Category: Dessert

Strawberry Tart

.Reading time 1 minute.
This strawberry tart is composed with a sweet dough filled with a basil ganache, topped with a chantilly cream, compressed strawberries, strawberry crisp pearls, basil leaves and chocolate deco.

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Choux Religieuse

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Pate a choux pastry a light French pastry that is typically composed of milk/water, butter, eggs and flour. Due to its high water content, the pastry puffs up when baked leaving a hollow center to fill with any type of whipped cream.

The Choux Religieuse is a stacked pastry with a smaller choux on top of another. In this case, it is filled with a light chocolate and caramel whipped ganache. Both choux are topped with a craquelin, the smaller one is dipped in a mirror glaze and finished with some chocolate deco.

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Pistachio and Raspberry Financier

.Reading time 1 minute.

Financiers are small, light and airy petit fours which often contain almond flour with a distinct flavour of beurre noisette (brown butter). The lightness comes from egg whites and baking powder as leavening agents. It’s commonly baked in rectangular form but in this case, I have decided to baked them in rounds with the additional flavour of pistachio and raspberries.


Pistachio and Raspberry Financier

100g butter
15g icing sugar
92g almond flour
100g half and half
90g egg whites
60g pistachio paste
6g vanilla extract

80g all purpose flour
5g baking powder

120g whites
3g salt
25g sugar

50g raspberries

1. Brown 98g of butter, set aside to cool
2. In a bowl, mix icing sugar, almond flour, half and half, egg whites, pistachio paste and vanilla extract, whisk until combined
3. Add cooled brown butter to the mixture
4. Sift flour and baking powder and fold mixture into the batter
5. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat whites with sugar gradually until stiff peak
6. Fold the meringue into batter, add raspberries and fold
7. Pipe into desired moulds
8. Bake at 350F for approximately 18 minutes or until golden brown
9. Unmould and cool completely

Steps to a Better Souffle

.Reading time 1 minute.

Like time, souffles wait for no one, so here are some helpful tricks to ensure that you get a nice rise:

For a higher rise:
– Preheat your oven for at least 30 minutes at 204°C/400°F
– Set a pizza stone into the middle rack during the preheat stage
– Lightly torch the top of the souffles before putting them into the oven
– whip your meringue to stiff peaks

For a more stable foam:
– Use a clean bowl for your egg whites, any oil or grease will wreck an egg-white foam
– Use fresh egg whites will create a more stable foam
– Use a copper bowl or add 1/8 tsp cream of tartar per egg white
– Over-beaten egg white foams will not expand in a hot oven