Great eclairs!

Got a distinction for these chocolate eclairs filled with chocolate and hazelnut creme diplomat.

I am obviously not a natural blogger

A whole week and I havent even managed to comment on the fact that I drove home from college beaming after the unveiling of my tart tartin from its tin helped by the heat of a blow torch to release it. it was nothing short of beautiful! with our spare puff pastry we made delicious crisp eccles cakes topped with icy white sugar nibs that crunched as you bit into them. An so this week we have our paste assessment and I will make chocolte hazelnut eclairs filled with creme diplomat and toppes with a caramel coated hazelnut decoration and also another tart tartin. I feel almost nervous that the perfection of last weeks tart cannot be recreated. Timing is the key to getting everything right so I have formulated a plan and fingers crossed it will all go well. So until tomorrow....

straight out of the oven

tart tartin

Just carved our pumpkin

Big pumpkin. Carved with love.

Almond and Orange cake

Yesterday I had an urge to make a dessert rather than a cake. On Friday evening to celebrate the start of half term for the children we splashed out and took them for a pizza. Well true to form D had spaghetti Bolognese rather than pizza, a true pizza snob he only likes homemade pizza baked at home! however when it came to desserts both children opted for the profiteroles filled with icecream and topped with hot chocolate sauce. The problem with children growing up is that they now eat adult meals, long gone are the childrens meal deals incorporating a dessert and a pud! So when it came to dessert I felt the need to refrain from the special of the day and convinced myself that I would be able to do a better job of it.
And so yesterday I made an almond and orange cake, (so moist it was almost dripping!) served warm with icecream. We ate it for dessert after a delicious cauliflower, chicken, bacon and mushroom pasta bake.
I used 250g of ground almonds with 50 g of plain flour with orange zest, butter and sugar, and when baked pour over an orange juice syrup and leave to cool slightly before serving. I recommend this for after a dinner party. And for the money I saved on dessert on Friday we all had a dessert on Sunday with left overs on Monday warmed slightly in the microwave for 15 seconds.

The buns went down well at work. Kids took some to their friends as well. Thankfully lots of people to help me eat them.

Mmmm...

Look what I've made tonight. Sticky buns. Yum