Tag Archives: dessert

Organising a Great BLF Bake Off

14 Saturday Dec 2013

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Great BLF Bake Off

Great BLF Bake Off

As part of the British Lung Foundation’s (BLF) Christmas celebrations we organised the first ever Great BLF Bake Off. There were some fantastic submissions so I thought it would be nice to share some of the recipes. It a great way to get into the Christmas spirit and can also be a festive fundraising event.

The overall winner of the Bake Off was the fantastic cake ‘Santa’s Coming to Town’ by lovely and talented, Cat Holland. For a full recipe please click here.

Santa's Coming to Town!

Santa’s Coming to Town!

My Homemade Chocolates won Dr Penny Woods’ special prize of most impactful and outreaching. Click here for the full recipe.

Homemade chocolates

Homemade chocolates

Chocolate Eclair Pots

10 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by in Desserts, Valentine's

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Chocolate eclair pots
This is a dessert that my mom used to make that would be perfect for a Valentines’ Day treat.

I made the whip cream and chocolate ganache to step it up a notch.
This was a BIG hit with friends at the dinner we hosted last night.

What you will need:
1 box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
1.5  Cups of Whipping Cream
8oz Chocolate Bar
8 Graham Crackers
1/2 Cup of Scalded Heavy Cream

I made 6 pots out of this so change accordingly if you want to make more or less.

First make the instant pudding which just requires milk. SUPER EASY. It sits for 10 minutes in the fridge.

Whipped cream

Whipped cream

Then whip 1.5 cups of whipping cream.

Fold the instant pudding into the whipped cream. Put it back in the fridge to sit while you make the chocolate ganache.

Fold cream

Fold cream

First chop your chocolate into bits. Then pour the cream in a double boiler over medium heat. As soon as it starts to bubble, add your chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted.

Melt chocolate

Melt chocolate

Let the ganache sit off the heat for a few minutes to help it thicken.

You can either layer this with graham crackers in a small casserole dish or in individual pots.

The pots are cleaner and have a better presentation but either one works.

Lay crackers

Lay crackers

You just layer graham crackers and the spread the vanilla cream over it. Put the vanilla cream mixture in a baggie and piped it out for better control but you can just spoon it.

Pipe cream

Pipe cream

You should be able to do this about three or four times before topping it off with chocolate ganache.

Continue layering

Continue layering

Let it sit in your fridge for at least an hour before serving.

This is a quick and easy dessert that looks and tastes like you slaved over it!

Enjoy!
Joy

Poached Pears

15 Sunday Jul 2012

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Poached Pears

Joy and her family came to England for a visit and so the two of us were able to cook together again – what joy! We invited some friends over for a dinner party and we made a new dessert neither of us had made before. Whilst in the local supermarket looking for raspberries that turned out to be way too expensive we thought why not try poached pears… So we gave it a go and the result was pretty good, we were both stunned by how easy and yummy these treats turned out.

Here is what you need:

Poached pears
6 Pears (we had six guests)
4 Juiced Oranges
Enough water to fill ¾ of a pot
1 Orange’s rind
2 Anise stars
2 Cups Sugar
3 Cloves
1 Cinnamon stick
1 Vanilla pod

Vanilla syrup
1 1/2 Cups of Sugar
4 Cups of Water
1 Vanilla pod

Poaching the pears

Peel the pears. Slice the vanilla pod down the middle and scrape the seed out the pod add with all other ingredients into a big pot and then add the pears and bring to a boil. Once it boils reduce the heat, cover and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the pears from the pot and place to one side. If you find there is too much water for the size of your pot then reduce the amount.

For a nice presentation, you can place the pear on top of a tablespoon of melted chocolate or nutella. This helps keep the pear in place on the plate or bowl.

Vanilla syrup

For the vanilla syrup combine all ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and it thickens. You could use the water that the pears were cooked in instead of using water.

Pour over pears and serve.

Enjoy!
Mel and Joy

Rhubarb Crumble

30 Saturday Jun 2012

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Individual Rhubarb Crumble

I work on Lower Marsh, a fantastic little street hidden behind the imposing Waterloo Station. If you’re ever in London it’s definitely one of those hidden gems that’s worth a visit.

The local fruit and veg guy, Dave had a pound of rhubarb for 90p so I though I’d try making rhubarb crumble. I used honey instead of sugar for the rhubarb.

What you need:
4 sticks/ 1 pound of rhubarb
4 tbsp honey
4 tbsp water
2 tps cinnamon

For the crumble:
100g flour
80g brown sugar
50g butter
(optional crushed walnuts and cinnamon)

Heat your oven to 180C.
Cut your rhubarb into small chunks or small slices. I cut them into slices as I made small separate crumbles and thought they would look prettier, but this is really up to you. If you are making one big crumble then place your rhubarb in the oven dish you will be using to make the crumble. Add the honey, water and cinnamon and mix all together. Place in oven for 20 – 30 minutes, check every 10 minutes and stir if necessary. It is ready when they are tender and soft.

Rhubarb

When choosing what oven dish to use make sure not to use one that’s too big as the rhubarb shrinks as it cooks so you want it to be stacked up quite high.

For the crumble
In a bowl place the flour, cut up butter and sugar, and rub all the ingredients together until the mixture has a crumb like texture. You can add in cinnamon, crushed walnuts or any other (dry) ingredients you fancy trying. You will probably have some crumble left-over, it is perfect for freezing and takes minutes to reuse once removed from the freezer for any future crumbles you fancy making.

Once the rhubarb is ready place the oven dish you want your rhubarb crumble to be cooked in. Then sprinkle the crumble over. How much you sprinkle is really up to you.

Sprinkle the crumble

Place your dish in the oven for 30 minutes – it’s ready when the crumble takes on a golden colour. Serve hot or cold with a drizzle of fresh cream or custard.

Enjoy!
Mel

Mini fruit crumble

28 Friday Oct 2011

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The girls were coming over for tea and I was determined to make a fruit crumble. The problem was that I had one pear, one nectarine and one apple. Not enough of one fruit to fill a pie pan. I had made the crumble topping already so I got out my cupcake pan instead!

Here’s what you need:

Filling:

1 nectarine (Diced)
1 pear (Diced)
1 apple (Diced)

Crumble:

1 1/4 cups of packed brown sugar
2 cups of uncooked quick oats
2/3 cup of cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
2/3 cup of flour

Mix oats, brown sugar, and flour. Add butter and rub evenly in with fingertips until mixture is crumbly.
Press the crumble topping into each tin to make a base. To this, I added a tad more butter into each tin and then baked it for 10 min at 350 degrees.
You want this base to be nice and crispy.

Dice the fruit and dust with cinnamon.
Put a little of each into the cupcake pan.
I kept the fruit separated, but could’ve combined the fruit.
Then, I topped it with the crumble.
I baked it for 30 min at 350 degrees.
The topping didn’t look crisp enough so I put it in the broiler for a few minutes.

The apple got drizzled with melted caramel, the pear was topped with toasted chopped pecans and the nectarine got a dollop of whipped cream.
The ladies LOVED it and thought I spent a lot of time making individual crumbles, when it really took no time at all!
Enjoy!

Joy

Pecan Pie Sundae

23 Sunday Oct 2011

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My husband’s birthday is this week and I was making an early celebration dinner because his mom was in town.
He is not a chocolate lover, so I was slaving away at a pecan pie for him.
After I baked them I asked if he liked pecan pie and he said,”not particularly”.
Can you tell we are newlyweds? I had no idea!

So instead of panicking, I said, “Well, this pecan pie will change your mind!”
Instead of serving it on a plate with whipped cream or ice cream, I made a sundae out of it.
I put the pecan pie on top of vanilla ice cream and drizzled dark chocolate over it.
It was a HUGE hit! He could not stop telling me how “amazing” it was.

Here is what you need:

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter (melted)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
6 large eggs
1 cup and 1/3 light corn syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup bourbon
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
4 cups pecans, chopped and toasted
I bought a frozen ready-made pie crust which I don’t usually do, but it worked great!

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Whisk eggs and then your sugar and corn syrup.
Add vanilla, salt, butter and bourbon to egg mixture.
I whisk, but you can also beat together in mixer on slow speed.
Stir in pecans.
Pour into a 9 inch unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle evenly with pecan halves.
Bake for 55 minutes. Pie should be firm and will “set-up” while cooling for at least 2 hours. It may crack.

Scoop on top of ice cream with drizzled chocolate or serve traditionally.

Enjoy!

Joy

One Fantastic Peach!

18 Tuesday Oct 2011

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I recently had a dinner party with the intention of making a peach cobbler for dessert but completely ran out of time. I literally had no dessert when dinner was finished.
I had grilled peaches in the past and decided to try broiling them. The result was so tasty and it only took 5 minutes!

Here is what you need to serve 4 people:

2 Peaches
4 Pads of Butter
1 Tablespoon of Brown Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon of Cinnamon (optional)
1 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
1-3 Tablespoons of Powdered Sugar (depends how sweet you like it)
4 oz Mascarpone Cheese

Slice the peaches in half and remove the pit.
Put a pad of butter in each center and sprinkle the brown sugar over all 4 peaches.
Place in broiler for 5 minutes
Remove the peaches and scrape off the burnt sugar
Lightly sprinkle the cinnamon over all four peaches
In a cold mixing bowl, pour in the heavy whipping cream and Mascarpone Cheese.
Once it starts to thicken, add the powdered sugar and vanilla.
Continue to whip until you see stiff peaks.
If you beat too much, you will get butter, so be careful!

Joy

Raspberry cheesecake

09 Sunday Oct 2011

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After seeing a simple but perfect cheesecake being made on Australia Masterchef, Alexis and I decided to give it a go. Now it’s not the cheapest cake to make but it is delicious and from time to time really worth making it. Mine was a little different to the Masterchef one, they used ground almonds in the base, I didn’t and I added rasberries to the mixture.

What you will need:

For the base
1 cup of plain flour
1/4 cup of sugar
90g chilled chopped butter

For the filling
330g cream cheese
500g ricotta
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1 lemon’s juice
1 1/2 tbsp of cornflour
1 1/2 tbsp water
As many raspberries as you fancy (I used about 2 handfuls and sliced in two).

You will also need a deep circular cake tin (one with a removable bottom and clasp is best)

Pre-heat your oven to 150C. In a bowl add in all the ingredients for your base and knead them all together with your fingers, you know it’s ready when the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Butter your cake tin and add the base mixture to the bottom of the tin. With a spoon flatten the mixture so it becomes hard and homogenous. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Whilst your base is in the oven prepare your mixture. In a small bowl mix the cornflour and water and then add all the ingrdients together in a large bowl except for the raspberries. Whisk all ingredients together. Take your base out of the oven and pour in your mixture. Then add in your raspberries.

Put your cheesecake in the oven for an hour, then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven for an extra hour. It’s not over yet – you’ll need to leave it in the fridge for about 2 hours. Though I was in a rush so I put the cheeseake in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Unclasp the cheesecake and either leave it on the tin base or move it onto a plate. I had some raspberries left so I made a quick coulis by adding a bit of sugar and the raspberries in a pan on a low heat until they melted together.

Enjoy
Mel

Apple cake

11 Sunday Sep 2011

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A big apology for the abscence of blogs these past few weeks but I was on holiday in France enjoying the sun. It does however mean that I have come back with loads of new recipes. However today I’m going to share the apple cake Alexis and I just made  – perfect for a rainy day in England – though the apples did come from my grandmother’s garden in France.

Sugar coated violets

What you will need:

4 apples
150g of sugar
120g melted butter
85 g flour
3 eggs
75 ml milk
1/2 tbl spoon of vanilla extract

Oven at 180C
Cooking time of 40 minutes

Start with heating your oven to 180C. Peel your apples, remove pips and cut into small chunks. In a pan add apples, vanilla extract and about a tbl spoon of the sugar – mix together and cover on a medium heat. Every minute or so stir the apples and add a bit of water if you find they are caramelising.  Turn the heat off when they go soft – should take about 5 minutes.

In two bowls seperate your eggs. Mix the ingredients everytime you add a new ingredient – to your yolks add sugar, then your melted butter, flour and milk. Now turn to your egg whites and whisk until you can virtually tip the bowl upside down without them falling on your head 🙂 Now incorporate your whites to the other mixture. You don’t what to break your whites as their fluffiness is what will make your cake nice and light. So what you need to do  is add the whites little by little to the mixture and fold the mixture over the whites. Once you have added all the egg whites add in the apples and then add to a non-stick or buttered cake tin.

Place in the oven for 40 minutes. Whilst the cake is cooking the apples will fall to the bottom of the mixture – so when you cake is ready turn it upside down on a dish and leave it that way as it will give a classy but rustic look to it. (I had it with a bit of cream but it’s just as great eaten on its own.)

For the frosted violets click http://wp.me/p1sdbX-1n

Mel

Nut and Caramel Crusted Banana Cream Pie

02 Tuesday Aug 2011

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I LOVE my mom’s banana cream pie recipe but I wanted to do it a little different, so I changed the crust.

Here is what I did:

Crust:
1 1/2 cups  Vanilla Wafer Cookies (crushed)
2/3 cups of Macadamia Nuts (crushed)
1/2 stick of Butter
4-5 Tablespoons of melted Caramel
1-2 Ripe Bananas

Once I combined the first three ingredients, I pressed them into a pie crust pan.
I covered it and put it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours with a couple of heavy jars on top to ensure it would be as compact as possible.

After two hours, I took it out and poured my melted caramel on top. You just want a thin layer because otherwise it will effect how your custard sets up.
Put the crust back into the refrigerator for another 1-2 hours. When you are ready to start making your custard, slice the ripe bananas on top of your caramel layer.

Pie Filling:
2/3 cup of Sugar
1/4 cup of Cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon Salt
2 1/4 cups of whole milk
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
4 egg yolks (beaten)
1 tablespoon Butter
2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract

Sift the sugar, salt and cornstarch.

In a *double boiler, combine the milk and cream over medium heat and slowly add your 3 dry ingredients. Stir until thickened and bubbly.

Reduce heat and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and stir in 5 tablespoons  (one tablespoon at a time) of the hot milk mixture into your beaten egg yolks.
While you are slowly adding your tablespoons of the milk mixture, be sure to whisk constantly.
This is the tricky part. If you do this part incorrectly, you will end up with scrambled eggs! Once you have added all 5 tablespoons, you can pour the egg mixture back into the double boiler with the remaining milk mixture.

Whisking constantly, bring to a gentle boil. This should take 5 minutes (set your timer) then cook it for an additional 2 minutes. If you do not set your timer and you don’t cook it long enough, your custard will not set and you will end up with pudding instead of pie.

Remove from heat and stir in your vanilla and butter.

Pour custard into a bowl and press plastic wrap onto the surface of the custard. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. Then you pour the custard into your pie crust and enjoy!

I know this sounds long and laborious but it really isn’t. Each step only takes 10 minutes.
It’s perfect for those days when you are cleaning and doing laundry because you do one part and then go back to your chores. Then you do the next part and go back to your chores, etc.

*I don’t have a proper double boiler, I just use 2 saucepans. The smaller one goes on the bottom.You get the water to boil on the bottom pan and you put your ingedients in a slightly bigger saucepan, which sits non top of the smaller pan.
This ensures that you will not burn the milk. It is so easy to do.

Joy