#dessert

Aug 23, 2022

Rare, Unbearably Expensive and Unlike Anything Else: Royal Tokaji Essencia 2009

A five-centilitre sample may sound miserly but, when we’re talking about Tokaji Essencia, it’s lavish. To make the wine in this miniature...

Dec 18, 2018

The Festive Sweet, Sticky and Fortified Guide 2018

SWEET WINE Domaine Cady Coteaux du Layon Saint-Aubin Les Varennes 2015, France Old-vine Chenin made from botrytis (aka noble rot)...

Dec 31, 2016

Chestnuts: Chestnut Chocolate Cake

Definitely a chestnut cake with chocolate, rather than the other way round, but if you want it to be more chocolaty use 240g chocolate....

Oct 23, 2016

Chestnuts: Introduction, tips & quick ideas

There are few smells more evocative than the waft of roasting chestnuts and few more perfect ways of spending a Sunday afternoon than...

Aug 1, 2016

Blackcurrants: Tips and Extras

Ending off this blackcurrant series with, as always, some tips and extra ideas of what to do with all the blackcurrants I know you've...

Jul 13, 2016

Blackcurrants: Blackcurrant Ice Cream

I don’t know of a more flamboyant coloured ice cream. Come to think of it I don’t know of many better flavoured ice creams. And it’s a...

Jul 9, 2016

Blackcurrants: Summer Pudding

If you use a mixture of berries in a summer pudding, you have to go easy on the blackcurrants because they have a habit of overwhelming...

Jun 1, 2016

Ice Creams: Variations & Sauces

Rounding up my ice cream series with variations on a theme, and two sauces. This is also a good place to point out my favourite way of...

May 21, 2016

Ice Creams: Coffee Ice Cream

The accepted wisdom with coffee ice cream is that you should either use instant coffee or strain out the fresh grounds, but I like coffee...

May 18, 2016

Ice Creams: Lime Ice Cream

You can make this with lemon instead, but lime, with its spicy note, is sensational. It’s very intense in flavour, so will overpower a...

May 15, 2016

Ice Creams: Very Chocolatey Ice Cream

Every ice-cream cook has to have a chocolate recipe. This is mine. It was after making this and a seed-speckled vanilla that I turned my...

May 12, 2016

Ice Creams: Mango Ice Cream

Here is proof that you don’t have to have eggs and custard to make quick, easy, exotic-tasting ice cream. If it’s not eaten within 12...

May 4, 2016

Ice Creams: Bay Leaf Ice Cream

It may not feel all that summery right now, but we are promised warmer weather this weekend so why not make some ice cream in...

Mar 27, 2016

Chocolate: Tips and Extras

Happy Easter! To celebrate, I'm rounding off my chocolate recipe series with some tips and extras, including the all-important question...

Mar 24, 2016

Chocolate: Hot Chocolate Puddings

A rich lava-like centre underneath a crisp crust, and a dark, brooding chocolate flavour - quintessential winter comfort, but a taste...

Mar 19, 2016

Chocolate: Pressed Chocolate Cake

This is a River Café Cookbook recipe. Over the years, I have tried varying it by adding chopped crystallised and stem ginger, rum-soaked...

Mar 13, 2016

Chocolate: Spiced Chocolate Nut Terrine

This needs a couple of hours to chill, but apart from that it’s a doddle to prepare and is not cooked. It works equally well with...

Mar 7, 2016

Chocolate: Chocolate Chip Biscuits

These light-textured shortbread-like biscuits go down well with everyone from tinies through to nineties, probably because they are less...

Mar 1, 2016

Chocolate: Dark Chocolate Orange Mousse

This may lack sophistication as a strategy, but experience has shown that there are two surefire ways to success when giving a lunch or...

Feb 21, 2016

Boozy Food with Spirits: Petits Pots de Chocolate

Aka irresistible chocolate mousse with rum. It's another simple classic that we could all be making instead of more elaborate cakes. And...