Non bake chocolate hazelnut cheesecake

I made this cake for my lovely man b´day. I was in a hurry, had no time for shopping and just had to make something quick from the ingredients I was able to find at home.

Ingredients:

 

140g unsalted butter

300g digestive biscuits, broken up (I used the Walkers shortbread leftovers)

500g cream cheese, softened

85g icing sugar

300ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

15 hazelnut chocolate (I´ve heard that Ferrero Rocher would be also good), 5 roughly chopped, remainder reserved, to decorate

4 tbsp hazelnut chocolate spreads (I used Nutella)

25g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

 

Preparation:

 

Make the cheesecake base: melt the butter in a small pan over a medium heat. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor to a fine crumb, add the melted butter and pulse until well combined. Tip into a 23cm springform cake tin and press down firmly into the base. Chill while you make the filling.

 

Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar in a bowl to soften. Whisk the cream and vanilla in a separate bowl until soft peaks form, then fold into the cream cheese. Stir through the chopped chocolates. Spoon over the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula. Cover with cling film and chill for at least 2 hrs.

 

Once it has set, place the chocolate hazelnut spread in a saucepan and melt over a low heat for 3-4 mins until runny. allow to cool slightly before spreading over the top of the cheesecake. Decorate with remaining chocolates (I had Lindt balls in my food cabinet) and some chopped hazelnuts. Chill until ready to serve.

Honey Roulade

Feeling like Marlenka and lazy to go and getting one?  Do not worry, here´s a very nice Honey roulade, that will definitely fulfill your craving for this Armenian cake.


Ingredients

for the cake:

1 egg
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
100 g caster sugar
100 g runny honey
160 g plain flour
1 tsp sodium bicarbonate
small piece of butter

for the filling:

250 g unsalted butter
5 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp rum
100 g ground nuts (I used almonds but walnuts would be good too)
leave a bit of nuts for sprinkling the top

Preparation method for roulade:
Heat the oven to 160/180C. Whisk 1 egg and 4 egg yolks together with the sugar and honey until soft and creamy. In a separate clean bowl, whisk  4 egg whites until stiff. Combine flour and sodium and gently stir into the egg yolks mixture, at the same time fold in the egg whites. 
Line the base of the pan with the baking paper and brush the paper with the melted butter.
Spread batter evenly in a pan and bake in middle of oven until set and firm to the touch, about 8-10 minutes.
When the cake is finished baking, carefully flip the cake over onto a clean kitchen towel. Carefully, pull the parchment paper off of the cake and starting at one end, roll the cake up as evenly as possible until the entire cake is a roll. With a large bread knife, trim the ends to make a neat edge.. Hint: This is where the wine comes in handy. You know just to calm the nerves a bit ;).

Preparation of filling:
Whisk the soft butter until moussy. Add the honey, rum and nuts. Leave part of the filling for spreading the top of the roulade.

When the cake is cold, gently unfold the tea towel. Spread the filling onto the roulade and roll the cake up again without the tea towel. Spread remaining filling all around the top and sides of roulade. Sprinkle with the ground nuts and let it cool in the fridge.