Quick & Easy Hot Chocolate Fudge Cakes

It’s valentine’s day on Sunday; cue eye rolling! Can you hear them from wherever you are in the world? Because I certainly can. I’m all up for celebrating holidays and going over the top, because why not? It’s just one more thing to get excited about, but valentine’s day? Never understood it!

I’m more excited about the fact that DEADPOOL IS OUT! You have no idea how many times I have watched that trailer, I mean I’m the type of person that could watch trailers for an hour and a half instead of watching a film but I think watching it about 13 times in two days is kind of a record for me, and I definitely watched it 4 times in a row the first time I saw it, yes I know, I’m like a toddler when it comes to trailers (AGAIN AGAIN!) and I’m not even the slightest bit ashamed.

The reason we are all here is because my mum insisted I make something chocolaty for valentine’s day, I honestly tend to ignore things like this and get on with my life and part of me is a little “let’s make something anti-valentines” because she’s mentioned it so many times but chocolate is chocolate and I’m not gonna say no to chocolate.

I’ve been making these for years, it’s my go to “I want hot chocolate cake” and trust me I crave hot chocolate cake a worrying amount but it means you don’t have to make a whole chocolate cake and still get to enjoy the ooey gooey chocolate goodness. It pretty much tastes the same, involves slightly less effort and means there’s not a chocolate cake left sitting on the side in the kitchen screaming your name while you’re trying to eat your salad and be a good girl.

Perfect for the single pringle, simple enough for the boyfriend who has the valentine obsessed girlfriend that needs some form of romantic gesture (or you know, if you’re the boyfriend and are actually into romantic gestures) and just as suitable for anyone who’s into the whole anti-valentine’s day party, which I’ll mention is maybe as ridiculous as celebrating valentine’s day but I guess I can go along with ridiculous; each to their own. I personally think the ideal situation for consumption is an action movie marathon with your best friend but you get the idea and I think I’m ticking all the February 14th boxes.
So let’s get to the chocolate!

Coffee Pancakes/Crêpes with Vanilla Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Last week sort of ran away from me but even though Pancake Day is over I still wanted to share this recipe, and who in their right mind would turn down pancakes?

I made your morning quicker by putting your coffee in your breakfast; you can thank me when the caffeine kicks in. So maybe this is more of a dessert than a breakfast because I probably wouldn’t suggest you have ice cream for breakfast on the daily but I wouldn’t write it out completely. This is kind of the perfect dessert, with pancakes, coffee, chocolate sauce and ice cream you can’t really go wrong, I even went as far to make homemade ice cream and even though I couldn’t eat a whole scoop I did try it and it was definitely the most delicious vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had, I guess I have a lot to live up to when I start experimenting with dairy free ice cream.

Beetroot, Goats Cheese & Spinach Pancakes/Crêpes with Chutney

I think this might be one of my favourite things I’ve made for this blog so far, even though this revelation will probably cause my chutney supplies to deplete drastically faster than I’d anticipated and in a few months probably leave me wishing I’d made at least double the amount I did, I guess the four jars I have left after giving away two to my sister and brother in law and two to my granddad and his wife for Christmas will have to suffice.
It’s actually quite shocking that up until now I’d only entertained the idea of sweet pancakes, sadly that’s a lot of wasted time I’ve accumulated without savoury pancakes in my life but I’m sure I’ll have made up for that soon.

One of the best things about this is how simple this is, if you know how to make pancakes the rest is a doddle and as I sat down to dinner after the string of “damn this is good” comments I felt like I was trying something new in a nice little restaurant. So simple but so delicious; it's definitely worth more than the little effort it takes to make.

Ratatouille Stuffed Pancake/Crêpe Enchiladas

It’s pancake day in T-minus 170 hours, in other words it’s in 8 days and I intend for you, me, your neighbour’s cat and anyone else who applies, to be fully prepared.
In all honesty I’ve always been a little bit put off by the idea of savoury pancakes because occasionally I have these weird things about certain foods. I am far from a picky eater but there are just some things I can’t deal with like bread and cheese together, especially when it involves butter but I also love anything with melted cheese on and that includes bread, making sense yet? Yeah, it never does. I’m pretty open minded to re-trying things though, like that time my mum gave me liver straight out the frying pan, give me a second while I involuntary shudder at the memory, but out of everything I’ve tried on here that I was a little unsure I’d like, I think this might just be my favourite.

I’m sure the majority of you are versed in the whole savoury pancake thing but in the very slight chance that you’re not you need to try this. I never imagined melted cheese and pancakes could taste so good, but here we are, and possibly the best bit of this is the crispy ends, can I just cook a batch of pancake ends up? This is a little time consuming however it’s pretty simple and if you’re making it for a family dinner it’s a good all hands of deck kind of recipe and how can anyone turn down the prospect of pancakes?
I’m sure your neighbour’s cat will be eagerly awaiting the next pancake post.