Chocolate Orange Christmas Trifle

Thinking that I would have too much to do on Christmas day, I decided not to make a dessert and bought the frozen chocolate bar dessert that Heston Blumenthal designed for Waitrose. But at the last minute I found out I was having two extra guests for dinner on Christmas Eve - I had invited one but she hadn't replied, then called me to ask if when she came she could bring someone else - so I thought it would be nice to have something sweet for dessert that day. And I do like making homemade puddings!

A trifle is traditional at Christmas but I detest traditional trifles and I'm pretty sure my boyfriend doesn't like it either, so I started thinking about things we do both like - namely chocolate - and how I could incorporate this into a trifle. I also remembered I'd bought a Terry's chocolate orange when it was on offer at only £1 and put it in the cupboard intending to use it in baking or to decorate a cake. So I came up with this chocolate orange cheesecake: instead of trifle sponges it has a layer of chocolate brownie as the base, then a layer of orange jelly (to which I added some tinned mandarin oranges just to be a little bit traditional), and then a layer of chocolate orange mousse, topped with whipped double cream and decorated with Terry's chocolate orange slices.

Start by making the chocolate brownie base - it's a good idea to make this the day before you want to serve the trifle as the jelly, which goes on top, needs time to set. This is the recipe I used for the chocolate brownie; I found it made about twice the quantity that I needed (I'm not entirely sure of the capacity of my serving dish but I'd estimate about three litres or more) but that was fine because we enjoyed eating the leftover brownie!

Chocolate Brownie Base

The recipe came from BBC Good Food though I altered it slightly to use chocolate containing hazelnuts, which worked really well, and I didn't add the additional chopped milk and white chocolate.

You need:
185g butter
185g dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3 eggs
275g caster sugar

Preheat oven to 175C. Melt the chocolate and half the butter in the microwave.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl, beat in the eggs and sugar and then the chocolate, melted butter and the rest of the butter.

Grease and line a square 8 inch cake tin and pour in the mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. I needed to cook mine for a little longer as the mixture was quite deep in the tin. When the brownies were cooked, they were still lovely and fudgy in the middle.

Chocolate Orange Mousse Layer

My recipe was inspired by this one on All Recipes. You need:
4 eggs, separated
250g plain chocolate, melted
juice and grated zest of 1 orange

In a bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks until fluffy then whisk in the melted chocolate. Then whisk in the orange zest and juice. Finally fold in the egg whites and place in the fridge to set.

To assemble the trifle

Break or cut up the chocolate brownie and place the pieces in the bottom of a serving dish. Make up an orange jelly according to the packet instructions and leave in the fridge for an hour or more until the jelly is still runny but just starting to set a little - this will prevent it all from soaking into the chocolate brownies. When you are ready, open a tin of mandarin orange segments and sprinkle over the top of the brownies then pour over the jelly. Leave in the fridge overnight to set.



Spoon the chocolate mousse once it has set on top of the jelly layer.

Whisk some double cream and spoon on the top and decorate with Terry's chocolate orange slices.

This is actually my entry to this month's Food 'n' Flix. Heather at Girlichef has chosen the film A Christmas Story, which is from 1983 and a classic, but I've never heard of it.

The film has several inter-connecting stories but the main one is about a little boy who wants a BB gun from Santa. To be honest I didn't like it that much - it's one of those 'family comedies' where you either need to be a kid or watching with kids to really enjoy it. I also found it quite dated - my idea of a Christmas movie is probably Love Actually and I don't tend to like any of the more schmaltzy older ones. But it seems this film is a staple on TV in America over Christmas and it is the sort of thing that I can imagine families gathered together and watching on Christmas Eve.

So my recipe inspired by the movie was always just going to be something Christmassy, so I am sending Heather my chocolate orange Christmas trifle.

Low Fat Lime Jelly Cheesecake

This is a refreshing and light dessert perfect for a summer's day, post barbecue perhaps. It's based on a Slimming World recipe that I think came from one of the magazines but now I can't find it. I did note down the ingredients and quantities that I used at the time though.

To make a 9-inch round cheesecake you need:

8 reduced fat digestive biscuits

60g low fat spread

1 sachet sugar-free lime or lemon and lime jelly crystals

juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp powdered gelatine

2 x 125g pots low fat lemon and lime yogurt eg Activia

200g Quark

4 tbsp sweetener

 Place the biscuits in a food processor. Meanwhile melt the low fat spread and then stir into the crushed biscuits. Spoon into the base of a loose-bottomed cake tin and press down firmly and place in the fridge to chill until needed.

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpu

8 digestive biscuits

60g low-fat spread suitable for baking*

1 sachet sugar-free raspberry jelly crystals

1 tbsp powdered gelatine (or agar agar)

2 pots Vanilla Mullerlight yogurt (or any other Free yogurt)

200g quark

4-5 tbsp artificial sweetener

400g mixed berries (such as raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants and blueberries)

A few fresh mint leaves

Icing sugar to dust

- See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

 Make up the jelly with 150ml boiling water, stir in the gelatine and leave to cool. When the jelly is cool, place in a food processor with the yogurt, lime juice, quark and sweetener. Pour the mixture over the biscuit base and place in the fridge overnight.

Meanwhile, make up the jelly with 150ml boiling water. Stir in the gelatine and set aside to cool. - See more at: http://group.slimmingworld.com/recipes/berry-burst-cheesecake.aspx#sthash.zl68rV5x.dpuf

Here is the cheesecake ready to serve, having removed the loose bottom from the tin.

I sprinkled some Dr. Oetker neon sugar over the top for decoration, I think it looks quite pretty!

I'm sending this to Four Seasons Food, hosted by Louisa at Eat Your Veg and Anneli at Delicieux as the theme is celebrating spring, and the zesty refreshing flavour of this cheesecake is great for spring.

Slimming World Zesty Orange Terrine

I went to a big family party at my boyfriend's house on Boxing Day and I wanted to take something a little healthier than the other food that I expected to be on offer. I made a couple of quick savoury dishes to take along - Quorn sausages with honey and mustard, and some spicy chicken bites - and also made a dessert. I got this recipe from a recent issue of the Slimming World magazine and tweaked it slightly as it was quite last minute and I didn't have any orange extract.

You need:
1 sachet orange sugar free jelly crystals
2 sachets powdered gelatine
1 orange
300g 0% fat Total Greek yogurt
a few drops of orange extract - you could always use orange juice or even undiluted orange squash
2 tbsp Splenda

Dissolve the jelly crystals and one sachet of the gelatine in 400ml boiling water. Stir well and leave to cool.

Grate the orange zest. I used a zester which is a great little tool.

Peel the orange and separate the segments, then arrange them in a loaf tin.

Pour the jelly over the top and chill for a few hours until set.

In a bowl, mix the yogurt, orange extract, sweetener and orange zest.

Dissolve the other sachet of gelatine in 150ml boiling water and stir. Spoon over the jelly in the loaf tin and chill again until set.

To serve, turn upside down and run a knife around the edge. Slice into about 8.

This is a lovely low fat 'virtuous' dessert that is very tasty. I'm sending it to several challenges this month as it fits more than one theme.

First of all, Calendar Cakes, hosted by Laura Loves Cakes and Dolly Bakes has 'new year, new you' as its theme - and as many people resolve to go on a diet in January, this dessert would be perfect.

Tea Time Treats, hosted by Kate of What Kate Baked and Karen of Lavender and Lovage has citrus fruits as its theme this month.

Finally the One Ingredient challenge from How to Cook Good Food is this month the orange.

Homemade Jaffa Cakes

When the random letter generator came up with J for this month's Alphabakes challenge, I knew right away what I wanted to make. Jaffa cakes!

 

I love jaffa cakes and can never seem to stop once I've opened the packet... so I don't buy them very often! I had no idea how you could make your own but a quick search on the internet provided me with this recipe on the BBC Food website and it seemed fairly easy to follow, though as you can see from the picture, they didn't look perfect. They did taste great though!

 

 

You will need:

For the cakes:

2 eggs

50g caster sugar

50g plain flour

For the filling:

I packet orange jelly, made up according to instructions

200g dark chocolate, melted

 

The BBC recipe (if you follow the link above) has a slightly different method, whereby you mix the jelly with marmelade, but I don't eat marmelade so didn't do this. It worked fine with just the jelly - well, just about - but I think it probably would be worth trying with the marmelade.

 

Method:

Place the eggs and sugar in a heatproof bowl

Bring a little water to the boil in a saucepan and place the heatproof bowl over the top (as you would with a bain-marie) - don't let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Beat the eggs and sugar for about five minutes until pale and fluffy.

 

Add the flour and beat well until you have a thick, smooth batter.

Pour the batter into a muffin tin - I used a silicon one as it meant I could grease it with a spray oil and not need to use cake cases. You only need to fill each indentation to about half way up as if you imagine the base of a jaffa cake, you'll recall it does need to be relatively thin like a flat disc.

Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins. These turned out perfectly -the right size, shape and colour, I was really pleased. Allow to cool.

Make up the jelly (see BBC Food link if you are adding marmelade). I used a wide plastic tub because you want the jelly to be relatively shallow so you can cut out the circles for each jaffa cake without them being too thick.

I used a round cookie cutter to cut out a small circle of jelly, though the circles aren't perfect as the jelly wasn't especially firm. Place the jelly onto the cakes.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or bain-marie. I then poured the hot melted chocolate over the cakes... and unsurprisingly the jelly started to melt! Fail! I waited a while until the chocolate was a bit cooler then tried again, and that worked much better. On reflection, I wonder if I should have followed the BBC Food recipe and if mixing the jelly with marmelade would have made it less likely to melt when you pour the chocolate over. If you give this recipe a go, let me know!

Still, they look pretty good - like real jaffa cakes, only with a slightly messier top... the cake on the base turned out perfectly.

 

I took these to a party and they went down really well, several people commented they didn't know you could make jaffa cakes (well, I imagine you can make most things that are factory-produced at home...) and that they were really cool.

 

 

The letter for this month's Alphabakes challenge is J - I am hosting and please check out this blog post if you want to know how to participate.