Take a look! What comes to mind? This is decadence!
Mmmmmmm, chocolate and orange. Chocolate and Orange cheesecake!
This cheesecake has a rich smooth texture, dressed to impress with a luscious chocolate mousse filling,chocolate biscuit base, garnished with tangy orange segments and orange scented chocolate. Remember small slices!
Read on for the recipe…
What better way to start the countdown to Christmas than sharing some festive Christmas sugar cheer. Our sugar project; prepare some Christmas treats to see around thirty smiling faces.
With so many ‘little’ treats to choose from we short listed some of our favourites, and created a couple of our own. The main feature, a ‘Pandoro’ Christmas Tree.
Pandoro (pan d’oro) is a traditional Italian sweet yeast bread most popular around Christmas and New Year . Typically a Veronese (someone or something from Verona, Italy) product, pandoro is traditionally shaped like a frustum with an 8 pointed-star section. Cut crossways it’s shaped like a star, and then layered usually with Chantilly cream, custard or even ice-cream.
It is often served dusted with vanilla scented icing sugar made to resemble the snowy peaks of the Italian Alps during Christmas.
Ours was filled with fresh whipped cream, cherry syrup jam and cherries (tinned). Decorated on top with fresh cherries and puff pastry reindeers and snowflakes sprinkled with icing sugar.
These pastries are based on cream horns, see details here. Cutting an oval base and two sizes of puff pastry snowflakes, coated with egg wash and sugar and baked in a moderate oven until golden. Layered with fresh whipped cream and cherry jam.
Love sharing the Christmas Sugar Cheer…Happy Baking!
Yvette…x
Seasonal flavours from the earth….
The sweet temptation of fresh strawberries. Nothing fancy involved, just pineapple jelly, blueberries and strawberries, vanilla ice cream sprinkled with white chocolate and coconut mixed topping.
Served in parfait glasses. Mix 250ml of boiling water with the jelly, pour into serving glasses, insert fresh chopped strawberries and blueberries and leave to set overnight. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with melted white chocolate buds and shredded coconut. Sweet temptations!
Strawberries are the only fruit
with their seeds on the outside!
A strawberry treat.
Enjoy!
Yvette…x
Easter is not far away, and it’s the sweetest time to indulge in some chocolate.Without the guilt factor – right! It’s also a time when I need to get cracking and hatch a few whimsically dressed eggs for festive Easter. We’ve only just said goodbye to Santa and his sleigh and it’s hello, Easter bunny.
So it’s time to cook with chocolate. There are so many wonderful recipes that I’ve tried over the years and over the next couple of weeks will try and put together some of my favourites.
This weeks recipe doesn’t call for chocolate, but cocoa powder, it’s a new recipe given to me from a friend, a chocolate taste with cocoa powder and maltesers.
Maltesers consist of a roughly spherical malt honeycomb centre, surrounded by milk chocolate, and they give this slice a delicate ‘crunch’.
Recipe:
Malteser Fudge Slice
1 cup Self-Raising Flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
120g Maltesers
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 x 200g tubs light vanilla Fruche
*Frùche is a soft, spoon hugging traditional European style fromage frais. The creamy texture and delicious real fruit and dessert flavours are what make frùche such a unique taste sensation. It’s a perfect healthy treat that despite it’s soft, spoon hugging texture is 98% fat free. As a substitute use a vanilla flavoured thick yogurt or light cream cheese.
1 tablespoon icing sugar
Preheat oven to 180°C. Coat a lamington tin with cooking spray.
Sift the flour and coca powder into a large bowl. Stir in the Maltesers. Combine the eggs, sugar, oil, and Fruche and fold into the flour mixture. Spread into the prepared tin and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until firm to touch. Cool in the tin. Cut into pieces and dust with icing sugar.
A touch of simplicity…
Enjoy!
Yvette…x
Linking to:
The Kings Court IV and Turning The Clock Back : What’s Cooking Wednesday
It’s a Keeper Thursday : A Recipe and Craft Link up
Moms Crazy Cooking: This Weeks Cravings #21 Chocolate
We’re all short of time! The rush of our everyday routines! These little tart’s tick all the boxes, time, flavour, charming and rewarding.
Serving them as a little mignon dessert is a great way to end your dinner. Easy Entertaining!
So yes, these mignon Lemon Meringue Tarts have zing. Just for your taste buds to tingle with the luscious lemon butter, finished off with creamy meringue, topped with a dollop of double cream and garnished with candied lemon.
Zing your taste buds, read on for the recipe…
What better way to brighten up your dinner with this Summer Salad. Easy entertaining!
All the freshest ingredients with an Asian Dressing and an extra twist of chilli…
Read on for the recipe…
This centerpiece is just fabulous to jazz up your fresh fruit an ice-cream platter.Made from a silicone cake mould,its very simple to make. There are so many designs nowadays available in silicone, your choice is unlimited.Here’s how to prepare your centerpiece.
I used this one,a flower and bow design,also as wreath design it has a hole in the middle to serve ice-cream,cream or yoghurt.
Fill the mould with water or fruit juice,add fresh small fruits such as blueberries,strawberries,or pieces of chopped fruit and mint leaves,place on tray and leave overnight in the freezer.
When frozen your iced shape is easily removed from the silicone.
Fill the platter with assorted fresh fruit,place scooped ice-cream in the center and wow! Easy Entertaining, and a fun Summer Dessert.
It’s also a great way to keep your Summer punch iced. Just place the iced mould into you punch bowl and it keeps it cool and iced for the rest of your serving time.
Enjoy my friends, and happy entertaining!
The Summer weather is here, and believe me I’m enjoying every minute of it. The ocean blues,fine white beach sand, shells, and candlelight set the mood for a great Summer feeling to a table setting. Easy entertaining…
A photo of a ocean scene or a memorable holiday photo,gives that personal touch to an easy conversation – fun holiday memories…
I added a glass vase with mixed sized shells…
A white linen tea towel makes a great centre table runner, I used as a base white plates, that way any colour scheme can be immerged into the setting. I added blue and white side plates and blue glassware…
I had scallop shells saved away,and these are a great ocean theme accessory, place one facedown, and rest the other on top, place a small tea lamp candle inside. These are also great accessories for outside partying, lighting a pathway or around the table at ground level.
Using blue napkins…now here’s a personal choice..yes I love white linen “real napkins” but with the unlimited use of paper napkins with their colors and prints you can find today…your dinner party napkin ideas are infinite. For decoration on the napkin I used everyday kitchen twine and twisted it around a shell as shown in the photo below.
Clean white, fine sand can be found in craft stores and is usually sold in kilo bags. Fill the bottom of a glass plate or flat vase. Place a white candle in the centre, twist kitchen twine around the candle and add a shell…
Easy entertaining, and low costing…a romantic calming theme for a Summer nights dinner or chic barbeque to share with that someone special or a group of friends.
What other themes have you used for Summer entertaining?
