dessert – Page 6 – Feasting Is Fun

New Berry Fruits Ice Cream

Tutti fruity. Does anyone else remember that ice cream flavour? Or am I showing my youth 😉. Well that’s what I was aiming for when I created this New Berry Fruits Ice Cream, except……….. it is so much better than I ever remember. The jelly sweets have a true, intense, fruity flavour, that doesn’t diminish when frozen AND they stay chewy!

Win Win.

FF New Berry Fruits Ice Cream — **New Berry Fruits Ice Cream** so intensely fruity and delicious.

Each 100g box of New Berry Fruits contains 8 individual jelly sweets with a liquid centre and a crunchy, sugary coating.

These jelly fruits with the liquid centre are unbelievably good. Intensely fruity, chewy, hidden nectar in the centre. If you love sweets, you really need to try these.

As I am allergic to orange, I left them out of the ice cream. If you love orange they will totally work with all the other New Berry Fruits in the ice cream base that I’ve created.

To make this recipe you will need 2 boxes of New Berry Fruits. We are very honest here at Feasting is Fun, it is acceptable for one ~~or three~~ jellies to ‘go missing’ during the making of this New Berry Fruits Ice Cream. That’s all part of the fun and the ice cream will taste just as good.

You will also need both lemon and rose extract. You only need a little bit of each, however, they are what give this fruity ice cream it’s fantastic background flavour. I have other recipes that use the extracts, so it really is worth buying them. I only use Nielsen-Massey extracts and they are available in most major supermarkets as well as online.

Time to show you how to make this cooling, fruity treat.

Recipe: New Berry Fruits Ice Cream makes 750ml approx.

2 Boxes of New Berry Fruits

300ml/ 1/2pint Double Cream

300ml/ 1/2pint Milk – Whole or Semi Skimmed

1/4tsp Lemon Extract

1/4tsp Rose Extract

1tsp Vanilla Extract

4 Large Free Range Egg Yolks – the whites can be frozen for up to 1 month

1tsp Corn Flour – also known as corn starch

4tbsp Caster Sugar

Method: Ensure the cooling ‘bowl’ of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for at least 8 hours, ideally overnight, or as per manufacturer’s instructions.

Note: For photographic step by step instructions on how to make the custard base for the ice cream please see Very Vanilla Ice Cream.

Pour the milk and cream into a heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium heat.
Bring the liquid to scalding point – this is just before it boils, there will be a ring of bubbles that appear around the edge of the liquid. Once the bubbles appear remove from the heat.
Whilst the milk/cream is heating, into a large bowl add the egg yolks, corn flour, sugar and vanilla extract. Whisk until pale, thick and creamy.
With the mixer on slow, slowly add the scalded cream mixture to the egg mix, constantly mixing.
Tip the contents of the bowl back into the saucepan, over a low heat.
Stir until the custard ice cream base has thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon. The base is now cooked.
Pour the custard base through a sieve into a clean bowl – I generally quickly wash up the original bowl that I was using.
Cover the top of the custard base with cling film, so that it is in direct contact. This stops a skin from forming.

Allow the custard base to cool slightly and then chill in the fridge.
Once chilled add 1/4 teaspoon of both lemon and rose extract. Stir to mix.
Set up your ice cream maker and then pour in the custard base and switch the machine on.
Whilst the ice cream is churning and freezing, chop each New Berry Fruit into 4 pieces.

When the ice cream is thickly frozen, switch off the machine, remove the top and paddle and using a silicone spatula scoop the fruity flavoured ice cream into a freezer proof tub.
Add the chopped New Berry Fruits and stir with a spoon to distribute evenly throughout the ice cream.

Pop an air tight lid on to the tub and place in the freezer until frozen solid.
To serve remove the ice cream from the freezer 10-15 minutes prior to scooping this will allow it to soften a little.

This is a fun ice cream so scoop your New Berry Fruits Ice Cream into cones or waffle cups and enjoy the amazing flavours and chewy jellies.

Oh this New Berry Fruit Ice Cream is so berry, berry good! The fabulous fruity background flavour of the ice cream works beautifully with the intense bursts of fruity, chewy flavour.

New Berry Fruits are widely available online and at Waitrose.

If you have enjoyed this recipe for New Berry Fruits Ice Cream you may also enjoy these:

Lemon Ripple Ice Cream

Strawberry Ripple Ice Cream

Refreshing Tropical Fruit Sorbet

Fruity, delicious, homemade ice creams and sorbet. You know exactly what has gone into each batch you make. Perfect for those following a gluten free diet, just ensure that your corn flour is certified gluten free. Whilst the sorbet it is both gluten and dairy free.

If you haven’t ever tried making your own ice cream at home, I hope I’ve encouraged you to have a go. It is so much fun coming up with new flavour combinations. I really wouldn’t be without my Andrew James Which Best Buy, ice cream maker. I’ve said before that an appliance has to earn it’s place in my kitchen. This summer alone I must have made 30 plus new ice cream recipes. Not all are on here – yet 😉!

Sammie xx

Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake

Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake, the softest chocolate fudge cake, draped in a chocolate fudge icing and adorned with chocolate caramel biscuit balls.

Do you ever dream of chocolate? I do! While making and then tasting this recipe there was only one name that fitted the incredible flavour, taste and texture experience, that is this Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake.

FF Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake — **Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake** every bit as good as it looks.

So, this incredibly tasty cake was made using Wright’s Baking Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix. Alternatively, there’s a link in the recipe below for a great chocolate cake made from scratch.

Also, I love to have a few Wright’s Baking Mixes on hand, especially for days like today.

Getting Back To Baking

Having just spent 2 whole days, floored by the monster of all migraines, today I was able to get up. So, if you too suffer with migraines, you may find this helpful Migraine Not Always Sunshine And Roses.

My therapy, comfort and pleasure is to bake and cook. Yet baking a cake, from scratch today was beyond me. So instead I used my trustworthy packet mix to create this Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake.

And yes, you may thinks I’m nuts, wanting to bake after spending the weekend in pain, in bed, with the curtains closed. For me though, being in the kitchen is freeing. Since my creativity is allowed to run wild. And for the record I had absolutely no idea if I could pull off the icing, yet that’s part of the thrill. If it hadn’t of worked I’d have switched to plan B.

A Dreamy Chocolate Cake

Ooh this cake is good.

Really, really good.

So, if you have a boyfriend/girlfriend and you want to impress them, I mean I’m not guaranteeing a marriage proposal, but, this is the cake you need to make them, or anyone you know who loves really good chocolate cake, that you simply want to treat.

And as I have said it before and I’ll say it again the Wright’s Baking Mixes that I’ve used taste like homemade. In fact I’m already wondering how I can make a cake this delicious from scratch, because at the moment I don’t have a recipe to match this. Probably the closest recipe, would be my Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake.

So I found these new McVities Digestive Caramel Nibbles and they work perfectly on the cake. The contrast between soft fudgey cake/icing and crunchy biscuit balls is fabulous, however, if you can’t get hold of them I’d suggest Malteser’s or Minstrel’s. Since both would work well with the flavour of the cake and give that additional crunch!

Recipe: Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake serves 8-10

Oil or melted butter to grease the tin -approx 2 tablespoons – I used melted butter

1 Packet Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix from Wright’s Baking – alternatively use this recipe for Chocolate Fudge Bundt Cake

60ml Melted Butter or Vegetable Oil – I use melted unsalted butter

200ml Water

For the Chocolate Fudge Icing:

4 Packets of Rolo’s

100g Dark Chocolate

100ml Double Cream

To Decorate:

1 Packet Digestive Caramel Biscuit Balls from McVities

Alternatively use Maltesers, chocolate sprinkles, or whatever you fancy!

Method: Preheat the oven to 160C/140C fan gas mark 3, 325F

Making The Cake Batter

I use a silicone Bundt style mould, you can use a standard 20cm/8″ round cake tin.

First of all, grease your mould/tin well. I prefer to use melted butter and apply it with a pastry brush.
Place the silicone mould on to a baking tray for stability.
In a large bowl add the water, oil and cake mix and whisk according to the packet instructions.
Pour the smooth, chocolate cake batter into the prepared mould/tin, wiping away any splashes or spills.

Baking The Chocolate Cake

Place the cake into the middle of the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes.
Check the cake at 45 minutes. The cake is baked when an inserted skewer comes out clean. My cake took 50 minutes to bake.
As soon as the cake is baked remove from the oven an allow to cool in the mould/tin for 10 minutes.
Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

To make the Chocolate Fudge Icing:

Place a small saucepan with an inch of water in the bottom over a medium heat.
Place a heatproof, I use Pyrex, bowl on top of the saucepan ensuring that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.
Add the Rolo’s, chocolate and cream to the bowl.
Stir until you have a melted, glossy chocolate fudge icing.

Covering The Cake In Icing

Place the cake on a rack that fits over a clean baking tray. The idea being that as the icing drips through to the tray it can be scooped up with a spoon and poured back over the cake.
Start at the centre of the cake, evenly spooning the thick, fudgey icing around the middle and gradually turning the cake to ensure little air holes, that appear, are covered.
Continue spooning the icing around the cake – I actually turn the whole tray/rack around so that I can get a clear view.
When all the icing from the bowl has been used the cake should be 3/4 covered.
Scoop the remaining icing from the tray underneath the cake – you should be able to slide the cooling rack along the tray – spooning the remaining icing over the last remaining parts of exposed cake.
Allow the cake, once covered to sit on the rack for 10 minutes, you’ll be surprised how the definition of the swirls become visible again.

Decorating The Cake

Use 2 flat implements, for example a fish slice and palette knife, to transfer the cake to a plate or cake board.
Again, starting in the centre and take care to keep to the symmetry of the mould, add the caramel biscuit balls. Since I prefer to complete the centre then decorate each swirl.

Finally, the cake is ready to serve straight away, although it can also be chilled for a thicker, denser ganache finish. Although I wasn’t prepared to wait! While the only thing this cake needs is a good cup of tea to accompany it, ooh and preferably the love of your life, or family and friends to share it with.

Unless you’ve had a really, really bad day!

If you have enjoyed this recipe for Dreamy Chocolate Fudge Cake then you may like these:

Swirl Lime Drizzle Cake

White Chocolate Swirl Fudge Cake

Black Forest Giant Doughnut

I love how making a cake feels like a feast. Because it always feels like a celebration, even if you are having it for Afternoon Tea on a Sunday.

Whatever you are making, baking and creating in your kitchens, have fun and remember food always tastes better when it is shared!

Sammie xx

Wright’s Baking provided me with the mix to make this cake. All content, views, opinions, photographs and recipes are my own. I was not paid to write this post. Please see my Disclosure Policy.

Mascarpone Topped Carrot Cake

Mascarpone Topped Carrot Cake, moist, cinnamon spiced carrot cake, with added walnuts for crunch and sultanas for sweetness. Finished with a lemon scented mascarpone cream cheese and walnuts.

What To Do When A Cake Craving Hits

When I crave cake, I really, really C R A V E it!

There are two important points to note:

First of all I rarely crave cake, maybe once or twice a year – but when I do I have to have it.

Secondly, without exception it HAS to be homemade. Too often I have been let down by supermarket copies, or bakery flops. And the only way to satisfy my craving is to bake the cake myself!

Yesterday, the craving hit for carrot cake. I’d been struggling with a migraine all day and wanted to snuggle under the duvet until the pain had passed. Yet during a brief respite in the afternoon I whipped up this Mascarpone Topped Carrot Cake in less than 10 minutes.

I have dozens of cookbooks and even have a Crazy Caramel Carrot Cake recipe on here, but in all honesty I didn’t have the patience to trawl through them deciding which cake to make. Because I knew the flavours I wanted to taste in my head I created the recipe as I went along. Fortunately having baked a lot of cakes I did have a rough idea of proportions.

Creating This Mascarpone Topped Carrot Cake Recipe

From memory I recalled baking a carrot cake with our youngest daughter, following a school recipe book method. Except all I could remember was that the recipe used oil! And because I love the flavour that butter imparts to a moist cake, I added both!

The need for walnuts, both flavour and crunchy texture was prevailent, so I made some walnut flour to boost the nutty flavour within the cake. It’s so easy, just toast the walnuts to bring out their flavour and either pulse in a food processor or use a mini chopper to achieve the desired result. Think ground almonds and you’re spot on.

One of the big problems I find with shop bough carrot cakes is that they are simply too sweet. I’m not talking the frosting or icing, the actual cake itself. Carrots are an inherently sweet vegetable, sultanas plump up and provide natural sweetness, why dump loads of extra sugar in the recipe? Don’t get me wrong there is sugar in this cake. It is there to add sweetness in balance with the other ingredients.

Can you tell that I’m really picky about my carrot cake 😉

Recipe: Mascarpone Topped Carrot Cake serve 8-10

100g/4oz Unsalted Butter plus a little extra for greasing the tin.

50g/2oz Sunflower Oil

1tsp Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen Massey

150g/5oz Light Soft Brown Sugar

1/4tsp Salt – I use Maldon

3 Large Free Range Eggs

150g/5oz Plain White Flour

50g/2oz Walnut Flour – walnuts chopped in a food processor or mini chopper until flour like consistency

2tsp Baking Powder

2tsp Cinnamon

150g/5oz Grated Carrot

50g/2oz Walnut Pieces – plus extra halves for topping the cake (approx 10)

75g/3oz Sultanas

375g Mascarpone Cheese

2tbsp Icing Sugar – sifted

1/2tsp Lemon Extract – Vanilla Extract can be substituted

Method: Preheat the oven at 180C/160C fan, gas mark 4, 350F.

Making And Baking The Carrot Cake

Grease and line the base of loaf tin with baking parchment.
Place all of the walnuts into a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Shake the pan occasionally and remove from the heat when you can smell the walnuts – approx 3-5 minutes. Tip the walnuts on to a tray so they can cool.
In a large bowl add the butter and microwave on low until just melted.
Add in the sunflower oil, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Whisk for 5 minutes.
Next add all 3 eggs. Continue whisking on high for a further 2 minutes. You want the liquid mixture to be very light and frothy.
Prepare the 50g of walnut flour by chopping in a mini chopper, or pulsing in a food processor.
Add the walnut flour, plain flour, cinnamon and baking powder to the bowl.
Next add the grated carrots, sultanas and 50g of walnut pieces to the bowl.

Using a metal spoon fold all of the cake ingredients together until they are fully mixed, taking care not to over mix the batter.
Tip the cake batter into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top.

Place the cake tin in the centre of the oven and bake for approximately 1 1/2 hours, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
As soon as the cake is baked remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes.
Gently go around the outside rim of the cake with a palette knife to ensure no part of the cake has stuck to the tin.
Tip the cake out, removing the base layer of baking parchment and allow to fully cool on a cooling rack.

FF Mascarpone Topped a Carrot Cake — Beautifully scented carrot cake cooling.

Making the Mascapone Topping

In a bowl add the mascarpone cream cheese, sifted icing sugar and lemon extract (vanilla if you do not have lemon).
Whisk on a high speed for 3 minutes until the mascarpone is light and fluffy.
Dollop the mascarpone cheese on top of the cold carrot cake.
Using a palette knife spread the mascarpone so that it evenly covers the top of the cake. you can leave the topping smooth or create a pattern with the palette knife.

Adorn the top of the cake with the saved walnut halves and your Mascarpone Topped Carrot Cake is complete.

How To Enjoy This Cake At It’s Best

My suggestion for serving, is, to chill the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes – somehow it just seems to pull the cake together as one and set it – if you can’t wait, don’t worry.

Slice and enjoy with a delightful cup of afternoon tea, preferably made in a pot, it gives the leaves time to release their flavour as well as colour.

I love this pretty tea-for-one set that my hubby bought me for our anniversary. It really does turn a simple slice of cake and cup of tea into a sumptuous afternoon feast.

The Mascarpone Topped Cream Cake absolutely satisfied my cravings. The tiny hint of lemon in the mascarpone is very subtle and works with the nutty, fruity, spiced cake. This may very well be one of THE very best recipes I have come up with so far!

No I’m not egotistical, in fact the very opposite. So many recipes do not make it on to Feasting is Fun as they aren’t good enough. Also considering I wasn’t at my best, physically, this cake hits all the right spots. Spiced, crunchy, moist, fruity without tasting like a fruit cake.

If you have enjoyed the recipe for this Mascarpone Topped Carrot Cake you may also enjoy these:

Classic Coffee & Walnut Cake

Double Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake

Loveliest Lemon Curd Cake

Any of these delicious cakes would make a wonderful gift to new neighbours, friends who have moved home, even bereaved families. Although taking cake to those struggling with grief isn’t necessarily for them to eat. Rather it’s likely they will have endless visitors wishing to pay their respects. And a slice of cake, that someone has thoughtfully made, served with a cup of tea, may just make the visits more bearable.

The walnuts used in this recipe come from a a very dear friend who has a walnut tree in her garden. Sadly my dearest friend passed away a few months ago. Yet making this cake, or cooking using either things she bought me, or those her family have kindly given me, has, in some way, made her passing easier.

Everytime I use her cutters, cake stand, dragee balls or a myriad of other everyday kitchen items, I feel close to her. Whether it’s the memory of her laugh, tinkling across the gardens mid afternoon, or how we finished each other’s sentences. And she truly was the very best of people who lived her life to the full, despite becoming a widow at too young an age. Pat was the Green Goddess, my chief taste tester.

So this post is dedicated to her and the love she had for people. Because life is not about what we do. It is not about who we love. Rather it is indeed about those whose hearts we touch. How much we are loved in return. Please see Important Stuff.

Sammie xx

Refreshing Tropical Fruit Sorbet

The smell of Summer. Sun tan lotion, seaside air and luscious seasonal fruits. Ok, I accept that the fruits in this Refreshing Tropical Fruit Sorbet are not necessarily grown in this country, although they are cheaper and more readily available during the summer.

Making your own Refreshing Tropical Fruit Sorbet is so worth it. Forget about the adverts telling you that ‘you’re worth it’ this is a delicious, good for you treat, that tastes of fruit heaven!

The marriage between the flavours will make your tastebuds sing in harmony.

There are a couple of steps needed to prepare the fruit for this sorbet, but they are absolutely worth it to extract every drop of flavour from the fruit.

Once the fruit is prepped it is then cooked for a short time. This breaks down the pineapple and separates the passionfruit seeds from their surrounding juice. The cooked fruit mixture is then sieved, to remove the very crunchy seeds. A quick whizz with an immersion blender, or liquidiser, cool and your sorbet is ready to be churned.

This sorbet tastes of Summer. Light, intensely fruity, sweet – but not overly so and with a colour to brighten the dullest of days.

A light dessert or a delightful palette cleanser between courses for a more formal meal.

The mangos I bought for this recipe spent a few days on our sunny lounge window ledge ripening up, in fact they were warm when I prepared them. The passionfruit were smooth skinned when bought and ripened to a prune-like wrinkling of the skin. To test if a pineapple is ripe I suggest smelling it. If it smells of pineapple then it’s ripe.

Recipe: Makes 1L Refreshing Tropical Fruit Sorbet

6 Passion Fruit

2 Large Mango

1 Medium Pineapple

400mls Water

100g/4oz Sugar

Optional – see note at the end – Orange Blossom Water 1/4tsp – I suggest Nielsen-Massey

Method: Ensure the frozen compartment of your ice cream maker has been in the deep freeze overnight or according to manufacturers instructions.

Scoop the contents of the 6 passion fruit into a large heavy based saucepan. Squeezing the empty skins to ensure every drop of precious juice is used.
Next prepare the mangos. Cut down either side of the central stone, you will have three pieces. Take a fleshy side of the mango and score into three pieces using a sharp knife. With the blade flat to the skin, run the knife along each third, releasing a long slither of juicy, ripe mango. Repeat for the other side. Place the mango slices into the saucepan. Hold the central flesh and skin covered stone over the saucepan and squeeze as hard as you can. Scrape all of the pulp and juice from your hand into the pan.
Prepare the pineapple by cutting off the green spiky top and the flat base. Cut the pineapple into half and then divide each half into 3 sections. Cut down the outside of the central hard core – it will be the point of the pineapple. As with the mango, lay the blade flat between the fruit and the skin and slice to separate the two. Chop the pineapple into large chunks and add to the saucepan. Squeeze the skin and the hard core pieces over the saucepan to extracte as much juice as possible.
Pour the water over the fruit.
Add the sugar and turn the heat on to high under the pan.

Once the contents of the pan have started to bubble reduce the heat to medium, keep an eye on the fruit to ensure it doesn’t boil over.
Continue cooking for 20 minutes.
Carefully remove a spoonful of liquid from the saucepan, allow to cool and taste. The flavour should be pure fruit, not watered down and not super sweet – just as if you had eaten a slice of ripe mango. If the flavour is a little weak, continue cooking for a further 10 minutes and taste again.
When you are happy with the tropical fruit flavour, remove the saucepan from the heat.
Place a sieve over a large bowl.
Carefully pour the hot fruit mixture into the bowl through the sieve.

Using a strong dessert spoon press all of the fruit through the sieve. Occasionally clearing the underside of the sieve with a clean spoon, so that all the fruit pulp and juice goes into the bowl below.
This takes about 10 minutes to get it to this stage.

I did taste the remaining pulp and although crunchy it was pretty flavourless, that said you could still have it swirled through yoghurt for breakfast.
If you have an immersion blender or liquidiser, blend the resulting lumpy liquid until velvety smooth.
Place the bowl on a trivet, to aid cooling air circulation and cover with a net food tent, or cling film to stop flies having a taste!

Allow the sorbet liquid to cool and then place in the fridge to chill.
Once chilled set up your ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.
Transfer the sorbet liquid to a jug, this makes pouring the liquid into the frozen chamber much easier.
With the machine churning pour the sorbet liquid into the ice cream maker and churn until slushy like.
Stop the machine, remove the paddle and scoop/pour the slushy mixture into a freezer proof, resealable tub.

Pop the lid on and place in the deep freeze, generally I leave ice creams and sorbets overnight, until frozen through.

To serve, remove the sorbet from the freezer 15-20 minutes to allow to soften slightly.

For me, this is the perfect dessert after a hot spicy meal such as a curry or my Chunky Chilli. The cool, fruity sorbet, soothing on your tastebuds.

This is the perfect sorbet to make if you happen upon marked down fruit in the market or shops. It will keep for 3 months in the deep freeze and brighten a dull Winter’s day.

If you have enjoyed the recipe for my Refreshing Tropical Fruit Sorbet here are some others you may also like:

Strawberry Ripple Ice Cream

Dark Chocolate Chip Vanilla Ice Cream

Lemon Ripple Ice Cream

I love creating, experimenting, tasting and testing different recipes. If you love mangos but aren’t a fan of pineapple, add more mango and leave the pineapple out.

Being allergic to oranges, means I always have to double check when I buy anything labelled ‘tropical’. Making my own Refreshing Tropical Fruit Sorbet means I know exactly what has gone into it. By all means adjust the sugar quantity if your fruit is sweeter, or riper. That’s why it is important to taste the liquid from the pan, remembering all the flavours will be dulled slightly by the freezing process.

I hope I have inspired you to get creative in your kitchens. Cooking should be fun. Combining flavours, adding a little something here or there, I hope that you take my recipes, try them and then change them to suit your tastes. I very much suspect a drop or two of orange blossom water would work very well in this recipe. But then I’ll never know 😉

Sammie xx

Vanilla Fudge Chocolate Brownies

Who doesn’t love a delicious brownie? I know I do. So, when I received a small selection of fudge to try out, I knew where the vanilla version was heading, straight into these very tasty Vanilla Fudge Chocolate Brownies.

The Vanilla Fudge from Fudge Angels, is creamy with a definite vanilla taste, not just sweetened sugar and cream. So I kept with a deeply chocolate brownie recipe, allowing the fudge to ‘sing’ as it hits your tastebuds.

Also, I received a delicious Strawberry Pavlova Fudge, which was very popular with our eldest daughter, in truth a little too sweet for me, although it did leave a delightful strawberry flavour in my mouth. In contrast, the Smooth Ginger Fudge was delicious. So, if you love ginger, which I do, then you will enjoy this fudge. I can imagine using it in some ginger cookies, if I don’t snaffle it all beforehand!

These Vanilla Fudge Chocolate Brownies are perfectly delicious on their own.

However, here at Feasting is Fun, I wanted to turn them into a fantastic dessert.

Brownies And Ice Cream – A Great Dessert Combo

What goes better with brownies than ice cream. And not any ice cream, one created to perfectly compliment the flavours found within these Vanilla Fudge Brownies, Dark Chocolate Chip Vanilla Ice Cream.

See how good I am to you!

While they are both perfectly delicious on their own, bring them together and we have a taste bud party starting baby 😉

Such an easy traybake, turned into a jaw dropping, beautiful dessert!

Finally, a drizzle of white chocolate on top of the brownies echoes the flavours of the vanilla fudge within. So you can be assured, if you have no desire to make your own ice cream, that the brownies are still, one hundred per cent, top class.

Our youngest daughter gave these a 10!

I wish there was a way of putting that in BIG FLASHING LIGHTS. Because she rarely awards a 10 for my efforts. I am literally cock-a-hoop with joy.

Did I mention the 10?

Ok I’ll leave it for now.

TEN OUT OF TEN – yup I’m done 😉

Also, something else I should tell you before you make these, is that all the preparation, mixing etc. is carried out in a saucepan. And (I know your not supposed to start sentences with and – but I got a 10!!!), you line the swiss roll tin with foil, so there is very little clean up.

You’re welcome xx.

Recipe: Makes 15 Vanilla Fudge Chocolate Brownies

275g/10oz Dark Brown Muscavado Sugar

150g/5oz Unsalted Butter

50g/2oz Cocoa Powder

150g/5oz Plain White Flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/4tsp Salt – I use Maldon

1tsp Vanilla Bean Extract or Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen-Massey

4 Large Free Range Eggs

100g/4oz Vanilla Fudge – from Fudge Angels

50g/2oz White Chocolate for drizzling over the top

Making The Vanilla Fudge Chocolate Brownies

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan, gas mark 4, 350F.

First of all, line a 28cm x 20cm x 5 cm (12″ x 8″ x 2″) swiss roll tin with aluminium foil.
Place the butter, sugar and salt into a large heavy bottomed saucepan, over a medium heat.
Gently melt the butter and sugar together, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until melted.
Move the saucepan from the heat and add the cocoa powder. Stir in immediately and the cocoa will combine easily with the melted sugar and butter.
Add the flour and bicarb and mix in.
Crack the eggs into a jug and add the vanilla bean paste. Beat lightly with a fork to combine.
Pour the egg mixture into the warm chocolate mix in the saucepan stirring constantly. Don’t worry everything will come together into a smooth batter.
Tip the brownie batter into the foil lined swiss roll tin.
Lift the tin and rap it hard against the worktop a couple of times. This brings any bubbles within the batter to the surface – remember brownies aren’t cake, so we want to encourage density in the bake.
Break off small pieces of the vanilla fudge and dot them on to the top of the uncooked brownie.

Baking The Brownies

Place the brownies in the centre of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Halfway through the cooking time, open the oven and rap the tin against the oven shelf. Again this stops the brownies from rising and becoming cake like.
The brownies are cooked when the surface has a sugary sheen and has a very slight wobble in the centre.
As soon as they are baked remove the Vanilla Fudge Chocolate Brownies from the oven.

Allow the brownie to completely cool in the tin. I actually left this brownie, once cooled, wrapped in foil for 2 days post baking, due to illness and it kept beautifully.
As soon as they are cooled remove the big slab of brownie from the tin and place on to a board.
Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate in the microwave, taking care not to overheat it.
Pour the melted chocolate into a small, disposable piping bag. Snip the very end off to create a small hole.
Drizzle or pipe the top of the brownie slab, however you like, with the melted chocolate.
Finally, place the brownie to one side to set. In very warm weather pop the bake into the fridge to allow the chocolate to set.

To serve, use a pallet knife to slide beneath the base of the brownies and the foil. This ensures that any fudge at the bottom of the brownies sticks to the brownies, not the foil!

Serve the brownies as they are or with a delicious scoop of ice cream on top.

An easy traybake transformed into an elegant dessert.

If you have enjoyed this recipe for Vanilla Fudge Chocolate Brownies you may also like these:

Blackberry Nectarine Tart

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Bites

Almond Blackberry Pear Crumble

I love dual purpose bakes. For example, creating these delicious brownies and then turning them into a fabulous dessert. And with the weather looking good for a few days, why not have a go at making your own ice cream? So, you too can adorn your delicious bakes with homemade ice cream too. Because Feasting really is Fun!

So, whatever you are making, baking and creating in your kitchens, have fun preparing and sharing your feast.

Sammie xx

Fudge Angels sent me 3 different types of flavoured fudge to try. All opinions, views, content and photographs are my own. Please see my Disclosure Policy.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut

Ooh this Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut has been made twice now, once using regular flour and then using gluten free flour. Nobody could tell the difference! Delicious, light vanilla sponge, sandwiched with strawberry jam, whipped cream and topped with chocolate piped strawberries.

Piping the strawberries with white and dark chocolate takes this cake to the next level in terms of prettiness. That said, beautiful, lush summer strawberries, left un piped would still look fabulous.

FF Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut — **Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut** such a pretty cake.

Having made this cake with both whipped cream and whipped buttercream, I have to say we all preferred the whipped cream. I have given quantities for buttercream in the recipe for those who prefer it.

I don’t know about you, but I love making the most of our delicious, homegrown, seasonal strawberries in summer. Yes I am guilty of buying the occasional punnet of imported ones during the colder months. With the invention of poly tunnels and huge greenhouses, we are increasingly able to buy British grown berries over a longer period. Thank you farmers!

Large, baked doughnut filled with whipped cream and decorated with chocolate strawberries. — Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut

Going Gluten Free

As you can see from the photographs there is no real visual difference between the gluten free and regular Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut. Only the size of the strawberries! The ones in the photo above were huge, which made them easier to pipe. Whereas the smaller ones were more tricky. If possible choose longer strawberries as they look more effective with the piping on. That said, I’d definitely choose flavour over size any day. The strawberries above may have been big, but they were also utterly delicious!

How do I tell if they are going to taste good? I smell them. If the punnet smells of warm summer strawberries they will taste delicious, however, if you can barely detect that delicious strawberry smell, move on as they will be bland.

Both of these giant doughnuts were made to go with afternoon tea and they were a huge hit. So, whether you are on a restricted diet or not, you can make this Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut and feast!

Recipe: Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut serves 8-10

225g/8oz Plain White Flour – or gluten free flour I used Doves Farm

2tsp Baking Powder – ensure certified gluten free

225g/8oz Unsalted Butter at room temperature – plus a little extra for greasing the silicone doughnut moulds.

225g/8oz Caster Sugar

1/4tsp Salt I use Maldon

5 Large Free Range Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Bean Paste – or Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen-Massey

10 Good Quality Strawberries

2tbsp Good Quality Strawberry Jam – I used Hartleys Best Strawberry Jam

300mls Cold Double Cream – alternatively for buttercream use 300g/11oz icing sugar and 150g/5oz butter and a drop of vanilla extract

50g/2oz White Chocolate

50g/2oz Dark Chocolate

Optional – edible glitter

Method: Preheat the oven to 160C/140C fan, gas mark 3

Making The Cake Batter And Baking The Doughnut

Grease both the silicone doughnut moulds thoroughly with butter. Place on a large baking tray.
Into a large bowl add the butter, sugar and salt.
Whisk/beat for a good few minutes – 5 minutes ideally – until pale and creamy.
Add in the vanilla bean paste (or extract) and beat until incorporated.
Next add all 5 eggs. Continue whisking/beating until the mixture is pale and creamy. If the mix looks as though it has split (curdled) add 1 tablespoon of the weighed flour, continue mixing and it will pull back together.
Sift in the flour (gluten free or regular) and the baking powder.
Fold in the flour until just combined.
Divide the batter equally between the 2 doughnut moulds.

These silicone doughnut moulds from Lakeland are so easy to use.

Place the baking tray into the centre of the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.
The sponge is baked when it is a golden colour and springs back when lightly pressed – note – the gluten free doughnut was slightly paler than the regular doughnut, this is nothing to worry about.
As soon as they are baked remove the baking tray from the oven and allow the doughnuts to cool for 10 minutes before turning them out on to a cooling rack.

Filling And Decorating The Doughnut

Whilst the doughnut’s are cooling, break up the white and dark chocolate and place into separate heatproof, microwaveable bowls. Zap until just melting and stir until completely melted. Fill 2 small disposable piping bags with each melted chocolate. Snip off the very end, leaving a small hole. Place the strawberries on baking parchment or a silicone mat placed on a baking tray (helpful if you need to move them). Pipe some with white chocolate zig zags and others the same using dark chocolate. Allow to set, in hot weather pop in the fridge for a few minutes to set.
When completely cooled place one doughnut half, flat side up on to a board or plate.
Whisk the cream (or icing sugar/butter/vanilla) until it holds its shape (or until the buttercream is pale and creamy).
Spoon the strawberry jam on to the base of the doughnut and spread so that it almost reaches the edges.
Fill a disposable piping bag, fitted with a large star tip, with the cream/buttercream.
Pipe some cream on top of the jam.

Place the other half of the doughnut, flat side down, on top of the base.
Pipe swirls of cream/buttercream around the doughnut and then pipe stars around the centre, on the side.
Top the swirls with chocolate piped strawberries and sprinkle with edible glitter.

Serving The Giant Doughnut

Make sure you take a photo of your beautiful Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut, as once it is assembled I can guarantee that it will not last long!

I have specified more strawberries in the recipe than you see on the cake. This is so that everyone gets a delicious, chocolate piped strawberry with their slice.

Served with a proper cup of tea, I can think of no better way than feasting on this delicious treat any afternoon.

I bought the giant doughnut silicone mould from Lakeland at a silly price in the sale. That said, they are so much fun, I’d happily pay full price for one!

If you have enjoyed the recipe for Strawberry Whipped Cream Giant Doughnut then you may like these too:

Raspberry and Cream Giant Doughnut

Black Forest Giant Doughnut

Loveliest Lemon Curd Cake

The idea of Afternoon Tea really appeals to me. Even if I can’t be fussed to make finger sandwiches and the like, making a treat for Sunday afternoon, where we sit down and enjoy as a family, is becoming a tradition.

Quite often I will bake the cake/giant doughnut on the Saturday, ready for icing the following day. We give a lot of the sweet treats that I make away. Primarily because as a family we love sharing, we are also conscious of our health too.

If you have family traditions I’d love to hear about them. Leave a comment for me to read in the comments section?

Whatever you are making, baking and creating in your kitchens, have fun preparing and sharing your feast.

Sammie xx

No part of this post may be reproduced or duplicated without the written permission of the owner. Please see my Disclosure Policy.

Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream

Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream. Silky, chocolate ice cream packed full of chocolate/caramel Rolos.

The idea for this recipe came from my friend and amazing fellow blogger Jane from Jane’s Patisserie. While creating the most wonderful recipes, she also has just got a new puppy called Rolo. So you see I had to create something to celebrate the new puppy Rolo coming home. Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream seemed the perfect solution.

This Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream recipe is so versatile. Once you have made the chocolate ice cream base you can add whatever you like. I rather like the idea of a Mars Bar version, with big chunks swirled through the ice cream.

I am loving my Andrew James Which Best Buy Ice Cream Maker. In fact I now have a second bowl, which I can pop in the freezer. This means I can either make one big double batch of the same ice cream or split it into two different flavours.

Making ice cream at home is easy, inexpensive, you have control over what goes in AND you are only limited by your imagination as to how many flavours you come up with! Someone asked me today why they’d never had Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream before, my answer was I’d only just invented it!!

Recipe: Makes 750ml Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream

300ml Double Cream

300ml Whole or Semi Skimmed Milk

4 Large Free Range Egg Yolks – freeze the whites in a bag for up to one month

1tsp Vanilla Bean Paste/Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen-Massey

1tsp Corn Flour – I use Doves Farm as it is certified gluten free

5tbsp Caster Sugar

100g Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa

4 Packets of Rolos

Method: Ensure the frozen bowl part of the ice cream maker has been in the freezer for at least 8 hours, or according to manufacturers instructions.

Note – for step by step photographs of how to make the custard base please see Very Vanilla Ice Cream

Making The Chocolate Ice Cream Base

Pour the milk and cream into a heavy based saucepan over a medium heat.
Heat until the milk is scalded – little bubbles will appear around the rim of the liquid just before it boils. Once it has reached this point remove from the heat.
In a large heat proof bowl add the egg yolks, vanilla paste, corn flour and sugar.
Whisk until pale and creamy.
With the whisk still running on low, slowly pour the hot cream mixture into the bowl – this creates the custard base.
Pour the custard base back into the saucepan, over a low-medium heat, stirring continuously.
When the custard has thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon remove the pan from the heat.
Chop up the dark chocolate and place into a clean bowl – I quickly rinse out the original bowl used.
Place a sieve over the bowl and pour the hot custard through the sieve on to the chocolate.
Stir the custard with a wooden spoon and the chocolate will melt into it.

FF Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream — Chocolate melting into the custard ice cream base.

Cover the chocolate custard base with cling film, so the film lays directly on the surface of the custard. This will stop a skin from forming.
Once cooled to warm on the work top place the bowl in the fridge to chill.
As soon as the base is chilled it is ready to be churned.

Churning The Ice Cream

Set up your ice cream maker as per the manufacturers instructions.
Mine has to be churning, prior to adding any liquid.
Pour the chocolate custard into the churning machine through the opening and leave to churn until frozen – for me that is when the ice cream is turning as one clump with the beater.
Switch the machine off and remove the top part of the ice cream maker.

Remove the beater, scraping off as much of the ice cream as you can. Then lick off the rest of the ice cream 😉
Decant the chocolate ice cream into a freezer proof tub.
Unwrap 3 packets of Rolos and cut each one in half.
Add to the ice cream and swirl through using the handle of a wooden spoon.
Unwrap the fourth packet and place the Rolos directly on top of the ice cream.

Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream ready for the freezer.

Pop on a tight fitting lid and place the Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream into the freezer for at least 4 hours, or until fully frozen.
To serve, remove the ice cream from the freezer 15-20 before scooping. As our delicious Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream doesn’t have any artificial softener, preservatives or additives added to it, it’ll need a few minutes to soften up.

Serve in cones, bowls or these fun cups I found.

Why not have a go at making your own ice cream at home. It really is so much fun.

If you have enjoyed this Chocolate Rolo Ice Cream Recipe here are a few more you may like:

Lemon Ripple Ice Cream

Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream

Blackberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

I hope these recipes have inspired you to make your own ice cream at home? It tastes so much better than most of the ice creams you can buy and you can create your own ice cream sundaes like my Raspberry Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae.

Whatever you are making, baking and creating in your kitchens this very warm weekend, here in the South East of England, have fun feasting with family and friends.

Sammie xx

No part of this post may be reproduced or duplicated without the written permission of the owner. Please see my Disclosure Policy.

Lemon Ripple Ice Cream

Lemon Ripple Ice Cream, this is THE ice cream I have wanted to make throughout my entire life. Creamy with tart lemon curd rippled through. If you love lemon, like I do, then trust me when I say you need to make this luscious ice cream.

This luscious Lemon Ripple Ice Cream really is a dream come true for me. I adore lemons. Also, I heard Jamie Oliver once say that if there weren’t lemons in his kitchen he’d give up cooking. I doubt he meant it quite to that extreme, but I do understand his passion for them.

Happily I use them in savoury recipes such as my Tangy Lemon Potato Salad and sweet recipes such as this delightful Lemony Strawberry Pavlova. Their flavour is so transferable between both sweet and savoury dishes.

FF Lemon Ripple Ice Cream — Lemon Ripple Ice Cream

Here, in this Lemon Ripple Ice Cream, there is a wonderful soft, creamy lemon background flavour, with bursts of tart, intense citrus lemon. The combination of both the subtle and vibrant creates a tastebud sensation that draws you into a dreamy world of lemony loveliness.

The Benefit Of Homemade Ice Cream

While you absolutely could eat this ice cream in a cone, for me, I wanted nothing to interrupt the pure creamy sensation of eating it with just a spoon. I wasn’t disappointed!

This Lemon Ripple Ice Cream is deceptively yummy. I feared whilst churning it yesterday in my new Andrew James Ice Cream Maker, that none would actually make it to the freezer. Happily I restrained myself. I am so glad that I did. Tasting it today, frozen, yet softened enough to scoop, was reward for my patience and restraint!

Just a quick note on ingredients; if you don’t have lemon extract, which is available online and in good supermarkets, don’t worry, the lemon curd added during the churning process will still provide a great lemon flavour. As for the lemon curd, use a good quality tart one, without bits. I love lemon curd with real peel in it, but this is not the place to use it.

Recipe: Makes 750ml Lemon Ripple Ice Cream

300ml Double Cream

300ml Whole or Semi Skimmed Milk

4 Large Free Range Egg Yolks

1tsp Corn Flour

1/8 tsp Salt – I use Maldon

6tbsp Caster Sugar

1tsp Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen Massey

1tsp Lemon Extract – I use Nielsen-Massey

300g Best Quality Lemon Curd – I used Waitrose new waitrose 1 lemon curd, it is beautifully tart

Method: Ensure the frozen ‘bowl’ of your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for 24 hours or according to the manufacturers instructions.

Note – For step by step photos of the custard base cooking process please see Very Vanilla Ice Cream

Making The Ice Cream Base

First of all pour the cream and milk into a large saucepan on a medium heat.
Heat until just before the liquid boils, you will see little bubbles form around the outside rim – this is known as the scalding point, once reached remove from the heat.
In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, extracts and corn flour until pale and thickened.
With the whisk still running on low, slowly pour the hot cream into the egg mixture.
Tip the entire mixture back into the saucepan, place over a medium/low heat stirring constantly until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove from the heat.
Pour the hot custard through a sieve into a large bowl.
Place cling film directly on to the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming.

Leave to cool and then chill in the fridge. Once chilled transfer to a jug.

Churning The Ice Cream Base And Adding The Lemon Ripple

Set up your ice cream maker and if it is like mine, it will need to be switched on and churning before pouring in the custard.
Pour in the custard through the shoot and leave to churn until softly frozen.
Add half of the lemon curd, I use a teaspoon and added it one teaspoon at a time, through the hole, so that it slowly becomes incorporated within the ice cream.
When the ice cream is soft but can hold its shape stop the ice cream maker.
Transfer the ice cream to a freezer proof tub.
Spoon the remaining lemon curd on to the ice cream.

Use a spoon to gently ripple the lemon curd through the ice cream.

Resist the urge to just dive in with a spoon, as this really tastes better once it is properly frozen.
Pop the lid on and place in the freezer for 12 hours or ideally overnight. Why ideally? Because then you’ll be asleep and not thinking about the ice cream.
To serve, remove the tub from the freezer 15 minutes before scooping to allow it to soften.

Serving And Enjoying Homemade Ice Cream

Serve scooped into elegant dessert bowls or enjoy in an ice cream cone. Either way prepare yourself to fall completely, head over heels in love, with a new flavour of ice cream – Lemon Ripple Ice Cream.

Lemon Ripple Ice Cream is very much a dreamily, creamy ice cream, not in any way a sorbet – which by the way I love and am working on a recipe.

This ice cream would make the perfect dessert after a spicy, hot meal. Refreshing, creamy and palette cleansing, yet you still feel like you’ve had dessert.

However and whenever you eat this delicious ice cream, be sure to enjoy it with others. Listen to the oohs and aahs of your loved ones enjoying something really, really good. It will make you smile 😀

If you have enjoyed this Lemon Ripple Ice Cream recipe here are some others that you may also want to try:

Strawberry Ripple Ice Cream

Chocolate Orange Ice Cream

Strawberry Rose Ice Cream

I love being able to create my own ice cream flavours at home. Having an ice cream maker makes it so easy. Preparing the custard takes 15 minutes, then the custard is left to cool. Churning takes about 20 minutes and you can eat the ice cream scooped from the ice cream maker, if you want a soft set ice cream. Otherwise overnight in the freezer and you have any flavour ice cream you like!

That can never be a bad thing eh???

Thank you for your comments, photos on social media, I absolutely love seeing your makes and bakes. It still thrills me every time someone uses one of my recipes.

Have fun feasting, sharing and making people smile.

Sammie xx

Andrew James provided me with an ice cream maker to review. All views, opinions, content, recipes and photographs are my own. Please see my Disclosure Policy.

Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream

This delicious Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream is increadible. Creamy chocolate ice cream with crumbled chunks and golden dust from Cadbury’s Crunchie Bars.

Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream enjoyed in delicious Toffee Cookie Cups.

This chocolate based ice cream is incredibly smooth, punctuated by delicious, toffee flavoured honeycomb pieces of different sizes. Perfect in cones, scooped into bowls or even Cookie Cups (watch out for the upcoming post).

Truthfully I find Crunchie bars just a bit too sweet for my tastebuds, yet in this dreamy ice cream their flavour is dulled, by being frozen and the result is a stronger toffee, less sweet, flavour. Scooped into these Toffee Cookie Cups using Wright’s Baking new mix and the flavours work incredibly well together.

Summer is definitely the season for ice cream. True it can be eaten throughout the year, in fact hot custard and cold ice cream served with a warming dessert is one of my favourite ways to enjoy it, especially in the Winter. There’s something about the hot and cold together that I love. It is not unusual for me to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with ice cream in a cone!

This Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream took less time than usual, approximately 15 minutes, to soften once removed from the freezer.

Homemade ice creams, in general, freeze more firmly than the mass produced version. Without additives to soften them, you may have to wait a few minutes, but I think homemade ice cream is definitely worth the wait. Knowing what goes into our food helps us make healthier choices. I am not for one moment saying that eating a whole tub full of ice cream is good for you, far from it, simply that having made it yourself, you are more likely to be satisfied with a smaller portion.

One scoop of this Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream in these Cookie Cups was plenty. The ice cream was savoured – as were the Cookie Cups!

Recipe: Makes 750ml Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream

300ml Double Cream

300ml Whole or Semi Skimmed Milk

4 Large Free Range Egg Yolks – the egg whites can be frozen for up to one month – I use zip lock freezer bags

6tbsp Caster Sugar

1tsp Corn Flour

1tsp Vanilla Extract – I used Nielsen-Massey

125g Milk Chocolate – I used Callebaut

4 Cadbury’s Crunchie Bars

Method:

For step by step photographic instructions please see Very Vanilla Ice Cream

Place the cream and milk into a large, heavy bottomed saucepan. Place over a medium heat until bubbles form around the outside rim, before the liquid boils. This is called the scalding point. Remove from the heat.
In a large bowl add the egg yolks, caster sugar, corn flour and vanilla extract.
Whisk until pale and thickened.
With the whisk on low, pour the scalded cream mixture slowly into the whisked eggs. This is called the custard base.
Pour the custard base back into the saucepan and cook over a medium heat until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove the custard from the heat.
In a clean bowl add the milk chocolate.
Pour the custard base through a sieve on top of the milk chocolate.

Once the custard is in the bowl, remove the sieve and stir the custard so that the melted chocolate incorporates and melts into the custard.

Cover the top of the custard with cling film, so that is is in contact with the liquid. This will stop a skin from forming.
Once cooled slightly chill the custard in the fridge.
Once chilled, set up your ice cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions.
Churn the chocolate ice cream until it is softly frozen.
Crumble up 2 Crunchie bars and place in the bottom of the freezer proof tub to be used for the ice cream.

Scoop the soft chocolate ice cream into the freezer tub.
Break up another 2 Crunchie bars. Add one to the tub and stir to mix, then crumble the second on to the top of the Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream.

Pop on an airtight lid and place the ice cream in the freezer to firm up.

Remove the container from the freezer 15 minutes prior to serving.

Ice Creams are a great barbecue dessert, when it’s hot and everyone needs cooling down. I have also be known to serve up ice cream smoothies such as Raspberry and Banana Ice Cream Smoothies, for breakfast, after a sleepover, in the middle of August when the weather is hot and stuffy.

If you have enjoyed this recipe for Chocolate Honeycomb Ice Cream then you may also like these:

Blackberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Chocolate Orange Ice Cream

Strawberry Ripple Ice Cream

Life for me and us as a family is all about balance. I am unwilling, although I did try for a why, to eat entirely local, organic, free from additives food. I appreciate that for some people, this is not a choice they have. Rather our meat and fish is organic, we are attempting to grow some vegetables this year at home – without the use of pesticides and our meals are generally cooked from scratch.

This is a personal choice and I absolutely do not stand in judgement of others that choose differently. Baking our own bread is a pleasure and after the smell of ‘plastic bread’ I’m not sure I could go back to shop bought. Yet when out and about we will eat at cafes without always thinking of the food’s origins.

Personally I know from experience that my body functions and feels better when it is fuelled with plenty of fruit and veg. On holiday one year when I was younger I craved salad! Travelling across Europe with a vegetarian friend proved extremely difficult to eat regularly, let alone healthily.

Making one small change can have a massive impact. Ours was to eat only additive free, organic if possible, meat and fish. We eat meat, yet we want the animals we consume to live a good, healthy, happy life. Since being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia I have also become increasing aware of how medicated some farm animals can be. So I’m also looking after my health and the health of our family.

A recent report (sorry I’ve lost its origins) suggested that people who cook for themselves tend to not diet and generally have stable weight. I can attest to having had relatively stable weight over the years and I have always cooked dinner, even when I lived on my own. I hope this doesn’t sound preachy? It isn’t meant to.

Feasting is Fun is just that. Making every meal count – a feast and having fun whilst preparing and enjoying your meal/dessert/drink.

Sammie xx

Chocolate Orange Ice Cream

Finally, Summer is finally here. And I hope the sun shines throughout the day and any necessary rain falls at night! I’m loving using my new Which Best Buy Andrew James Ice Cream Maker to create as many different flavoured ice creams as I can think of. Because there are lots and lots of them. This Chocolate Orange Ice Cream is my son’s idea of food heaven.

Our not so little man, more teenage strapping lad, adores Jaffa Cakes, so when Sugar and Crumbs sent me some of their Jaffa Twist Icing Powder as a gift, with an order I’d placed, I knew exactly what I was going to make with it. Can you imagine how great it felt to have my son hug me and say “Mum this ice cream tastes just like Jaffa Cakes”?

He had absolutely no idea what ingredients I’d used, which is rare as he loves being in the kitchen cooking alongside me. So 10 out of 10 for Sugar and Crumbs in the flavour department. Also, I used a Lindt Intense Orange Chocolate Bar to create a chocolate ganache ripple that runs through the Chocolate Orange Ice Cream.

Pinterest sized image. — Chocolate Orange Ice Cream

Why An Ice Cream Maker Is Worth The Space In Our Kitchens

Making the chocolate orange custard was simple, I simply switched the caster sugar for Jaffa Twist Icing Sugar. Churning the Chocolate Orange Ice Cream in an ice cream maker ensures that the finished product is silky smooth, the result of smaller ice crystals forming during the churning process. For around £25 it really is a worthwhile investment.

I am thrilled with the Which Best Buy Ice Cream Maker from Andrew James. It’s really straightforward to use & more importantly, from past experience, clean! It’s actually faster at freezing the ice cream than my old model & the freezing bowl takes up very little space in our freezer. If you are looking to purchase an ice cream machine, I thoroughly recommend this one.

FF Chocolate Orange Ice Cream — **Chocolate Orange Ice Cream** elegant enough for entertaining.

If you wanted to add a splash – tablespoon or two of your favourite orange liquer, the result would be a slightly softer set ice cream that is perfect served in pretty bowls, for dessert, when entertaining. Or alternatively you could reserve the chocolate ganache and pour whilst still warm over the cold Chocolate Orange Ice Cream. See with homemade ice cream the possibilities really are limitless!

Scoops of ice cream in a decorative glass bowl. — Chocolate Orange Ice Cream

Served in bowls or scooped into cones this Chocolate Orange Ice Cream is sure to be a huge hit with all Chocolate Orange lovers.

Recipe: Makes 750ml Chocolate Orange Ice Cream

400ml Double Cream

300ml Milk – whole or semi-skimmed

4 Large Free Range Egg Yolks – the whites can be frozen for 1 month – ideal to make my Lemony Strawberry Pavlova

6tbsp Jaffa Twist Icing Sugar by Sugar and Crumbs alternatively use 6tbsp of caster sugar (super fine sugar) and add 3tbsp Cocoa Powder 1/2tsp orange extract

1tsp Corn Flour – I use Doves Farm as it is certified gluten free

1/2tsp Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen-Massey

100g Bar Lindt Intense Orange Chocolate Bar

Method: Place the freezing compartment of your ice cream maker into the freezer 24 hours prior to making this recipe.

Note: For photographic step by step instructions please see Very Vanilla Ice Cream

Making The Chocolate Orange Ice Cream Base

In a large heavy bottomed saucepan add the milk, 300mls of the double cream and the vanilla extract. Heat on medium until the milk is scalded – it has not yet boiled and little bubbles appear around the rim – remove from the heat at this stage.
In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, flavoured icing sugar (or cocoa powder and orange extract) and corn flour, until pale and thickened.
As soon as the cream mixture has reached scalding point, pour the hot cream slowly down the side of the bowl, with the whisk on, into the egg mixture. Continue whisking until everything is combined. This is now a custard base for the ice cream.
Pour the custard base back into the saucepan and heat on low, stirring continuously until the custard has thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour the custard, through a sieve into a large bowl.
Cover the custard with with cling film to stop the surface forming a skin.

Set the custard to one side to cool and then place in the fridge to chill completely.

Making The Chocolate Orange Ganache

Set a small saucepan with 5cm/1″ of water on to a medium heat.
In a heatproof bowl add 100mls of double cream and the chocolate orange bar, broken into pieces.
Place the bowl on top of the saucepan ensuring that the base of the bowl does not come into direct contact with the water – this is called a double boiler.
Stir the chocolate and cream continuously until the chocolate has completely melted and mixed in with the cream.
Remove the bowl from the saucepan and set to one side to cool.

Churning The Ice Cream Using Andrew James Ice Cream Maker

Set your ice cream maker up according to it’s instruction booklet.
With the Andrew James Ice Cream Maker, as with my previous model, the machine must be started prior to pouring the custard in – this prevents a thick layer of un-churned ice cream immediately freezing on contact with the freezer container.
Transfer the custard to a jug and then, with the mixer stirring pour through the open spout.

Churn the ice cream until it is a thick, but still slightly soft ice cream.

Turn the power off on the machine and at the plug. Remove the cover and then the paddle, scape as much ice cream off of the churning paddle as you can and then lick the rest off 😉.
Using a soft silicone spatula transfer the ice cream to a suitable, freezer proof tub.

Adding The Chocolate Orange Ganache

Pour over the cooled chocolate ganache.

Using the handle of a wooden spoon, or indeed the other end of the silicone spatula ripple the ganache through the Chocolate Orange Ice Cream.
Pop the lid on, label and place in the freezer to finish freezing.

Chocolate Orange Ice Cream a delicious dessert.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer 20 minutes prior to serving. Because there aren’t any artificial additives, homemade ice cream takes a little while to soften, ready to be scooped.

Serve scooped into bowls or cones. This is one very delicious and creamy ice cream, that should be savoured.

If the children are noisy during the summer holidays, give them a scoop full of this Chocolate Orange Ice Cream, not forgetting 2 scoops for yourself and buy yourself 10 minutes peace and quiet. Honestly nobody makes a sound when savouring this delicious treat.

Also, being homemade, you know exactly what ingredients have gone into your ice cream. In a consumer society that is increasingly interested in what goes into our food, making ice cream yourself removes any worries.

If you have enjoyed this Chocolate Orange Ice Cream Recipe, here are some others you may like too:

Strawberry Ripple Ice Cream

Blackberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Very Vanilla Ice Cream

Ice Cream is such a wonderful year round treat, yet during the Summer heat it is also very cooling. When it is very hot I quite often have just a cone with a couple of scoops of homemade ice cream. Knowing I have used fresh produce, including fruit, I am happy with my choice.

I have never believed in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food. Preferring a balanced diet, with a heavy emphasis on homemade food, has ensured that over the years, not withstanding medication, my weight has always been fairly stable.

Do you struggle with guilt about food? I know a lot of people do and I am absolutely not here to judge you.

So, whatever you are making, baking and creating in your kitchens, have fun preparing and sharing your feast.

Sammie xx

Andrew James provided me with this ice cream maker for the purposes of a review. All opinions, views, content and photography is my own. Sugar and Crumbs sent me a free sample of their Jaffa Twist Icing Sugar with an order that I paid for. I have not been paid or reimbursed for writing this post, please see my Disclosure Policy.