Maria Luisa cake

When I came across this cake, I just loved the name and knew I'd love to make one! So, today was the day that I finally met (or made...) my Lady Maria Luisa... (does anyone know who that is, by the way?)

This cake is similar to Victorian sponge cake since it is filled with jam. However, there is one thing that makes this popular Colombian treat unique... Yes! Dulce du leche! Oooh, once again.., my favourite milky caramel has come into play! (See home made dulce de leche) With the raspberry jam, I've spread a generous amount of dulce de leche.

A slightly denser sponge with a hint of orange juice..., melt-in-mouth icing sugar followed by intensive kick of jam and caramel....Humm, what a treat! Absolutely delicious!

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets Recipes, Colombia.

Ghoriba coco

On The World of Sweets, I've made cookies and macaroons before... and I love both of them. This Moroccan Ghoriba is like half cookie and half macaroon, and it is certainly one of the best tea time treats for me.

The chewy texture is like macaroons yet the semolina flour makes these cookie nice and crusty too. The icing sugar melts in the mouth, and of course, the rich coconut flavour hits you every bite!

I love not only the gorgeous taste and texture but also the cracked surface . They look very authentic, and bit like dinosaur's eggs... (not that I've ever seen them...)

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets Recipes, Morocco.

Nutty cookie

Peanut butter is one of my many food addictions. Time to time I treat myself with a jar of crunchy peanut butter and a spoon to tuck straight in to the jar...

Yesterday, Andy said..."I fancy cookies this Saturday..." and immediately my baking brain switched on and thinking "Oh, there is some peanut butter left in the fridge and we've got that nice almond butter..., hummm that will work nicely..."

So... this morning, I quite literally rushed into the kitchen to try out my nutty cookie. As soon as I started the prep, rich nutty aroma woke me up.  Since it's very easy to make, the cookies were ready by breakfast time. There was no way that I can wait until afternoon tea time, so I had them with my morning tea. YES, morning tea with my delicate nutty cookies... What a lovely way to start a day!

Ingredients:

Peanut butter 50g

Butter 50g

Flour 100g

Sugar 50g

Egg 1

Baking powder 1/2 tsp

Almond butter 1 tbsp

1. Cream peanut butter, butter, almond butter together.

2. Add sugar into 1 and mix well.

3. Add egg into 2 and mix well.

4. Fold in flour and baking powder into 3.

5. Wrap the dough in a cling film and rest it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 180º. Cut the dough in shapes you like.

7. Bake for 18 minutes in the preheated oven.

Bojo cake

Bojo cake (oh..,I like the name Bojo..., isn't it cute...?) is a flourless cake from Suriname. It's made from cassava and coconuts, and extremely moist and full of rich flavours.

I'd eaten cassava many times but never made a cake before, and since the recipe doesn't include any sort of flours, to start with I wasn't 100% convinced this was going to work.
However, as soon as I started mixing the grated cassava and coconut flakes, and cinnamon, rum and raisin went in it... my doubt was gone... it was looking and smelling good:) With the starch from cassava all the ingredients were nicely combined and looked pretty much like a normal flour cake mixture.

After 45 minutes or so..., the kitchen was filled with lovely coconut flavour...
Hummm, irresistible... one bite... two bites... a whole piece... The sweetness of coconuts, hint of cinnamon and rum... unique chewy texture from cassava... All the ingredients play their each part perfectly in this cake... Simply gorgeous :)

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets, Recipes, Suriname.

Persian ice cream

Ice cream is definitely one of my favourtie desserts, and although I eat them every so often through out the year, it is a must on a sunny hot summer day!

This Persian ice cream is full of rich flavours such as rose water, pistachio, and of course... saffron, the most expensive spice in the world... but, don't worry about the cost because a little amount is enough to get the lovely colour and unique aroma of saffron. Get a small pot and do it in a proper Persian way!
Not only those exotic flavours, but also the creamy custard ice cream makes this Persian treat taste even more exquisite...

Just as a tip, be careful not to add too much rose water since it has quite a rich flavour and too much of it can be a little overwhelming...

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets Recipes, Iran.

St Lucia's banana cake

I love bananas...  I was once so addicted to them that I dose up myself with 10 bananas in one go and made myself come off from that addiction. However, this morning I found bananas laying in the kitchen and I could see my banana addiction is now gradually coming back...

This time, my craving was not for plain fresh bananas but a banana cake...

After a bit of research, I decided to go for Caribbean style, St Lucia's banana cake. This cake is... full of my favourite things. The soft and moist bananas, fresh taste of pineapple... crunchy nuts, and hint of spices... humm, what else do I need to make myself feel warm and happy:)

I used almond for nuts, but walnuts would be good too.

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets, Saint Lucia.

Hotteok

Hotteok is a Korean pancake with nuts and brown sugar filling inside. It's a popular street snack especially in the winter.

The texture of the pancake is similar to naan bread, soft and a little stretchy. When I bit into the pipping hot pancake, my mouth was immediately filled with the rich flavour and sweet taste of brown sugar...

Humm yum yum, not only did it make my body warm but also made me feel bit nostalgic... I guess it's because this popular Korean street food is very much like おやき(Oyaki) in Japan. Japan and Korea seem to have quite few things in common...

Normally, peanuts are used for the filling but this time I made them with walnuts for a change, which worked pretty well:)

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets, Korea Republic.

母の日(mother's day) in Japan

お母さんへ。
今日は母の日。なので、こんなケーキ作ってみました〜。残念ながらイギリスから日本へは送れないけど、こっちでお母さんの分食べときます…笑。これからも健康に気をつけて、お父さんと共に楽しい毎日を過ごして下さい。

Today is Mother's day in Japan, so I'm sending this post especially to my mum in Japan. Unfortunately, I can't actually send the cake to Japan, but hope she'll enjoy looking at it and imagine how sugary it is...:) Oh, by the way, this big lip & big eyes face isn't my mum... it's just some lady... Anyway, happy mother's day:D

こどもの日 (Children's day)

Today is こどもの日 (Kodomo no hi, Children's day) in Japan, and the last day of three days national holiday.
Around this day, we see lots of 鯉のぼり (Koinobori), colourful carp-shaped flags raised across Japan. Especially, by the river side you'll see a lots of them lined up and beautifully flying in the sky. That's one of my favourite spring view in Japan.

Unfortunately, I can't easily see the Koinobori in England (in fact, I've never seen one;(...) so..., I made it happen with colourful pancakes! Maybe they aren't as elegant as those flags but at least, they're edible... and cute, and of course, I can feel a bit of Japan...:D

Pistachio flan

I got a pack of Dr Oetker's pistachio flan when we went to France a month ago... And I finally made it yesterday.
Even with my poor french, it was so easy to make it thanks to the illustration on the back of the package. On there it said to use 1/2 liter of milk for a sachet (if I understood it correctly...), but I like it to be little firmer than usual so I used 400ml of milk and added a bit of cardamon for a bit of change.

It came out really well. A perfect texture, not too sweet, and I could test a hint of spice:) Humm, I thought it reminded me of something... I didn't know what to start with, but after a couple fo spoons, I realised it was the taste of 杏仁豆腐!  (Annin dofu, a chinese almond pudding). That made sence because almond and pistachio are similar and both have milk in it.

Well, I didn't think I can make 杏仁豆腐 easily in England, but now I've found a way to enjoy it more often! I still have three more sachets...all for me....;)