Berries & Cream Cake

Here's a lovely dessert that comes together in minutes!

All you need is:

- Store bought angel food cake

- Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, whatever you fancy

- Heavy cream

- Real vanilla extract (it's worth investing in the good stuff here because we're working with pure simple flavours)

- A few tbsp powder sugar

Begin by unmoulding your cake and placing it on a plate.

Handle your berries delicately and wash then lay them on a paper towel to dry, be careful not to squish them.

In a bowl pour your chilled heavy cream and add some vanilla, powder sugar (about 2 or 3 tbsps)

Whisk by hand or use a mixer/hand blender until it is creamy but still has a soft peak texture without seizing up too much.

Gently scoop the whipped cream all over the top of the cake.

Now layer all the berries on top and chill!

With the berries that didn't make the cut I threw them in a small pot with some sugar and as soon as they come to a boil I smashed them with a fork, ran them through the strainer and saved the juice. This makes a great sauce when plating.

Serve & Enjoy!


**Whenever there is whip cream on sight kitty comes by for a taste. He needed a good distraction while I shot the cake

Citrus curds and Raspberries

Here are some fun ideas!

The other day my mum and I made a lime curd, what a great way to use up all those egg yolks from the very white sprinkle party cake with swiss meringue buttercream
Originally we wanted to make a lemon curd but no lemons on hand so limes worked just great. I really love limes, it wasn't until someone pointed out that they taste different that I ever thought about it because whatever is on sale is usually what I buy and don't really notice the difference in salads and such.

So onto the curd, it was quite easy. I used this recipe thanks to Goodlife eats.

lime curd

1/2 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon lime zest
1 - 1 1/2 cups sugar
8 egg yolks
10 tablespoons butter, sliced into tablespoons

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine the juice(s), zest, and sugar. Heat over medium heat until simmering. Turn heat to low.

Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl until smooth. Slowly pour half of the citrus mixture into the yolks while vigorously whisking. Return the amount in the bowl to the saucepan.

Continue to cook over low heat while whisking until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. About 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time.

Cool to room temperature, then store refrigerated in an airtight container for about a week.

Now with your curd you can either enjoy with a scone like we did, tastes great with raspberries for some reason!

Or you can put together a simple yet fancy dessert by whipping up some heavy cream with powder sugar and vanilla into a light whip cream then folding some curd into it and layering it with raspberries (or any fruit of your liking)

If you have leftover pound cake or any cake try layering it with the fluffy curd and fruit.

Delicious!

I had a lot of raspberries on hand as well so I made a raspberry BBQ sauce for short ribs, that turned out really nice too!

Smoosh your raspberries in a pot and add brown sugar, balsamic vinegar a hint of molasses, salt, black pepper, a bit of tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder and cook until reduced.

Keep tasting and adjusting it depending on your taste then strain (to remove seed) and refrigerate until ready to use.

Watermelon-raspberry-strawberry-passion fruit blended ice

You'll need:

- Pureed and strained watermelon fruit (this can be made ahead and frozen!)

- Strawberries (fresh or frozen)

- Raspberry (fresh or frozen

- Passion fruit (remove the seeds and pulp and strain - can also be frozen in little ice cubes if mixed with some other fruit juice as it's concentrated alone)

- A squeeze of lemon

- Simple syrup to taste

Now buzz and blend it all together!!! If you need ice add some, if the fruits are frozen you probably won't need any.

Just a tad bit of passion fruit is enough to add a lovely exotic fragrance.