chocolate christmas tree...

One of my earliest Christmas memories is from a year where we went and stayed with my Uncle John and Aunty Marie. I was the first grandchild on my mom's side of the family so I really was very well looked after and was very lucky to almost always be the centre of attention. This one year my aunt and I made a Christmas cake to rival all Christmas cakes. To this day I have never made it again but it is on my to do list, if not this year (as I will be in New Zealand) then it will be made next year for sure.

The recipe is pretty simple and comes from Darina Allen who is Ireland's queen of cookery and I'm almost certain no one will be able to say no to a piece of this.

Chocolate Christmas Tree

250g of best quality chocolate
110g of Rice Krispies
85-110g of dark chocolate for assembling the tree
3 teaspoons icing sugar

1. Firstly you need to prepare the trays to make the branches of the tree. Cover 3 baking trays or large Swiss roll tins with tin foil. Draw out crosses on the foil. Leave 5 - 7 cm between each cross. The measurements of the crosses are: 7 cm, 9 cm, 11 cm, 13 cm, 14 cm, 15 cm, 16 cm, 17 cm and 18cm.

2. Prepare a serving plate or comport for the tree: it must be rigid, absolutely flat and strong enough to support the tree. Cover with tin foil. Mark the 18 cm cross on this base.

3. When all the preparation is done, melt the chocolate very carefully in a pyrex bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir in the Rice Krispies and mix well. Using a teaspoon, drop small amounts of the chocolate mixture along the marked crosses. Do the base board first and put in the fridge to set while you do the others, in order of size from the biggest to the smallest. Try not to eat the mixture although it does look amazingly tempting.

4. When all the crosses have set firmly after approximately 30 minutes, melt the remaining chocolate over a low heat. Put a teaspoon of melted chocolate onto the centre of the cross on the base board, and stick the next largest cross on top so that the points are in between the points of the previous cross.

5. While that is setting (supported with a matchbox if necessary), drop another teaspoon of chocolate on top of the second cross to form a basis for the next layer. Refrigerate for a few minutes.

6. Meanwhile stick the remaining 8 crosses together in pairs in the same way and allow to set. Add another teaspoon of melted chocolate and put the next largest pair of crosses on top, angling them so the branches are arranged alternately. Continue to assemble until the tree is finished, however do it gradually as it is essential that each section is completely set before topping with another layer.

7. To serve decorate the board with some Christmas decorations and lightly dust the tree with some icing sugar.

This brings back some amazing happy memories. This is such a great cake to make if there are kids around aswell because they can really get involved and thats the part I loved the most. Oh I do love Christmas. ho ho ho.

My wonderful cousin Jane dug out these photos so I thought I must share them with you.