like a phoenix rising...

we will be back! thanks to everyone for all their good wishes. friends, neighbours, customers, suppliers, journalists, chocoholics and strangers have sent us inspiring messages of encouragement. in the meantime, if you see our christmas stock on shop shelves, grab them quickly! they have unwittingly become extremely limited editions...

fire at factory

it is such a sad blog to write that i will just say thanks to everyone who has sent messages of support and thanks to all our employees who prove again and again that they are more like a family. if you are a customer, supplier or friend, i am sorry that we haven't been in touch individually yet but i imagine may people read or heard about the fire that burnt through our factory early on saturday morning. i will update the blog when i know more but for now, thanks to the fire crew and thank goodness noone was hurt.

orange, cardamom & ginger chocolate cheesecake

i took the basic chocolate cheesecake recipe from the big book of chocolate by jennifer donovan and just played with it to give it the cocoa bean twist. i had promised a chocolate dessert for a large and lively 30 people dinner party on friday night.

the main course was curry so i chose to go for one of our spicy flavours with the heat of ginger to warm everyone after braving the newly frosty air to leap about with sparklers. . .

base

250g ginger biscuits ( you can also add crystallised ginger to spice up the flavour - chop small)

75g butter

2 tbsp cocoa powder

cheesecake

50g butter

400g cream cheese

2 eggs lightly beaten

5 tbsp caster sugar

150g dark chocolate melted

orange zest from 2 oranges

juice of half an orange

12 cardamoms toasted gently and crushed

method

grease a 23cm loose bottomed cake tin or flan dish

crush the biscuits and melt the butter for the base. mix together with the cocoa powder and crystallised ginger. press firmly into the base.

beat the cream cheese, eggs, sugar, butter, zest, cardamoms, orange juice and melted chocolate together in a large bowl until thick and smooth. it's good to use a electric hand mixer. spoon the mixture over the base and smooth with a palette knife. refrigerate for at least two hours. you can top it with cocoa powder or shavings of chocolate if you like, though i think it's nice plain.