The French tradition of serving this round, flat, almond, frangipane-filled puff pastry tart on the Twelfth Day of Christmas or Epiphany Day, 6th January, has biblical origins and is when the ‘magi’, or ‘three kings, the three wise men’ arrived in Bethlehem, and visited baby Jesus. A 'fève', or ‘bean’ is traditionally hidden in [...]
To temper dark chocolate in the microwave Place the dark chocolate, a maximum of 500 grams at a time, into a microwave-safe glass or plastic bowl. Heat in 30-second increments, once or twice, stirring in between. It may take 1.30 seconds depending on your microwave. Once you have 50 % solids and 50 % liquid, [...]
This cake makes a lovely Christmas gift, full of Brazil nuts, walnuts and various glace fruits. It may be made in a large loaf tin 20cm x 12cm, or smaller cake tins – 8.5 x 14cm and smaller still at 10 x 5.5cm. This quantity also makes 8 tiny puddings, in mini pudding tins; [...]
Panforte, also called Siena cake, is a delicious Italian Christmas fruit, nut, chocolate, dense, chewy, candy-like cake, which hails from Siena, Tuscany. It is very much a favourite of mine and I make it every Christmas. Stored well it can last for months, but it is usually eaten well before that! It makes a wonderful [...]
