Beach cakes are such happy creations, fun and easier than you’d think using your favourite sponge cake and frosting. Cream cheese frosting works perfectly and there’s a recipe for this and the decor below. Though considering the decorations involve digestive biscuits (aka Graham crackers), blue […]
All posts tagged: A week of cakes
Weeks 46 and 47 of cakes and healthier mini Swedish princess cakes recipe
The mini princesses will appear later. First a quick roundup of cakes made in the last two weeks. The char siu bao (steamed barbecue pork buns) were amazing. You could make them for Chinese New Year! 🙂 Other possible fillings for them are boeuf bourgignon […]
Weeks 44 and 45 of cake, healthy stuff and meat! And what’s up with xylitol?!
The new year ushered in a healthier period and a savoury Chinese treat. There were a multitude of buckwheat and nut superfood biscuits (cookies) for me and mum to nibble on between all the naughty Christmas edibles still hanging around. The biscuits were surprisingly tasty […]
Week 42 of cakes – a comedy of errors at the Cordon Bleu, the final vote and Xmas recipes
Learning from my baking mishaps during the last week of the Cordon Bleu pâtisserie course, we’ll be looking at what not to do with a croquembouche but first can you spot what’s wrong with my Triomphe de noix? The walnut caramel mousse cake hiccup If […]
Week 41 of cakes with some savoury petits fours – at the Cordon Bleu Paris
Yes, we had a savoury break and discovered the wonder of inverted puff pastry. You make it by hanging it out of the window upside-down. Sorry, I meant by having the butter on the outside of the dough instead of inside as in classic puff […]
Week (31) of cakes, icing and climbing! And another festival!!!
It’s nice to make little treats but as a master pâtissier recently said it’s easier to create a strong visual impact with BIG cakes so it’s good to bake those too. Another thing I discovered was the huge difference icing can make to appearance and […]
Week (28) of cakes and the Gràcia festival winners
Yet another week of cakes and stuff. Well not exactly cakes but tarts, chocolates and a superfood bread! Yes, variety is the spice of life. I had fun experimenting with the healthier blueberry and pine nut tart making a low-gluten buttery pastry for it and […]
Week (27) of cakes and more Gràcia festival wonders …
Last week there were some lovely new experiments and discoveries. Lots of jumping up and down in excitement around the kitchen and ‘yum’ sounds. Starting with healthy, yes healthy chocolate-covered salted date caramels. It’s hard for people to believe they’re not decadent! So I added […]
Week (24) of cakes and some pâtisserie reality shows!
This last week various treats have emerged from my kitchen for scoffing: peach ice-cream, berry jelly and oat crumble dessert cups, an orange and rum fruitcake-cake anglais, which I’m taking climbing with me this weekend, and some not-quite-as healthy but heavenly la Fondante mini genoise […]
Week (23) of cakes and celebration! And could you be a food historian?
This last week has seen some cakes and desserts on the crest of a creative heatwave with flavours from around the world. The Black sesame and yuzu ice-cream petits fours were a lovely sugar-free fusion dessert where exotic ingredients met healthy spelt digestive biscuits aka […]
Week (22) of cakes and some pâtisserie ‘secrets’!?
Pâtisserie secrets? There’s no such thing is there? Hmm, we’ll discuss that later. Meanwhile, much of last week was dedicated to perfecting little cherry and almond soufflés made with cornflour and involving dairy-free almond milk or sugar-free xylitol versions. Gruelling work… hee hee… but totally […]
Week (20) of making cakes! And a Monday cake song! :)
It’s been a week of making fast and fairly easy treats! Baking and eating multiple Basil and nutmeg cheese soufflés was no problem at all. All in the name of research, also carried out on macaron ice-cream sandwiches: Salted caramel ice-cream or Lemon sorbet and […]
Week (18) of cakes, jam and the three-great-cookbooks discovery!
This last week witnessed my epic battle with a Swedish Princess cake, totally worthwhile for a little trip to cake heaven floating on soft spongy creamy layers with homemade jam and marzipan. The recipe will be with you shortly but you can already find my […]
Week (11) of cakes and the foodstagram diet!
Last week promised healthy goodness and a happy chocolate buzz with the appearance of easy no-bake heavenly cocoa bites and slices!!! And there was a healthy tart with some rather adventurous flavours: Chinese 5 spices and tamarind Apple tarte tatin with maple syrup caramel! Would […]
Week (3) of cakes! Eating then photo-collaging the evidence
Another hard week of making and eating cakes! This week there were some healthy and ‘almost-healthy’ cakes, as I’m now calling them. Hey, reduced portions of butter, eggs, flour and dairy products can be good for you! Three words: ‘small slices’ and ‘willpower’ – of […]
