You can’t beat a good rocky road…unless you make one with booze in it and then of course that wins!

These Black Cherries in Kirsch, another sample from Opies Foods, are good enough to eat on their own and I had to use all of my willpower not to eat them all while I was cooking! The combination of cherries and kirsch immediately makes me think of Black Forest gateau with its layers of rich dark chocolate cake, thick cream and cherries. I have to admit though, I’ve never been a huge fan of chocolate cake with berries, but I love rocky roads and tiffin so I figured I’d make a combined version.

I love the little surprise bursts of kirsch flavour you get when you hit a piece of cherry and how it’s accompanied by the smooth dark chocolate that melts in your mouth and then the odd crunch of biscuit. YUM!

I made these recently for a friend’s birthday and they went down an absolute treat – people were asking whether they could take some home for their partners and families!

Remember to enter my giveaway before 16th December to win a hamper of Opies goodies – you can find more information in this post.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Opies Black Cherries in Kirsch
• 300g dark chocolate
• 3 tbsp Golden syrup
• 100g Butter
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 8-10 digestive biscuits
• 5 small brownie pieces

Method

1. Prepare the ingredients for the filling. Crush the digestives so that there are still pieces big enough that you get the definition when you slice the rock road. Chop the brownie bites into half inch pieces, chop the cherries into halves.
2. Melt the chocolate in a Bain Marie over a saucepan with the butter and golden syrup until combined.
3. Once melted, carefully stir in the cherries, marshmallows, digestives and brownie bites.
4. Line a square tin with baking paper so that you can get your rocky road out once it’s set. Spoon in some of the mixture and then dot a few cherries around*, poking some into the chocolate mixture. Add another layer of mixture and some more cherries until you have a chocolate layer on top. Leave in the fridge overnight, or for at least 2 hours, to cool.
5. Once set, remove your rocky road from its tin and slice into portions with a warm knife.

*This feels like pointless additional effort, but it’s essential not to stir the cherries into the chocolate. Because they’re not a dry ingredient the moisture will cause the chocolate to seize which you don’t want because then it’ll be stiff, grainy and difficult to transfer to the tin. Better to carefully place them in and then it’s not a problem.