Raspberry Parade

Tart berries and smooth chocolate make the perfect paring in these indulgent cocoa confections

BANANA CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

Serves 4, prep time 10 minutes, plus 4 hours, including freezing time

INGREDIENTS

4 ripe bananas

4 dessert spoons of Nutella

2 ½ tsp of cocoa powder

TO SERVE

Fresh raspberries

Flaked almonds

METHOD

Peel four ripe bananas, place in an airtight bag and freeze for two hours. Once they have frozen, break into pieces and place in a food processor. Add four dessert spoonfuls of Nutella and two teaspoons of cocoa powder. Blitz the mix until it’s smooth in texture. Pour into a plastic container, cover and return the freezer for 3-4 hours. Serve topped with fresh raspberries and flaked almonds.

CHOCOLATE COOKIE & RASPBERRY TART

Prep time 15 minutes, plus two hours to chill

INGREDIENTS

250g choc-chip cookies

3 tbsp of melted butter

250ml of double cream

200g plain chocolate

1 tsp of vanilla essence

100g frozen raspberries

1 tbsp of icing sugar

Cocoa powder to dust

Fresh raspberries to decorate

METHOD

Place 200g of the cookies in a food processor and blitz into crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse until combined. Grease and line a tart tin. Press the mixture into a flan tray and chill in the fridge until set. Add half the cream to a pan and bring to the boil, remove from the heat and break in the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted, allow to cool for 10 minutes. Whisk the remainder of the cream, and vanilla essence, then fold in the chocolate mixture. Pour half the mixture over the biscuit base and allow to set. Next, mash the frozen raspberries together with the icing sugar. Spread the raspberries over the chocolate base and crush over the remainder of the cookies. Top with the rest of the chocolate mix, chill for two hours until firm. Finally, dust with cocoa powder and top with fresh raspberries and serve.

BEETROOT, CHOCOLATE & WALNUT BROWNIES

Makes 12, prep time 15 minutes, cooking time 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

200g cooked beetroot

175g butter, coarsely chopped

255g brown sugar

250g dark chocolate drops

2 free-range eggs

75g plain flour 1

50g cocoa powder

1 tbsp of Nutella

¼ tsp mixed spice

100g chopped walnuts

Handful of fresh raspberries, keeping some to serve

Icing sugar, to dust

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tray with baking paper, allowing sides to overhang. Blitz the beetroot in a food processor until finely chopped. Place beetroot, butter, brown sugar and chocolate drops in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until melted. Pour into a bowl, add the eggs. Fold in the flour, cocoa powder, Nutella and mixed spice. Then add walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until centre is just firm. Cool in the tray. Cut into equal squares. Top with raspberries and dust with icing sugar.