Chocolate Orange trifle

You will need:

600ml Double Cream
1x Terry’s Chocolate Orange
48x Jaffa Cakes – in this case 2 packets
2x Packets of Angel Delight Chocolate flavour
600ml of milk
Cointreau – Optional
1 x Tin of Carnation Caramel (397g)

Say goodbye to the childhood memories of custard and jelly and welcome to the modern glamorous boozy chocolate goo. These ingredients amounts are just a guide the exact quantities you will need of each will vary depending on the size of your serving bowl.

Method

1)      Make the Angel Delight as per packet instructions and place to one side to start to set.

2)      Whip up the double cream and place to one side. From this point on it is mostly an assembly job!

3)      Line the bottom of your dish with Jaffa Cakes, chocolate side down and pour over enough Cointreau to soak the sponge side but not leave it swimming. If you want to make without the booze just replace with orange juice.

4)      Now pour the tin of caramel over the top and smooth until it’s roughly flat.

5)      Add another layer of Jaffa Cakes and Cointreau.

6)      Spoon your premade Angel Delight.

7)      Add a final layer of Jaffa Cakes.

8)      Top with the whipped cream and a chocolate orange, either in slices or crushed into chunks.

Pears in Super Sweet Peardrop sauce

This Peardrop Sauce is incredibly sweet so a little goes a long way!

Ingredients

One tin of pears halved

100g Peardrops

50ml Water

20ml Single Cream

Method

Place the water in a pan, i use a small nonstick frying pan and drop in the sweets. Place the pan on a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Keep stiring the water and the sweets should slowly melt down to create a syrup. Once the sweets are fully dissolved and the mixture has thickened slightly remove from the heat and add the cream. Poor over some pear hales to serve.

Mini Banoffe Cups

Makes 8

Ingredients

1 packet of Dobla dessert cups (96g)

½ a tin of Carnation caramel

1 banana

3 digestive biscuits

Squirty cream (optional)

 

Method

These are great for any occasion but I particularly end up ‘making’ them for buffets.

So take your chocolate cups and fill each one just over half way with your Carnation Caramel. Next take your banana and cut it into slices. Place a couple of slices in each cup. Next take your biscuits and if you’re lucky enough to have a food processor blitz into crumbs. Alternatively place the biscuits in a plastic food bag, seal it and crush with a rolling pin. Next scatter the biscuits on top of the banana slices. I personally like these without cream so would just eat as they are but for a final flourish top with some squirty cream and sprinkle another couple of biscuit crumbs over the top to decorate. If you are making these in advance I would recommend not putting the cream on until just before your about to serve because, squirty cream is filled with so much air when it is left for any period of time the cream will drop and reduce down and look nowhere near as impressive.  

Devilishly Delicious

I have just discovered a range of cheat desserts called Devilishly Delicious. Simply pour the contents into a pan, boil for two minuets and pour into molds to set. Simple to then garnish to look spectacular. Highly recommended. Available from lakeland.com.

Cheesecake truffles

Ingredients

250g Soft cream cheese

1/3 of a jar of Chocolate spread (about 140g)

25g icing sugar

200g digestive biscuits

Method

1)      Place half a packet of digestive biscuits and blitz to crumbs in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, place the biscuits in a bag and smash to crumbs with a rolling pin. Place the biscuits to one side.

2)       Take 200g of cream cheese and mix with a large dollop of chocolate spread and about 25g of icing sugar to taste. Mix with a quarter of a packet of crumbed digestives and place mixture in the fridge to firm up for an hour. 

3)      After an hour take a dollop of mixture and place into the rest of the biscuit crumbs once coated in the crumbs gently roll it into a ball with the palm of your hands. Keep in the fridge until prepared to serve.

Cookie Sandwich

 

Makes 2

Ingredients

4x large freshly baked cookies (1 packet)

¼   a tin of Carnation Caramel

Squirty Cream

Method

This is possible the easiest dessert you can ever make, it’s nothing more than a sandwich...and everyone can make a sandwich. This is great to make with kids or just for a devilishly wicked treat.

So firstly take one of the premade cookies (available down the bakery isle of your local supermarket) and place it top side down. Any variety of cookies will do, the choice is up to you, for the particular cookie sandwich we made in the picture we used Toblerone™ cookies. Next take the premade caramel and slather the base of the cookie. Finally top with the squirty cream and place another cookie on top to create your sandwich and that’s it...simplicity itself.

Alternatively why not leave out the cream and microwave the cookie caramel sandwich in short blasts until warm and serve with ice cream.

Chocolate freezer cake

Ingredients


600g Soft cream cheese

300g Chocolate spread (3/4 of a jar)

50g icing sugar

50g of melted butter

A packet of digestive biscuits.


Method

1) Place the packet of digestive biscuits and blitz to crumbs in a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, place the biscuits in a bag and smash to crumbs with a rolling pin. Place the biscuits to one side.
2) Take 600g of cream cheese and mix with most of a tub of chocolate spread and about 50g of icing sugar to taste. Mix with half of the packet of crumbed digestives and place mixture in the bottom of a lined loaf tin.
3) Mix the remaining biscuits with 50g of melted butter (i do this by microwaving in a bowl for blasts of 30 seconds until melted) and place it on top of the mixture. Cover with Clingfilm and place into the freezer to set. To serve tip the freezer cake upside-down out onto a plate and slice.

Welcome

Welcome to CheaterCheaters the online resource for cooks who can’t cook. I am obsessed with cooking gadgets, books and shows. I have dreams of being a domestic god but no real ability . Coming to the inevitable conclusion I am not a gifted chef I have decided to learn to cheat. To find a way to come up with desserts and sweet treats for little effort and little skill. The concept of cheating is hardly a new one in the culinary world, Delia Smith even has book called how to cheat, although explaining how to make hummus quickly is hardly as good a cheat as buying it. Whereas other people will advocate the occasional shortcut I advocate as many as possible to create maximum impact for minimum effort.

Feel free to get in touch with any ideas or tips you’d like to share.