Food & Drink

Food & Drink Me Come Dine With

Triple chocolate & peanut butter layer cake

Prep: 45 mins Cook: 30 mins - 1 hr Serves: 10 or more

Top chocolate sponge with peanut butter frosting, ganache drip, pretzel bark and chocolate eggs for a divine dessert.

Ingredients

• 225ml rapeseed oil, plus more for the tins • 250g self-raising our • 4 tbsp cocoa • 1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda • 225g caster sugar • 3 tbsp golden syrup • 3 large eggs, beaten • 225ml milk

For the pretzel bark

• 200g dark chocolate, chopped • 2 tbsp chocolate chips • small handful pretzel pieces • 2 tbsp honeycomb pieces

For the icing

• 65g dark chocolate • 250g soft salted butter • 500g icing sugar • 45g smooth peanut butter • 1-2 tbsp cocoa

For the ganache drip

• 200ml double cream • 100g dark chocolate, nely chopped

For the decoration

• chocolate eggs, some hollow, some lled, gold lustre, to ee popcorn and pretzels

Method STEP 1

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base of three 19cm sandwich tins. Mix the our, cocoa, bicarb and sugar in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and beat in the syrup, eggs, oil and milk with an electric whisk until smooth.

STEP 2

Divide the mix between the tins, and bake for 25-30 mins until the cakes are risen and rm to the touch. Cool in the tins for 10 mins before turning out onto a cooling rack and cooling completely. At this stage, they can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to eight weeks.

STEP 3

Make the bark while the cake is cooling. Melt the chocolate in short bursts in the microwave, stirring every 20 secs, until smooth. Spoon onto a parchment-lined baking tray and smooth over with a spatula to make a thinnish layer, around 35 x 20cm. Sprinkle over the chocolate chips along with the pieces of pretzel and honeycomb, then chill until solid. Remove the bark from the fridge and leave for a minute to come to room temperature before using a sharp knife to cut it into shards (if it’s fridge cold, the chocolate will snap rather than cut). Chill again until you’re ready to decorate the cake.

STEP 4

To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring between short blasts, then leave to cool a little. Meanwhile, beat the butter, icing sugar and 1 tbsp boiling water with an electric whisk or stand mixer, slowly at rst, then turn up the speed and beat until you get a pale, u y icing. Spoon out a third of the mix into a separate bowl and stir in the peanut butter. Whisk the melted chocolate into the remainder of the icing, then beat in the cocoa if you want a darker, more chocolatey-coloured icing.

STEP 5

Sandwich the three cakes together with the peanut butter icing. Use half the chocolate icing to coat the sides and top of the cake and ll in the edges between the layers, scraping o any excess. Chill for 20 mins. is is called a crumb coating, allowing you to get a really smooth nish when it comes to the nal icing.

STEP 6

Spread the remaining chocolate icing over the lightly chilled cake, smoothing over the sides and top so you get a neat nish. Chill again for 20 mins.

STEP 7

To make the ganache, heat the cream in a small pan until steaming. Tip the dark chocolate into a bowl, then pour over the cream. Mix well until smooth and shiny. Transfer to a piping bag and leave to cool for a few mins at room temperature.

STEP 8

Pipe the ganache on top of the cake, nudging it over the edge and allowing it to drip down neatly. Do this all the way round the cake, then ll in the centre with more ganache. Smooth the top with a knife. Chill for 1 hr for the ganache to set.

STEP 9

Press the bark shards into the cake, sticking up. Add lots of chocolate eggs, popcorn and pretzels in and around the shards. Cut into slices to serve. Will keep for up to three days kept in a cool place in an airtight container

Two great red wine sauces

Shallot & red wine sauce

• Prep: 5 mins • Cook: 30 mins • Serves: 4

is classic French sauce from Gordon Ramsay is just perfect with a rib-eye steak.

Ingredients

• 250g shallot, sliced • 4 tbsp olive oil • 1 garlic clove, lightly crushed • sprig rosemary • 5 tbsp balsamic vinegar • 400ml red wine • 400ml beef stock or brown chicken stock, preferably homemade • knob of butter

Method STEP 1

Sauté 250g sliced shallots in a medium saucepan with 4 tbsp olive oil over a high heat for about 3 mins until lightly browned, stirring often.

STEP 2

Season with ground black pepper and add 1 lightly crushed garlic clove and a sprig of rosemary.

STEP 3

Continue cooking for a further 3 mins, stirring often to prevent the shallots burning.

STEP 4

Pour in 5 tbsp balsamic vinegar and cook until evaporated away to a syrup, then pour in 400ml red wine and cook until reduced by two thirds.

STEP 5

Pour in 400ml beef or brown chicken stock and bring to the boil.

STEP 6

Turn down the heat and simmer until reduced by two-thirds again, to around 250ml. Remove the garlic and rosemary.

STEP 7

Add a little salt to taste and nally ‘monte’ (whisk) in a knob of butter. Add any juices from the steaks just before serving.

Red wine jus Prep: 5 mins Cook: 30 mins Serves: 6 to 8

Create a red wine jus to serve alongside beef dishes. A classic French sauce made with red wine, port and shallots, it’s an ideal topping for steak.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp olive oil • 2 shallots, nely chopped • 175ml port • 175ml red wine • 1 rosemary sprig • 1 bay leaf • 800ml beef stock • 2 tbsp butter • pinch sugar

Method STEP 1

Put the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the shallots until golden and caramelised, about 10 mins.

STEP 2

Add the port, wine and herbs and simmer for 10 mins, or until reduced by half.

STEP 3

Pour in the stock and continue to cook until reduced by half again, then strain, discarding the shallots and herbs.

One-pan lamb with hasselback potatoes

Prep: 30 mins Cook: 2 hrs Serves: 6 to 8

If your Easter roast last week whetted your appetite for morel bae, try this dish. Enhance the avour of roast lamb with herbs and garlic, or you could try slices of anchovy, slivers of chilli or nuggets of feta pushed into the slits.

Ingredients

• 1 leg of lamb , about 2kg • 2 garlic bulbs • 15 sprigs rosemary • 15 sprigs thyme • 1.7kg medium-sized potatoes (Maris Piper work well), unpeeled • 14 bay leaves • 4 tbsp olive oil • 1 lemon , juiced

STEP 1

Use a small, sharp knife to make at least 30 small, deep, incisions all over the lamb. Halve the garlic bulbs, so at the top the cloves fall away and at the bottom, they remain attached. Peel and slice the tops that have fallen away and keep the other halves for later. Use your ngers to push the slices into each slit. Next, pull o small sprigs of rosemary and thyme, keeping the stalks on, and poke them into the slits, too. Can be done a day ahead, then cover the lamb and chill. Remove from the fridge 1 hr before roasting. spoons and cut widthways at 3mm intervals – the spoon handles will stop you slicing all the way through. Slot a bay leaf into the middle slit of each potato. Tip the potatoes into a large roasting tin with the halved garlic bulb and the rest of the rosemary and thyme. Drizzle with half the oil and season, then toss to coat and turn the potatoes so they’re all cut-side up. Nestle the lamb in the middle of the tin, pushing the potatoes to the outside, then rub the lamb with the rest of the oil and the lemon juice and season generously.

STEP 3

Roast for 1 hr 30 mins, basting the potatoes and shaking the tin occasionally, until the lamb is dark brown and the potatoes are crisp and golden. e lamb will be pink in the middle but cooked. For rare, cook for 10 mins less, and for well done, 15 mins more. Remove the lamb from the tin and leave to rest for 15 mins, putting the potatoes back in the oven if you need to. Serve drizzled with an olive and herb dressing.