5. Philippa's No-Flour Chocolate Fudge Cake

I needed a great cake recipe for a girly weekend away, and my good friend Philippa gave me this recipe - it is very tasty!

Philippa's No-Flour Chocolate Fudge Cake

300g broken chocolate
225g caster sugar
180ml boiling water
225g salted butter, cut into cubes
6 eggs, separated
1tsp vanilla essence

1. Grease and line a cake tin (23cm round / 20cm square). Preheat oven to 180 C / 160 C fan assisted.

2. Put the chocolate and caster sugar into a food processor and pulse until fine (I don't have a food processor, so I shaved the chocolate with a knife as finely as I could - it takes much longer, but it works!)

3. Add the boiling water, butter, egg yolks and vanilla essence, mixing until smooth.

4. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, and then add to the chocolate mixture and combine until just mixed.

5. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 45-55 mins. The top will crack like a desert, and the cake should no longer be wobbly when you move the tin.

6. Allow the cake to cook, then refridgerate overnight. Serve from the fridge with ice-cream, creme fresh, or fruit coulis.

As ever, there are various ways of adapting this recipe! Personally, I think a bit of crunch would complement the gooey, fudgy texture really well - I will add about a cup of crushed walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans or almonds next time I make it. And these are a few other ideas I'd like to try:

• Add a tablespoon of instant coffee powder to the chocolate mixture, before you mix in the egg whites (Philippa's suggestion!)
• Add a cup of frozen fruit, such as raspberries, blueberries or blackcurrants.
• Add the rind of an orange and do 150ml boiling water and 30ml orange juice, for a chocolate-orange variation.
• Add a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon for a spicy kick to the cake.

And I'm sure you can come up with some of your own adaptations! Let me know if you hit upon a dream combination!

4. Orange One Minute Pudding with Chocolate Orange Sauce

One Minute Pudding is a favourite of my family's for after a Sunday roast - it's really simple to make (it takes 1 minute!) and tastes great, and you can do so many variations, simply from what's in the cupboard!

This is my gluten free version, with an orange and chocolate twist!

Gluten Free One Minute Pudding

5 oz gluten free self-raising flour (I use Dove's Farm) 5
3oz butter
4oz sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp orange juice
rind of one orange
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp xanthan gum

For the chocolate sauce:
1 tbsp orange juice
200g plain chocolate, broken into pieces (or dark for a richer taste)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees / Gas Mark 4.

2. Mix together all ingredients in a large bowl until well-combined.

3. Put into a greased oven-safe serving dish and cook for 30 min.

4. Whilst in the last 5 minutes of cooking, put the chocolate and orange juice in a glass bowl and melt together (either microwave or over a pan). I like to add about 1 tbsp of sifted cornflour to the chocolate mixture, as it makes it extra thick and creamy.

5. Serve immediately!

The best thing about the basic sponge recipe above is that it can be so easily adapted. For example, taking away the 1 tbsp orange juice and doing an extra tbsp milk, you can then add mixed spice and sultanas for a completely different feel to the dessert. Or you could put thinly sliced apple and red berries at the bottom of the dish, sprinkled with some brown sugar and with the cake mixture poured on top, and you get a kind of crumble, but with cake topping! (Otherwise known in our house as Mother Eve's Pudding.) There's loads of variations to be had with this recipe - so go ahead and experiment!

Tips and Tricks: Gluten Free Sausages!

Just a quick note about an exciting discovery of mine - Marks and Spencer have changed their basic sausage recipe to NOT include gluten! Obviously check the packets, as it seems that some of the flavour combinations they offer do include gluten, but the majority were gluten free... Made even better by the 2 for £4 price tag! That's 34p per sausage!

Although you can't order online, I'm definitely going to drop by on my way past every now and then to pick some up - it's worth it!