Dairy & Soya Free Chocolate Biscuit Cake

I haven’t been the best at cooking with my two over the last few months. We did cook some great flapjacks the other month and I told myself I would try and do more with them. But life gets in the way doesn’t it? Especially when you have a baby! I still want to try and do more though and so when the lovely Annabel got in touch about her new cookbook I took it as a sign that I needed to make the time!

I met Annabel last year when the girls and I went to her house to take part in a fantastic campaign, raising money for Help The Heroes. She had written a fantastic book with 30 recipes and invited us along to make some yummy cakes. Well, since then she’s extended the book in hardback, now with 60 different recipes to try with your little one. As a teacher I have worked with 100’s of children over the years and so I know what will work and what won’t. The recipes in this book are so easy and there are various levels so even a young toddler can get involved.

Lils had her best friend P over to play yesterday and I thought it would be fun to get them both cooking. The test of a good product is to see it in action, right? I decided the yummy sounding Chocolate Biscuit Cake would be fun and luckily we had all of the ingredients in the house already.

Ingredients

8 digestive biscuits (Sainsbury’s own are dairy / soya free)

3 tbsp raisins

3 tbsp butter (we used Flora dairy free)

3 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tbsp golden syrup

We made a dairy/ soya free version just so I could eat it (why not eh?) but obviously you can adapt to use dairy products if you don’t have allergies.

First job was to break up the biscuits. They loved this – great for being hands on!

I then melted the butter and mixed in the cocoa powder and golden syrup while the girls stirred in the raisins.

Combine the chocolate mix with the biscuits and you are done! Easy peasy!

Pour it into a cake tin and put it to set in the fridge for a couple of hours.

The girls went off to play while the mummies had a good old natter! We have been friends since we were pregnant with Lils and P and I love that they are the best of friends.

They were so excited to try the biscuits and after they’d eaten their cheese sandwiches I cut them a slice each. It was a little gooey still and probably could have done with being in the fridge for a bit longer, but little tummies can’t wait can they?

As I write this the plate is empty – there was a tiny slice left for Gracie when she got home and unfortunately none left for daddy! We will definitely make them again though!

The book is jam packed with lots of recipes, from breakfast ideas to meals for the whole family. The best bit for me is the fact that Annabel has made a handy allergy chart in the back of the book. It highlights recipes that are free from egg, dairy, gluten and nuts and shows you which can be adapted with alternative ingredients or whether they are not suitable at all. For someone to make this effort really means a lot for a mama like me who lives with allergies every single day.

If you are looking for a fab recipe book, with loads of easy recipes for you and your little one then The Tickle Fingers Toddler Cookbook is exactly what you need!