Cake.....in a microwave?!

I kid you not....and it was surprisingly delicious.  I just googled for a recipe - there are loads.

Rhubarb, apple and ginger crumble

And this was the pudding Ben wanted for his birthday feast.  I love a good crumble.  They are really simple to make , in fact so simple, it was the first dessert I ever learned to make. What's more, they are so easily customised with things like oats, dessicated coconut, nuts....and that's just the topping.  I've made everything from a peach crumble, to spiced apple and blackberry, to a tropical fruit one.  The basic rule is this; half fat to flour.  And if, like me, you usually end up making too much topping, you can just bag it and freeze it for a quick dessert another time.  My mother in Law had given me a whole load of rhubarb from her garden which I had stewed with some apple and ginger then froze.  Easy, delicious ending to a good meal.

we had this with custard (Ambrosia - after all the cooking I did that night, no way was I going to make custard from scratch too!), but it would be just as good with vanilla ice cream.

Toffee Pecan Brownies

I had two of these before they were even properly cooled, and a half of one today after my morning run. They are delicious warm, but even better when they are properly cooled. Then you can really taste the chocolate and the texture is divine!

I didn't have caramel sauce and didn't fancy making one either (I did a lot of cooking last night!), so I substituted it for some delicious real toffee sauce we had in the fridge. I also left out the cayenne and used fine sea salt instead of coarse. I threw away my weight conversions, but you can find a handy chart here. Lastly, I baked mine for 35 mins - I think it's better to slightly undercook, than to overcook as then all you end up with is dry, chocolate cake. A crying shame. oh yeah, and I worked out that 350 degrees is just over 175 degrees celsius.

I'll make this with the kids next time as it was really easy.