The best bread + butter pudding

23-11-2017 Local Black Bookbaking, bread & butter pudding, British, classics, dessert, pudding, recipe5 Comments

As you might have noticed, I’m all about comfort food at the moment.

Soup is still my absolute favourite (with cream of tomato, tomato & lentil & butternut versions featuring heavily in my diet this month), but I’d be lying if I pretended like what I really crave lately is carbs.

Pasta, mash, rice and all sorts of nursery puddings… basically all the beige things!

Best of them all though?

This incredible, festive take on the classic bread & butter pudding.

There’s something so comforting about bread & butter pudding – and this version, made with Karaway Bakery’s delicious cinnamon, walnut and raisin brioche loaf takes this classic British pudding a step further.

Soft and indulgent, with crunchy nuts and moist raisins scattered through and the warm aroma of cinnamon, it’s the sort of food winter is made for.

So make the most of the cold season and pud‘ it on your menu… You can thank me later!

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More comfort food recipes

Italian-style sausage casserole

Butternut squash pasta bake (V)

French apple turnovers (V)

Sticky date porridge (VE, GF)

French apple turnovers

25-10-2017 Local Black Bookapple, cooking, dessert, food, puff pastry, recipe, snack, vegetarianLeave a comment

As a child, my favourite day of the year was the much-anticipated family trip to one of the gigantic superstores for our annual back-to-school shopping trip.

Beautiful new notebooks. Pens in every colour of the rainbow and the fountain pen I had been dreaming of for month. And -best of all- the promise of warm-from-the-oven classic apple turnovers for le goûter.

It truly was the most wonderful time of the year!

My schoolyears are now far behind me but my love for the puffed up little pockets of autumn joy of my childhood remain.

Light, crisp, buttery, filled with warm cinnamon sprinkled apple and just so goddamn apple-ing!

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The ultimate fall snack and the perfect accompaniment to a nice cuppa!

More fall recipes

My favourite squash soup (VE)

Butternut squash pasta bake (V)

Apple & black pudding sausage rolls

Halloween monster brookies (V)

Polenta Plum Cobbler

08-09-2017 Local Black Bookcake, cobbler, dessert, plum, polenta, recipeLeave a comment

Though not quite as popular this side of the Atlantic, cobbler, the American cousin to our much beloved crumble, is a rustic affair of the most delicious sort.

Much like its British relative, it’s hot, sweet and incredibly comforting, especially when it’s of the apricot or plum variety.

Much like its British relative, it’s hot, sweet and incredibly comforting – perfect as the cold nights slowly draw in.

Especially when said cobbler is of the plum variety with a cornbread-meet-biscuit topping.

Sharp, sweet, crunchy and crumbly all at once, this polenta plum cobbler is one of the very best things about Autumn.

Give it a try – you’ll see, it’s a-maize-ing!

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More Autumn pudding ideas

The best (no-frosting) carrot cake (V)

Mustard & onion quiche (V)

Garlic butter mushroom buns (V)

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

02-09-2017 Local Black Bookcake, carrot cake, dessert, recipe, snack1 Comment

Carrot cake is one of my absolute favourites.

I mean, when else can you eat cake and say it’s one of your 5 a day?

But I almost never have it because it always comes with a veeeeery generous serving of frosting.

And I don’t like frosting.

Obviously, I couldn’t allow that no-cake non-sense to continue.

I tried skipping the frosting altogether – but it simply doesn’t work.

Without it, traditonal carrot cake is quite dry and all in all a bit… meh.

Unless, that is, you add my secret ingredient to your carrot cake.

The secret to the best, moist-est carrot cake?

Cream cheese!

So obvious I wonder how I didn’t think of it before.

So if you’re not big on frosting, try this carrot cake recipe – it’ll whisk you off you feet!

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More amazing pud’ recipes

Crumble in a jar (V)

Vegan chocolate mousse (Vegan, GF, DF)

Cranberry oatmeal cake (V)

Crumble in a jar

14-08-2017 Local Black Bookcrumble, custard, dessert, in a jar, recipe4 Comments

Lately, I’m about 75% tomatoes (because tomato glut season and all that) and 25% peaches.

What can I say: when my favourite fruit & veggies are in season (and consequently cheap), I ~~become completely obsessed~~ try and make the most of it.

As far as peaches are concerned, that means having them for breakfast with yoghurt, carrying boxes of chopped peach for on the go snacks, making jam…

And of course, crumble.

Crumble is one of my favourite desserts.

It tastes THE BOMB and it’s the easiest thing to make.

You know how partial I am to a lazy dessert.

Crumble in a jar • Recipe • Cake + Whisky

Especially when said lazy dessert looks faaaaaaaar more impressive that it actually is.

And even more so if said lazy dessert, like these crumble in a jar, can be slipped into picnic baskets/totes/briefcases or gym bags.

Perfect for al-desko/fresco lunches, suppers or a particularly indulgent snack… No matter the time of the day, those crumble in jar are just peachy!

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More dessert recipes

Vegan chocolate mousse

Vanilla lemon posset

Vanilla Lemon Posset (V, GF)

18-07-2017 Local Black BookBritish, classics, cream, dessert, gluten-free, lemon, posset, pudding, recipe, vegetarianLeave a comment

When it comes to dessert, I love a good chocolate cake. I have a thing for anything raspberry. I find it hard to resist a gooey brownie.

But my one true love are lemon puddings.

There’s something about zesty, creamy citrus desserts that simply makes my heart sing.

My absolute fave is a good (aka my dad’s) lemon tart (with no meringue), but I’m also quite partial to a beautiful, just set lemon posset.

The first time I tasted a lemon posset was at my former local The Pig & Butcher.

It was love at first bite.

Silky smooth, super light and tart, with just a hint of vanilla, this recipe is just as good.

The zest.

So, if life gives you lemons… give it a go!

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Classic chocolate mousse

24-04-2017 Local Black Book2 ingredients, chocolate, dessert, easy, gluten-free, mousse, recipe, sweet, vegetarian2 Comments

When it comes to food, I don’t have many pet peeves.

Want to re-invent a classic by putting a massive twist on it? Go ahead (and let me know how it goes). Craving your favourite summer dish in the middle of winter? By all means, switch up ingredients to create some more seasonally version. Allergic to this or that ingredient? Trying to avoid gluten/dairy/fat? Your call.

But there is one thing I simply cannot allow and that is anyone trying to pass off any- and everything, and especially not cream-based recipes, as chocolate mousse.

Of course, there is a time and place for cream and chocolate to come out and play together. And that place would be in a ganache, or a crémeux, or a pot de crème even. Not in a mousse.

Classic Chocolate Mousse recipe ● Cake + Whisky

Because, and trust me I have eaten my way through many a so-called ‘mousse’ before I came to this conclusion, there is one way to make a proper, classic chocolate mousse. And that is with chocolate and eggs.

It’s better for you (less fat, more protein), it’s A LOT less fussy to make and it tastes SO MUCH BETTER.

Point, set, match and end of the debate.

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Simple Pink Fruit Salad (V, Vegan)

09-03-2017 Local Black Bookbreakfast, dessert, fruit, fruit salad, grapefruit, healthy, paleo, raspberry, recipe, vegan, vegetarian1 Comment

When I scroll through restaurant menus online (everyone has their passion eh?), I’m always shocked by how expensive fruit salad are. You want me to pay HOW MUCH for some chopped up fruit?? Are they made of gold or what?

And then I started making fruit salad at home and found out why that is.

Because you see, fruit salad are a bit more finicky that they seem. As it turns out, prepping fruit takes forever. Washing, drying, peeling, chopping, segmenting… There’s no shortcut to be used and the technical skills needed to make the perfect fruit platter are very demanding. Plus, unlike many desserts, fruit salad cannot be made in advance.

Pink Fruit Salad recipe | Cake + Whisky

As for many of life’s finest things, simplicity truly is the ultimate sophistication, and a beautiful fruit bowl is difficult to top for a light, refreshing breakfast or dessert. So I suppose in a way, it’s worth the premium restaurants make you pay for it.

Or you know, the effort to DIY.

If you have a little bit of extra time in the morning or last-minute guests for dinner, take the 10 or so minutes to make this delightfully simple, perfectly balanced pink fruit salad.

Despite how intricate it looks and complex it tastes, it’s actually very simple to put together.

All in all a truly grape way to start the day or end the meal on a light, colourful note!

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Looking for more breakfast inspo?

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S’mores Cheesecake Pots

13-02-2017 Local Black Bookcheesecake, chocolate, dessert, no bake, recipe, smoresLeave a comment

Between hunting for a new flat, cleaning/clearing/decluttering our current one, making Valentine’s Day plans, prepping food for the week ahead and then some, last weekend was a busy one.

So much so that by the end of it, there wasn’t much energy left in me…

Actually, just enough for me to whip up these babe’in S’mores cheesecake pots, light up some candles & collapse in front of my 120,000 re-watch of old Friends episodes.

Trust me when I say they’re super easy/speedy to make and well worth the (limited) effort.

Intensely chocolate-y, a little bit sour and very, very indulgent, they’re any chocolate-holic (aka you and me both) dream come true.

So whether you want to treat your Valentine, Galentines or yourself this week, S’mores cheesecake pots is the way.

I bet they’ll all come back asking for s’more!

S’mores Cheesecake Pots

(serves 2-4, depending on how generous your portions are!)

Ingredients:

140g cream cream cheese
40g granulated sugar
100g dark chocolate
140g very cold double cream
6 Biscoff speculoos biscuits
8 big marshmallows (I used those INSANELY good salted caramel ones!)

Method:

1. In a big bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and the sugar until lump-less and well combined.

2. Melt your chocolate using the double-boiler method, then add it to the cream cheese mixture.

3. Whisk the cream to soft peaks, then fold it into the cream cheese mixture.

4. Share the mixture between 2-4 glasses and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

5. Just before serving, burn the surface of the marshmallows with a handheld kitchen blowtorch. Top each glass with pieces of biscuits and marshmallow and serve immediately.

Healthy Chocolate Orange

03-02-2017 Local Black Bookchocolate, dessert, healthy, orange, recipeLeave a comment

I have a -fully disclosed- love affair with citrus fruit. Lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, I love them all.

But my favourite, if I ever had to pick just one at gunpoint, would probably be blood oranges.

I love how versatile they are (they work just as well in savoury dishes as they do in sweet ones and are wonderful both by themselves or paired with some more complex flavours). Plus they’re so pretty they make any plate look stunning.

The season for blood oranges is rather short though, so I make the most of them when they’re available. Which happens to be right about now.

Healthy Chocolate Orange recipe (vegan, GF) | Cake + Whisky

So when every food magazine is trying to push more Valentine-evocative strawberry/caramel/chocolate puds, I decided to use the season of love as another excuse to use blood oranges.

Inspired by Terry’s classic Chocolate Orange treat, this gorgeous blood orange salad is both healthy and sophisticated with a touch of nostalgia thrown in for good measure.

It’s vegan and gluten-free (but you’d never guess it from tasting it!), and it’s much quicker and easier to make than it looks, so you don’t have to slave in the kitchen to impress your loved one. Basically the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert!

Healthy chocolate orange (serves 2 – vegan, gluten free)

Ingredients:

4 blood oranges
50g good baking dark chocolate
2 tbsp coconut cream
1 tsp desiccated coconut
small sprinkle of sea salt flakes

Method:

(Steps 1, 2 & 3 can be made ahead of time, in which case you’ll want to keep the different elements in the fridge until serving time. Steps 4 & 5 however should be done right before serving)

1. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Take off the heat, then stir in the coconut cream and sea salt flakes. Put in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.

2. Using a sharp knife (serated ones work best for this), cut away the peel and pith from the oranges, explosing the flesh. Slice the oranges as thin as you can, then arrange the slices onto two small plates.

3. Use a couple of hot teaspoons to form small quenelles of the chocolate truffle mixture.

4. Arrange the chocolate truffle quenelles on top of the orange slices.

5. In a dry pan, roast the desiccated coconut for a minute or so, until it turns slightly golden. Sprinkle on top of each plate and serve immediately.

Cake and Whisky

Life in London and other almost-grown-up tales

Menu

dessert

The best bread + butter pudding

More comfort food recipes

French apple turnovers

More fall recipes

Polenta Plum Cobbler

More Autumn pudding ideas

The Best Carrot Cake Recipe

More amazing pud’ recipes

Crumble in a jar

More dessert recipes

Vanilla Lemon Posset (V, GF)

More easy pudding recipes

Classic chocolate mousse

Simple Pink Fruit Salad (V, Vegan)

Looking for more breakfast inspo?

S’mores Cheesecake Pots

S’mores Cheesecake Pots

Ingredients:

Method:

Healthy Chocolate Orange

Healthy chocolate orange (serves 2 – vegan, gluten free)

Ingredients:

Method: