Homemade Coffee Cream Chocolates

Filled with a coffee flavoured chocolate ganache, these Coffee Cream Chocolates pack a punch!  They're the perfect homemade gift for any coffee lover!

Now that Father's Day is just around the corner here in the UK, thoughts in the Only Crumbs Remain kitchen have largely centred around what to treat my Dad with this year.  In previous years we've made him a Bavarian Slice, homemade Fig Rolls, and even a scrummy chocolate & cherry cake which I really need to share here. 

Knowing how much Dad enjoys coffee centred chocolates it was the perfect opportunity to hone my chocolate tempering skills.  Now, I have to admit that these chocolates weren't exactly perfect, but I had great fun in practicing!  Well, we are talking chocolate!  Despite their small flaws they were thoroughly enjoyed, being as nice if not nicer than the mass produced confectionary bought in shops.

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Raspberry & White Chocolate Tarts

This recipe for raspberry & white chocolate tarts has a white chocolate ganache draped invitingly over the fruit, & the classic flavour combination is finished with a sprinkling of freeze dried raspberries.  They're as delicious as they are aesthetically pleasing.     

Don't you just love how chocolate can drapes seductively over bakes, completely transforming them from being run of the mill nice to something totally irresistible?  It doesn't seem to matter whether the chocolate is drizzled over a buttercream frosting, ice cream, or even fruit, chocolate really does have the right properties to caress the food beneath resulting in something incredibly sexy and inviting.

I finally realised how aesthetically wonderful chocolate can be (I already know how amazing chocolate is in the taste department 😉) whilst making these Strawberry Cupcakes a couple of weeks ago.  There was such a difference in the cupcakes between plonking the strawberry onto the buttercream frosting to drizzling a little dark chocolate ganache over the top!  The chocolate completely transformed those simple summery cupcakes.  

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Strawberry & Vanilla Fudge

Like all confectionery, this homemade Strawberry & Vanilla Fudge recipe makes the perfect edible gift.  It's packed with yummy naughtiness, and is actually straightforward to make!

During the past week or two it seems that I've been on a bit of a love fest with the beautiful strawberry here on Only Crumbs Remain.  And why not, when they scream of summer!

Not only have they recently starred in our Strawberry Cupcakes with a Chocolate Drizzle as well as our Strawberry & Basil Upside Down Cake.  But now they feature in this Strawberry and Vanilla Fudge.

Having some freeze dried strawberries left over from our upside-down cake, we chose to use them in this scrumptious homemade fudge recipe.  I have to admit that I have a bit of a weakness when it comes to fudge!  Especially homemade fudge!  If you like you can check out all of the flavour variations I've shared in my confectionery recipe index.

Homemade fudge not only tastes immeasurably better than mass produced shop bought fudge, it keeps really well, and is the perfect edible gift for those with a sweet tooth!  Think of birthdays, Christmas, mother's day or father's day, or simply as a 'thank you'.  Surely it'd be perfect packaged in a pretty bag for your child's teacher at the end of the school year!   

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Strawberry & Basil Upside-Down Cake

This flavoursome and aromatic strawberry & basil upside-down cake is easy to make.  The colourful pink strawberries, cooked with the cake, negates the need for any frostings.

Don't you just love it when a bake comes together as well, if not better, than you hope and envisage?

Being a huge fan of fresh strawberries, Mr E & I regularly have some during the summer months.  Even though they're delicious simply served with a little vanilla ice cream, or even on their own, we thought it would be fun to include some in one of our bakes.  Regulars to Only Crumbs Remain may have seen our strawberry cupcakes with a dark chocolate drizzle, but as delicious as they were the beautiful red strawberry wasn't actually incorporated IN the bake.

Being reluctant to mix the strawberries into the cake batter, due to their high water content, the strawberry halves were arranged on the base of the cake tin before being topped with the prepared cake batter.  If you're old enough to cast your minds back to the 70's and 80's think of pineapple upside-down cake (you may even recall Alvin making one, sadly to the dismay of Mary & Paul, on GBBO a few years ago) and you'll be along the right lines with this strawberry and basil version.

The halved fresh strawberries, baked at the base of this Victoria sponge cake which once turned out becomes the top, provides heaps of flavour, a delicious aroma, a pretty colour and lots of interest.  What more can you ask for from a homemade cake?  How about even more flavour and interest with  freeze dried strawberries and shredded basil leaves peppered throughout the sponge?  Surely this negates the need for any frostings and fillings.

And if you're wondering about using basil leaves with strawberries, let alone in a cake, well all I can do is encourage you to try it.  Strawberries and basil work incredibly well together, like in my Strawberry & Basil Pavlova and even with these macerated strawberries which accompanied some griddled peaches.  But, if you prefer replace the shredded basil leaves for a few drops of vanilla extract instead.  

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Strawberry Cupcakes with Chocolate Drizzle

These strawberry cupcakes are a pretty, summery bake.  The inviting drizzle of dark chocolate ganache helps to counter the sweetness of the cupcake and buttercream frosting! 

Summer is almost upon us, though you'd be forgiven for thinking it had already arrived if the glorious weather we're enjoyed here in the UK is anything to go by.

For me, the foods of summer definitely include berries starting with the beautiful red strawberry.  I recall the first year that Mr E & I grew some in our small garden, it was fun watching the bees being drawn to the pretty white flowers for them to develop into what we know as strawberries a few short weeks later.  But having only a handful of young strawberry plants that year we couldn't really describe our harvest as 'bumper'!  We just about picked enough to have a couple each with a slice of cake when friends came round for dinner! 😏

Strawberries are great perched on top of a simple Victoria sponge cupcake.  Imagine a soft vanilla cupcake, topped with a simple vanilla buttercream finished with a ripe strawberry and a drizzle of dark chocolate ganache!   I don't know about you, but it certainly sings summer to me.  Even Dad found them enticing being pretty quick in grabbing a few tea plates from the cupboard so we could all dive in and enjoy them!

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14 Beetroot Recipes

If you're look for some new and exciting beetroot recipes, whether that's a refreshing salad, a more substantial main meal or even a sweet bake then continue reading!

Although we often think of beetroot as being a salad vegetable (though there's certainly nothing wrong with that), the humble beet can be used in so many other ways.  Savoury bakes, cakes, pizza, and even shakes!  This collection of 14 beetroot recipes, brought to you with thanks to some top UK food bloggers, definitely has something for everybody!

So if you're looking for some new and inspiring ideas, are unsure of how to make the best use of a bunch of fresh beetroots which may have been gifted to you, or even have a jar of pickled beetroot lurking in the back of the cupboard begging to be used, then check out these recipes and follow the links in green for the actual recipe. 

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Beetroot & Chocolate Cupcakes

An easy to make beetroot & chocolate muffin style cupcake, which is as delicious with or without the vibrant pink beetroot frosting.  These cupcakes are beautifully moist, and are punctuated with chocolate chips.  They're perfect for sneaking a little extra nutrition into our diets. 

Although beetroot and chocolate cakes have been on my radar for a number of years, I have to confess that until now I've never tried them.  It's not that I was never sufficiently enticed by the idea of using beetroot in a cake, after all carrots work beautifully in them, but given that Mr E doesn't care for beetroot (he even declined my recent Beetroot & Lentil Pie in favour of Homity Pie!) so a large cake just for me seemed a little bit excessive.

Logic eventually prevailed and my desire to try a beetroot and chocolate cake, morphed into cupcakes. Cupcakes are, of course, the perfect compromise as far as cake is concerned.  Even though cupcakes often don't have the same head turning qualities as a cake often has, cupcakes are quicker to bake, and of course any surplus can easily be frozen (without any frosting) with no spoiling effects (not that these beetroot and chocolate cupcakes had chance to be frozen, they were soon devoured 😉).

This beetroot and chocolate cupcake recipe, is quick and easy (though it does take a little longer if you choose to use fresh beetroot, as we did, rather than vac packed beets).  It's almost as quick as an all-in-one batter once the beetroot is pureed.  There's no creaming or folding.  Just good old mixing!
 

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Raspberry & White Chocolate Mini Trifles

Flavoured with the popular combination of raspberry & white chocolate, these mini trifles are not only elegant and eye catching but are also a perfect dessert for dinner parties.  They're ideal regardless of the number of guests.

Trifles have a very special place in my heart.  They bring back such fond happy memories of spending Sundays with Grandma when my brother and I were young.  Each week she would make us Sunday lunch, sometimes it would be a roast beef with amazing Yorkshire Puddings and other times it would be a simple salad.  But regardless of the main meal she would always treat us to a fruit trifle for dessert.

Not that Grandma was a one recipe wonder, far from it.  It was simply a case of making what was popular.  Trifle, with its soft sponge, tasty fruit, wobbly jelly, vanilla custard and rich cream, is undoubtedly a family favourite of ours.  And of course the squelch, as the spoon is lifted with the first portion from the trifle bowl, never failed to produce lots of hilarity and giggles!

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Lemon Drizzle Olive Oil Cake

This lemon drizzle cake, made with olive oil in place of the usual butter, is perfect for a mid-afternoon treat.  What it lacks in aesthetic qualities it makes up for with flavour and lightness.

I have to admit that baking is hardly the healthiest of pastimes, with all of that butter, cream and sugar, and the calories associated with it it's hardly diet food.   And of course being a food blogger, and one who predominantly bakes cupcakes, cakes and pastries, not to mention the occasional batch of fudge, it'd be easy to allow the pounds to pile on and the waistline increase!  Thankfully Mr E and I have some great neighbours, not to mention family and friends, who are happy to try our bakes 😉.

Of course we often make smaller batches too and bake 'just' a couple of times a week, but recently I've found it fun to temper the 'naughtiness' by substituting the butter with olive oil.  Regulars to Only Crumbs Remain may recall the pastries of our Vegan Beetroot & Lentil Pie, Apple Rose Tart and Pear and Almond Tart were made with oil rather than butter with great success.
  

Having enjoyed a handful of pies and tarts made with oil, it seemed logical to try an olive oil cake as well.  Not only did lemon seem to be the appropriate addition to work alongside the characteristic flavour of olive oil, it's most probably my favourite cake flavour too.  Even above chocolate cake!  So allow me to introduce you to our Lemon Drizzle Olive Oil Cake.

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