It might be too late: apricot season might already be over, but if you can find some late-season beauties then you need to make an apricot bretonne. It’s the ultimate summer apricot tribute: tangy and meltingly soft apricots on top of a buttery shortcake with a delicious dusting of cinnamon sugar. It’s best eaten warm…
Category: dessert
Plum & cinnamon sugar clafoutis
It should be fairly apparent by now that I’m not afraid to mix dessert with breakfast. Some of my all-time favourite desserts make perfectly socially acceptable breakfasts: fruit crumble, rice pudding with (booze-soaked) plump sultanas, and of course, clafoutis. Clafoutis is a custardy pancake batter encasing tart seasonal fruit baked until it is puffed and…
Grilled stonefruit with passionfruit crème fraîche
On a recent holiday to Bali I made it my responsibility to eat as much tropical fruit as I could find and/or work out how to eat. A new discovery for me was selak, a reptilian-skinned fruit which, once peeled, resembles large garlic cloves and is deliciously crunchy and tart. I ate many mangosteen, branches…
Roasted rhubarb & strawberry crème fraîche fool with pistachio florentine crumb
Up until recently I lived in an inner city apartment in Wellington. Minutes from Moore Wilson’s, it actually took longer to make coffee at home than it did to walk to Customs and have infinitely better one made for me. The convenience and thrill of inner city living was shattered by the November earthquake. Our apartment was…
Tangelo, mascarpone & coconut trifle
This trifle was supposed to be a tangelo sponge cake sandwiched with mascarpone cream and tangelo curd, until I had a cake fail. The cake emerged from the oven with a slightly soggy bottom and minimal rise; Mary Berry would not have been impressed. But what the tangelo sponge cake lacked in good looks it made up for in tasting…
Lemon ice cream
This lemon ice cream contains just three ingredients, can be put together in less than five minutes (plus a couple of hours of freezing time), and is incredibly good. Make it. Make it immediately. Lemon ice cream Recipe from Lois Daish cream 1 cup caster sugar 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons zest and juice of a large Meyer…
Gingerbread mascarpone cream layer cake
This cake will quieten even the most rowdy of dinner party tables. It can cause the happiest of married couples to fiercely argue over the leftovers. After eating the last remaining slice of this cake for breakfast, a dear friend messaged me to say: ‘I think I’ll just go back to bed. My day can’t get any better…
Apple, walnut & custard cake
Dan Lepard on cake: “I truly believe that life is improved by cake. Cake soothes and charms all but the stoniest of attitudes, and brings a shine to the eyes of even the grumpiest children. And from the happiest to the saddest of life’s experiences, icing and a soft crumb give us something sweet to…
Lemon & apple pudding cake
This is a pudding pretending to be a cake, which is a very, very good thing indeed. Slices of apple and ground almonds in a softly-set custard flecked with vanilla seeds. A bit like a bread and butter pudding, but lighter and more elegant. Use organic lemons for this as they really do make a difference. This…
Seasonal shortcake
A cake for all seasons. Spring time brings together rhubarb and new season strawberries (pictured), a heavenly perfumed combination of tart and sweet. Summer is yellow-fleshed peaches and blueberries. Autumn is feijoas and apples.Winter pairs the sharpness of tamarillo with the softness of apple. Each seasonal shortcake is delightful in its own way; you’d better try…
Lemon meringue ice cream
Lemon curd, meringues, cream, Greek yoghurt. You actually can’t go wrong with this recipe and it can as easy or complicated as you feel like being. I felt like being complicated, so I made the lemon curd and meringues myself (I drew the line at making own Greek yoghurt, however). I’ll assume that you feel…
Date cake with grilled coconut brown sugar topping
This cake broke my Sunday afternoon baking drought. One autumn Sunday in March after a trip to the fruit and vege markets, I came home and unpacked my market haul, arranged the Omega plums and lemons into my favourite Katherine Smyth bowls, and found myself baking this cake without really planning to. Cakes for no good reason are…
cake for breakfast 