Halloween is just around the corner and it’s interesting to see how this holiday has taken off in S.A. over the last few years. When I was a child Halloween was a holiday we saw in movies and on t.v. shows but never celebrated ourselves. This year my kids want to dress up and many neighbourhoods are organising (socially distanced) trick or treating. I decided that I would create a “spooktacular” cake to mark the occasion and for a bit of fun!
This recipe came about quite simply because I had a surplus of egg yolks that had accumulated in my freezer after some recent meringue testing. Yes I could have made pasta or pastry, but I wanted something quicker and more simple – so cookies it was!
I put this recipe together for a Portuguese inspired magazine feature, and since travel has been so restricted these past few months there’s all the more reason to take a culinary trip from the comfort of your own kitchen. Hey, it’s not quite like jetting off to Europe but we can only try, right?
I remember baking and photographing this particular loaf on a grey and rainy winter afternoon. The chocolatey aroma wafting from the kitchen was just heavenly, and the wait while it cooled and was being photographed felt like forever. This simple chocolate loaf cake is a delight with its soft crumb and crunchy pops of pecan nuts, all slathered in velvety chocolate buttercream.
A perfect cup of tea with fresh rusks is one of life’s most wonderful simple pleasures, and you can’t beat a batch that has been home made. With lockdown still firmly in place and many of us continuing to work from home there really is no reason not to whip up a batch and pop them in the oven to dry for a few hours while you go about your business around the house (well, if load shedding allows, bah humbug!)
A few months ago I was asked to develop a “black and white” recipe for a magazine feature, and here is the result… these monochromatic s’mores. I enjoyed experimenting with these treats and decided to make a digestive style cookie, adding charcoal to get the desired deep black colour. Just add a white marshmallow and a block of dark chocolate and you have a very grown up s’more!
Continue reading “Vanilla and orange cake and Grace Stevens GIVEAWAY”
For better or for worse we are living in very interesting times, and the world will never be the same again (let’s hope for the better!). At the beginning of the year I couldn’t possibly have imagined what was ahead, and that my family would be living in lockdown at home for several months. There have been highs and lows, tears and laughter, losses and silver linings. And there’s been baking. A LOT of baking.
Continue reading “Custard and vanilla bean sandwich cookies”
Cupcakes and Couscous 