & Toscakaka Cake

With Easter just around the corner, Hotel Chocolat offered to send me some of their seasonal treats to sample, which I obviously gratefully accepted - I'm only human! Hotel Chocolat never disappoint with their innovative seasonal chocolate collections, and this year is no different with their Egglet H Box providing a sophisticated and interesting alternative to your traditional Easter Egg.

Raspberry Supermilk

Salted Caramel

With fifteen little Egglets in ten different flavours ranging from a zingy Raspberry Truffle to a boozy Calvados Caramel, there really is something for everyone. My personal favourites were the Coffee Caramel (the ideal after-dinner treat) and the Speckled Praline - a smooth and moreish nutty centre sealed in caramel chocolate speckled with vanilla seeds - A-mazing. So amazing, in fact, that it has inspired the following Toscakaka recipe… 

Toscakaka is a Swedish cake with a vanilla and orange flavoured sponge and a chewy, almondy, caramely topping that oozes into the sponge when baking and gives the cake a praline-like flavour. It is really simple to make, and would make an ideal Easter centrepiece if you're feeding friends and family next weekend. Scroll down for the full recipe…

You will need…

3 eggs

150g caster sugar

Zest of 1/2 an orange

1tsp vanilla extract or paste

150g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

75 ml milk with a drop of lemon juice

75 g butter - melted

And for the topping…

150g toasted flaked almonds

125g soft light brown sugar

100g butter

2 tbsp whiskey

You will need to…

- Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 9 inch springform tin.

- In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and orange zest until thick and pale.

- Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and gently fold into the egg mixture.

- Mix together the melted butter and milk, then fold this into the cake mixture too. 

- Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes.

- In the meantime, make the praline-like topping by combining the almonds, sugar and butter in a small saucepan.

- Bring this mixture to a rapid boil and cook for about a minute, then remove from the heat and stir in the whiskey.

- After 20 minutes, carefully take the cake out the oven and gently spoon the almond mixture on top, taking care not to disturb the partially cooked sponge.

- Return the cake to the oven to cook for another 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

- Leave to cool in the tin and serve with a generous sprinkling of icing sugar. 

Enjoy! C x