Microwave Double Chocolate Lamingtons

This chocolate cake recipe is legendary in the Williams household. 
It was the first thing I learnt to bake, probably the only reason we owned a microwave and definitely one of the last things I want to eat on this earth.
 The sponge is light as a feather and has been layered into birthday cakes, baked into a bundt and glazed with chocolate icing for bible studies, and poured into slabs and topped with swirls of tinned caramel for school fundraisers. It can be a cupcake, a swiss roll - and now, a lamington!

Start to finish? These lamingtons will take you 30 minutes flat (if that). 

Or your money back. Jokes! But seriously, just chuck everything in a bowl. 

Whisk. Microwave. Dip. Roll. Eat. Repeat. (The eating part, that is)

The recipe is really so easy that I've memorised it. Which is pretty handy, you know for cake emergencies and all.

I've made mine pretty ('cos I love pretty things - yes, even my lamingtons) by baking them in heart-shaped silicone moulds which you can buy super-cheap nowadays but you can simply bake the batter in a silicone muffin tray, or a microwave-safe dish and then cut them out with cutters or keep them in blocks. 

These are the classic lamington flavour (chocolate and coconut) but I will mention that my intention was to give them a tart twist by stuffing the insides with a raspberry sauce.  But I was craving the classic and they tasted just too darn good on their own. You can be more creative than I was and sandwich the cake together with jam, or caramel(!) or flavour the dipping glaze with coffee or liqueuer. 

You know what the only problem is with making a recipe from memory though? There's a very real possibility of leaving an ingredient out, say for instance, the sugar. Which I totally did! And yes, I flop recipes too. All the bloody time. And on that bombshell... go make these! Now! Just make sure to add the sugar ;)

Microwave Chocolate Lamingtons
Makes 18-20

1 cup (250ml) cake flour
1 cup (250ml) caster sugar
4 tbsp (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
4 tsp (20ml) baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup (250ml) hot water
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract

Chocolate glaze
60g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (60ml) cream
2 tbsp (30ml) golden syrup or honey
1/4 cup (60ml) hot water

Toasted desiccated coconut, for tossing

Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. 
Divide the batter between silicone heart moulds (or whichever you desire) sprayed with cooking spray - don't fill more than halfway as the cake mix expands quite a bit. 
Now pop the moulds into the microwave and microwave on full power/high for 2-3 minutes or until the cake springs back when you touch it in. 
Remove from the microwave and allow to cool slightly before unmoulding. 
Continue with the rest of the batter. 

TIP If your silicone tray doesn't fit in your microwave (mine didn't), cut it in half - the cakes will cook more evenly too. 

While the cakes are cooling, make the glaze by placing all the ingredients in a small microwave safe bowl and heat gently until melted and glossy. Allow to cool. 

When the cakes and glaze are completely cool, use a pastry brush to paint the glaze onto the cakes then toss in the toasted coconut. 

Chocolate peppermint crisp fridge cake

This no-bake 5-ingredient recipe’s deliciousness revolves around three quintessential South African ingredients – sweetened condensed milk, peppermint crisp bars (can be substituted with any peppermint or mint-flavoured chocolate or sweets) and ‘Eet sum mores’ which are delicious, buttery shortbread biscuits. Of course, these yummy ingredients are bound together with lots of melted chocolate so if you haven’t realized it by now, your diet is pretty much destroyed. 

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s idiot-proof and even better is that you can use just about anything in it – nuts, biscuits, dried fruit, sweets, marshmallows, cherries, breakfast cereal, your favourite chocolate bars – have I left anything out?! ;)

When I created this recipe last year for a quick segment on Expresso, I had no idea just how popular it would be. I put it up on Facebook as I didn’t think it was worth a full blog post and then forgot about it pretty quickly. Except that now, it has been shared over 18 000 times (and so I'm eating my words... and the cake!)

Chocolate peppermint crisp fridge cake

Serves 8-10

100g butter

300g milk or dark chocolate, chopped

½ tin sweetened condensed milk (eat the rest of the tin with a spoon)

200g shortbread biscuits (Eet sum mores)

160g peppermint crisp bars, chopped (I also used some mint aero)

80g mini marshmallows (optional)

Line a standard loaf tin or baking tray with a sheet of baking paper and set aside.

Place the butter, chocolate and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl and melt on a medium to low heat until smooth. 

In a separate bowl, break the biscuits into pieces and combine with the peppermint crisp chunks and marshmallows (or whatever other ingredients you're using).

Combine the cooled melted chocolate mixture with the biscuit mixture and stir until combined.

Pour into the lined loaf tin and place in the fridge until completely set.

Unmould and cut into slices.

SOMETHING ELSE YOU MAY LIKE:
Caramel peppermint crisp cake
Peppermint crisp milkshakes
Peppermint crisp ice cream sandwiches

OR HOW ABOUT MORE 5-INGREDIENT RECIPES?
Chocolate macaroon cake with raspberries
Nutty chocolate magic bars

Gluten-Free Christmas Mince Pies

I'm always quite sentimental about enjoying my first mince pie of the festive season. I make a big pot of Earl Grey tea, I warm up the sugary little pies and then I sit down (we can't snuggle here in South Africa as it's freaking hot this time of year) and I have a 'moment'. Because I know that 'moment' marks the beginning of Christmas, for me anyway.  

These mince pies are not only for the gluten-intolerant (because an intolerance should not stand between you and that wonderful festive feeling) but they're also for the pastry-intolerant (definition: a baker with an inability to make pastry without suffering adverse affects). If you have a phobia for pastry, this ready should relieve some of your stress. Because it's gluten-free, you have no risk of over-working your pastry and developing gluten! It's basically a flop-proof shortcrust pastry. Genius right? Which means you get a crisp, short shell that everyone can make AND everyone can eat! 

If you're into taking shortcuts, then buy your fruit mince already made, otherwise, I've included my special recipe for a fruity homemade version which, placed in a pretty bottle, would make a beautiful festive season gift!

Gluten-free Christmas mince pies 

Makes 16

1 cup (150g) rice flour*

3/4 cup (90g) ground almonds

1/4 cup (35g) corn starch

1/4 cup (50g) castor sugar

½ tsp xantham gum*

125g cold butter, cut into 1cm cubes

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Iced water, if needed

300g fruit mince - or make your own with the recipe below

Egg wash, for brushing

Icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease 2 x 12 hole non-stick muffin tins.
Place the rice flour, ground almonds, corn starch, castor sugar, xantham gum and butter in a food processor and blend until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and process until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough – adding ice water if necessary.
Wrap the dough in clingwrap and refrigerate until firm.
Roll out on a surface dusting with a little corn starch until 5mm thick, cut out 5cm discs to fit the muffin tin and press the discs into the muffin tin holes. Roll out the leftover pastry again and cut out stars or snowflakes for the tops. 
Fill each pastry case with fruit mince then place the pastry shapes on top.
Brush with egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
Allow to cool in the tin completely before lifting out and dusting with icing sugar.

*Find xantham gum and rice flour at health stores or in the health aisle at large supermarkets.

Homemade fruit mince

1/2 cup cider

185ml brown sugar

500g Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and grated

1/2tsp mixed spice

½ tsp ground cinnamon

125g raisins

75g sultanas

75g dried cranberries

¼ cup mixed peel or chopped crystallized fruit

60g cherries

¼ cup pecan nuts, toasted

zest and juice of ½ orange

1 tbsp brandy

To make the fruit mince, heat the cider and brown sugar until dissolved.
Add all ingredients except the brandy and cook for 40 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed.
Stir in the brandy and pour into sterilized bottles while still hot. 
Make the pastry by creaming the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg, beating well to combine.

Add all the other ingredients and mix to form a stiff dough.
Press the dough into greased tart tins or disposable foil cases to form a thin layer. Dock the pastry with a fork.
Roll out the leftover pastry and cut out stars to fit the tops.
Spoon a teaspoonful of fruit mince into each pastry case then top with the pastry star.    Brush with the egg yolk, sprinkle with a little brown sugar and bake at 180C for 20 min or until the pastry is lightly golden and crispy.

MORE CHRISTMAS RECIPES HERE: 

• Christmas malva pudding
• Spiced butter Christmas biscuits
• Christmas mince pie macarons
• Festive milk tart
• Christmas hertzoggie mince pies

Neapolitan Ice Cream Cake

They say you can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream. And that's sort of the same thing isn't it?! Well how about buying the ingredients to create this spectacular show-stopper of a beauty guaranteed to bring you happiness. This ice cream cake is so ridiculous easy to make I should be embarrassed for even sharing it. But I'm not. 

This recipe combines two of my childhood memories; I'm sure I'm not the only one to remember licking melted dribbles of artificially-flavoured strawberry, vanilla and chocolate ice cream off my fingers. And of course, the ice cream had to be served in those hideous pink cones! 

The other childhood memory is trips to Milky Lane for soft serve - which meant an award for best parents for mom and dad!  I would sit and swoon over the intricate ice cream cakes that were made to order - if you managed to score a Milky Lane ice cream cake for your birthday party then you were the luckiest kid ever. 

 Despite the kitsch-ness that we associate with Neopolitan ice cream, it actually has a far more dignified history. Invented in Italy (Naples to be exact) it was apparently first made up of the colours of the Italian flag - pistachio, vanilla and cherry! Over time, pistachio and cherry (sadly!) got ditched for the more popular chocolate and strawberry. I've subbed the chocolate layer for a brownie base but if that's too much effort, then go for chocolate cake, crushed chocolate biscuits or even just good ol' chocolate ice cream!

Neapolitan Ice cream Cake

Serves 10-12

300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

150g unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla
150g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
75g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt

1L vanilla ice cream, softened

1L raspberry, strawberry or mixed berry sorbet, softened

Chocolate sauce, to decorate

Fresh raspberries, frozen, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Line a 20cm spring form cake tin with baking paper.

For the brownie base, melt 200g chopped chocolate, butter and vanilla together in a heatproof bowl, set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then leave to cool for a few minutes.

Beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour, cocoa and salt and fold in until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Stir in the remaining chocolate. 

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the top starts to crack but the centre remains gooey.

Turn off the oven and leave the brownies inside for a further 5 minutes before removing.

Leave to cool completely in the tin. Loosen with a palette knife, clean the tin and place the brownie base back in the cake tin.

Spread over the softened sorbet and place in the freezer to set.

Top with softened vanilla ice cream and and freeze until set.

Remove from the mould, top with chocolate sauce and decorate with raspberries.

Chocolate rum 'n raisin fudge

If I told you I've always loved the combo of rum 'n raisin, I'd be lying. It reminds me of the days my grandparents would come home from shopping and announce there was ice cream for dessert, only for me to later find out that it was rum 'n raisin flavour. The disappointment that tub of ice cream brought me was something I could only describe in a couple of days worth of therapy. It was a grown-up flavour that ruined a perfectly good scoop of ice cream, if you'd asked me!

But I was a pretty bright kid and with my insatiable sweet tooth, it didn't take me long to persuade my tastebuds to like it so I wouldn't have to skip dessert (I think the deadly sin 'glutton' is appropriate here!). Rum 'n raisin was reserved for the adults, it was sophisticated and I would feel rather classy (and clever) 'enjoying' it. So now, when I think of rum 'n raisin, I feel exactly that; classy. 

So here's a classy chocolate fudge recipe which feels like it should be stored in an antique tin. I'm pretty sure it would taste even better that way. 

Chocolate rum and raisin fudge

Makes 24

½ cup raisins

¼ cup rum (or 1 tsp rum essence in ¼ cup water)

400g dark chocolate, chopped

395g tin condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g butter or margarine

Line a 20cm square cake tin with non-stick baking paper.

Combine the raisins and rum and allow to stand for at least 1 hour.

In a heavy-based saucepan, combine the chocolate, condensed milk,  vanilla and butter and stir over a low heat until melted.

Increase the heat and stir for a few minutes until the fudge is smooth and thick. Stir in the raisin mixture.

Pour into the lined cake tin and refrigerate until set.

Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

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