It was Jenny, Caroline, Ben and myself for dinner the other night and this is what I created with some fresh strawberries.
Strawberry Flan
It’s a strawberry flan with a shortbread bread base. This is was filled with a layer of delicious custard and topped with a layer of seasonal fruit. In this case it was strawberries, but it can be anything that’s fresh and seasonal such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or fresh peach slices.
Strawberry Flan
Enjoy.
Here are a few fruit carvings that were created this spring. After church on Good Friday I had some friends over for brunch and I wanted to display the fruit in a creative way. Flora created both of the beautiful swans shown below.
Apple Swan
Melon Swan with Fruit Arrangement
This is just a quick post, but I may detail how these were created at some point in the future.
Enjoy.
This is a cake I made for Mike on his birthday. He told me that he was going to spend almost all of his birthday day studying and I felt that was no way to spend a birthday so I made this for him.
Chocolate Mousse Cake with Oranges, Strawberries and Shaved Chocolate
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Chocolate Cake (I used two 9 in cake pans)
1 cup whipping cream
5 squares of baking chocolate
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 tsp of flavouring (vanilla extract, coffee, liqueurs etc.)
Fruit for decorating
Chocolate for decorating
For the cake I used Devil’s Food Cake Cockaigne from the Joy of Cooking. It is my favourite chocolate cake recipe. To make the mousse melt the chocolate over a double boiler. When it is melted add some of the extra cream to it and stir until it forms a ganache, which is a chocolaty creamy mixture. The chocolate will seize (become solid fairly quickly) when you first add the cream, but as you add more cream and stir the mixture will thin out. Add the flavourings to the chocolate mixture. Vanilla and Coffee flavourings will make the chocolate taste even better. Whip the all the rest of the whipping cream using an electric mixer. Mix about 1/4 of the whipped cream with the chocolate mixture. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the whipped cream. Refrigerate this mixture for an hour to let it set up.
To construct the cake place one of the two cakes on a plate. Ice the top of it with the chocolate mousse. I then covered this layer with strawberries. Place the second cake on top of the other cake. You may need to top the cake (cut a bit off the top of the cake to make it flat). After this ice the rest of the cake with the mousse using any extra mousse to form a dome at the top of the cake. I decorated it with strawberries and orange segments. I also shaved chocolate, using a vegetable peeler, onto the top of the cake.
Chocolate Mousse Cake for Mike
Enjoy.
Here is a mini apple pie I made for Pi (3/14) day yesterday. I used my apple pie recipe in my tart tins. Evan was in town so we enjoyed these together, with whipped cream on top and Irish whiskey cheddar cheese.
A Miniature Apple Pie for Pi Day
Make these as you would an apple pie. I used about 3 apples for 4 tarts and about 1 pie crust worth of pastry. Bake for 15 minutes at 425F and then another 15 minutes at 350F.
Enjoy.
Here are my new tart tins. Thank you Kate.
Tart Tins
Here is a tart I made for my sister with them. It’s a poached pear with orange custard in a shortbread crust.
Orange Pear Tart
