No meal is perfect without a dessert. It can be very easy to prepare like a fruit salad or intricate and time-consuming like a mille-feuilles or a multi-tiered iced souffle. It can be traditional or contemporary. I shall never forget my Mum's feather-light meringues filled with strawberry jam or coulis, as she used to call it.
Here are a few recipes that I often prepare for my family and friends.
MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT SALAD
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| Watermelon Fruit Salad Bowl |
Fruit salad:
1/4 of the watermelon cut into balls
Half a melon seeded and cut into balls
2 cups of white grapes
2 cups of red grapes
1 cup orange juice
1-2 tbsp icing sugar
1 liqueur glass Cognac or Metaxa Brandy or any other liquor of your choice
Gently toss the fruit salad with the orange juice/brandy mixture, place in the watermelon shell cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
CHOCOLATE AND HAZELNUT PRALINE TART
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This every chocolate lover’s dream!
Pastry:
250 g (4 oz) flour sifted with
60 g (2 oz) icing sugar and
A pinch of salt
125 g (an ample 4 oz) butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
A little water, if necessary
A little water, if necessary
Filling (chocolate praline ganache):
210 g (7 oz) dark chocolate, finely chopped
250 g (½ lb) butter, at room temperature
304 g (an ample 10 fl oz) one tin, sweet condensed milk
100 g (3.3 oz) hazelnut powder
A pinch of salt
375 ml (1½ cup) thick cream whipped to soft peaks
½ cup of toasted hazelnuts for garnish.
Prepare the chocolate praline. Melt the chocolate over simmering water and stir until smooth. Stir in the butter, condensed milk, hazelnut powder and salt until completely combined. Cool and pour into sterilized jars, seal with airtight lids and store in the fridge.
The day that you wish to prepare the tart, bring a jar of chocolate praline to room temperature. Then make the pastry. Place the flour in a bowl, add the butter and rub it into the flour, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in egg with a fork until it clings together. Press into a ball, flatten it out, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes at least.
Roll out the pastry between two pieces of baking parchment. Line a buttered tart dish with the pastry sheet and trim the edges. Prick the tart allover with the prongs of a fork and cover with parchment and tin foil, pressing the sides in order to prevent them from collapsing. Bake the tart for 12 minutes, in an oven preheated to 180 C (350 F). Discard the parchment and tin foil and return it to the oven and bake blind for 10-12 minutes more or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Remove the tart shell from the oven and cool it completely.
Whip a cupful of chocolate praline until smooth, fold in the whipped cream, and mix gently, until no streaks of white are evident.
Spoon the filling into the cold tart shell and even the surface. Garnish with hazelnuts and refrigerate.
BLACK FOREST CHERRY CAKE
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| Black Forest Cherry Cake |
Cake:
6 medium-sized eggs
300 g (1½ cup) sugar
1 pinch of salt
Vanilla
130 g (1 cup) self-raising flour
45 g (about 1/3 cup) cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tbsp clarified butter (optional)
(Heat the butter very gently, remove the foam and spoon the clear butter into a bowl)
A little more for brushing the cake tin
Syrup:
375 ml (1½ cup) fresh orange juice
2-3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp Kirsh
Filling:
1 tin poached Morello (sour) cherries, (240 g/8 oz) strained fruit and patted dry or
240 g (8 oz) of fresh cherries, stoned, poached in a light syrup, strained and patted dry
Topping:
500 ml (2 cups) thick cream
75 g (2½ oz) icing sugar
2 tbsp Kirsh
Garnish:
Chocolate curls
2-3 red Maraschino cherries
Preheat the oven to 180 C (350F) and brush a 28 cm (11 inch) round cake tin with clarified butter.
First prepare the cake. Whip the eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla together until tripled in bulk. Sift over the flour and cocoa mixture, a little at a time, gently folding with a flexible spatula. Finally add the clarified butter, if using. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake, for 25-30 minutes or until a tester, inserted in the middle of
the cake, comes out clean. Run a knife around the rim of the tin, and reverse the cake on a rack to cool
Meanwhile whip cream with icing sugar to stiff peaks. Pour in the Kirsh and whip just until the liqueur is absorbed.
Cut the cake in two equal layers and place the one layer on a round serving dish. Drizzle evenly with syrup and spread with whipped cream. Arrange the Morello cherries on top. Cover gently with the other layer of cake, drizzle with syrup and cover the top with the remaining whipped cream. Gently press the chocolate curls on top of the cake and garnish with maraschino cherries. Cover and refrigerate the cake until ready to serve.
WALNUT MERINGUE WITH FRUIT AND CREAM
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| A Perfect Conclusion |
This dessert is also luscious prepared with fresh strawberries, bananas, or poached sour cherries.
Meringue
250 g (1 ¼ cup) sugar
4 large egg whites
Pinch of salt
250 g (2½ cups) finely chopped walnuts
1 tsp cinnamon
Filling
500 g. (1 lb) ripe peaches, peeled and thinly sliced, or any other fruit
4 heaped tbsp sugar
A piece of lemon rind
2 tbsp brandy, orange flavoured liqueur or Kirsh, if using sour cherries
500 ml (2 cups) cream, lightly whipped, with
2-3 tbsp icing sugar
Whisk the egg whites with the salt until they form soft peaks. Then gradually whisk in half the amount of the sugar until the mixture is quite stiff. Fold in half the amount of chopped walnuts, the remaining sugar and the cinnamon.
Bake in two 25 cm (10 inch) round, baking tins, lined with baking parchment, in an oven preheated to 190 C (375F) for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 130 C (250 F) and bake for another 1-1½ hours. Turn off the heat and let the meringues cool in the oven, and set aside.
Place the peaches, sugar and lemon rind in a saucepan and cook gently for 5 minutes or more, if necessary. Discard the lemon rind. Then add the brandy or whatever alcohol you choose, and set aside to cool.
Arrange one of the meringues disks on a dish and cover with half the whipped cream. Spoon half of the stewed fruit on top. Cover with the second meringue, spread with the remaining cream, and garnish attractively with the remaining stewed fruit and walnuts. Serve very cold.
GINGER AND MOCK LEMON CURD CHEESE TART
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| A Delicious Cheese Cake |
If you like ginger, this cheese cake will be a treat.
Pastry:
125 ml (½ cup) melted butter
100 g (½ cup) sugar
A pinch of salt
31 ½ ml (1/3 cup) orange juice
250 g (½ lb) self raising flour, mixed with
½ tsp ginger powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Filling:
Two 200g (almost 7 oz) tubs light cream cheese
(Mock lemon curd:
One 397 g tin sweet condensed milk
2-3 tsp lemon juice or more
The grated zest of 1 lemon
Mix everything well together until thick and glossy)
One 200 g (almost 7 oz) tub Greek yogurt
250 ml (1 cup) thick cream, whipped to the soft peak stage
2 pieces ginger stems in syrup, strained and finely chopped
4 tbsp ginger syrup (from the stem ginger jar)
3 tbsp water
6 gelatin sheets, separated and soaked in iced water for 5-6 minutes
Begin with the pastry. Mix butter, sugar and salt until pale and fluffy. Stir in the orange juice until well combined and then the flour mixture until a soft, pliable dough is formed. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out the pastry between two sheets of baking parchment and line the bottom of a 29 cm (11.2 inch) buttered spring-form tin. Prick the pastry, all over, with the prongs of a fork and bake in a oven preheated to 180 C (350 F) for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Remove from the oven and cool. Make a few biscuits with the remaining dough, bake for 10-12 minutes and reserve.
Mix the cream cheese with the mock lemon curd and the yogurt until well combined and
fold in the chopped stem ginger and the whipped cream. Heat the ginger syrup and water just below the simmering point, and remove from the fire. Squeeze as much water as possible from the gelatin sheets, place in the ginger syrup and mix until they are completely dissolved. Fold the gelatin/ginger syrup thoroughly into the filling, pour it over the pastry and level the surface. Cover the spring-form tin and ice for at least 5 hours or overnight.
When ready to serve, remove the removable part of the spring-form tin and place on a pretty dish. Garnish with crushed reserved biscuits and drizzle with ginger syrup.
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