Join me as I bake through the Great British Bake Off.
Fondant fancies two ways: Champagne and rose fancies feature a rose-flavored sponge brushed with champagne syrup and sandwiched with raspberry curd. Orange blossom and marmalade fancies are scented with orange blossom water and filled with a dollop of orange marmalade. Two for tea, anyone?
One batch of puff pastry, two flavors of savory palmiers! Bacon and balsamic-onion jam palmiers satisfy that salty-sweet craving, while parmesan and chili crisp palmiers give you a buttery crunch that packs a zesty punch.
Moby Dick’s Bubble Bath, my chocolate centerpiece, consists of a white chocolate whale sitting in a chocolate gingerbread bathtub, surrounded by towers of dark chocolate bubbles.
The texture of a soufflé is hard to describe. It’s much more cake-like than I imagined it would be — soft and moist, yet light as air, it almost melts in the mouth. Every bite was like a soft pillow of rich, creamy chocolatey heaven.
What can be more sumptuous, more elegant than a rich, decadent chocolate tart? In this one, the contrast of dense, dark chocolate custard with a light mousse layer of salted caramel makes your tongue dance for joy. It makes a perfect ending to a fancy dinner party or an intimate gathering — wherever food is the centerpiece for laughter and conviviality.
Entremets are desserts with multiple layers of different flavors, textures and colors meant to show off the pastry chef’s prowess. My Chocolate Cherry Bombes and "Twofer Tea" Blackberry Pistachio Entremets feature complementary flavors and bright colors that are a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds.
This German cake is "built" by baking 20 very thin layers, one on top of another, under a broiler. Finally, it's coated in chocolate and decorated with vanilla icing.
These two versions of baklava give a nod to the multicultural background of this ancient dessert. The pistachio-orange is a traditional combination, while the macadamia, coconut & lime baklava incorporates Hawaiian flavors. Just as every country that claims baklava as its own has added its own distinctions, I've incorporated both new and traditional flavors in mine.
The inspiration for my opera cake came from the popular ‘70s dessert, the Watergate cake. My interpretation of the Watergate cake in operatic form was to make a pistachio joconde sponge brushed with a pistachio syrup and layer it with coconut Swiss meringue buttercream and pineapple filling studded with pecans. I finished it off with a thin chocolate glaze.
Charlottes are related to trifles in that they are unbaked and made in a glass dish or mold. The two most well-known types are charlotte russe and charlotte royale. This technical challenge, set by Mary Berry, has a lot of steps but is not difficult. The end result is a showstopper dessert that is light, fruity and perfect for summer!
Here's the Dish 