It’s chocolate time: #WeShouldCocoa USA theme roundup

IMG_4669.JPGI have discovered that hosting a food blogger’s roundup – especially one with a chocolate theme – is dangerous. Each time a new link has been added to my blog I’ve received an email to tell me about another delicious recipe that I need to try, and I have immediately wanted to make each and every one.

If you didn’t read my introduction post, then I am referring to the fact that in October I hosted #WeShouldCocoa for Choclette over at Tin & Thyme, and I chose the theme of USA for people to use to make some chocolate-y goodness. Apparently it’s the first time that a country has been chosen as a theme, and entrants did not disappoint with their creativity of recipes – all of which score top points for sheer yumminess!

Rocky-Road-Fudge-lr-IMG_2853First up was Camilla from Fab Food 4 All, who entered this delicious-looking rocky road fudge. Her son scored her 11/10 for the recipe, so she’s clearly onto a winner with it. I love the sound of it, and I reckon it would make a pretty wonderful homemade Christmas present. Just make sure you have a thermometer you can use with boiling sugar to check temperatures – and Camilla has some tips for that too.

coveredwafflesyumThe next entry came from Judith who writes over at Mostly About Chocolate. Obviously with that name it has to be one of my favourite blogs, and on this occasion Judith had created a chocolate covered waffle recipe. She uses high quality Callebaut chocolate, and says if you enrobe the whole waffle in chocolate then it will last for ages … but she doesn’t see them lasting any longer than it takes to covey them into her gob! I like her style, and fully agree that these waffles would not be hanging around in the house.

BeetChocolateCake-Kate from Veggie Desserts always surprises me with her gorgeous sweet recipes using a wide range of vegetables. If you haven’t visited her blog before then I recommend you take a look, as she’s incredibly creative with what she makes. This time she uses a slow cooker to make a beetroot chocolate cake with beetroot and vanilla frosting – the colour of the frosting is simply gorgeous and inviting, and I am really keen to give this one a go. Do you think anyone would be able to guess the secret ingredient?

brownie1One of the best things about hosting this linky is that I got to discover new blogs, and Belleau Kitchen, who entered a chocolate orange cointreau brownies, is one I have never come across before. Dominic has given a lovely sounding recipe for squidgy, boozy brownies. Considering one of my favourite brownies is an orange-scented one from Leon, I have to give this a try.

chocolate-hazelnut-cake-textElizabeth’s chocolate hazelnut layer cake recipe on Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary sounds wonderful, but I also loved reading about her, er, challenges in trying to make chocolate spread – I love hearing about people’s kitchen disasters as let’s face it, we all make mistakes in the kitchen. What’s even better here is that Elizabeth manages to make an amazing cake out of a slightly unsuccessful chocolate spread mixture – that’s what demonstrates talent in the kitchen!

Raspberry-Fudge-BrownieOf course Choclette, creator of #WeShouldCocoa, had to enter her own challenge, and so I was delighted to see her raspberry fudge brownie recipe pop up on Tin & Thyme. I agree with her philosophy about an under-cooked brownie being a pretty amazing thing – you can’t beat it in terms of chocolate-y texture. Raspberries are obviously a perfect pairing for chocolate, and so I am convinced this recipe would be a big hit.

IMG_0116More brownies next, but these ones from Mainly Baking couldn’t be more American if they tried – a peanut butter and jelly version. Even though they were apparently over-baked, I still think they look incredible. I love peanut butter and chocolate as a combination, so I think I’ll have to give these a go.

IMG_4239An unusual recipe next from Caroline over at Caroline Makes. This one is for layered butterscotch oreo pudding, which I have in mind would taste completely like my favourite butterscotch angel delight, which is one of my favourite things IN THE WORLD. I was drooling when I was reading about it, even though it was about 10 in the morning. I want a whole dish of this to myself!

dsc_6554Janet from The Taste Space is up next. This is another new blog discovered through #WeShouldCocoa, and Janet’s recipe for the best vegan chocolate cupcakes has intrigued me. Being one of those lucky people with no food intolerances / allergies at all, I have never bothered with making a vegan cake. However, these cupcakes look lovely and moist and rich, and I’d be interested to give them a try (if I can find an egg-replacer).

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Bake N Quilt has made a highly appropriate recipe for Hallowe’en, which is a pumpkin chocolate chip mug cake. I have never made a mug cake before, but I am very interested in having one after having seen Rebecca’s recipe. Any cake which will cook in 90 seconds has to be a winner in my book. The final instruction in the recipe is my favourite: “Eat immediately.”

BlondiesAnd finally is a sister recipe to the brownie, a white chocolate and cranberry blondie recipe from Shaheen at Allotment to Kitchen. Shaheen said these little treats are very sweet, and for some strange reason a few of her colleagues refused to eat them because of the fruit included. To me they look and sound yummy, and they would also make a lovely festive treat in the run up to Christmas.

Of course I also entered the challenge myself, with a chocolate rolo caramel cheesecake. It was very nice (very rich and sweet) but I also included some tweaks in my recipe for next time (essentially replacing some of the American ingredients with British ones!). Take a look at my post over here.

So that’s it for this month’s #WeShouldCocoa, which is being hosted in November by Choclette at Tin & Thyme. Are you going to be entering?

14 Replies to “It’s chocolate time: #WeShouldCocoa USA theme roundup”

  1. I really really need to make all of these as soon possible! What a collection of delicious things 🙂

    1. I know – I was drooling as I read each recipe!

  2. choclette says: Reply

    Brownies are one of my favourite things ever, so it was good to see a few of these here and Shaheen’s blondies too. It makes me laugh that when butterscotch Angel Delight is mentioned, pretty much every food blogger I’ve ever met goes week at the knees – I am no exception! Thanks very much for hosting and doing such a splendid job of rounding it all up.

    1. Thanks for letting me host – it was a great way to discover new bloggers and new recipes 🙂

  3. Wow, certainly a chocolate overload here!

    1. Yep – best not to try them all in one go 😉

  4. Lovely chocolate recipes! They all look delicious. I did want to enter this month but all that GBBO baking got a bit in the way 🙁

    1. I know what you mean – I am still feeling a bit of a fatty after eating all that Bake Off food!

  5. Thanks for hosting with such an original theme. Being American myself, the choice of projects was almost overwhelming! It’s been fun watching what everyone has come up with.

    1. Thanks -it’s been great to see people make such a fabulous effort 🙂

  6. They all look so scrummy!!

    1. I know, I could eat them all!

  7. Even visiting a round up of a We Should Cocoa challenge is dangerous – so much temptation and recipes I want to try eating ( which means I should try baking them)

    1. It’s terrible isn’t it?!

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