Chocolate fun with the Children's Air Ambulance

On the 26th of October me and my family went to a chocolate event hosted by Paul A Young, it was very fun. It was at Venue One, Marylebone, London. This event was a Gala launch of a new chocolate recipe book called Sensational Chocolate which is fundraising for the Children's Air Ambulance.  The recipe book is a collection of recipes from lots of celebrities including Emma Thompson, Brian Blessed, Nigella Lawson, Fay Ripley, John Whaite and Kimberley Wilson.

The first recipe is in the book is a recipe that me and my Mum submitted using my award winning marmalade.  I love making marmalade and have won the Children's category of the World Marmalade Awards and have also received Golds for two of my entries.  The recipe called Marmalade and Prune Chocolate Cake was a winner with a Children's Air Ambulance recipe competition.

At the launch we saw lots of celebrities including Linda Robson, Dame Kelly Holmes and Lesley Joseph.  We also watched Rosemary Shrager, John Whaite and Paul A Young in a competition to decorate the best chocolate cake.  It was interesting to see the different ways they decorated their cakes. The cakes were auctioned off at the end and made lots of money for charity.

We also were entertained by the wonderful Anna Pancaldi and particularly enjoyed hearing her new songs. 

At the event we were able to try Paul A Young's salted caramel truffles which were so delicious and melted in the mouth.

At the event I talked to Kimberley Wilson about marmalade and the Tiptree World Bread Awards.  We had met there last year for the first time, when I won the Young Baker category.  

I also chatted to Roger Pizey who mentored Paul A Young.  He was very pleased to hear about all that I had done, and encouraged me to keep going.  




I talked to Jay Rayner who said to keep on doing what makes me happy. It was amazing to meet Dame Kelly Holmes who signed my book and said "Follow your dreams" which is a real encouragement for the future.

It was an amazing night and I loved meeting lots of interesting people.

 Since attending this event, I have been trying lots of chocolate recipes from the book. Emma Thompson's salted caramel brownie was the most amazing pudding I have ever tasted.  Nigella's chocolate biscuit recipe was delicious. Having made Nigella's recipe once I decided to add even more chocolate and some Camp Coffee to make some mocha biscuits that everyone loved. Paul A Young's hot chocolate recipe was perfect to warm ourselves up after fireworks.  I am looking forward to working my way through the book.  I am hoping to make Eric Lanlard's recipe next.  If you follow me on @JammyBakers you can keep up to date with the recipes I have tried

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves chocolate. There are so many recipes to try, and lots of these are quick and easy to make.  You can buy it from the Children's Air Ambulance website.  The charity is trying to fundraise for a second Children's Air Ambulance to cover the whole country






If you would like to try some recipes while you are waiting for the book to arrive try these Sensational Chocolate recipes including our Marmalade and Prune Chocolate cake and Emma Thompson's Salted Caramel Brownie

I have also been making some chocolate fun of my own. Two years ago I went on the One Show with my firework themed cake which featured chocolate fireworks.  I decided to make these this year with my church youth group this week and led an activity to do this.  Here is what they looked like.  

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