A BIT OF WHAT YOU FANCY!

OK that's enough of all that healthy eating!  Anyway my grandfather always said that "a little of what you fancy does you good"!!

Brownieville Boy #1, had some friends coming over to spend the night and taste the delights of the local night-life, so I reckoned that the food should be good just in case the nightlife wasn't!  What's the first thing you think to bake for four (male) burly college students ...... cupcakes of course!!!!

As you know I have been doing some baking from the gorgeous Eric Lanlard's Home Bake (why do I feel compelled to mention how handsome he is every time I write his name??????), having been lucky enough to have been sent a review copy by the publishers.  I followed his recipe for vanilla cupcakes, with a cream cheese vanilla icing - and they didn't offend any macho sensibilities!!!!!

I also made the chocolate cheesecake - changing some of the cheeses (using up all those  pre-Christmas purchases!), this was truly a revelation - probably one of the best desserts that have come out of my kitchen!  It would have been perfection served with  a raspberry coulis and some Barbados Cream or ice-cream.

Here is a rundown of some of the other delights from the book!

This is the Apple Crumble Sponge - perfect when you don't want something too elaborate.  I served this with three other desserts - perfect for the non-chocoholics amongst us. (not me obviously!!)

The vanilla cupcakes were well received, although I didn't think they were quite as good as the Hummingbird ones.

These Blondies with Peanut Butter were delicious, this is all that was left after I left them out to cool and then popped out to the shops for some milk!

Wholemeal courgette and seed muffins - despite overcooking these dreadfully (it's your fault - I lost track of time reading everyone's blogs!!) these were tasty, and would be perfect for a virtuous lunch time treat.

These are the Double Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins (I can't find any photos of the finished article - sorry) - bit too sweet for my taste, but this didn't bother Brownieville Boy #2!

Eric's Roasted Banana Muffins were out of this world - so intensely Bananay (!)  Roasting the bananas added a real depth of flavour.



The Chocolate and Orange Chocolate Cake was well received, although didn't reach the dizzy heights of praise that Nigella's did!!

I have blogged about these addictive Malteser Squares before - I'm just glad that there are none of these beauties in the house now as they would spell the death knell for any healthy eating aspirations!!!

The cheesecake was delicious rich and chocolaty without being excessively sweet.  I have to 'fess up I only had a small portion - honestly!

Chocolate Cheesecake

adapted from Eirc Lanlard's Home Bake

Base

125g/4.5oz         melted butter

250g/9oz            chocolate bourbon biscuits (chocolate digestives will work too)

Filling

100g                  medium fat cream cheese

250g                  mascarpone cheese

250g                  ricotta cheese

75g                    golden caster sugar

3                        large eggs

40g                    coco powder, sifted

100g                  good quality dark chocolate melted

Preheat oven to 180 C

Prepare a 20cm/8" springform cake tin by greasing with butter and lining the bottom with parchment paper.

Prepare the base by crushing the biscuits and adding the melted butter.

Press evenly into the prepared tin.

Refrigerate for a half an hour.

Prepare the filling by placing the cheeses and sugar into a food processor, blend until smooth.

Add the eggs and give mixture a whizz.

Next add the cocoa and blend again.

Finally add the melted chocolate (which you have allowed to cool a bit) and whizz until fully combined.

Pour the mixture onto the base in the tin.

Smooth the surface and place in the preheated oven - it's really important to place the tin on a baking sheet as there will be leakage!!

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the centre has a slight wobble.

Cool in the turned off oven for 1 hour.

Take out of the oven and cool, then chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Enjoy!