Chocolate Slab

I first saw this recipe on Lorraine Pascale's Cooking programme around Christmas last year. Lorraine's Last Minute Christmas. As soon as I saw the lovely marbled effect etched onto a wonderfully thick piece of chocolate I knew I had to make my own! 

I made this back in December, when I did as Lorraine suggested and wrapped broken up pieces of the giant slab up in cellophane, tied them with ribbon and gave them to people as Christmas presents. 

They were suitably impressed, and it's great idea if you're on a bit of a budget. I already have an 'order' for another batch for my sister's boyfriend's birthday in a couple of weeks. The great thing about this recipe is you can put people's favourite toppings onto the top and really personalise it. And they look just as good as if you'd bought them from Hotel Chocolat! 

 

Recipe:

300g dark choc

300g white choc

50g mixed dried fruit

50g mixed nuts  

1. Pop the different types of chocolate into seperate bowls over a pan of simmering water. Break the chocolate up into small pieces so the chocolate melts easier.  

2. Once the chocolate is melted pour your first layer of chocolate (so in the above picture I went for dark chocolate first) into a baking tray. To make it easier have a greased baking sheet inside the baking tray. Once the chocolate has filled the baking tray and still wet pour in the other type of chocolate into the middle of the first layer.  

3. Take a skewer and begin to make your marbled effect by mixing the two layers of chocolate together.

4. Pour your nuts/fruit onto the top while your mixture is still wet.  

5. Pop in the fridge until set. Once set you can begin the fun task (!) of trying to break up the pieces into equal proportions!  

TIPS: 

- Make sure you use the best quality chocolate you can find. The nicer the chocolate the nicer your slab will be.

- Chop the nuts up.

- I added small silver edible stars to make it a little prettier. I think it adds a nice touch.

- Push the toppings down slightly into the chocolate while the chocolate is still wet to make sure they set firmly in the chocolate.  

Difficulty rating: 2/10 - I found this extremely easy to make. It couldn't be simpler, you're just melting chocolate. Perfect.  

Success rating: 8/10 - I was very happy with how this came out!

This is what they'll look like when wrapped up in cellophane. Sorry about the quality of the photo, this was taken on my friend's phone.  

This recipe is not my own, all credit goes to Lorraine Pascale and her cooking programme Lorraine's Last Minute Christmas, first aired on BBC2 in December 2011.

Next time: Vanilla Chocolate Chip Muffins à la Nigella Lawson...