SWEET TREAT
From chocolate pudding to apple tarte tatin, warming, hearty desserts are back in vogue. Here’s how to make the classics like a pro, writes Anooska Tucker- Evans
On a cold winter’s night there’s something immensely satisfying and deeply indulgent about tucking into a classic hot pud straight from the oven. And it seems we can’t get enough of the oldschool favourites, with Taste.com.au experiencing a huge rise in the number of people searching for traditional dessert recipes last month such as lemon delicious, self- saucing and golden syrup puddings..
So with retro bakes back in favour, we asked Brisbane sweet queen and owner of West End’s Cake & Bake Jocelyn Hancock for her top tips on creating everything from apple pies to bread and butter puddings.
CHOCOLATE SELF-SAUCING PUDDING
When it comes to a chocolate pud that will win hearts, it’s all about the cocoa, says Hancock.
“The quality of the cocoa powder is important. It adds that rich and intense flavour to make the cake and the sauce so irresistible.
“The intensity of the end result is achieved through the cocoa,” she says.
The chef suggests a good quality Dutch cocoa powder from the likes of Callebaut or Valrhona, which will give your pudding a rich, dark hue and is also smoother and more mellow in flavour from being alkalised than regular cocoa.
Hancock likes to use real chocolate as well in her puds, and again suggests using the best quality you can afford and chopping it finely or shaving it so it melts evenly through the pudding while it bakes “adding to the gooey softness of the pudding”.
The Cake & Bake owner also recommends using soft brown or dark brown muscovado sugar in the topping for a more caramel flavour, and a shot of espresso for complexity.
“The pudding is best eaten within a few hours of being made, so it is still deliciously warm,” she says.
APPLE TARTE TATIN
This French favourite of soft, warm caramel ap- ples baked in buttery puff pastry is a classic for good reason and achieving the perfect end result starts with having the right equipment, says Hancock.
“A cast skillet of any size is a handy addition to your kitchen arsenal and for (a tarte tatin) it is part of a great end result,” she says. “The evenness of cooking, which is what you require, comes via the heat transfer from the heaviness of the cast iron. A 20-22cm diameter skillet works best.” The next step is choosing the right apples. Hancock recommends Granny Smiths as they hold their shape during the cooking process, and cutting them in half.
“This makes the surface area not only bigger, but also makes them easier to manoeuvre in the pan,” she says.
The caramel in the bottom of the pan needs to be golden i n colour before adding the apples, which should be done off the heat, then rotating them once to colour both sides.
When it comes to covering the apples in the pan with the chilled pastry, it’s important to work quickly, says Hancock, being sure to trim the excess pastry off from the outer rim of the pan.
“This special dessert may take a little time and patience, but is really worth it,” she says.
PEAR TART
With pears in peak season right now, there’s no better dessert to use them in than a lush European-style custard pear tart.
Hancock says a thin and evenly rolled short crust is always best, and it should be rested and chilled for 30 minutes in the freezer before blind baking to prevent the dough from shrinking when cooking.
“The tart shell needs to be blind- baked to achieve a short, crisp and well-cooked base,” she says.
“Line the tart shell with baking paper, filling to the edge of the shell with baking beads, so as to hold its shape.
“I recommend and use whole raw blue peas or chickpeas, available in the dried grains section of the supermarket, as they are of a good weight, can be used many times before collapsing, are costeffective and easy to use.
“Don’t use rice as your weight as you only need one grain to escape into the pastry unseen and it is unpleasant on your teeth when discovered at the table.”
As for the pears, Hancock says comice, william or josephine varieties are best and must be ripe, while buerre bosc pears won’t work unless they are pre-cooked.
For a tart with a custard filling she recommends making the filling ahead of time to allow the flavours to infuse and says it, as with any egg filling, should be strained to remove any pieces of egg shell or undissolved egg white.
“Lemon or orange zest can be used to add extra depth of flavour and, as in classic French or Italian fruit tarts, a splash of dark rum always helps the flavours sing,” she says.
“Muscovado or dark brown sugar sprinkled over the top gives a little caramelisation to the top of the tart, as well as being a great match with the cooked pears.”
STICKY DATE PUDDING
There are few people who don’t go weak at the knees at the thought of a sticky date pudding with runny caramel sauce.
Getting yours perfect involves two key elements: pan selection and time, says Hancock.
“When making the pudding, cook and cool dates in one largish pot to accommodate all the ingredients.
“Add the flour when the dates are cool, otherwise the mixture will become tight to mix and chewy when baked,” she says.
For the caramel sauce – “a decadent essential to crown it a sticky toffee pudding” says Hancock – melt the sugar and water over a low heat in a heavy pan, just swirling to dissolve. Take it to a golden caramel colour then add the cream off the heat for a silky smooth result.
“Another option is to add half a teaspoon of sea salt when adding the cream, depending on how you like your caramel,” she says.
BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING
This classic is a terrific way to use up old loaves of bread, but for the best result, Hancock loves using brioche or the Italian favourite pannetone instead.
“These yeasted sweet breads are rich and the pieces toast beautifully on the top layer of the pudding,” she says.
Brioche loaves can be bought whole from quality bakeries and now even in some supermarkets, while panettone is available at good delis.
“If using white bread, remove the crusts before use,” says Hancock.
For the jam, she suggest using plum, apricot or peach as the texture is firm and “has a lovely flavour”; while the custard is best made a few hours ahead or overnight.
She also suggests adding rum-soaked raisins to the pud as little surprises throughout.
“But don’t be tempted to put them on the top as they will burn,” she says.
APPLE PIE
Creating a killer apple pie is heavily reliant on apple selection, says Hancock.
Granny Smiths are always a go-to, but the chef says Cox’s orange pippin, pink kiss and royal gala are also great cooking varieties.
“These apples are slightly drier and sharper in flavour and great for pies, muffins and other applebased desserts where the apples are added raw,” she says.
When it comes to the pastry, Hancock says it should be rested for an hour minimum in the fridge to let it firm up, making it easier to handle and helping prevent shrinkage in the oven.
Her top tip for getting a beautiful, golden lid to your pie is to brush with an egg and milk wash and sprinkle with caster sugar.
And be sure to add small cuts into the lid to allow the steam to escape, which prevents the crust from getting soggy and the filling from bubbling out.
CREME BRULEE
It might not be a traditionally warm dessert, but creme brulee is still a favourite in winter with its hot, crisp sugar top.
However getting it right can be a big challenge for many home cooks.
Hancock’s first tip to scolding the cream is to rinse a heavy-based pan with a little water first to create a film between the base of the pan and the cream to reduce potential sticking.
She then recommends using vanilla paste rather than a bean to infuse the cream. “It combines easily into the cream and saves retrieving the pod from hot cream later,” she says.
Then the trick is to only just bring the cream to the boil and immediately remove it from the heat, never let it boil.
And if you’ve ever ended up with clumps of hard yolk in your egg yolk and sugar mix, Hancock says it’s because you added the sugar incorrectly.
“Add the sugar to the side of the yolks, not directly on top. If you add the yolks one at a time to the sugar they become burnt by the sugar and you end up with spots of hard yolk and sugar in your base,” she says.
Another common issue when making creme brulee is accidentally scrambling the eggs when adding the hot cream. Hancock’s tip to avoid this is to add just a ladle of hot cream first.
“This tempers and combines the density of the yolks with the cream,” she says.
The rest of the cream can then be added in while whisking.
When the combined mixture is returned to the heat, splitting and scrambling it is again a concern. To prevent this happening, Hancock says simply slide the mix on and off the heat.
Cooks are looking for the custard to coat the back of a spoon and once this stage is reached, the mixture should be chilled immediately in an ice bath.
As for getting that perfect, hard sugar top, the expert recommends using golden caster sugar or raw sugar that has been blitzed in a food processor as it less refined which gives a natural caramel effect. And reach for the blowtorch rather than the grill.
“A domestic grill is sometimes not as even and can take longer, which can heat the custard before creating the caramel,” she says.
“Use the back of the spoon to spread the sugar in a thin film across the top. Hold the blowtorch 10cm from the brulee on a 45-degree angle.
“Repeat with a little more sugar to create a golden top.”