Reviews
My opinion on the recipes used
Crepes with a Caramel and Apple Sauce
4.5/5
The crepes were absolutely delicious. The crunch of the apple paired with the sweetness of the caramel piled on top of the thin perfectly cooked crepe are the stuff of dreams. The caramel was well balanced and not so sweet that it became overpowering. The apple was the perfect addition to the dish. It gave texture, flavor and ultimately allowed the dish to be perfectly balanced. This recipe is a must! The only critic I have is cooking the crepe closer to when the caramel is ready to be served as it was cold by the time the caramel had finished cooking.
Creme Brulee
2.5/5
This recipe was not the best. Whilst it tasted delicious, the recipe itself did not give me any directions about the techniques of making a creme brulee. I had to research them and even then it wasn't clear. I had trouble understanding the recipe and had to put it back it the oven and back in the fridge a couple times. I wouldn't recommend using this recipe, however if your going for flavor, definitely use this recipe just research the techniques before making it. Overall, great flavor, but more explanation on the techniques involved.
Lemon Meringue Pie
4.5/5
Lemon Meringue Pie. A timeless, and classic french dish, one which I could start eating and never stop. This lemon meringue pie had the perfect balance between sweet and sour. The lemon and meringue paired beautifully and placed on the perfect canvas for the combination, pastry. It was crisp and the perfect thickness, not overpowering but just enough to entice your taste buds to go back for more. This recipe is a must! It's easy to follow and perfect for beginners. I loved this recipe! Some may find that the curd is too tart, to fix this I would suggest that when making the curd, out the lemon juice in a little bit at a time and taste it to make it to your liking. Overall, I would definitely recommend using this recipe.
Tarte Tatin
4.5/5
This was delicious! The perfect Saturday night dessert! It's easy and quick to make and you are ensured success! The timeless combination of apple and caramel paired with a crispy pastry is a treat to eat. The recipe itself was easy to follow and perfect for beginners. Whether your a lover of caramel, apple or simply something sweet this is the dessert for you. When i made it i didn't use the correct pan and so it made the dessert flatter than it normally should be, but it was still delicious. I definitely recommend this dessert, its easy, fun and absolutely delicious!
Madeleine's
4/5
This was delicious! If your a citrus lover this is the perfect recipe for you! It's tart, a little sweet and the perfect snack for any occasion. I loved this recipe! It's easy and perfect for beginners bringing out their inner french baker. The recipe was quick to make, fun to cook and something new the whole family will love. When I tasted the Madeleine's for the first time i noticed they were a little bit dry, however this problem can be fixed easily. I made a simple syrup out of lemon and lime juice with caster sugar. All you have to do is boil it on the stove and then spoon it onto the Madeleine's, the result is delicious. I recommend adding the syrup to the Madeleine's to ensure the perfect moist cake. Overall, it was a very yummy dish.
Chocolate Mousse
4.5/5
This was delicious! It was sweet- but not overpowering and the perfect dessert after dinner. My family loved it! It was eaten very quickly and a chocolate lovers heaven. I would definitely recommend using this recipe. It's easy, quick and perfect for beginners. It's only a few ingredients and combined together the results are mouth-watering. I found that it was best served in small portions as it is a very chocolaty mousse and it eaten in large portions can become a bit overpowering. I chose to make the mousse in a large bowl, however you can also make it in smaller portion size bowls. If you chose to make it in a large bowl, keep in mind that it does take longer to set. Overall, it is a really flavorful dish prefect to finish off the night with.
Chocolate Truffles
4/5
The chocolate truffles were delicious. Essentially they were ganache rolled into balls and it was so yummy. This was my first time making a ganache and I found it to be really easy, the recipe was really specific and easy to follow which helped me to follow it feel confident doing so. The truffles were delicious and perfect for an after dinner snack with a coffee. I found the recipe was really great and perfect for beginners. It didn't take long and was easy to follow. My only critique is that I wouldn't recommend completely coating each truffle in cocoa powder as the amount was to bitter for me, however again this applies to what you want. Overall, it was a really good recipe and very easy to follow, I really enjoyed these truffles!
Classic French Pear Dessert
3/5
The poached pears were really nice. It was relatively easy to make however I would recommend that everyone who makes this recipe has some experience baking and general knowledge about syrups and the turning points for them. The recipe isn't suited for a beginner, but I think beginners could make it, if they researched just a little bit about techniques before making it. The poached pears themselves were pretty good. Personally, I don't like pears and found that they were a bit under-cooked, again this is just due to personal preference. My brother loves pears, and he absolutely loved this dessert, so i would definitely recommend making it if you are a pear lover. Overall, it was a harder recipe but is perfect for pear lovers.
Raspberry Friands
4.5/5
The raspberry friands were delicious! The perfect sweet treat. Balanced between the sweetness of the icing sugar and raspberries to the citrus and sour taste of the lemon rind. The recipe itself was easy to follow and essentially a cupcake recipe with a twist. In my opinion, the recipe is perfect for beginners and a great opportunity to try baking with almond meal and baking without large amounts of flour. I added extra raspberries to the friands and found that it made it better, and the raspberry flavor was stronger which in my opinion it needed. This is just due to personal preference so I would recommend only doing what you want. They were best when heated up before eating. Overall, a really delicious and easy recipe, perfect for beginners and raspberry lovers.
Citrus souffle with a white chocolate sauce
5/5
The citrus souffle was delicious! It was my favorite recipe so far and was perfect for dessert. I loved it and found it was similar to a lemon delicious or a lemon pudding. The recipe itself was a little bit hard and I would probably not recommend to beginners. Its crucial that you have background knowledge about making the souffle so that you do the right steps and so that it can rise and therefore have the full effect of the souffle. I found that the souffle didn't really need the white chocolate sauce in the end, it was flavorful enough so that it wasn't necessary however, it was a nice touch to just have a little bit on the side. Overall, a very delicious dessert and perfect for French dessert lovers.
Clafoutis
3.5/5
The clafoutis was really nice. I found that it was super easy for beginners and a really great dessert. Personally, I found that there was too much lemon rind in it and that made it a bit too tart for me. To fix/improve this I would taste the mixture as you go and decide whether you want to put the lemon rind in or how much you want to put in. I would also recommend eating it straight out of the oven so that it doesn't deflate and all the air goes out of it quickly, It was really nice heated up and eaten with a little bit of cream. I added extra raspberries in the dish, this was just due to personal preference and in my opinion I think it really added to the dish to just have a few more raspberries. Overall, a really nice dish that is perfect for beginners.
Macarons
4.5/5
The macarons were delicious! They were very light and fluffy, and paired with the buttercream made for a perfect snack. The recipe itself was reasonably easy but I wouldn't recommend it for someone with minimal to no baking skills, its important to have just a little bit of background knowledge on the basics of cooking with syrups etc. The macarons lasted about 1 and 1/2 weeks which is really good because it gave us plenty of time to eat them. I added some cut up raspberries into the buttercream just to give it some extra flavor, and I thought that they were the perfect addition. You could add anything you want to the buttercream, possibly cocoa powder to have chocolate macrons or pistachios or any thing else. Without the added berries I think that the macron would have been lacking in flavor so I would definitely recommend using something to add some flavor. Overall, the macarons were really delicious and made for a perfect French snack!
Eclairs
5/5
These eclairs were absolutely delicious! They were my favorite out of everything cooked so far. A classic French dessert the combination of cream, chocolate and choux pastry is an absolute winner. The recipe itself was reasonably easy, the choux pastry required a little bit of background knowledge on pastries and dough. I found that the size recommended by the recipe was very small. They were hard to cut in half, and so I would recommend making them bigger and of course this would require a longer time in the oven so they would have to be monitored more closely. The cream and chocolate were relatively easy and pretty quick to make. Overall, the eclairs were a classic French dessert that made for an absolutely delicious treat.
Opera Cake
5/5
I absolutely loved this French dessert. As a fan of coffee and chocolate- and the combination of both, the opera cake was the perfect treat for me. I really loved the challenge of this recipe. The cake had about 4 elements in it, and because of the difficulty of some of the tasks and quantity, I would not recommend the recipe to a beginner. Personally I struggled with cutting the cake into three sections as I found that once it had cooled enough to do so, it was too thin to cut, so there ended up being one decent layer and the other two were pretty small and almost crumbling. To fix this I would think about putting it in a smaller pan so that the cake was higher and it would be easier to cut into the 3 parts. Overall, a really delicious cake, not recommended for a beginner.
Mille Feuille
5/5
This mille feuille was one of my favorite so far! It was so delicious. The creaminess of the French pastry cream, paired with the crispy puff pastry and the sweetness of the icing on top made for a perfect combination. The puff pastry and icing was very easy to make, and very simple. However, I found that the pastry cream was quite difficult. I ended up having to make it twice, as I got it wrong the first time. The recipe didn't specify how long to wait for the custard to cool down, or how cool it had to be, so the first time I made the custard it was too hot and when the cream was added the custard went runny. So I made it again, this time I waited for the custard to completely cool down and it worked! I wouldn't recommend this recipe for a beginner as the custard is a bit challenging. Overall, a really delicious dessert, but not recommended for beginners.
Creme Caramel
4.5/5
The Creme caramel was very delicious. It was basically a baked custard with a toffee sauce and the combination of the two was absolutely delicious. The custard was very easy to make and was done very quickly. The toffee/caramel was quite difficult to make as it required a bit of 'look and see', the recipe didn't have enough water so I had to watch it to make sure it had enough water and add more if there wasn't enough. This lengthened the time it took to cook the toffee. However, it was delicious! I really enjoyed the custard and apart from the toffee, everything was relatively easy to make. The custard did crack a little bit when it was flipped out of the dish. I wouldn't recommend this recipe to beginners, it was one of the more difficult recipe's in the collection. Overall, a really delicious recipe, but not recommended for beginners to make.