Baked Chocolate Orange Cheesecake

I decided that I wanted to make a baked chocolate orange cheesecake.
I searched the internet and to no avail, I had seen on 'come dine with me' a baked cheesecake with a brownie base so decided that was where I was going to start. I got out my favourite brownie recipe and decided that I needed to alter it to give it an orangey taste and so tried adding chocolate orange segements (terry's)
 chopped up, and also it maybe nice to add some triple sec and the rind. My adapted brownie recipe comes from http://www.appleandspice.blogspot.com/. I then added a cheesecake topping to it, with some additional touches. The recipe then went out for taste testing.

Brownie layer
Ingredients

115g butter
75g dark chocolate
75g milk chocolate
25g cocoa powder
3 eggs
200g sugar
120g plain flour
75g terrys chocolate orange
rind of 1 orange
15ml triple sec

Method

Preheat the oven to 175C.
Grease and bottom line base of a 9 inch spring form tin (make sure it is a loose bottom tin otherwise you will have a difficult problem getting the cheesecake out of the tin.).
Melt the butter in a pan. Add broken up chocolate to the pan and stir until melted, over a low heat.
Remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder until smooth.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, I find you need to work quickly, then stir in the sugar and the flour.
Stir in triple sec and finely grated orange rind.
Chop the chocolate orange segments (don't eat the rest as you need it later) and stir into brownie mix - don't stir in too much as they will melt.
Spread in the prepared tin and set aside. I didn't use all the mixture as I found it was a very thick base. So I used about 2/3 to 3/4 of the mixture.


Cheesecake layer
Ingredients

575g cream cheese (I use philedelphia light)
128g sugar
2 egg
Juice of 1 orange
Rest of Terrys chocolate orange
1 teaspoon triple sec (or an orange liquer)

Method

Using an electric beater mix the sugar and the cream cheese together until smooth.
Add the juice of orange (keep 1 tablespoon) and egg and mix until mixed in.
Pour onto the top of your brownie layer.
Melt the rest of the chocolate orange and stir in the triple sec and remaining tablespoon orange juice.
Place melted chocolate in
teapoon blobs around the cheesecake and then run through with a knife to marble the chocolate through the cheesecake.
Place in the oven for 1hour. If the top starts to brown too quickly then cover loosely with foil. It is cooked when the cheesecake starts to come away from the side and the centre is set. Cool and chill before serving.

Mincemeat and custard muffins

I have to confess that this recipe comes from my brother, and it is very delicous - a new way to have a mince pie.

Ingredients

Muffin

250g (9oz) plain flour
85g (3oz) sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

240ml (8 fl oz)milk

90ml (3 fl oz) sunflower oil

Mincemeat

Ready made custard

Method

1. Lin muffin tins.
2. Preheat oven to 190-200C (gas 5-6)
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour baking powder and salt. Stir in sugar and set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, beat egg with fork. Stir in milk and oil.
5. Pour liquid into dry mixture. The final batter will not be smooth, there will be some lumps in batter, but no visible flour.
6. Half fill muffin cases. Add 3/4 teaspoons of mincemeat and 3/4 teaspoons of custard. Put more muffin mixture on top until case is 3/4 full.

chocolate cake in a mug

I heard about this recipe a while ago and have just got around to making it. It is delicious, quick and easy to
make. I have made these as a quick pudding for my 2 children. Ioan says that they taste like my chocolate chip muffins.

(I promise - it  tastes nicer than  it looks)

The recipe makes 2 mugs and you can mix the ingredients in the mugs.

4 tablespoons plain flour
5 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
drop of vanilla essence

• Place flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips in mugs (divided evenly)

• In a bowl gently whisk egg with milk, oil and vanilla essence.
• Pour half of egg mix into each mug and mix well, ensure that no flour is left at bottom of mug.
• Place each mug in microwave (separately) and cook on high for 1 min and then 30 secs at a time on medium until cooked. I find I need a minute on medium. Cake should be cooked with not uncooked mix on the top and feels slightly firm to touch.

Serve with cream or ice cream.

Quick and easy Pizza

Naan Bread Pizza

I made these last night for the kids to have for their pack lunch today.  I thought I would work out how many points they are on weightwatchers and if you use the mini naan breads (sainsburys healthy eating) and half a slice of ham they work out at 3.5 points.

Ingredients

• 2  mini Naan Bread or 1 large Naan bread
• Pizza sauce (jar or you can make your own)
• 1 oz grated cheese
• any toppings you want.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 240C
2. Spread tomato sauce on the Naan bread.
3. Put on toppings as desired.
4. Put grated cheese on the top.
5. Cook in oven for 8 mins (until cheese has melted)

No pictures at the moment, may put some up next time I make them. The kids love these in their lunch boxes.

Carrot and Coriander soup

Yummy Carrot and Coriander soup (0 points on weight watchers)

1 Onion (sliced)
1 kg Carrot (chopped)
2 Pints veg Stock (using 2 veg oxo cubes)
1 tsp ground coriander
freshly ground salt and pepper



picture from BBC food

1. Use frylight in pan and sweat onions and carrots for 3-4 mins to soften.
2. Stir in the ground coriander and salt and pepper, cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until vegetables are soft.
4. Blend the soup until smooth.

Abbots Leigh Pool

Today the sun was shining, so this afternoon we decided to take the kids out. Huw had heard of Abbots Leigh pool and fancied having a look. So after lunch we got in the car (after some grumbling from the kids) and set off for Abbots Leigh, we weren't 100% sure of where we were going but had a rough idea. Anyway we managed to find the right road (Manor Road) and found a signpost and squeezed into the car park. Well it just looks like a wooded area, but as soon as we got to the pool it was lovely with trails around, up steep banks. There were quite a few people around, dogs walking and swimming in the pool. Mountain bikers riding around the trails. We also did some geo-caching while we were walking - to give the kids something to do. Ioan and Carys found a rope swing and had great fun swinging on the rope. Carys managed to graze her knee as she skidded along the ground and Ioan hurt his arms. They want to go back again next week so it was worth dragging them out of the house.

 
Carys swinging

Carys's bad knee

Carys found a den

Carys watching the dogs swimming in the pool

Ioan swinging

Carys hiding from the camera

Ioan jumping across a dam

A dragonfly

Wedding Cake

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I have had a couple of busy weeks. However in that time I did make a wedding cake which is part of the reason for no blog.

The cake had a chocolate fruit cake layer at the bottom. I used Nigella's recipe

Ingredients

• 12 1/4 ounces (350 grams) dried soft prunes, chopped
• 8 3/4 ounces (250 grams) raisins
• 4 1/2 ounces(125 grams) currants
• 6 1/4 ounces (175 grams) unsalted butter, softened
• 6 1/4 (175 grams) dark muscovado sugar
• 6 1/4 fluid ounces (175 ml) honey
• 4 1/2 fluid ounces (125 ml) coffee liqueur
• 2 oranges, zested and juiced
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 2 tablespoons good quality cocoa
• 3 free-range eggs, beaten
• 5 1/4 ounces (150 grams) plain flour
• 2 1/2 ounces (75 grams) ground almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Line the sides and bottom of an 8 by 3 1/2-inch deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.
3. Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange zest and juice, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and baking soda, and mix well with a wooden
5. Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.
6. Place the cake on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.