Easy Chocolate Fudge

November 18, 2016October 7, 2021 What Jessica Baked Next8 Comments

Homemade chocolate fudge made without a sugar thermometer or a double boiler in sight! It’s rich, silky smooth and a decadent treat perfect for the holidays and Christmas presents!

The Christmas baking starts now and we all know that Christmas = fudge season. Fudge or any kind of homemade chocolate confectionery is definitely something I would love to receive during the festive season as a present. This fudge would make a brilliant gift wrapped up in cellophane bags and tied with cute ribbon, but it would also be fantastic to make and serve on a platter at parties. Guests can help themselves or even take a few pieces home and share if they want to!

I’ve been working on this fudge recipe for sometime trying to get it perfected ready to share with you. The first time I made this fudge it was divine, however the following time I made it, I used half dark chocolate and half milk chocolate and the flavour was spot on. I also changed the originial recipe by adding some icing sugar to the mix, as the previous time I had made it the texture was silky smooth, but wouldn’t cut into perfect, neat pieces like I wanted it to.

This isn’t actually how traditional fudge is made as you won’t need any specialist equipment like a sugar thermometer and you don’t need to test for soft or hard ball stage. Not all food needs to be overly complicated to prepare and this recipe proves how easy fudge can be to make. In a large non-stick saucepan, gently heat chopped chocolate, a can of sweetened condensed milk and a little bit of butter until it’s melted and smooth, then stir through sifted icing sugar.

The hardest part, as with most no-bake recipes is the time waiting for the end result to be revealed. This fudge needs at least a few hours in the fridge to set – it will still be a little squidgy, so I would definitely recommend leaving it overnight to ensure it’s really nicely set and will cut easily, but of course, that’s only if you can resist trying a piece beforehand!

(Makes 36 pieces)

Ingredients:

400g (14 ounces) dark or milk chocolate, broken or chopped into small pieces – you can use a mix of the two

397g (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

25g (2 tablespoons) butter

100g (2/3 cup) icing/confectioners’ sugar

Method:

Line a 20cm / 8-inch square tin with parchment paper or cling film. Set aside.
Place the chocolate, condensed milk and butter in a large non-stick saucepan. Melt the ingredients gently on a low heat – take your time with this otherwise the chocolate will burn and go grainy. Stir occasionally until the mixture is smooth and all the chocolate is melted completely.
Take off the heat and sift in the icing sugar and mix until thoroughly combined. The fudge will start to get really thick at this point and will begin setting.
Evenly spread the fudge mixture out into the lined tin. Smooth over the top with the back of a spoon or a spatula. Leave fudge in the fridge for at 3-4 hours until set or overnight for the best results.
Once the fudge is set, remove it from the tin. Using a large sharp knife, carefully cut the fudge into 36 pieces or more if you want you make smaller pieces of fudge. Fudge will keep stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. It’s a great recipe to make ahead of time ready for Christmas or any other special occasion! See the recipe notes below for tips on freezing.

Recipe Notes:

Use real chocolate not chocolate chips. Chocolate chips have stabilisers added so they hold their shape and don’t melt completely, therefore if you use chocolate chips your fudge will not be as smooth as it should be.
For this fudge you can use dark/milk chocolate or a mix of both. I used chocolate flavoured with orange oil, however you can use any flavoured chocolate you’d like.
Be patient. Melt the chocolate, condensed milk and butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. If it’s too hot, you may risk splitting the mixture and the chocolate will go grainy. Unfortunately once you’ve overcooked chocolate there’s is no way of getting it back.
I tend to use unsalted butter is most of my baking, however as this fudge is quite sweet, I would recommend using salted butter instead of unsalted butter.
This fudge can be frozen for up to 3 months. Just make sure you wrap it up well and store in an airtight container. Don’t forget to pop a label on it so you know how long it has been in the freezer for! When you’re ready to thaw it, take the fudge out of the freezer and leave it to defrost in the fridge overnight.

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Candy and Sweets

How To Make Perfect Popcorn

September 24, 2016October 17, 2021 What Jessica Baked Next10 Comments

How to make perfect homemade popcorn on the stove top.

Love popcorn? I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t get excited by popcorn. For me there really is nothing better than a cosy night in watching a movie or catching up on my favourite box set with a big bowl of popcorn in my hand!

This popcorn recipe is inspired by a trip to Disneyland Paris with my sister. If you’ve ever been to Disneyland you will know how much confectionery and food there is on offer. There are popcorn stalls literally everywhere and as you walk around each corner you are met with the most amazing smell of fresh popcorn. Words cannot describe the tantalising aroma!

When we visited back in February, as you can imagine it was absolutely freezing. I remember always wanting to buy some hot, fresh popcorn to warm up with, but as much as I love popcorn I didn’t want to pay the extortionate price. I’ve been planning to make my own popcorn since that trip and now I know how easy it is to make, I’m never going back to buying ready popped or microwave popcorn again!

This popcorn recipe brought back some good memories for my mum. Whenever they had to go home after a day at the family beach hut my mum and her brother were allowed one treat each from the kiosk at the pier, the choice of two treats was either candy floss or popcorn. My mum’s brother would pick candy floss, but mum would always pick popcorn. My mum told me this popcorn reminded her of her favourite seaside treat when she was little.

For the rest of the taste testers, this popcorn reminded us of cinema-style sweet popcorn. It’s pretty amazing, so much so I would’ve devoured the entire bowl alone. I didn’t really want to share it, but next time I will definitely be doubling the recipe to make more! 🙂

Now I have this easy popcorn recipe I know this will be a fantastic, inexpensive treat to make on a Friday evening or during the weekend. Ditch the microwave popcorn for this homemade version, you won’t be disappointed.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

75g (1/3 cup) popcorn kernels

45g (3 tablespoons) caster or granulated sugar

Salt, to taste

Method:

Set a large stock pot over a medium to medium-high heat (you’ll need to use a large pot for this recipe). Add the oil to the pot along with 3 kernels of the popcorn. Cover with a lid and wait until the 3 kernels of popcorn have popped. At this point the oil will be at the correct temperature and this will be your cue to add the remaining kernels to the pot.
While you wait for those first 3 kernels to pop, mix together the remaining kernels with the sugar in a small bowl. Once the first 3 kernels have popped add this mixture to the pot. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, immediately stir scraping the sugar from the bottom of the pan so it doesn’t burn. Cover the pot.
Use tea towels/dish cloths or the pot holders to shake the pot every 10-15 seconds. Start shaking the pot as soon as you have added the kernels to the pan, don’t wait until they start popping. This ensures that the oil and sugar is evenly distributed over the kernels.
Continue shaking the pot until the kernels have stopped popping. Remove the lid and season sparingly with salt.
Serve the popcorn warm or at room temperature. This is best eaten on the day you’ve made it.

Recipe inspired by Tracey’s Culinary Adventures

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Baking · Buttercream and Frosting · Candy and Sweets · Chocolate · Cupcakes

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

March 21, 2016April 30, 2018 What Jessica Baked Next20 Comments

Make your Monday a little sweeter with these homemade chocolate malt cupcakes. A delicious combination of chocolate malt cupcakes topped with a vanilla, white chocolate and malt flavoured buttercream. These will be perfect for your next baking project!

I love sharing all my new cupcake creations on the blog, so this time I turned to another of my absolute favourite chocolate sweets.

Are you familiar with Maltesers? They’re malt balls covered with a thin layer of milk chocolate. They’re crunchy, sweet and I could definitely eat an entire sharing bag all to myself!

For these cupcakes you have a choice of a few different cupcakes to bake: you can bake a classic chocolate cupcake or bake a chocolate or vanilla cupcake with malt powder added. Sometimes I like to use my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe. It’s made with dark chocolate and cocoa powder for rich chocolate flavour, however on this occasion I decided on baking chocolate cupcakes with malt powder added to the cupcake batter as well as the buttercream. The buttercream of which is my recipe and the chocolate malt cupcake recipe I found on this amazing website.

These cupcakes are fantastic as they are, but topping them with a generous helping of my homemade buttercream takes this cupcake recipe to the next level. This recipe is almost identical to my favourite vanilla buttercream, however with this buttercream I’ve added malt powder and white chocolate. The best thing is the buttercream tastes exactly like the centre of a Malteser. I have to admit after I finished the first cupcake I was reaching for another straight away!

Running this blog has certainly given me a serious sweet tooth!

If you are a Malteser lover just like me then you’ll love this cupcake flavour combo. Bake the cupcakes for parties, a girls evening in or even for afternoon tea. They’ll be an instant hit! The cupcakes got a resounding thumbs up from the taste testers, particularly one who had just come home from a long day at work and devoured two of these cupcakes in one sitting!

(Makes 12)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes:

50g cocoa powder

175g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon salt (add just a pinch if using salted butter)

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

225g caster sugar

175g butter, softened

2 large free-range eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

175ml milk

4 tablespoons malt powder (such as Horlicks or Ovaltine)

Vanilla White Chocolate Malt Buttercream:

225g butter, softened

250g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

40g malt powder, sifted

125g white chocolate, melted and cooled slightly – you can use dark or milk instead of white chocolate

4 tablespoons double cream or milk, plus extra if needed

Method:

To make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. Line a cupcake tin with 12 paper cases and set aside. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift the cocoa powder, flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and sugar into the bowl. Mix together until combined. Now add the butter and mix until the butter is completely incorporated and no lumps of butter remain.
In a jug or medium-sized bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, milk and malt powder until thoroughly combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients in a slow and steady stream. Mix until combined, then stop of the mixer and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl and continue to mix for a further 20 seconds or so. At this point the batter might appear a little lumpy, however any lumps will disperse as the cupcakes bake. Evenly distribute the batter between the cupcake cases, bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester when inserted into the centre comes out clean without any uncooked batter attached. Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack completely.
To make the buttercream: Cream the softened butter for a 2-3 minutes until pale in colour. Now add the icing sugar and vanilla and continue to mix for 5 minutes (stop the mixer halfway through and scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl). Now add the malt powder and the cooled white chocolate and mix until combined. Finally, add the cream beat for another minute. Fit a piping bag with your favourite nozzle and fill with the buttercream. Decorate the cupcakes as desired. They’ll last in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

Recipe Notes:

Adjust the icing sugar depending on how sweet you like your buttercream. I find 250g is sweet enough given that we’re also adding white chocolate to the buttercream.
I prefer using double/heavy cream and not milk in my buttercream as it results in a creamier and lighter texture. You may need to add more cream/milk until you reach your desired piping consistency.
Decorate the cupcakes with whole and chopped Maltesers (Whoppers are the US equivalent). I used a sharp knife to cut the Maltesers up into smaller pieces, just be careful doing this. Make sure you decorate with the chocolate sweets just before serving otherwise they tend to go stale and lose their crunchy texture.

Enjoy!

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Baking · Biscuits and Cookies · Candy and Sweets · Chocolate

Cookies and Cream Oreo Fudge

September 17, 2015December 4, 2015 What Jessica Baked Next56 Comments

Classic clotted cream fudge studded with crunchy chocolate Oreo cookies. Just 5 ingredients and incredibly simple + easy to make! You are going to love this cookies and cream fudge!

I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t love fudge. I mean what’s not to like about creamy smooth sweet bites of pure deliciousness?

What I really like most about fudge, besides the fact it is delicious and seriously addictive, is how versatile each fudge recipe can be. I’ve already shared my Custard Cream Fudge (the best creation!). That recipe always goes down a treat with my blog readers, and when I made it for a charity bake everybody went CRAZY for it, and it sold out in less than 2 minutes!

After I realised the popularity of that fudge recipe, I decided to make a new version. I made this Oreo fudge to take over to my best friend’s house last weekend and yet again, like the previous times I’ve made it, this fudge went down a storm with everyone who tried a piece!

I’ve taken that previous fudge recipe and swapped the custard creams, which if you’re wondering are the British equivalent of golden Oreos for regular chocolate Oreo cookies. The fudge is just as tiring to make as I remember, I’m not gonna lie the recipe requires quite a bit of muscle to make! But after an extreme arm workout you can reward yourself with square after square of the yummy fudge! 😉

One of the best homemade treats and beautifully modelled by my sis!

This fudge requires just a handful of ingredients. It’s inspired by Cornish clotted cream fudge which always reminds me of family holidays in beautiful Cornwall. But I’ve added a twist, the fudge is speckled with crushed Oreos which are one of my favourite cookies!

The greatest thing about this simple recipe is that it’ll only take 30 minutes from start to finish to make and it doesn’t even require a candy thermometer! Making fudge can be an intimidating process, heating the fudge to the correct temperature, making sure it reaches “soft ball” stage. What is best about my recipe, is all you need to do with boil all the ingredients (minus the Oreos) for just 3 minutes then take straight off the heat and continuously beat the fudge until it turns nice and thick – that and waiting for the fudge to set are the two hardest parts of the recipe! Then finally finish by folding through the cookies. Leave it to set and then slice up!

The fudge would make fab gifts wrapped up or put into decorative jars. It is the best kind of sweet chocolate treat, perfect for any occasion! Enjoy!

(Makes about 32-40 squares)

Ingredients –

1 x 227g (8 oz) tub clotted cream

275g (9¾ oz) caster sugar

100g (3.5 oz) golden syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

8-10 Oreos, crushed

Method –

Line an 8″ x 8″ square tin with parchment paper and set aside.
Place the clotted cream, sugar, golden syrup and vanilla in a medium saucepan. Heat gently and stir until all the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up, and the bring the mixture up to the boil. Allow to boil for 3 minutes. Then take straight off the heat.
Using a wooden spoon, continuously beat the fudge for 10 minutes until it is really thick and matte.
Finally fold half the crushed Oreos through the fudge. Spread out into the lined tin, and then decorate the top with the fudge with the remaining Oreos – make sure you press them in slightly. Place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight. Once set, cut into cubes.

Recipe Notes:

Fudge is best served chilled.
It will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator or at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy the recipe everyone!

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Other treats you make like to try!

Flapjacks (British chewy oat squares)

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies (a must try recipe!)

Custard Cream Fudge

Baking · Candy and Sweets · Chocolate

Nutella Cupcakes

May 19, 2015October 19, 2021 What Jessica Baked Next85 Comments

Beautifully light and fluffy chocolate fudge cupcakes with decadent Nutella buttercream. Decorate these divine cupcakes with a choice of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, sprinkles or chopped toasted hazelnuts.

I shared a Nutella cupcake recipe in the first few months after starting my blog. I remember I spent years baking cupcakes and experimenting with buttercream recipes. This buttercream is pure heaven for any Nutella lover. It has an a gorgeous light Nutella flavour and it doesn’t distract or overpower chocolate flavour in the cupcakes, making this combo a heavenly match.

The Nutella buttercream recipe comes with a warning. You’ll probably devour it before you even get a chance to decorate the cupcakes.

After swirling each cupcake with the heavenly buttercream I decorated some of the cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles, Ferrero Rocher chocolates and with chopped toasted hazelnuts. If you want to take these cupcakes to the next level, why not scoop out the centre of each cupcake and fill with Nutella.

Decoration is totally optional, however I can never resist decorating cupcakes with sprinkles.

So here it is, my favourite chocolate fudge cupcake topped with dreamy Nutella buttercream. Now it’s time to grab your apron and get baking these amazing cupcakes!

(Makes 12)

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes:

85g (3 ounces) dark chocolate, finely chopped

40g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder

1 teaspoon instant coffee granules or powder (optional)

180ml (3/4 cup) boiling water

105g (3/4 cup) bread flour (can be substituted with plain/all-purpose flour)

150g (3/4 cup) caster or granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large free-range eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Nutella Buttercream:

150g (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) salted or unsalted butter, softened – I recommend using salted butter for buttercream

250-300g (2 and 1/2 – 3 cups) icing (confectioners’) sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200g (1 cup) Nutella or other chocolate hazelnut spread

3-4 tablespoons double/heavy cream or milk

Method:

To make the cupcakes: Place the chopped chocolate, cocoa powder and coffee granules/powder (if using) in a medium mixing bowl. Pour the boiling water over and whisk until smooth and all the chocolate has melted. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 180°C / 160°C Fan / 350°F / Gas Mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda until thoroughly combined. Whisk the oil, eggs, vinegar and vanilla into the now cooled chocolate mixture. Finally, add the dry ingredients and whisk until you have a smooth batter.
Divide the batter between the paper cases – I find using an ice cream scoop best for doing this as it makes less mess. Bake for 17-19 minutes or until the cupcakes are well risen and a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre. Leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes then transport to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
To make the buttercream: In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the softened butter, mix on a low speed to soften slightly.
Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and starting on a low speed mix until the butter and sugar are combined. Then turn the speed up to medium and beat for 2-3 minutes or until creamy and fluffy. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the mixer halfway through to ensure even mixing.
Now add the Nutella and cream and beat until combined.
To decorate the cupcakes: Fit a disposable piping bag with your favourite piping nozzle. Fill the bag with the buttercream. Pipe the buttercream onto each cupcake.
Finish by decorating the top of each cupcake with a choice of sprinkles, Ferrero Rocher chocolates or chopped toasted hazelnuts. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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