This month’s Cake Slice Bakers vote winner was the Graham Cracker Choc Chip snacking cake.
It certainly looked interesting with only 1/4 cup flour, but 1 cup of biscuit (cookie) crumbs. This gave it an unusual texture – a large crumb reminiscent of a nut-based cake, but quite coarse. Can’t say I was wildly enthused by it, but for a very quick-to-make cake that yields a modest amount, well, it’s pretty much perfect for lunch boxes.
It was supposed to have a frosting that was buttercream with marshmallow fluff mixed in; this was a bridge too far for me and so I left it unadorned. It was plenty sweet enough and I just didn’t see what the frosting would bring to the party.
So there you have it. A snacking cake by title, a snacking cake by nature. It hasn’t blown anyone away, but has been received as a perfectly acceptable cake bite. ‘Tis what it is.
And can I just reiterate how fast and inexpensive it was to put together. This is the kind of lunchbox gap emergency that I would be prepared to whip up at 9pm. *edited to add: just freshly baked, it was very nice indeed, 6 hours later…hmm. It’s really firmed up and is very dense, so I’m not so sure now*
Check out the other bakers’ opinions at the Cake Slice Bakers Blogroll.
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Chocolate pudding crops up a lot in North American conversations, literature, poetry… well maybe not poetry, but it is referred to a lot.
There are countless recipes that employ its use, but we don’t have chocolate pudding mix over here. I have blogged about it before – the one I made was a delicious but elaborate affair and wasn’t terribly quick to make. This version is very quick. A pukka super-quick chocolate pudding.
Tasty, chocolatey, quick and simple. By the way, it’s something between thick custard and blancmange. Spoons dip into it. Sometimes they do this when you’re not even looking. Sneaky.
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This is such an easy version of Tiramisu and as it’s egg-free, you can relax when serving it to a crowd of elderly, infirm or infants humans. It is always received rapturously – over the years I’ve been making it, the only person who didn’t like it didn’t like coffee or alcoholic desserts, so I’m not sure that even counts. I have recorded the doubled size because it feeds so many people, but if you don’t have that many to feed, simply halve the quantities. Incidentally, the crystal bowl I use has a diameter of 9″ and a depth of 4″ and this recipe fills the bowl.
It takes a short time to prepare and will sit happily in the fridge – indeed it’s best when refrigerated overnight prior to serving, so as make-ahead desserts go, it’s another great one for your recipe file. Make it and enjoy the compliments!
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Now, I know and you know that this is an odd recipe to share in the height of a very warm Summer, but there is method to my madness.
1. We had had a salad week – that is, one piece of protein and lots of salad. I wanted something filling, darn it.
2. I fancied a substantial pudding but couldn’t bear the thought of an oven blasting away.
3. I saw a pot of tres posh ‘made-with-the-eggs-of-a-golden-hen-and-milk-from-the-Queen’s-cow-and-a-pod-of-vanilla-plucked-by-a-tame-cheetah’ custard and it was cheap. If someone else had bought it, they might have poured it over something horrible.
4. I had a dreg of raspberry jam in the bottom of the jar and the jar was annoying me in the fridge. It kept getting in the way. It even fell out of the fridge that morning, so its fate was sealed.
So, actually, this is an extremely sensible recipe for the height of Summer because it takes moments to make, doesn’t require an oven or hob and is jolly nice to eat after endless days of what is essentially the ritual munching of humans on glorified grass otherwise famed as ‘seasonal eating’. Seriously, I am this close to going off beetroot again. Don’t even talk to me about feta.
If you cannot stand the thought of eating a hot pudding in this weather, then be kind to yourself and print it out for Autumn. Having such a quick option for a pudding that usually takes hours to steam is invaluable.
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Liquid Autumn.
Warming, vaguely sweet, easy and delicious. My butternut squash cost me £1 and I have a saucepan full of soup that will freeze well, so I should have added economical to its list of attributes.
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I’ll admit, my cheese sauce is nearer cheese fondue than cheese sauce, but I reckon that cheese sauce needs to taste of cheese, not hint at it. Unless macaroni cheese tastes of cheese, I see no point in making it. None at all. In fact, I’m getting twitchy at the thought of it.
There’s only one thing better than macaroni cheese and that’s macaroni cheese with bacon in it. Walk this way…
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We love celery soup. Celery is a fine thing; tall, proud and distinctive tasting, but heat mellows it, rounds the edges, seduces the non-celery lover into a helpless admirer. Marvellous. Neither Ian nor Alex are fans of raw celery, but they both love this soup. Really, they LOVE it. What’s even better? It couldn’t be easier to make.
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I so nearly called this Pig, Pea and Parmesan Pappardelle – in the interests of alliteration, of course – but to give it a comedy title would detract from this quick, easy and utterly delicious pasta recipe.
Pappardelle is an odd one, in my opinion. All pasta has the potential to be very filling, but pappardelle takes that to new heights; therefore, I urge you not to give each person 100g dried pasta as a portion – well, of course you can, but expect to have some left uneaten. Pasta, bacon, sweet peas (peas that are sweet, not the flowers – that might be all aroma and no flavour), parmesan and wilting, peppery watercress, bound together by creme fraiche. Let’s get to it.
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