Ingredients

• 6oz of either milk, or plain chocolate (Melted)
• 6oz of caster sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 egg whites
• Cocoa powder

For the filling

• 300ml of yummy double cream
• Entirely optional extras of half a cup of strong coffee, Cointreau, or Nutella

Make sure to melt your chocolate before anything else. If it goes hard again, add honey to make it runny again. Allow it to cool a tiny bit. While you wait, whisk up your egg yolks and add your caster sugar. Add the chocolate to it and blend it evenly.

In another bowl, whisk up your egg whites and fold gently into the mix. Use sweeping motions so as not to take out too much air.

Line a baking tin with greaseproof paper and pour in your mix. Make sure to level it off. The last thing you want is a lumpy roll. Place in your oven for roughly 20 minutes. (Or at least until it looks cooked.)

Once it's done leave it to cool. (For the best results, overnight is a good idea.) Roulades roll best when cool, remember. After it has cooled, it's time to add your filling. Choose what you want (Fresh cream is ALWAYS a must, but if you can't get it, squirty cream will be fine.) and get it prepared.

Turn out your roulade onto a lightly floured surface, removing the paper and score about one to two inches down from the top. This will make rolling easier. Also trim your edges if they are messy. Spread on your filling and begin rolling at the end you scored until you have a nice spirally sausage of yummyness.

Dust with sugar.

Note: If you find it difficult to roll it, leave the paper on and spread the top side and use the paper to help you make a tighter roll.

250g plain flour
325g chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon salt
200g dark brown soft sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
170g unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170 C for electric and Gas mark 3 if you use gas and line your trays with parchment ready, or alternatively you can grease them. (Axel's Tip! - Try greasing and lightly dusting with flower. This makes any surface non-stick.) Mix together your salt, bicarb and flour until it's well mixed.

Then, in a clean bowl, cream together butter (Axel's Tip! - You can melt this if you want to make it easier, but I enjoy the workout you get from unmelted. Work those arms!), brown sugar and caster sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the flour, bicarb and salt mix until just blended and then stir in your chocolate chips by hand, or wooden spoon.

Once this has been mixed, take out roughly 4 tablespoons worth of the mix and place on your baking tray at around 7 to 8cm apart and bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are nicely crispy.

[NOTE: This recipe can be adapted to include any ingredients you want to add. M&M's are great. Also, I'll be adding a recipe for fudge soon which is a great addition.]

NOTE: Please have patience with this one, as it contains constant stirring

Ingredients

• 1 Vanilla pod
• 500ml of Milk
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 80g caster sugar

Add milk to a saucepan and bring to the boil adding the vanilla seeds and pod. (Take a knife and scrape them from the pod.) Do not leave it boiling long. Take it off the heat once it starts to bubble.

Next, in a bowl, mix your egg yolks with your sugar and mix. this needs to be whisked until it turns pale in colour. Through a sieve, pour your milk over this mixture, discarding the vanilla pod that was used earlier.

In another pan (Or the same one if you have time to wash it out. ;) ), add the mix and cook slowly. The mix needs to be continually stirred for at least 8 minutes until it thickens. Once it's able to coat the back of the spoon, it is ready.

[Note: For a savoury option, add cheese instead of vanilla.]

Ingredients

Cake/Sponge

• 4OZ Self Raising Flour
• 4OZ Butter
• 4OZ Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• Vanilla Essence

Buttercream

• Butter
• Icing Sugar
• Peppermint Essence
• Blue food colouring.

Weight out the butter and the sugar and put them in a bowl. Mix them until whiteish in colour, fluffy and until it's easy to move the spoon in the mixture. Add one egg and a small amount of the flour and mix. Add more flour so it doesn't curdle. Then ad the next egg and another small amount of flour, adding the rest of the flour when mixed in. Add cocoa powder and the vanilla essence to taste. (The stronger, the better.) If the mixture becomes too dry, ad a small drop of milk to soften it up.

Place the mixture into a pre-greased (Get some butter on a small piece of paper and smear it on the inside of the tin.) baking/cake tin and place in a pre-heated oven and bake until risen. (Use a knife to test to see if it is done.)

To make the buttercream, add butter (As much, or as little. Whatever is needed. )to a bowl and keep adding icing sugar, mixing until firm. (There should be more icing sugar than butter.) Add the peppermint essence to taste. Then add the blue food colouring and a small amount of cocoa powder to create the 'cement look'.

After your cake is ready, slice it in half and spread the buttercream generously.

NOTE: Make sure that the cake is cold before you add the buttercream to the middle.

Ingredients

For The Sponge

• 4 oz (113 grams) Flour (Self Raising)
• 4 oz (113 grams) Sugar
• 4 oz (113 grams) Butter (Unsalted)
• 2 Eggs
• Vanilla Essence (Optional, but it makes it nice.)

For The Filling

• Strawberry Jam
• Buttercream (See below for recipe)

For The Buttercream

• 6 Oz (175 grams) Icing sugar (Make sure there are no lumps!)
• 2 Oz (85 grams) Butter
• Vanilla Essence

To make the sponge, add your sugar and butter together and cream until soft and almost white in colour. Then, add one egg and about a tablespoon and a half of flour and mix. Then add more flour as you go, this will stop the egg curdling. Next, add the next egg and the remaining flour and mix very well, making sure no lumps are present.

Put this into a greased cake tin and put in the oven at around 180°C/gas 4. This will take roughly 20 minutes. But, depending on your oven, it might take a little longer. If you are unsure, take a sharp knife and poke the middle all the way through and pull it out. If there is liquid on the knife, it's not done.

After your sponge has cooked, take it out and put it on a plate to cool. After this has cooled, you can make your butter cream. (Adding buttercream to a hot cake is NOT a good idea. ;) )

Take your butter and put it in a dish, then add your icing sugar a bit at a time, mashing it in with a fork. After all of it is added, it should be firmer than before and will look lighter in colour. Add your vanilla essence and mix it in.

Cut your sponge in half. Spread one side with the jam, the other with your butter cream and serve with cream, ice cream, or custard. (Personally, I just like a sprinkling of lavender sugar. But, that's just me. ;) )

[NOTE: If you find your mix too runny, add a little extra flour.]

NOTE: CONTAINS ALCOHOL! Also: Contains milk, eggs, dairy and almond paste. Allergy sufferers beware!

Ingredients

For the Pastry cream

• 2 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

The Cake

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon kirsch
• 3/4 pound strawberries, thinly sliced
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
• 4 ounces almond paste (1/2 cup)

Directions

To make the pastry: In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, vanilla bean, vanilla seeds and salt just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, then whisk in the flour. Whisk 1 cup of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. Pour the mixture into the hot milk in the saucepan and whisk over low heat until the pastry cream is thickened, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the butter until melted. Strain the pastry cream into a large bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.

To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until they hold firm peaks. Add 6 tablespoons of the sugar and continue beating until the whites are stiff and glossy, about 1 minute.

In another medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar, the vanilla extract and the salt at medium-high speed until thick and light in color, about 1 minute. Fold half of the whites into the yolk mixture, then fold in 6 tablespoons of the flour. Repeat with the remaining whites and flour. Fold in the butter.

Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the edge of the pan. Set the pan on a rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Invert the cake onto a rack and let cool completely.

In a small saucepan, mix the 3 tablespoons of sugar with the water. Cook over moderate heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and add the kirsch.

Using a serrated knife, slice the cake in half horizontally. Transfer the cake bottom to a round 9-inch straight-sided glass bowl and brush with half of the kirsch syrup. Arrange a row of strawberry slices around the dish, then top the cake with the remaining sliced strawberries in an even layer. Spread all but 1 tablespoon of the pastry cream over the strawberries. Brush the cut side of the cake top with the remaining kirsch syrup and set it cut side down on the pastry cream.

Lightly dust a work surface with confectioners' sugar and roll out the almond paste to a 9-inch round 1/16 inch thick. Spread the remaining 1 tablespoon of pastry cream on the top of the fraisier and cover with the round of almond paste.

Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 250g butter
• 1 tsp salt
• Roughly 150ml cold water

Dump your flour and salt into a large bowl. Crumble up the butter the butter into tiny little chunks and rub them into the mix. Make sure you don't over rub, because you do need to see small chunks of butter sticking out still. (What is rubbing? - Rubbing is a technique where you take the mix between your fingers and thumb and move from side to side or round and round.)

Once that's all sorted you need to make a well (A round dent in the middle of the mix.) and pour in about two thirds of the cold water. You'll need to mix this until the dough feel nice and firm. (If it's not how you want it, add more flour or water accordingly being careful not to overuse.)

Cover with cling film (Wrapping plastic.) and leave in the fridge for 20 mins.

After you've had a cup of tea and done your laundry (Or however you choose to spend that 20 minutes.) you then need to turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. (Don't over flour it as it can make the dough dry and it will crack.) Knead (What is kneading? - Kneading is a technique where you use your hands to press out air from dough. You do this by pressing down with both of your hands using the base of your palm. Once you have done that a few times, fold the dough as if you were folding a t-shirt once and do it again. Keep folding and keep it up as long as you can, or for only a short while depending on the recipe.) it GENTLY and once you've had enough and your arms feel like they are about to drop off, form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width making sure to keep the edges straight and even.

Have you noticed a nice streaky effect the butter has made? This is perfect! Don't over-do the kneading because this is exactly what you need.

Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn in any direction and roll out again to three times the length. Now you need to fold it again like you just did, cover with cling film and cram it back into the fridge for another 20 minutes or more.

And guess what? You just made puff pastry! You may now roll out the dough and use it.

Ingredients

6 large eggs
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup and 1/2 cup sugar
2 13 oz cans evaporated milk
1 vanilla pod (Deseed and use the seeds)

This is based on a custard recipe, only it is cooked differently.

First things first, preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Get out the containers you will be using for your mix and leave to one side.

Pour 1 cup of sugar in a pan and melt it over a medium heat. Once it magically transforms into golden caramel, quickly pour 2-3 tablespoons of it into the bottom of your containers. (Handy hint: Add a small amount of honey to keep it from hardening.)

Blend your eggs together and mix in the condensed milk and normal milk and slowly mix in the rest of the sugar, adding the vanilla last. Make sure the mix is smooth.

Pour this into your pots and put them in a large glass dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water. (This is called a 'bain marie'.) Bake for 45 minutes in the bain marie and check with a knife. If it comes out clean, then it is all ready. Just make sure it's cool before you turn them out.

OK, so they may not be the healthiest snack, but they sure are yummy!

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• Flour
• Milk
• Salt
• Pepper
• Paprika (Optional)
• Hot dogs
• Bread
• Mince
• Chilli spice mix or sauce
• Tin of beans (I prefer baked beans to kidney beans)
• Cheese

Fryer needs to be at about 170-200.

Make your chilli and leave to simmer while you do the dogs. (Better flavour)

Make a batter mix. Beat the egg, add the flour and milk, mix it up. If it's not goopy enough, add more flour. Too goopy, add more milk. Needs to be like double cream only a bit thicker. Add your seasoning.

Get bread slices, remove the crusts and mash down with your hands so it's doughy and flat. Add either a cheese slice on it, or some grated cheese and put your hot dog on it and roll it up. Squish it with your hands to seal it up, dip it in your batter mix and drop it in your fryer. Let it go golden and remove it.

Plate them up and chuck your chilli on top and grated cheese if you want.

You can also make cheese bites the same way. Wrap chunks of cheese in bread, dunk in the batter and deep fry until golden.

(Chilli dogs also nice as BBQ cheese dogs. Add BBQ sauce instead of chilli on top.)

Easy to do and yummy. A great snack.

Ingredients

• A bag of Almonds
• A knob of Butter
• Chilli powder
• 1 clove of Garlic (Whole)

Heat the butter in a pan and add the garlic, fry the clove so that it flavours the butter and remove. (Make sure you don't burn it.)

Add the chilli powder and the almonds and mix until coated. Tip out and cool before serving.

[NOTE: You can try other types too! Instead of chilli powder, why not cajun seasoning? Or maybe even cinnamon?]