Swan Lake Pastries

Who said the only form of art is a painting? Baking is also an art involving the correct blend of ingredients, the right balance of flavours and textures in order to concoct a masterpiece. A masterpiece that all will want to ferociously devour, yet would hesitate in doing so, because of it's impressive countenance and the dedicated craftwork it took to assemble. The idiom 'feast one's eyes upon' would come to perfect use in this instance.

And that's exactly what happened when I made these 'Swan Lakes'. My mother refused to eat it. "Can't I just keep it on the kitchen worktop to look at? It's like a mini swan statue!" She then gave in to the luring aroma of the Chantilly cream.

The swans, made of Choux pastry consist of sliced strawberries, Chantilly cream and a raspberry coulis. They are simple to make, the only difficult part is getting the pastry right.

For the Choux pastry:
120g plain flour
75g butter
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
175ml water.

• Melt the butter in a pan with the water and bring to heat, making sure that it doesn't boil.
• Take it off heat and add the sifted flour in and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until it turns into a smooth pasty.
• Place it back on the heat and beat gently until it turns into a glossy dough.
• Leave the dough to rest until it is cool.
• When you have impatiently waited ages for it to cool down like I did, add in the eggs bit by bit and mix away until it resembles a thick paste (you have to pipe these!)

• Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe long 'S' shapes .
• Pop em in the oven for 15 minutes or when you see them turn nice and crisp.
• With the remaining dough, spoon ovals for the body and place in the oven for half an hour.
• After half an hour open the oven door to let out the steam (these swans have some hot bodies you know!) Bake for 5 minutes.
• Pierce a small whole in your oval to let steam out and bake again for 5 minutes until brown.

It's a long process, but worth it when it comes out correctly!
This pastry can be used for eclairs and Profiteroles too :)

Chantilly cream:
250ml double cream
2 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Add all the ingredients together and whip away, but make sure to stop when stiff peaks form!

Raspberry coulis:
250g fresh raspberries
1tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp icing sugar

Place all the ingredients together in a food processor and blend away. Mine however, came out thicker than I preferred as I kept adding more sugar to make it sweeter.

With all the components made all you need to do is assemble your swan. Pour the coulis in your serving plate, then make sure to cut the base and fill with strawberries and pipe the cream with a star shaped nozzle and then add the wings!

There you go, simple right?

They're beautiful and oh so scrumptious to eat. My family loved them! :)

The Dainty Cook x

White Chocolate 'Slab' Cake.

Want to know how this mouthwatering, pretty gem was made?

Filled and coated with fresh cream and jam, topped with chocolate curls and fresh berries.

Well, you've come to the right place.

Boredom beckoned and my new kitchen called. It was time to start baking again! But what to make? I was in the mood for cake. What kind though? I wanted to create something with an elegant touch, something with chocolate. Now cigarellos are a common elegant addition to cakes, they give them that nice chic finish. They look lovely, but they sure do cost a bomb. Around £25 for 500-750g, I may as well buy a cake for that much! Then I thought, chocolate shards - though they would have been too messy. Thus, the 'slabs' were born. Elegant yet edgy. Yep, that's what I was going to make.

I settled for an 8 inch Victoria Sponge cake and I was going to cover the whole thing with fresh cream. You could use buttercream instead if that's what you prefer, however in my household, fresh cream goes down better.

For the sponge:
250g softened butter.
250g* Caster sugar. 
250g self raising flour.
4 medium eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract.
1/4 cup milk to loosen (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder (optional)

*If you know you're going to add more sweet stuff to your cake, such as buttercream, chocolate, jam etc. I'd put about 20g or so less sugar so it doesn't become overly sweet. Again this is personal preference and how you lot enjoy your cake!

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/Gas mark 4.
• Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.
• Add an egg one at a time, whisking in between each addition of the egg so they are fully incorporated.
• Dash a teaspoon of vanilla extract in (I love sniffing this, it smells gorgeous!)
• Sift in the self raising flour using a sieve and then fold into the mixture. Beat until its thick and smooth.
• To loosen it up a lil, pour in around a quarter of a cup of milk. You don't have to add the whole thing at once and you don't have to add as much, I just prefer my mixture to be slightly runny.
• If you want, put some baking powder in the end and mix awayyy.
• Grease your cake tins (non stick) with butter and dollop half the mixture in one and half in the other, then flatten it out by shaking the tin. I like to pretend i'm Mexican and shake along with the tins, but you know, that's optional too.

That's all it takes folks! Pop 'em in the middle shelf of the oven for 20-25 mins or until they turn a nice golden colour.

Now that the main sponge has been effortlessly created. Here comes the messy/artsy bit - well kinda - the filling!
You can put whatever you like, peanut butter and nutella, buttercream and caramel sauce. Your choice. But the classic is always the best. I went for fresh cream and strawberry jam. Nom.

Filling:
500ml Double cream
Strawberry/Raspberry Jam.

Method:

• Once the sponges are done, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool. Then transfer on to a wire rack till they're completely chillin'!
• Whip up all the cream, adding around 15g of caster sugar (I just chucked some in to be honest) in, half way through the whipping process.
• On one sponge spread a good amount of the whipped cream. On the other, spread some generous spoonfuls of jam.
• Now it's time for the jam and cream to kiss. Carefully place the jammed cake on top of the other and press down.
• Coat the rest of the cake in cream and leave to set.

Filling: DONE.

Okay, so the slightly fiddly and tricky bit starts here. The chocolate slabs and the deco!

Usually tempering with chocolate involves thermometers and heating and cooling chocolate to a specific temperature in order to achieve a nice glossy finish. I however, think that's unnecessary with white chocolate and we can all use our own initiative with this technique.

For this you would use the same method as for chocolate shards. The difference is, we're making squares/rectangles by measuring them out.


Chocolate Slabs:
280g Plain White chocolate (chopped).
Baking Paper or Acetate.

I used baking paper as it is easily available and we all have it somewhere in our kitchen..

Method:

• Line a tray with baking paper so that it just fits inside.
• To melt the chocolate, fill a saucepan with water and place a bowl on top. You could use a microwave, but I feel that this has more control and you're less likely to go wrong.
• Throw in your chocolate and leave to melt on a high heat, stirring occasionally. When it has all melted leave to cool for a minute. 
• Drizzle the melted chocolate over the paper and then spread thinly and evenly all over with a spatula. Leave to cool.
• After it's cooled, though not entirely set, measure out and score the rectangles using a ruler. Mine were about 9cmX7cm. (I checked the height of my cake.) Once you've done this, put them in the fridge to harden.
• When they've hardened, re-score the chocolate carefully and separate the rectangles. You will now have your slabs in shape!
• Lastly, very very carefully peel off the paper from the chocolate, this can be fiddly, so take your time.
• Once you have your slabs press one side into the edge of the cake and repeat all the way round. I put the rippled effect facing the outside, but you could turn them the other way for a smoother finish. 

The cake looks pretty even when plain, but I decided to go the extra mile and add milk and white chocolate curls on top and then decorated them with fresh berries, which  compliment the cream. And voila! You have a perfectly chic cake fit for any special occasion.

The berries really 'shine' out amongst the white chocolate.

If I do say so myself, it was one of the best cakes I had tasted in a while. So moist, light and delicious, yet beautiful to look at too.

If I can make it, so can you :)

Let me know how you lot get on!


The Dainty Cook x

Chocolate and Truffles by The Chocolatier.

Another lovely stall I visited this summer at the BBC Good Food Show was The Chocolatier. Upon seeing these chocolates I gasped and had the biggest smile on my face. Even the lady behind the exhibit commented on my excitement! I was truly a big kid in a candy store.

What I really loved about this, was that they had a really big range of chocolates and that they were completely diverse. As mentioned in my previous post, as much as I love my cocoa copines, I easily grow tired of the usual ones you get in your corner shop or supermarket shelf. Sometimes you just want something different. Or even peculiar.

The Chocolatier, a niche by Aneesh, delivers just that. Flavours from Cola Popping Candy, to Pineapple and Cardamom, they're aren't like your normal Nestlé brand. Now to be perfectly honest, when I saw all the flavours, I thought they wouldn't be as good as they looked or wouldn't really have much flavour. So I popped in a piece of Mango spice chocolate in my mouth and can I just say, my tongue was literally bombarded with spice and mangoeyness - was NOT expecting that. Personally, sweet and 'savoury' flavours mixed together isn't really my thing (my friend on the other hand loves that mix) and there were many that had that kind of combination, so I was left slightly disappointed at the minimal amount of 'sweeter' options available.

And then I met the truffles.

There were so many to choose from and many had unusual flavours. I liked that a lot. They looked very chic and smelt amazinggg!

I picked chilli and lime, Salt and Pepper, Raspberry Gel x2 (I love raspberry and choc) and salted caramel. I had to watch out for how many I got, as we all know that Truffles don't come cheap, especially of such a niche.

Chilli and Lime was interesting, you could taste the lemon as you bit into it, lasting with a pleasant chilli kick at the end. Nice, but not something you could have a lot of. Salt and pepper was okay, different, and that's what intrigued me. Salted caramel was yummy as expected, really flavoursome and I just fell in love with the raspberry gel. The raspberry just oozes out as you take a bite and mixes well with the dark chocolate. I've always believed that the two flavours are a match made in heaven and it worked extremely well in the truffle.

I also got the sesame praline, which was sweet and crunchy and just so NOM!

I really was left flabbergasted with the varieties of flavours that they had and...wait for it…wait for it…They contained no gelatine, no cream, no butter and no eggs! They are only made from a water based ganache, I have no idea how they make them taste so good without any of these ingredients. Great for vegetarians and for those who have specific dietary limits!

For more information on The Chocolatiers chocolates or if you wanna check out their clever combinations created by Aneesh Popat, you can visit them at http://www.the-chocolatier.co.uk. I do warn you, these do eat into your wallet, though where else will you ever get to try a pumpkin pie flavoured truffle!?

Lovely for an occasional treat. Give 'em a go. They get my official stamp of approval and trust me, I can be a fussy one.

And if you don't have enough pounds in your pocket, you can always try out my chocolate truffle recipe :)


The Dainty Cook x

Truffle Kerfuffle.

Truffles. The caviar of the chocolate world. Expensive little things that leave a pleasantly rich taste in your mouth. Usually made of 65% cocoa solids, they may not be to everyone's taste, but they certainly leave many urging for more.

I love truffles. A chocoholic is pretty obviously going to make that statement, however I say this not because it's good ole chocolate, but because they're different. Chocolate is something I eat quite often and sometimes the crave lasts for a while. Nonetheless, I get bored. There are so many to choose from and it's the same old stuff. If I'm in the mood for something biscuity, Kit Kat or Twix, creamy: Kinder Bueno or Crispello, caramel: Galaxy or Cadbury's - you get the picture. Sometimes you don't know which you want. You want chocolate. You NEED chocolate, but none that's on your store shelf.

And that's why I like truffles. These smooth chocolate diamonds really satiate my chocolate fix and you can get soooo many different weird and wonderful flavours, you will never get bored of them!

The Chocolate truffles I made

Anyway I was in the mood of making some homemade, 'vintage'/sparkly truffles. Something to display on the dining table or even at a party. In fact, I made these at christmas time and packed some in a box for my bum chums.

Boxed up for friends.

Recipe for Dark Chocolate Truffles:

Ingredients

• 300ml double cream
• 300g dark chocolate, chopped (minimum of 65% cocoa solids). I used dark chocolate chips for convenience.
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g butter
• Cocoa powder

That is really about it! 

METHOD

1. Place the cream and butter into a pan over a medium heat and bring up to a simmer and until the butter melts.
2. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a large bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
3. When the cream is simmering, remove the pan from the heat and add the salt.
4. Add the cream to the melted chocolate a third at a time, making sure that the cream is thoroughly incorporated after each addition and then allow to cool.
5. At this point you can add any extra flavouring if you wish. I divided the mixture into three separate bowls. One was left plain, in another I added a few drops of peppermint extract and in the last one I added strawberry flavouring.
6. Leave the mixture to cool and then chill for 4 hours and then place it in the fridge after for 5-6 hours or until set.
7. Using a small melon baller, scoop balls of the chocolate out of the ganache then roll in cocoa powder before serving.

If you find using a melon baller difficult, which I did, I scooped small amounts with a teaspoon and rolled them with my hands (make sure you've washed them). This is the messy or kerfuffly bit. You have to do it quite quickly or the truffles will end up melting and stick to your hands. 

To decorate use your imagination! I rolled some in cocoa powder, but you can also coat them in melted milk or white chocolate. I also used strawberry and orange powder (I smashed flavoured rocks) and glitter. As sparkly as glitter is, I wouldn't recommend coating the whole truffle in it. I found that it tasted a bit gritty when you ate them, looked very pretty however!

I then popped them in mini truffle cases. And bada-bing-bada-boom! These diamonds were born and immediately gobbled up by all. I'm even being asked to make some more!

The end result.

It actually is really simple.

Let me know how you guys get on with this recipe!


The Dainty Cook x

Macaron Madness.

Macarons are now the 'jelly' shoes of the 90s (remember those?!) They were everywhere and being a child in that era, you just had to have them in every colour. Raspberry, chocolate, lemon, vanilla, pistachio. These meringuey biscuits are now the 'in' thing to eat and bake.

My first experience of the Macaron or Macaroon, I still have no idea which it is, but my instinct goes with one o, was actually on holiday in India about 3 years ago. My cousin took me to a patisserie and asked me whether I had tried them. Tried them!? I had never seen them in my life! She bought some to take home and I was thus transformed. It was a caramel one (huge fan of caramel chocolate by the way), where one bite concocted an amalgam of textures and flavours in my mouth. The crispy, yet dewy softness of the shells, the almonds and the creamy caramel just blew my taste buds away. I became a huge fan. In fact, they were one of the best I had.

Going back home to England, I had to try make them right away. I googled the recipe and voila, these babies were born.

Filled with chocolate buttercream and fresh cream.

I shall try and find the recipe for these and share it with you all soon, so keep out for that post if you would like to try them too.

But let me tell you, I was literally third time lucky with my make. The first time I added the food colouring at the wrong time. The second time, the mixture was too runny from over mixing and the third time, they were just right! Also, I actually drew circles on the baking paper to get them the same size, which I wish I did earlier on! For the filling I used chocolate buttercream - that always goes down well and fresh cream, as I didn't have much in my cupboard then.

Third time lucky!

Now they're available in all sorts of shapes and sizes and the variety of flavours we have is incredibly vast. Personally, I think they're so pretty to simply look at, let alone devour!

Pierre Hermé and Laduree have become the popular French brands in England and rightly so, they are amazingly gooood. Unfortunately, I'm not a Londoner so I can't enjoy these as often as I would like.

Recently, I have tried Macarons from Macarons and More and Patisserie Valerie. For the reviews click here!
I think a verdict is necessary on these because for dainty little things, they're a bit...undaity on the price and it's good to get a good qualitys worth for the price you pay.

So why not have a go yourself? They're on top of my list for my next make. Oh and Annie Rigg's book is now a new addition to my shelf :)


The Dainty Cook x

More, More, More! Macarons by Macarons and More.

I stumbled upon Macarons and More at the BBC Good Food Show this summer. The first thing I saw was the Macaron tower. My eyes lit up and I was drawn closer. The meringue beauties were stacked in a tall prism like structure and decorated with ribbon. They looked very elegant and perfect for a special occasion.

Next to them however, was what really caught the attention of my heart. There was a wide range available such as lemon, salt caramel, chocolate orange, praline, rose, crème brûlée, dark chocolate and mint, pistachio, passionfruit and dark chocolate and violet and blackcurrant, however some were already sold out by the time I got there!

The Orange Chocolate macarons.

These are all (I assume so anyway) designed by Tim Kinnaird who appeared in BBC's Masterchef in 2010 and was a runner up in the finals. He's done a really great job getting this far, particularly coming from a medicinal background and not food!

Couldn't resist and had to eat them before I took a photo. One got smashed :(

Anyway, I wanted to try all of them, but priced at £1.60 each, I had to be weary of how much money I had in my purse and pick a few only. I opted for the chocolate orange, praline, salt caramel and crème brûlée (one of my fave desserts!) And boy did they taste as well as they looked.

The best one was the Chocolate orange, it was just right, not too much orange and the chocolate was of a good quality. Praline followed behind, it was like nutella in a meringue but a hundred times better and of a high standard. The crème brûlée was nice and so was the salt caramel, however for me in a Macaron, it wasn't my cup of tea. 

They sold them in boxes of 6, 9 and 12 and a box of 12 can be purchased online, (http://www.macaronsandmore.com), which I will definitely do when my next craving kicks in! 

Overall I was left very impressed by my purchase and wanted more! Yes the price is high, but I guess you're paying for quality. Sometimes you can just tell by looking at the Macaron whether they'll be amazing or just plain ordinary and with these, I just knew they would be amazing!

Raspberry and Chocolate macaroons from Patisserie Valerie.

I bought some from Pat Val just the other day and as nice as they were, once you've had better you won't really like the standard ones you get. I mean they were good, but not wow. I only bought chocolate and raspberry, because I wasn't too keen on the other normal flavours you get.

Laduree I am a hugee fan of. Just so so good with a nice pot of vanilla tea. They had a special flavour on when I went , I think it was lemon and dark chocolate, mmmmmmmmmm. Died and went to heaven! The flavours just married so so well. Ah, I'm drooling now so I better stop. But if you want some impressive macrons, do check out Macarons and More. 

You won't be disheartened.

The Dainty Cook x