Cakes & Bakes: Plum flaugnarde

We were given half a dozen sweet, ripe plums last week. We ate a couple and used the others in a plum flaugnarde.

A flaugnarde is similar to clafoutis in that they’re both baked French egg custard fruit puddings. However, if you’re a purist, the latter can only ever be made using cherries.

A flaugnarde on the other hand may contain all manner of fruit including pears, apples, figs, dried fruit, nuts…

The addition of a little buerre noisette gives the custard a lovely, nutty flavour. Make sure you only cook it until it goes a nice, golden brown. If the butter’s even just a little bit burnt, it will ruin the dish.

A tablespoonful of almonds isn’t essential, but it adds texture, bite more nuttiness… and looks beautiful too!

It puffs up beautifully while it’s cooking, but don’t worry when it deflates as it cools once out of the oven – it will do this. Serve it straight away with a little double cream or clotted cream.

Plum flaugnarde

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Cook Time 30

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Ingredients

4 ripe plums
20 g/¾oz unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
2 eggs
3 tbsp caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 heaped tbsp plain flour
50 g/1¾fl oz milk
75 g/2¼fl oz double cream
pinch salt
1 tbs flaked almonds optional
icing sugar for dusting optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease a baking dish with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Shake the sugar around the dish so it's evenly coated. Tip away any excess
Halve the plums, remove the stones and place them cut side down, evenly spread into the baking dish
Heat the butter in a small frying pan over a low heat until it turns a light brown colour. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside
In a large bowl or measuring jug whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence until creamy
Add the flour, whisk until smooth, then slowly incorporate the milk, cream, salt and beurre noisette.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish making sure the plums are still evenly spread out
Sprinkle with the flaked almonds
Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the top is puffed up and a skewer inserted into the middle comes away clean
Place on a wire cooling rack, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve warm with double or clotted cream

Keyword egg custard, flaugnarde, fruit tart, plums

Cakes & Bakes: No bake double choc nut tart

I’ve had quite a lot on this week, so didn’t have a great deal of time to dedicate to a long-drawn-out Cakes & Bakes recipe. This no bake double choc nut tart is short on time, but big on taste and impact.

It would be perfect to make for a dinner party where there are a few courses to juggle in preparation.

The chocolate ganache is really simple to make and is rich and unctuous – a chocoholic’s dream!

The base can be made with chocolate digestive biscuits or, if you’re in the US and can’t get hold of them, Chocolate Creme Oreos are a good substitute.

I topped it with toasted chopped mixed nuts and finished with a few pecan halves – but you can use walnuts, hazelnuts or whatever takes your fancy!

Serve this double choc nut tart with a generous dollop of crème fraîche or clotted cream and a sprig of fresh mint to garnish – just perfection!

Slice of home-made double choc nut tart via @hisforhome

No bake double choc nut tart

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Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 8

Ingredients

250 g/9oz dark chocolate digestive biscuits
100 g/3½oz butter cubed &softened
300 g/10½oz dark chocolate broken up into pieces
200 ml/7fl oz double cream
1 tbsp mixed nuts toasted
8 pecans

Instructions

Add the digestive biscuits to a food processor and grind until fine crumbs
Add the softened butter to the biscuit crumbs and pulse until combined
Pour the mixture into a tart dish (I used a cm diameter round one) and press evenly into the base and up the sides using the back of a spoon
Put the base into the fridge for 20 minutes to harden
Put the broken up dark chocolate and double cream into a heatproof bowl. Put the bowl into a saucepan filled with water to a level where it doesn't quite touch the bowl
Heat the saucepan until just boiled then turn down low
Stir the chocolate & cream mixture to combine well and remove any lumps
Remove the base from the fridge, pour over the chocolate sauce and shake slightly to level it out
Return to the fridge for 20 minutes before sprinkling with the chopped nuts and placing the pecans evenly around the edge
Serve as is or garnish with a few strawberries, blueberries and/or mint leaves

Keyword chocolate, nuts, tart

Cakes & Bakes: Chocolate profiteroles

It’s that time of year again; The Great British Bake Off is back on television. In celebration, I thought I’d make a Mary Berry recipe. I was planning to make the frosted walnut layer cake that featured in last week’s opening episode, but Justin asked for profiteroles instead.

I’ve not made choux pastry since I was at catering college way back in the 1980s. From what I remember of the episode, it was a disaster – perhaps the reason I’ve not revisited the recipe since!

After 30 years, I was ready to face up to those demons…

…and there was absolutely nothing to worry about after all.

It was quite straightforward, taking about an hour to produce a lovely pyramid of airy profiteroles.

They kept us quiet for a while!

Chocolate profiteroles

Mary Berry

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Cook Time 30

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Ingredients

For the choux pastry

60 g/2oz butter cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
150 ml/5fl oz water
75 g/2½oz plain flour
2 large eggs beaten

For the filling

300 ml/10fl oz whipping cream

For the topping

100 g/3½oz plain dark chocolate
100 ml/3½ fl oz double cream

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 220ºC (fan 200ºC)/425ºF/Gas mark 7
Grease a large baking sheet and sprinkle with water

For the choux pastry

Put the butter in a heavy-based saucepan with the water and heat until the butter melts. Bring to the boil
Remove from the heat and add the flour and a pinch of salt. Stir vigorously
When a smooth paste develops, return the pan to the heat, stirring. The mixture will dry out a little and form a soft ball that comes away from the sides of the pan
Remove the pan from the heat again, leave the mixture to cool slightly, then gradually add the eggs, beating really well between each addition until the mixture is smooth and glossy
Dollop tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking sheet leaving room between each for them to spread a bit
Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 190ºC (fan 170ºC)/375ºF/Gas mark 5 and bake for a further 20 minutes
Transfer the profiteroles to a wire rack to cool completely. Once they've cooled, pierce the base of each to the diameter of your narrowest piping nozzle. If you don't have a piping bag & nozzle, slice each profiterole in half horizontally

For the filling

Whip the whipping cream until firm, put into a piping bag fitted with a round, narrow nozzle and pipe it into the hole in the bottom of each profiterole. If you don't have a piping bag & nozzle, spoon a dollop on to the bottom half of each profiterole before replacing the top

For the the topping

Put the chocolate and double cream into a heatproof bowl and set it over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring until smooth and shiny
Remove the bowl from the pan and leave the sauce at room temperature for about 30 minutes, or until it is cool and thick enough to coat the profiteroles without dripping down the sides
Carefully dip the top of each profiterole into the chocolate sauce

Keyword chocolate, choux, pastry, profiteroles

Cakes & Bakes: Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

In a recent post, we mentioned that Justin wasn’t a massive fan of fruit crumble – there was utter disbelief amongst some of our readers! We’ve talked through it over recent weeks – it’s good to get things out in the open. To be precise, he doesn’t like a soggy zone between the fruit & browned topping. The merest hint of uncooked, wet flour and there’s real distress.

Now we’ve identified the true cause of his phobia, we’ve been able to work through it together (with the help of a crumble counsellor) and have experimented with different methods. We don’t add any water to the fruit or pre-cook it any more – and top with thinner layers of crumble mix to produce crispy, crunchy perfection. There’s no stopping him now – strawberry, pear, plum – bring it on!

So, for this week’s Cakes & Bakes we’ve got a crumble – rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble.

The cardamom adds a distinctive and really interesting twist…

…and chopped almonds in the topping also worked well.

So, the only decision left to make – custard, cream or ice cream. It was a custard kind of day for us!!

Second helpings for Justin – we really have moved forward from those dark, crumble-free years!

Pin the recipe for later!

Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

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Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 2

Ingredients

2 large stalks of rhubarb
1 Bramley apple
50 g/1¾oz demerara sugar
3 cardamom pods
100 g/3½oz plain flour
25 g/1oz rolled oats
10 g/⅓oz almonds roughly chopped
75 g/½oz cold butter cubed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6
Remove the cardamom seeds from their husks and grind finely with a pestle & mortar
Slice the rhubarb into 2½cm/1inch slices
Peel, core & chop the apple into 1cm/⅓ cubes
Put the rhubarb, apple, half the ground cardamom and 2tbs of the sugar into a medium-sized bowl and mix until the sugar coats the fruit evenly
Decant the mixture into a 30cm x 15cm oven-proof dish
In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, oats, sugar, chopped almonds, butter and remainder of the cardamom. Rub in the ingredients with your fingers until they resemble coarse, lumpy breadcrumbs
Cover the sugared fruit evenly with the crumble mixture
Cook for 20-30 minutes until the top has begun to brown and fruity syrup is bubbling up
Allow to cool slightly and serve with custard or vanilla ice cream

rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble ingredients

Keyword apple, cardamom, crumble, fruit crumble, rhubarb

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: dessert

Cakes & Bakes: Plum flaugnarde

Plum flaugnarde

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: No bake double choc nut tart

No bake double choc nut tart

Ingredients

Instructions

Cakes & Bakes: Chocolate profiteroles

Chocolate profiteroles

Ingredients

For the choux pastry

For the filling

For the topping

Instructions

For the choux pastry

For the filling

For the the topping

Cakes & Bakes: Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

Rhubarb, apple & cardamom crumble

Ingredients

Instructions