Chocolate & Orange Torta Della Nonna

I love an excuse to bake something a little bit special so when I invited some friends over for dinner last weekend I had a good rummage through the recipe books and hundreds of magazine cuttings I’ve saved to look for some inspiration. I fancied a chocolate tart and settled upon this one as making…

The Tree Food Challenge – Mango & Plum Puff Pie

As part of TREE AID‘s Grow Hope Appeal I’m taking part in the Tree Food Challenge. The Tree Food Challenge is helping to raise awareness of the Grow Hope Appeal by encouraging people to create recipes using those tree foods that the TREE AID is using to fight hunger and malnutrition in some of the most poverty-stricken…

How to… rescue a failed meringue

Even the most accomplished cooks sometimes have disasters in the kitchen. Sometimes it’s because you’re having an off day and forget to do something, sometimes it’s because you’re not used to your new oven/pans/hob etc. It’s happened to the best of us but it’s not always a total disaster. Some things can be rescued, you’ve…

Mary Berry’s Boozy Orange Pannacotta

Pannacotta is one of those dishes you always see the contestants on Masterchef attempting to make and then failing miserably because it never sets on time and they end up producing something that’s either half melting or dished up in a bowl. For this reason I’ve never bothered to attempt making it at home. However,…

Summer Berry Ripple Ice Cream Loaf

Summer has arrived! This obviously means trips to the seaside, barbecues and ice creams in abundance! This dish was inspired by Lorraine Pascale’s Raspberry Ripple Parfait, but you could really use any fruit to ripple through it. Frozen works best and I had a few bags of strawberries and blueberries in the freezer so that’s…

Chocolate & Strawberry Gateau

Everybody loves chocolate gateau, it’s a simple fact of life. Often it’s made with black cherries or fruits of the forest making it quite a wintery dessert. The use of fresh strawberries in my version gives it a bit of a lift and transforms it for summer time. Chocolate gateau is a great crowd pleaser,…

Lemon & Rosemary Posset with Green Peppercorn Shortbread

Being more of a savoury person than a sweet person, desserts are not often something I make the effort to spend lots of time on. As much as I love dessert, I think I’m just not a natural pastry chef. Plus, The Boyfriend is brilliant at them, so sweet is usually his area. However, I…

Christmas Pudding… love or hate??

Christmas pudding… something that no Christmas dinner table would be complete with out… but do we really like it?? I’ve never been a huge fan of fruit cake and every year I moan and moan about how desserts at Christmas are rubbish because they all taste the same and most of them are just some…