Fraisier

 I can't let go of strawberries just yet. I've been waiting  what seems like a lifetime for them.

Last strawberry season I made my first Fraisier but it wasn't mind blowing. I decided to give it a second chance. This time I used a Laduree recipe and it turned out incredible. 

 Fraisier is the classic French cake (a staple in every patisserie) made of Genoise sponge split in two and soaked with Kirsch syrup, cream of some kind and of course fresh strawberries. Often topped with a thin layer of almond paste. 

 

It is fairly easy to make and looks amazing. 

 

ALMOND GENOISE SPONGE

50g unsalted butter, melted

200g cake flour, sifted

6 eggs

200g sugar

50g ground almonds

 Set the oven on 170C/340F. Prepare cake pan ( I used a square 18"x18" plus 2 mousse rings 6cm).

 In a large heatproof mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar. Place the bowl over simmering water and continue whisking until the mixture reaches 50C/122F and triples in volume (it shouldn't take longer than 10min) Remove from the heat and continue to beat until eggs are completely cooled down.

Fold in the flour with a spatula little by little, then ground almonds and melted butter. Very gently mix together. Fill prepared cake pan (greased and floured) with batter. Bake about 30min. Allow to cool for a moment, remove from the mould and place it on a rack.

KIRSCH SYRUP
75ml water
50g sugar
40ml Kirsch
Bring the water and sugar to boil. Allow to cool and then add Kirsch.

PISTACHIO MOUSSELINE CREAM
135g unsalted butter, soft
270ml whole milk
3 egg yolks
75g caster sugar
23g cornflour
90g pistachio paste
 In a saucepan bring milk to boil. In a bowl whisk egg yolks and sugar together until slightly pale. Add the cornflour. Pour a third of the hot milk over the mixture to temper the egg yolks. Whisk together and pour the whole thing back into the saucepan. Bring to boil and keep it on the low heat continuously mixing for a while (2-3 min)
Remove from eat and when it is still hot incorporate half of the butter. Cover with cling film and allow to cool. When it reaches room temperature (18-20C/64-68F) whip it with electric mixer until smooth and add pistachio paste and remaining butter. Whip until emulsified. Transfer the cream into a piping bag (it is not necessary but very helpful when assembling the cake).

ASSEMBLY
Wash and hull the strawberries. Using a serrated knife slice the sponge horizontally in half (sometimes in 3 if it's unusually thick) to create 2 discs of cake 1cm thick.
Put the first disk back into a pan or mould, lightly soak with a syrup. Arrange a border of strawberries (sliced in half) around the inside of the mould (cut side out, against the mould). Pipe some mousseline cream. Try to push it in between strawberries, so every gap is filled.  Put more strawberries in the centre and cover with the rest of the cream. 

Now press gently second disc on the top. That should spread the cream even. Lightly soak with syrup. If you have some cream left, you can spread it on the top.

To garnish my Fraisier I ground some pistachios to very fine powder and sprinkled on the top. Enjoy!

Mango parfait with coconut sorbet

 Everything looks different in the summer. Flowers bewitch us, grass is finally vivid green and everlasting cold nights are no more. Everybody is cheerful and things are so much easier when you can bribe your children with a scoop of ice cream.
 Summer months are when the new ice cream flavour combinations see the real daylight.

This time is mango and coconut. The recipe I found on graetbritishchefs.com which is a goldmine of great ideas.

MANGO PARFAIT
6 egg yolks
100g caster sugar (bit less if you will make your own mango puree)
375ml double cream
250ml mango puree
Beat the egg yolks on high speed with 1tbsp warm water until pale and double in size. Whip the cream until soft peaks.
Warm sugar with 1tbsp of water to 121C and slowly pour down the edge of the bowl. Whisk until the mixture cools down (few minutes). Gently mix in the mango puree and then fold in whipped cream.
Place in the moulds and put in the freezer for 4h.

COCONUT SORBET
425ml sugar syrup
400ml coconut milk
half a cup desiccated coconut
Measure equal parts of sugar and water, bring to boil until sugar dissolves. That will be your sugar syrup. Add coconut milk and coconut and leave to cool. Strain and pour it into an ice cream maker. Churn. Freeze to set (few hours).

Did I mention that I love plated desserts already? Enjoy!

Rhubarb jelly with orange posset

 I wish my family could give rhubarb some credit. But I can hear only: Mummy, what's for dessert? ...Rhubarb?? Really? Blaaah...we hate rhubarb... it's sour...how can you even put rhubarb into dessert?  I think it is time to stop trying to convert them.

But what to do when you grow rhubarb in your garden and you have constant supplies? The answer is simple: Eat it yourself :)
 I am calling all rhubarb fanatics, please do try this recipe. Orange infused sweet posset goes great with a tart rhubarb jelly. I was really happy that there was nobody to share it with :)
RHUBARB JELLY
250g rhubarb
1/2 orange zest
375ml water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 tbsp raspberry syrup
2,5 bronze strength gelatine leaves
Peel, trim and cut rhubarb into batons. Bloom gelatine leaves. Bring water, orange zest, sugars, syrup and all the trimming to boil. Leave it to cool, strain. Put the rhubarb batons and bring it to boil. Do not leave on the heat for too long, rhubarb overcooks very quickly. Take it of the heat and add gelatine. Pour it to the chosen containers.

POSSET
180ml fresh orange juice
3tbs orange zest
3tbsp sugar
500ml whipping cream
2 egg whites
Combine juice, orange zest and sugar until dissolved. Whip the egg whites and set aside. Whip the cream and when it starts to thicken, trickle in the juice. Fold in the egg whites. I used a piping bag to fill the glass but you may as well use the spoon.

 

If you want you can also bake some shortbread biscuits. The recipe comes from greatbritishchefs website and it is super easy to follow. You can half the ingredients and you will still have plenty leftovers for someone who is not so keen on rhubarb ;). Enjoy!

Divine Strawberry Tart

 

Winter in UK is veeeeeery long. It is mild most of the time, but way too long! Even now we have only 7C in the morning and it is already 15th of June!

I am a creature who shivers when the temperature falls down below 20C, so cold days are just not to my liking.  At all!

But there comes a time when you see light at the end of a tunnel. It is STRAWBERRIES time.

 

 

It is the most pleasant view I can imagine.

Celebration starts with countless recipes using freshly picked strawberries. This one is one of my favourite.

For the pastry you will need:

150g plain flour

50g ground almonds

30g icing sugar

100g chilled butter

1 egg

pinch of salt

You can use food processor or do it by hand. Just mix all the ingredients together to create the dough. Do not overwork it. Wrap in a cling film and put in the fridge for at least 1h.

When ready, roll it out to 5mm thickness and line tart tin, dock the dough  and bake in 160C for about 15min or until golden brown.

For the filling you will need:

6 egg yolks

120g caster sugar

20g plain flour

20g corn flour

450ml whole milk

2tsp almond extract

*100g unsalted butter*

Whisk egg yolks with sugar until light and creamy. Add flours, 50ml milk and almond extract to the mixture. Boil the rest of the milk and when it is ready pour it over the egg mix and return to hob. Now it is really important to boil it over a low heat for at least 1 min. constantly stirring. It must be heated to the temperature high enough to destroy the amylase enzyme present in egg yolks, which would otherwise break down the starch and make the pastry cream runny (before I knew the science behind this, I had a pastry cream pouring onto my table after slicing a piece many times!)

When it is nice and thick pour it over the tart shell and leave it to cool. 

* You can also add some butter to the warm pastry cream. It will be richer in taste and it will have creamier texture.

To finish you will need:

As many strawberries as you want on the top

Some roasted almond flakes

Mint leaves - not necessary but it is a nice colour contrast to red fruits.

Enjoy! ...... just remember to share. It will be difficult!

The recipe comes from one of the finest baking blogs I have ever seen - mojewypieki.com . It is in Polish though.