My very good friend Dean is wheat intolerant (he’s intolerant about many other things but that’s another story!) I recently asked him if there was anything he genuinely missed and hadn’t found a good gluten free version of. His response? Arctic Roll – that staple of 1970s and 80s dessert tables. I absolutely love Arctic…
Category: Sweet
Recipe – Peach Tarte Tatin
Thanks to my very generous wife, I was lucky enough to eat at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay for my 40th birthday (I know, I don’t look it!). Their signature dessert is the Tarte Tatin, a heavenly upside-down apple tart dripping in caramelised loveliness. My wife and I instantly fell in love with it! I’ve tried a…
Recipe – Chocolate & Cointreau Molten Middle Puddings
Hands up who loves a good chocolate pudding? These are brilliant, a little bit boozy but a perfect way to put that fabled combination of chocolate and orange together. Whisking and oven timing are absolutely key, you might want to try them a few times to get it right! For six, you will need: 120g…
Recipe – Double Chocolate Cupcakes
The king of cupcakes! A bobby dazzler of a treat, a version of my vanilla cupcakes here but perfect for those chocoholics (like my missus and son!) This is an easy mixture to put together and goes into the larger muffin cases, so make sure your cupcake tray is deep enough. Note I use ten…
Recipe – Easy Fruit and Coconut Biscuits
Biscuits are the easiest things to make, with minimal ingredients even young kids can get involved. Everyone loves the result too! To make 10-12, you will need: 100g cooking margarine 50g golden caster sugar 100g self-raising flour 50g dried currants 50g desiccated coconut with little more for sprinkling Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Flour…
Recipe – Gooseberry and Frangipane Tart
Many moons ago I had a school trip to Sweden and I was served this, I never forgot the flavour so thought I’d track down a recipe and give it a go. It’s wonderful, especially as we come into gooseberry season. You will need: 1 roll of short crust pastry, taken out the fridge half…
Recipe – Vanilla and Raspberry Cupcakes
The grown-up fairy cake. It’s still a fairy cake, just adult sized! This is an easy mixture to put together and goes into the larger muffin cases, so make sure your cupcake tray is deep enough. Note I use ten cases in a 12 case tin, this gives you fewer, bigger cakes! For 10, you…
Recipe – Classic Victoria Sandwich
This is the cake of cakes. I judge anyone’s capability in baking by how well they can make one of these. One of my interns a couple of years ago (hello Laura!) was a superb baker and her Victoria Sandwich was the finest cake I’ve ever had! So here’s my stab at it. The golden…
Recipe – Strawberry Custard Tart
Boy do I love a good custard tart. One of my closest friends is big in custard tarts (well, he’s FD for a major manufacturer!) and I can never quite believe it when he tells me how many they make each day. I saw a version of this the other day with rhubarb but thought…
Recipe – Orange and Raspberry Tottenham Cake
I love finding out about almost-forgotten British food. We have such a rich culinary heritage it’s a shame many nations think we’re no good with food! The Telegraph recently ran a feature on forgotten foods and this caught my eye. Apparently invented 200 years ago in Tottenham by a Quaker baker, he made it for…
