Monthly Archives: May 2017

Irish Chocolate Cake

Everybody needs a good chocolate cake that they can conjure up to appreciative groans and lip licking smiles.  Because, let’s face it, there are times when only chocolate will do!  As for the Irish part well that would be the use of either buttermilk or Guinness (depending on preference/age group) both of which are very Irish ingredients and each giving a very tender crumb to the cake.

You can have this cake with a cuppa or as a pudding served with creme fraiche.  You can decorate the ganache icing anyway you choose.  Or leave it plain.

Of the two “Irish” ingredients well, If you choose to use Guinness it gives the chocolate a slightly spicy, sophisticated kick and if you use buttermilk it becomes slightly lighter and fresher   As well as Guinness/buttermilk and chocolate the cake uses dark brown sugar to give an extra fudgey taste. Continue reading →

Banana Icecream

This has got to be the easiest icecream ever   Its almost instant and very tasty (I promise I am not just saying that because it’s good for you!). It’s also vegan, raw, paleo, refined sugar free, gluten free and dairy free so you can cover almost all dietary requirements!  To make it you just need a freezer and a food processor or blender   It sounds too good to be true?  Well prepare to be amazed Continue reading →

Mediterranean Salad

I love this salad with crusty bread for lunch as the combination of flavours is sooo good.  It’s great as a starter, or serve it with simply grilled or BBQ’d meat, poultry or fish – but you do need the bread to mop up the juices.  If you think salads are boring then this will change your mind as this Salad positively oozes sunshine and sings of summer holidays in the Med Continue reading →

Banana Bread Muffins

My friend Rachel – she of Christmas cake icing fame – asked me to blog about what I do with very ripe bananas.  This banana bread recipe is the first of two things I do and certainly the more traditional of the two.   The second, which will follow tomorrow, is an almost instant banana icecream which is vegan (though you’d never know it as it tastes so creamy) and it’s free from refined sugar

It can be baked as a loaf or in muffin cases.  I invariably choose to do it in individual muffin cases as it freezes so beautifully and can be microwaved for a minute from frozen to taste as fresh and delicious as it was when it came from the oven which is really useful.  Plus, if you call it a muffin it means that it somehow is ok to have what is essentially a cake for breakfast (as well as with a cuppa or anytime really)!  In fairness it does keep in a tin for a few days but as this recipe makes 2 small loaves or 12 individual Muffins.   Freezing the extras works for me otherwise I find myself saying “just one more….” Continue reading →

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