More Than Sweet

Small cakes

Mi-Cuit with red kampot pepper & apple brandy

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Paid partnership with Xoco Gourmet Cocoa & Couverture

Mi-cuit with red kampot pepper & apple brandy

Makes 4 cakes

225g 70% Mayan Red chocolate, finely chopped
220g butter
120g granulated sugar
100g cake flour
2 tsp. freshly ground red kampot peppercorns
6 M/L eggs
60ml apple brandy
Generous pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190C fan and coat the inside of four 8cm diameter, 5cm tall ring moulds with butter and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Melt the butter and add the chopped chocolate, stirring to dissolve. Add to a bowl and set aside until cooled to room temperature. Whisk together sugar, flour, ground pepper, eggs and apple brandy, then fold in the cooled chocolate mixture until a smooth batter. Season to taste with salt.

Pour into the prepared ring moulds and bake for 8 minutes for very soft and runny interior and 9-10 for a firmer interior.

Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes, before transferring the cakes in the ring moulds to serving plates. Remove the ring moulds and serve immediately.

Mango tart with vanilla, bourbon & toasted chamomile

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Mango tart with cinnamon sponge, mango-bourbon jam, vanilla cremeux, toasted chamomile and lemon thyme
MANGO-BOURBON JAM

500g mango, diced (about 2 mangoes)
3 Tbsp. bourbon
1/2 cinnamon stick
300g sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Pinch of salt

Place mango chunks and cinnamon stick in a pan with the bourbon and cook over medium heat until the mango is softened and tender. Add sugar and lemon juice and cook until the jam reaches 105C on a thermometer. Season with salt to taste.

Remove from heat, leave to cool for 5 minutes then discard the cinnamon stick and pour hot jam into a sterilised 500ml jam jar. Leave to cool overnight.

The jam is delicious with greek yogurt, on buttered toast, or sandwiched between two linzer cookies. I may or may not have just eaten it by the spoonful.

PATE SUCRÉE 

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells. 

Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

MADAGASCAR VANILLA BEAN CREMEUX 

125ml heavy cream
125ml whole milk 
4 egg yolks
35g sugar 
1 Madagascar vanilla bean 
3 leaves gelatine
Pinch of salt 

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and mix with the sugar, beat with egg yolks until pale and very airy. Bring milk and cream to just below boiling with the empty vanilla bean, remove from heat and pour 1/2 into the egg mix while whisking rigourously.

Return to heat and warm up to 85C while whisking continuously. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and stir into the hot custard, until it is fully dissolved.

Season with a pinch of salt. Strain into a clean bowl and press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface to prevent a skin forming. Chill until fully set.

CINNAMON SPONGE

60g almond flour
50g + 25g cane sugar
20g egg yolk
75g egg whites
50g butter, melted
35g all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon 
1 generous pinch of salt 

Preheat oven to 175C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Mix together the almond flour, 50g of cane sugar and egg yolk in a bowl and whisk in the melted butter.

Sieve together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix into the batter.

Whisk the egg whites with the remaining 25g of sugar to soft peaks and fold into the batter until the batter falls from the spatula.

Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out to about 1cm thickness. Bake for 5-6 minutes and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cut out 6 rounds of cake that fit inside the cooled tart shells.

TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE

3 ripe mangoes cut into 1x1cm cubes
Chamomile tea
Lemon thyme

Toast the chamomile tea in a pan over medium heat until toasty and fragrant, a few minutes. Remove from heat and grind to a fine powder.

Place the cake rounds inside the tart shells and spoon a little mango jam on top.

Whisk the cremeux until light and smooth and transfer to a piping bag. Pipe on top of the jam and smooth the surface with a spatula. 

Arrange the mango cubes on the tarts and dust with toasted chamomile powder and garnish with lemon thyme leaves just before serving.

Nordic Paris-Brest

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Cardamom crusted choux with parsnip crème diplomat and rosemary poached pears

Parsnip crème diplomat

Parsnip milk

500ml whole milk 
300g parsnip, peeled and cut into cubes 
1 sri lanka cinnamon stick 
25g honey 
Pinch of salt

Parsnip crème diplomat

250ml parsnip milk
1 Tbsp. heavy cream
40g egg yolks
50g sugar
18g cornstarch
1,5 leaves gelatine

175ml heavy cream

Add whole milk, parsnip cubes, cinnamon stick, honey and salt to a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and infuse in the refrigerator overnight. Strain out the parsnip and cinnamon and measure off 250ml parsnip milk for the pastry cream.

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water. Heat the parsnip milk and 1 Tbsp. of heavy cream with 15g of the sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch, then whisk in the hot milk mixture. Strain back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat while stirring continuously until pastry cream thickens. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes, to cook out the starch. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and whisk into the pastry cream. Transfer the pastry cream to a container and press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface. Chill in the refrigerator until completely cooled.

Whip the pastry cream until creamy. In a separate bowl, lightly whip 175ml of heavy cream, then gently fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream. Pour into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Rosemary poached pears

1l water
250g sugar
4 pears, peeled, halved and cored
4 sprigs of rosemary
5cm strip lemon rind

Heat water and sugar in a large pot until sugar is dissolved. Add pears, rosemary and lemon rind to the warm poaching liquid, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until fork tender.

Transfer the pears and poaching liquid to a container and refrigerate overnight.

Cardamom crusted choux rings

50g butter
65g water
65g whole milk
3g sugar
2g salt
125g egg
75g all purpose flour

1 tbsp. cardamom seeds, coarsely crushed
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 180C.

Melt butter, water, whole milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan on low heat. When the butter is melted, bring to a boil over high heat and immediately remove from direct heat. Stir in flour to make a soft dough. Return the pan to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes, while stirring continuously. Be careful not to scrape the film forming on the bottom of the pan.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes. Beat in the egg a little at a time until dough is glossy, elastic and holds a “V”-shape when dropped from a spatula. You might not need all of the egg for the dough.

Line two trays with baking paper and use an 8cm cookie cutter as stencil to draw four circles on each tray with a pencil. Flip the baking paper around so the pencil mark faces down.

Place the choux dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm star nozzle and pipe eight choux circles.

Sprinkle liberally with the cardamom sugar and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

To assemble the Paris-Brests, drain the pears and cut into 1x1cm cubes. Cut the choux rings in half and place the pear cubes in the bottom halves.

Pipe parsnip crème diplomat on top of the pears and layer with the top halves.

Serve immediately.

Paris-Brest in the springtime

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Paris-Brest with caramelised buttermilk mousseline & pickled apple, apple sorbet and citrus herbs

For the sorbet, replace pears with an equal amount of apples.

Caramelised buttermilk mousseline

150ml heavy cream
75g sugar
4 egg yolks
25g all-purpose flour
25g corn starch
350ml buttermilk
150g softened butter, divided

Slowly caramelise the heavy cream on a nonstick pan over medium high heat, scraping the bottom once in a while, until the cream turns a a light caramel color.

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, flour and egg yolks until no lumps remain. Whisk in buttermilk and caramelised heavy cream. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil, cook while whisking rigorously for a few minutes to thicken the cream and cook out the starches. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 75g of butter until combined, cover with clingfilm and let cool. When the cream is room temperature, whisk in the remaining 75g butter and transfer to a piping bag with an open star nozzle. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Pickled apple

2 apples, peeled and cut into small balls
100g sugar
100ml water
1 Tbsp apple vinegar
A few sprigs of verbena, lemon balm and lemon thyme

Bring sugar, water, vinegar and herbs to a boil, and boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, cool for 15 minutes then add apple balls. Leave for 5-10 minutes, check to make sure apples are not mushy, then remove apple balls from pickling liquid.

Vanilla choux

Makes 6 choux rings

80g whole milk 
80g water
65g butter
5g sugar 
2g salt 
100g strong bread flour, sieved
140-160g whisked eggs 
*1 empty vanilla bean leftover from other purposes 
2-3 Tbsp. icing sugar
Flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 175C.

Add milk, water, butter, vanilla bean if using, sugar and salt to a pan and warm up over low heat until butter is melted. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and remove from heat as soon as the milk mixture is boiling. Remove vanilla bean and rigourously whisk in flour until a homogenous paste, return to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes. Be careful not to scrape off the thin film that forms on the pan.

Transfer dough to a bowl and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Beat in egg a little at a time, you might not need all of it, until dough falls off the spoon in a V. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe six 7,5cm circles on a piece of parchment paper. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffy and golden brown all over. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

To assemble and serve
Floral olive oil
Icing sugar
Lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme

Cut choux rings in half, pipe caramelised buttermilk mousseline on the bottom half and arrange pickled apple balls on top of the mousseline. Place the upper half of the choux rings back on top of the apples and dust with icing sugar.

Serve with a few extra apple balls, fresh herbs, dots of floral olive oil and citrus herbs

Spiced maple mille feuille with basil-apple salsa

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Spiced maple mille feuille with apple-basil salsa

Makes 4 mille feuilles

Puff pastry

260g all-purpose flour
150ml ice water
200g cold butter
Icing sugar

Quickly mix together flour and ice water until a shaggy dough, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

Beat the butter block with a rolling pin to a pliable 10x10cm rectangle. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 10 minutes.

Roll out the dough to an 18x18cm square on a lightly floured workbench. Place the butter in the center of the dough and fold the corners of the dough over the butter, so they meet in the middle. Pinch to thoroughly seal the dough around the butter. Flip the dough, so the seal faces downwards and roll out to a 30x15cm rectangle. Make a letter fold, turn 45 degrees and roll out again to a 30x15cm rectangle. Make another letter fold and wrap lightly in clingfilm, rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Repeat this process three more time for a total of 6 turns. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least a few hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out dough to 4-5mm thickness. Using a 10cm oval cutter, cut out 12 pastry leaves and place at least 3cm apart on a baking tray lined with parchment. Place a piece of parchment on top and another baking tray on top of the parchment. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway.

Remove top baking tray and parchment, dust with icing sugar and bake for another 3-5 minutes, until icing sugar is melted and caramelised.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. 2 cups milk (480ml)

Spiced maple creme mousseline

450ml whole milk
4 egg yolks
90g maple syrup
4 Tbsp. corn starch
1/2 habanero
A pinch of salt
150g softened, unsalted butter

Warm up the maple syrup, add the habanero and infuse for 5 minutes. Remove the chili and leave the maple syrup to cool to room temperature.

Whisk together maple syrup, salt, egg yolks and corn starch, set aside.

Bring milk to just below boiling and pour over 1/4 of the milk. Pour the mixture back into the pot and bring to a boil while whisking constantly. Cook for a few minutes while whisking rigorously, remove from heat and whisk in 75g of butter. Cover with clingfilm and leave to cool to room temperature.

Add the remaining butter and whisk until smooth and very creamy. Season to taste. Transfer to a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle.

Apple basil salsa

2 green apples, peeled and diced
1 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 tsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. finely chopped basil leaves
Pinch of salt

Mix everything together, season to taste. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Pipe spiced maple mousseline on 4 pastry leaves. Spoon apple salsa on top of the mousseline in the centre of the leaves and top with another layer of pastry. Repeat with mousseline and apple salsa. Dust the remaining four pastry leaves with icing sugar and place on top of the mille feuilles.

Serve.

Peach tarte tatin with spiced rum, lemon and thyme

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Makes six 8cm or one 23cm tarte tatin

Shortcrust

150g flour
25g confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
100g cold butter, diced
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp. ice cold water

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and rub in the cold butter until reminiscent of breadcrumbs. Whisk together egg yolk and water and add to the flour mixture. Quickly gather the dough into a ball, be careful not to overwork the dough, flatten and wrap in clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and cut into either 6 small 8cm circles or one large 25cm circle. Return the dough to the fridge until ready to bake the tarte tatin (or tarte tatins).

Filling

6 large peaches
130g sugar
75g butter
50ml spiced rum
Squeeze of lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Thyme leaves

Lightly score the bottom of the peaches, blanch in a pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes before transferring to a bowl of icewater. Remove skin with a pairing knife, pit and cut the peaches in 1/8 segments.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Place a 23cm oven proof frying pan or tarte tatin tin over medium heat and slowly melt the sugar to a golden caramel without stirring it. Add butter, salt, lemon juice and rum and stir to combine. Turn the heat down to low and arrange the peach segments. Leave to caramelise for 10-15 minutes, remove from heat and leave to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. If making one large tarte tatin place the 25cm dough circle on top of the peaches. If making smaller, gently remove the peach segments and arrange in 6 plain tartlet tins (don’t use loose bottom, you will have caramel everywhere. I learned that the hard way) and top with the small dough circles.

Bake the large tarte tatin for about 30-35 minutes, the smaller for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a plate. Garnish with thyme leaves and serve with vanilla ice cream.