9 March 2013

Just Dessert Blog Event

A group of Secret Cravings Publishings authors have got together again, this time to offer you some scintalating recipes for you to enjoy today and tomorrow.
Many of the authors will also be offerings gifts to lucky visitors who leave comments. The more sites you visit the more chance you have of receiving a gift.
Each author will explain their rules of participation.



As I am offering one lucky commenter a free pdf copy of my Regency romantic suspense, No Job For a Woman, I thought I'd share a couple fo regency recipes with you. The first is...

Prince Regent chocolate cake recipe

(from UK TV Channel4 programme Come Dine With Me Mike Brett gave his guests a royal send off with this luscious dessert in Come Dine With Me, Wolverhampton)

Ingredients

  • 1-2 tbsp sunflower oil, for greasing
  • 250g butter, softened
  • 250g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or a few drops of vanilla essence
  • 4 free-range medium eggs
  • 200g plain flour
  • 50g cornflour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
For the filling

  • 4 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 350-450g icing sugar
  • 250g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1-2 tbsp almond or coffee cream liqueur or freshly made strong coffee For the glaze
  • 150g plain dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), broken into squares
  • 50g coconut oil or unsalted butter
  • 50ml coffee cream liqueur
  • Chocolate shavings, to decorate
METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Base-line a 25cm loose-based cake tin with baking parchment and brush the base and sides with a little sunflower oil to grease. Cream the butter with the sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Slowly beat in the eggs then sift over the flour, cornflour and baking powder. Fold in lightly. (Use an electric mixer to make the cake batter if you like.)

2. Spread roughly a seventh of the mixture over the prepared cake tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes. Remove, cool for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and peel off the baking parchment. Wash the tin, base-line and grease once more. Spread a sixth of the cake batter over the tin and bake as before. Repeat the method until you have seven even-sized sponges. Leave the sponges to cool, separated by sheets of baking parchment.

3. To make the filling, sift the cocoa powder and 350g of the icing sugar into a bowl with the butter and cream together until smooth and fairly thick, adding more icing sugar if necessary. Stir in the liqueur or coffee and beat until soft. Put one of the sponges on a serving plate and spread with a little of the filling. Top with a second cake and repeat the method until all the cakes are stacked one on top of the other with the chocolate filling between the layers.

4. To make the glaze, melt the chocolate with the coconut oil or butter and coffee liqueur in a heat-proof basin over gently simmering water until smooth, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes then spread with a large rubber spatula over the assembled cake. Decorate with chocolate shavings and chill until ready to serve.

Please note this recipe is the contestant's own and has not been tested professionally. Like the Come Dine With Me contestants, you could be creating a culinary delight or dining disaster, so switch on your ovens and be bold.

As a bonus I thought I'd include a recipe for Ratafia.

What is ratafia?

It is defined as "1- a sweet cordial flavored with fruit kernels or almonds. 2 - a biscuit flavored with ratafia."The following recipe for Ratafia can be found in Robert's Guide for Butlers & Other Household Staff, published in 1828.
Into one quart of brandy pour half a pint of cherry juice, as much currant juice, as much of raspberry juice, add a few cloves, and some white pepper in grains, two grains of green coriander, and a stick or two of cinnamon, then pound the stones of cherries, and put them in wood and all. Add about twenty five or thirty kernels of apricots. Stop your demijohn close and let it infuse for one month in the shade, shaking it five or six times in that time at the end of which strain it through a flannel bag, then through a filtering paper, and then bottle it and cork close for use; you can make any quantity you chose, only by adding or increasing more brandy or other ingredients.

Now for my giveaway~
All you have to do to enter my giveaway is to share your favourite recipe and I will use random.org to pick a lucky recipient.
Blurb:Deborah Stavely is determined to overcome the increasing harassment from her neighbour without calling on her brother for help. So she is not pleased when Freddie intervenes and involves his friend, Julian Fanshaw. Circumstances demand Julian and Deborah learn to work together and Julian dares to dream that he might gain the love of the only person he’s ever given his heart to.

But will Deborah live long enough to discover that by releasing everything she values, she will gain everything her heart desires?
Julian Fanshaw answers a call for help from his life-long friend Lord Worth to help keep his friend’s widowed sister, Deborah, safe from her increasingly vindictive neighbours. It doesn’t take long to realise him or Freddie long to realise the Grangers aren’t using her as a long-promised act of revenge against them; but are playing a deeper and far more sinister game of their own.

To see more wonderful Secret Cravings Publishings Desert offerings, please go to Secret Cravings Publishings to find the other participants.

41 comments:

Marie Rose Dufour said...

Sounds so good. I love cheesecake recipes. LOL! But any good recipe can tickle me in the kitchen.

marierosedufour@gmail.com

Jeanine said...

Love the title of this book!

Sarah Cass said...

After your visit to my blog, I definitely have this book on my TBR list!! Love the recipe, although I have a feeling I'd have to eat it a tiny slice at a time...lol. I can't handle rich foods as well as I used to. ;)

Kenzie Michaels said...

This sounds sinfully decadent! May have to try this soon!

storimom2@aol.com

M. S. Spencer said...

I love the ratafia recipe (anything with brandy in it, right?). Thanks! The cake is a little out of my league though! Thanks for sharing, Meredith

Melissa Keir said...

Wow.. sounds very yummy and definitely would add inches to my behind!

Ginny Lynn said...

My daddy said that I had to learn one thing per day and I count the ratafia as my choice for the day.

Thanks and )))Corset Hug(((

Jillian said...

that cake looks and sounds amazing
thanks for the ratifia recipe. too. I tasted some once and it was fun

Karen Cino said...

Wow. That cake looks unbelievable. I have to agree with the others. Looking at all these cakes is spreading my hips.

Flossie Benton Rogers said...

Two magnificent recipes! I love vintage recipes immensely. That was enterprising of you. Thanks so much for sharing. I don't want to tie up your space with a loooong recipe. Favorite recipe: One jar creamy peanut butter, one iced tea spoon, dip and spoon past lip. Yum!

SherryGLoag said...

:-)Thanks Marie Rose Dufour, I must admit this cake made my mouth water, too.

SherryGLoag said...

:-) Thanks Jeanine

SherryGLoag said...

LOL just looking at the pic added weight onto my hips, Sarah! Thanks for your kind words.

SherryGLoag said...

Thanks for coming by Kenzie :-)

SherryGLoag said...

Meredith, I always considered Ratafia a 'light' dringk, and this sound anything but.. Thanks for coming by.

SherryGLoag said...

:-) Melissa, i know what you mean.

SherryGLoag said...

I like your Daddy's instructions ;-) Thanks for coming by Ginny Lynn.

SherryGLoag said...

Wow, I've never tasted ratafia, I always wondered what it would be like. Thanks for coming by Jillian.

SherryGLoag said...

:-) Karen, after getting a third of the way round I had to take a break it was all so tempting.

SherryGLoag said...

:-) Thanks for coming by Flossie.

Lindsay said...

The cake recipe sounds great

Tin said...

Thank you for sharing the recipe! Love the chocolate filling and the chocolate glaze.

My favorite recipe is for the Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg
1 (12 ounce) package NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts

Directions
PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I love that I get to eat these lovely cookies after 11 minutes of baking. ^_^

Eva's Flowers said...

Awesome sounding recipe, alas I am not a cook or baker so I cannot share any type of recipe. My mom makes some great pumpkin turnovers though, wish I could cook as well as she does, just never had the inclination to learn...

Eva
evitap67(at)gmail(dot)com

SherryGLoag said...

:-) Thanks Lindsay

SherryGLoag said...

This sounds like a gorgeous recipe Tin, thanks for sharing.

SherryGLoag said...

:-) Eva, thanks for coming by and leaving a a comment.

Unknown said...

That chocolate cake is a work of art. My fave dessert has to be pumpkin cheesecake with bourbon whipped topping.

Carolyn Gibbs said...

Wow that cake looks devine. Would love to have a piece :)

Reviews By Crystal said...

YUM! sounds really tasty and the book sounds really good too!

MinDaf @aol.com

Anonymous said...

This sounds really good. I'll have to plan for it next time I need a special meal for hubby!

Unknown said...

That cake looks so yummy! Thanks for sharing, Sherry!

lenahartwrites@gmail.com

Unknown said...

One of my faves is Espresso Chocolate Mousse with Orange Mascarpone Whipped Cream.
Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
elizabeth @ bookattict . com
GFC: BookAttict

Beckey said...

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

Ingredients
Crust:
1 1/2 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (from about 30 cookies)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:
3 8-oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour $
3 teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice

Preparation
Make crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch spring form pan. Cover outside of pan with 2 layers of heavy-duty foil. Stir together all crust ingredients until crumbs are moistened. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
Make filling: With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and yolks one at a time. Add pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla; beat well. Reduce speed to low and beat in flour and pumpkin-pie spice just until combined. Pour filling into baked shell.
Place cheesecake into a large roasting pan; fill pan with 2 inches of hot water. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until cheesecake is set around edges but still slightly jiggly when lightly shaken (cheesecake will firm as it cools). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate, tightly covered, for at least 10 hours, until thoroughly chilled and set, or for up to 2 days.


Hope you enjoy (a Thanksgiving traditional favorite in my household)

BeckeyWhiteATgmailDOTcom

Sherry Gloag said...

:-) Thanks for sharing JL Hammer

Sherry Gloag said...

:-) Thanks for coming by Carolyn

Sherry Gloag said...

Thanks for your kind words Crystal

Sherry Gloag said...

:-) heavensrealm, I hope you bothe enjoy it, thanks for stopping by.

Sherry Gloag said...

yvw welcome Lena :-)

Sherry Gloag said...

Oh, my goodness, that sounds scrumptious Book Attict. :-)

Sherry Gloag said...

Beckey:-) Thanks for your pumpkin cheesecake recipe. It sounds delicious.

Sherry Gloag said...

Thank you all for coming by and leaving a comment. Using random.org my winner is ....
drum roll please....
Crystal Benedict.
Congratulations Crystal.