No-Bake Chocolate Biscuit Cake

It’s my sister’s birthday soon and since I won’t be there on the day to celebrate with her I decided to throw a spur of the moment birthday tea party for her. Chocolate biscuit cakes are her favourite  so I was delighted to find this variation of the recipe  in the ICA Book of Home and Family.

The morning coffee biscuits used in the recipe were difficult to find so I substituted Nice biscuits in their place. Other than that the recipe calls for basic ingredients likely to be already in your kitchen.

The cake is fast and simple to assemble. I decided to make the cake the size of a pound tin however the cakes shape and size can be altered very easily to suit larger or smaller gatherings. Having tasted this cake after 2 hours in the fridge and then again after it was left overnight in the fridge, I recommend leaving it to chill overnight. 

This cake is ideal for impromptu celebrations. There is also the option of giving it an extra little kick by adding a drop (or two) of baileys.

For more information contact An Grianán at admin@an-grianan.ie or 041 9822119. ICA at admin@ica.ie or 01 6680002

Christmas Stuffing Cake

Christmas Day can be a hectic day of cooking. I like to take some of the pressure off by doing some of the prep work the day before.  This year I asked ICA president Liz Wall for some tips on how she prepares her stuffing. Liz introduced me to the stuffing cake, a recipe she picked up at a cookery demonstration in An Grianán in 2006.

Ingredients

• 200g fresh breadcrumbs
• 200g sausage meat
• 1 small chopped onion
• 2 stalks chopped celery
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
• 1 tsp  chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 apple cored and chopped
• 75g cranberries
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 180g turkey stock. (I used homemade chicken stock here)
• 50g unsalted butter

Method

• Melt the butter and fry off the onions until soft
• Pour the onions into a bowl and add all the other ingredients
• Knead well to thoroughly mix
• Press mixture into a 8-9 inch dish and cover with tinfoil.
• Bake at 180° for 15 mins, then remove the tinfoil and bake for a further 15 min until cooked through and golden on top.
• Serve in slices to accompany turkey or other cooked meat.

This mixture can also be used to stuff the bird if you don’t want to serve it separately.  The flavour combination of the cranberries, apple and, celery make this a beautiful flavoured stuffing and a wonderful addition to your Christmas feast 

For more information contact An Grianán at admin@an-grianan.ie or 041 9822119. ICA at admin@ica.ie or 01 6680002