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Mel and Joy cook

Category Archives: Desserts

Frosted Violets

05 Tuesday Apr 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Desserts

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

decoration, dessert, food, sugar, violet

My parent’s garden in France was beautiful and full of springtime flowers this weekend. There were loads of violets and so I thought I would try making frosted violets. I had no idea how to make them and so asked my mum. She said that she thought they were made with egg whites and sugar. So there I went picking the purplest violets I could find. I have to say they all thought I was a little mad but were quite impressed with the end result.

So what you will need is one egg white, sugar and violets. I slightly beat the egg white and then made sure to cover each violet in egg. I then sprinkled the flower with sugar making sure that they were completely covered in sugar. Now you need to do each violet at a time, that is cover it in egg white and then sugar, have a plate ready to put the flowers on and leave them to dry.

My grandmother came over for lunch the next day and brought dessert (a cake and mini meringues) so we decorated the cake with the violets, a nice touch. It’s a fantastic home-made way of making pretty dessert decorations and gives it that little extra touch.

Mel

Blackberry Upside Down Cake

30 Wednesday Mar 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Desserts

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Tags

blackberry, cake, pregnant, sugar, upside down cake

With 4 weeks left of my pregnancy, I find myself wanting to eat sweets to calm my nerves. Normally, a chocolate shake would do the trick, but I’ve been lactose intolerant for almost 2 months now and can no longer splurge on ice cream. 

So, I went to the store on a mission to find a sweet treat but saw that blackberries were on sale again. I’ve been dying to use them for something. So, instead of making Pineapple Upside Down Cake, I used blackberries instead. I couldn’t believe how easy and delicious it was!

What you will need:

2 1/2 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk

I got 2 bowls out, like I do when making chocolate chip cookies.
In one bowl, I whisked the flour, baking soda and salt.

In the other bowl, with an electric mixer, I beat the butter and 1/2 cup of remaining sugar.
Then I added the egg and vanilla.
Once that was all mixed, I slowly added the flour mixture and buttermilk.

I didn’t have a round 8 X 2 cake pan, instead I used disposable tin bread pans that were 8 X 4 ( I bought them for banana bread) 

These worked better because I didn’t have to grease the pans or even use parchment paper.

I divided the berries up between the three pans. Then I sprinkled the berries with 1 1/2 tsp of sugar.

Then I poured the mixture in all three pans and baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 30-35 min.
It’s important to immediately take the cake out of the pan so the fruit doesn’t get too soggy.

Because I cannot have whip cream or ice cream, I sweetened some greek yogurt with honey and put a dollop on top.

It was a huge treat as a dessert and perfect with my tea in the morning 🙂

Enjoy!
Joy

Lemon Meringue tart

27 Sunday Mar 2011

Posted by melandjoycook in Desserts

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

creme fresh, dessert, egg, lemon, meringue, tart

Lemon merigue tart

Lemon merigue tart

I’ve been fancying a lemon meringue tart for a couple of weeks now so when I was invited over for a tea party by a friend this afternoon I thought it was the perfect excuse for me to make it. Now I have never made a lemon tart before let alone one with meringue on top but guess what!? It’s really easy to make and it’s so good (plus it looks quite impressive 😉

What you will need:

Shortcrust pastry
5 eggs
200g of sugar
200ml crème fresh
2 lemons

So I went for the lazy option and bought some ready made shortcrust pastry. You need to heat your oven at 180C. In a bowl whisk two eggs, two egg yolks (put the two egg whites in a bowl, this will be for the meringue), 150g of sugar, the zest of two lemons, the juice of two lemons and 200ml of crème fresh.

Put the pastry in a tart tin, poke it a few times with a fork and put it in your heated oven for 10 minutes. Then remove and add in your lemon mix, leave the lemon tart in the oven for 30 minutes.

A few minutes before your tart is cooked take your two egg whites and add two more egg whites, whisk until you can virtually tip the bowl upside down without the eggs falling on your head…then add 50g of sugar and whisk the eggs a bit more. Remove your tart from the oven and cover the surface with the egg whites. Turn the oven down to about 50C and put the tart back in for about 5 – 10 minutes. I would check on the tart after 5 minutes and as soon as parts of the meringue start to golden you know that it’s ready. Remove from the oven and let it cool.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it this afternoon and it definitely satisfied my craving.

Mel

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