Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful Christmas with friends and family. Today is the last day of 2010...time really is going by so quickly. The year ahead is going to be a busy and fun year. I have many expectations of great moments that lie ahead.

After all the sweetness of Christmas, I thought I would share a cookie recipe that isn't so sweet, and yet is still so delicious. When I grew up in South Africa one of my favourite cookies was "Eat-sum-more"...They are a shortbread cookie that just melts in your mouth. One day I will master those cookies, but this recipe will do more than well in the meantime.

They make a perfect present to give away when dining over at a friend's place. What I like about this recipe is that you can either roll out the dough and make cute little cookies in different shapes, or else you can just press the dough out onto some wax paper, poke some holes in with a fork and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar before baking. If you do it the easy way around, remember to cut it into slices as soon as it has come out the oven.

The other great thing with this recipe is that if you want a little more flavour or variety, you can dip the edges in dark or white chocolate...or both. YUMMY!





This recipe makes about 25 cookies.


5 dl (2 cups) flour
¼ tsp salt
250 g butter, room temperature
1 ¼ dl (1/2 cup) icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence/vanilla sugar

1. Beat the butter until smooth, for about 1 minute with an electric whisp.
2. Add the sugar and the vanilla and beat for a few more minutes.
3. Gently stir in the flour until just mixed.
4. Flatten the dough and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for about 1 hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until just under 1 cm thick. Cut out in different shapes using cookie cutters.
7. Place cookies on some waxpaper and bake for about 10 minutes, until they are light brown.
8. Cool and then dip the edges in melted chocolate.



Happy New year!

Love,
Heidi

A very happy Christmas to all!!!

Christmas is finally here! A time of joy and cheer, family and laughter.

On this side of the world we are definately not dreaming of a white Christmas. With nearly 1 meter of snow that dream is a reality! The house is full of children and family. Food is being prepared and presents are being wrapped. Our "julbord" (Christmas buffé) this year is a mixture of typical Swedish dishes like "Janson's fresteslse" - A potato and anchovy bake, Swedish ham, and one of my all time favourite Christmas dishes - red cabbage cooked in a delicious sauce. But we have family over from America, so we have an international touch on our meal, such as Pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole and another one of my favourites...brussel sprout bake with bacon and parmesan cheese. I'll put that recipe up in a few days...it works great as a side dish for a New Year's dinner as well.

Today you'll get a recipe for one of my favourite sweets to make...they are so easy and delicious. With a taste of mint, they are perfect to serve after any meal with a warm cup of coffee.

-200g milk chocolate
-1 dl cream
-50g butter
-½ tsp peppermint essence

1. Melt all the ingredients carefully.
2. Let the mixture cool off for a while so that it can thicken enough so that it holds it's shape.
3. Pipe the mixture with a star tip into small paper cups or onto wax paper. Store in the fridge.



May your Christmas be filled with love, joy and peace. I hope that it is a blessed Christmas and remember the true reason for the season.

Love,
Heidi

The world's best chocolate cake!

Chocolate is never bad...at least, that's what I try and tell myself;-). But everything in moderation is good, isn't it? Well, here's a recipe for one of my all-time favourite chocolate cake recipes. It takes me way back to memories from my high school days when we used to go visit one of my dear friends, Mel. Her family is from America and most times we were over there her dad had made the most delicious chocolate cake. This recipe is based on that cake...it's definately worth a try!

This recipe can be found in Swedish here.

12-15 people

Ingrediants:

- 1 1/4 dl (½ cup) oil
- 4 dl (1 ½ cups) sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 3 eggs, separated
- 6 dl (2½ cups) flour
- 1½ dl (2/3 cup) cocoa
- 1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3½ dl (1 1/4 cup) cold water


Icing:
- 1 tin condensed milk
- 50 g butter, room tempertaure
- 2 dl cocoa
- 2½ dl (1 cup) icing sugar (you may need more if you think the icing is too runny)

Method:

1. Set the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease a round cake tin (+/- 25 cm) with some butter.
2. Mix the oil and 1 cup of the sugar.
3. Mix in the egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
4. Sieve the flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt together in a bowl. Add the vanilla essence and mix.
5. Mix half of the dry ingredients together with the sugar and oil. Add the water and then finally the rest of the dry ingrediants. Mix well.
6. Beat the egg whites until they form hard peaks. Add the rest of the sugar and beat for a few more minutes.
7. Fold the whites carefully into the rest of the batter.
8. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for appr. 1 hour. Cool.
Icing:
1. Beat the butter (at room temp) with the condensed milk. Sieve the cocoa and icing sugar and mix it with the butter.
2. Pour over the cake and decorate with chopped pecan nuts and white chocolate.

YUMMY!

Have a lovely day!

Love,
Heidi

Part 3...dessert

Dessert is always one of my favourite parts of a meal...i could actually eat a whole meal of just desserts ;-)...

For the final part of the romantic dinner, I wanted to make a dessert that had a Christmassy touch to it. In Sweden, Christmas and celebrating advent is often associated with buns and cakes made with saffron. Another typical Christmas flavour is "pepparkakor"...gingerbread biscuits.

So I somehow wanted to use those 2 flavours and combine them into a delicious dessert....

It ended up as a white chocolate and saffron mousse with pepparkakor crumble. IT IS DELICIOUS! But also very rich and filling, so no big portions are needed ;-)



Here's the recipe!

To see this recipe in Swedish click here.

50 g melted butter
about 15 gingerbread biscuits
100g white chocolate
1 tbsp oil
2 1/2 dl (1 cup) cream
1/2 packet of saffron
2 dl vanilla kesella ( or creme fraiche mixed with 1/2 tsp vanilla essence)
2 tbsp icing sugar
4 tbsp sliced almonds
A few red currants

1. Crush the biscuits well and mix them with the melted butter.
2. Mix the saffron, kesella, icing sugar and almonds in a bowl. Let it stand for about half an hour so that the flavour of the saffron can develop well.
3. Melt the white chocolate carefully and mix in the oil. Let the chocolate cool off.
4. Mix the cream, not too stiff and carefully fold the chocolate in.
5. Layer the crushed biscuits, then the cream and finally the saffron mixture, 2 layers of each. Decorate with some almonds and red currants.
They can either be made in individual glasses or in one big bowl.
6. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving. This could be a good time, after all your hard work, to let yourself rest as well!


Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!!!

Love,
Heidi

Romantic dinner...part 2

Hello everyone!

It's Friday and I'm looking forward to an exciting week-end! My sister-in-law and her family are coming out from America to visit. It's going to be wonderful to see them again!

But now, part 2 of my romantic dinner...the main meal. Bacon-wrapped chicken breasts stuffed with feta and sun-dried tomatoes, served with a mediterranean vegetable bake, a salad and tzatziki...Delicious!!!



The chicken may sound advanced to make, but it's actually really easy...a great way to impress that special someone ;-).

The recipe:
4 Chicken fillets
1 packet bacon
70-100 g feta cheese
6-8 sun-dried tomatoes

1. Put the oven on 180 degrees celsius.
2. Slice the chicken so that you get a little pocket to stuff in the filling.
3. Mix the feta and tomatoes together and divide it between the chicken fillets.
4. Roll the chicken up and wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each fillet. Secure with toothpicks if needed.
5. Bake the chickens for about 20 -30 minutes. Take them out of the oven and then cover them with foil and let them rest for about 10-15 minutes.
6. Serve and enjoy your masterpiece!

The mediterranean vegetable bake consisted of potatoes, zucchini, red peppers, red onions and yellow onions, all sliced. I mixed oil together with salt, pepper, finely chopped thyme and garlic and poured it over the vegetables and baked it in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes.

I actually had the vegetables and the chicken in the same oven, to save time. It worked really well, as long as you use 2 pans that can fit together in the oven.

Hope you all have a wonderful week-end!

Happy eating!

Love is in the air

Good morning everyone!

It's Monday again and the start of a fantastic new week. The snow is still falling so we are still surrounded by a beautiful winter wonderland!

A few nights ago we had some friends over for a romantic double date. Music playing, candles lit, good food ;-) ...we had a great time!

We started off our meal with a mushroom soup. It was delicious, easy to make and it warmed us through and through...perfect for this time of year in the northern hemisphere. Any type of mushroom can be used, I used normal button mushrooms (champinjoner). Here's the recipe:



-2 tbsp butter
-3 big handfuls mushrooms, sliced
-1 red onion, chopped
-3 garlic cloves, chopped
-1 handful fresh thyme, chopped
-1/2 litre vegetable stock
- 2 dl cream
-Salt and peppar

Melt the butter and fry the chopped mushrooms for a few minutes until they get soft. Add the onion, garlic and thyme and fry until the onions soften. Add the vegetable stock, bring to the boil then let it simmer on low heat for 20 minutes(add more water if it gets to thick). Season with salt and peppar. Blend the soup with a mixer until smooth. Add the cream just before serving.

Mix some creme fraiche with the zest of a lemon and serve with the soup. Eat and enjoy in the company of good friends!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

The heart of Christmas

December is here and with it comes the anticipation and excitement of Christmas. Yesterday I spent the afternoon indoors baking gingerbread cookies and decorating oranges with cloves, and playing Christmas music in the background. The smell of Christmas filled our home and the joy of Christmas filled my heart. As I write this it is -21 degrees outside, perfect weather to snuggle up indoors. This is such a lovely time of year where fun is had and new memories are made...



Ultimately Christmas is about giving...that is the heart of Christmas. Two thousand years ago we were given the best gift that we will ever get.

Sadly Christmas now is so often about getting. Let's not forget the heart of Christmas...

Get into the spirit of giving!


Here is one of my favourite Christmas songs to help get you into the Christmas mood. It's by Jill Johnson - Christmas in You.


Happy holidays everyone! And God Jul...Merry Christmas in Swedish. Make the most of your time with your loved one's. Have fun and create memories now that will last a lifetime!

By the way...I'm busy planning a romantic dinner for some friend's that have recently started dating...can you guess what's on the menu?

Christmas cupcakes

Here in Jönköping it is a beautiful winter's day. There aren't many things more beautiful than the sun shining on a winter wonderland!


Today we're getting out all of our Christmas decor and we're going to get our little home ready for Christmas. Christmas is such a great time of year here in Sweden as it is so beautiful and cosy and cold…The wonderful thing with spending Christmas in Sweden is that it is usually a white one...but there are times when I really miss being in South Africa during this time of year. It's so funny seeing people running around in Santa outfits and sweating from the heat, spending the afternoon at the beach or lounging around the pool! But this year will be a white Christmas for me again. So I will light my candles and bake my pepparkakor (gingerbread men) and enjoy every minute of this lovely season!



This week-end the whole of Sweden is celebrating the first advent, so I made some yummy Christmassy cupcakes to enjoy with some Glögg, a warm, spicy drink that most Swedes love. I don't love it as much...but at least I can enjoy the cupcakes ;-) !
To see this recipe in Swedish, click here.

Cinnamon Cupcakes:
3½ dl flour * (just under 1½ cups flour)
½ tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
125g butter or marg
2 dl sugar (just over ¾ cup)
2 eggs, room temperature
1 dl sour cream (just under ½ cup)
50 ml milk

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together until white.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla essence.
5. Mix in half of the dry ingredients, then the sour cream and milk, and finally mix in the rest of the dry ingredients.
6. Fill the cupcake liners ¾ fill. A tip: Pour the batter into a piping bag with a 1 cm hole and “pipe” the batter into the liners…a very easy, mess free way of making cupcakes!
7. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes in the middle of the oven, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
8. Cool.

Cream Cheese frosting:
It’s important that all the ingredients for the frosting are at room temperature before you mix them. This helps to give you a smooth frosting that looks and tastes yummy.

100g cream cheese
50 g butter
3-4 dl icing sugar (about 1½ cup)

1. Beat the cheese and butter together until very smooth.
2. Add the icing sugar, 1 dl at a time until you get your desired consistency. The more icing sugar you have, the firmer the frosting will be…and the sweeter the icing will be.
3. Pipe onto the cooled off cupcakes. I used the same bag (washed) that I used for the batter to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
4. Mix 1 tsp cinnamon with 1 tsp sugar and sprinkle over the cupcakes.

Happy baking!

*1 dl=100 ml, so 3½ dl = 350 ml flour etc…

One-bowl cupcakes

This is one of my favourite recipes of all time...mostly because it is SOOO easy! Even someone like me, who loves to bake, also loves easy recipes sometimes. The lovely thing with this recipe is that it can be made in one bowl! All the ingredients are poured into a bowl and mixed...it's that simple!

The other great thing with this recipe is that it can easily be made chocolate or vanilla...just by substituting some of the flour for cocoa.

I found this recipe years ago in my mom's tried and tested recipe box and it's stuck with me since. The amount of times it's been baked in our house and the memories that it brings are endless. Some of those best memories have been with my sisters, late at night, mixing the batter and then eating it...yup, you read right, we ate the batter…and still do ;-) ! It is DELICIOUS!

One more great thing with this recipe is that it can easily be made cupcakes or it can just as easily be a cake. And just about any frosting works with them.



Lazy housewife’s cake
Ingredients
-120 g marg – melted (125ml)
-2 eggs
-140g cake flour ( 287ml)
-40 g cocoa ( 100ml) ( add 40 extra flour for a vanilla cake)
-125ml milk
-140g( 175ml) castor sugar
-Pinch of salt
-10ml baking powder
-5 ml vanilla essence

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
3. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl mix for 1 minute.
4. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 15 minutes.



One secret...make sure not to leave them in the oven for too long...otherwise they will get too dry.

Happy baking and happy thanksgiving to everyone! Thanksgiving is such a wonderful tradition. There is so much in life to be thankful for! I’m thankful for being blessed with a lovely husband and the world’s cutest son and the best family ever!

What things are you grateful for in your life?

Castle cakes and open doors

Outside the wind is blowing and the snow is falling. Perfect weather to be inside. And perfect weather to sit down and look through some older photos. In the spring (March) I made a birthday cake for a little boy who was turning 4. He loves knights and castles so I made a castle cake. There was a lot of preparation that went into the cake as all the walls had to be measured and made in advance, as did the towers and the flags. But it was a really fun cake to make. The cake itself was a chocolate cake with a oreo cream filling. Yummy!



Hope the rest of your day is filled with laughter and fun and remember:
"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us."

- Alexander Graham Bell

A burger with a difference...

Early this autumn we went up to visit my in-laws in Tidaholm and we spent the day out picking mushrooms and blueberries. On our way home we stopped to look at these...

...big, beautiful buffalo's...very big! There is a farm in Gate that has buffalo...you can even go on a buffalo safari. We went up to the shop to see if they were open. They were and this is what they were selling...

...lots and lots of meat! So we bought a piece of buffalo steak and then we bought these...

...buffalo burgers. The roast we made when we got home. It was delicious! Buffalo meat is a red meat that is healthier than beef as the meat is less fatty. Because of this though, it is important to not cook the meat to long as it can easily dry out.
Recently we decided to make the burgers and they were very tasty, very different to beef burgers but very tasty.


Fry the patties and serve them with some tomato, lettuce and some fried onion and mushrooms on a hamburger roll. I basted the patties with a BBQ sauce before I fried them, which added a nice smoky flavour.

The buffalo farm in Gate is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the Tidaholm area. And buffalo meat is definitely worth a try some day!

To find out more about the buffalo farm, click here.

Cars Party

Tomorrow is Elias's second birthday. I'm so grateful for my cute, precious son! He is such a blessing!
We had a great time at his party on Saturday, fun times shared with fun friends. We went car-crazy! The children had hotdogs, robot biscuits, chocolate car bars and fruit sticks to nibble on. For the adults we made simple sandwiches, chips and dips and cake pops. We ended off with a chocolate cake with oreo cream and caramel cream filling. Click here for the cake recipe. It was similar to the baby shower cake, but had oreo cream (crushed oreo biscuits and whipped cream) instead of chocolate mousse. I tried to get the wild, cactussy, Radiator Springs feel for the decor. The tires, cones and cactuses were made from fondant. It was yummy!






Stay tuned for a very different type of burger...coming soon!

Have a wonderfully fun day!

Baby Showers are fun!

Baby showers are not a very common thing in Sweden...but tonight I was at a super sweet baby shower for a super sweet lady! It was a lovely chance to get together with other ladies, eat good food and play fun games. Life is so much more fun when you can share the special moments it brings with other people!

I made the cake for the baby shower...it was the first time I have attempted modelling a person...it came out pretty cute, if I can say so myself;-)


The cake was made up of layers of cake, chocolate cream, caramel cream and covered with a white chocolate icing. I love the look that a cake covered in fondant gives, but fondant is unfortunately very very sweet. So i'm trying to find ways to cover cakes with icings that aren't as sweet, yet still look good. The biggest challenge with icing is getting it perfectly smooth. But practise makes perfect! The little polka dots and the lady were all made from home-made fondant.

The cake recipe is SOOO easy...4 simple ingrediants:

4 eggs
1½ dl (just over ½ cup) sugar
1 dl(100 ml) flour
½dl(50 ml) cocoa

Beat the eggs and sugar together very well until light and fluffy. Sieve the flour and cocoa into the egg mixture and CAREFULLY fold it in until mixed. Bake at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes and you're done ;-)
For tonight's cake i made 2 of these, cut each one in half and layered it with dark chocolate cream and caramel cream.

Dark chocolate cream:
200g dark chocolate, melted over a water bath
3½ dl (1½ cup) cream.

Whip the cream and mix in the cooled, melted chocolate...it's that simple.

And the caramel cream...it was AMAZING! I could eat it just like it is. But to get that recipe you'll have to come back some other day ;-)

I have another cake and party project coming up on the week-end...for my son. He's turning 2...and he loves cars...so guess what kind of party we're having...

Sleep tight and sweet dreams everyone!
Happy baking!

South African inspired bean curry

Winter is here…today has been the coldest day of the year so far. I woke up and the world was white with frost, and even though the sun was shining, the frost stayed put all day...it was COLD! And on a cold day there's not much better than a real spicy curry, so today I made a bean and potato curry. It was DELICOUS. The smell of curry frying is one of the most appetizing smells I know. This curry can be made as mild or hot as your taste buds can handle. The secret with a good curry is using a good curry powder which can be bought at certain specialised stores. Or you can use Garam masala which can now be bought in Swedish grocery stores. The second secret for a good curry is to fry the curry powder first for a while. This recipe feeds about 6-8 people, and is a good economical meal. So heat up your stove and let the aromas flow.



Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp curry powder (a good quality garam masala) – for a spicy but not hot curry
- 2 onions, chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp salt
- 375 g red kidney beans
- 1 cup (250ml) red lentils, rinsed
- 375 g cannellini beans
- 1 tin (400g) crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup (250ml) water
- 5 potatoes, chopped in large chunks

Method:
1. Put the oil and butter in a big pot and fry it until it stops bubbling.
2. Add the curry powder and let it simmer on medium heat for 7 minutes. Add the onions and half of the crushed garlic and fry until soft (about 10 minutes).
3. Add the beans, lentils, tomato and water. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 2 hours with a lid on. Stir every now and then, adding more water if needed.
4. Add the potatoes half an hour before serving. Serve with some pita bread and a carrot salad.

Mama's Apricot Chicken

Food has an amazing ability to create memories. It's amazing how the smell of certain dishes can take you back down memory lane...this is one of those recipes for me. It takes me to a place of love, joy and home. This is one of my mama's favourite recipes and is often on the table when there are guests visiting or for special occasions.

This dish is so easy to make, even though it has to sit in the oven a while. The flavour is unexpectedly delicious...by looking at the list of ingredients, it may not sound good...but OH MY GOSH!!! It's amazing! The sweetness of the apricot jam complements the chicken. Give it a try and I promise you won't regret it!

Thank you Mama Monica for your love and inspiration!

this recipe can be found in Swedish here.

Apricot Chicken 6 people
-6 chicken fillets
-1 onion, chopped finely
-1 cup smooth apricot jam (you can change this quantity, depending on how sweet you want it)
-1 packet white onion soup powder (or French soup powder)
-450g mayonnaise
-3 cups milk
-1 tsp salt

Method:
1. Set the oven to 180 degrees.
2. Spread the chicken fillets in an oven-proof dish.
3. Scatter the onion over the chicken, spread the jam evenly over the chicken pieces, and then sprinkle the soup powder.
4. Put the mayonnaise in a bowl. Add the milk, a little bit at a time, mixing continuously. Pour the milk mixture over the chicken.
5. Bake in the oven for 1½ to 2 hours, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened. After about 30 minutes, mix the sauce around to make sure the flavours mix together. If the top is getting too brown, cover with foil and continue baking.
6. Serve with rice and vegetables like peas and carrots.

Horse Cake

Here is another cake I made for a friend's sister. I was asked to make something to do with horses, so I modelled a horse from fondant and put it in a field of flowers. I think it was cute, and apparently it tasted really nice too...that's always good to hear!


I love the little flower and fence details. The flowers and horse were made in advance so that they had time to dry. The fence was, however, made just before I put it on the cake so that it would fit against the cake properly. Finally I piped some grass around the edge and on the cake to finish it off. The cake is made from chocolate sponge, filled with chocolate cookie cream and covered in white chocolate frosting. Lots and lots of chocolate...it always works!

Birthday cake

In May this year I made my first 2-tiered cake...I think it turned out well. I loved the colour scheme - shades of pink and chocolate brown. I made the cake for a friend's 25th birthday. I liked it! In retrospect I think that the top layer was a bit big for the bottom layer. But I'm very happy wih how the roses turned out. And the polka dots...and the whole cake actually!




The vanilla sponge was tasty, but it was a bit stodgy and heavy, so I wouldn't use the same recipe again. The cake was filled with lemon curd and white chocolate mousse...YUMMY. I'll post the recipe for those soon! The cake was decorated with fondant/sugarpaste, which is very easy to work with and looks very nice. The only negative aspect of sugarpaste is that it's so sweet...BUT it looks nice...and food needs to look good, so I can live with the sweetness ;-)!

The secret with good cakes is letting your creativity flow and make it your own. Happy baking!

Malva Pudding

One of my absolute favourite South African desserts is Malva Pudding. It is AMAZING! A soft and moist texture combined with a creamy, vanilla flavour makes this pudding almost irresistible. This dessert is on almost every South African restaurant menu and found deep in the memories of many true South Africans. This is a real comfort food that is perfect for these cosy autumn evenings and especially for those of us South Africans missing home!

This recipe can be found in Swedish here!



Malva Pudding: 6-8 servings:

•1 cup sugar
•2 tbsp margarine
•1 egg
•1 tbsp smooth apricot jam
•1 tsp white wine vinegar
•1 cup milk
•1 cup flour
•1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
•1 tsp baking powder
•½ tsp salt
For the sauce:
•½ cup cream
•125 g margarine
•½ cup sugar
•1/3 cup water
•1 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
1.Put the oven on 180 degrees (Celsius)
To make the pudding:
2.Beat the margarine and sugar well.
3.Add the egg, apricot jam and vinegar while beating.
4.Mix in the milk first and then add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate and salt, mixing until everything is just blended.
5.Pour the batter into individual ramekins. Cover the forms with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

To make the sauce:

6.Melt the margarine with the sugar and water on a stove.
7.Remove from the heat and add the cream and vanilla essence.
8.Pour the sauce over the pudding as soon as it is out of the oven. It may feel like too much sauce, so go on your feeling, but don’t be scared about pouring over too much sauce…this is what makes the pudding so mice and moist.
9.Enjoy served with some vanilla custard or ice-cream.

If you don’t have individual ramekins, the recipe will work just as well when baked in a larger oven proof dish. Just remember to increase the time spent in the oven up to around an hour.

There is so much in life worth enjoying. Family, friends, the different seasons of life, and food...food is one of my favourite things to enjoy. There is so much variety of food, so much to test and explore, so many new flavours to experience.

And because of my love for food and baking, I've decided to try out doing a blog. The thought kind of started through a part-time job that I have as a food columnist for a local internet newspaper, Jnytt. I realised how much I enjoy trying out new recipes and sharing them with other people.

I am from South Africa, but live currently i Jönköping, Sweden together with my wonderful husband and cute little son. Besides being in the kitchen, I am studying full-time towards a degree in Media and Communication Sciences. A very interesting, yet contrasting subject to that of food. But I enjoy the different aspects of my life and hope to someday be able to combine the 2 in an exciting way.

That's a little about me for now. I hope that you enjoy this blog and that it gives you inspiration for many wonderful meals and celebrations shared with the special people in your life.