I had never before done crème fraîche and although I was nervous to make it as I am with all fermented foods, it was pretty straight forward to make. Mine cultured for 36 hours as it is pretty humid here, and the cream thickened quite a lot. Since I was making this to accompany a dessert, I naturally assumed that this cream would be a bit sweet, forgetting of course that it is fermented with buttermilk so it does taste a bit sour.
Read MoreAll articles filed in Frosting, sauces and garnishes
Chocolate Hazelnut Buttercream
For New Year’s Eve I offered to bring a dessert for our hosts since they were taking care of everything else. I wanted to make a beautiful-looking cake that would be tasty as well, and this is the chocolate hazelnut* buttercream required for the recipe. This is a more involved buttercream that requires more steps than simply whipping eggs with sugar and butter, but I enjoyed making it and the flavour was delicious.
Read MoreSeven-Minute Frosting
The next cake I planned to make was the delicious-looking coconut cake, so of course I had to make this seven-minute frosting to accompany it. I whisked the frosting by hand (but barely made it!) and was surprised by how well it all came together. I am usually not quite successful with egg whites, but this frosting recipe turned out marvellous.
Read MoreMaple Meringue Frosting
An earl grey chiffon cake with maple meringue frosting evidently calls for… maple meringue frosting. I thus made this lovely frosting recipe and was surprised by the fact that I could do it and furthermore that it was delicious (and not too sweet)! Frostings are usually not my forte, but this recipe is fail-proof and was just the right consistency for spreading. As a bonus, it is very glossy since it consists mostly of egg-whites, so very appealing on cakes.
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Classic Chocolate Sauce
It is a well known fact that I am a lover of chocolate and, to warm my heart, of hot chocolates. When I am feeling fancy I like to top it with a heap of homemade whipping cream and small pieces of broken peppermint candies. However, this time I thought that I would try this chocolate sauce recipe and drizzle it atop the whipping cream. I didn’t have bittersweet chocolate at home so I used dark chocolate and the sauce tasted good nonetheless.
Read MoreNut Crackle
Needing a garnish for a dessert that I wanted to make, I made this simple yet elegant nut crackle garnish. For my particular dessert I doubled the recipe, and for some reason the “crackle” never really solidified completely, making it difficult to break into pieces. Perhaps I should have kept in a bit longer in the oven to cook the syrup more, but I am not sure if that was the problem. I will keep you posted!
Read MoreCreamy Caramel Sauce
The dessert I made next called for this velvety and creamy caramel sauce. What a delight! It is fast to make and excellent. I highly suggest the addition of Baileys as it changes the whole taste profile. It is like caramel sauce for grown-ups!
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Candied Citrus Peel
Tis the season to… bake! In view of the holiday season I made a fruitcake for my dad (recipe to come), he just loves them during this time of year! To do so I needed candied orange. I had never done any similar garnishes, and I very happy with the simplicity of the recipe. It’s pretty much fool-proof. These candied orange peels are quite good, actually! Pleasantly sweet and soft.
Read MoreLemon Buttercream (Version 2)
Lemon Swiss buttercream. Oh, the difficulties I had when making this recipe the first time for the larger batch. Succinctly, it was my first time making buttercream with egg whites and the result was a very runny and lumpy mixture. Not pleasant. Fortunately, with helpful comments and suggestions from Anna and other readers, I tried this recipe again, which is simply a smaller batch. I don’t know if it is the new stand mixer, increased patience on my part or the fact that I had your tips in mind, but the result was a heavenly, fluffy, spreadable and lemony Swiss buttercream. Pure delight.
Read MoreLemon Buttercream
I really enjoy buttercream. Used to frost cakes, cupcakes or even to separate and fill the layers in a cake, it is both sweet and rich. Nonetheless, I have only ever made vanilla or chocolate buttercream, with slight variations at times. Lemon buttercream was a first for me. More than that, it was the first time I made buttercream with egg whites as opposed to butter and icing sugar. I was so unsure about the ingredients that I double-, no triple-, checked the ingredients and instructions to make sure that it was indeed a recipe for buttercream composed of plain white sugar and egg whites.
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Valerie 