At each meeting of knitting group someone brings along the refreshments (cake). This time Lorraine brought my two favourites - Lemon Drizzle Cake and Rocky Road. Bliss! You may wonder how I find the time to go to knitting club but when there's free cake I'll find time to go anywhere! I'm hoping to get Lorraine's recipe as it was quite different to previous samples of Rocky Road. It was nutty! It had chocolate - obviously - chopped nuts, marshmallows and some dried fruit. Interesting. Anyone come across a nutty Rocky Road before? Feel free to leave a comment or any pointers to places that have great Rocky Road.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Rocky Road Spotted!
Thursday, 20 September 2012
The Coffee Booth, Cambridge Street, Glasgow
A friend and I were in Glasgow to see The Mousetrap at the Theatre Royal but we needed refreshments before the matinee. We parked in the multi storey in Cambridge Street where you are spoilt for choice when it comes to restaurants and cafes. As we didn't have a lot of time we plumped for The Coffee Booth. It proved to be a good choice, quick friendly service and plenty of free tables which was a surprise as the food was very reasonably priced, cheaper in fact than most of the cafes in our local town.
Happily for this blog they had Rocky Road which we sampled, for research purposes only. This Rocky Road had the crushed biscuit combined with chocolate base topped with marshmallows and more chocolate. We felt the topping was a little miserly and there was no sign of any cherries but it did taste good, it was chocolate rather than chocolate substitutes that you sometimes find.
So, little disappointing though we also tried the muffins which we can thoroughly recommend.
Happily for this blog they had Rocky Road which we sampled, for research purposes only. This Rocky Road had the crushed biscuit combined with chocolate base topped with marshmallows and more chocolate. We felt the topping was a little miserly and there was no sign of any cherries but it did taste good, it was chocolate rather than chocolate substitutes that you sometimes find.
So, little disappointing though we also tried the muffins which we can thoroughly recommend.
Monday, 10 September 2012
Harbour Lights, St Cuthbert's Street, Kirkcudbright
Lovely cafe, prompt friendly service, good and interesting menu but sadly no Rocky Road.
Newton Stewart, Chatterbox and The Belted Galloway
Warning - no Rocky Road again!
Newton Stewart has a number of cafes, many are very close to each other and you would think, because of this close proximity, that they would try to make themselves very different from each other. That does not seem to be the case though to be fair I haven't tried them all. So for research purposes I decided to treat my husband to a cuppa and some Rocky Road. We tried Cinnamon but it was 4.25pm and we were told the kitchen closed at 4.30pm so we ended up next door at The Chatterbox. No Rocky Road but my husband tried the apple pie which turned out to be a more elaborate apple cake style thing and he said it was very good.
Today I tried the Belted Galloway with a friend. I was told that they do usually have Rocky Road but not today. So, I'll have to go back another time. We had scones instead which were very good.
In conclusion, no Rocky Road as yet in Newton Stewart. But I'll keep looking!
Newton Stewart has a number of cafes, many are very close to each other and you would think, because of this close proximity, that they would try to make themselves very different from each other. That does not seem to be the case though to be fair I haven't tried them all. So for research purposes I decided to treat my husband to a cuppa and some Rocky Road. We tried Cinnamon but it was 4.25pm and we were told the kitchen closed at 4.30pm so we ended up next door at The Chatterbox. No Rocky Road but my husband tried the apple pie which turned out to be a more elaborate apple cake style thing and he said it was very good.
Today I tried the Belted Galloway with a friend. I was told that they do usually have Rocky Road but not today. So, I'll have to go back another time. We had scones instead which were very good.
In conclusion, no Rocky Road as yet in Newton Stewart. But I'll keep looking!
Sunday, 9 September 2012
My first Rocky Road Recipe
Decided to make some Rocky Road this weekend. I normally throw things together but I actually took note (well, my daughter took note) of what I put in in case it was any good. The family ate it all so I'm assuming it was good. Here it is.
Rocky Road #1
12 oz milk and dark chocolate
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon double cream
8oz ginger nuts
1 oz butter
4 oz marshmallows (I had large and small)
4 oz cherries
Melt the chocolate - we do it in a bowl over a pan of hot water, but use your usual method, I know some people use a microwave. Add the syrups, cream and butter. Melt together then add the biscuits, broken into small pieces, and the marshmallows and cherries. Place in a baking tin (I lined mine with baking parchment/greaseproof paper) and allow to cool. Once it's cool you can put it in the fridge. Cut into pieces when cold.
This is a straightforward recipe. My son and daughter were in the kitchen at the time so wouldn't let me put in any extras like stem ginger or nuts. If you try it let me know what you think. If you've got recipes feel free to share them here. Let's celebrate Rocky Road!
Rocky Road #1
12 oz milk and dark chocolate
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1 tablespoon double cream
8oz ginger nuts
1 oz butter
4 oz marshmallows (I had large and small)
4 oz cherries
Melt the chocolate - we do it in a bowl over a pan of hot water, but use your usual method, I know some people use a microwave. Add the syrups, cream and butter. Melt together then add the biscuits, broken into small pieces, and the marshmallows and cherries. Place in a baking tin (I lined mine with baking parchment/greaseproof paper) and allow to cool. Once it's cool you can put it in the fridge. Cut into pieces when cold.
This is a straightforward recipe. My son and daughter were in the kitchen at the time so wouldn't let me put in any extras like stem ginger or nuts. If you try it let me know what you think. If you've got recipes feel free to share them here. Let's celebrate Rocky Road!
Saturday, 8 September 2012
Marks and Spencers and John Paul Jones Bakery, Kirkcudbright
These Rocky Road bars were sadly lacking in similar ways. The Marks and Spencers bar, available from most food stores, had good marshmallow, biscuit and cherry (yipee) content but fell short on the chocolate. My family helped with the tasting, very kind of them, and they all complained that there was too much cocoa as opposed to chocolate. They didn't like the flaky consistency of the bar and felt it needed to be firmer. There was a powdery mouth feel!
The traybake from the John Paul Jones Bakery was a disappointment. This bakery is one of my favourites and when I'm working at the bookshop in the town (Solway Books), I always go home laden with loaves, pies and cakes. They are one of the few bakeries in Dumfries and Galloway to still make eccles cakes, and they're fab. They have a wonderful range of traybakes and I could recommend most of them but sadly the Rocky Road lacked chocolate content. The composition of the bar was good, nice crispy biscuit and small marshmallows, but the chocolate tasted like chocolate flavour rather than the real stuff.
Have to confess that I had a ginger tiffin traybake at Reading Lasses this week and because of their use of Montezuma chocolate, their traybakes really are outstanding.
The traybake from the John Paul Jones Bakery was a disappointment. This bakery is one of my favourites and when I'm working at the bookshop in the town (Solway Books), I always go home laden with loaves, pies and cakes. They are one of the few bakeries in Dumfries and Galloway to still make eccles cakes, and they're fab. They have a wonderful range of traybakes and I could recommend most of them but sadly the Rocky Road lacked chocolate content. The composition of the bar was good, nice crispy biscuit and small marshmallows, but the chocolate tasted like chocolate flavour rather than the real stuff.
Have to confess that I had a ginger tiffin traybake at Reading Lasses this week and because of their use of Montezuma chocolate, their traybakes really are outstanding.
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