"One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don't clean it up too quickly." -Andy Rooney

If you are like me and a little short on time (and money) this Christmas, this is possibly the easiest Christmas Cake recipe I have every come across. I have made some smallish cakes as gifts for family, friends, etc. You can also add spices to the recipe to make it a bit more christmas-ish (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc.) and could probably add alcohol if you go in for that sort of thing.

QUICK EASY MINI CHRISTMAS CAKESINGREDIENTS.-
1 kg of mixed fruit

600ml Coffee or Chocolate Big M (If you live somewhere that doesn't have Big M, it's basically flavoured milk. You can substitute, I imagine, other flavoured milks, but don't go with the diet varieties as it's the fat content which binds the recipe together)

2 cups SR flour

METHOD.-
Soak fruit in Big M over night.
Add 2 cups of flour (and a bit extra) & stir.
Put in muffin tins, or large tin or whatever. Decorate with blanched almonds if you like that sort of thing.
Cook at 180oC until done (about 15-20 mins for cupcakes - longer for a bigger cake)
Enjoy
The End

On nom nom - quick and easy chocolate mousse

QUICK AND EASY CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

INGREDIENTS. - 300g good-quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
3 eggs
1/4 cup Caster sugar
1 tbsp good-quality cocoa powder, sifted
300ml thickened cream, plus extra whipped cream to serve
Grated chocolate, to serve

METHOD. - Place the chocolatein a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water (don't let the bowl touch the water). Stir until melted.
Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
Place eggs and sugar in a large bowl and beat with electric beaters for five minutes, or until mixture is pale, thick and doubled in volume. Fold in cooled chocolate and cocoa powder until combined.
In a separate bowl, whip cream until thickened (becareful not to over-beat). Use a large metal spoon to carefully fold the cream into the chocolate mixture, trying to keep the mixture as light as possible. Spoon into 6 serving glasses and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour. Remove from fridge 15 minutes before serving, then top with extra whipped cream and grated chocolate to serve.

Or serve with strawberries and whipped cream. Or however you feel like it really.

SERVES six.

“On the motionless branches of some trees, autumn berries hung like clusters of coral beads, as in those fabled orchards where the fruits were jewels . . .” - Charles Dickens

I borrowed this recipe from my ΒΣΦ sisters, but it is delicious. Although I left out the marshmallows because I thought they were just weird. Crazy Americans.

But there you go...

UPSIDE-DOWN BERRY CAKE.
INGREDIENTS. - 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, halved
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 package (3 ounces) raspberry gelatin
1-1/2 cups miniature marshmallows (what the ?????)
1 package (18-1/4 ounces) yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1-1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons canola oil


METHOD. - In a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish, layer the walnuts and berries; sprinkle with sugar, gelatin and marshmallows (if you feel like adding the marshmallows. I found the cake was plenty sweet enough without them).
In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, water and oil; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Pour over top.
Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a serving platter.
Refrigerate leftovers.
SERVES 15 servings.

Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I wanted a cupcake, I did not have one. - David Grayson

So I have been making some cupcakes recently. A lot of cupcakes. And all different kinds of cupcakes. 

And I'll confess my little bugbear - people who make muffins and call them cupcakes. They're not cupcakes, they're muffins!!!! Cupcakes are by their very nature cake, whereas muffins are supposed to be more bread-y, like a quick bread - even if they are sweet.

I was given for my birthday a book - 500 cupcakes, which only makes me more angry because at least a good third of the recipes are for muffins, making it more like "335 cupcakes and some muffins". That said, it's a lovely book and has some great recipes, but clearly I have some OCD issues with the title.

Blah!

Anyway, here is one favourite from the above book, written by Fergal Connolly.

BANANA & HONEY CUPCAKES

INGERDIENTS.-
450g mashed bananas
150g packed light brown sugar
90g honey
4 tablespoons margarine, melted
225g self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
150g roughly chopped walnuts

METHOD.-
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. Line pans with paper liners.
In a large bowl, combine the bananas, sugar, honey, and margarine. Beat with an electric mixer until well blended. Slowly add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix well.
Spoon the batter into the cups. Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove pans from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack. When completely cool, frost or sprinkle with powdered sugar. (I iced mine with honey buttercream icing)
Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

"She shall be christened Betsy Trotwood Copperfield. She must be well brought up, I shall see to that. Far better than my impractical nephew would have done." - Aunt Betsey Trotwood - David Copperfield

I don't know who Aunt Betsey is, but she makes a mean cake. This is also in the vein of the fruity, gingerbread-y kind of cake (like the coffee cake) but a bit lighter and more golden.

A simple sugar icing adds freshness to the rich cake, and is very delicious. Mmmm mmmmm.
And just make sure you use the same size cup (a breakfast cup is about a 1/2 cup (125ml)) otherwise you could run into trouble.


AUNT BETSEY'S CAKE.

INGREDIENTS. - 5 teacupfuls of flour
2 teacupfuls of sugar
1/2 a cup of butter
1 cup of golden syrup
1 cup of water
2 eggs
1/2 a lb. of chopped raisins
1 teaspoonful (each) of bicarbonate of soda, cloves, cinnamon, and mace.

METHOD. - Beath the butter and sugar together; add the eggs, dissolve the soda in the water, then add the molasses, flour spices and fruit, and well work the mixture in  the bowl.
Turn it into a greased flat square tin baking-dish and bake in a moderate oven, or if preferred it can be cooked in small crinkled patty-pans.

TIME. - From 1 to 1 1/2 hours. SUFFICIENT for a 2-lb. cake.

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons. - George Eliot

Wikipedia defines coffee cakes as "A class of cakes intended to be served with coffee or for similar breaks and snacks. Under this definition, a coffee cake doesn't need to contain coffee. (although this one does) They are typically single layer cakes that may be square or rectangular like a Stollen. Coffee cakes are typically flavored with cinnamon, nuts, and fruits. Some similarity to teacakes may be found, though teacakes are often smaller individual items served with tea."

So this coffee cake definitely qualifies. It also has the added bonus of having coffee as an ingredient as well. It is also a massive cake - MASSIVE. You may want to consider baking it in 2 smaller tins and freezing one, unless you are taking it to the footy club afternoon tea or something.

COFFEE CAKE

INGREDIENTS. - 1/2 a lb. of butter
1/2 a lb. of brown sugar
1/4 of a lb. of golden syrup
1/2 a lb. of currants
1/2 a lb. of sultanas
1 1/2 lb. of flour
1/2 an oz. of baking-powder
2 eggs
1/2 an oz. of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, mixed
coffee
a little milk

METHOD. - Sieve the baking-powder and spices with the flour into a pan; add the sugar and butter, rub well together, make a well in the centre, pour in the syrup, add about 1/4 of a pint of strong cold coffee, break in the eggs, and beat well together; then mix in the other ingredients with a strong wooden spoon using a little milk if not moist enough, mix in the fruit last, and then bake in a long square cake-pan nicely prepared.

TIME. - From 1 to 2 hours
I have added a buttercream icing but a simple glaze would probably be better, as there is so much going on in this cake. It's very fruity and a bit gingerbready, but well worth it.

Fishing for coffee

Sometimes you just make things for fun. Like this fish - it is a coffee fish - actually it is COFFEE CREAM but for some unknown reason I decided to put my cream in my fish mould et volia - COFFEE FISH - swimming in a mint leaf sea.



COFFEE FISH

INGREDIENTS.- 1/2 a pint of cream
1/2 a pint of milk
coffee essence
2 1/2 oz. of castor sugar
3/4 of an oz. of gelatine
the yolks of 2 eggs.

METHOD. - Beat the yolks of the eggs, ass them to the milk when nearly boiling, stir until they thicken, then put in the sugar and cool slightly.
Now dissolve the gelatine in 1 tablespoonful of water, and add it to the custard.
Whip the cream stiffly, stir it into the custard when nearly cold, add the coffee essence, and pur into the prepared mould.
Let the mould remain in a cold place until firm.

TIME. - About 1/2 an hour.

The only thing that will make a souffle fall is if it knows you're afraid of it — James Beard

I showed my fear... but I didn't back off. I didn't let my fear rule me. But my souffle still didn't rise. Well, it did a bit but not as much as I was hoping.

However, it was still delicious. So you can't really complain.



RASPBERRY SOUFFLÉ.

INGREDIENTS. - 1/2 a lb. of ripe raspberries
2 oz. of cake-crumbs or bread-crumbs
2 oz. of castor sugar
2 oz. of rice-flour or cornflour
1/2 an oz. of butter
1/2 a gill of cream
3 eggs

METHOD.-
Put the raspberries, cream, rice-flour and sugar into a basin and reduce them to a pulp by means of a wooden spoon.
Beat in the yolks of the eggs, add the cake-crumbs, stir in lightly the stiffly-whisked whites of eggs, and turn the mixture into a well-greased mould.
Bake in a hot oven from 25 to 30 minutes, and serve.


TIME. - From about 25 to 30 minutes. SUFFICIENT for 5 or 6 persons.

I don't usually have cake crumbs just lying around - so I used sponge fingers and crubled them up... and ate the left overs ;) ... definitely calls for another go around... stay tuned

Now bring us some figgy pudding, Now bring some out here!

And finally we come to the end of Christmas. The silly season is definitely over. Who's going in for a Feb Fast? (giving up alcohol for the whole month of February? Definitely signals the end of silliness)

And for my last trick... the Christmas Pudding. Remember I was a bit unsure of how this would turn out? Well, it was fabulous. Lots of fruit, but not the gross kind of fruit. Enough brandy without getting everyone drunk. Not too dark.

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of Christmas Pudding... but this one I liked.



CHRISTMAS PLUM PUDDING.

INGREDIENTS. - 8 oz. of moist sugar
8 oz. of finely-shredded suet (I used the packet stuff and it worked out okay, so you can use that if suet is hard to come by)
8 oz. of sultanas cleaned
8 oz. of raisins halved and stoned
8 oz. of currants washed and dried
4 oz. of shredded mixed candied peel
4 oz. of flour
4 oz. of bread crumbs
2 oz. of almonds blanched and shredded
the grated rind of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt
1/2 a pint of milk
1 small wineglassful of brandy (optional)

METHOD. - Mix all the dry ingredients together, stir in the well-beaten eggs, milk and brandy (if used), turn the mixture into 2 well-greased basins, steam from 5 to 6 hours.

TIME. - From 5 to 6 hours. SUFFICIENT for 8 or 9 persons.

Pretty nummy. Serve with ice cream, or cream or brandy custard. Incidentally, this is exactly the same recipe my nana used, except she used butter instead of suet. Her recipe is called Royal Pudding, and so I think I'll try that next year instead.

Dessert is probably the most important stage of the meal, since it will be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over the table

Nine out of ten people like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.

Well, going on the success of my last cream, I thought I'd try another. And what better to try than Chocolate cream, because really - who doesn't love chocolate?

(Now, before you all jump about saying you hate chocolate, I know not everyone loves it... but it sounds poetic, so just let that one through to the keeper. *wink* )

CHOCOLATE CREAM

INGREDIENTS. - 4 oz. of chocolate
2 oz. of castor sugar (that's superfine sugar for you yanks.)
3/4 of an oz. of gelatine
2 yolks of eggs
1/4 a pint of cream
1/4 of a pint of milk
1 teaspoonful of vanilla essence

METHOD. - Simmer the milk and chocolate together until smoothly mixed, let it cool slightly, then add the yolks of eggs and stir until they thicken, but the mixture must not boil or the eggs may curdle.
Dissolve the gelatine in 1 tablespoonful of water, strain it into the custard, and add the vanilla essence.
Whip the cream stiffly, stir it lightly into the custard, turn into a prepared mould, and stand on ice or in a cool place until firmly set.

TIME. - From 20 to 30 minutes. SUFFICIENT for 1 mould.

Can you see what we're making here? It's effectively chocolate mousse but with a less fancy name.
You want to make sure your chocolate mixture is pretty cool when mixing it with the cream, as mine was a bit warm and so my mousse was more solid than it should have been.

Very tasty, but also very rich as I used dark chocolate. Use milk chocolate for a lighter taste.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for rice ... pudding.

Rice pudding seems like comfort food to me.

Even though I couldn't tell you one instance where I had it as a child at a particularly trying time or anything.
But it seems like the thing to have.

I did however eat rice cream, which comes in a can, which is effectively what rice pudding is anyway.



This is not the exact recipe in the book because the book has a baked rice pudding and we all know how well I manage baked custards.

It's also a pretty good way to use up any left over rice you may have. Waste not, want not...and all that jazz.

RICE PUDDING

INGREDIENTS. - Rice (cooked)
1 egg yolk
1/2 a pint of milk
sugar
vanilla essence

METHOD. - Warm the milk and rice together. Do not let the milk boil. Allow to cool a little.
Add beaten egg yolk gradually, stirring to avoid curdling.
Heat on low flame until thick.
Add sugar and vanilla essence to taste.

TIME. - 15 minutes. SUFFICIENT for 2 persons.

Obviously if you have more rice you can add more milk and egg yolks and make more rice pudding which is effectively just vanilla custard with rice in it... go figure.

*Raspberries*

Seeing as everyone knows what roast beef looks like, I thought I'd skip straight through to Dessert... although technically it is called the Sweet Entremet as it is a large sweet.
It is also awesomely delicious and the entire thing got eaten save for about 1 spoonful left at the end.

I made 1 portion to begin with, but that was clearly not enough so I made double again (so in total 3 portions)... not only increasing the amount but also giving a pretty two toned effect (I totally meant to do it on purpose ;) )




RASPBERRY CREAM.

INGREDIENTS. - 1/2 a pint of cream
1/2 a gill of milk
3/4 oz. of castor sugar
1/4 oz. of gelatine
the juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 as gill of raspberry syrup, or 2 dessertspoonfuls of raspberry jam
cochineal

METHOD. - When raspberry jam is used instead of syrup, pass it through a hair sieve, dilute with water to make the required quantity, and add a few drops of cochineal.
Dissolve the gelatine and sugar in the milk, add the lemon-juice, mix with the raspberry syrup, and stir in the stiffly whipped cream.

TIME. - About 1/2 an hour. SUFFICIENT for 1 small mould.

A few notes about this recipe. When adding the lemon-juice (an acid) to the milk/sugar/gelatine mix, wait until it has cooled a little and add it very gradually or else you get lemon milky curds when it curdles. Not so nice... however the lemon juice does add a lovely tang to the cream stopping the dish from being far too cloying and making it delectable. I actually used a Bundt cake pan for my mould and served with fresh raspberries and blueberries. If your cream is sticking too much to the mould, dip it very quickly in hot water... DO NOT LEAVE IT IN THERE FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME, or else you will melt the cream and get the run-off like you can see in the pictures... Learn from my mistakes.

THIS RECIPE IS DELICIOUS!!!!!!

Tarty! *wink*

Hey diddle dumpling!

And for dessert:

APPLE DUMPLINGS, BAKED

INGREDIENTS. - 1/2 a lb. of short-crust paste
5-6 apples, according to size
1 tablespoon of currants
a little moist sugar

( I made a few alterations here... I used sultanas instead of currants...mainly because i didn't have any currants on hand, and I used caster sugar instead of moist sugar ... mainly as I had no idea what that was, but I have since discovered it is a type of rich brown sugar, so I probably should have gone with that instead... Oh well, next time.)

METHOD. - Peel and core the apples and fill the centre with currants. Roll out the paste thinly, and cut it into rounds nearly large enough to cover the apples.

Place one in the centre of each round, wet the edges of the paste, and press gently to the top of the apple. Put them join downwards on a baking-sheet, and bake from 20 to 30 minutes in a moderately hot oven.

When nearly done, brush lightly with water, sprinkly ove with moist sugar, and return to the over to finish baking. Serve either hot or cold.

TIME - About 1 hour. SUFFICIENT for 5 or 6 persons.

This was excellent and very tasty. The apples are sweet but not too sweet and it's very moist inside the pastry...kind of like an individual apple pie.

My husband's only complaint - it was too big, but he conceded that it's rather difficult to make an apple smaller.

Tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tap, tap-tapioca, everyone!

"Everybody tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tapioca,
Everybody, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slapioca.
If ya got the dap, dap, dap-dap-dappier flappers flap-flap-flappier
Everyone is happier when the do the tap tapioca.
When they do the flap flapioca.
Tap, tap, tap, tapioca,
Slap, slap, slap, slapioca,
Tap, tap, tap, tap the tapioca.
Let's pretend we've got a bowl, we're gonna have some sport.
Ha!Add trumpled licks and a rag-time beat, let's say about a quart.
Yeah!Ya stir and stir it with your knee, adding a bump or two.
Ya heat it, mash it, beat it, smash it, if there's a lump or two.
Don't let the temperature drop to many degrees,
Or you'll wind up with what is called the frozen tapioca freeze!
Everybody, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap tapioca, everybody freeze!
Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap, slap slapioca everybody freeze!"

Ahhh, Thoroughly Modern Millie - don't you wish the twenties had really been like that (except perhaps without the unpleasant white slave trade associations...)

So here is my tapioca pudding... I went without soaking the tapioca before hand, and it turned out just fine and dandy.

This recipe was a little too egg-y for my liking but seeing as the eggs are optional I will probably omit them next time.

TAPIOCA OR SAGO PUDDING

INGREDIENTS - 1 pint of milk
2 tablespoonfuls of tapioca or sago
1 tablespoonful of sugar, or to taste

2 eggs, optional
nutmeg
salt

METHOD - Boil the milk, sprinkle in the tapioca or sago, stir until boiling, and simmer gently until it become clear, stirring occasionally. Add the sugar and a good pinch of salt, and when a little cool, the eggs, beaten. Pour into a greased pie-dish, and bake in a slow oven.

TIME - To bake, about 1/2 an hour. SUFFICIENT for 4 to 5 persons.

Que sago, sago, whatever will be will be...

Well, according to Wikipedia, sago and tapioca are two completely different things.

"Sago is a starch extracted from the pith of sago palm stems. It is a major staple food for the lowland peoples of Papua New Guinea and the Moluccas. It is traditionally cooked and eaten in the form of a pancake and served with fish.
Sago looks like many other starches, and both sago and tapioca are produced commercially in the form of "pearls". Sago pearls are similar in appearance to tapioca pearls, and the two may be used interchangeably in some dishes. This similarity causes some confusion in the names of dishes made with the pearls."

And yet I bought "Seed Tapioca (Sago)", so clearly McKenzie's thinks they are the same thing... go figure.

Either way it all sounds fairly exotic for for something my brain thinks of as boarding school food...

I haven't made anything with my tapioca yet, as every time I read the packet the first instructions is to 'soak the Tapioca for 24 before use', which really doesn't lend itself to a spur of the moment thing.

However, Mrs Beeton doesn't have that as an instruction so I may just give it a burl...

Stand by for some tapioca pudding real soon.

Merely a trifle too.

So finally, the trifle...

It's taken me long enough, hasn't it.

A trifle is described by wikipedia as "a dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or, more recently, jelly (gelatin), and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top.
Some trifles contain a small amount of alcohol such as port, or, most commonly, sweet sherry or madeira wine. Non-alcoholic versions use fruit juice instead, as the liquid is necessary to moisten the cake." So there you go...

My trifle consisted of swiss roll, semi-sweet sherry, apricot syrup, port wine jelly, vanilla custard, whipped cream, flake and strawberries for garnish... One of them also had stewed apricots in it.

So a success all round? Well, almost...except for my husband who complained about the whipped cream on the top, and apparently I had the jelly and the custard the wrong way around. Everyone else, including those who don't normally partake of trifle enjoyed it. Apparently, it was much more pleasant that the variety that used to be made by our next door neighbour. But not my husband...stubborn man. It was good, but not great.

That night he got some kind of food poisoning, and was, jokingly, convinced it was the trifle... bah humbug, because everyone else who ate it was fine.

To add insult to injury, when I was explaining my culinary triumph and my quest for trifle recipes, his mother told me that it was just swiss roll, sherry, custard and jelly. No fruit, no whipped cream, no nothing.

So next time I venture into the murky trifle waters for my husband it will be the least exciting and ordinary of trifles...a store bought swiss roll, store bought custard, covered by store bought jelly... it will be merely a trifle indeed.

Cowardly custard? Never!

Remember how I made the coffee custard and it was a disaster... a tasty disaster but a disaster no less...

So it was with some trepidation that I approached making the custard for my trifle.

However, all my fears were for nothing. Never again shall I fear the custard pot. Never again shall I be ashamed to show my face in the custard halls of fame...for I got it! I finally got it!

Admittedly this was a boiled custard not a baked custard like last time, but I think it was a success!

VANILLA CUSTARD

INGREDIENTS - Vanilla essence
2 eggs
1 pint of milk
1 oz. of sugar

METHOD - Bring the milk nearly to boiling-point, pour over the eggs and sugar previously beaten, stirring meanwhile, return to the stewpan and stir by the side of the fire until the mixture thickens. Considerable care is needed to cook custaqrd in this manner without curdling it, and anyone inexperienced should, instead of replacing the preparation in the stewpan, pour it into a jug or double saucepan, place whichever is used in a saucepan of boiling water,, and stir until the custard coats the spoon. Add the vanilla essence and allow to cool.

TIME - From 35 to 45 minutes. SUFFICIENT for 1 pint.

Who's a Swiss Miss?

So, after my trifle research I decided it would be best to make my own sponge, but considering my husband was so insistent on having Swiss roll, I decided to make one of them instead.

I have a pretty awesome recipe myself, but first I thought I'd see how Mrs B does it.

SWISS ROLL

INGREDIENTS - 2 eggs

4oz of flour

4 oz of castor sugar

1 teaspoonful of baking-powder

a little warm jam.

METHOD -

Sieve the flour and baking-powder. Whisk the eggs and sugar until creamy, stir the flour lightly in, turn into a greased tin and bake in a hot oven. Turn out upside down on to a sugared paper, spread on the jam, and roll up firmly.

TIME - From about 8 to 10 minutes to bake. SUFFICIENT for 1 medium sized roll.

For my recipe I actually modified a Buche de Noel recipe so I'll give you that instead.

BUCHE DE NOEL

INGREDIENTS - 1/2 cup of flour

3 tablespoonfuls of cornflour

1 teaspoonful of baking powder

3 eggs

1/2 cup of castor sugar

1/2 tablespoonful of cocoa (I omitted this for the Swiss roll)

2 tablespoonfuls of hot water

1/2 cup of cream, whipped (I used raspberry jam instead)

METHOD - Preheat oven to 190 oC. Sift the flours and baking powder. Separate the eggs, placing whites in a mixing bowl, and beat until stiff. Gradually add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat well after each addition. Add egg yolks and beat until mixture will form a figure 8 and resembles thick cream. Using a tablespoon, fold in the flour very lightly. If very thick, add the water. DO NOT OVER MIX. Pour into a baking tray lined with lightly sugared baking paper, and bake for 12-15 minutes. Turn baked sponge onto a tea-towel, remove paper, trim sides if needed and roll up towel and cake together. Allow to stand for 2 minutes. When cool, unroll gently, spread with cream and re-roll without the tea-towel. Cover with Chocolate Butter Cream.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER CREAM

INGREDIENTS - 30g of butter

125g of chocolate

METHOD - Stir the chocolate and butter over a double boiler until chocolate has melted. Spread over the log, mark with a fork to represent 'bark', spread over the ends as well. Refrigerate until required, dust with icing sugar before serving. Serve with chocolate leaves if desired.