Chocolate Dominoes

At this time of year, when there is a change in the weather, so many seem to complain of some sort of a cold or flu. One of my young men spent a lot of last night coughing so naturally, he was too tired to spend the day at school. However, once the others were dropped off at the gate and we were a safe distance from the school he felt miraculously better. Delighted to have a sibling free morning he pondered upon what way he could best spend his time. As Tiarnán is a man after my own heart he gathered a few cookbooks and flicked through them till he found the recipe he wanted to try out - Chocolate Dominos. I read through the recipe with him and like I do so many times myself he altered the recipe to suit his taste by substituting the buttercream icing with melted milk chocolate!!

These little cakes would make a lovely addition to a birthday party table. A wonderfully easy recipe as all the ingredients, for the cake, are simply combined together with a mixer. We will be making these again- well done to Tiarnán for spotting this one.

Ingredients

175g (6oz) soft butter

175g (6oz) caster sugar

150g (5oz) self-raising flour

25g (1oz) cocoa powder, sifted

3 free range eggs

For the topping:

100g milk chocolate or cooking chocolate

liquorice strips or tube of writing icing

smarties

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C(fan)/390f/gas mark 6. Lightly rub some butter on a baking tin approx 7x11 in

2. Put all the cake ingredients in a mixer and beat until smooth.

3. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level with a palette knife.

4. Bake for 30 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed in the centre with the fingertips.

5. Cool in the tin for 5 mins then loosen the edges with a knife and transfer to a wire rack.

Cut into approx 16 bars.

6. For the topping spread some melted chocolate over each bar and decorate as seen in the photo.