Archive for the 'Desserts and puddings' Category

Go to the recipe for Bread and butter pudding

Our friend Anthony brought round one of those panettone things on Christmas Day. In the end not a lot of it got eaten – we had a decent spread lined up already, and the panettone was kind of a last-minute whim on Anthony’s part.

For those not familiar, panettone is a kind of domed bready cake, often containing dried fruit and other goodies. It’s usually risen with yeast as opposed to baking powder. Panettone is a centrepiece at Italian Christmas tables and seems to be becoming more popular in other countries.

So Christmas came and went, as did Boxing Day, New Year’s, and the thing was still sitting there in its box, with only a few slices taken off. Continue reading ‘Panettone pudding recipe – a twist on bread and butter pudding’

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How to make rum balls: two ways, humble and posh

Published on December 20, 2010 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Quick and easy, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 4 Comments Tags: rum ball recipe.

Go to the recipe for Humble rum balls
Go to the recipe for Lenny’s faff-tastic wonder balls

It’s a good idea to have a few snack-like goodies prepared for the Christmas period and rum balls always do the trick. Our friend Angie mentioned she’d made a batch to her Nana’s recipe so Waz thought he’d follow suit.

They are based on Weetbix or Weetabix, a cereal bar made out of wheat flakes, and include condensed milk for sweetening. Instead of Weetbix, if there’s no such thing where you live, you can use a plain graham cracker, digestive biscuit or similar cookie. Continue reading ‘How to make rum balls: two ways, humble and posh’

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Let the jelly roll: Swiss roll recipe from Waz’s Nana

Published on March 25, 2010 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Favourites, Quick and easy and Video recipes. 23 Comments

Go to the recipe for Swiss roll, aka jelly roll

Swiss roll – or jelly roll to the Americans and Canadians – is what Lenny likes to call a store cupboard cake. Like my Mum’s teacake, this is baking at its easiest. You’ve probably got most of the ingredients already, and the results are sure to win you a disproportionate amount of praise from your guests. Continue reading ‘Let the jelly roll: Swiss roll recipe from Waz’s Nana’

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Crème caramel: from one flan to another

Published on May 8, 2009 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, French traditional, Sauces, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 20 Comments

Go to the recipe for crème caramel

If you want a dessert that combines simplicity and wow factor, this has got to be it – crème caramel or flan, either vanilla or au café (the latter, “with coffee”, tends to be preferred in France).

Sure you’ve got to make caramel and custard. But neither could be easier. While a careful eye is needed to get the caramel just right, if you cut and run a bit early it will probably just mean that it’s a lighter colour.

And the custard is not your fraught stove-hovering kind, where you’ve got to heat and whisk over the burner for ages while engaging in some minor bacteriological warfare until the consistency and temperature hit their alchemy point. Nope, as far as custard goes this is really a straightforward heat-and-mix job. Continue reading ‘Crème caramel: from one flan to another’

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Blackberry crumble with short ramble

Published on September 11, 2008 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 3 Comments Tags: blackberry crumble, cooking, Cooking videos, crash test kitchen, kitchen, lenny, recipe, video blog, waz.

Continue reading ‘Blackberry crumble with short ramble’

Although we haven’t had a brilliant summer here in the UK, and it looks like what we did have is pretty much over for the year, we did manage to bid a sad farewell to the summer by taking a lovely walk in the Kent countryside.

I love the public footpaths here in the UK: there is a network crossing public and private property that anyone can walk along and enjoy what the countryside has to offer. We often take a day-trip down to Kent to wander across the rolling green dales, through the fields, woodlands and orchards, taking in the fresh air.

On this particular sunny Saturday our route took us through numerous apple orchards where crisp, pink apples shone on the trees and the hedges were thick with fat, juicy blackberries.

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Portuguese custard tarts recipe (pasteis de nata)

Published on June 13, 2008 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Favourites, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 27 Comments

Go to the recipe

I’m not much of a sweet tooth, and unlike Waz I’m not much of a coffee drinker. But when I do indulge in a proper espresso it’s always lovely to complement it with a sweet little morsel. Just like nata – or proper Portuguese custard tarts. These delicacies are made with a puff pastry base and a vanilla egg custard filling with a hint of orange zest.

They are by no means the only custard tart around. Waz and I are also huge fans of Chinese dan ta – those lovely little glossy-topped, flaky-based tarts you get when you have good yum cha (also known as dim sum). Continue reading ‘Portuguese custard tarts recipe (pasteis de nata)’

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Pudding it simply

Published on February 20, 2008 in Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 19 Comments Tags: baked treacle pudding plum golden syrup jam Christmas c.

Go to the recipe for baked treacle pudding

We’ve been cooking up a few videos for the Word of Mouth food blog, as we’ve mentioned before. Here’s another one, where we make a gorgeous and failsafe baked treacle pudding by Fergus Henderson of St John restaurant, London.

OK, straight away you North Americans are asking “What’s treacle?” Basically it’s a sugar syrup, lighter than molasses but heavier than golden syrup. These days you’re likely to find golden syrup used in its place, as with this recipe. I guess pancake syrup (not maple) as found in the US/Canada is fairly similar. Continue reading ‘Pudding it simply’

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Tickety-Boo Tipsy Trifle (part 2)

Published on October 29, 2007 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 6 Comments

Preparing and gathering together the component parts of a trifle is only half the job – it is also necessary to give some thought to assembly.

Because even though trifle is ostensibly a slapdash co-mingling of separate (and according to Waz, perfectly edible separately) bits and bobs of sweetness, sharpness and creaminess, the presentation is all-important.

In fact, the appearance of trifle is probably the only thing I have liked about this traditional English pud in the past. Continue reading ‘Tickety-Boo Tipsy Trifle (part 2)’

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Trifle Part 1: The Spongeblob Redemption

Published on October 23, 2007 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 3 Comments

Remember Sponge Blob Square Pan? The absolute debacle where we tried to cook a sponge cake?

It was back in the very early days of Crash Test Kitchen. We’ve learnt a few things since then, but the idea of cooking a simple sponge still gives us the collywobbles.

But then Lenny went and decided she wanted to make a classic English trifle – and of course that involves a sponge cake sliced into fingers. This time we armed ourselves with Allegra McEvedy’s “Never Fail Victoria Sponge” recipe, as handed down by her mum and published at the Word of Mouth food blog of the Observer Food Monthly, where we do some cameo appearances. Continue reading ‘Trifle Part 1: The Spongeblob Redemption’

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About the soufflé

Published on June 4, 2007 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Favourites, French traditional, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 15 Comments

There’s an old Buddhist saying that goes something like: “When two paths open up before you, make soufflé.”

There are two main paths to soufflé, and in accordance with the true version of that Buddhist proverb, we chose the difficult one. Continue reading ‘About the soufflé’

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These pretzels are making us … feisty!

Published on November 16, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 18 Comments

Well. To anyone who says I give Lenny too much hassle and back-talk in the kitchen, I say just watch this episode.

I reckon I’m pretty capable with dough and have a good feel for the right texture, moisture and density. So when we decided to make pretzels – the big soft chewy bready variety, not the nasty little crunchy bar snacks – I decided to take charge.

I got hooked on these things in Canada where there was a chain in shopping malls that baked and sold them fresh. I always wonder about those instant-baked breads – do they use yeast, for example, or some sort of chemical for a quicker result? Anyway, they were still good enough to suck me in repeatedly. Continue reading ‘These pretzels are making us … feisty!’

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Joy of tarte tatin

Published on November 7, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, French traditional and Video recipes. 10 Comments

Go to the recipe for tarte tatin

A while back we had a giveaway for the Joy of Cooking cookbook’s latest edition. We were impressed by this American culinary tome – it really is quite an almanac, and we use it regularly. No surprise that when we decided to bake a tarte tatin it was right there in the index.

Tarte tatin is traditionally made with apple but we have used pear once before, and Lenny reckons you could even do it with plums. Loads of butter and sugar are simmered into a buttery, sticky toffee-caramel sauce that fuses the slices of apple to a layer of puff pastry. It’s cooked upside down, first on a hob, then in the oven, and you invert it to serve. Continue reading ‘Joy of tarte tatin’

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Cinnamon teacake

Published on October 16, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Quick and easy and Video recipes. 27 Comments

Wow! I was interviewed as an authority on food podcasting for the Guardian Unlimited newsdesk podcast this morning and can’t believe how nervous I was. I hope they managed to edit together something sensible from all my babble. You can find the interview about 16 min 40 sec into the bulletin.

Loads of stuff I forgot to mention – like how we’ve been in Time magazine, and how we’re cited in Stephanie Bryant’s new book Videoblogging for Dummies.

GET CRASH TEST KITCHEN IN iTUNES.

Anyway. It’s been a while since we posted an episode – listen to the GU podcast and you’ll learn that it’s partly because our cooker/stove/oven was broken, and getting it replaced was a bit of a nightmare. Also we’ve been travelling again, and work life has been keeping us busy. But we’ve kicked back into gear and, to coincide with the Guardian interview, here’s an episode in which we make a simple teacake.

This video was previously posted incomplete, but it’s now the full episode, so if you saw “Part 1″ please watch again.

Now, about teacake. As the name suggests it’s the perfect accompaniment to a cup of your favourite leaf tea, and is as much a part of the Anglo-Australian baking repertoire as scones and sponge cake. Continue reading ‘Cinnamon teacake’

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Revealing our (chocolate) sauce

Published on June 2, 2006 in Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Quick and easy, Sauces and Video recipes. 12 Comments

QuickTime video

It seems Lenny has a latent sweet tooth. In the past she was not really one for desserts, but more and more she’s turning out cakes and confections. This simple chocolate sauce based on just four ingredients has become one of her staples.

Our mate Chef Michelle gave us the recipe, handed down from her mum. You combine milk, sugar, cocoa and butter over heat, and whisk gently until it bubbles itself into a velvety and perilously rich topping. Tip it straight over ice cream and wolf down.

Crash Test Kitchen is all about improvisation, so we slapped together a cherry and brandy maceration to create what Michelle dubbed “black forest chocolate delight”. Actually, she came up with “black forest” bit and I embellished it. Continue reading ‘Revealing our (chocolate) sauce’

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Banoffi or Banoffee? Vol. 2

Published on May 5, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 10 Comments

If you’ve watched the last episode (this one includes a quick recap) you’ll know that we made banoffee (banoffi) pie after much pleading from our gastro-pal Chef Michelle and her hubby Phil.

Most of the work was done at our place, then we transported the components , including the fragile shortcrust base, across London to Michelle and Phil’s for completion and gustation.

Go to the recipe for banoffee pie

The crust made it intact and the results were pretty good all round, making allowances for a little over-zealous whipping of the cream by Lenny. Continue reading ‘Banoffi or Banoffee? Vol. 2′

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Coffee, Toffee, Banoffee Pie – Vol. 1

Published on April 24, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional and Video recipes. 13 Comments

Banoffi or banoffee? The debate rages, and the inventors of this world-famous dessert, the Hungry Monk Cafe, arguably should get the last word – even though they would appear to be in the wrong, since the name stands for “banana and toffee/coffee”. Maybe the “i” is there to make it sound Italian.

Go to the recipe for banoffee pie

Our friend Chef Michelle and her man Phil had suggested we crash test this one at our house, under her supervision. But plans change, and we had to switch the dinner venue to their place at very short notice. That meant whipping up the base and filling at ours, then transporting the components across London and finishing the job at theirs.

The easiest and perhaps most dangerous way to make the basic caramel filling needed for this dessert is to submerge a can or two of condensed milk in a pot of water and boil for hours and hours. There’s always the risk of the cans exploding if you let the water level drop. Continue reading ‘Coffee, Toffee, Banoffee Pie – Vol. 1′

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Rice pudding with pineapple confusion

Published on April 15, 2006 in Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Failures and redemptions, Quick and easy, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 10 Comments

My mum would often make rice pudding when I was a kid. Though I loved the pudding, I would scrape off the skin with my spoon and plop it on mum’s plate, who made an ostentatious show of eating it while I curled up my nose in distaste.

Lenny was making risotto a while back and couldn’t find arborio rice, so bought some “Italian pudding rice” instead at a corner store. I insisted, though, that it wouldn’t work, and went out an ultimately successful mission to find the right kind for risotto. That left us with this packet of pudding rice, which Lenny has finally put to use.

In our modest cookery library she found a recipe for “nursery rice pudding” and went to work, also grilling some pineapple for a topping. Continue reading ‘Rice pudding with pineapple confusion’

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Heart-melting chocolate pudding

Published on March 30, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Favourites and Video recipes. 30 Comments

Go to the recipe for heart-melting chocolate pudding

I couldn’t help it. Lenny left those blocks of delicious dark chocolate sitting there in the cupboard for weeks and weeks. Late one night I just had to have a nibble.

In the end, having not quite enough 70% cocoa dark chocolate to make these molten-centred puddings wasn’t such a big problem. Hidden away in another corner of the cupboard was some plain old Cadbury’s glass-and-a-half, and it probably took the edge off the cheek-puckering bitterness of the hardcore Green & Black’s Organic.

Lenny had been dying to cook this devilish delight after we had one at the rather posh St John restaurant in Clerkenwell, London. Continue reading ‘Heart-melting chocolate pudding’

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How to make cracking creme brulee

Published on March 8, 2006 in Cakes, breads and baking, Chicken and poultry, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Favourites, French traditional, Quick and easy, Sauces, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 23 Comments

We all want one of those chef’s blowtorches, don’t we? You know, the ones that you can use to blacken a capsicum (sorry, a pepper), blister a tomato … or make creme brulee!

I’ve had a serious addiction to this oh-so-unhealthy French dessert for years now – probably since I saw the movie Amelie, with that pixie-faced leading lady who rates “cracking creme brulee with a spoon” as one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Most restaurants have it on the menu, and I’ve eaten all sorts of variations – fruit flavoured and the like – in different parts of the world. Continue reading ‘How to make cracking creme brulee’

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Chocolate cake like mum makes

Published on December 18, 2005 in Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking techniques explained, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Favourites, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 24 Comments

I have never found a chocolate cake as good as my mum’s. Actually it’s my grandmother’s recipe, and a great one at that.

I didn’t know until I asked mum for the recipe that it’s a “boiled” cake. You don’t actually boil it to cook it – but you simmer some of the ingredients before making the final mix. Continue reading ‘Chocolate cake like mum makes’

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Rhubarb’s your uncle

Published on November 8, 2005 in Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Quick and easy, Sauces, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 16 Comments

Rhubarb. To me it’s always been more a synonym for nonsense or babble, or a gap-filling nothing vegetable in the garden, than the deliciously tart and easily prepared treat it turns out to be.

We went to the Borough Markets with a chef friend on Saturday and no doubt the rhubarb we bought is a super-organic non-GM wind-powered dolphin-friendly variety.

You can spend hours at the Borough and we really should get some footage down there for a future episode. I’m sure I can overcome my fear of being clocked by a falling 25kg wheel of gourmet cheese. Continue reading ‘Rhubarb’s your uncle’

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How To Eat An Island

Published on September 6, 2005 in Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Pork, Potatoes, Salads, Sauces and Video recipes. 3 Comments

With epicurean delights like maple-smoked sturgeon and salmon, home-made apple cider and excellent local wines on offer, why wouldn’t a quartet of wandering gourmand-wannabes stop by Ile d’Orleans in Quebec?

After a week on the road we picked up our old friends Cristy and Robert (“Speedy” to his mates) in Ontario and whisked them away to the heady delights of French-speaking Canada – cosmopolitan Montreal first, then Quebec City with its old-world charms. Ile d’Orleans hides in the St Lawrence River not far from the capital and is a little rural haven with much to offer a travelling palate.

Excellent local ingredients also made this a perfect stopover for our next “Canadian Safari” episode of CTK. Continue reading ‘How To Eat An Island’

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Boy meets blueberry

Published on August 17, 2005 in Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Quick and easy, Sauces and Video recipes. 7 Comments

Well, we’ve moved out of our apartment, left Edmonton, and now we’re “homeowners”. That “home” being Gus the Bus, our mobile Crash Test Kitchen, which we’re driving across Canada on the trip of a lifetime.

We had to move out of the flat a week before we left town (we decided to stay for the Edmonton Folk Festival) and our friends Ian, Jen and their little boy Noah kindly put us up in their basement. So as a thank-you I made them my famous crepes, and Lenny whipped up a delicious blueberry sauce.

Len came up with a simple recipe on the spot, and you only have to watch Noah in the video to see how much he enjoyed it! Continue reading ‘Boy meets blueberry’

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Canada Day Souffle, Part 2

Published on July 3, 2005 in Breakfast, Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, French traditional, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 2 Comments

Technically, Canada Day, July 1, celebrates the anniversary of the formation of the union of the British North America provinces in a federation called Canada. This all took place in 1868. These days, it’s mostly a day for fireworks, lots of drinking and another excuse for a big family gathering.

It was great to spend Canada Day with the most Canadian of families out at the L’Hirondelle ancestral property in Sturgeon County. We even participated in a good-ol’ game of horseshoes, eh. I got a “ringer” and a “point” in one go, for a score of four points – very impressive for a first-time horseshoer. Unfortunately I and my teammate Scott were knocked out by veterans Terry and Sue. I was consoled, however, by the fact the “souffle” turned out a treat! Continue reading ‘Canada Day Souffle, Part 2′

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O Canada, we make souffle for thee

Published on July 1, 2005 in Breakfast, Cakes, breads and baking, Christmas recipes, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 2 Comments

It’s Canada Day! We’re Aussies, but we’re in Canada, so any excuse for a party. This afternoon we’re off to our mate Tom’s place for a real Canada Day bash with his family. Last night we were up late preparing French toast souffle as our contribution.

It’s a sinful amalgam of bread, creamed cheese, eggs, butter, maple syrup and a few other delicious elements. Extremely tasty, and not a true “souffle”, so you don’t have to tiptoe around the kitchen while it’s cooking. Being “French toast souffle” we feel it’s a nod to Canada’s Francophone influences, while the maple syrup makes it true-blue Canuck tucker. Sure to get the patriotic blood flowing, if all the wicked creaminess doesn’t give you a coronary. Continue reading ‘O Canada, we make souffle for thee’

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Sponge blob square pan

Published on June 29, 2005 in Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, English traditional, Failures and redemptions, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 14 Comments

[blipit id="117224"]

QuickTime video

We started out with the best intentions: whip up a layered sponge cake to celebrate our friend Paul’s 30th birthday.

He’s back in Australia, we’re here in Canada, but we’d just eat it on his behalf we reckoned.

Well, that was the plan. You see, it seems there must be a secret to making sponge cake – and we’re not in on it. Continue reading ‘Sponge blob square pan’

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The great crepe debate

Published on June 14, 2005 in Breakfast, Cakes, breads and baking, Cooking videos, Desserts and puddings, French traditional, Quick and easy, Vegetarian and Video recipes. 7 Comments

Rule number one of crepe making: there’s NO SHAME if the first one’s a failure. Rule number two: when the crepes hit the table, GET IN QUICK!