Layers of crisp brown sugar and almond meringue nestle between clouds of whipped honey cream, fresh dates and soft dried figs, as warm honey cascades down the sides of this beastly yet elegant mountain of texture, colour and soulful flavour. And it’s easy. I’m all for easy recipes lately. Life is flying by way too fast, but I’m still determined to bake wherever I can. So that means I’m turning to recipes that can be planned ahead, prepared in sections and offer a low flop-risk. So voila!
Spoiler alert: this here is a little cheat’s dessert. Prep is done in under an hour, no fancy qualifications required, looks pretty as a peach, and is so much fun to just absolutely demolish. Also it tastes pretty darn good. The slight tartness of the roasted rhubarb is offset by the honey mascarpone cream. Then there’s the slightly salty pistachios that flirt with the vibrant syrup drizzling down the sides. And did I mention that the crisp brown sugar meringue cradling the whole thing has a slightly caramelised flavour, and is so devilishly light and delicious? Who’s complaining?
Here’s another decadent I-scream-you-scream-we all scream for ice-cream recipe! More of the good stuff that I can’t and won’t ever get enough of. Just like my Strawberry and White Chocolate Semifreddo, this Fig, Honey and Roasted Almond Semifreddo doesn’t require a fancy machine or any advanced technical kitchen skills. All you need is a sunny day, 45 minutes, and a love of the glorious goodness that is ice cream.
Fancy a batch of these pillowy-soft centred, crispy edged, slightly salted, honey-laced cookies? Packed with generous chunks of dark chocolate, crunchy pistachios and the promise of that perfect chewy texture, they’re a little exotic and utterly seductive. Perfect for late night snacking with a cup of tea, I used whole wheat flour for thicker cookies, and dark brown sugar for an almost caramel-like flavour. These devilish darlings don’t disappoint.
Mother’s Day has just passed, and my dear Ma’s birthday was a few days later, so I created a celebratory dessert that was composed of a few of her favourite things. Remember those extra figs I froze when I made my Honey Roasted Fig, Dark Chocolate and Mascarpone Tart? I couldn’t ignore them anymore, so out they came and the result was this creamy, fragrant, frankly irresistible cheesecake. If you truly love me, you’ll make me a cheesecake. That’s really my only ask. I’m very easy to please and I’ll think you’re the bee’s knees forever and ever. This one is a particularly special cheesecake; a slightly salty almond and pistachio base sets the stage, goats curd offsets the rich cream cheese and gives the filling a soft, crumbly texture, and a baklava-inspired honey, lemon and rosewater syrup drizzled over roasted figs, pistachios and rose petals leaves you sobbing with confusion when you realise you ate your slice before you could truly appreciate what was happening.
Aaaand I’ve reached 4000 views on my little blog! I can’t quite articulate how happy/jubilant/gleeful/giddy that makes me feel, so instead I baked this celebration cake to send you all my love in the form of a four layered chocolate cake with velvety honeycomb buttercream, drizzled generously with dark chocolate ganache and a pile of smashed homemade honeycomb. Does this give you a better idea of how grateful I am? I actually went a bit over the top on the swiss meringue buttercream, those responsible for demolishing it did so with a bit of a groan…i.e. probably only pile on half as much buttercream as I did. But oh well, as far as life difficulties go, too much honeycomb buttercream isn’t really that horrendous.
Something super exciting happened to me the other day. I was at my local fruit and veg shop, loading up on as many ‘reject’ bargains as I could carry, when a big tray of fat black figs by the counter caught my eye. And they were only $20/kg! Usually figs sell for around $4 each, but now that Autumn has hit, this briefly miraculous time of ripe, affordable figs is upon us. It’s time to take advantage of it! This recipe actually only needs 2 fresh figs, but I bought 6 and froze the other 4, so now I just need to decide what my next fig creation will be!
Behold one of the most versatile tart recipes ever. Using Dorie Greenspan’s basic recipes for ‘Sweet Tart Dough’ and ‘Almond Cream’, as found in her legendary book ‘Around my French Table’ (highly recommended), you can create so many variations of this beautifully fruity, rich, silky tart. I used her chocolate variation of the tart shell, and the result is a crumbly, rich, slightly bitter base that is the perfect carrier for this creamy almond frangipane filling, and the juicy plums nestled within. I have soaked the tart in warm honey to finish, which gives an already beautiful dessert an irresistible glow. The tart is rich but very thin, so I found it be the perfect amount of indulgence! Continue reading
one perfect mess 