Happy Birthday, Andy!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Haaapy birthday dear Andy,

Haaaapy birthday to you!!

It's my dear husband's birthday today. Happy birthday, Andy ;D xxx

Last Saturday we had Andy's birthday lunch, and I made this "Ultimate cream slice" as Andy requested.

It's made of three layers of puff pastry, a mixture of vanilla cream and custard cream and strawberries in between each layer, then topped with a layer of icing, pistachio meringues, sugar coated strawberries, and roasted mixed nuts brittle,... yes, now you know why it's called "Ultimate" cream slice!


Cream slice may sound an unusual cake for a birthday (I initially thought that too...), but it's one of Andy's favourite cakes, so I thought why not treat him with a very special cream slice.

The cake was a serious cream and sugar heaven. I probably enjoyed it as much as or more than the birthday boy...

Happy Birthday, Andy! xxxxx

Lemon meringue tart

Tart is one of my favourite cakes to make, and of course to eat:)

For the party we had a few weekends ago, I made this lemon meringue tart. Once the tart case is ready, this classic lemon tart is very easy to make. I made the tart myself (since that's the bit I like the most about tart making;D), but ready-to-roll sweet shortcrust pastry will do the job.

The fresh and tangy lemon filling, and crunchy outside, chewy inside meringue on the crispy golden pastry.... It was simply unbeatable... sooooo good... 

This time I made it in a 9 inch tart tin but I've decided that I'll use little tartlet tins next time so that I don't accidentally eat too much... (I must have had quarter of the big tart...ooops...)

Here is how to make this all time classic ;)

Ingredients:

Sweet pastry

Flour 250g

Sugar 125g

Butter (cold diced) 125g

Egg 1

Salt pinch

Lemon filling

Fresh lemon juice 150ml

Lemon zest 1 tsp

Sugar 100g

Double cream 60ml

Egg 3

Egg yolk 4

Meringue

Egg white 4

Sugar 200g

1. Make the sweet pastry. Mix sugar, salt and egg in a bowl.

2. Sift flour into 2 and stir until the mixture becomes sandy.

3. Add butter into 2. "Cut in" the butter by using a dough scraper.

4. When the mixture has combined, take the dough out on a floured surface and knead lightly until it becomes smooth pastry. Cover  and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

5. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to 5mm thickness. Line the pastry on a buttered and floured tart tin. Chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 190º. Line the pastry with baking sheet and fill with uncooked rice. Bake for 10 minutes and remove the baking sheet and rice and put the pastry back in the oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

7. Prepare the filling. Combine lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar and mix well.

8. Add cream into 7 and mix well.

9. Beat eggs and egg yolks into 8 one at a time.

10. Pour the filling into the tart case. Bake for 15 minutes until the filling is set. Let it cool.

11. Make the meringue. Beat the egg white and sugar together in an electric mixer until it forms stiff peaks. Pipe the meringue on the tart.

12. Put the tart in the oven (120ºc) to colour the meringue.

Ice cream & Meringue

I've been expressing my love for ice creams many times on this blog. So far, I've tried making some of them from scratch such as Indian kulfi, Persian ice cream and so on...

I have to admit that making ice creams can be time consuming, and to be very honest with you...., sometimes I can't be bothered to go for that effort... ( Oh! what a lazy thing to say as a sweets lover...) We found a very useful product for one of those lazy days, an instant ice cream mix! With this packet of powder, it's so easy to make ice cream! All you need to do is mix with water and freeze it. It takes only a minute or so (but of course, not including the freezing time.)

I tried this super easy ice cream mix yesterday. I made it quite soft, which was almost like a milk shake. Since I made little effort to prepare the ice cream, I decided to put a bit of sophistication on the topping. I made vanilla and pistachio meringue to go with it.

Even when you "cheated a bit", a little bit of extra effort (I believe making meringue was good enough...) does make all the difference! The super easy ice cream and chewy meringue were indeed a perfect treat on a hot day!

Pavlova

Beautiful contrast of white meringue, whipped cream and different types of berries..., Pavlova named after a legendary Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who was as pretty and delicate as this dessert.

There seem to be a lot of argument where this dessert originally came from. Some say Australia, the other say New Zealand. However, the World of Sweets is going to put this one in New Zealand since our Kiwi friend told me it is theirs....

To all the Aussies, please don't be angry...
Anyway wherever it's from, this is really tasty:)

Ingredients;

Egg white 2

Sugar 120g

Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp

White Vinegar a few drops

Cream of tartar 1/3 tsp

1. Pre-heat the oven to 120º.

2. Beat the egg white with an electric mixer to make a meringue.

3. Add sugar, cream of tartar, vanilla, vinegar to 2, and mix well.

4. Scoop up the mixture with a spatula and place it on the baking sheet to make a oval shape.

5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 1 hour.

6. When it's done, turn the oven off and leave it in the oven for another hour.

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Decorate with whipped cream and fruits you like.