A Recipe for Murder... No.3 A shot for the Valentine

Here at The Murder Mystery Company, not only do we provide thrilling and entertaining murder mystery evenings, every now and again we like to pass on our devilishly wicked concoctions to you, as suggestions to help enhance your own parties! Your sweet-toothed Valentine will simply love to devour this hedonistic shot in the dark on this year's cold and mysterious Valentines night.  We bring you Death by Chocolate vs The B52!

If you're a glutton for punishment, or simply like to fill your winter boots & bellies with liqueurs and gourmet desserts then you are going to just LOVE this devious dish - a rich and seductive rendezvous between a Death by Triple Chocolate dessert and a B52 cocktail!!!

The classic B52 cocktail is a layered shot of coffee liqueur Kahlua on the bottom, a rich and creamy Baileys in the middle, and topped with a quality layer of delicious orange Grand Marnier. When drunk down in one gulp the flavours blend like you wouldn't believe. A truly delectable drink.

This naughty but nice invention is a three layer dessert, with a sticky mocha brownie base, then a layer of Baileys Chocolate Mousse, topped off with a White Chocolate and Orange Mousse. A divine sensation!

Mocha Brownies cook at 160c in a fan oven for 25 minutes:

• Melt 185g unsalted butter & 185g best dark chocolate in a bain marie (pyrex bowl over a saucepan of water), mix and leave to cool
• Sieve 85g plain flour & 40g of cocoa powder into a bowl
• In another bowl beat 3 eggs and then pour in 275g of golden caster sugar and whisk until thick
• Chop small chunks of 50g white chocolate and 50g milk chocolate on a chopping board, taking care that the knife does not slip
• Pour the cooled chocolate into the beaten egg bowl and fold together, before doing the same with the sifted flour and cocoa powder. Lastly stir in the chunks and pour in a lined baking tray to cook

Baileys Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate & Orange Mousse:

• 120g dark chocolate chips & 50g butter melted over a bain marie, then cooled
• Whisk 4 egg whites in a bowl to form peaks. In a separate bowl whisk 300ml of double cream to form soft peaks
• Mix the egg yolks into the slightly cooled chocolate, and stir in 70g icing sugar
• Then fold both mixtures together add 75ml of Baileys and cool. This will be the middle of the dessert shot
• For the white chocolate mousse do the same, except double the chocolate quantity and add a dessert spoon of orange zest. (To simplify you can buy a vanilla yoghurt and add zest)

Once the items are cool, break small chunks of the mocha brownie and push to the bottom of your shot glasses. Pipe in the dark chocolate Baileys mousse, and then the white chocolate and orange one. You can decorate the top with a red love heart sweet, draw a design with red squeezy icing or pop a juicy raspberry on top!

Pass to your love, give them a wicked wink, and indulge yourselves!

For more information on our Murder Mystery Evenings for Valentines and other events, please contact our sales team on 0845 006 06 06 or visit our website.

A Recipe for Murder... No.2 The Devil's Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Slice

Dust of your witch's hats and get those stripy knee highs out the bottom drawer... Halloween is just round the corner! It's that time of year we fear brats posting stink bombs through the letter box if we don't answer our doorbells and hideously dressed party goers jump out of doorways to frighten the life out of us as we innocently walk home from work. But it's a great time for parties, for spooky cocktails and themed party food!

At the Murder Mystery Company we've been slaving away over a hot cauldron (well, in our kitchen actually) to come up with a delicious and devilishly good Halloween recipe to tantalise those taste buds and make a shockingly good addition to any spooky spread this Halloween. Whether you're hosting a Murder Mystery party, lighting fireworks or simply feeding the kids before the annual trick or treat adventure, a truly dark and delicious indulgence was our goal.

After discarding the ideas with rabbit's heads, pig's blood or lamb's brains through fear of having to trial and taste the recipes first, we decided on chocolate. Dark, velvety chocolate. A naughty, but nice option. With pumpkin? If carrots can make such a delicious appearance in cakes, then "bring on the pumpkin" we said! And therefore The Devil's Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Slice was born.

• 250g Quality dark chocolate, melted over a bain marie with the butter
• 190g salted butter
• 190g castor sugar
• 4 whole eggs, whisked
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 of a small pumpkin, skinned, seeded and finely grated
• 50g cocoa powder
• 80g plain flour (gluten free or normal)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Pre-heat your fan oven to 180 degrees C, and follow the method above. Melt the butter and chocolate together over boiling water and in a separate bowl whisk the eggs and sugar. Stir the cocoa, flour and baking powder into the egg mix and the finely grated pumpkin flesh and vanilla into the melted chocolate. Once blended well mix both bowls together thoroughly. Bake for 25 minutes in a lined baking tray and remove to cool on the side. Once cooled, make a butter frosting icing of your choice, add a few drops of orange colouring or squeeze some writing icing across the top for decoration.

Cut into 12 slices, and add some spooky Halloween decorations. These witches on the top aren't edible, but you may find edible items in your supermarket. Serve with a hot Irish Coffee, or simply a steaming hot fresh brew!

For more information on our Murder Mystery Evenings for Halloween, and other events please contact our sales team on 08450 06 06 06 or visit our website.