Apple Crumble, Lemon Curd Tart and Chocolate Fleur de Sel Caramel Tart...what else can one want more...

Someone once commented that my Brown Betty was beautiful. There I was thinking who is this beautiful Betty?  Silly old me...I asked my Chef and he informed me that Brown Betty is a dessert in US and in the UK, its called the Crumble. Oh...I see, I said and we had a good laugh.  So, here's my Apple & Raisin Crumble which I made to share with a friend of ours and he loved it. :)  Here's a photo of my Apple & Raisin Crumble.

Besides Apple & Raisin Crumble, here's another 2 desserts which I just love ~ Lemon Curd Tart and  Chocolate Fleur de Sel Caramel Tart.  I have heard stories about how the lemon curd came about from my Chef and one of them is that Lemon Curd was called Lemon Cheese back in the good old days in Britian. Another story is about Lemon Curd are made for the rich to serve at tea parties and such.

Who would have thought that a hint of salt could enhance something sweet so much? Well, from what I know, my Chef told me that this trend started in France. It seems that it all started in Brittany where they were into salted butter caramels. So, I guess Chocolate Fleur de Sel Caramel Tart is a spin-off from salted butter caramels.  Here's a photo of my humble Lemon Curd Tart and  Chocolate Fleur de Sel Caramel Tart.

That's all for this post....happy baking everyone!!!

Vanilla Slice

Vanilla slices....its the Australian version of the French "mille-feuille". So, what is mille-feuille? It means a thousands layers. Some people also call the mille-feuille, the Napoleon. I remember when I was a student, my Austrian lecturer told us that mille-feuille has 3 layers of puff pastry and 2 layers of custard.  The vanilla slices which I make every day consists of 2 layers of butter puff pastry and its sandwiched with custard, covered with a layer of fondat and lastly, sprinkle with snow sugar and its one of the best seller at work. Here's a photo of my vanilla slices.

Did you know that there's an annual competition which is held in Australia when bakers will come from far and near to compete for the BEST Vanilla Slice Baker? Awesome, isn't it?!

I also made a mud cake birthday cake for one of my customers. I really hope they will love it.  Here's a photo of it.

Till next time...

Rocky Road Slice & Lemon Coconut Slice

Slices are very popular here. Its a portable baked item which one will find in any bakery here. The ever so popular vanilla slice, hedgehog slice, jelly slice...the list goes on and on.  One will never get enough of slices, it seems. Slices can be easily made up without an oven.  My Grandaunt once said that a baker is not a baker if there's no slice recipes in her cookbook.

Did you know that Rocky Road was an Australian invention?  From the stories I have heard, really horrible bad hearted businessmen mixed the spoilt confectionary with milk chocolate and other sweet items ( to musk the taste and smell) and sold it to gold miners. So sad, isn't it?

These days, rocky road is very popular here, in the USA, UK and other countries.  Of course, we use the fresh items to make this beautiful slice. Here's a photo of my rocky road slice.

Besides the rocky road slice, I also made the lemon coconut slice. Here's a photo of it.

Till next time...bye!!!