Still had some ganache left over in the freezer from the wedding cake, so these seemed like a good idea. Very pleasant they are too. The biscuits are fairly crumbly when you bite them, and they use peanut butter, giving them a slight saltiness, which contrasts nicely with the richness of the ganache.

They’re from a series of biscuit recipes Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall did in the Guardian Weekend magazine. All the recipes can be found here, but here’s this one in particular. It includes a recipe for ganache:

For the biscuits
240g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
½ t baking powder
¼ t salt
180g butter
140g smooth peanut butter
100g caster sugar
100g light brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
For the ganache filling
100g double cream
200g dark chocolate
30g butter, softened

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, beat until smooth, then stir in the flour until well combined. Pat into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour or two to firm up, as this is quite a soft dough.

Heat the oven to 170C. Line baking sheets with parchment (you may need to bake these in batches).

Lightly dust a work surface with flour, and pin out the dough to about 4-5mm thick. Cut into circles with a 5cm plain biscuit cutter. Place on the baking sheets about 2cm apart, and bake for 15-17 minutes, until the edges are slightly darkened. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Ganache: In a small pan, gently heat the cream until bubbles appear at the edges. Break the chocolate into small pieces and put in a bowl. Pour the hot cream over, stirring to blend, then add the butter a bit at a time, stirring until the mixture is smooth.

Leave to thicken slightly (can speed this up by putting it in the fridge), then pipe or spread the ganache on to half the biscuits, and sandwich together.

This is the partner cake to Jo’s “Eggsperiment”, as we got stuck into both side-by-side. Thanks to Jo or Lawrence for the pic too!

It’s another Dan Lepard. The sponge itself is made in a marginally convoluted fashion (separating eggs, making a kind of meringue mix with the whites), but it’s nice – with a crumbly, even texture not unlike a Madeira (according to Jo). The best part of this recipe is the icing, which is a bit like a ganache, but using crème fraîche. This gives it an almost citrussy tang, which is rather nice.

Here’s the recipe.

…I have managed to write a post since the birth of Ivy (only seven weeks ago mind you). This doesn’t mean I’ve not been baking, somehow between the madness I’ve managed a crumble, an apple cake and this White Chocolate Mud Cake for fellow cake-offer Dan on his birthday. I’ve never made a ganache before – dead simple, just hot cream poured over chocolate and stirred a bit. I always thought it was more complicated – just a posh sounding name i guess!

Anyway, this recipe was from a little Women’s Weekly booklet my sister gave me in Australia. It includes every possible chocolate cake there is (well, that might not be accurate). The cake was hideously delicious – only a small slice needed unless you’re Dan or I of course.

I will attempt to post the recipe at some point – right now i have a small window of opportunity! This is a similar recipe but not quite the same ingredients.