French Pastries are always a big hit at my home. Éclairs are traditionally filled in with crème pâtissière, although for this recipe I’ve chosen to use vanilla whipped cream. Choux Pastry 150 ml water 150 ml semi-skimmed milk 120 g unsalted butter 150 g all-purpose flour, sifted 2 free range eggs 1/2 tsp vanilla paste 1/2 tsp salt Chocolate Ganache 200 g dark chocolate 70% cocoa 200 ml double cream Filling and decoration 200 ml whipping cream 4 tablespoons of caster sugar 50 g roasted and chopped hazelnuts Preparation Preheat oven to 200 °C. For the choux pastry, in a medium saucepan put the water to the boil, milk and…
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Pavlova
Whipped cream and lemon curd Pavlova served with Summer berries. This worthwhile beauty with its marshmallowy texture is just delicious. “You can’t be a proper food blogger if you can’t master the technique of pavlova making.” This was my initial thought as I was having issues with the whole process and seriously I should have done about three pavlovas to get it right eventually. And it was worth the effort! Below you’ll find the recipe and some tips to bear in mind if you’d like to try it out. Preparation Tips Pavlova needs to be cooked at low temperature; You need to use fine caster sugar, it is easier dissolved…
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Pastéis de Nata
Typical Portuguese pastries known as “Pastéis de Nata” were created in Lisbon in 1837. The ancient recipe was originally developed at the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, where monks developed this delight in the solitude of the monastery grounds. I must confess that it is quite complicated to bake a batch as good as the ones you eat at your local bakery, since the baking temperature of a domestic oven is lower than the temperature of a professional bakery. Nonetheless, I decided to have a go. Flavour-wise these turned out pretty good. The recipe is down the bottom, in English and Portuguese. Custard 1 litre whole milk lemon zest 1 cinnamon stick…
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Fruit Tart with Crème Pâtissière
This tart is great for a dinner party in Summer and I’m sure everyone will enjoy it. Pastry 190 g all-purpose flour 130 g unsalted butter, cold 90 g icing sugar 20 g cornstarch 30 g ground almonds 1 free range egg 1 tsp vanilla paste Crème Pâtissière 3 free range egg yolks 60 g caster sugar 20 g all-purpose flour 250 ml whole milk 1 vanilla pod 200 ml whipping cream 25 g icing sugar Fresh figs, strawberries and blueberries. Preparation For the pastry: In a bowl combine the flour, icing sugar and the diced cold butter and crumble between your fingers until you get a mixture similar to…
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Pumpkin cake and caramel buttercream frosting
Look at this gooey caramel sitting on top of this incredibly moist pumpkin cake. Who says pumpkin is boring and non-appealing? The recipe in English and Portuguese is down the bottom of this page. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we’ve had! It’s a super moist cake, and actually it blown me away when I baked it. Caramel, pecan nuts, cream cheese buttercream gathered together to pull out this incredible moist cake, which is now one of my favourites. You need this in your life. For the Cake 285 g all-purpose flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 2 1/2 tsp allspice powder 3/4 tsp salt 170 ml vegetable…
