Mini Doughnuts.

Donuts...Doughnuts...CRONUTS??? I think Americans would call these ones doughnut holes, which I thhhhiiink are the result of when the doughnut fairies make the rings and the friendly ones keep the middles for those of us that have been good (correct me if I'm wrong).

To be honest, I just made these little because I hate the idea of using vat-fulls of oil and then having to deal with it after. But lets stick with the fairies thing yeah?

I've been meaning to make doughnuts for aaages. Ever since my local farm shop started selling them fresh from the pan on weekend mornings. Theirs are big and knobbly and heavy and are meant to be rings but have got so fat that there is no longer a hole, just a little channel of crispyness and they are heaven. And so I decided that if the fancy farm shop could sell super rustic style doughnuts for actual money then I could have a crack and not be too embarrassed if they were a bit wonky.

Turns out though, I needn't have worried because, if you make them mini, doughnuts are easypeasy aaaaand have the perfect ratio of crispy outside to doughy inside. DO give them a go. With Love and Cake.

Mini Doughnuts.

A few notes:

• Making doughnut is making bread really...check my post on white bread for lots of hints and tips.
• You could definitely make these into larger doughnuts....I couldn't advise you on cooking times though because I haven't tried that yet.
• These are perfect for just poppong straight into the mouth any which way, but if you want to make them fancier and more desserty they would be fabbo served with a chocolate sauce for dipping.

Makes 12....serves 2-4 depending on how you serve them

You will need

For the dough

2 tsp dried yeast

75ml warm water

125g strong white bread flour

pinch salt

25g soft brown sugar

1 tbsp flavourless oil

For frying and finishing

enough flavourless oil to fill a small frying pan 3/4 full, I used about 750ml rapeseed oil

50g granulated sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

• Stir the yeast into the water.
• Into a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, sugar and oil.
• Stir the yeasty water into the flour mix and get your hands in there to bring it all together to a shiny dough.
• Knead for 5-10.
• Set the dough back in the bowl and put somewhere cosy for an hour or 2 or until doubles in size (the time this takes can vary hugely depending on the temperature and other factors so if you think it needs another hour give it another hour).
• Divide the dough into 12 and form each piece into nice smooth ball.
• Set the balls on an oiled baking sheet and leave in the cosy place for another 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon on a plate ready for dipping for your doughnuts.
• Heat the oil in a small saucepan until it reaches 150˚c or until you can pop a small piece of bread in there and it gently sizzles immediately.
• Add the doughnuts to the oil in batches so they aren't crowded and cook for 3-4 minutes, turning over a few times. 
• When the doughnuts are bronzed, remove them from the oil with a slotted spoon and leave to drain on some kitchen paper for a moment before transferring to the plate of cinnamon sugar, rolling them around to give them a good sugary coating.
• EAT. EateatEAT. 

Mississippi Mud Pie.

I can't really think of a Mississippi Mud Pie, let alone type about it, without thinking of Matilda and Miss Honey....m i s s i s s i p p i. And then there's Bruce Bogtrotter and his triumphant cake munching...but here's the thing, I don't think even Matilda could help Bruce get through this beast of a pie in one sitting.

And let's be clear of the context...if you've ever say to me 'mmm it's nice but, myyy, it's awfully rich'...we probs aren't be friends anymore...I most likely cut you out for good. Because come ON, what sort of dessert wimp are you...try harder. 

So now I've clarified my commitment to sugar endurance (if it weren't already clear), you will understand that when I say 'serve this is smaller portions than you naturally would' I really really mean it and am not just lacking dessert stamina. I'm not very good at following my own advice though, because this pie is heaven on a plate and I don't want LESS...so my tactics are run harder and eat tofu for tea.

This pie heaven is dedicated to little sis, whose birthday it was over the weekend, and while I know she will never make it herself (hangs head) I hope the rest of you do, because, myy this is NICE and really RICH. Mmmm. With Love and Cake.

Mississippi Mud Pie.

recipe adapted from delicious. magazine

A few notes:

• Alcohol wise, I used cherry brandy because it seemed best out of what I had...rum is traditional as far as I understand, but Bourbon seems like it would work well too.
• If you want the mousse super firm, and therefore able to maintain it's shape better than mine has for serving fancyness, it might be worth putting the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes or so.
• When I say espresso powder I mean espresso powder, which is not the same as instant coffee.

Serves plenty...at least 10

You will need

1 x 23cm loose-based or springform cake tin, greased and based lined

For the base

300g Oreos

75g butter, melted

For the cake

200g dark chocolate

1 tbsp espresso powder

50ml cherry brandy

100g butter

pinch salt

150g caster sugar

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

50g golden syrup

30g plain flour

For the mousse and top

550ml double cream

250g dark chocolate, plus extra to decorate

4 eggs, separated

80g icing sugar

• First we'll make the base. Whizz the Oreos to a powder in your food processor.
• Add the melted butter and pulse together.
• Tip into your cake tin and press down to a smooth compact layer.
• Chill in the freezer while you get on.
• Now we make the cake. Preheat the oven to 180°c.
• Melt the chocolate, espresso powder, cherry brandy, butter and salt in a medium sized pan over a low heat.
• When it's turned into a glossy chocolate sauce whisk in the sugar.
• Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla, golden syrup and flour.
• Pour the batter into the cake tin over the Oreo base and bake for 30-35 minutes; until firm to the touch.
• Leave to cool completely in the tin...this will take a good couple of hours.
• When the cake's cool it's time to make the mousse topping. First put 250ml of the double cream and the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of barely simmering water to allow it to melt slowly.
• When melted and glossy, whisk in the egg yolks one at a time.
• In a clean bowl, whisk up the egg whites with 30g of the icing sugar until stiff peaks form.
• Fold the whites into the chocolate mixture, a dollop at a time, until you have a billowy mousse.
• Spoon the mixture over the cake and chill for a good couple of hours or overnight if you can.
• When it's time to serve, whip up the double cream with the rest of the icing sugar and dollop over the cake.
• Turn it out and serve in smaller portions than you would naturally...this is a beast that packs a rich punch.

Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble.

I probably shouldn't tell you this online, for burglars and dodgy types to see, but I'm going to be home alone for a month, the Mr is in Chile playing with seals or whatever it is he does for a living...and a month is a looooong time, long enough for me to definitely want to complain about it on here at least once and long enough for me to go mental and start talking to myself more often than usual, and I feel I should alert you, so you can be on the look out for any signs of crazy-pants-dom and come and save me.

Anyway....I really don't think anyone would bother coming allllll the way to deepest darkest Fife just to rob be of my things...which mainly consist of second hand teapots, and if they did, well, HA, I just sorted us out with contents insurance and am now officially protected and a grown up (a grown up with 17 German Shepards and a highly proficient alarm system of course).

So anyway...yes. Last weekend I was sad because I had been abandoned for said seals (or is it porpoises this time mmm?), so turned to chocolate...obvs. This, however, is not you're average 'sad snack', oh no, this is no family sized Dairy Milk. This is Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble. Read those words again. Chocolate. Caramel. Crumble. SALTED CARAMEL.

AND. The bloomin' ganache is only made of 2 things; chocolate and water. WATER? Who knew this was even possible? Chocolate is good for you yeah...so you add water and it can only be even better. They should serve this in gyms. Can you tell I'm not sad anymore. With Love and Cake.

Chocolate Ganache with Sea Salted Caramel and Brazil Nut Crumble.

Adapted from a delicious. magazine recipe

A few notes:

• So this is a dessert of 3 parts, ganache, caramel and crumble topping...and they are FAB.U.LOUS together, but if that just sounds like too much to be bothered with for you, they work equally well as individuals. The ganache on its own would be a divine pud, or you could top it with just the caramel. And if you're looking for a salted caramel recipe for any other purpose, well, your search is over.
• This makes a lot more caramel and crumble than you need; you could halve the recipe and still have enough....but atop vanilla ice cream, well, there are worse ways to eat leftovers.
• I made 2 rather greedy portions...my excuse being that I don't really have any smaller receptacles, but you could definitely use the same amount to serve 4 in little ramekins or dainty espresso mugs.

Serves 2-4 (see notes)

You will need

either 4x200ml ramekins or 2 larger ones (see notes)

For the caramel

100g unsalted butter

100g light brown sugar

1 tsp sea salt

25g milk chocolate, finely chopped

For the crumble

30g Brazil nuts

50g plain flour

15g demerara sugar

15g caster sugar

50g cold butter

pinch sea salt

For the ganache

170ml water

140g dark chocolate, finely chopped

60g milk chocolate, finely chopped

pinch sea salt to serve

• First things first, we make the caramel. Heat the butter, sugar and salt over a medium heat until the butter has melted; stirring all the time.
• Bring to the boil and let bubble for a few minutes; still stirring constantly.
• Add the cream and stir in.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until it it melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
• Now for the crumble. Preheat the oven to 180°c. Toast the nuts for 10 minutes in the oven.
• Chop the nuts roughly when they're cool enough to handle.
• Rub together the flour, sugars and butter until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Mix in the nuts and salt and spread out the crumbs on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool.
• Now the final part; the ganache. Pop your ramekins in the fridge to chill.
• Bring the water to the boil in a pan. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth.
• Pour into a bowl and beat, hopefully you'll have an electric hand whisk, for 10 minutes or until the mixture is cool and just beginning to thicken.
• Pour the mix into your ramekins and chill for 20 minutes; it may still look wobbly in the middle but will set after a while don't worry.
• When you're ready to eat, sprinkle the salt over the ganache, drizzle over some caramel and finish with a a few spoonfuls of the crumble.

Proper Custard.

This Christmas, from Santa, I got 2 of the biggest, plumpest, shiniest  vanilla pods you have ever seen. Yes, I get excited by vanilla pods and yes SANTA UNDERSTANDS ME...he understands that it’s not every day that you get treated to such fancy baking treats because when it’s just a normal rainy Wednesday and you’re traipsing round Morrisons, it just doesn’t seem quite appropriate to spend £5 on something that you TOTALLY don’t need and that you can get in a jar for the same price and get manyMANY more uses from it.

Santa understands that however delicious smelling the jar stuff is, it doesn’t leave those tiny-beyond-belief black dots behind, and it doesn’t require you to split and run your knife along anything; there’s no cheffy and fancy pants feeling. So he understands that I will squeal actual squeals if he leaves these for me and I get to use them just once a year.

I had to use them soon because there is something most dissatisfying about a dried up old vanilla pod and I had to use them in something that would be ‘all about them’, spoil them and make them the star of the show....they are worth it.

So here is the destiny of pod number one. He is basically the whole point of custard and makes a rather dull egg sauce something special and mmm-inducing. Plus, I thought a recipe for proper custard that is pretty fool proof (you can thank the cornflour) would never be amiss. Expect pod number two to be here soon. With Love and Cake.

Proper Custard.

Adapted from Delia's Complete Cookery Course.

A few notes:

• Of course if you don't get excited by such things or Santa doesn't understand you, you could definitely replace the vanilla pod with a splash of extract (not essence)...or in fact flavour the custard any way you fancy; maybe with a splash of Cointreau stirred in at the end or brandy. 
• Do NOT throw away your scraped out vanilla pod, you could drop it into the custard and leave it to infuse even more deliciousness as it heats and remove it before serving, or immerse in a jar of sugar for your own homemade vanilla sugar. Ooooor post them to me and I will just waste time smelling them.
• Don't be scared of making custard, just don't leave anything unattended and if there's a hint of scrambled eggs, pop the custard in a bowl standing in cold water in your sink to cool it down quickly and whiskwhiskwhisk.

Serves 4

You will need

275ml double cream

3 egg yolks

1 tsp cornflour

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds removed (like they do on the telly)

• Pour the cream into a medium sized saucepan and heat gently.
• In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cornflour sugar and vanilla seeds until well combined.
• When the cream has juuuuuust come to the boil, pour it into a jug that will allow you to pour it in a little trickle onto the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
• Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat very gently, stirring all the time.
• After just a few minutes the sauce will be thickened and ready. 
• Pour out of the saucepan into your serving vessel as soon as it's ready to stop any overcooking.
• Eat hot or chilled (in which case cover the top of the custard with clingfilm to stop a skin forming), poured over something equally delicious. 

Panettone and Butter Pudding.

I think I've told you before, that, I'm afraid, I would never ever choose bread and butter pudding. It's just too....bready. I like my puds to be filling yes, but crunchy and creamy with different textures and tastes....definitley not bready. 

But hey, turns out, either I only think I don't like bread and butter pudding and in reality I find it yummy, ooooor panettone and butter pudding is a different beast all together and the extra butteryness, the extra softness and the extra citrussyness make for a really rather scrumptious offering that I really want more of...NOW.

I am not suggesting that you go to the effort of making your own panettone especially for the purpose of repurposing it (though if you had a lovely lazy day at home it would be the perfect kitchen pottering process) but if you make it yourself you will realise that it does not keep magnificently well and you might have a few leftover after a few days that have staled a bit, orrrrr you might be given one of those giant beasts of panettone, you know, the ones bigger than your whole head, and enjoy having it for breakfast for a few days in a row but then start to dispare about sinking under a sea of the stuff....either way, make this, even if you wouldn't ever choose to make bread and butter pudding or choose it from a menu.

 Make it, and you will eat it and question your whole being....ok maybe not your whole being but the puddingliking part of your being and that is a fairly significant part of mine, and yours, I would suppose, too. With Love and Cake.

Panettone and Butter Pudding

A few notes:

• This is a nice simple recipe that doesn't require any fiddle or faff...so don't fret majorly over quantities; use enough panettone to fit your dish and add a bit more cream or milk to your custard if you want more
• This reheats well; use the oven to keep the crispy top or the microwave for emergensies.

Serves 4

You will need

a small baking dish, well buttered

around 300g panettone, which works out as 2-3 individual ones, thickly sliced

2 eggs

150ml milk

2 tbsp double cream

1 tbsp caster sugar

1-2 tbsp demerara sugar

freshly grated nutmeg

• Arrange your panettone in your baking dish in a few layers and press it down slightly.
• Whisk togther the eggs, milk, cream and caster sugar and pour the mixture over the bread.
• Set aside for 15 minutes to allow the bread to soak up the custard.
• Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180°c.
• Sprinkle the pudding liberally with demerara sugar and freshly grated nutmeg before baking for 20-25 minutes, at which point it should be crisp and golden on top but still soft underneath.
• Serve with cream or custard or ice cream....or all three.

St Catherine Cakes for Non-Smug Snacks.

I'm going through a bit of a biscuit thang at the mo. I could be aaaawfully smug and tell you that it's because I'm adding more and more miles to my running scedge at the mo which makes snacking kind of mandatory and, well duuuh, biscuits are the perfect snack...but I'm afraid I'd be lying.

 

Not about the adding of miles, but about the running more thing leading to the more biscuits thing. Nono, if I were being proper-runner-smug about it I would tell you about all the biscuits I'm NOT eating and all the raw almonds and dates I'm getting through (lies). Sooo yes, it's not the runnyrun thing at all, but the coldycold thing, and the darkydark. Some days it feels like it's getting dark AT LUNCH TIME up here...get me out. 

And all this coldyness and darkyness means hot drinkyness....soso much tea. And what goes better with so much tea than so many biscuits. You see. Afternoon time, about 3 o clock, when it feels like PJ time is just around the corner...uh, what am I saying?...when PJ time is just around the corner, it's time for tea (or sweetsweet frothy coffee) and a treat or two to see you through those dark hours ahead.

Not something overly ingulgent with goo or squidge, but a nice sturdy bite that can be dunked, or not, and if it's cinnamony, all the better. So following on from my new friend the Snickerdoodle, which fulfilled the same requirement, I give you St Catherine Cakes. Not cakes so much though, as shortbready spirals with a crunchy sugar coating....mymy it is a good job I'm doing all those miles. With Love and Cake.

St Catherine's Cakes.

From Hamlyn Teatime Favourites

A few notes:

• I made this in my food processor, up until the point at which you add the currants...if you don't have one, just sift the flour etc into a big bowl and rub the butter in with you finger tips.
• The dough is fairly crumbly and dry, that's ok, it shouldn't need too much rolling out anyway, so don't be tempted to add any more liquid to make it come together better, the dry crumbly dough means a lovely short biscuit.
• These spread out a lot in the oven, so you might find it best to bake in 2 batches, as I did.

Makes about 24

You will need

A lined baking sheet

350g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp cinnamon

25g ground almonds

225g caster sugar

225g butter

50g currants

1 egg, lightly beaten

25g granulated or demerara sugar

• Preheat the oven to 200°c.
• Pulse the flour, bicarb, cinnamon, ground almonds and caster sugar in a food processor.
• Add the butter and whizz until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Tip this mixture into a large bowl and stir through the currants.
• Add the egg and bring everything together to form a dough.
• Transfer to a floured surface and roll out to a rectangle; about 30cm x 20cm.
• Brush the rectangle all over with water and sprinkle over the remaining sugar.
• Cut the rectangle into strips of about 1cm x 20cm.
• Coil up each strip so you have a spiral and place each spiral onto your baking sheet leaving plenty of space between each one.
• Bake for around 15 minutes until golden, and then leave on the baking tray for a few minutes to firm up.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely or pop straight next to your cup of tea.

Sweet and Salty Fridge Cake Bars.

Have you noticed that Nigella is everywheeeere at the minute? No? Oh ok...well maybe it’s because you don’t have an unhealthy obsession which means you HAVE to hunt down every appearance she makes and watch and listen, gaping mouthed, like she was the messiah and you cared about messiah’s and things....eeeeven if it means watching The One Show and all their stories about old folk and birds. Nono I don’t do that either.

But I’m lying because I do do that because Nigella is my chosen religion and I would do anything to be her pal and reading her books gives the same sort of sanctuary that your favourite rubbishly predictable film does and calms in the same way that pottering around the kitchen does, for me anyway.

And this bar of wonderment and deliciousness is, I think, Nigella and my ‘relationship’ (yesyes I’m still sane enough to realise that the term requires apostrophes) with her, epitomised in food. It’s unapologetically indulgent and bolstering, requires absolutely to stress or faff and leaves you just that bit happier.

So please don’t think I’m mental(er than you do already), and next time you need a bit of a hug have a go at this, or open a Nige book...or you know, get an actual hug off someone. All three would leave you ready to face all ills. With Love and Cake.

Sweet and Salty Fridge Cake Bar.

From Nigella Kitchen.

A few notes:

• Feel free to use some milk chocolate in the place of some of the dark or, in fact, in the place of all of the dark...it will just be a lot sweeter.
• And if you're in even more of a nonconforming mood you could experiment with the additions to the chocolate; you could use some sort of biscuits in the place of the Crunchies etcetc.

Makes enough for a party

You will need

a 23cm loose bottomed or spring sided cake tin, greased well

300g good dark chocolate

125g butter

3 tbsp golden syrup 

4x40g Crunchie bars

200g salted peanuts

• Break up the chocolate into fairly small chunks and pop it in a small saucepan along with the butter and golden syrup.
• Heat slowly until everything melts together and you have a lovely shiny chocolate sauce that you could just dive in to.
• Smash the Crunchie bars about a bit in their packets so they get broken up into a mixture of bite size chunks and a bit of rubble. Tumble into a mixing bowl.
• Add the salted peanuts and then pour over the melted chocolate mix.
• Stir everything around gently so things are evenly distributed and scoop into your cake tin.
• Smooth out the mixture to the edges of the pan and leave to set either in the fridge of somewhere cool for a good few hours.
• When they're ready, cut into squares or wedges and prise from the cake tin bottom with a fish slice.
• Hug.

Dutch Baby.

Helloooooo. I've come to a revelatory conclusion; the conclusion that you can make eating anything, at any time of day, feel appropriate just with a name change and a little twiddle. You want cake for breakfast? Call it coffee cake. You feel like crisps before dinner? Ok, just put them in a bowl and call them nibbles. You want bread for your dessert do you? Well mix in some sugar and eggs and bake a pudding. See, whatever you want, whenever you want it...I can sort it for you.

This treat is a case in point. Basically, you see, it is what us Brits would call a Yorkshire Pudding; plain old batter, cooked in hot fat until puffy and light.

The thing is though, what clever Americans have done is think of a cutey name for it, sploshed in a bit of vanilla and there you have it....Dutch Baby....ooooor Yorkshire Pudding for breakfast.

Present Dutch Baby with a spot of lovely syrup or fruit compote, doused in icing sugar and people will applaud you. Say you’re having a breakfast Yorkshire Pudding (not as crazycrackers as it sounds, I promise, ask Nigella who has it with cream and golden syrup) and they’ll turn their noses up. So go forth and eat weirldly...make this for breakfast and thank out chums across the pond who have a food solution to every problem. With Love and Cake.

Dutch Baby.

A few notes:

• If you have a fav yorkshire pudding recipe, you could just as easily use that...though I would still use butter in the pan instead of oil to avoid your breakfast having a 'roast' air about it.
• As with many of my breakfast recipes, I just use a coffee mug to measure, just because grams feel like overkill in the morning.
• Serve with the same things you would with pancakes...I made a compote out of blackcurrants; boiling 150g of them for a few minutes with 2 tbsp of sugar, but syrup, jam or also fresh fruit seem appropriate too.

Serves 2-3

You will need

1x20cm frying pan or roasting dish

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup strong white bread flour

a splash of vanilla extract

pinch salt

a good knob of butter

• Right...let's go. Pop your frying pan or roasting dish into the oven and turn the heat on to as high as it goes.
• While that's heating up, beat everything except the butter into a nice big bowl so you have a smooth batter.
• When the oven's up to temperature, turn it down to 220°c.
• Take out the frying pan, and pop in the butter. As it melts swirl it around the frying pan so it's nice and covered.
• Pour in the batter and get it straight bake in the oven. DO NOT TOUCH THE HOT HANDLE....YOUR HAND WILL NOT LIKE IT....been there, done that.
• Cook for 20 minutes until it's puffed up and golden.
• Sprinkle lots and lots of icing sugar over the top and eat while hot and buttery.

Chocolate and Orange Makes Bread and Butter Pudding.

Bread and Butter Pudding. Not something, I’m afraid, that usually gets my juices flowing. It’s stupid really, because I think bread is brilliant and butter, even better. But b&b pud just isn’t usually the one for me. I’d take sticky toffee any day. But when you have a bread making disaster and therefore a loaf going spare....needs must.

And how do you make a boring pudding a ‘juices flowing’ one? Throw chocolate and orange at it of cooooourse.

OO, just as I wrote that I realised that I have the exact same thoughts towards French toast. It must be an eggy bready thing. And what cured my distaste of that particular breakfast treat? Why chocolate and orange obv. Maybe I should try it with chickpeas too, my food nemesis. Then I’d be totally cured.

Because here, what’s not to like? Squishy and chewy bread, sweet, chocolate-ey custard and little nuggets of sunshiney orange. Not exactly a light and airy dessert option but perfect for those days when only the carby-est of concoctions will do. Like, um, all the May days that tantalise with sun and trick with hail and gails. Soooo right now then. With Love and Cake.

Chocolate and Orange Bread and Butter Pudding.

A few notes:

• To be honest, if I made this again I'd double up on the quantity of custard for the same amount of bread- just for a little bit of extra goo, but I'll give you the quantities I actually used.
• This is a great way to use up bread that's past it's best, in fact the dryer the better, for soaking up the chocolatey, eggy goodness.
• As always, feel free to freestyle a bit. Dark chocolate would be divine, and you could absolutely leave out the orange...how about replacing it with a shot or two of rummmm......

Serves 6ish

You will need

a large oven proof dish, lightly greased

around 3/4 loaf of good quality white bread, cut into 2 cm cubes

Juice of 2 oranges

300ml double cream

2 egg yolks

180g milk chocolate, finely chopped

150g candied orange peel, finely chopped

1 tbsp chocolate chips

icing sugar for dusting

• So first job is to get the oven on to preheat at 180°c.
• Then tumble the cubes of bread into your oven dish and pour over the orange juice so the bread gets a chance to soak it all up.
• Next job...pop the cream into a saucepan and heat slowly until just simmering.
• Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks in a bowl until lighter in colour and thickened.
• When the cream is ready, pour it in a slow, steady stream over the egg yolks, whisking all the time.
• Add the chocolate and peel into the custard and stir so that the chocolate melts.
• Transfer the chocolate custard back into the saucepan and heat slllooooowly for a few minutes, stirring all the time, so the custard thickens a teeny bit.
• Pour the custard over the bread. Mix everything around a bit and poke 'sticking out bits' of bread back in so everything gets a good soak.
• Pop the dish in the oven and bake for 25 minutes until firm and bubbling round the edges.
• When the pud has cooled a bit, sprinkle over the chocolate chips and dust with icing sugar through a sieve.
• Viola...it's carb o clock.

Salted Caramel and Popcorn Ice Cream.

So I’ve gone and done it. I’ve jumped on the ‘Jubilympics: let’s smother everything in Union Jacks’ bandwagon. Not really for any other reason than aesthetics at the mo; our flag just seems so cheerful and celebratory to me. Don’t worry though, come June I will find real reasons; whole heartedly abandoning my default position of apathy towards all things royal and make sure I brush up on the curtseying skills I learnt for The Wedding last year. You know, just in case. Then August, and I plan not to be able to move for copious amounts of self-inflicted red, white and blue.

Summer nationalist fun wasn’t my initial thought when I was planning on making this frozen joy however. It was more of a case of not wanting to throw away left over popcorn, combined with a recent love affair with ‘Heston Blumenthal for Waitrose’s’ ice creams; one of which was indeed salted caramel and popcorn.

Although divine, Heston’s, I’m afraid, was lacking the salty richness of salted caramel and instead relied on crunchy sugary nuggets of set caramel. My version, while not being a traditional custard-based ice cream, is more heavily laden with the joys that are associated with salted caramel. Ooozy, gooey, sweet and mineral-ey.

The fact that it’s not custard based has pros and cons. Pro: you don’t need an ice cream maker (high on my list of ‘WANT but can’t have until I have a giant beast of a kitchen’ just below the waffle iron FYI) and is a cinch to whip up. Con: it doesn’t melt in the same drippy way that your tub of Ben and Jerry’s does, remaining more mousse-ey. But no matter really- a gooey brownie and a scoop of this? OOOooooheeeMMMGeeeeeee. With Love and Cake.

Salted Caramel and Popcorn Ice Cream.

A few notes:

• I used microwave popcorn here, simply because I had some leftover, but in hindsight I think I would find it preferable to the ready popped super sugary 'toffee popcorn' anyway, given the sweetness of the other main ingredient. But if you don't have some microwave stuff lying around and don't want to pop some especially, feel free to experiment with a popped variety or simply leave it out all together (just don't tell Heston).
• I made this salted caramel. You won't need it all, but make it anyway for extra drizzle and eating with anything and everything or just with a spoon. Mmmmmmmm.

Makes about 1 pint

You will need

500ml double cream

5 tbsp salted caramel

10-20g popcorn, slightly chopped

• Now it's easypeasy, just whip the cream so in becomes big and billowy but remains pour-able. It will stiffen further as you stir the other ingredients in.
• Stir in 1 tbsp of the caramel so it is totally combined, followed by the popcorn.
• Then add the rest of the caramel, folding it through gently so it remains rippled and pooled.
• Pop in a freezer proof tub, cover and pop in the freezer overnight and sleep awaiting frozen joy.