Slow Cooker Fudge

This is a recipe my mum begged me to make, and now I've made it once she wants a constant supply of fudge!

The basic recipe is simple, into a slow cooker on a low heat you put 500g of chocolate, about 25g of butter, a can of condensed milk and a generous slug of vanilla extract for a regular chocolate fudge that is rich and delicious. All you have to do is give it a good stir about every 10 minutes for 2 hours and then pour into a lined tray and put in the fridge to cool.

Now I've made this recipe a few times I'm experimenting with flavours to find combinations that work nicely. Cherry, Amaretto and Pina Colada have all been tried out. An issue that can occur if you need to put a lot of liquid in for the taste to come through is that the fudge doesn't set as hard. Cooking it for a bit longer can help this problem but if it doesn't then mould it into balls, cover in a layer of chocolate and voila- tasty chocolate truffles! 

Easy Banana Trifle

This week I made a banana bread loaf that I accidentally left in the oven too long and ended up coming out of the oven a bit burnt and fairly dry. Never one to waste cake I decided to think up some ways to use overcooked banana bread in a tasty way and came up with this banana trifle.

The recipe I made served three but can be easily adapted to make as many or as little as you want.

Banana Trifle

Ingredients

2 medium bananas

3 slices banana bread (normal sponge cake or sponge fingers would work as well)

9 teaspoons liqueur (I used salted caramel vodka but banana liqueur, rum or malibu would work just                                    as well, it depends on personal preference)

Tub of custard (you can make you own or use bought, I used shop bought madagascan vanilla)

Double cream

Icing sugar (optional)

To make simply cut up the banana bread into cubes and line the bottom of individual bowls or glasses, pour 3 teaspoons of liqueur over each serving and leave to soak.

When the liqueur has soaked in slice up the bananas and layer them across the banana bread. Then pour a generous covering of custard over each.

Put in the fridge to cool while you whisk the cream, if you want it slightly sweeter this is where to add in some icing sugar which will also thicken the cream slightly making it easier to whisk. 

When the cream is forming soft peaks layer some cream over the custard and put back in the fridge until serving. To make them look a bit fancier you can also add some grated chocolate or nuts on the top to garnish.