The Perfect No-Egg, No-Dairy Chocolate Cake

We felt like a chocolate cake, so we browsed the internet for a recipe but after I have found a couple of recipes, I realised that we had no eggs in...ooops....So, being snowed in and about a foot and a half of snow everywhere outside, there was simply no chance of me going outside to buy eggs. So we found this recipe which we tweaked and tried, and the result was a delicious moist chocolate cake. We did not cover it with frosting, we ate it plain, But we will include the recipe for the frosting as well. The batter can be also used to do some delicious super-chocolatey cupcakes. Hope you love this cake as much as we did!! You will need...

• 180g Self Raising Flour
• 3 heaped tablespoons good quality unsweetened cocoa powder, we used Bournville
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 175g brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 cup (240ml) cold water
• 10 ml brandy

For the frosting

• 300g Cream cheese
• 55g + 30g softened butter
• 325g Icing sugar
• Rum, few drops (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C.
2. Place flour, cocoa, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix well.
3. Make two deep holes in the dry mixture. Into one, pour the oil and into the other one, pour the vinegar. 
4. Pour the water and brandy into the bowl. Mix (on low speed or by hand) the wet and dry ingredients together until there aren't any more lumps.
5. Pour into a 23cm cake tin. (You do not need to grease the tin)
6. Bake for about 30 minutes or until you insert a toothpick and comes out clean.If you are going to frost it, let it cool down first.

Enjoy!!

R & A

Christmas Chestnut Balls - Boċċi Tal-Qastan

My parents used to prepare these confections during Christmastime. My brothers and I would sneakily devour them as they were the only source of alcohol we were allowed haha. Give them a go, there are really worth it! You will never stop making them. So the ingredients are...

• 400g fresh Chestnuts
• Peel of one orange
• Peel of one tangerine, clementine or satsuma
• Pinch ground cloves
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• Water
• Whisky or sherry, to taste
• Plain milk or dark chocolate, to decorate
• Desiccated coconut, to decorate

How to...

1. Start by carefully making a cross shaped incision on each of the flat chestnut sides.  Put the chestnuts into a deep pot and cover with water. Add the sugar, cocoa, citrus peels, cloves and cinnamon. Stir well. Bring to the boil and simmer on medium heat for about 30-35 minutes. 
2. Using a slotted spoon, take out the chestnuts and set aside. Let cool down a bit. Peel the chestnuts, maybe whilst having a cuppa! 
3. Put the peeled chestnuts into a bowl, add the sherry/whisky and mash the mixture up with a masher until you get a smooth consistency.
4. Shape the mashed chestnuts into balls and set aside.
5. Now, melt the chocolate in a glass bowl on top of pan of boiling water.
6. Now using a toothpick, dip the balls into the melted chocolate and then roll into desiccated coconuts.
7. Leave to cool and serve!

Enjoy!!!

R & A