Pecan tart

This tart is a cross between a classic American pecan pie and an English treacle tart. With the dash of Maple syrup you even get a hint of Canada. Now that is what I call multiculturalism in a dish!

PECAN TART

sweet pastry base
50g butter
250g golden syrup
100ml maple syrup
150g breadcrumbs
1 orange (zest and juice)
2 apples
fresh ginger
handful of pecans

Preheat your oven to 180°C. Roll out the chilled sweet pastry and line a tart shell. Freeze for 10 minutes. Blind bake for about 7-10 minutes. Leave too cool. In the meantime melt the butter and the syrup in a pan, add the breadcrumbs, finely chopped apple, ginger and pecans. Leave some pecans for decoration later. Add the grated orange zest and juice. Spoon into the pastry case and add the pecans on top. Bake for another 20 minutes until golden. Great served warm with a dollop of sour cream or vanilla ice cream.

Mini cupcakes

Today is Fabian's birthday and I made a selection of mini cupcakes: matcha-pistachio, orange blossom, coffee-chocolate and a lemon and poppy seed version. All use the same base dough that I just divided up into 4 and then added my different flavours. For the icing I made white chocolate buttercream. Yum!

The recipe makes about 40-50 mini cupcakes.

MINI CUPCAKES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

125g unsalted butter
150g sugar
2 eggs
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk

for the buttercream
100g white chocolate
140g unsalted butter
140g icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 150°C. Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and mix well. Now add the flour and the milk. Divide and add your different flavours and about 4 tbsp more liquid (again dived up by how many flavours): lemon juice to go with lemon zest and poppy seeds, orange blossom essence and some orange juice to go with orange zest, coffee to go with cocoa powder and chocolate chips, matcha powder and chopped pistachios. You may need to add 1-2 tbsp more liquid if you add powders like cocoa as they will change the consistency on the thicker side.
Fill into petit four cake cases and bake for 12-15 minutes. Leave to cool. For the buttercream melt the chocolate over a bain marie. Leave to cool for a bit. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Mix in the chocolate. Put in a piping bag and pipe on the mini cupcakes. Sprinkle with decoration according to taste.

Colour lovers: emerald

Emerald is a light and bright shade of green with a faint bluish cast. Green is not a primary colour but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan. The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, "to grow". It reminds us of plants or the ocean and because of that association the colour has a calming effect. It's commonly used on environmentally–friendly products for the same reason. In combination with blue the calming can even be enhanced and it's a harmonious palette. Check out the palette at colourlovers

Marble cake

This is one of my grandmother's recipes and because of that it's special to me. She is the one who taught me most of my baking (and some cooking) skills and her passion for cakes is infectious. Even at the proud age of 80 she still bakes tarts and cakes and the odd layered one with freshly whipped cream or butter cream for special occasions. Can't take that away from her!
I am not sure how it started, whether it was my grandfathers love for cake or her passion for baking first (classic chicken/egg situation) but either way they complemented each other. He liked his slice of cake and a hot cup of coffee in the morning for breakfast. Not a slice of bread or toast: CAKE. It gave my grandmother a reason to bake cake at least once a week.

MARBLE CAKE

200g butter
250g sugar
1 Tsp vanilla sugar
pinch of salt
4 eggs
500g self-raising flour
1 Tsp baking powder
1/8 l milk
100g sliced almonds
3-4 Tbsp cocoa powder
2-3 Tbsp rum or amaretto
100g dark chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C. Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and salt. Add the eggs one at a time. Sift the flower and baking powder. Add to the mixture, adding the milk when it becomes too thick. Separate in two lots: add the sliced almonds to the first and the cocoa and rum/amaretto to the other and mix well. Now butter your baking tin and fill with the vanilla layer, followed by the chocolate layer. To create the marble effect use the handle of a spoon, chop stick or a bamboo skewer and swirl it around in the mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Leave to cool. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie and glaze the cake.

Peanut caramel macarons

This is my third attempt at the classic French macaron. Notoriously difficult and I have again learnt some valuable lessons: aging your egg whites (haven't done this but will do it from now on, for at least 24 hours, so just separate your eggs the night before you bake); not too build up the macaronage too much by folding in even more air as you will end up with air bubbles and an uneven shell. I baked at a lower temperature this time but slightly longer and I had let them rest to dry out for longer (for an hour).

PEANUT MACARONS WITH SALTED CARAMEL

3 egg whites
50g light brown sugar
60g ground almonds
50g ground peanuts
200g icing sugar

for the caramel
125 brown sugar
1 vanilla pod
60g salted butter
50ml double cream

Blend the ground almonds, ground peanuts and the icing sugar and sift in a bowl . In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they start to stiffen and slowly add the sugar. Mix some more until stiff and shiny. With a spatula fold under the nut and sugar mix but don't overwork the mixture. Place into a piping bag and pipe 3cm circles onto a baking tray lined with grease proof paper. Let rest for one hour. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 min, depending on size. Leave to cool.
To make the caramel dissolve the sugar and 3 tbsp water in a pan. Slit open the vanilla pod open lengthways and scrape out the seeds and add. Stir in the butter and raise the temperature until it bubbles and caramel turns toffee colour. Take off the heat and gently stir in the cream. Let cool before applying it on the macaron halves and sandwich together.

March

The days are getting longer now and grey will slowly but steady be replaced by colour.

Pizza Bianco

I am currently obsessed with MasterChef Australia. I have just recently discovered the show online and it's great. Season 2 is now almost a year old and I can't wait for season 3 to start. In one of the challenges they had to make a pizza and they later had a master class as well about it where they showed a Pizza Bianco, what literally means white so there is no tomato sauce. When we made pizzas recently I thought I had to give it a go and it's delicious!

So I infused some good olive oil with rosemary and chopped garlic and you lightly brush it on the rolled out pizza dough. Put some grated cheese on it, any cheese you like really. We had a mix of smoked cheddar, gruyere and some parmesan. Very thinly slice your potatoes (I used red ones but more for the optic) and layer on top. Brush the slices with some more of the garlic and rosemary oil and bake in the oven at very high temperature.

Salted caramel peanut and chocolate tart

This recipe makes about 6-8 small pastries.

SALTED CARAMEL PEANUT & CHOCOLATE TART

200g flour
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
100g butter
2 egg yolks

for the peanut caramel
125 brown sugar
60g salted butter
50ml double cream
handful of salted and roasted peanuts

for the chocolate ganache
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
1 tbsp butter

To make the pastry mix flour, sugar and cocoa. Add small cubes of cold butter and mix to the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the yolks and work into a dough. Wrap and chill in the fridge for about 30min. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Then roll out the pastry and line small tart tins and prick the base with a fork. Put in the freezer for about 5-10 min. Now blind bake for 15-25 min until baked. Leave to cool on a rack.
To make the caramel dissolve the sugar and 3 tbsp water in a pan. Stir in the butter and the peanuts and raise the temperature until it bubbles and caramel turns toffee colour. Take off the heat and gently stir in the cream. Spoon the caramel in the pastry cases and let cool. To make the ganache heat the cream in a saucepan until it starts to boil. Take off the heat and pour in a bowl over the broken up chocolate. Add the butter and whisk all together. Now spoon over the caramel to form the chocolate layer of the tart and let cool.

Colour lovers: aqua & red

The combination of these bright colours make a bold statement. It's the contrast of hot and cold: warm shades of red and cold shades of blue. The effect is slightly softened by the fact that both shades are going towards yellow. To avoid making it too overwhelming only use small quantities of red and aqua and toning down the shades in brightness to pastels or mix with white, grey or sparkling silver. The colour combination is reminiscent of a nautical themed colour palette and will remind us of summer and the beach. Check out the palette at colourlovers

Oscar night

Tonight is Oscar night at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. If you are a film buff like me this is a good reason to get your popcorn out and review the films of the last year. To spice it up a bit you could try my popcorn recipe with hot chili. For the recipe click here

Lemon poppy seed pancakes

Pancake day is coming up soon! This is one of the dishes that I would not make according to a recipe but from experience. The batter has to have the right consistency: not thin like a crepe and not too thick as they will become too dense and you want them nice and fluffy.
The base is one egg and 4-5 tablespoons of yogurt that I whisk up. Add some sugar for sweetness. Then sift in self raising flour and a small amount of baking powder. Now add some milk if the batter is too dense or some more flour if too thin. As there's not much fruit available at this time of the year I use the juice and zest of one lemon and 1-2 Tbsp poppy seeds to flavour the pancakes. Shallow fry in a on both sides in a little bit of butter and serve hot it with maple syrup and crème fraiche.

Dorset apple cake

This recipe is my version of a Dorset apple cake. Great classic that I gave an update and made it slightly healthier with wholemeal flour.

DORSET APPLE CAKE

200g wholemeal self raising flour
50g plain white flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g brown sugar
pinch of salt
100g butter
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1 lemon (juice and zest)
2 medium eggs
5-6 tbsp milk
2 apples
almond flakes

Preheat the oven to 170°C and grease a 20cm baking tin. Sift the flour, spices and baking powder in a bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and rub in to form breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, salt, lemon juice and zest. Beat the eggs with the milk and add to the mixture. Peel the apples and cut into small pieces. Add as well. Spoon into the tin and sprinkle with almond flakes. Bake for 35-45 min.