Chef Nikita Pathakji wins through to cook for the banquet @greatbritishmenu. Congrats 👏 👏 👩‍🍳

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  • The final newcomer to this region is Derby born @chefnikita.p who runs fine dining supper clubs from her family home. She’s no stranger to a competition though! Tune in Tuesday 7pm @bbctwo and @bbciplayer to see her cook! #greatbritishmenu2d
  • Fabulous news Nikita – we really enjoyed interviewing you – look out for our @greatbritishmenu interview coming soon4 likesReply

.@Anahaugh Vegan Chocolate Mousse

This quick and easy chocolate mousse is a brilliant vegan dessert. Made with silken tofu, it’s even high in protein!

Equipment: you will need a confectionery thermometer.

Each serving provides 620 kcal, 8.5g protein, 86g carbohydrate (of which 74g sugars), 27g fat (of which 7.5g saturates), 2g fibre and 0.4g salt.

Ingredients

For the chocolate mousse

For the honeycomb

For the apricots

How-to-videos

Method

  1. Put the tofu, ground star anise, vanilla seeds, treacle and agave syrup into a large bowl and blend with a hand blender until silky smooth.
  2. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl sat over a saucepan of simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water. Fold into the tofu. Spoon the mixture between 4 glasses and refrigerate until set.
  3. To make the honeycomb, line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the sugar, glucose and golden syrup into a deep saucepan and heat until it reaches 145C. (This should take about 5 minutes). Quickly whisk in the bicarbonate of soda. Be careful as the mixture will bubble up very suddenly. Quickly pour onto the lined baking tray. Set aside to cool and harden.
  4. To make the apricots, heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the apricots and star anise and cook until the apricots start to caramelise. Sprinkle over a pinch of sugar and leave to cool.
  5. To serve, sprinkle the toasted almonds on top of the mousse and serve with the apricots and peices of honeycomb.

Eunice Power’s cranberry and orange cake 🍊 😋

Eunice Power

By Eunice Power

Celebrity Chef

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Irish Yoghurt Clonakilty Cranberry and Orange Cake.

Ingredients

Cake

  • 125g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • ½ orange zest and juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla bean extract
  • 250g plain flour
  • 1 heaped tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp mixed spice
  • 100g Irish Yoghurt Clonakilty Greek Style Yoghurt, plus extra to serve
  • 150g fresh cranberries

Topping

  • 150g fresh cranberries
  • ½ orange, juice
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 150g icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 23cm springform round tin with baking parchment.
2. Cream together the butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. In a jug, combine the beaten eggs, orange zest, orange juice and vanilla.
4. Add this mixture to the creamed butter in 3–4 additions, fully incorporating each before adding more.
5. Fold in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice.
6. Fold in the Irish Yogurt Clonakilty Greek Style Yogurt until the batter is smooth.
7. Transfer ¼ of the batter to the tin. Scatter a handful of cranberries in a line over this layer.
8. Fold the remaining cranberries into the rest of the batter and spoon into the tin.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
10. Leave the cake in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.


Topping

1. Heat the cranberries, orange juice and caster sugar in a small pan for about 5 minutes until half the berries have popped and the rest are softened.
2. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving the softened fruit.
3. Mix 2–3 tablespoons of the strained liquid with the icing sugar to make a thick icing.
4. Stir the softened fruit into the remaining strained liquid.
5. Pour and spread the icing over the cooled cake and allow it to drip slightly down the sides.
6. Top with the softened fruit.

Serving suggestion: Serve with a spoonful of Irish Yogurt Clonakilty Greek Style Yogurt.

Chefs’ tips:

  • If the batter begins to curdle while adding the egg mixture, add a spoonful of the flour mixture — it stabilises the batter and keeps the cake light.
  • Scatter a little orange zest over the icing for a bright, fragrant finish.
  • For a decorative flourish, add a few candied rosemary stalks on top. To make these, dip fresh rosemary sprigs lightly in sugar syrup, then toss in caster sugar and allow to dry — they look frosted and pair beautifully with the cranberry flavour.