mocha date self-sauching puddings

Ingredients (serves 4)

* 1 cup self-raising flour
* 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup caster sugar
* 150g (about 6) fresh dates, deseeded, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 egg
* 75g butter, melted, cooled
* cream or vanilla ice-cream, to serve
*
Sauce
* 2/3 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
* 1 1/3 cups boiling water
* 1 tablespoon instant espresso coffee powder

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease four 1 1/4-cup capacity, ovenproof ramekins and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
2. Sift flour and cocoa into a large bowl. Stir in caster sugar and dates (make sure dates don't clump). Whisk vanilla, milk, egg and butter together in a jug. Pour into flour mixture. Gently stir to combine. Spoon into prepared dishes. Smooth surface.
3. Make sauce: Combine brown sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Sprinkle over puddings. Combine boiling water and coffee powder in a heatproof jug, stirring to dissolve coffee. Pour 1/3 cup coffee over the back of a metal spoon, over each pudding.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted halfway into puddings comes out clean and sauce bubbles around the edges. Serve immediately with cream or ice-cream.

tiramisu chocolate cake

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 600ml thickened cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 500g mascarpone cheese
• 1 1/3 cups freshly brewed strong coffee, cooled
• 2/3 cup hazelnut-flavoured liqueur
• 500g packet Unibic Sponge Finger biscuits
• 250g frozen raspberries
• 250g frozen blueberries
• 100g dark chocolate, grated

Method

1. Line a 24cm (base) springform cake pan with non-stick baking paper.
2. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Stir in vanilla and sugar. Whip until thick. Add mascarpone and stir gently to combine.
3. Combine coffee and liqueur in a shallow dish. Dip biscuits, 1 at time, into coffee mixture and use to line base of pan (cut to fit, if necessary). Top with a third of the mascarpone mixture, half the berries and a third of the chocolate. Repeat layers.
4. Top chocolate with a final layer of soaked biscuits, remaining mascarpone mixture and remaining chocolate. Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow biscuits to soften and flavours to develop. Serve.