Banoffee Cake

 

It’s my Grandad’s 65^th birthday today, so we had a big family BBQ last night to celebrate. After a lot of umming and ahhing, I decided to try making a banoffee cake for his birthday cake and I’m glad I did, because everyone loved it! The whole thing was demolished within about 10 minutes, even after everyone said that they were too full on BBQ food to eat anything else! So, of course, I had to share the recipe!

Hazelnut Caramel Bars

This bake was one of those times where I just go to the cupboard, pull out a few ingredients and see what I can make with it. No recipes to follow, just my imagination. OK, so this doesn't always work, but 9 times out of 10, it ends in something amazing. This is definitely just that! I'd go so far as to say that this is probably the best thing I have ever made up. Ever. A lovely crunchy biscuit base, topped with a hazelnut 'blondie' style sponge, studded with gooey caramel pieces. What's not to love?!

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

Stuck for any last minute Christmas ideas? Why not make your own chocolate bark? It's so quick and easy, and makes a great homemade gift. This isn't really a recipe as such, just more of a 'How To' - this makes 3 side plate sized bars. And you can pretty much use anything you like in place of the pretzels and caramel; why not try fruit and nut, or pieces of meringue and dried strawberries?

Ingredients:
300g milk chocolate
300g dark chocolate
Salted pretzels
Soft caramels, chopped into small pieces
Coarse sea salt

Line three side plates with cling film and put to one side ready.

Break both the chocolates up into separate microwavable bowls, and melt in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then melt in further 15 second increments until it's smooth. Mine took about 1 minute 15 seconds for each bowl.

Once all your chocolate is melted, spoon the chocolate onto the lined plates, alternating between the milk and dark, drizzling it in spirals. Once all the chocolate is used up, tap the plates gently on the bottom to level the chocolate out and get rid of any air bubbles.

While it's still melted, gently press a handful of pretzels into the chocolate. Scatter over the chopped caramels and press lightly into the chocolate too, before sprinkling over a pinch of sea salt.

Leave to set in the fridge. Once firm, you can wrap them up whole as a bar, or break them into shards and put into little gift bags.