Topic
Dessert
Tres Leches with Toasted-Milk Soak
A soaked sponge cake, deepened with a caramelised milk reduction
Millefeuille with Vanilla Crème Pâtissière
Caramelised puff pastry, a real vanilla custard, three crisp layers
Crème Caramel (Flan) with a Dark Caramel
A trembling baked custard, a bay-scented cream, a bitter amber pool
Éclairs with Coffee Crème Pâtissière
Long crisp shells, a proper coffee custard, a dark salted glaze
Profiteroles with Warm Chocolate Sauce
Crisp choux, cold cream, a dark sauce poured at the table
Alfajores with Dulce de Leche and Coconut
Cornflour-tender shortbread rounds sandwiching thick dulce de leche, edges rolled in toasted coconut
Coconut Pandan Chiffon Cake
A pandan-steeped, coconut-milk chiffon built on egg-foam and a fold, cooled upside down so it doesn't collapse
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Espresso-deepened fudgy cookies cracked open in a snowfall of icing sugar
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, the Chewy Kind
Browned butter and rum-plumped raisins in a properly soft oat cookie
Peanut Butter Cookies with Flaky Salt
Fork-marked peanut cookies deepened with a spoonful of white miso
Gulab Jamun in Cardamom-Rose Syrup
Milky fried dumplings soaked in a saffron-scented cardamom-rose syrup
Honey and Ricotta Phyllo Cups with Walnuts
Crisp, golden filo shells filled with whipped ricotta and walnuts
Melting Moments with Custard Buttercream
Cornflour-soft biscuits sandwiched with a sharp lemon custard cream
Apple and Calvados Tarte Tatin
Caramelised apples under crisp pastry, sharpened with apple brandy
Stroopwafels with Caramel Syrup
Thin waffle discs split and glued with a treacly muscovado caramel
Speculoos with Brown Sugar and Spice
Thin, crisp, deeply spiced biscuits made with brown butter
Empire Biscuits with Jam and Icing
Two shortbread rounds, raspberry jam, and a sharp lemon glacé icing
Viennese Whirls with Raspberry and Buttercream
Melt-in-the-hand piped biscuits, raspberry jam and freeze-dried buttercream
Orange Blossom Shortbread with Pistachios
Buttery, sandy biscuits perfumed with citrus blossom and green pistachio
Palmiers with Caramelised Sugar
Crisp, shattering puff pastry hearts, lacquered in cardamom demerara
Petticoat Tails: Scottish Shortbread
A crisp round of shortbread, scored into wedges, scented with caraway
Mango Sticky Rice with Toasted Coconut Cream
Glutinous rice and ripe mango under a salted, toasted-coconut sauce
Gingerbread Men, Properly Spiced
Cut-out biscuits with toasted spices bloomed in browned butter
Chocolate Guinness Cake with a Cream Cheese Top
The pint-black one-layer cake, with a whisper of miso in the frosting
Miso Caramel Shortbread (Millionaire's Shortbread with a Twist)
Buttery shortbread, salty miso caramel, dark chocolate
Fraisier: The French Strawberry Cake
The patisserie showpiece, with an elderflower soak and lightened cream
Passionfruit and Coconut Loaf
A tender coconut loaf drenched in sharp passionfruit syrup while warm
Clementine and Almond Cake (Flourless)
Whole boiled clementines blitzed skin and all into a damp almond cake
Brigadeiros with Dark Chocolate and Flaky Salt
Brazil's fudgy party truffle, made with real dark chocolate and finished with salt
Génoise with Raspberry and Chantilly
The whisked Italian sponge, soaked, layered with cream and crushed berries
Opera Cake with Coffee and Chocolate
Almond sponge, coffee buttercream and dark ganache in seven thin storeys
Honey Cake (Medovik) with Sour Cream Layers
Thin honeyed sponge and tangy cream, rested until it turns to velvet
Victoria Sponge with Roasted Strawberry Jam
The classic teatime cake, lifted by a quick roasted-berry jam
Sticky Ginger Cake with Lemon Icing
A dark treacle cake with three gingers and a crack of pepper
Lemon and Elderflower Celebration Cake
The wedding-cake pairing, with a crème fraîche frosting
Coffee and Walnut Cake with Espresso Buttercream
The tea-room classic, with tahini in the buttercream
Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting
The buttermilk classic, with a little miso in the frosting
Devil's Food Cake with Fudge Frosting
The darkest, softest chocolate cake, with malt in the fudge
Poached Pears in Red Wine with Star Anise and Cinnamon
Glossy, spiced and almost embarrassingly easy
Black Forest Gateau, Reconsidered
Bitter chocolate sponge, kirsch-soaked sour cherries roasted first, and barely sweetened cream
Sachertorte with Apricot and Dark Chocolate Glaze
The Viennese chocolate cake, split with apricot, poured with a mirror glaze, deepened with espresso
Battenberg with Marzipan and Apricot Jam
The pink-and-yellow chequerboard, wrapped in marzipan, with a scrape of cardamom in the sponge
Grilled Peaches with Amaretti and Mascarpone
Peaches caught over fire, a brown-butter amaretti crumble, and cold sweetened mascarpone
Tahini and Halva Blondies with Sesame Brittle
Fudgy, nutty and shot through with toasted sesame
Coconut and Lime Cake with Toasted Meringue
Tropical, tangy, and crowned with torched marshmallow clouds
Chè Chuối: Vietnamese Banana and Tapioca
Warm coconut, soft banana and chewy tapioca, with the bananas charred first for a smoky edge
Saffron and Cardamom Rice Pudding (Firni)
A silky ground-rice pudding fragrant with saffron and cardamom
Queen of Puddings with Meringue and Jam
A Victorian breadcrumb custard, crowned in soft meringue
Key Lime Pie with Brown-Butter Graham Crust
The classic lime-and-condensed-milk custard, set over a nutty brown-butter crumb crust
Sussex Pond Pudding with a Whole Lemon
A suet crust hiding a molten pool of buttery lemon caramel
Semolina and Coconut Cake (Namoura) with Orange Blossom Syrup
A syrup-soaked Levantine semolina cake with a coconut lift
Matcha White Chocolate Cookies with Flaky Salt
Ceremonial-grade bitterness set against sweet white chocolate and a finishing crackle of flaky salt
Cranachan with Whisky, Raspberry and Toasted Oats
Scotland's harvest pudding of cream, oats and fruit
Hazelnut Dacquoise with Coffee Buttercream
Crisp nutty meringue layers and a silky coffee filling
Sfogliatella: The Layered Neapolitan Shell
A hundred crisp leaves around a warm semolina heart
Spiced Parsnip Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Carrot cake's earthier, sweeter, more interesting cousin
Affogato with Amaretto
The Italian espresso-drowned ice cream, sharpened with almond liqueur and orange
Zabaglione with Marsala and Berries
A warm Italian wine custard whisked to a cloud, with toasted almond and macerated fruit
Eccles Cakes with Currants and Flaky Butter Pastry
Buttery, sugar-crusted parcels of spiced currants
Crema Catalana with a Torched Sugar Crust
Spain's stovetop custard, scented with cardamom under a glass shatter of sugar
Butter Mochi with Brown Butter and Coconut
A chewy Hawaiian mochiko cake, deepened with browned butter
Pavlova with Passionfruit and Cream
A marshmallow-centred meringue with a muscovado ripple and sharp fruit
Banoffee Pie with Salted Caramel
A 1970s Sussex invention, sharpened with real caramel and espresso cream
Bakewell Tart with Frangipane and Raspberry
Almond frangipane over raspberry, on crisp shortcrust
Trifle with Sherry, Custard and Raspberry
The proper English trifle, with a bay-scented custard
Lemon and Poppy Seed Drizzle Loaf with Yoghurt Glaze
A bright, crunchy-topped loaf with a tangy yoghurt finish
Pistachio and Rose Water Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
A perfumed, green-flecked crumb under a cloud of mascarpone
Dark Chocolate and Beetroot Cake with Crème Fraîche
An impossibly moist chocolate cake with a secret root underneath
Almond, Olive Oil and Orange Blossom Cake
A fragrant, gluten-free crumb soaked in citrus and honey
