Okay it’s not a pie, it’s a tart…. but I think sweet potato pie sounds better!

A thoroughly different use for Sweet Potato and a tough one to describe, think of the filling as a cross between cheesecake and a custard tart.  However you’d describe it, it’s blooming lovely!

Makes 1 x  deep 8″ Tart

Ingredients:

Pastry

225g plain flour

50g icing sugar

125g butter, cold

1 medium egg

20ml water (approx)

Filling

750g sweet potatoes (skin on, uncooked weight)

100g butter, softened

200g caster sugar

235ml single cream

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

To serve (optional)

Whipped double cream

Start by making the pastry, add the flour and icing sugar to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine them evenly.

Add the cubed butter and run the processor until the butter has been completely rubbed into the dry mixture/

With the processor running add one medium egg and then just enough water so that the pastry will come together in a dough.

Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

Prepare a deep loose based flan or tart tin by greasing well.

Roll out the pastry on your worksurface, lightly floured.

Line the tin with the pastry and trim away any excess.

I always use up excess pastry by throwing together some jam tarts in a bun tin,  you can bake them straight away and eat them up too – no-one will know you ever made them!

Chill the lined tart case in the fridge once more until firm, this will help to stop the pastry from shrinking when you bake it.

Preheat the oven to 180c (fan)/190c/Gas Mark 5.

Prick the base of the pastry case with a form and line with baking paper.  I’m using one of those round paper cake liners which is perfect for the job, you can fold them back and protect the edge of the pastry from browning too much (and I picked them up in the £ shop too!)

Fill with baking beans or dried rice and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Once time is up remove the baking beans and paper lining and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until the base is fully cooked through and the  case is lightly golden.

Set to one side whilst you make the filling.

Turn down the oven to 130c (fan), 150c, Gas Mark 2-3.

Prepare the sweet potatoes by peeling and cutting into small chunks.  Boil in a pan of water until soft and fully cooked (5-10 mins).

Drain away the cooking water and allow the sweet potato to cool to just lukewarm.

Pink Whisk Tip – Don’t prepare the sweet potato the night before and store in the fridge as it takes on a  really grainy texture and will ruin your tart, freshly cooked sweet potato is the way to go!

Place the cooled sweet potato in a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer if using.  Add the butter and mash well to a pulp.    Remove any large fibrous bits if there are any.

Add the cream, sugar eggs and vanilla and beat well to combine.

Carefully pour the filling into the pastry case.  It depends how deep your case is whether you’ll have any left over, if you do bake the filling in small ramekins at the same time as the tart.

Bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes until the mixture has just set in the middle.  It will be a little puffy when it comes out but will drop back down on cooling.

Once cooled, chill in the fridge.

Serve with a little whipped cream (and a drizzle of maple syrup if you’re really pushing the boat out!)

 Sweet Potato Pie

Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

I have come away, having learnt so much more.

I will never look at one of ‘those’ pictures again in the same way. I will instead see the families and the people behind those pictures and the difference that our support can make.

Rwanda is a beautiful vibrant place. Appearances are deceptive and if you look a little further then things can be very different, the same could be said in a lot of places – including in the UK.

I have been heartened by the work that goes on around the world by organisations such as Save the Children and the many many others that work to make a difference.

Here are some of the lovely things I experienced on my trip.

Meeting the people – Talking to all sorts of folks, although they want to tell you their own stories they also wanted me to tell them about where I come from. They were extremely keen to see photos of my boys (and husband!) One lady asked me if Fin was still breastfed (even though they knew he was eight!) their learnings of good nutrition for children are certainly hitting home.

They want to show you what they have grown in their gardens, the skills that they have, how they make their own soya milk, introduce you to their families and to treat you to renditions of songs and dancing despite the fact that they are struggling in so many other ways.

The children are happy and playful with the cheeky traits of my own boys. They shared their games with me, wanting me to play too. Fun is found in a wheel and stick (they laughed because I was so rubbish!), in a game of ‘marbles’ with pods from a tree.

They’ll share an empty bottle for games of catch and football and love having a turn with the camera too, just like our own children.

I am trying very hard to bite my tongue now I’m back home with my boys not to use the ‘If you were a child in Rwanda….’ line it’s not a comparison you can make.

We travelled quite some distance on the trip and children will wait at the sides of the road to wave at passers by. Something I was a little uncomfortable with to begin with, I felt like I was acting as Lady of the Manor by waving at the little ones but they desperately want the chance to say hello and the excitement on their faces soon made me wave back like a loon!

The simplicity of Rwanda has lots we could learn from. Plastic and non-biodegradable bags are illegal, everywhere is clean and tidy you’d be hard pushed to find any rubbish, things are reused and new inventive uses are found.  Community spirit is the highest I’ve ever come across.

Despite the harrowing stories I learnt not to feel embarrassed or guilty by the privileges I have in my life, I realised that things are just different. Trying to change the lives of these people through awareness and support is much more important.

Thank you all for letting me share my experiences with you, a week borrowed from the blog so that I can try and change the lives of the people I met, even if it’s in a small teeny tiny way. I believe it was a worthwhile swop for the recipes and baking that I normally share with you.

So for now it’s back to just that very thing….. recipes inspired by delicious Rwandan ingredients and experiences. We’re lucky to have easy access to these products and that’s not something we should feel guilty for as long as we’re willing to make a difference in our own way.

Ruth x

 
Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from the trip it’s that the people of Rwanda want to change things, they just need to be shown how.  Key to achieving it is education.  Once families are taught what sorts of foods are best to feed their children and once they know the best way to grow their own then things will start to change.

Kitchen Garden projects are making such a difference.

The President of the group I visited, Vestine, donated her land to the project.  In a space of 35 x 15m members of surrounding villages are taught to grow their own crops; carrots, cabbage, onion, sweet potato, beetroot and green leaves.

All aspects of growing are taught including different models which can be used in the differing spaces that each person has at home.

Every member then teaches these skills to their neighbours and families – the knowledge is shared.

At another Kitchen Garden project, whose name literally translates as ‘cook well’ we were treated to demonstrations of how the ladies cook their food and how they make their own soya milk.

They also shared a nutritious lunch with us of cooked cassava, beans, sweet potato, cassava leaf soup enriched with little fishes and nuts and a type of marinated tofu, made as a bi-product of the soya milk.

Members of the group are taught the essential aspects of nutrition, food groups, nutritional values and what consititutes a good balanced diet to keep them and their families healthy.  They learn the importance of good hygiene, sing nutrition songs and learn all sorts of other ways to use the food they grow.

Here they are making their own pineapple juice.

Yes I worried about fingers being lost here!

Obviously places in the group are limited but each and every one will take the knowledge back to their own homes and teach others to do the same.

Every one of them wants to see the end of malnutrition – these projects are helping them to achieve it and it’s why Save the Children is a cause I believe in.

I also had the opportunity to visit an adult literacy class, jointly run by Save the Children and CHF.

Each lesson is 2 hours long and is made up of 30 minutes of nutrition, 30 minutes of reading and writing and one hour of maths.  The class was lively with the keenest students I’ve ever seen.  Mums are allowed to bring the little ones so there is no barrier to them attending.

The scheme currently has 400 teachers and will educate 4000 people in 6 months, a massive achievement.  In August the students will graduate with a certificate from the Minister of Education but will also leave with so much more.  Operating in just 8 of the 30 Rwandan districts you can see that expansion of the scheme could potentially reach so many more.

The class was such a mix of people men and women of all sorts of ages.  Everyone wanted to learn for different reasons; so that they could read road signs and travel, to read the bible, to be able to write and read their own letters, to help them in their work, to be able to sing more songs,  all very different but they all get a good healthy dose of nutrition teaching in the process.  A bit like us sneaking vegetables into picky eaters to make sure they’re getting their five a day.

Talking to the class they thoroughly enjoy it, they are keen and so so willing to learn and do well.  It was such an encouraging thing to see.

Whilst these projects are brilliant they still don’t reach far enough,  the programmes need to be expanded which is why I’m asking you to support Save the Children in their push to end the Hidden Hunger.

The solutions to childhood malnutrition are simple, the people want to do it for themselves, they just need to be shown how.

If you do just one thing:

- Pledge your support to the #nameaday campaign – the more support we have, the more we can get the government’s attention and encourage David Cameron to #name a day to hold a global food summit.  Visit:

Save the Children – Name A Day

and pledge your own date to do something to make a difference and support the push to end the ‘Hidden Hunger’.

Ruth x

Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

Meet Nsengiyumva he is 3 years old.

When I arrived on the children’s ward at the Butaro District Hospital it was medicine time for Nsengiyumva, he didn’t want to have it, he was refusing to swallow.

Is it any wonder when he’s very poorly and his meds are crushed up tablets in a spoonful of milk.

Nsengiyumva is suffering from Kwashiorkor as a result of his malnutrition. It is life threatening. The lack of protein in his diet has damaged cells beyond repair.  They can’t release the water and his body is badly swollen, his every movement hurts and he can’t bear to be touched.

The nurses and nutritionist are extremely kind attempting to soothe and encourage him to swallow the medicine that they are trickling in through his crying mouth.

He’s not fighting back or spitting it out, he hasn’t the energy, tears roll down his face.

Eventually he has to give in and swallow, which makes him cry even harder.

I want to hold his swollen hand and tell him I’ll make it all better but I can’t.

Malnutrituon has compromised his immune system, if he were to succumb to diarrhoea or pneumonia he wouldn’t make it.

Nsengiyumva’s growth has been stunted, it has been irreversibly damaged.

He is being fed three hourly in small amounts to improve his body weight and the positive news is that he is making good progress.

Thank goodness for the District Hospital, the health centre and the community workers who will all assist on his road to recovery.  Nsengiyumva is lucky to come from an area that has these facilities.

If you still needed a reason to support the push to end malnutrition please let this be it.

The photos of Nsengiyumva were taken by the team the day before my visit, you’ll understand I wouldn’t take a photo of a little person in distress. I also met other children on the ward at the time.

This is Masezerano, she is 12 and extremely shy and introverted.  Like Nsengiyumva she has Kwashiorkor resulting in her hospitalisation.  Her height has been stunted by malnutrition and at 119cm, she is 11cm shorter than she should be.

Adri,7 is playful and chatty despite being poorly.  Her malnutrition has caused wasting which can be seen obviously, she weighs just 15kg (roughly 3st 2lb) she should be 20kg.

I realise I’m preaching, you probably don’t want to hear it and to you these are just pictures.

I have met these suffering children and they are just like ours. They have done nothing to deserve it.  Help me put it right.

Pledge your support for #Name A Day and help Save the Children end the ‘Hidden Hunger’

That’s the last of my difficult stories I promise, it’s time to tell you about the fantastic projects in operation here that are working to put an end to childhood malnutrition, more soon,

Ruth x

Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

on Wednesday 15th February 2012

Thanks to the help of tireless supporters, 2011 saw Save the Children make breakthroughs that will change the lives of millions of children.

This year the focus is on tackling the hidden crisis of global childhood malnutrition and hunger. 300 children die every hour simply because they don’t have the right food to eat, which in a world with enough food for everyone is unacceptable.  You’ve read about it here, you’re seeing what I’ve seen first hand in Rwanda.

Malnutrition is the root cause of a third of all deaths in children under five. You won’t see it on their death certificates, but it’s hunger which leaves them too weak to fight off illnesses like diarrhoea or pnuemonia, which then claim their lives.

We want David Cameron to #nameaday to hold a world hunger summit.

To achieve this we need to spread the word and get global attention for the launch of ‘A Life Free From Hunger’ Report.

The report launches on Wednesday 15th February, which sets out the problem of childhood malnutrition and the simple solutions that can be put in place to solve it.

This will be the biggest push to end hunger in history.

We’re calling on world leaders to put an end to this problem – and we’re asking David Cameron to #nameaday to tackle hunger and hold a World Food Summit for world leaders to address the problem.

You already know that Jay Rayner, Food writer and presenter and I are in Rwanda visiting some of Save the Children’s projects before helping to launch #nameaday live from Rwanda on Wednesday February 15th.

We need you to help us create a digital storm to get the world, and Prime Minister David Cameron’s, attention.

Here’s what you can do to help…

If you do just one thing:

- Pledge your support to the #nameaday campaign – the more support we have, the more we can get the government’s attention. Visit:

Save the Children – Name A Day

and pledge a date on which you will do something to make a difference and support the push to end the ‘Hidden Hunger’.

If you’re on twitter:

Spread the word the bigger the reach the bigger the pressure on David Cameron to #nameaday

- Tweet about the campaign using our hashtag #nameaday

- Follow @jayrayner1 @thepinkwhisk @rosiechilds in Rwanda and @savechildrenuk @savechildrenpr for more details on the hunger push.

If you’re a blogger:

- #nameaday on your blog in honour of the campaign and ask your readers to pass the message on about the hidden hunger crisis of child malnutrition

If you’re a facebooker:

- Post up a picture of the food your Mum had to make you eat when you were little because she knew it was good for you. Or, put up a picture of the food you have to persuade your children to eat and tag it with #nameaday

Or you could…

Donate a recipe through The Pink Whisk Challenge for your ‘Family Favourites’- these will be collated into an e-book which will be sold to raise awareness and funds for the campaign.  Full details here.   If you’re a blogger you can blog about your recipe and why you’re donating it, if you don’t blog take a photo of your recipe and post it to flickr. More details here.

Pledging your support and spreading the word will make a difference

Any questions contact @savechildrenpr or @thepinkwhisk via twitter

 
Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

Time for The Pink Whisk Challenge…and this one is dedicated to Save the Children and the Hidden Hunger campaign.  It’s a great way for us to help spread the word.

  I would love for you to donate a recipe. The theme for the challenge is ‘Family Favourites’, recipes you enjoy making and that you love to share, there’s nothing more to it than that – it doesn’t even have to be baking (I hope you realise how much that hurt me to write!)

All recipes gathered for the challenge will be collated and published in a Save the Children e-book which will be sold to raise awareness and funds for the campaign.

To contribute your recipe:

If you blog – feature the recipe on your site and tell your readers about the Save the Children campaign – ask them to name their day and help end the hidden hunger, add your donated recipe to the linky at the end of this post.  More info on the campaign is available on the Save the Children website. Posts mustn’t be historic and must be published after the challenge launch post.

If you don’t blog, I’d still love you to enter the challenge and donate your recipe.  Upload a photo of your family favourite to the Pink Whisk Save the Children Challenge group on Flickr and make sure you post the recipe in the comments section below your pic   (You will need a Flickr account)

If you tweet - Tweet @thepinkwhisk and @savechildrenuk with a link to your recipe/entry with the hash tag #nameaday and I’ll retweet it  for all to see.

All donated recipes will be collated and published as an e-book for Save the Children.  By entering your recipe in the challenge you are providing your consent for this.

And if you haven’t done it already….

Please pledge your support here - Save the Children and name your own day when you’ll dedicate a recipe to help the campaign.  

You have until Saturday 31st March to enter – so let’s have your family favourites!

Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

On the left is Immaculate and her daughter Chlaudine,  unbelievably she’s ten.  Malnutrition has stunted her physical and mental growth.  Chlaudine was admitted to hospital as a toddler when her Mum realised she wasn’t doing as well as she should be.  Chlaudine is making good progress and her diet is still supplemented and supported by the programme.  The damage has been done, she will never grown as tall as she should or develop to her full potential.  The stunting which occurs in early childhood irreversibly damages cells and weakens an immune system.

Immaculate told me that she was surprised to hear Chlaudine was malnourished.  She explained that she feels the family does in fact have enough food but that Chlaudine is a picky eater – as a ten year old, is that not her right to be a little picky?  It seems when there is a lack of good nutritious food on offer then being picky is clearly out of the question.

On her right is Leonie and her daughter Mutuyimana who is 3 years old.  Mutuyimana is the youngest of Leonie’s 6 children and the only one of the family suffering from malnutrition.  Leonie is a widow and told me she just doesn’t have enough food to go around. She has a small piece of land in front of her house, no bigger than a double bed.  Understandably she grows her own corn but it is never going to stretch far enough.  Leonie works on the land for the more wealthy inhabitants of her area but still the money she earns is not enough to feed them all.

This lack of affordable nutritious food is leaving 45% of Rwandan children with stunted growth, one of the highest rates globally.

Mutuyimana suffers from wasting as a consequence of her malnourishment, which is probably what most of us imagine from malnutrition.

Initially young children are given a super charged peanut protein – Plumpy Nut!

It is packed with fats, carbohydrate, proteins, vitamins and minerals and will aid a rapid weight gain.  It is high in calories and nutritional goodness all packed into a small volume – with small shrunken stomachs it is invaluable.

Despite the difficulties the community healthworkers are continuing to support and supplement both Mutuyimana and Chlaudine and they are both making good progress, the damage to their growth has however been done and that is something they will carry with them forever.

Lots of people came to greet us, these cheeky chappies loved the camera and loved it even more that they could see the picture on the screen straight away!

They even had a turn which caused much hilarity.

It was tipping it down with rain and we were all super muddy but that didn’t stop them showing off their hoop and stick and footballing skills, they even let me crouch down under their umbrella with them.

Honestly seeing children so happy, having so much fun talking to a mad white lady convinced me no doubt that wherever in the world you are children should most definitely have the chance to grow up to be whatever they want to be, without worrying whether they’ll make it there.

The next visit took us to meet Mum and Dad with beautiful 1 year old twins Patience and Pacific and their eldest daughter Benita,10.

She explained to us that she had previously lost three babies and another was in a rehabilitation centre for mental difficulties.  The twins arrived two months early weighing just 2.2lbs and 3 1/2lbs, she had been working hard labouring in the fields and wasn’t well nourished herself.  Patience and Pacific were both hospitalised and treated for their malnourishment, again with the plumpy nut until they were well enough to come home.

Feeding them well is still difficult for the family and malnourishment is still a major issue.  The community health workers provide them with Sosoma, a fortified porridge which supplement the families diet and they are one of the poorer families who have been given a cow which will help them immensely once she starts to provide milk.

The damage is near on impossible to undo but they are receiving what they need to give them the best chance possible.  I find myself wondering what would have happened to Patience and Pacific if they didn’t live in the Burare District where the programme operates and I think we all know the answer to that question….

Our visit again drew a crowd as many of the local children were returning home from school.  I shared some of my pictures from home with them, their favourites weren’t the boys but the cat which roused choruses of ‘miaow miaow’ and one of the snow made them all jump around shouting ‘brrrr’ and rubbing their arms.  They must have thought I was a nutter!

In the front of this picture is Benita, the older sister, holding Patience.

Although meeting these children was heartbreaking, talking to the Mums (through a translator) made me realise we’re all the same, a Mum’s a Mum wherever in the world you are and we all want our children to grow up big and strong without a care in the world.

This is exactly why I agreed to come here and help with the campaign no child was born to die because they can’t get the goodness they need to thrive.

Join us in the global push to end the hidden hunger – .  Pledge your support by naming your own day on the petition here

Save the Children – Name a Day

I’ve still got lots to share with you including a visit to the District Hospital and some great STC projects that are doing fantastic work, more soon

Ruth x

Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

Today has been a super busy day taking in the work of  Save the Children projects.

First up was a visit to the newly built health centre it offers a maternity unit, childrens clinic and a hospitalisation wing.

This is a fantastic treatment centre and a real asset to the community – take a look at the old centre,  it has tarpaulin sides.  Can you imagine your newborn baby staying here?

I met two Mums with newborns on the unit both of whom were over the moon with their brand new bundles, babes were fit and healthy and ready to go home.  Staying on the unit gives health workers the chance to check baby is feeding well and that there aren’t any problems before they are taken home.  Mums are taught the importance of breastfeeding, it the only and best option for a babies survival, education on maintaining a good diet for themselves is also key.

From conception, the first 1000 days of a childs life is the defining time when growth and progress is established successfully ensuring they have the best fighting chance to flourish. If malnutrition affects them in this time then the damage to cells is irreversible and children will never meet their full potential.

Proud Mums with their babies!  Little ones aren’t named until they are 8 days old, this is  in case they don’t survive and to help ease any heartbreak.

I can’t imagine not having named any of my boys for this long in case they didn’t make it – for Rwandan Mums this is the reality.

Local ladies bring their children to be weighed once a week, much like our clinics in the UK heights and weights are recorded on each childs record card.

This can be essential in identifying any little ones that aren’t growing and thriving as they should.  It also monitors progress when the team are treating them with supplements and fortification.

Not all of them are so keen on hanging in the air to be weighed and I can understand why!  It’s a simple bit of kit, inexpensive and available to clinics across Rwanda and it does a very important job.  A quick hug from Mum and they’ve forgotten all about it.

Waiting in line for their turn to be measured

It is so important that the work of Save the Children is supported so that schemes can be expanded and their help can reach even further globally.  Being here and seeing it firsthand, talking to Mums and meeting cheeky children just confirms that for me.  I hope you get the same feeling from reading my tales.

I need you to support the campaign.  Help Save the Children to urge David Cameron to lead a big push in ending hunger by naming a day when he’ll host a global hunger summit.

Please pledge your support here - Save the Children and name your own day when you’ll do something to help the campaign.  

More soon,

Ruth x

Great improvements in Rwanda have been made in child mortality with the introduction of successful childhood vaccination programmes and increasing numbers of children sleeping under mosquito nets and is really great news to hear. Sadly though nearly 50% of Rwandan kids are still suffering from chronic malnutrition – the hidden hunger.  It’s clearly something that needs changing.

This afternoon, we visited the bustling Kimronko market – the range of produce on offer is immense – beans, potatoes, fresh peas, aubergines, tomatoes, pineapples, bananas, peppers, chilli and herbs, the list goes on!

Naturally the people here are rather dubious of cameras – hence the lack of photos I have to share with you from today, but they’re all very curious and friendly – especially the younger men and women working in the market and the calls of ‘Wazungu’ (translated as ‘white man’) followed me around like an echo!

There are stalls selling all manner of flours; Maize, Ground Nut, Sorghum the most popular is Cassava which is a major staple.  Cassava roots are dried and then ground into flour.  Despite them being high in carbohydrates they come nowhere near providing the levels of fat and minerals that we get from wheat flour.  Wheat flour is fairly uncommon but is available and is used to make all sorts of cakes and breads,  these cater more for the wealthy inhabitants and of course for the tourist market.

I spotted these brioche type breads shaped as turtles!  Creative baking with a price tag of only 600 Rwandan Francs which equates to around 70 pence.

The lady selling Cassava flour invited me to do a bit of sifting with her – I’m not sure why my technique seems so funny!

So I know you’ll be asking yourself why are children malnourished when food is plentiful?  The poorest of families just can’t access the nutritious goods available here, soaring food prices of the Rwandan staples maize, vegetables, meat and cassava flour have put paid to that.  A lot of the produce in the market is homegrown and must be sold for money to buy other things rather than to feed their families.

Despite what you may imagine, Rwanda is lush and green with very fertile land – perfect for growing.  It’s a densely populated country and for many families growing their own is not an option – they simply don’t have the space.  Everywhere you look the hillsides are very heavily cultivated with every inch used – right up to the tops of the steepest inclines.

I’ll soon be able to share with you the steps being taken to put an end to the hidden hunger with visits planned for tomorrow to a STC health care centre, a government hospital treating malnutrition and visiting the families affected.

Most of all though these children need you to support the campaign.  Help us to urge David Cameron to lead a big push in ending hunger by naming a day when he’ll host a global hunger summit.

Please pledge your support here - Save the Children and name your own day when you’ll do something to help the campaign.  

This can be anything that takes your fancy – on your day tweet about it, share the campaign on your facebook status, blog about the campaign and share it with your readers, bake a cake and take into work to share with your colleagues anything you can think of.

Talking about the campaign and spreading the word is all it’s going to take and I know we can do it if we all work together.

More tomorrow,

Ruth x

Ruth Clemens, Baker Extraordinaire

A Valentines treat that’s definitely got some wow factor!

  There’s only one thing Mr C. loves more than cake and that’s ice cream so I’ve rustled up these Chocolate Valentines hearts especially.  The cake and icecream is simple to do, the flaming strawberry bit is a bit faffy so think about having a practice ‘flaming strawberry’ run in advance.  There’s lots of tips for this bit at the end of the post.  I am sure you will appreciate that I got myself well and truly sozzled for you folks on ‘Ginberries’ in the name of research for this idea!

You will need:

1 x silicone hearts cake mould

1 x Chocolate Traybake cake mixture (recipe here)

Ice cream – vanilla, chocolate or pick your favourite!

For assembly (and the flaming strawberry) you will need:

Softly whipped double cream

A little cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

Strawberries, room temp

Liqueur of your choice (must be 40% abv)

This project is great, it’s a make the elements in advance and assemble at the last minute, which is good because I’m away for Valentines, in Rwanda see here, Mr C will be left assembly instructions.  I do however doubt they will look quite the same…

To start we’ll make the icecream hearts for the middles of our pud.

Lightly grease the recesses of a silicone hearts mould with a little vegetable or sunflower oil.  Fashion squares of clingfilm and use to line each recess.  The greasing will help the clingfilm mould to the edges and not stick together in a messy ball.

Take your icecream and place a couple of spoons into each heart.  Press down to shape with the back of a teaspoon.

Fold in the clingfilm over the top of the icecream and gather together to seal.

Place the tray into the freezer and allow to firm up completely again.

Pop out the clingfilmed icecream hearts from the mould, and keep them in the freezer until Valentines dessert assembly time.

Preheat the oven to 160c (fan)/180c/Gas Mark 4.  Regrease the silicone mould,  if you don’t grease they won’t come out.

Mix up the cake mixture as per the instructions.

Fill each greased recess with cake mixture, 1/3rd full.  Some trays have six hearts some have eight so its difficult to say how much mixture you’ll have left over.  The remainder pour into the recesses of a greased silicone cupcake tin.  You get to use these as quality control – eat as you work!

Bake in the oven for 18 minutes.  Allow to cool fully in the tray before attempting to turn them out.  Once cooled they can be wrapped in clingfilm and frozen if you’re making well in advance or they can be stored in an airtight container for upto 3 days.

Now for assembly (and the flaming strawberry) you will need:

Softly whipped double cream

A little cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

Strawberries, room temp

Liqueur of your choice (must be 40% abv+)

Prepare the strawberries first, using a small sharp knife pare out the top so the strawberry forms a little cup.  If the knife goes through the side of the strawberry you’ll have to start again, no leaks allowed.

Set one chocolate cake heart onto a serving plate, trim off the domed top using a serrated knife.

Unwrap and position an ice cream heart and top with a second chocolate cake heart.  I’ve decorated the plate with some cute marshmallow hearts that I couldn’t resist!

Add a swirl of softly whipped double cream, dust with cocoa powder if you’d like and set the strawberry cup into the cream.

Add a small amount of your chosen liqueur to a a heatproof jug and microwave for 15-20 seconds until warm, alternatively you can heat it up in a pan.  Room temp liqueur won’t set alight easily so this bit is important for success! Carefully fill each strawberry cup with warmed liqueur.  The liqueur should be lit, at the table, with a cooks match (one of the long ones) or a utility/candle lighter.