Cuisine: French

Banana Punch Cake
Banana punch cake! Punch because of the Caribbean flavors of rum, vanilla and orange that are incorporated into the banana cake, an American classic. Bananas need to be over ripped; this is when they give their strongest flavors.
Banana bread became popular in the US during the 1930s, in the middle of the Great Depression. People were trying to waste as little as possible and started to make bread using over ripped bananas and baking powder, which was readily available.
A little fun fact but bananas were introduced into the US in the 1870s becoming an instant hit. Even to this day, it is the most consumed fruits in the US! You can only imagine how many of those end up in banana bread recipes!
Best eaten at room temperature and can be kept in cling film up to 3 days in the fridge.
14/03/2019
Paris-Brest
Paris-Brest, is a pastry that comes in a shape of a circle filled with hazelnut cream with toppings. As of today different versions exist with various kind of cream and nuts like pistachios and almonds…
Unfortunately for the many English speakers out there, despite how it’s pronounced the dessert itself has no resemblance to a woman’s bosom. Yes, it’s a common misconception assumed among English speakers in that the origin of the pastry is sexual or that the dessert comes in a particular dome shape.
In fact the origin itself might not be the first thing to come to mind.
The supposed origin is of a newspaper editor wanting bicycle use to become popular in the town of Brest and decides to launch a bicycle race from Paris to Brest. He wanted to promote the race and asked a pastry chef by the name of Louis Durand who eventually created this famous dessert in 1910.
The Paris-brest is shaped like a bicycle wheel to celebrate the cycling race and can be found in nearly every bakery in France; it is one of the classics. Furthermore, it has recently been popping onto numerous menus in the US. It’s one of those desserts that people in the states might not be know much about but only look over other tables and tell the server, “I want that!”
Note: 2 big Paris-Brest were made which serves for 30 people but ingredients can be adjusted based on the number of people.
23/01/2019
Humpy Madeleine
The madeleine, traditionally eaten without any additional flavors, is typically enjoyed with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Easy and quick to make, this childhood favorite is baked into soft shell-shaped cake and can also be made with chocolate chips, chocolate coated, lemon peel, orange or orange blossom!
There are many legends and stories to how madelines have originated. One of the stories around this iconic cake is that it has been created in 1755 in the castle of Commercy. Duke Stanislaus of Poland organised a reception, but his chef and cook had an argument and left Madeleine, a young cook, alone in the kitchen. She used her grandmother’s recipe and made shell-shaped cakes with it. It was such a success that the duke named the cakes after her and Commercy became the world capital of the Madeleine.
27/10/2018
Vanilla Chocolate Flan Patissier
Couldn’t decide if I wanted a flan patissier with vanilla or chocolate. So I made both in one, creating this nice two-layered vanilla chocolate flan patissier.
Flan has so many different variations with each country having its own flan, egg tart, pasteis de nata and so on… It initially is based on British custard cake than have spread across Europe first and then the world throughout the time of colonisation.
25/09/2018
Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart
The salted caramel chocolate tart in my opinion is one of the best desserts I can eat. The chocolate ganache and the salted caramel go perfectly together and it is so easy and quick to make.
This cake is literally the bomb… a calorie bomb but it’s totally worth it. It melts in your mouth and you only crave it even more!
The ingredients for the caramel are listed on here but the recipe for it can be found on here.
06/09/2018
Vanilla Chocolate Marble Cake
A vanilla chocolate marble cake is a cake with layers of different colours a bit like the crystalline rock of the same name.
The different coloured layers are obtained by mixing different dark and light batters. These batters can contain different ingredients such as vanilla, chocolate, coffee, fruit or spices so you are not limited to just 2 colours.
This cake is quite popular in France as an after school snack; children will have a slice … or two when walking on their way home.
30/08/2018
Cherry Pistachio Tart
The cherry pistachio tart recipe came into my mind when I was reminiscing about what I ate every summer holiday in the south of France at La Salvetat from pastry chef Flipo.
The nutty pistachio taste goes very well with the tartness and sweetness of the cherries
The types of cherries usually used are morello cherries, which are slightly more sour and aren’t as sweet. But I had to use the more traditional cherries because it was easier to find in London and I discovered that it does not impact the taste too much. In fact my colleagues absolutely loved it!
22/08/2018
Raspberry Baba au Rhum
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.
22/05/2018
Salted Caramel
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…
17/04/2018
Raspberry Millefeuille
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.

22/03/2018