Lemon curd and Strawberry Pavlova

So I made some lemony deliciousness the other day, that deliciousness being lemon curd. I made the lemon curd to fill some sweet little cupcakes, (recipe for lemon curd cupcakes coming soon).

So having made lemon curd I had quite a few left over egg whites,  and the first thing that came to mind was Pavlova. I love Pavlova it’s one of my favourite desserts, sweet but at the same time light. Its topped with yummy fresh fruit so it almost makes it healthy WELL ALMOST :-).

I also had left over lemon curd, so a lemon curd and strawberry pavlova it was to be, plus I added some mascarpone cream, whats a pavlova without cream right!!!!!!

LEMON CURD RECIPE: ( recipe from POPSUGAR food)

• 2 whole eggs plus 8 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 6 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature

METHOD:

1. Add the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice to a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together to combine.
2. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until it has jelled up slightly and coats the back of a spoon.
3. Take the pot off of the heat and add the butter cubes one at a time, whisking until they have melted completely.
4. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into whatever container you plan to store it in, and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the curd so that it doesn’t form a skin. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Makes about 2 cups.

PAVLOVA RECIPE: (Recipe from Donna Hay)

• 150ml eggwhite (approximately 4 eggs)
• 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F). Place the eggwhite in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, whisking well, until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
2. Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk until just combined.
3. Shape the mixture into an 18cm round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Reduce oven to 120°C (250°F) and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven.

MASCARPONE CREAM RECIPE:

• 300ml pure cream
• 250ml mascarpone cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD:

1. combine all ingredients into a bowl , using whisk attachment whisk cream until soft peaks form.

To put Pavlova  together spread mascarpone cream on top, then spread on a layer of lemon curd, then dress with chopped strawberries.

Hamburger cake and biscuit fries

Well another week has been gone by, time goes so quickly……

This week it was my youngest son Alex’s 9th birthday, I can’t believe my baby has turned 9. So exciting to watch them grow, but I wish I could slow it down just a little!!!!!! I remember when I had my first son Aden and so many people said to me, enjoy every second because it will be gone before you know it, man they weren’t kidding……………..

So of course birthday means, birthday cake. I love making the kids birthday cakes some years they pick what they want and other years I surprise them. This year it was a surprise for Alex, one of Alex’s favourite foods is hamburgers, and I have seen some great hamburger cakes on the internet, So it was a hamburger cake and biscuit fries for Alex this year.

The look on his face when he saw his cake was priceless, that look alone was enough for all the hours I spent baking and decorating. Big eyes, a big smile and a big hug what else could a mum possibly ask for.

I didn’t really follow a recipe to create this cake, I basically made two butter cakes and one chocolate cake, the chocolate cake being for the meat patty. I used plastic icing, red for the tomatoes cut into circles and yellow for the cheese, cut into squares. For the lettuce I used butter cream coloured green, which I piped on. I then covered the butter cake in a light brown icing to make the burger roll I had two shades of the brown butter cream to add some depth. once iced I sprinkled with sesame seeds.

To make the biscuit fries, I made a simple short bread which I rolled out into squares and then scored in some straight lines the width I wanted my fries to be. I brushed with egg white and sprinkled with raw sugar, then baked. Once cooled I cut along the score lines to create my fries.

Choc-orange macarons

I had quite a few left over egg whites after making some egg-custard. So I decided to make some macarons, a perfect use for egg whites, and a perfect excuse to make some delicate french treats (not that I really need an excuse :-)).

These chocolate orange macarons are delicious, and with my  first bite I instantly thought of Jaffa’s, those yummy choc-orange balls covered in a red candy, yum yum yum!.

I used Adriano Zumbos macaron recipe which is here in my “The Macaron Challenge” post, I added  some powdered orange food colouring to the sugar syrup mixture and sprinkled some dutch cocoa onto the piped out macarons before putting them in the oven. I have tried and tested this recipe many times now and it has never failed me: he is the Zumbaron King ;-).

CHOCOLATE ORANGE GANACHE:

• 150g cream
• finely grated zest of 2 oranges
• 200g dark chocolate ( Zumbo used milk chocolate but I just love dark chocolate)
• 60g unsalted butter, chopped and softened

1. place cream and orange zest in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring to the boil
2. put chocolate in a bowl
3. pour over hot cream, stir until chocolate has melted and is smooth
4. set aside until temperature is 50ºC, then using a stick blender blitz in butter until smooth
5. allow ganache to cool and become firm enough to pipe
6. fill a piping bag with a 7mm nozzle and pipe onto flat side of macaron then top with another shell
7. put assembled macarons in the fridge to set
8. bring to room temperature to serve

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