Afternoon Tea

I've been rather busy lately putting together cakes for morning and afternoon teas.  There have been many different reasons as to why people order cakes, from birthdays, to leaving parties, any excuse really to eat cake!  So what are you waiting for, find an excuse to eat cake today :-)

Memories of Paris

Happy Bastille Day!  Here are a few pics from my trip to Paris, oh how I wish I was back there...

It's the little things: Coffee

I am fortunate to work with an absolutely gorgeous gal who makes the most fabulous coffees, which is a real blessing when you have to work on saturdays.  Her skills at making flat whites and my new favourite tea-lattes really do fill my saturdays with sunshine.  Oh and the macaron in the pic - she made that too!  Check out her blog for more of her fabulousness.

Recipe: Pastry Cream

Lately I've been cooking and baking with a lot of different fruit, and today when I glanced in to the fridge and spotted some ruby red rhubarb stalks (try saying that 10 times fast), I knew I had to make a tart.

One of the important aspects of a tart is the pastry cream.  This is a form of custard that sets quite firmly, and is used in things like tarts and profiteroles.  

Honestly I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to custard, I just can't stand to use the powder or *gasp* the stuff that comes in a carton!

Custard is something that I think is well worth the effort in making from scratch.  There's nothing like a home made custard using gorgeous free range eggs, full cream milk and real vanilla beans, you really can't beat it.  

So go on - step away from that custard powder, do not buy the yellow goop in a carton - grab a few simple ingredients and head in to the kitchen, you won't be disappointed...  

Pastry Cream

250ml milk

1 vanilla bean split

40g sugar

2 egg yoks

25g flour

Place the milk in a saucepan along with the split vanilla bean - gently heat.

Meanwhile, mix together sugar and eggs until thick and pale.

Gradually add in the flour and mix until combined.

Remove vanilla bean from the heated milk and slowly add half of the milk to the egg mixture while continuously stirring.

Pour the egg mixture back in to the saucepan with the remaining milk and return to heat, constantly stirring until thick.

Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool, placing cling wrap straight on to the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming.