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A simple eggy flour-and-coconut-milk batter is whisked together with turmeric for colour and left to rest. A separate filling of palm jaggery is melted with grated coconut, cardamom, nutmeg and a pinch of salt until thick and glossy. Pancakes are cooked in a hot pan with a thin film of ghee, the filling spooned along one edge and rolled into a long log. Served warm, with a dusting of fresh coconut on top.
A simple flour-egg-oil dough kneads until silky, rests so the gluten relaxes, then stretches over a floured cloth until you can read newsprint through it. A filling of grated and sliced tart apples, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, lemon zest and butter-toasted breadcrumbs spreads across the dough. The cloth helps roll the whole thing into a long log. Bakes brushed with butter until shatteringly crisp.
All-butter pie pastry rests in two discs. The filling, a mix of apples (Bramleys for tartness and break-down, Granny Smith and Braeburn for hold), brown sugar, cinnamon, lemon, cornflour, pre-cooks slightly to release water and keep the crust from going soggy. Bottom crust lines a pie dish; filling piles in tall (it sinks); top crust seals on, vented. Egg-washed and sugar-dusted; baked until deep gold.
A loose batter of fine semolina, plain flour, yeast, sugar and warm water rests until bubbly. Small disks are poured onto a hot dry pan and cook one side only, bubbles rise and burst, the top setting porous and lacy. Each disk is folded around a filling (sweetened cheese or spiced walnut), pinched into a half-moon, then fried in oil until deep golden. Cold sugar syrup is poured over hot pancakes; serve immediately.
A generous and warming autumnal crumble featuring tart cranberry, fragrant quince, and sweet apples, crowned with a buttery almond crumble topping studded with toasted flaked almonds. This deeply flavored dessert showcases the subtle flavors of fall fruits balanced with sweet spices and served warm for maximum comfort.
A spectacular show-stopping frozen dessert featuring vanilla and coffee ice cream inside a sponge case, completely encased in Italian meringue and briefly torched or baked until golden. This impressive historic dessert creates drama at the table as a frozen filling remains cold while the exterior turns warm and golden.
An impressive individual dessert presentation featuring whole apples at their center, filled with date-soaked in fragrant jasmine tea, and encased in a beautifully decorated shortcrust pastry cage. This elegant combination of warming spices (jasmine), natural sweetness (dates), and crisp pastry creates a sophisticated presentation suitable for special occasions.
A simple custard of whole eggs, condensed milk and evaporated milk is poured over a hard caramel base and baked in a bain-marie at low temperature for a silken set. The caramel melts into a sauce as the flan chills overnight in the fridge. Tipped out onto a plate, the dark caramel runs down the sides and pools at the base.
The toffee layer is the only stage that takes time: an unopened tin of sweetened condensed milk simmered in water for 3 hours turns into deep amber dulce de leche. The biscuit base is digestives crushed and bound with melted butter, pressed into a tart tin and chilled. The toffee goes on cold, the bananas are sliced just before serving (so they don't brown), the cream is whipped to soft peaks. Assembled in order. Dusted with cocoa or grated dark chocolate. Cut with a knife dipped in hot water for clean slices.
Milk and cream warm with sugar; saffron blooms in milk separately; egg yolks whisk with sugar to ribbons. The hot milk tempers into the yolks; the custard cooks back to coat-the-spoon thickness; off the heat, rosewater, saffron-milk and a pinch of mastic powder fold in. Cooled custard goes into the ice cream churn. As it freezes, ribbons of separately-frozen cream and chopped pistachios fold through.
A single batter is made from coconut milk, egg yolks, plain flour, sugar and nutmeg. The bebinca is built in a small round dish layer by layer: a ladle of batter, ghee brushed on top, grilled until the surface is dark brown, then another ladle of batter, ghee, grill, repeat. Each layer is paper-thin; the finished cake has 16-20 visible layers when sliced. Patient work but the technique is simple. Tastes of coconut, nutmeg and gentle caramel.
Rice flour, glutinous rice flour, sugar, baking powder and salt are sifted together. Coconut milk, melted butter and beaten eggs are whisked in until smooth. A banana leaf lines a cake tin (or individual ramekins), brushed with butter. The batter is poured in to 2 cm depth. Baked at 200°C 15 minutes; salted egg slices and grated cheese are pressed on top; baked another 10 minutes. Finished with butter, sugar and a thick layer of fresh grated coconut.
A milk-and-butter enriched yeast dough proves to soft and pillowy. A honey-almond topping (butter, honey, sugar, cream, flaked almonds) cooks on the stovetop until thickly bubbling, then spreads on the proved dough and bakes together: the dough rises, the topping caramelises golden and chewy. Once cooled, the cake splits horizontally and fills with thick vanilla pastry cream (Konditorcreme) lightened with whipped cream.
A genoise-style chocolate sponge bakes in three thin layers (or one thick layer split into three). Each layer brushes liberally with kirsch syrup. A morello cherry compote spreads between layers along with vanilla-scented whipped cream. The whole cake masks in cream, then dresses with dark chocolate curls and whole drained cherries. Needs to chill at least 2 hours so the layers set.
A wet dough is made from fresh grated coconut, sugar and water cooked together into a thick paste, then enriched with butter, semolina and egg yolks. The dough rests for several hours so the semolina can hydrate and the dough firms up. Small balls are shaped, pressed gently and baked low and slow until the bottoms turn golden and the tops set into pale-gold domes.
Stale French bread (a day-old baguette is perfect) tears into 3 cm chunks. Custard: whole milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest. Raisins steep in 4 tablespoons bourbon for plump. Bread soaks in custard 30 minutes; raisins fold in. Tips into a buttered 25 × 18 cm dish; dots with butter. Bakes for 45-50 minutes at 175°C till the top is bronzed and the centre is set but still custardy. Whiskey sauce: butter melts with sugar; cream and bourbon stir in; warmed but not boiled. Pours over the pudding at the table.
The New Orleans bread pudding, the warm dessert that lands on the table at the end of every Cajun Sunday lunch with a slug of bourbon sauce poured over it. You tear a French baguette or stale brioche into chunks and soak them in a custard of whole eggs, double cream, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg until they're saturated. Raisins (often rum-soaked the night before) and toasted pecans fold in for sweetness and crunch. The pudding bakes in a buttered dish at moderate heat until the top has crisped to deep bronze and the middle is just set but still soft and quivering. While it bakes you build the bourbon sauce: butter, sugar, an egg yolk and a generous slug of bourbon whisked over low heat into a glossy, silky pour. Spooned hot over the pudding at the table, the sauce running down the sides and pooling on the plate. A small scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside if you're feeling ambitious.
Whole brown figs simmer slowly in a syrup of brown sugar, water, cinnamon and cloves until they're tender and the syrup has thickened to glossy. Off the heat, each fig gets cut almost through and stuffed with a generous spoonful of arequipe. Served warm or chilled, with extra syrup spooned over.
Buttery shortcrust rests then rolls; one disc lines a pie dish, fills with sliced spiced apples, the second disc tops it. Egg-washed, sugared, vented, baked golden. The juices thicken with cornflour as they cook so the bottom doesn't go soggy.
Split mung beans (the green hulled kind) soak optionally 4 hours (cuts cooking time in half but not essential). Beans simmer in water with knotted pandan leaves, sliced ginger and a pinch of salt for 35-45 minutes until soft and split. Palm sugar dissolves in; cooks another 5 minutes. To serve: ladle into bowls; pour thick warm coconut milk over the top. Optional toppings: a sprinkle of fried shallots, a spoon of toasted black sesame, or chunks of toasted sweet bread (the Surabaya street-cart way).