No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

October 5, 2013July 25, 2022 What Jessica Baked Next4 Comments

No-bake treats are my new favourite recipes because they’re quick and convenient to make and don’t require the use of an oven. As my last no-bake recipe went down well I thought I would share with you my new favourite no-bake chocolate recipe, which is super easy to make and tastes out of this world good! I personally love the saltiness of the peanut butter against the decadent chocolate topping. This is a treat worth making and what’s great is it takes only half an hour to make and chill. I first tried this recipe out earlier in the year and it tasted so good that I knew I had to make it again to share with you! Peanut butter fanatics are going to love these bars!

(Makes 16 Bars)

Ingredients:

150g salted or unsalted butter

200g digestive biscuits

200g light brown sugar

300g smooth or crunchy peanut butter

Chocolate Topping:

200g dark or milk chocolate

30g / 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

Method:

1. Line a 20cm square tin with parchment paper and grease with butter.

2. Place the digestive biscuits and sugar in a food processor, blitz until you have fine crumbs. In a pan, melt the butter, then to the butter add the crushed biscuits and sugar along with the peanut butter and mix until the mixture ‘clumps’ together.

3. Tip the mixture into the lined tin and firmly press down using the back of a spoon. Set this aside in the fridge whilst you prepare the topping.

4. For the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate and peanut butter either one of two ways, melt in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (this is a bain-marie) or melt in the microwave in 30 second blasts until all the chocolate is completely melted. Once all the chocolate is melted, pour it over the peanut butter biscuit base and spread over until all the chocolate has covered the base and it’s nice and smooth. Set in the fridge for about 1 and 1/2 hours, or if you want to make it advance you can chill it overnight like I did and then serve it the next day. Once set, take it out of tin, remove the parchment paper and cut into 16 squares.

The bars will store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

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Baking · Cakes · Chocolate · Cupcakes

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

September 28, 2013August 10, 2018 What Jessica Baked Next3 Comments

Decadent chocolate fudge cupcakes with a moist crumb, topped with salted caramel buttercream. You’ll find it hard to stop eating these!

(Recipe and blog post updated September 2016)

I originally shared this recipe in October 2013. It remains one of my favourite cupcake recipes. I made these cupcakes three whole years ago for my grandad’s birthday. This was one of the first recipes I shared on my blog all that time ago. I’ve kept the concept of the original recipe the same, but I’ve made a few alterations, which I believe have made these cupcakes even more delicious.

So what makes these chocolate cupcakes special? I think the reason these cupcakes stand out from the other recipes I have tried is because this particular recipe incorporates melted dark chocolate into the batter. Sounds silly, right? But a fair share of chocolate cupcake recipes only call for cocoa powder, which is ok, but for me cocoa powder alone doesn’t pack that real chocolate flavour punch, you need a touch of dark chocolate in there for the strong chocolate taste. Also, the addition of coffee in the cupcake batter is a must! Coffee helps to bring out the chocolate flavour, but if you’re not a fan of mocha flavour or are making the cupcakes for kids/non coffee lovers, then you can leave it out and just use boiling water instead.

Another thing I changed to the original recipe is this time I added caramel to the buttercream. The first time I shared the recipe I topped the cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and drizzled each cupcake with caramel. This new version is a cheat’s recipe, I’m not even ashamed to admit that I use readymade caramel/dulce de leche, but if you have homemade you can definitely use that.

Decoration is where the fun begins! I like to decorate by drizzling each cupcake with extra caramel and some cubes of dairy fudge or chewy caramel candy/sweets. Feel free to scatter over some chocolate or sprinkles as well!

(Makes 12)

Ingredients:

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 (3g) salt

1/2 teaspoon (3g) 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

Salted Caramel Buttercream:

150g (2/3 cup) salted butter, softened

375g icing sugar, sifted

100g (3.5 ounces) caramel or dulce de leche

Pinch of salt

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 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: Once the cupcakes are cool, make your buttercream. Cream the softened butter until smooth. Add half the icing sugar and mix to combine. Add the remaining half of the icing sugar and beat again until throughly incorporated. Now continue to beat the butter and icing sugar together for about 5-7 minutes until it’s fluffy and a light pale colour. Make sure you scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
Finally, add the caramel/dulce de leche along with the salt and beat until combined. Adjust consistency of the buttercream with the double cream/milk. Taste the buttercream and add more salt if you’d like. Frost the cupcakes as desired. Decorate the cupcakes with an extra drizzle of caramel, fudge/caramels, chocolate or sprinkles.

Recipe Notes:

Bread flour can be substituted with regular plain/all-purpose flour. The bread flour has a higher gluten content and produces a denser, more even structured cupcake.
This recipe calls for caster or granulated sugar. I’m based in the UK and caster sugar is the most commonly used sugar in baking. It’s a superfine sugar and dissolves better than granulated sugar.
Prior to making the buttercream, I recommend leaving the butter out overnight at room temperature to soften. The softer the butter, the creamier and smoother your buttercream will be.
I used a large closed star tip nozzle to pipe the buttercream onto these cupcakes.
Decorated cupcakes will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. I don’t think cupcakes have ever lasted that long in our house!

Enjoy!

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Cheesecake · Chocolate · No-Bake

No-Bake Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake

July 20, 2013August 2, 2025 What Jessica Baked Next115 Comments

No-Bake Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake! A buttery biscuit base, followed by a layer of creamy vanilla cheesecake with chopped Ferrero Rocher chocolates folded through. Once set, the cheesecake is topped with a layer of Nutella and decorated with chopped hazelnuts and even more Ferrero Rocher!

Originally posted in July 2013, photographs updated February 2024.

This recipe remains the second most viewed recipe of all time on this blog. Which still blows my mind, I remember making this recipe the very first time. It was a summer evening, too hot to bake, and I wanted to share my first ever cheesecake recipe. Always being a massive fan of all things chocolate-hazelnut flavoured, and Ferrero Rocher chocolates, I decided on this for the recipe.

This cheesecake is so easy to make and it tastes heavenly! It has a gorgeous buttery biscuit base, with a creamy mousse filling which is speckled with chopped Ferrero Rocher and is topped with a layer of Nutella and decorated with roasted hazelnuts.

A very decadent dessert that’s perfect for simply any occasion. The only difficult part of this recipe is waiting for the cheesecake to set, but once you’ve had a slice of it you’ll find it really hard to stop eating it!

(Serves 10-12)

Ingredients:

Biscuit Base:

300g digestive biscuits

140g butter

Cheesecake Filling:

500g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature – leave it out at room temperature for an hour to soften

85g icing sugar, sifted

300ml double cream, chilled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

12 Ferrero Rocher chocolates, roughly chopped

Decoration:

4-6 (heaped) tablespoons chocolate hazelnut spread (such as Nutella), for spreading or drizzling

25g chopped roasted hazelnuts

Ferrero Rocher chocolates – how many you want, I decorated with 12

Method:

To make the cheesecake base: Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in a microwave. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor to a fine crumb. Add the melted butter and mix until well combined. Tip the biscuit crumbs into a 23cm springform cake tin and press down until compact and firm. Use the back of a spoon or glass to smooth over, place in the fridge to chill whilst you make the filling.
To make the cheesecake filling: In a medium mixing bowl beat together the cream cheese with the icing sugar until smooth. In another mixing bowl whisk together the cream and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the cream cheese mix. Finally, fold through the chopped chocolates.
Spoon over the biscuit base and smooth over with a spatula or palette knife. Cover and leave the cheesecake to chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Once the cheesecake has set, place the chocolate hazelnut spread in a small saucepan and melt over a low heat for 3-4 minutes until runny – be careful not to boil the Nutella or get it too hot.
Allow the Nutella to cool slightly before spreading or drizzling over the top of the cheesecake. Finish by decorating with the remaining chocolates and some chopped roasted hazelnuts. Serve chilled. Cheesecake will store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Recipe Notes:

You can add more chopped Ferrero Rocher to the cheesecake filling.
If you like your cheesecake sweeter, feel free to add more icing sugar to the cheesecake filling. I recommend adding around 150g instead of 85g. Check by tasting and adding more until it reaches your desired sweetness.
For the Nutella topping, I typically use 4-6 heaped tablespoons of Nutella. I find using 6 heaped tablespoons makes the topping easier to spread and makes sure there’s enough to completely cover the top.