Lewes, East Sussex

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I must admit that I am one of those people that rarely visits different places in England. If I have time off work, I am desperately trying to book a holiday somewhere outside of the UK (must. find. sun…).

After visiting Lewes though, I really want to try a bit harder to explore what we pretty much have on our door step!

Rob and I were only there for 2 days, but even in that short amount of time we managed to fall in love with the place.

It was packed full of history- from the castle with original stocks and the old monastery ruins, to the cobbled streets and shop buildings. Even the residential areas had kept in with the old style shingle walls and beautiful architecture.

We spent the whole day wondering the old winding streets and catching up with lost relatives.

A little early evening walk was accompanied by the most beautiful sunset. It was a perfect way to round off the day.

We retired to a Bed and Breakfast in town, set in the most decadent of town houses.

We were presented with a hearty breakfast for two the next day- I managed three whole courses before 10am! Go team!

What a spread.

Before we knew it, the time to head home was upon us. We will certainly be visiting again soon… And definitely spreading our wings a little closer to home for a weekend break in the UK.

I am trying to plan our next mini-break already -Do you have any UK gems I should look into?

Chocolate and Cinnamon Babka

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I must start this post with a thank you. A MASSIVE thank you in fact to The Gentleman Baker who put me onto this bread bake. Before him, I had never actually heard of Babka before.

I had spied his incredibly mouth watering photo of a ‘just baked’ Babka on Instagram and had to find out more. Obviously, out came Google search, an apron and the bread flour…

Chocolate Babka is a perfect fit with MyChocolateSoul. Indulgent, soul nourishing food that will put a smile on almost anyone’s face. How could I not give it a go?!

Having scoured the internet for further info on this Polish/Jewish sweet bread, I settled on an amalgamation of two recipes. The Purple Foodie’s recipe was my starting point and base recipe, but I also went back to The Gentleman Baker’s version for the glaze too. Both are quite similar: You knead, you wait. You knead, you wait. You fill with chocolate and cinnamon, you twist, you wait. You bake, and devour.

Creamy, soft, light sweet-bread with a crisp shiny crust, encasing molten cinnamon-y chocolate chunks. What’s not to love?! Granted the calories might be a little hinderence to a fully blown unfaltering love affair with this bread, but once you’ve tasted it, I can promise you that calories are the last thing on your mind (Yes, yes, I am well aware that I am meant to be on a health kick *rolls eyes* …).

I cannot recommend this bake enough. I mean, there is no way you cannot have a go at this really. It’s called a chocolate Babka for god’s sake.

Babka.

It should Just be baked because of it’s amazing name.

Have you baked a Babka before? Or even heard of one? The recipe I used produced two big loaves (one of which I froze just before baking, and once defrosted baked just as well as the first) – who fancies a slice?

Chocolate Mocha Marbled Bundt Cake

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Last week saw the return of my cousin back from a long stint volunteering in New Delhi, India. Needing not much of an excuse for a party, my family organised a little get together to celebrate her return this weekend just gone. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to provide a cake.

Cue a little late night baking stint.

Word on the street was that my cousin’s favourite cake flavour was coffee. Not being a coffee drinker, I was absolutely stumped. I quickly got to back-searching some of my favourite food blogs (see my Blogroll for a list) to find a recipe and came across Une Gamine Dans La Cuisine‘s coffee cake varieties. I plumped for the Mocha Bundt Cake mainly because I will jump at any chance to use chocolate in a recipe, and also to make sure everyone liked the cake (not just the coffee drinkers!).

The recipe (here), although at first look seems like a bit of a baking trek, was actually really easy to follow. I didn’t use the walnuts, and had to sub in honey for the light corn syrup (does anyone know what the English version of this is?!?!?). I also used milk chocolate (Heathen, I hear you cry!) instead of dark.

To decorate, I sprayed the cake base with edible gold shimmer spray (it’s my new best friend – prepare for everything I bake in the future to have a slight gold glint!) and paired the Bundt with its rightful partner, Hot Fudge Sauce (my stomach is rumbling again just typing this), and some pretty edible stars I picked up recently to lift all that dark brown.

Do you like it? I hope I did Valerie’s recipe proud. It did my stomach proud for sure…maybe not so much my waist line though…

Just to ensure we didn’t run out of sweet goods, I also knocked up some of my trusty Ginger Nut Zing‘s and partied them up a little with some gold spray glitter (told you – ADDICTED) and fancy-smancy cupcake cases.

Lemon and Lime drizzle cake

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It’s only been a little while, but I have fallen off my ‘healthy’ bandwagon…

Oops

This is an Eric Lanlard special. I only have one of his cook books so far, but I am totally hooked.

Sorry, I haven’t included the recipe today – I literally didn’t change a thing so would feel really cheeky posting it in here (especially ‘cus I couldn’t find a link to it anywhere online either). If you fancy baking this, you can find a similar recipe here. It is almost exactly the same! It is basically a light sponge with the zest of a lime and lemon added in at the flour stage.

The key thing about this bake, and the reason I’m posting it, is the drizzle. It rocked my WORLD!

Once the cake was baked, and cooled I mixed the juice of 2 limes and 2 lemons with 200g of icing sugar.

I poked holes through the top of the cake and poured about a third of the syrup over the top of the cake. This is quite a slow process as I had to make sure it all soaked in.

Next, to the remaining syrup I added another 200g of icing sugar. This thickened it up into more of a glaze so it would set over the top of the cake rather than sink in.

A light, airy, moist sponge with a tangy but sweet glaze. Perfect for a late afternoon treat with a fresh mug of tea. I made a little extra syrup to drizzle over our first slices, but actually I think it tastes better on its own.

What’s your favourite sneaky treat? Or are you much better than I at saying no, and sticking with healthy snacks? (If you are, what is your secret?!?!?!)

Homemade Spicy Fries

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Aren’t potatoes versatile? I think I buy them with every shop I do. Rob and I normally have some kind of potato component in our meals. If not potato, then pasta. Rob has Italian in him, so I am blaming him for our over reliance on pasta produce. I’m (half) Irish by blood though, so I think this love of potatoes (well, carbs in general if we are being honest) is in my blood. Deep rooted, and not going anywhere fast.

Mashed, roasted, boiled, pan fried. Oh god, I will eat them however they come. Why can’t I crave salad like this? *shakes fists* I think I love fries the most though. Like, actually LOVE. If there is ever the option for fries with a meal, I’m all over it. Skinny ones, fat ones, fried, baked, skin on, wedged. They are just so hard to refuse.

My all time favourite type of fries are the ones Rob makes here at home though. Home cooked, doused in olive oil and roasted in the oven until they are crispy and fluffy all at the same time. Perfect!

Here’s his how to:

Preheat your oven to 210 degrees, grab a nice big pan (high sides help to keep the heat and stop your oven getting completely covered in oil) and cover with a generous glug of olive oil.

Layer this will a big pinch of sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper and a tsp of chilli flakes.

We use roasting potatoes, but you can use whatever you have to hand. The beauty of these fries are that it works with a lot of different types of potato – even little Charlotte ones! Chop up your potatoes into big fat finger sized chunks.

Chuck them into your big pan, give them a good toss around in your seasoned oil and bung it in the oven for 20-25 mins depending on your oven ferocity.

You’re done when they turn golden brown, break open easily, and are begging to be eaten.

A simple, straight forward recipe for one of the best ‘comfort’ foods I know. It goes with everything doesn’t it?

My Chocolate Soul

The snapshots and snippets of a chocolate filled soul

Lewes, East Sussex

Chocolate and Cinnamon Babka

Chocolate Mocha Marbled Bundt Cake

Lemon and Lime drizzle cake

Homemade Spicy Fries

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