Mary has been on a diet for over a week. She is missing her favourite Black Forest Chocolate Cake. Suddenly, she comes face to face with it. The cake has finally found her . In a moment of utter madness, Mary succumbs to the temptation and gobbles it up like it’s the last piece of food on earth. When its all over, Mary does not know what hit her. She is overcome with feelings of guilt and regret. She plunges into depression. The feelings of regret are so overwhelming that it totally overcomes her. Have you ever felt like this before. If you have, read on to find out why it happens and what you can do about it.

Temptations abound all over for people trying to lose weight. This is part of the challenge of trying to lose weight. Its like cheese cake and ice cream booby traps all over the place.

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If you sometimes feel like a nut, this may be the cupcake for you. Inspired by the Almond Joy candy bar, these cupcakes feature a rich chocolate cake filled with sticky coconut topped with a luscious milk chocolate ganache and almonds.

Not feeling nutty? Go for a Mounds-inspired version. Leave off the almonds and use dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Decrease the amount to 16 ounces of chips for the same consistency.

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The only thing better than chocolate cake and milk is chocolate cake and a milkshake. Keegan Gerhard of D Bar Desserts has made this indulgent double treat a favorite among dessert-goers. The cake is a super-moist, dense creation spread with a fudgy frosting made with Manjari chocolate. It's all about the little touches: The milkshake, which is made with housemade ice cream, comes topped with crunchy Valrhona chocolate pearls. D Bar has a non-dessert menu, too, but with the generously portioned cake and shake's allure, it's easy to convince yourself the sugar bomb is a suitable meal stand-in.

 

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Chocolate candy must be the most popular sort of candy in the world. It certainly is in Europe and America. We eat tons and tons of Mars, Cadburys, Lindt and Nestle chocolate candy every year. The depressing thing is that most of the people who admit to liking chocolate have never tried a proper bar of chocolate in their lives.

To a connoisseur, chocolate candy can come from anywhere in the world although Belgium, Switzerland and France are the countries, whose names come to mind first. Regardless of that, high-quality chocolate candy is also made in Great Britain, Spain, the USA and some areas of Latin America.

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yield: Makes 12 servings
Kate is an avid home baker, but it took her a while to figure out egg- and dairy-free desserts. The cake and the oatmeal bars are two of her favorite vegan treats.

Cake:

    * Nonstick vegetable oil spray
    * 1 cup all purpose flour
    * 1 cup sugar
    * 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour*
    * 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
    * 1 teaspoon baking soda
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    * 3/4 cup water
    * 1/3 cup vegetable oil
    * 1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
    * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    * 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar.

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When chocolate cake just isn’t doing it for me, this is simply the only choice for me.  Something about moist vanilla sponge with a sharp citrusy sugared crust, satisfies my taste buds on all accounts.  I have added quite a generous amount of grated lemon rind to the recipe, because I love the aromatic scent and zesty flavour of the peel running through the cake.  Its yummy, there is no other word for it.  I made stacks of them over the Christmas period and gave them away to colleagues, friends and neighbours as foodie gifts.

But it doesn’t have to be Christmas for you to enjoy this lovely treat and even better, once baked, they last for over a week when well wrapped in cling film and stored in a dry and cool place.  Enjoy it folks, because the next few weeks will be focused on sensible eating, in keeping with the New Year’s resolutions and diets… But I don’t believe in diets!  I believe in DELICIOUS food… So watch this space!

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It is the ultimate hot date: a Glasgow Indian restaurant has put a chocolate curry on the menu. The dish combines two of the most powerful aphrodisiacs known to man - or woman - curry and chocolate.

Restaurant boss Johnnie Ginda has launched the dish in the run-up to Valentine's Day, but it will remain a firm fixture on the all-year menu. 'If you want your date to be really hot you will not fail with this dish,' he said.

The Nakodari is a medium hot king prawn curry that comes complete with a chocolate and strawberry naan bread and costs £16.95. An accompanying strawberry pakora is also available at £4.95.

Mr Ginda, 38, has launched the dishes at his new Nakodar Grill in Glasgow's Dennistoun district.

The Nakodari is named after Mr Ginda's home village in the Punjab area of India where it was perfected by his late grandfather and passed down through the generations.

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Having encountered the best chocolate pie ever at Cold Springs Tavern, an old stagecoach stop in Santa Barbara, I'm wondering whether you can persuade the restaurant to share its recipe. I am quite certain it is prepared on premises, is served warm and contains walnuts.

Dee Dee Ruhlow

Burbank

Dear Dee Dee: We loved the combination of chocolate with walnuts and rum in this very rich pie, perfect for chocolate lovers! Each slice is great served slightly warmed with a big glass of milk. Rum-walnut chocolate-chip pie Total time: About 1 hour Servings: 10 to 12 Note: Adapted from Cold Springs Tavern. If using a homemade pie shell, blind bake the crust (lined first with foil and weights, then with weights removed) just until set, about 10 to 15 minutes. For store-bought pie crust, par-bake the pie shell just until set, using the instructions on the package.

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These Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cardamom infused frosting by Sweet Beet and Green Bean are just what your guests will need after they're inundated with cookies. The rich, moist cake is made out of a combination of ginger, cinnamon, ground cloves, molasses, and a surprise filling of chocolate chips. Cardamom has an intensely aromatic fragrance and when mixed with soy milk, it creates "a truly unique tasting frosting," according to the blogger.

With tiny icing peaks that are reminiscent of snowy mountains, who could resist biting into these winter wonder confections?

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European cocoa traders and consultants said the almost doubling of cocoa prices in the past two years will inevitably force a re-think of sales and marketing strategies of confectioners and increase the appeal of industry consolidation. Tight supplies and low investment by West African producers drove cocoa futures prices on the ICE market in New York to a 30-year high of $3,510 per tonne on December 16.

Chris Brockman, market research manager at consultants Leatherhead Food Research, said that during an economic downturn, confectioners would do their best not to hike chocolate prices in response to the cocoa market rally. "We'll see a move to less cocoa content," he said. A recent shift in tastes toward dark chocolate, which has high cocoa content and is perceived to have health benefits, was likely to swing back toward milk chocolate. "Dark chocolate has suffered substantially. It was a leading segment of the market," said Ricardo Santos, a senior cocoa trader with the agri-commodity brokerage of BNP Paribas Fortis.

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