These addictive traditional French pastries have been out of fashion but fully deserve a comeback. Small brioche buns are sliced in three then the layers soaked in rum syrup and interspersed with crème pâtissière and chopped candied fruit. They’re encased in a layer of Italian meringue, sprinkled […]

Amazing Basque burnt cheesecake recipe! Glutenfree, adapted from la Viña’s best cheesecake in the world! :)
This is the easiest most delicious cheesecake I’ve ever eaten!!! Others have said online it’s the best cheesecake in the whole wide world. I doubted the social media hype and had to try for myself to realise how right they were. So total thumbs up […]

Healthier panellets recipe! Almond paste treats for la Castanyada!
These little cakes are from Catalunya and other parts of Spain like Andorra, Ibiza and Valencia. Panellets actually translates as ‘little breads’ and they’re a traditional dessert on All Saints Day which is known here as la Castanyada ‘chestnut time’! Panellets are commonly made of […]

Slightly healthier chocolate mûrier recipe! Blackberry and chocolate layer cake, glutenfree or not… :)
This is a delicious autumn cake that works really well visually and taste-wise even when a little imperfect. The blackberries are lovely with the optionally glutenfree light cocoa genoise sponge which I made lower-sugar by replacing some sugar with birch extract xylitol. For my first […]

Healthy raw fig and apricot rolls recipe! Naturally vegan, glutenfree, refined sugarfree and yum …
These fig and apricot rolls have it all! They’re so yummy, healthy and easy to make! The filling is semi-dried moist figs and dried apricots blended with a little water, pure maple syrup and lemon juice. It’s deliciously moist and lightly spiced with ground ginger, […]

Healthier spiced pork or chicken scotch eggs recipe! Baked with Chinese five-spice powder, shichimi togarashi or your favourite spices!
The perfect summer picnic food, snack or light dinner, homemade scotch eggs are an extremely tasty combo of boiled egg wrapped in a layer of good-quality sausage meat, minced pork or chicken covered in crispy breadcrumbs. I love scotch eggs and miss having them here […]

Half-healthy choc chip cookie and cherry ice lollies (popsicles) recipe! Glutenfree or not…
We all need lots and lots of ice lollies here! Summers seem to be getting hotter even in the UK where I’m on holiday visiting mum. But back in Barcelona there’s an army of delicious homemade ice lollies waiting in the freezer to cool me […]

Anna Olson’s creamy lemon squares in half-healthy lime, yoghurt and skyr ice lollies (popsicles)! :) Glutenfree or not…
The original plan was to simply make Anna Olson’s creamy lemon squares with yummy cream cheese but there were issues with not very defined layers. Ahem. Apparently there’s no such thing as a fail, you just re-name it (which is how an apple pie dropped […]

Healthier Ispahan raspberry, lychee and rose ice lollies recipe!
Ice lollies can help cool your body down quickly and most enjoyably! So why not have some specially delicious ones with that famous trio of flavours invented by Hermé, top French pâtissier? The Ispahan combo of raspberry, lychee and rose is heavenly: fresh, lightly fragrant […]

DoubleTree Hilton (or very similar) perfect chocolate chip cookies recipe! Glutenfree or not… :)
These are amazing! They welcome you with one at DoubleTree Hilton hotels as a marketing strategy. It works. I became a DoubleTree and cookie person dancing round the Girona hotel room munching happily away. These are made from an online recipe passed on by a […]

Zen stone mousse cakes recipe! Blackcurrant-raspberry, matcha and black sesame entremets or verrines, glutenfree or not… :)
These mousse cakes are light and refreshing, deliciously fruity and slightly savoury with the black sesame. And they look like stones, which as a rock climber and nature-lover I totally adore. I discovered the mould on the 3-day pâtisserie course I attended recently (see photos […]

Black sesame, raspberry and matcha layer cake recipe! Glutenfree or not… :)
This ‘wow’ cake is the latest favourite shared with friends and family who thoroughly enjoyed it. Words of praise were bandied about like ‘amazing’, ‘nice’ (a real compliment from someone understated) and ‘outstanding’. If you love interesting East-meets-West flavours, want a glutenfree cake (or not, […]

Raspberry, lychee and rose Ispahan cake recipe! Glutenfree or not… :)
This is one moist, light, fragrant cake! It’s slightly adapted from famous French pâtissier Pierre Hermé’s recipe, combining his signature Ispahan combo of fresh raspberries, rose and lychee with a simple beautifully-textured loaf cake. Mine is made with ground almonds and a glutenfree flour mix but standard […]

Half-healthy raspberry and matcha dacquoise tartlets recipe! Naturally glutenfree!
This is simple pâtisserie at its best. The tartlets have a matcha and ground almond meringue base that’s lightly crisp outside and moist inside as any good dacquoise should be. The super easy topping of skyr mixed with matcha green tea powder and fresh raspberries […]

Operation ruby chocolate fruit and nut Easter eggs and hens!
Easter has come and gone and I’ve only just finished making these chocolate hens and eggs! My timing leaves much to be desired. 😉 No worries, I learnt a lot about chocolate work this time (from my mistakes and all) so wanted to record the […]