Banana Cake with Pecan Crumble
This banana cake is actually an upgraded version of my last birthday cake. True, it sounds a little strange that an English Cake would be considered an upgrade over a tall and festive birthday cake, but don’t judge a book by its cover.
Lemon Berry Tart
A couple of weeks ago we held a goodbye party for Betty and David, good friends. She’s American, he’s Israeli, and together they’re the perfect mix, just like this pink lemon berry tart combination. After about a decade living here, they decided to move to chilly Boston. They met and got married here, and I had the honor to make them their wedding cake. It was a three-tier tres leches cake, soaked in three different kinds of milk. One of them (evaporated milk) doesn’t exist here and so it had to make it all the way here from the States just for this divine cake. I have to recreate this recipe and put it up here one day.
Gianduja Chocolate Mousse Cake
Two years ago I had a little breakdown. Not that I actually had anything to complain about, but I felt like something in my life was missing. Something small to complete a smile at the end of the day. One day, on my way to visit the family in Jaffa, I was listening on repeat to Lane Boy by Twenty One Pilot. Suddenly it struck me why I love this song so much.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Cake
One of my cool aunts asked me to make a birthday cake for her daughter. When I asked her what kind of cake she was thinking about, she sent me a picture of a Reese’s cake decorated with the peanut butter cups themselves. I took the challenge under one condition: the family must act as my guinea pigs and provide me with constructive criticism. There was another tiny condition: that they would leave me a small piece of cake to try, but somehow all the evidence disappeared after the knife started cutting the cake.
Ruby Chocolate Plaisir Sucré
On September 5, 2017, I celebrated my 35th birthday. On the very same day, ruby chocolate was revealed to the world. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The universe gave me a pink gift – only it took a year and a half to reach me. Ruby chocolate is the fourth of its kind (after dark, milk and white). The color is pink and the taste is sweet and a bit sour, with no artificial flavors or food coloring. Thanks universe!
Coffee and Hazelnut Mille-feuille
This mille-feuille is an incarnation of another dessert I tried to make with Oren a few months ago. We tried to make a Bûche de Noël with coffee diplomat cream and a hazelnut nougat ripple. It turned out so delicious, but couldn’t hold its shape. Maybe ‘cause we tried to make a joconde from hazelnuts, maybe ‘cause the cream was too supple or maybe, just maybe, we didn’t have luck on our side. I didn’t want to let go of the flavors and started looking for another dessert that would work with them, until I reached the perfect one – mille-feuille.
Puff Pastry
It’s not too complicated to make puff pastry from scratch, as long as you use the right butter. The only downside: it takes a lot of time. A lot of time waiting, not working. From one turn to another, this dough needs to rest in the fridge for a while to cool down. I kinda like it. I use this “resting” time to do the dishes, water the plants, practice some Pilates or just rest up in front of the PlayStation. At the end of the process, you get a kilo of wonderful puff pastry, just like they taught me at pastry school. From here, the journey towards classic French pastries is much shorter. Hello there Mille-Feuille.
Caramelized Hazelnuts
I always wanted to make caramelized hazelnuts for fancy decoration on desserts, but I always feared that long sugary tail. This time I told myself, no more! I stepped into the kitchen, cooked sugar into caramel and dipped whole hazelnuts into it. Lo and behold, it worked. It wasn’t even that complicated. I even managed to do it on a rainy, gloomy day. I felt like Martha Stewart, who actually demonstrates the task elegantly alongside Fran Drescher from “The Nanny” (What nostalgia, her voice suddenly sounds like music to my ears).
