Swiss Buttercream Icing

I use this buttercream recipe for all my cakes. I love the light texture, rich flavour and the lack of grittiness that comes with buttercreams using icing sugar. Because it has such a high fat content you should use oil based colours or candy colours so the colour will blend in easier. You can also flavour it with any kind of flavouring like grand marnier or bailey's or add melted chocolate.Here's the recipe:

454g sugar

225g egg whites

550g butter - unsalted

1 Tbsp vanilla

Put the egg whites and sugar in a Kitchen Aid bowl and put the bowl over boiling water.

Stir with a whisk while bringing the mixture to 60C or until the mixture loses its grittiness, the sugar has dissolved and it is hot to the touch.

Take off heat and using the

whip attachment whip until cool - approximately 5-7 minutes.

Nice and thick and fluffy!

Gradually add the butter

and then vanilla.

Tadaaa! A beautiful buttercream that looks like thick whipped cream, tastes great and is easy to use!!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie dough truffles.....

Honestly, these are really, really good and you can immerse them completely and make truffles but I didn't have the patience. I needed to eat them right away!! Try these and they will put you in a happy place!!

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup Greek yogurt (plain, thick yogurt)
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, or couverture, melted for dipping

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about three minutes in the machine. Beat in yogurt along with the vanilla extract and stir to combine.

Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add all at once to the butter and sugar mixture and stir until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.

Scoop large spoonfuls or ice cream scoops onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place in the freezer overnight or until frozen, at least three hours.

Melt chocolate. If there are any left to dip ;-) remove balls from the freezer and dip. Return to the lined cookie sheet and return to the freezer to harden. Serve cold from the freezer.

Aunt Annabel's Recipes

I've started another blog to document my Aunt's recipes and trace some family history. Check out http://auntannabelsrecipes.blogspot.com/

ABC's of Bread

I'm one of those people who make New Year's resolutions without fail. Some resolutions survive the year and others don't (but we won't talk about those!!) This year one of my resolutions is to bake more bread at home. I do a lot of baking and supervise a lot of baking at my job as a pastry chef instructor but my family misses out on a lot of these efforts. I also want to increase my knowledge and skill in bread baking as well. So here is my first effort - starting with A for Anadama bread.

There are many stories on how this bread got its name, one being that Anna left her husband for another man and left nothing at home but cornmeal, flour and molasses. The unfortunate husband put it all together, added some yeast all the while yelling "Anna, damn'er!" and this bread was created. I'm not sure about the accuracy of that story, but it sounds funny enough to keep repeating!

Here's an adaption of Mr. Reinhart's recipe. Thanks to my wonderful husband for the beautiful picture!!

Anadama Bread (adapted from Bread Baker's Apprentice - Peter Reinhart)

Soak for 24 hours:

1 cup cornmeal in 1 cup room temperature water

4 1/2 cups Bread flour

2 tsp instant yeast or 3 tsp active dry yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

1 1/2 tsp salt

6 Tbsp molasses

2 Tbsp butter (unsalted)

After your cornmeal has soaked for 24 hours add 2 cups of flour, instant yeast and lukewarm water to form a sponge. Stir together well, cover and let sit at room temperature until bubbles begin to form - about one hour. Stir in the rest of the flour, molasses, salt and butter. If using a Kitchen Aid mixer, use the dough hook and mix on low speed for about 6 - 8 minutes, until dough is smooth and cleans the side of the bowl. Stop mixing, remove dough hook and spray with oil. Cover and let double in size. Divide dough in two and shape into loaves. Place in parchment lined loaf pans and let rise until the dough reaches the top of the pan. Bake at 350F for 20 - 30 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on cooling racks.

Holiday Wishes to All of my Friends!!

Wishing all the best holiday wishes to my friends around the world.

I hope you enjoy the simple blessings of food, family and friends.

Susan

One bread dough - three ways

One of the drawbacks of baking can be spending many hours in the kitchen and not have much to show for it, especially when baking bread by hand.

In my Intro to baking classes I have 3 hours where I have to demo the recipe then allow the students to create and bake the recipes. I use the following recipe to show my students that in less than three hours they can create a variety of items with one recipe. With this recipe I can make one loaf of white bread, a dozen cinnamon buns and a flat of foccacia. Try it and let me know what you think!!

White Bread – Three ways
Oven @ 350F

Sponge
6 ¾ tsp active dry yeast
3 cups warm water
4 1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour

Dough
4 ½ Tbsp sugar
4 ½ Tbsp shortening or vegetable oil, at room temperature
3 to 4 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp salt

Sponge (use paddle attachment): In the mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve. Add the flour and mix at first speed until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size (30 – 45 minutes).

Dough: Stir down the sponge with one or two rotations then add the rest of the ingredients (use only 3 cups of flour to start). **Switch to the dough hook.** Be careful to use LOW speed so the flour doesn’t get tossed out of the bowl. If the dough is too soft or sticky, add flour ¼ cup at a time. Run the mixer at 1st speed until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl – approximately 8 to 10 minutes. Turn off machine and remove dough from the hook. Transfer dough to a clean and oiled bowl, cover and allow to rise until doubled in volume. Once the dough has doubled, punch down the dough and divide into thirds.

You can make 1 loaf of white bread, 12 cinnamon rolls, and foccacia.

Cinnamon rolls
Roll out the dough into a rectangle. Brush the dough with melted butter. Sprinkle generously with brown sugar and cinnamon. (you can add chopped up apples or dried fruit at this stage) Roll the dough up towards you and then slice into equal pieces. Place cut side down in a greased baking pan and brush with melted butter. Allow to rise for about 30 minutes and then bake.

Focaccia
To 1 cup of olive oil add a combination of your favourite herbs: garlic, basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley. Roll the dough into a rectangle and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Generously brush the olive oil mixture onto the dough. Allow the dough to rise. Just before you put the dough in the oven “dimple” the dough using your fingertips.

Brothers and Battenberg cake

My brother, Andrew, just finished a quick visit to us on the East coast. As always, even though we don't see each other everyday and we haven't lived in the same city for over 20 years, we quickly reverted to the big bro', lil' sis roles. Good natured teasing combined with a Mom cooked meal made it seem like we were kids again. I made him his favourite blueberry pie to show him how much I appreciated his visit and he gave me hugs like he never did when we were younger.

I reminded him of the Bakewell tarts we used to fight over as children and he reminded me how his favourite treat from the British relatives was Battenberg cake from M&S - a pink and yellow cake wrapped in marzipan. It was always a bit too sweet for me but I came across this recipe in Nick Malgieri's book "A Baker's Tour". He uses cocoa to make the contrasting checkers chocolate and vanilla while others use just food colouring for pink and yellow squares. I didn't make my own marzipan but used store bought to make the production quicker. Either way it is still delicious!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 Tbsp Dutch process cocoa

3 Tbsp milk

Marzipan

1 cup seedless raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two loaf pans and line with parchment.

Cream butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium speed. Add eggs one at a time and then scrape down the bowl and mix another minute until well combined. Sift flour and baking powder together and then add it to the butter mixture in 3 batches. Beat at low speed for 2 minutes until well combined.

Pour half the batter into one of the prepared pans. Combine the cocoa and milk into a paste and then add to the remaining batter. Mix well and then pour this chocolate batter into the second prepared pan. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Once the cakes have cooled trim the sides and level the top of the cake to make a 9 x 5 x 2 1/2 inch slab. Cut the cake lengthwise down the middle to make two "bars". Repeat with the other cake.

Warm the raspberry jam. (Assembly on a piece of parchment paper makes this less messy). Brush the glaze on the side of a vanilla cake bar and press it to a chocolate cake bar. Paint the top of the vanilla cake with glaze and place a chocolate cake bar on top. Paint the side of the chocolate bar and the top of the bottom bar (confused yet?) and place the vanilla cake. You should have two layers of alternating coloured/checkerboard cake.

Roll out the marzipan so that it will fit around and the length of your cake. A little bit of cornstarch will make it less sticky. Brush the cake with glaze, place it on the marzipan and then wrap the marzipan around the cake. Trim the ends of the cake flat. Enjoy with tea and big brothers!

What to do with all those berries!!!

Living in my little corner of the world I am lucky to be able to enjoy the berries of summer growing right in my own backyard - well, down the street and around the corner - but local none the less!

I always get a bit over excited when I see the new season of berries arriving in the grocery store or at the little huts along the road. I come home with enough berries to feed an army but only a family of four capable of eating them. What to do with all the berries? I freeze a lot of them to enjoy in the winter in muffins and cakes. I also make jam if I have the time but I really try to use them up when they are fresh and full of sunshine.

This recipe is from delicious magazine - a magazine from Australia that I found in my local bookstore in Nova Scotia (how's that for a global reach!). I used raspberries and blueberries for the tart that is not too sweet and highlights the flavour of the berries extremely well. This is a must try recipe!!

Makes 6

Ingredients
80g walnuts, toasted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 loosely packed cup (80g) brown sugar

12 sheets frozen filo pastry, thawed
100g unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (280g) thick Greek-style yoghurt
1 cup (240g) sour cream
raspberries or blueberries

Icing sugar, to dust
Honey, to drizzle

Method
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease or spray six 4 inch tart pans.
Pulse nuts, spices and brown sugar in a food processor to finely chop.
Lay 1 filo sheet on the bench (keep the remaining filo covered with a damp tea towel as you work). Brush with a little butter and sprinkle with 2 tsp nut mixture. Lay another filo sheet on top, repeat with butter and nut mixture. Fold in half to form a 24cm square, trimming edges if needed. Brush top with butter. Push pastry into a tart pan, then fold edges, crimping and folding to form a 1.5cm-wide rim. Brush with more butter, then cover with a damp tea towel while you repeat with remaining filo, butter and nuts to make 6 tarts. Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until crisp and golden. Cool in pans.

Turn out tart cases and place on plates. Combine yoghurt and cream, then spoon into the tarts. Top with berries, dust with icing sugar, drizzle with honey and serve.

Egg and dairy free chocolate cake

I was invited to a barbecue this weekend and offered to bring the dessert. I normally would make a butter cake or some sort of cookie that would go over well with everyone. Then I remembered that one young boy at this particular party was allergic to eggs and I felt that it wouldn't be fair to him to bring a dessert that he couldn't eat. I didn't want him to miss out so I did some research and found an egg and dairy free chocolate cake.

I was curious to try the recipe because I had read how a lot of egg free cakes turn out like bricks because of the lack of leavening that that the eggs provide. However, this particular recipe uses baking soda and vinegar and anyone who has ever made a volcano for science class knows how much gas is produced when the two meet!! The original recipe calls for the addition of cold water but I substituted chocolate soy milk to boost the chocolatey flavour.

The results were terrific. People who didn't know it was egg free couldn't guess what they were missing. The cake is dense and very moist. One person thought it tasted like a chocolate Timbit (like a small donut for anyone not familiar with timbits). As for the boy with the egg allergy? Turns out he doesn't like chocolate so the cake was left for everyone else to eat - which was probably a good thing because there wasn't a crumb left by the end of the evening!!


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate soy milk, cold

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan or a tube pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Mix well with a fork, then stir in oil, vinegar, and vanilla extract. When dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened, pour in cold soy milk and stir until batter is smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

A trip to the East Coast of Canada - Blueberry Grunt

Nova Scotia is home to one of the largest commercial crop of wild blueberries in the world. Lucky for me I live not too far away from there so I have the luxury of having local, wild blueberries year round. During blueberry season I always buy 5 lb boxes of blueberries and freeze them so I can have my favourite fruit year round.

Blueberry grunt is a traditional recipe found in many Nova Scotia cookbooks. In other parts of the world it would be called a cobbler or fruit dumplings but here it's call grunt - possibly because of the satisfying noise that escapes the eater as they enjoy the first mouthful! Here's a common recipe that will satisfy the sweet tooth and perhaps encourage you to visit our fair province to enjoy this down home treat in person!!

6 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp each finely grated lemon zest and lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cold unsalted butter
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). In a large saucepan, combine blueberries, 3/4 cup sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, nutmeg and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 min. Place in an 8 cup baking dish. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, remaining 1 tbsp sugar and salt. Cut in cold butter until mixture resembles coarse oatmeal. Stir in just enough milk, about 1 cup (250 mL), to make a soft dough.

Divide dough into 8 equal portions and place them, evenly spaced, on blueberry mixture. Bake until biscuits are firm and no longer doughy and blueberries have thickened slightly, 20 to 25 min.

To serve, place a biscuit in each serving dish. Spoon blueberries on top, and top with a scoop of ice cream.

I won!! I won!!

I'm so excited! I just found out I won a scholarship from the Culinary Trust. I'm off to New York City for a week to study at the Institute for Culinary Education's Centre for Advanced Pastry Studies!! Any tips on where to stay and what to do would be appreciated!!

Spring Rhubarb

One of the first things I did when I moved in to my new house was plant rhubarb. Every house I have ever lived in had rhubarb growing in the backyard. I don't know if it's a Canadian thing but rhubarb is always a sign to me that spring is here and summer is on its way. The first harvest of delicate ruby stalks immediately end up in a pie or cake that is devoured by the day's end. Here's a recipe I used today to make a delicious coffee cake that stays moist for days (if it lasts that long!).

Rhubarb coffee cake

160g butter

350g brown sugar

2 eggs

500g / 1 pound rhubarb, sliced into 2cm pieces

finely grated rind of 1 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300g flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

250ml or 1 cup sour cream

brown sugar and cinnamon for top

Preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. Stir vanilla then the sifted flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Gently fold in sour cream. Pour half the batter into a greased and lined 9 or 10 inch round cake tin and then top with rhubarb and orange rind. Cover with remaining batter. Sprinkle mixed brown sugar and cinnamon over the top. Bake for 40 minutes until cake is puffy and golden. Let cool 15 minutes before unmolding. Enjoy!!

Memories of childhood visitors

When I was a young girl my favourite sweet treats always came from the U.K. Growing up in Canada with relatives in England, my brothers and sister and I would always be an enthusiastic welcoming committee (on our best behaviour, naturally) when our relatives from abroad would arrive because we knew that tucked in the suitcase would be something sweet for us. We could count on a large Cadbury's milk chocolate bar for each of us, perhaps some Dolly Mixture candies or Toybox cookies but I would always cross my fingers and hope that a box of bakewell tarts would appear.

I loved the look of the pristine white icing on the individual tarts topped with a bright red cherry. There was never enough cherry filling for my liking but the delicate flavour of sweet almonds always won me over and left me wanting more. When the Marks & Spencer stores opened in Canada when I was a teenager I thought I was in heaven when I saw shelves stacked with the same bakewell tarts I loved as a child.

I just rediscovered my love for these tarts after a fellow Foodbuzzer reminded me how popular they are in England. They are easy to make and delicious to eat: a sweet dough crust, seedless raspberry or cherry jam and frangiapane cream as a topping. Here's my recipe:

Sweet dough

400g Flour
200g Sugar
200g Butter

2 eggs
4g Baking powder

Mix dry ingredients together. Crumble butter until small. Add eggs and knead until it comes together well. Wrap and chill. Roll out thinly and line a tart tin with a removable bottom. Spoon in some seedless raspberry or cherry jam and spread out along the bottom.

Frangiapane (almond) cream

125g butter
125g sugar

2 eggs
125g almond powder (ground almonds)
25g flour
10ml rum
10ml vanilla

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, rum, vanilla and almonds. Pipe into tart shell and smooth. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until the frangiapane puffs up and is golden. Remove from oven and cool completely before removing from tart shell. Drizzle with some flat icing (confectioners sugar and water) and top with berries.

Enjoy with some friends and a good cup of tea!

The Lunchbox Project

Check out my new blogger friend's site The Lunchbox Project. Lisa is a talented graphic designer and chose my lemon dessert to draw. I think she did a wonderful job. Thanks Lisa!!

Apple crumble cheesecake

When I make the desserts for this blog I start out with a single idea and then I expand, take away and add until I finish with a dessert to be proud of. Some days ideas come easy, other days not so much.

This dessert started with a quick spice cake I made for an after school snack for my children and their friends. The pastry chef in me thought that the cake needed something more so this is where the dessert began to take shape.

I did something similar to this at the restaurant but I refined it a bit to make it easier to do at home. I love layering desserts because I love the clean look and the visual interest the layers provide so I used the spice cake as a base for one of my favourites- cheesecake! I'm not a big fan of cheesecakes with crumb bases because I always find they are too tough or too soggy but the spice cake is a good substitute. (Remind me to tell you the story of the time I mistakenly used breadcrumbs instead of graham crumbs for my cheesecake base!)

The cheesecake is actually a vanilla custard with cream cheese added and set with gelatin. I then sautéed some granny smith apples in butter and brown sugar and added a dash of brandy for flavour. I topped it all off with some homemade oatmeal crumble. I used apples because that is what I had on hand but I think when blueberries are available I would use those. Come to think of it, any fruit would go well with this - cherries, strawberries, peaches or plums. I love that this dessert looks very elegant but it has a down home flavour that makes it very comforting.

I layered these using 3 inch tubes but it will turn out if you do it in a springform pan as well. If you try this recipe let me know how it turns out for you - send me a picture!

Ginger spice cake

113g butter, melted

98g brown sugar

149g corn syrup

149g molasses

7g fresh ginger, finely minced or substitute dried ginger

1.5g cinnamon

generous pinch of nutmeg

4.5g baking soda

195ml milk

85g eggs

227g AP flour

Combine melted butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and molasses. Stir in eggs and fresh ginger. Sift cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and flour together. Alternate adding flour and milk to sugar mixture. Mix gently until combined. Pour into greased and floured cake pan and bake at 350F until the cake is springy when pressed - about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out and cooling completely on rack.

Cheesecake cream

½ cup white sugar

3 ½ Tbsp cornstarch

8 large egg yolks

2 cups milk

zest of one lemon, finely grated

½ vanilla bean

2 sheets gelatin – softened in cold water (or 6 g powdered gelating)

12 oz cream cheese, room temperature

¼ tsp vanilla

Combine sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks. Simmer lemon, vanilla and milk and then add to the egg mixture. Return it all to the pot and boil to thicken. Add softened gelatin and then mix in cream cheese and vanilla. Strain and cool.

Apple compote

Peel and slice apples. Heat some butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a pan and bring to a bubble. Add apples and cook until softened. Add brandy to taste. Let cool.

Crisp topping

1 ¼ cup AP flour

½ cup white sugar

¼ tsp salt

¾ tsp cinnamon

½ cup melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

Crumble all ingredients together. Sprinkle on prepared pan and bake at 350F until golden.

Final Assembly:

Cut out circles of ginger cake, place in steel round mold. Layer with cream cheese mixture, apples and top with crumble. Chill well before serving.

Sweet treats from the grocery store

I love going to the grocery store just to look around. I'm always hoping I'll find something new or interesting that I can incorporate into my baking. In Halifax we have a store called Pete's Frootique and he always has great fruits and vegetables from all around the world.

I was there the other day and was happy to see a great selection of blood oranges. I grabbed a few and was eager to get home to try them in a dessert. I love the colour and sweet flavour of blood oranges and I thought the best way to show that off would be in a tart.

I always try to think of colours as well as flavours when I'm creating desserts. I chose a chocolate short dough tart shell to highlight the colours of the oranges and also to add a slightly bitter contrast in flavour to the sweetness of the oranges. I used my lemon curd recipe - substituting orange juice for lemon - and topped it all off with fresh blood oranges layered with navel oranges.

Chocolate Short Dough – Creaming Method

992g AP flour

85g cocoa

680g softened butter

340g sugar

5ml vanilla extract

170g eggs

Sift together the all purpose flour and cocoa. Set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together well. Add vanilla extract and then the eggs (one at a time) until well combined. Add flour and cocoa mixture and mix on low speed until a thick dough is formed. Scrape dough out of the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for at least an hour. When dough is firm, roll out and cut circles to fit your tart pan. Prick the dough with a fork several times and then bake in a 350F oven for 10 -15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before filling with orange curd. Layer sliced oranges on top.

Old Fashioned Cure

One of the many reasons I collect old cookbooks is that they provide a peek into a woman's life so long ago. I'm always amazed at the responsiblities that a woman had - not only as a provider of food, from scratch, three times a day - but also as the caretaker of the family's health.

Most cookbooks from the 19th and early 20th centuries include sections on medicinal remedies. "Cures" for smallpox, typhoid fever, diptheria and cholera are included along with recommendations on how to treat fits and hysteria ("chiefly seen in females, and generally connected with uterine irregularities" according to The Dominion Cook Book-1899). While some remedies seem laughable knowing today's science other remedies still make perfect sense. "Rules for the Preservation of Health" in the latter cook book include instructions to drink water, avoid excess of spirits, exercise regularly and sleep in a well ventilated room.

Some remedies call for tincture of opium and chloroform - I can't imagine you would feel anything after that! Ingredients that I don't think I could find in a grocery store or at a pharmacy are listed: antimonial wine, laudanum, best manna, and tincture of senna are things I have never heard of before.

So while I was wrapped up in a blanket on the couch trying not to feel sorry for myself after developing my fifth cold since December, I decided to consult my old cookbooks for an old fashioned cure. Egg gruel or beef tea didn't sound appealing and I really didn't like the idea of simmering bacon in vinegar and then laying the bacon on my sore throat for a cure. I settled on "A valuable recipe for fever and ague" figuring I at least had the fever. According to Mrs. R.A. Sibley from "The Home Cook Book" of 1877 I should steep 4 ounces of galangal root in a quart of gin left in a warm place; take often. Unfortunately I didn't have any galangal root handy but I substituted some tonic water. Now I feel just fine!

Grown up Easter eggs

Here's a fun extra treat I made for Easter. I made some egg shaped chocolate shells and filled them with honey sweetened mascarpone lightened with whipping cream and topped with lemon curd. The lemon curd recipe is really great. You can substitute lime juice, too, for something a little different!

Lemon/Lime curd
298g butter
255g sugar
270ml lemon/lime juice
17g lemon/lime zest
255g egg yolks

Combine sugar, juice, zest and ½ of the butter and bring to a boil. Temper egg yolks and return to the pot and bring to a boil. Add remaining butter, mix, strain and then chill.

Easter eggs and lemons

After single handedly keeping Cadburys in business this Easter (thanks Easter Creme eggs!!) I decided that for our Easter dinner dessert this year I would avoid chocolate and go for a lighter flavour. I certainly was not doing traditional this year, having applewood barbecued pork loin with smashed potatoes and asparagus for the main meal - chocolate would not be missed at the end.

So when I went into the grocery store on Saturday they had blackberries and lemons on sale. Great! I knew I had some phyllo in the freezer so homemade lemon curd, blackberries and brown sugar Italian meringue with crispy phyllo layers would do the job.

Once at home I set to work. The kids were dying the Easter eggs and I was layering the phyllo and baking it off. I decided to wait until later that evening to make the lemon curd so the kids would be in bed and my full attention would be in the kitchen. Little did I know that my plan would hit a slight snag.

Happily sequestered in my kitchen, I started measuring the ingredients for the lemon curd and this is when Murphy's law set in. I had decided to buy a different brand of eggs and as I was separating them I noticed that the yolks were noticeably smaller than I was used to. When I had used up all my eggs I was stuck. It was late at night, stores were closed until Monday and I needed eggs. All that was left for me were the coloured Easter eggs that my children had lovingly decorated just hours before. I had to pause, the mom side debating the pastry chef side of me, before I reached for the eggs. Dessert trumped decoration in my house! Of course I felt guilty destroying my children's hard work but in the end I convinced them it was worth it - they loved the dessert and asked for seconds!

Keeping it simple

Sometimes I can't help but fuss with things to make them perfect. A dessert needs a little bit of this or an extra bit of that and it is my job as a pastry chef to present a sweet in the best possible way.

Which brings me to strawberries. I love strawberries. To me every bite of a sweet, juicy strawberry tastes like sunshine especially when it is a freshly picked, local strawberry. I always have a difficult time when I'm asked to make a dessert that focusses on strawberries because to me a strawberry is perfection as is. No need to embellish, no need to sauté or chop or drizzle. Give me a bowl of strawberries and I am happy to eat them all. Adding chocolate is nice but not necessary and the thought of destroying that fresh flavour of sunshine by adding a little bit of this or a whole lot of that makes me cringe with regret.

So please don't ask me to make a strawberry dessert for you. Keeping it simple is sometimes a good thing, especially when it comes to strawberries.