Dairy-Free Vegan Coconut and Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream

Nowadays, more and more people are choosing to avoid dairy; either for dietary or environmental reasons, so I thought I would have a go at a vegan ice cream. Now, in hindsight, the ice cream I made wasn't totally vegan as there were milk solids in the chocolate, but you could easily avoid this by choosing vegan or dark chocolate instead! I must say that this ice cream was so unexpectedly light and creamy and delicious that I'm definitely going to be using a coconut base for more ice creams in the future!


Coconut and Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream

Bare Necessities
400ml Full-Fat Coconut Milk
250ml Coconut Cream
100g Sugar
2tsp Vanilla Essence
150g Cooking Chocolate

1. Pour milk, cream, sugar and vanilla into a saucepan and stir on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Take off the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 5-10 minutes.
3. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and follow your manufacturer's instructions.
4. Once the ice cream is nearly done, melt 100g of the chocolate and slowly drizzle it into the mixture whilst stirring.
5. Once finished, put the ice cream into tupperware boxes to put into the freezer.
6. Before you put the ice cream into the freezer, melt the remaining 50g of chocolate and drizzle it on top of the ice cream.
7. Pop the ice cream in the freezer to chill for a few hours before serving.
8. Serve up and enjoy!

Classic Hot Chocolate

Nowadays, if someone suggests a hot chocolate to you, they most likely mean the kind where you use teaspoons upon teaspoons of sugary, bubbly 'chocolate' powder. As nice as that is, I have recently been converted. Following this recipe from my old school cookery book, not only is my hot chocolate
richer and creamier, but it has way less sugar in, so I can pile on the marshmallows without worrying about my sugar intake! Here is the recipe I was following:

In the recipe, it suggests on teaspoonful of castor sugar, but really, that's up to you. It totally depends on what kind of chocolate you are using and how sweet you like your hot chocolate to be. I was using dark cooking chocolate (54% cocoa solids) and I didn't feel the need to add any sugar, but I did have some marshmallows on the top.

Classic Hot Chocolate (makes one mug)

Bare Necessities:
1oz/28g Chocolate
1/2pint/285ml Milk
Sugar to taste (optional)
Marshmallows to top (optional)

1. In a small saucepan, put the milk, chocolate and sugar on a medium-low heat and stir slowly but continuously.
2. Once all of the chocolate has melted and the drink is piping hot, pour into a mug.
3. Top with marshmallows as desired.
4. Enjoy! (careful, it's very hot!!)

Traditional Chocolate Cake

Let me just say something right off the bat. My Kitchenaid has made me lazy AF. I kind of knew this was the case, but it was really brought to light when I decided to make a chocolate cake from my old cookery book with nothing but a wooden spoon and a plastic bowl. Let's just say I really earned a slice of cake at the end of this.

As we all know, I have made many an endeavour down the chocolate cake path. It's a classic, and deserves to be given a twist every once in a while. So why not have a crack and an original? Here's the recipe I was working from:

My main difficulty here was that I was making this whilst at uni, so I didn't have a set of weighing scales, nor did I want to spend the money on some, so I had to get creative with my cups and spoons measuring. I was also a little confused when the recipe called for "sweet chocolate", so I went for a 52% cooks chocolate. When I was making the cake, I was a little unsure about the proportions. Usually with a sponge cake, there are more or less equal proportions of flour, butter and sugar, and I thought it odd that there was no cocoa powder involved. When I put the mixture into the tin it felt quite stiff, and I was worried that the cake would turn out to be dense and not that chocolatey. Luckily, I was wrong! I mean, it definitely would have been lighter had I used my electric mixer, and I'm probably going to come back to this recipe and mess around with it a little bit, but all in all, it was pretty yummy. I would recommend eating this when warm, but if it is cold, you can put a slice in the microwave for about 10 seconds to warm it up and serve with a dollop of cream - delicious!

Traditional Chocolate Cake (makes 1 large sponge)

Bare Necessities:
6oz/170g/1 1/2cups Plain Flour
4oz/115g/1/2cup Sugar
4oz/115g/1/2cup Butter
3oz/85g/~1/2cup Chocolate
3small Eggs
2tsp Baking Powder
dash Vanilla Essence
2tbsp Milk

1. Preheat the oven to 180c/350F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Grease and line one cake tin.

3. Break the chocolate up and put on a low heat with the milk.
4. Stir until the chocolate is fully melted and then take off the heat.
5. Cream together the butter and sugar.
6. Slowly add the eggs, flour and baking powder, alternating between the wet and dry until fully combined.
7. Mix in the chocolate and vanilla, and stir until fully combined.
8. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and smooth over slightly.
9. Pop in the oven for 45mins or until cooked through.
10. Place on a rack to cool.
11. Serve up with a dollop of cream (or ice cream) and enjoy!

Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

As we all know from past escapades, I love both rolos and cookies stuffed with things, so when I decided that the only thing that would cheer me up from uni blues was baking, I knew that this would be the thing to bake.

I know that it may be tough to not eat the rolos before putting them into the cookies, and also not to eat the cookies themselves before it's all cooked, but it's definitely worth it. This recipe would probably make about 50 cookies, but my housemates and I ran out of tray space, so we made 27 cookies, and a cookie-rolo tray bake that made about 28 cookie bites of varying size. They were equally delicious, so I've put both methods into the recipe and you can just do whichever one takes your fancy.

Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Bare Necessities

310g/1 1/2cups Butter
225g/1cup Granulated Sugar
275g/1cup Brown Sugar
1tbsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
375g/3 3/4cups Plain Flour
2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
300g/2 cups Chocolate Chips
50 Rolos (about 5 packets)

1. Pop the rolos into the freezer for 1-2 hours.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 350F/180C.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the vanilla and the eggs.
5. Fold in the flour and bicarb of soda until fully combined.
6. Mix in the chocolate chips.
7. Line 3 baking trays with baking parchment.
8. Take the rolos out of the freezer and their packaging, and with half of the mixture, roll small balls of cookie dough, flatten it out into a disk, place a rolo in the middle and fold the dough back around it, rolling the dough to make it a ball again. (n.b. these spread out a bit in the oven, so be sure to leave about 3cm of space between each one)
9. Pop the cookies in the fridge to chill for 15-20 minutes.
10. With the other halve of the dough, spread it out on a slightly deeper tray or dish with your hands until roughly flat.
11. Place the remaining rolos on the top.
12. Pop the cookies and the traybake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
13. Once cooked, take them out of the oven and leave them on the tray to cool a little bit before moving them to a cooling rack or board.
14. Tuck in!

Mint Choc Chip Cupakes

So my love affair with mint and chocolate is no new thing, but I had yet to transfer them from their classic ice cream form to a cakey alternative. I found this recipe whilst moseying through a pile of Usborne recipe cards which, though written for children, has some really excellent recipes in it! The recipe that I've used was actually for petit fours cases, and so I've adjusted the recipe accordingly (as well as making a few of my own changes as well. And yes, unlike my last cupcake bake, I actually bought the correct size cases!



Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes (makes 20)

Bare Necessities

For The Cupcakes:
80g Caster Sugar
80g Margarine
80g Self-raising Flour
3tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 Eggs
2tbsp Plain Chocolate Chips
2tbsp White Chocolate Chips

For The Icing:
250g Icing Sugar
3tbsp Water
1tsp Peppermint Essence
Green Food Dye
Large Chocolate Buttons

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F.
2. Place 20 paper cases onto the tray.
3. Beat together the sugar, margarine, flour, cocoa powder and eggs until fully combined.
4. Mix in the chocolate drops.
5. Evenly distribute the mix into the paper cases and pop into the oven.
6. Cook for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
7. Place the cupcakes onto a rack to cool.
8. In a small bowl, sift in the icing sugar, and then pour in the water, peppermint essence and a few drops of food dye.
9. Mix the icing until smooth and lump-free. I use a fork to mix it, as it helps get rid of the lumps easier. At this point you can add more food colouring to achieve the desired shade of green. Remember that it will affect the consistency of the icing though.
10. Once the cupcakes have cooled, drop a small dollop of icing onto each one. The cupcakes should come up a little bit shorter than the cases, so you can spread the icing right to the edges to get a clean effect.
11. Place a single button onto the centre of each cupcake.
12. Put the cupcakes in the fridge to let the icing set, and then tuck in!

Mint Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream

Summer is here! And what better way to enjoy the sun than to stay inside and make ice cream?

Since I was a child, my favourite ice cream has always been mint choc chip, and so when I was having a peruse through my two ice cream books, I happened upon a fresh mint ice cream that I all too readily decided to adapt to make into an all-time favourite. (I adapted the mint ice cream recipe from the latter book)

Even though I prefer to make ice creams in the Philadelphia style, as it means you don't have multiple egg whites left over at the end, I thought I'd make an exception for this one, as the use of egg yolks gives a slightly deeper flavour. I gave the leftover egg whites to my dog with his dinner, but they can just as easily be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of weeks, or for even longer in the freezer.

One thing I was really quite surprised about when I made it was the difference between ice cream made with fresh mint and store-bought mint ice cream. The flavour is much more subtle and soo much nicer!

A quick note about the mint: the recipe asks for 80g of fresh mint leaves. Bear in mind that if you're buying them in a shop and they're still on the stalks, the weight written on the packet will incorporate that weight as well. I know it sounds pretty obvious, but it's a good thing to bear in mind, as I bought a 100g packet of mint and got about 70/75g of actual mint leaves.

Mint Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream
Bare Necessities:

250ml Whole Milk
150g Sugar
500ml Double Cream
pinch Salt
80g Fresh Mint Leaves
5 Large Egg Yolks
50g Dark Chocolate

1. Warm the milk, sugar, salt and 250ml of the cream in a saucepan.
2. Add the mint leaves, and stir in until all of the leaves are submerged or at least wetted.
3. Place a lid on the saucepan, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for an hour.
4. Strain the minty mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Make sure that you really press down on the leaves with a spoon, you'd be surprised how much more mixture comes out!
5. Discard the mint leaves, you won't be needing them any more.
6. Separate the 5 yolks from their whites and gently
whisk the yolks.
7. Pour the yolks into the minty mixture, all the while whisking to make sure that the yolk is thoroughly combined.
8. Pour this custard back into the saucepan and gently heat on a low to medium heat, continuously stirring. Make sure that you scrape the sides and the bottom regularly to make sure that it doesn't burn or stick.
9. Once the custard starts to thicken to the texture of a thick cream or custard, remove it from the heat. This took me about 10 minutes, but it will differ from hob to hob, so make sure you're always watching it.
10. Strain the custard through a sieve into a bowl. The lumps tend to be at the bottom, so keep stirring the mixture in the sieve to speed up this process.
11. Put the bowl into an ice bath to cool down the custard. Keep stirring at this point, as even though it's no longer on the heat, it's still hot and will curdle if you don't stir it.
12. Once cooled (or at least at room temperature) mix in the remaining cream and stir until thoroughly combined.
13. Pour the mixture into the ice cream machine and follow the
manufacturer's instructions.
14. Once the mixture is starting to thicken and look a bit more like ice cream, melt the chocolate chips. Normally I'd do this in a Ban Marie, but a) I was out of pans, and b) it was only 50 grams, so I just melted them in the microwave.
15. Whilst the ice cream is churning away, slowly drizzle in the melted chocolate, stopping periodically to let it mix in a bit before continuing. As the ice cream will be very cold at this point, the chocolate won't combine with it, but instead instantly cool and mix in as a hard chocolate drizzle!
16. Once it's ready, serve up and go and enjoy the sun while it lasts!

Chocolate Chip And Marshmallow Cookies

Oooh these are good! I made them at school over the weekend, and I am sorry to say that I cant even tell you how many we made, because we ate ridiculous amounts of cookie dough before they went in, and we ate them literally as they came out the oven. I will tell you this though, despite the fact that this recipe does make a lot of cookies, it will never be enough. Eat these with caution, as they are addictive-cooked or uncooked!

Chocolate Chip And Marshmallow Cookies
Bare Necessities

2 1/2cups Plain Flour
1cup Butter
1cup Caster Sugar
1cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2tsp Vanilla Essence
1tsp Bicarbinate Of Soda/Baking Soda
1 1/2cups Mini Marshmallows
2packets Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in the eggs and vanilla essence.
4. Gently mix in the flour, bicarb of soda, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips until everything is completely combined.
5. Grease a couple baking trays (we ran out at school, so we used cupcake tins).
6. Roll the dough into small balls (a bit smaller than a ping pong ball) and place them on the tray.
7. Pop the trays into the oven and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
8. Take the trays out of the oven, leave the cookies to cool (or not) and enjoy!

THE BEST CAKE EVER

And I'm not even over exaggerating with this one. IT IS AMAZING! I mean, due to the fact that there are three separate parts to the recipe, plus the assembly, it is a bit of a hassle, but trust me on this one, it is so worth it! Having said that, even though you could probably eat way more than one slice, you probably shouldn't-not that that would stop you :P Also, apologies about the lack of a final picture, but it kind of got eaten before I could!

Anyway, back to my normal school routine and onto the recipe!

Oh, also, I stole this recipe (but edited it slightly) from a blog that I've only recently found, but I think that it's really good :)

The Best Cake Ever
Bare Necessities

The Cake
4cups/400g Plain Flour
2cups450g Granulated Sugar
3/4cups/75g Cocoa Powder
2tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda/Baking Soda
1tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1cup/250ml Strong Coffee
1cup/250ml Milk
1/2cup/125ml Olive Oil
1tbsp Vanilla Essence

Malt Icing
2cups/450g Butter
4cups/500g Icing Sugar
3tsp Vanilla Essence
3/4cups/75g Plain Ovaltine Powder
1 1/2cups/200g Dark Chocolate
1/2cup/125ml Whipping Cream

Marshmallow Icing
13 Marshmallows
1cup/125g Icing Sugar
1cup/225g Butter
1/2tsp Vanilla Essence
7oz/21.3g Marshmallow Fluff
1/2cup/125ml Whipping Cream

For The Cake
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C.
2. Grease and line 3 cake tins
3. Mix all the ingredients together until all the ingredients are fully combined. Note, it is really liquidy, so don't freak out.
4. Pour the mixture in even amounts into each cake tin and pop in the oven for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.
5. When they are cooked through, put them onto a cooling rack and leave them to cool.


For The Malt Icing
1. Cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, melt the chocolate.
3. Add the vanilla and Ovaltine to the butter and sugar.
4. Beat in the melted chocolate until it is fully mixed and smooth.
5. Add the cream and beat the mixture until the texture gets lighter and fluffier.
6. Put the icing in a bowl and the store it in the fridge until the assembly.

For The Marshmallow Icing
1. Melt the marshmallows in a water bath (the same way you would melt chocolate).
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until it's light and fluffy.
3. Add the vanilla essence, marshmallow fluff, cream and melted marshmallows until the mixture is fluffy. Note: at first, the mixture will deflate slightly, but just bear with it, it will puff up again!
4. Transfer the icing to a bowl and put it in the fridge to chill until the assembly.

For The Assembly
1. Slice each cake in half longways so that you end up with six (thinner) round cakes.
2. Split the malt icing roughly into four parts, and the Marshmallow roughly into three parts.
3. Place the first cake on a plate and then spread the marshmallow icing on top.
4. Place the next cake on top and repeat step 3, alternating between the marshmallow icing and the malt icing, each time using one of the rough parts that you made earlier.
5. Once you have placed your last cake on top, spread a thin layer of the malt icing over the whole cake to capture the crumbs, and place the cake in the fridge to chill for 15-20 minutes.
6. Take the cake out of the fridge and spread the last layer of malt icing over the cake.
7. Serve up and enjoy!

Very Yummy And Oh So Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

So I recently read somewhere that if you use olive oil instead of butter that, instead of them becoming oily and gross, they actually just become more moist, so I decided to try that with these cupcakes and it actually worked out really well! These cupcakes were so moist and rich and delicious, and the chocolate icing really just tops them off!






Very Yummy And Oh So Moist Chocolate Cupcakes
Bare Necessities
(makes about 12 cupcakes)

For The Cupcakes
1 1/2cups/150g Plain Flour
1cup/225g Sugar
3tbsp Cocoa Powder
1/4tsp Salt
1tsp Baking Soda/Bicarbonate Of Soda
1tsp Vanilla Essence
90ml/6tbsp Oil
1cup/250ml Water
15 Marshmallows


For The Icing
1/2cup/112g Butter
2/3cups/65g Cocoa Powder
3 1/4cups/400g Icing Sugar
100ml Milk
1tsp Vanilla Essence


1. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C and line the cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
2. Whisk together all the cupcake ingredients (apart from the marshmallows) together until the mixture is completely smooth.
3. Put one marshmallow in each cupcake case and then pour the cupcake mixture equally into each of the cupcake cases.
4. Pop the cupcakes in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes are cooked through.
5. Once the cupcakes are cooked and leave them to cool.
6. Beat together all the icing ingredients until they are light, fluffy and smooth.
7. Put the icing into an icing bag and then put the icing bag in the fridge to cool for half an hour.
8. Once the icing is cooled, pipe it onto the cupcakes and enjoy!