Bruleed Caramel and Vanilla Custard Danish

Ingredients

1pk all butter puff pastry (I might try and make my own one day- when I'm retired!)

Tin Carnation caramel (or dulce la leche)

150ml milk

1egg yolk

1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar plus extra for sprinkling

4tsps cornflour

1tsp vanilla paste

75mk double cream whipped until thick

Egg wash (an egg beaten with a little water)

Makes 12 round danish

What to do

Pastry

Preheat oven to 200deg C (non fan 220deg C)

Roll out the pastry to about 5mm thickness.

Using a 9cm cookie cutter cut out rounds and transfer to a greased baking tray.

With a 5cm cookie cutter make indents in the centre, taking care not to cut all the way the through. This will be the part that gets removed for the filling. Brush the rounds with the eggwash and Bake for 15-18mins until puffed up and golden, remove from oven and allow to cool.

They are supposed to uniform and flat but mine turned out a bit wonky!

Custard

Whilst the pastry is cooking start the custard by heating the milk and vanilla paste gently until nearly boiling.

Mix the egg yolk with sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the cornflour and ensure its blended -it may help to add a drop of cold milk

Add the hot milk to the egg, sugar & cornflour mix slowly, stirring continuously. Return the whole lot to the pan and heat gently whilst stirring until it thickens to almost a paste. Transfer to a shallow dish and cover with baking parchment/ greaseproof paper. Allow to cool completely. Once cool whisk in double cream.

Assembly

With a sharp pointy knife remove the centres of the pastry.

Fill first with a tsp or so of the caramel then top with the custard until up to the top and smooth off.

Sprinkle caster sugar overt he surface and using a blow torch caramelise the sugar or put under a hot grill for a few minutes. Be careful as the pastry catches quite easily

Leave to cool for a few minutes then pop then into the fridge for at least 15mins to allow the custard to chill. it ends up warming whilst caramelising the sugar.

But if like me you may just want to devour one straight away!

YUM!

'Domed' iced cupcakes

I made these for the Jubilee but the method can be used for any occasion

You will need -

1 batch of plain cupcakes
200 mls double cream whipped until thick
3/4pk of sugar paste icing block
raspberry jam
Buttercream - coloured red for this occasion



Start with some plain cupcakes

I used the recipe below and the all in one method for mine. Makes 12-16 cupcakes

6oz each of butter or margarine, caster sugar, and self raising flour
3eggs
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients together using an electric handwisk or a freestanding whisk, until smooth light and fluffy.

Spoon out into cupcake case about 2/3 full and bake at 180 deg C (gas mark 5) for about 20mins. test with a wooden skew to see whether they are cooked. ~If the skewer comes out clean they are done, if it has any liquid cake mix on it they will need a few mins more.

Allow the cakes to cool completely.

Once they are cold, cut out little a round in the centre of the cake about 1.5cm diameter  and down to a  depth of 1.5-2cm the using a pointy knife. lift out the round and keep. Fill the centre with some raspberry jam (about 1/2tsp) the place the cut out cake round back. You will probably need to trim a little off the bottom of the cut out so the top of the cake is level

Next add a blob of whipped double cream on top

Knead the sugarpaste until pliable then roll out on a surface dusted with icing sugar. Aim for a thickness of 3-5mm. Cut out rounds using a 3"pastry cutter.

Place these rounds carefully over the whipped cream and gently smooth downwards to the edge of the cupcake.

Decorate as desired- I used red buttercream, made up with 3 1/2 oz butter, 6oz of icing sugar and red food colouring paste.