Category: Dessert

Coffee Toffee Crunch

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I was first introduced to the concept of a chocolate sharing bar by chef Migoya of Hudsons Chocolate. The fun of having a larger, more elaborate chocolate candy bar for entertaining really appeals to me.

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When Life Hands You Lemons (and White Chocolate)

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 White Chocolate Lemon

This is a play on a classic tarte au citron: a white chocolate shell filled with all the components of a lemon tarte.
And proudly presenting… our very first YouTube video 🙂

Waste Not, Want Not.

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What do you do with left over components from a supper club, bonbons and mystery dough from the freezer?
This chocolate tart is lined with a layer of hazelnut praline. It is then filled with a Fleur de Cao ganache, topped with apricot gel, white chocolate lemon cream, and broken pieces of passion fruit bonbons. Garnished with candied hazelnuts, candied lemon peels, diced apricots and a hint of gold leaves. 
When life gives left over fluid gels and bonbons, you make a tart.    

Popcorn and Passion Fruit

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Popcorn and passion fruit are a perfect pairing. On this plated dessert, there’s a frozen popcorn parfait with a passion fruit ganache and fluid gel. It is accompanied by a banana caramel, roasted peanuts and some mock popcorn.

Popcorn Parfait
4 egg yolks
100g sugar
375ml milk
375ml 35% (lightly whipped)
1 bag microwaved popcorn

1. Prepare popcorn in microwave according to the package’s instructions.
2. Heat 125ml of milk.
3. Add popcorn in milk and let it steep for 10-15 minutes.
4. Blend the popcorn and milk mixture and strain.
5. In a stainless steel bowl, mix egg yolks and sugar
6. Heat remaining milk.
7. To make an anglaise, temper eggs by slowly pouring the heated milk into the egg yolk and sugar mixture.
8. Bring the mixture back onto the stove and heat to 85C
9. Once the anglaise coats the back of the spoon, let it cool.
10. Stir in the popcorn milk and fold in whipped cream.
11. Pour into container, (in this case we used rolled up acetate tubes) and freeze.


Mock Popcorn (A technique developed by Raul Bernal Belarra)
Dried Meringue
White Chocolate

1. Make meringue bits by piping meringue sticks with a small round tip.
2. Once the meringue is dried, break them into smaller pieces.
3. Temper white chocolate and add meringue pieces.
4. Spoon/ shape the mixture and let it set.


Passion Fruit Ganache
100g white chocolate
25g 35%
25g passion fruit puree
25g triple sec

1. In a double boiler, melt white chocolate
2. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Passion Fruit Fluid Gel
Recipe on another page

Candied Peanuts
50g peanuts (lightly toasted)
100g sugar
25g sugar

1. Add water and sugar to a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add peanuts and stir vigorously to force crystallization.
3. Continue to cook the sugared peanuts to desired colour.

Banana Caramel
The texture of the banana caramel was not quite right, so I won’t share that recipe here. 🙂

Galette Des Rois

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Galette des rois, or King Cake, is a festive laminated pastry with almond/ pastry cream. This cake will usually pop up in windows and showcases of pastry shops in late December but only to last a week or two. I’ve had the privilege of trying this cake a few years back at a 3 Michelin star restaurant during a tasting menu. The cake was portioned out to individuals around the table, the recipient with a piece of porcelain inside the cake was said to have good luck or take a trip to the dentist. Happy New Year!