Chocolate Apricot Cake

Who doesn't like chocolate?? I love it ! My Step Father used to call me Chocolatey-Claire for a long time and I lived up to my name!
Whilst feeding Molly her breakfast this morning I was multi tasking and reading a cook book at the same time - well she was taking aaaaagggeeess eating her toast and I needed to something to read and just happened to have Nigella Lawsons - Domestic Goddess on the table. Flicking through the pages I stumbled upon the chocolate chapter and found a lovely recipe for a Chocolate Marmalade Cake which sounded slightly intriguing as did Nigellas' description especially saying that it isn't a pretty cake! It also sounded like an easy cake to make - melt some things and then fold the rest of the ingredients in ! no creaming of the butter and sugar which is something that I hate doing. Wish I had a Kitchen Aid! . I amended the recipe slightly , the original recipe is for marmalade which I didn't have but I did have some home made apricot jam lurking about in the back of the fridge which has been there for ages and the jar is so huge that it has been taking up all the room so I was delighted to find a good use for it.

Not very pretty!!! But tastes A-M-A-Z-I-N-G

 



It was so easy -peasey , will definitely make this one again and use different jams - It lovely and chocolatey with an aftertaste of apricot, it can be eaten hot (as we did with crème fraiche) or cold with a cup of coffee. We had it for dinner that evening and I put the rest of it in the freezer for emergencies of course otherwise I would have had it all there and the

125g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate broken into pieces
300g Apricot Jam
150g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
150g self-raising flour
Preheat the oven to 180′. Melt butter in a saucepan over a low heat, when it is nearly melted add in chocolate and remove from heat, stir until smooth. Into the saucepan add marmalade/jam, sugar, salt and eggs and stir with a spoon until combined, beat in flour bit by bit. Pour into a greased and lined baking tin no bigger than 23cm. Bake for 50 minutes, checking with a skewer at 40 minutes. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, turn out on to a cooling rack. If the cake isn’t left to cool, it will crack ( that's what happened to mine - I'm so impatient) .Store in an air tight container, eat within 5 days. The recipe serves 6.

 

 

Foodie Penpals November

All fun and games this month with foodie penpals! The original people that I was giving to and receiving from both pulled out so I was rematched to send to Claire at The Black Cat Kitchen  (have a peek at the items I sent her)  , I received a really  lovely parcel from Julie of Joolsy67 
After a long weekend away it was exciting to get this parcel hidden in the cupboard by the front door (the only perk of living in a flat is the cupboard by the front door! Don't get me started on all the stairs!)

As soon as I opened it I spotted the Lemoncurd chocolate and had to try it - I had to take a photo quick of it before I ate it all!

In Julies note she said she loved these and I can see why OMG divine.

 Molly had her eye on the Apple crisps and loves them - Haven't used G&B cooking chocolate mmm Stephen asked me to make brownies so that is my weekend sorted! The Dragon bar is a blackcurrant museli fruit bar which is delicious - chewy and fruity.

 

 

 This is a little bag of goodness - Star Anise which Julie said would be delicious in Mulled wine - oh Yes please! Have some friends over at the weekend so will make some. And also some nutmeg which is THE Christmas spice.

I am so pleased to find this bottle of Rapeseed Oil I haven't had any before so happy to be able to try some - that is why I love Foodie penpals you get things that you wouldn't normally try.

Here is Molly checking the contents for me!
A fab and festive parcel thank you Julie. If you would like to take part in Foodie Penpals click here and If you would like to see what everyone else received this month click here.
Looking forward to my next parcel next year......

Meal Planning Monday

Here It is DECEMBER! very excited as I love Christmas and I have an even better excuse being all festive and giddy now that I have lovely little Molly - she isn't into it all yet but that won't stop me! I have already filled the advent calendar that my mum made ( for Molly really but she can't appreciate it yet!) with lots of chocolates and I have said to Stephen that we can take it in turns to take out the chocolates!

 


I have put 2 small chocolates in for 24th so no arguments! you can just see a penguin poking out

 

So back to this weeks meals. They are all a bit up in the air this week as I am not really feeling organised!

Monday - Fish cakes with mash and sweetcorn

Tuesday - Vegetable chilli

Wednesday - something with scallops ??!

Thursday - Nutloaf

Friday - Salmon salmon surprise ( It will be a surprise to me too! No Idea!)

I have some friends coming over at the weekend so need to think of something delicious then as well - just as well I have new Olive and Good Food magazines for inspiration!

If you would like to take part or want to see other peoples meal plans for this week take a look at Mrs M's page.