Pinoy Fruit Salad
Traditional Christmas Pudding
Black Cake
Recipe November 23, 2017
5 holiday desserts from around the world
What's the best part of travelling? For me, it's about the local culture, including the unique foods. This holiday season, you don't need a passport to experience any of these international cultural traditions. North American holidays are known for turkey, stuffing and an assortment of sweet and sticky pies, but what are some other holiday desserts you can find around the globe?
Women's Post showcases five unique and decadent international desserts from different cultures that are bound to impress guests at your next holiday party:
Phillipines- Pinoy Fruit Salad
Filipino food is amazing! While known for their glazed Christmas ham or desserts like halo-halo, during the Christmas season one of the most popular sweet treats is fruit salad. Yep, fruit salad, but this isn't any random fruit salad. Normally, Filipino fruit salad, sometimes called Pinoy fruit salad, takes one can of fruit cocktail mixed with heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk. You can also find versions with coconut meat, coconut milk, jello, tapioca pearls or added pineapple. Talk about easy, creamy and delicious.
France -Buche de Noel
This dessert might look familiar to some North American homes. Buche de Noel or Yule Log is a traditional sweet treat found in France and French-influenced countries during the Christmas holidays. It is made using a classic sponge cake coated in chocolate buttercream and rolled in chocolate shavings to resemble an actual log.
England- Christmas Pudding
Christmas pudding, Christmas pudding ! What's Christmas without some traditional Christmas pudding, especially if you're from the U.K. Also known as plum pudding, this dessert is usually served after Christmas dinner and is made using a mixture of dried fruit,spices, molasses. There are no plums in the actual pudding, but lots of raisins. The pudding is often steamed for approximately three hours. Many people often soak the fruits before hand in Brandy and once the pudding is done it is splashed with more alcohol. This helps to preserve the pudding for almost up to one year,
Guyana- Black Cake
Similar in look to the christmas pudding, this cake is made using minced dried fruits that have been soaked in cherry brandy or rum The fruits are mixed with flour, eggs and sugar, spices and molasses or browning. Once baked, the cakes are generously soaked in rum. This Christmas treat can be found in many Caribbean islands including Jamaica and Trinidad. Black Cake or Caribbean fruit cake are also popular at weddings and is said to bring prosperity and luck.
Australia- Pavlova
Even though it's technically summer in Australia during the Christmas holidays, this doesn't mean that Australians can't indulge in a refreshing Christmas- summer dessert treat. This popular meringue- like dessert is named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova after she toured New Zealand and Australia in the 1920's. Pavlova is made using egg whites, sugar, and cream, but it has a firm and crunchy exterior and a delicate inside. This dessert is usually served on Christmas day.
What are your favourite global holiday desserts? Comment and indulge!
Entertainment November 17, 2017
Baking Minute: dessert week with the Canadian Baking Show
This week was dessert week on the Great Canadian Baking Show – and that meant pies, tarts, and meringue. By the end of the 45 minutes I had this intense craving for something super sweet.
The first challenge was to make an elegant pie or tart. The word "elegant" was key in this challenge as the judges expected dainty presentation. Most bakers used the "blind bake" method for their crusts, where they cook it prior to putting the filling inside to ensure the bottom doesn't get soggy. I had never heard of this method, and will definitely try it the next time I make a pie.
The bakers really put their all into these desserts. Linda Longson from High River, Alberta, made a beautifully decadent raspberry chocolate pie that captured the audience and made the judges' mouth water. "I want to dive into that pie," Bruno Feldeisen said, and rightly so. The pie was decorated with white chocolate curls.
Every pie showcased a little bit of the baker's personality. There was a pie representing the northern lights, a rustic apple pie, a mile-high lemon meringue, and a pi pie (that turned out to be more of an ode to chaos theory – poor messy James).
The best part of this challenge was watching the bakers. Linda, who I can only assume is a speedy baker as she is always hanging around helping others, points out that Terri Thompson's pie crust is starting to rise. "You may want to poke some holes in your crust Terri, it's starting to rise," she says. In no other baking show, at least that I have witnessed, has a competitor been so kind to another. Her piece of advice probably saved Terri's pie from disaster.
The technical challenge was a fondant fancy. This involved a dozen equally-sized sponge cakes with jam in the middle. The icing was a cream fondant that had to be evenly spread on the top and four corners of the cake. Bakers had to top it off with a small flower. This challenge was particularly difficult, and many bakers had a hard time with the icing. The icing can't be spread, so it must be drizzled on top so that it overflows down the sides. But, if you don't have enough or you have too much, it can cause a mess. The bakers did well enough, at least when compared to last week's disastrous Montreal Bagel.
The showstopper challenge was a pavlova, a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. This meringue is then topped with a whipped cream and fruit. It's a tricky dessert because the meringue can crack, especially if there isn't enough time to cool the base before applying the cream. There were quite a few excellent pavlovas. My personal favourite was that of James D'Entremont from Halifax. He may have struggled with the first few challenges, but his pavlova had beautiful swirls in it and was beautifully decorated with blueberries and a sugared berry leaf. I was also impressed with Verdana's yogurt whipped cream.
At the end of the show, the bakers sat side by side, holding hands as the hosts revealed the names of the star baker, and the person leaving the competition. The star baker of the episode was Linda, while Corey Shefman from Toronto, Ont. was sent home following a few mishaps with his pastry and meringue.
What was your favourite baking minute? Let us know in the comments below!