Tag Archives: one perfect mess

Dark Chocolate and Beetroot Cake

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Dark Chocolate and Beetroot Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Fresh Raspberries recipe One Perfect Mess moist rich soft raspberry easy 2

Before you raise your eyebrows in suspicion of this cake’s unusual secret ingredient, let me argue its case. I was served this Dark Chocolate and Beetroot Cake upon arrival in London last year. It was baked lovingly by my cousins, drizzled with dark chocolate ganache and intricately decorated with a white chocolate welcome message. I was so taken aback by how incredibly rich and velvety the first bite was. The idea is not to actually taste the beetroot, but there is a dark, seductive, earthy tone to the cake that is utterly delicious.

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Cherry, Chocolate and Coconut Slice

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Cherry Chocolate and Coconut Slice recipe One Perfect Mess Cherry Ripe cherries easy Christmas fudge 2

Here is a slab of joy that I’m smitten to share with you; I’ve re-incarnated Cadbury’s gift to the world in slice form, and it is destined to unite cherry ripe lovers and convert cherry ripe haters. Is there such a thing as a cherry ripe hater? What a sad soul. Let’s not dwell on such pitiful things, back to this swanky ol’ Cherry, Chocolate and Coconut slice! A crunchy chocolate biscuit base sets the stage, and is a worthy foundation for the soft, sweet, chewy coconut and cherry filling, bursting with juicy chunks of cherry. Atop all that lies a silky layer of chocolate and coconut ganache, that catches clouds of coconut flakes.

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Salted Caramel Fudge Brownies

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Salted Caramel Fudge Brownies dark chocolate moist soft rich brownies recipe One Perfect Mess 6

Hello you. Yes, you. I know you can’t take your eyes off me. I’m rich, warm and utterly irresistible, and I’m begging you to just take a bite…I’m certainly not a treat for the faint-hearted. If you allow yourself to indulge, you’ll first encounter a trace of salt that just touches your lips as your discover a drizzle of thick, velvety caramel nestled on my surface. Then, your teeth will overcome gentle resistance from my crisp surface before collapsing into a deep, thick, chocolatey mouthful of brownie bliss. The room will become hazy as a seductive combination of sugar and salt enrapture your senses, and you’ll be licking your lips and gazing longingly at your second bite before you’ve finished your first. And that’s ok, because there’s plenty of me to enjoy. I can be yours, tonight, if you’ll just whip out that apron and mixing bowl and spend a sweet hour in the kitchen. Oh, and any leftover salted caramel sauce can by drizzled generously over icecream… Tempting?

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Rhubarb and Ginger Goats Curd Cheesecake

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Rhubarb Raspberry Compote Ginger Goats Curd Cheese Cheesecake recipe One Perfect Mess

If there was any of this cheesecake left, I’d gladly offer you a slice, but unfortunately I just polished off 1/4 of the last piece that was carefully split and shared tonight. I went for full-force decadence with this one, because it was a birthday gift for a spectacular old friend of mine. The cheesecake starts with a crunchy ginger nut base, which lovingly embraces a velvety, creamy, not-too-sweet filling. The goats cheese is a wonderful offset to the richness of the cake, and provides a deliciously light texture with the slightest tang. Topped with a fragrant rhubarb, raspberry and ginger compote, this masterpiece takes under 1 hour to prepare and is, quite frankly, divine.

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Dark Chocolate and Macadamia Tart with Macadamia and Violet Praline

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Dark Chocolate Ganache and Macadamia Tart with Violet Macadamia Praline honey salted recipe One Perfect Mess 3

What a week! I woke up last Saturday to a hefty looking spike in my stats, and after doing some sleuthing, I was absolutely giddy to see that visitors were being directed from the wonderful Frankie Magazine website! They ever so kindly published my Raspberry, Coconut and White Chocolate Celebration Cake, and it quite literally made my heart soar. You can see what they had to say about it here. Frankie provide an utter haven for the craft/food/music/DIY minded, and also offer very thought provoking and progressive journalism regarding life, love and other important matters. So I cannot thank them enough for sharing some of my baking with their loyal league of followers.

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Sticky Date and Pear Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

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Sticky Date and Pear Toffee Pudding with Pecans and Warm Butterscotch Caramel Toffee Sauce recipe One Perfect Mess 7

Today I’m sharing with you a treasured family recipe. You know the type; baked first by my Nan for hungry farmers and children over the years, then by my Ma at special family lunches to follow a feast of roast lamb. Now I’ve added my own flair to this classic and secretly simple dish; a delightfully rich and moist Sticky Date and Pear Pudding covered in crispy caramelised pecans, served warm with vanilla ice cream and a generous drizzle of homemade butterscotch sauce. You’ll be able to have this one in the oven in well under an hour, and there are no tricks at all in the recipe. Perfectly embracing so many irresistible and comforting winter flavours, this dessert is a definite crowd pleaser and the ultimate comfort food.

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Healthy Muesli Cookies (Sugar Free)

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Sugar Free Healthy Muesli Anzac Cookies recipe One Perfect Mess 1

By popular demand, I present to you another healthy recipe! These little cookies have big personality; packed with almonds, sunflower seeds, coconut, oats, wholemeal flour, dates and a little honey for sweetness, each bite crumbles in your mouth and is irresistibly moreish. Because they lack any refined sugar, the texture of the cookies is on the slightly cakey side, but they still have a lovely crunch. Perfect for a morning snack, kids’ lunchboxes, or an after dinner treat.

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Triple Chocolate Ombre Layer Cake

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Mini Triple Chocolate Ombre Layer Cake One Perfect Mess recipe 6

7000 views later and a small but swanky little creation to celebrate; three layers of fudgey, rich, chocolate buttermilk cake, stacked between slatherings of silky chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. If there’s one thing I enjoy more than chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, it’s a collaboration of white, milk and dark chocolate swiss meringue buttercream all in the one cake. The buttermilk cake is soft and moist, and has very little sugar and lots of cocoa so is quite intense, perfectly offsetting the sweetness of the frosting.

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Almond, Chocolate and Date Protein Bliss Balls

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Almond, Coconut, Chocolate and Date Protein Bliss Balls recipe One Perfect Mess 3

Public service announcement; I have made a dessert that is purely, honestly, authentically healthy! I had my first ‘bliss ball’ last week after my last exam, and it was an awe-inspiring, eye-opening, life-altering experience. Ok perhaps that’s a slight overstatement, but it was pretty darn delicious! And as much as I love baking with butter and sugar and cream etc., in reality we can’t all stuff ourselves with cake everyday of the week (tragic, I know). But, the beautiful thing about these little treats is that although they are vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free and 100 % natural, they are entirely decadent and addictive. Packed with almonds, dates, coconut, seeds, cacao and some protein powder, just a single ball of bliss is satisfying and delicious enough to boost you through a slow afternoon, or accompany a cup of tea before bed.

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Salted Peanut Brittle Cookies with a Dark Chocolate Drizzle

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Salted Peanut Brittle Cookies with a Dark Chocolate Drizzle One Perfect Mess recipe 7

This is a wickedly decadent little cookie, all crunchy and sweet and salty and sinful. The kind that leaves a few moist, chocolatey crumbs on your lips, and has you craving another when you’re only halfway through your first!  The recipe uses brown sugar to give the cookies a chewy yet crunchy texture, and each bite hides a crisp piece of homemade peanut brittle. The brittle recipe is a family favourite that my Nan has made legendary, except she has always used almonds. I decided to switch it up, and the result is a little irresistible; deadly for lovers of peanut butter.

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