I love coconut in all of its forms – freshly cracked, desiccated in cakes, served alongside spicy curries in a sambal, and especially coconut milk. Continue reading
I love coconut in all of its forms – freshly cracked, desiccated in cakes, served alongside spicy curries in a sambal, and especially coconut milk. Continue reading
Despite winter being about six weeks away here in Australia it is still warm and sunny every day. And if you’re reading this from a town shivering in the cold due to blizzard/rain/wind/sleet you are probably completely envious. But I am so over the heat! Most days, such as today, are hot and I am still desperately waiting for autumn to make an appearance. Continue reading
It’s the day before Australia day and you’ve been invited to a BBQ and asked to bring a dish. Forget the potato salad, ignore the dips and crackers: this green and gold trifle is simple to make and will turn you into a dessert champ. Continue reading
Spring has sprung! At least, it has in the southern hemisphere and today, the first day of Spring, the skies were blue, the wattle was out and all was right in the world.
To celebrate this most beloved of seasons it seemed fitting to make a dessert as sweet as the weather. Continue reading
The Hungry Dad is a huge fan of black forest cake and it recently occurred to me that I had yet to make it for him.
We were headed out on a picnic with some friends and I decided to bake this cake. Let me interrupt myself here by saying that picnics for me are heaven, while The Hungry Dad treats them as something along the lines of purgatory. All that eating in the fresh air – pah, says he.
So this cake was a peace offering / bribe to encourage him to enjoy the day. And a good time was had by all. Hooray! Continue reading
Get your tasting spoons ready, bakers: the sauce in this cake is something you will be unable to resist.
Donna Hay created the salted burnt honey sauce in a recent edition of her eponymous magazine. Do not underestimate the bewitching properties of this sauce: four ingredients is all it takes to lift a lovely cake into superstar mode. Continue reading
As I’ve mentioned before, summer and I are not friends. I don’t like heat, humidity, flies, insects, sweating. Obviously I shouldn’t be living in steamy Sydney but here I am. And as much as I adore baking it is sometimes just too damn hot to turn the oven.
That’s where this beauty of a dessert comes in. I found the recipe in a back issue of the wonderful delicious magazine and had, serendipitously, made meringues a few days earlier. Continue reading
A recent excursion to Bilpin in NSW introduced me to the exquisiteness of fresh apples. When I say fresh, I mean picked from the tree moments before eating. I am guilty of popping into the supermarket on my lunchbreak to stock up on apples for my daughters’ lunchboxes but after trying these amazingly fresh apples I won’t be doing that again.
I was lucky enough to be invited recently on an ‘apple adventure’ day in Bilpin, a pretty little hamlet outside of Sydney, by the lovely Belly Rumbles. Check out her blog here: http://bellyrumbles.com/
Isn’t it great?
Anyway a group of food bloggers did a tour of an orchard, where it was all systems go in the packing sheds.
Then we visited a pick your own orchard, which was so much fun. We were given delightful little straw baskets to fill with produce, and I felt quite relaxed and happy as I chose the most wonderful apples from the tree.
The difference between freshly picked Australian apples and the often floury, picked-months-ago-and-kept-in-cold-storage numbers from the supermarket couldn’t be more stark.
Greengrocer 1, big chains 0.
I used some of these beauties to create an easy apple ice-cream by the fabulous Donna Hay. The Hungry Dad declared it one of the best he’s ever had, which is strong praise indeed.
The best thing is, you don’t even need an ice cream maker – pretty cool, huh?
GATHER:
2 cups grated apples [Donna specified Granny Smiths but I used red delicious]
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
3 eggs
2 egg yolks, extra
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup caster sugar [I reduced Donna’s quantity of 1 cup]
2 cups pouring cream
crumble
½ cup slow cooking rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
100g chilled butter, chopped
2 generous shakes of cinnamon and allspice
LET’S GET TO IT:
Place apple, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice in a non-metallic bowl, toss and set aside.
In a large ceramic or glass bowl put eggs, extra yolks, vanilla and sugar and place over a pan of simmering water.
Using hand-held electric beaters whip for six to eight minutes, until pale and thick.
Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Place cream in bowl of electric mixer and whip until stiff peaks form. Using a big silver spoon gently fold in the egg mixture, stirring until incorporated.
Gently fold in apple.
Pour into two litre metal cake tine, cover with foil and freeze overnight.
Serve, then top with crumble.
crumble:
Place flour, sugar and oats in a bowl and rub in butter until it is the texture of lumpy sand. Sprinkle over a dash of cinnamon and allspice.
Tip onto baking pan & bake for around 15 minutes at 150C or until golden. Cool before using.
Firstly let me apologise for the [lack] of photos. I made this obscenely rich passionfruit semi-freddo to serve to some friends who came over yesterday. Between setting up all the desserts and ensuring everyone had a plate and making sure things didn’t melt the photo thing pretty much didn’t happen.
Use your imagination – cool, rich ice cream studded with swirls of passionfruit, itself sunshine in a mouthful. Don’t you just want some right now? Continue reading
Have I told you about the amazing book Lily Vanilli’s Sweet Tooth? Subtitled ‘recipes and tips from a modern artisan bakery’ it is an incredible collection of fantastical baked goods with gorgeous photos to match. I was sent a review copy in my day job as a journalist and I couldn’t wait to get this book into my kitchen to try out the recipes. If you have a loved one who is into baking, buy them this book. Continue reading