Valentine’s Day with Marian Keyes.

Saved by Cake: Over 80 ways to Bake yourself Happy by Marian Keyes. 

(Michael Joseph, 2012.)

Marian Keyes’ new baking book Saved by Cake: Over 80 Ways to Bake yourself Happy is published on 16th February.

With chapters on cupcakes, cheesecakes, meringues and macaroons, chocolate cakes, fruit cakes and favourite classics, Marian’s recipes are for beginner bakers and for anyone who just loves to bake, offering hints and tips to help along the way. Never patronizing, always honest and witty, accessible and full of fun, the bakes and cakes that she serves up are all laid out in her inimitable Marian style. This is a baking book like no other and will put a smile on your face and make you happy.  

For more information on Marian, visit her website. 

Novel Kicks had a sneak preview of one of Marian’s yummy recipes. Over to you Marian… 

Blokey Snickers Cheesecake Loaf.

Ingredients: 

For the base

150g milk chocolate

digestive biscuits

50g salted peanuts

75g butter

For the filling

250g mascarpone cheese

250g ricotta cheese

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

200ml sour cream

4 Snickers bars, chopped into

chunks

To decorate

squeezy toffee sauce out of a

squeezy bottle

a generous handful of salted

peanuts

Snickers is an essentially blokey thing, no? I’ve always thought it’s the sort of sweetmeat that men take a big chomp out of just before they abseil down the side of a mountain and, for a while, I thought it was the law that Snickers could only be eaten by men speeding past me on mountain bikes. Inspired by such rugged outdoorsiness, this is a hefty, hearty cheesecake, specially for the boys. The loaf format is an extra little touch on my part; I think it makes it even more manly.

Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3.

Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking paper – see the technique on page 20.

In a food processor, whizz the biscuits and peanuts so they form a rough-cut, rustic-looking mix; you should still be able to see parts of the peanuts. The first time I did it, I left the machine running so long that I accidentally made peanut butter and the whole thing went into a brown paste. Although I soldiered on, the base never really set, and I ended up having to do it all again. But that’s okay, I make the mistakes so you don’t have to.

Melt the butter and stir it through the crumbs. Even when you think it’s fully mixed, give it a few more stirs. Pour the biscuit/peanut/ butter mix into the bottom of the loaf tin and pack down hard, using the base of a glass. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and cool, then refrigerate, preferably overnight.

To make the filling, preheat the oven again to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3. Mix the two cheeses together, then add the sugar and eggs. Pour in the sour cream, then stir in the Snickers pieces. Pour in on top of the biscuit base.

Bake for an hour and a half, then turn off the oven and leave it sitting there for as long as you can bear. When you eventually take it out, you’ll be delighted to see the top has developed a gorgeous fudgey look. Refrigerate overnight.

To get the cake out of the tin, you’ll need your palette knife. Slide it gently between the baking paper and the side of the tin, loosening all the way along. Then – do your best here, but don’t wreck your head – try to bend the palette knife slightly to get it actually under the base of the cake. When you feel you can’t get any further without breaking the cake or starting to cry, call a halt, then use the overhanging edges of the baking paper as ‘handles’ to lift the entire cake out of the tin. You might have to to-and fro a little, as in, lift it a bit, then use the palette knife to do a bit more loosening, then lift it a bit more, until it’s fully ready to emerge. Peel the paper off, then drizzle the toffee sauce and scatter the peanuts over the top. Cut into thick slices and serve to blokes.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.