Time for some boozy dessert! Raspberry baba au rhum is not the kind of dessert you have for breakfast or the dessert you give to children but a spongy cake soaked in rum and pastry cream.
Instead of the usual vanilla pastry cream or whipped cream on Baba au rhum I chose to use the raspberry version again, the same that I used for my Millefeuille.
Optional: You can prepare this Baba with no rhum and only syrup so everybody can enjoy it.
If you have enjoyed the raspberry macarons or if you want to try something different, you should try the salted caramel version!
The macaron shells are the same from the raspberry macaron recipe. Just replace the raspberry jam with this salted caramel recipe.
It’s sticky, sweet, and smooth; it’s madness, it’s just so good! Yes, maybe I like caramel a bit too much…
Decided to combine chocolate mousse and a cake to create an orange chocolate mousse cake.
I didn’t want the orange flavor to be too strong so it’s only in the base. The 2 other layers are pure chocolate.
Optional: You can change the recipe to include chocolate in all 3 layers; same with the orange zest, or even add a layer of orange jelly in the middle layer.
Millefeuille is another pastry that you can find in any boulangerie in France. Commonly flavored with vanilla pastry cream, I made this raspberry millefeuille for Valentine’s Day (I know I’m late) with raspberry pastry cream.
I decided to use the raspberry pastry cream to have a refreshing flavor of raspberry to it and to add a romantic vibe.
Traditionally, a millefeuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry, two layers of pastry cream and the top layer is glazed with icing or fondant in alternating white icing and brown stripes then combed.
The French name (Thousand-leaf) of this pastry refers to the large number of layers of puff pastry. With the traditional method of preparing puff pastry, made with six folds of three layers your millefeuilles will have 729 layers we are still far from the thousand.
Have you heard of or tried a caramelised apple cake before? If you haven’t you should!
First off, the middle of the cake consists of nice caramelised apples and then it’s topped off with caramel over it.
Optional: can add raisins, rum or cinnamon.
Cardamom and citrus are always an enjoyable combination with tea. So I combined these 2 flavors into a cardamom infused lemon curd cake.
It comes with a spongy texture along with a creamy one making it a great tasty contrast. The curd recipe is based on the one made for my sweet & sour lemon meringue pie.
Let me know if you know other interesting flavor(s) that could pair nicely with the lemon.
I had the best Fistik Sarma during my recent trip to Turkey. It was soft with a strong green pigmentation and a dominant taste of pistachio.
I wanted to replicate this recipe once I got back home, but was only able to find recipes in Turkish. I had to watch a few videos to get an idea of how to make it.
For a modest variation, you can use a combination of walnuts and almonds for this recipe.
Fistik means “pistachio” in Turkish, but it is also used as a compliment for a pretty girl.
For this week I’m baking raspberry macarons, another classic of French patisserie. It’s one of the most popular desserts among people in France and recently has gained popularity worldwide. If the recipe is followed thoroughly, macarons are not hard to make.
For this recipe the Italian meringue was used because it leaves the macarons with a nice crisp on the top but still soft in the inside.
I’m aware that baking macarons for your first time can be overwhelming, but I assure you that even if they don’t look perfect on the first time, they will on the second try.
As long as the filling doesn’t contain egg yolk, the macarons can be kept refrigerated for a short week.
The ‘Galette des Rois’ is typically a French tradition that celebrates the Epiphany. This celebration derived from the night the three kings (wise men) Gaspard, Balthazar, and Melchior, voyaged to pay their tribute to one of the world’s most famous enfant born on earth, bringing with them gifts.
This tradition has lost much of its religious significance over the years. For many French families, this tradition has become a day where the family gathers and shares a Galette des Rois (a puff pastry pie filled with a smooth mixture of frangipane, a mixture of both almond and pastry cream, and finished by hiding a small charm in the frangipane).
The most important part of this tradition is the ritual that goes along with it. The youngest child of the family must hide underneath the table while an adult cuts the Galette. The hiding child must then call out which slice goes to whom, in order for it to be totally random. Whoever gets the charm in their slice is the King (or Queen) for the day and gets to wear the golden paper crown, that the Galette typically comes with. Also that person has to pick who will be their Queen or King for the day.
Brandy Snaps are a popular dessert in the UK. It doesn’t require a lot of ingredients and it is not very technical but they are so good.
Having fresh ginger instead of powdered ginger makes a big difference.
I would also recommend dark chocolate compare to white chocolate because the snaps are very sweets and a darker chocolate balance well.
Adding brandy in this recipe is not a must. Brandy was supposed to come from branded that mean burned and not from the famous alcohol.