by Amber Rose
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Lay the base cake layer on a serving platter, spoon over a generous amount of rhubarb jam, then spoon over the rosewater Chantilly cream and lastly spoon over the rhubarb and syrup. Top with rose petals and scatter with the seeds of half a pomegranate.
Summer: Summer berries and vanilla chia jam, with vanilla Chantilly cream.
You will need 1 quantity of Chantilly cream, and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and coconut sugar spice mix to the cream when whipping. You will also need 1 quantity of my raspberry and rose chia jam.
Lay the base cake layer onto a serving platter, spoon over the Chantilly cream, then the chia jam, just enough to cover the cream in generous amount.
Lastly, scatter with 200g of summer berries, strawberries and raspberries, any lovely fresh berries are a treat. Top with the second layer of cake, give a light dusting of unrefined icing sugar and decorate with a beautiful garden rose if you have one to hand.
Autumn: Roasted plums and spiced cream with hazelnuts.
You will need 1 x quantity of Chantilly cream, and add ¼ teaspoon vanilla powder to the cream when whipping.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. Take 4 large red plums or 8 smaller plums, cut in half and remove the stones, lay them cut side-up in a single layer in a roasting tray just big enough to hold them. Place a small knob of butter or coconut oil in the centre of each plum, sprinkle with 4 teaspoons of my vanilla, star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon spice mix. Roast for 15 minutes or until tender and sizzling and catching at the edges. Set aside to cool. Roast 80g hazelnuts on a baking tray for 8 minutes, rub them in a napkin to remove the skins, then chop roughly. Lay the base cake layer on a serving platter, generously spoon over the cream, then arrange the plums on top and drizzle over any juices. Lastly scatter over the gloriously golden toasted hazelnuts. Top with the second cake layer and dust with unrefined icing sugar.
Winter: Honey lemon curd with toasted almonds.
You will need 1 x quantity of Chantilly cream, 1 quantity of my honey and lemon curd and 80g toasted flaked almonds.
Lay the base cake layer on a serving platter, spoon over first the cream, then the curd, and sprinkle with the toasted flaked almonds for a wonderful crunch. Top with the second layer of sponge and dust lightly with unrefined icing sugar.
The world’s best buckwheat brownies.
MAKES 24 BROWNIES
These seriously are the world’s best brownies according to my son, and kids don’t joke around when it comes to sweet matters. They are lighter than your average brownie, which I find can be a bit dense on occasion… I prefer mine fudgier and a bit lighter, more unctuous without feeling like you have eaten a brick. You can also make this recipe in a 20cm round cake tin to create a brownie cake which serves up as the most elegant and sophisticated soft centred chocolate cake for a grown-up dinner party. Just be sure to serve it with plenty of crème fraîche or soured cream lightened with a bit of lemon and orange juice. I love to dust it with a little extra raw cacao powder if I am serving it as a dessert, a few fresh raspberries strewn over the top wouldn’t go amiss either (just don’t forget the crème fraîche!).
190g unsalted butter (or ghee or coconut oil for a lactose-free version)
190g best-quality dark chocolate
3 large eggs
100g light honey
100g coconut sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
115g buckwheat flour
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
½ teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. Line a 20 x 20cm baking tray with baking paper.
Melt the butter and dark chocolate in a heavy-based saucepan over a medium–low heat.
Put the eggs in a bowl and beat with the honey, coconut sugar and vanilla.
Sift the flour and arrowroot into a separate bowl and add the salt.
When the chocolate mixture has melted, take it off the heat and let it cool a little before beating in the egg mixture and finally the flour mix.
Pour into the prepared baking tray, transfer to the middle rack of the oven and bake for 18 minutes. You want the top to be cooked and hard but when pushed very gently you should feel the soft and squidgy interior. They will cook a little more as they cool.
VARIATIONS
Salted honey caramel brownies.
1 quantity of honey salted caramel sauce taken to 133°C (see Variation) then cooled. Swirl half the mixture over the top of the brownies and sprinkle with a little extra flaky salt. Bake for 20 minutes.
Nutty brownies.
’Activate’ 150g walnuts by soaking in water for several hours or overnight (this reduces the phytates in the skin), then slowly drying until crispy again either in a dehydrator or a low oven. Stir the activated walnuts into the brownie mix, then bake for 20 minutes.
Raspberry brownies.
Stir through 150g fresh raspberries into the mixture, then bake for 20 minutes.
Rose and hazelnut brownies.
Add 2 teaspoons of rosewater to the mixture and sprinkle 50g toasted and roughly chopped hazelnuts over the top of the mix, then bake for 20 minutes.
Serve with crème fraîche, sweet kefir cream or cashew mango cream.
A simple meringue.
MAKES 1 LARGE PAVLOVA OR 6–10 NESTS
Meringues are an absolute delight and no matter how many times I make them they always feel like such an indulgent treat. Once you master the basic meringue, it’s easy to adjust the toppings to create a seasonal masterpiece that will take centre stage of any celebration, no matter the time of year. I have made meringues for dinner parties, birthday cakes, wedding cakes, bonfire parties and lunchtime celebrations and they always impress.
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons cornflour
6 egg whites
Pinch of salt
200g organic golden caster sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla powder or extract
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas mark 6.
Mix the vinegar and cornflour in a small bowl, and stir until combined and lump free.
Whisk the egg whites and salt in a large bowl until medium peaks form.
Using a free-standing cake mixer or hand-held electric whisk, very slowly add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, alternating with a teaspoon of the vinegar mixture, whisking continuously until both are fully incorporated. This process should take about 10–12 minutes, by which time the meringue mix should be smooth, thick and glossy. Fold in the maple syrup and vanilla powder.
Line a baking tray with baking parchment and stick the edges down by placing a blob of meringue under each corner.
For one large pavlova, draw a 25cm circle on the baking parchment and spoon all the meringue into the circle, and neatly spread it with the back of a spoon or a palette knife into a large nest shape. If making smaller nests, place big dollops of meringue onto the tray – you should get six to ten, depending on how large or small you want them.
Place the tray in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 110°C/fan 90°C/gas mark ¼.
Bake for about 2 hours for the smaller ones and 2½ hours for the larger size. You can turn the oven off and leave the meringue(s) in the oven overnight. If you are making them the same day you intend to eat them, just allow them to thoroughly cool before decorating.
To decorate, you will need 1 quantity of Chantilly cream – more if you like lots of cream – and then you can choose from one of the seasonal variations from the Perfect Sponge Cake recipe toppings on here, or whatever else you fancy. The meringues shown on the left have been decorated with roasted plums, finely chopped pistachios and dried rose petals.
Sweet Sauces and Sugars.
Sweet spice mixes.
These delightful little sugar and spice mixes are perfect sprinkled over fruits before roasting, added to cream before whipping, or stirred into yogurt and topped with your morning granola and fr
esh fruit. Add them to custard for a little twist, to fruit before you make a crumble topping, or to the topping itself if you like. They will perk up any baked goods if you add them before baking to pancakes, sponges, meringues, puddings and tart crusts. Go wild.
Rose, cardamom and coconut sugar spice mix.
MAKES 1 SMALL JAR
This is my favourite sweet spice mix, floral but also earthy and deliciously fragrant. You either love cardamom or you hate it – I am definitely one of the former – and I also love the romantic scent and taste of rose, as long as it’s not too overpowering.
This heavenly little mix would work very well for roasting plums, peaches, pears, blackberries, and also slow-baked rice puddings, custard tarts, baked custard or even sprinkled over meringue nests filled with cream and fresh berries – heaven!
10 cardamom pods
2 tablespoons dried Damascan rose petals
8 tablespoons coconut sugar
Dry-toast the cardamom pods in a frying pan over a medium–high heat until they are fragrant and turning a very light brown colour. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
Place the pods and dried rose petals and the sugar into a coffee or spice grinder or use a pestle and mortar and grind until you have quite a fine powder.
Transfer to a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep in the cupboard until ready to use. This mix will last for a couple of months but will diminish in flavour and fragrance as time goes by.
Sprinkle lightly over your favourite sweet things.
Vanilla, star anise, nutmeg and cinnamon spice mix.
MAKES 1 SMALL JAR
This wonderfully heady and earthy-sweet spice mix is delicious paired with late summer fruits such as plums and hearty autumn and winter fruits such as pears and apples.
1 star anise
½ cinnamon stick or 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
8 tablespoons coconut sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla powder
½ nutmeg, finely grated
Place the star anise and cinnamon stick into a coffee or spice grinder. Grind until you have a fine powder, add the coconut sugar and grind again.
Mix the ground spices with the vanilla powder and the nutmeg. Mix and then transfer to a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep in the cupboard until ready to use.
Vanilla and coconut sugar spice mix.
MAKES 1 SMALL JAR
4 teaspoons vanilla powder
6 tablespoons coconut sugar
Mix the ingredients in a small bowl, then transfer to a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep in the cupboard until ready to use.
Honey salted caramel sauce.
MAKES ABOUT 300ML
It doesn’t get much better than honey salted caramel, it’s the stuff of sweet dreams. Serve over ice cream, yogurt, pancakes, roasted pears, apples, bananas, custards or puddings, cakes and tarts, or drizzled over my favourite buckwheat brownies.
350ml light honey, such as acacia or blossom honey
130ml double cream
3 teaspoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla powder or seeds of ½ vanilla pod
Generous pinch or 2 of pink Himalayan salt, more if you would like the sauce quite salty
EQUIPMENT
Cooking thermometer
Pour the honey and cream into a medium saucepan, place it over a medium–high heat and stir until it reaches 128°C. Next stir in the butter, vanilla and salt, whisking until the mixture becomes glossy and fully emulsified. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little. It will thicken as it cools. Use warm, drizzled over whatever you fancy, ice cream or hot puddings, etc.
If you don’t use it all at once, keep in the fridge and warm a little before serving to loosen.
Variation.
If you boil it down further, to roughly 133°C, it gets thicker and thicker on cooling, which would make it great for using in a caramel slice… think layers of soft coconut, raw chocolate and honey salted caramel… You could also add a little to smoothies to make raw cacao and honey salted caramel smoothies, with some frozen banana and raw whole milk or nutritious dairy-free raw homemade hazelnut milk from here, blitz it all in a high-powered blender with ice and voilà, honey salted caramel raw Ferrero Rocher smoothie – what could possibly be better?
Hot fudge sauce.
SERVES 4–6
This warm sauce is great drizzled over ice cream, puddings, roast fruit, pancakes… pretty much anything. Caramelised bananas would be incredible topped with this sauce and whipped cream to create a kind of grown-up banana split, sprinkled with a few toasted almond flakes for that necessary crunch.
170g double cream (or coconut cream for a dairy-free option)
80g light honey
40g coconut sugar
20g raw cacao powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
170g dark chocolate, roughly chopped, divided into 2 equal portions
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (or coconut butter for a dairy-free option)
1 teaspoon vanilla powder or seeds from 1 vanilla pod
Put the cream, honey, sugar, cacao powder, salt and half the chocolate into a medium saucepan and heat over a medium heat until it comes to a gentle boil. Immediately reduce the heat to a bare simmer and cook for a further 5–6 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the remaining chocolate, the butter and vanilla, stirring until velvety-smooth, unctuously glossy and irresistible.
Set aside and allow it to cool and thicken a little before using. This takes about 20–30 minutes.
Store in a jar or glass bottle in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Warm gently in a pan before using to create a lovely smooth warm sauce.
Blueberry and maple sauce.
MAKES 1–2 450G JARS
This simple and wonderfully tasty little sauce is great on top of ice cream, pancakes, warm sponge cakes, granola and yogurt and plenty besides. Blueberries are a fantastic gut-healing food, packed full of antioxidants, and they are juicy and delicious.
270g blueberries, fresh or frozen, washed and drained
280g maple syrup
Juice of 1 lemon
¼ teaspoon vanilla powder or essence
Put three-quarters of the blueberries in a medium saucepan with the maple syrup, half the lemon juice and the vanilla. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the remaining blueberries and lemon juice to taste. Simmer for a further 2 minutes, or until thickened. Serve hot or cold. This delicious purple sauce will keep for a few days in the fridge.
Berry coulis.
SERVES 8
A berry coulis is great for drizzling over tarts, ice cream, sponges, pancakes, puddings and other sweet delights. You could also drizzle it through homemade ice cream before freezing to create a lovely swirl of colour and extra flavour. It would also be wonderful used to make ice lollies.
700g berries, such as raspberries or strawberries or a mix
Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon or lime
50g maple syrup or raw honey
Tip the fruit into a saucepan, mash lightly with a fork to release a few juices and heat very gently to prevent scorching, you may need to add 1–2 teaspoons of water. Pop the lid on the pan just to encourage the fruit to start releasing its own juices. Simmer for 5–6 minutes, or until the fruit has lost its shape.
Blitz with a stick blender or in a food processor, then strain through a sieve to remove any tiny pips and bits. Add the lemon or lime juice, also through a sieve, to taste. Add the maple syrup and adjust sweetness or sourness to taste. Stir well and transfer to the fridge to cool.
The coulis will keep in the fridge for up to one week.
VARIATIONS
Raspberry and rose coulis.
Use 700g of fresh or frozen raspberries, 1 teaspoon of rosewater and the juice of 1 lemon. Follow the method above.
Strawberry and lime coulis.
Use 700
g fresh or frozen strawberries and use the juice of 1 or 2 limes, then follow the method above.
Drinks.
Syrups.
Making your own syrups is super easy and well worth the effort, especially when you have a glut of fruit or the farmers’ market or supermarket is overflowing with cheap berries. Berry syrups in particular are not only delicious but packed full of vitamins, especially vitamin C, as is the hibiscus syrup, which makes them ideal for those cooler autumn months when an extra boost is just what we need to stave off those nasty seasonal bugs.
Hibiscus and raspberry syrup.
MAKES ABOUT 800ML
175g raw honey or brown rice syrup
Handful of dried hibiscus flowers
300g raspberries, fresh or frozen
Put all the ingredients into a saucepan along with 750ml water and simmer very gently for about 20 minutes. Allow to cool a little, taste and add more sweetener if necessary. Strain the mixture through a sieve, being careful not to let any of the bits get through. You can press the berries a bit to get as much liquid out of them as you can, but you don’t want the pulp.
Pour the syrup into a glass bottle with a swing lid. Store in the fridge. This syrup should last for a good week or so. Serve over ice and topped up with sparkling water.
