Pear and Ginger Upside Down Pudding

Ingredients:
200g Butter
200g Soft brown sugar
3 Pears, cored, peeled and quartered
2 Eggs, beaten
125g Flour
1 tsp Baking powder
2 tsp Ground ginger

Method:

1. Melt 75g of the butter and add 75g of the sugar. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Add the pears and stir gently to coat the pear quarters. 
2. Arrange the pear quarters onto the base of a greased 20cm cake tin and drizzle over a little of the melted butter.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together the remaining butter and sugar to a creamy consistency. Gradually add the egg and the flour, adding a little of each at a time. Add the ginger and baking powder and fold in. Test the consistency of the sponge mixture to see if it drops off the end of a spoon in a big dollop. If it is too dry, add a little milk, until dropping consistency is reached. 
4. Spoon the cake mix evenly over the pears.
5. Place into an oven at 180° C and bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until the cake is risen and golden. To ensure the cake is cooked, gently press in the middle - the cake should bounce back into shape. 
6. When cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before transferring (upside-down of course) to a wire cooling rack.
7. Drizzle the remaining syrup over the cake once it is cool.

Serve with a little creme fraiche. The quantities shown in this recipe make enough for a 20cm cake, approximately 12 servings.

Apple, blackberry and cheese cobbler

I ngredients:

5 large granny smih apples, abt 21/2 lbs, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
Heat oven to 325F
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter beaten with
1/2 cup gran sugar
1/2 cupbrown sugar until well blended. Beat in
1 cup flour
 1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt. Spread mixture evenly in a 10 by 15 inch jelly roll pan.Bake 10 to 15 minutes until streusel is light golden. Cool.Reset oven to 350F.
Melt 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter. Saute apples with 1 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 vanilla bean for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup brandy, 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice and 1/2 tsp lemon zest. Cook about 5 minutes until liquid is reduced and apples are tender.Remove from heat. Stir in 1 pint (11/4 cups) blackberries,unthawed frozen.Transfer mixture to a 9 by 13 baking dish. Top with 1 cup (4 ozs) grated sharp white cheddar cheese. Crumble cooled streusel and sprinkle it on top. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until cobbler is heated through and cheese is melted.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Anglo-Italian Trifle

Ingredients:
8 triflesponges
200g blackcurrant jam
1 x 200g packet amaretti biscuits
250ml limoncello (or other lemon liqueur)
juice of half a lemon
750g blackberries
2 eggs, separated
100g caster sugar
750g mascarpone cheese
50g flaked almonds

Method:

1. Split the trifle sponges and make little sandwiches of them using 150g of the jam, then wodge them into the base of your glass bowl. Reduce the amaretti biscuits to rubble in the processor and, reserving some crumbs for sprinkling over the top at the end, scatter most of them evenly over the sponges and then pour over them 150ml of the limoncello.
2. Put the remaining 50g of jam into a wide saucepan with the lemon juice and melt over a low heat, then tumble in the blackberries and turn in the heat for a minute or so just until the juices start running. Tip these over the biscuit-sprinkled, liqueur-soused sponge sandwiches to cover and leave this while you get on with the next bit.
3. Whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar until you have a thick smooth yellow paste. I use my Kitchen Aid for this, but any old hand-held electric mixer or whisk would be fine. Still whisking, drip in another 50ml limoncello and continue whisking away until you have a light moussey mixture. Whisk in the mascarpone until everything is smoothly combined, and when this is done add the remaining 50ml of limoncello.
4. Finally, in another bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm, but not dry, and fold these into the lemony, eggy mascarpone mixture. Now spread this gently over the blackberries in the glass bowl.
5. Cover the thus-far assembled trifle with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for the flavours and textures to steep and meld for at least 4 hours and up to 24. Take the trifle out of the fridge for about 40 minutes to an hour before it’s needed (depending on how cold your fridge runs) to get to coolish room temperature. Not long before you want to eat, toast the flaked almonds by tossing them in a dry, oil-less pan over medium heat until they are turning gold and flashed bronze in parts, then tip them on to a plate. When they’re cool, mix them with the reserved amaretti crumbs. Remove the clingfilm from the bowl and scatter the nuts and crumbs over the pale, set surface. Dig in and serve, making sure to heap the full triple-banded layer on each plate: the lemony, almondy, cream-swathed berrieness makes this the perfect ending to a large, lazy summer lunch.

Serving Size : Serves 12–14

Sticky toffee pudding

INGREDIENTS
FOR THE CAKE:
100g dark muscovado sugar
175g self-raising flour
125ml full-fat milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
50g unsalted butter, melted
200g chopped, rolled dates

FOR THE SAUCE:
200g dark muscovado sugar
approx. 25g unsalted butter in little blobs
500ml boiling water

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5 and butter a 11/2-litre capacity pudding dish.
2. Combine the 100g dark muscovado sugar with the flour in a large bowl. Pour the milk into a measuring jug, beat in the egg, vanilla and melted butter and then pour this mixture over the sugar and flour, stirring – just with a wooden spoon – to combine. Fold in the dates then scrape into the prepared pudding dish. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look very full: it will do by the time it cooks.
3. Sprinkle over the 200g dark muscovado sugar and dot with the butter. Pour over the boiling water (yes really!) and transfer to the oven. Set the timer for 45 minutes, though you might find the pudding needs 5 or 10 minutes more. The top of the pudding should be springy and spongy when it’s cooked; underneath, the butter, dark muscovado sugar and boiling water will have turned into a rich, sticky sauce. Serve with vanilla ice cream, crème fraîche, double or single cream as you wish.

Serving Size : Serves 6–8

Caramel Croissant Pudding

INGREDIENTS
2 stale croissants
100g caster sugar
2 x 15ml tablespoons water
125ml double cream
125ml full-fat milk
2 x 15ml tablespoons bourbon
2 eggs, beaten

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small gratin dish; I use a cast iron oval one with a capacity of about 500ml for this.
3. Put the caster sugar and water into a saucepan, and swirl around to help dissolve the sugar before putting the saucepan on the hob over a medium to high heat.
4. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away, without stirring, until it all turns a deep amber colour; this will take 3–5 minutes. Keep looking but don’t be too timid.
5. Turn heat down to low and add the cream – ignoring all spluttering – and, whisking away, the milk and bourbon. Any solid toffee that forms in the pan will dissolve easily if you keep whisking over low heat. Take off the heat and, still whisking, add the beaten eggs.
6. Pour the caramel bourbon custard over the croissants and leave to steep for 10 minutes if the croissants are very stale.
7. Place in the oven for 20 minutes and prepare to swoon.

Serving Size : Serves 2 greedy people

Gordon Ramsay's Espresso Coffee Crème Brulee

INGREDIENTS
350ml double cream
125ml whole milk (preferably UHT)
50ml double strength espresso coffee
1 tablespoon Kahlua or Tia Maria (optional)
6 large free-range egg yolks
75g caster sugar

To serve: 2 tablespoons demerara sugar, to caramelise chocolate-coated coffee beans (optional)
Serving Size : Serves 6

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 140°C, Gas 1. Lightly grease 6 ovenproof coffee cups and stand them on a baking tray.
2. Put the cream and milk in a heavy-based saucepan and heat slowly to scalding point, then stir in the espresso coffee and liqueur, if using.
3. Beat the egg yolks in a large heatproof bowl until pale and creamy.
4. Pour the hot steaming coffee cream on to the egg yolks, a third at a time, whisking well. Then whisk in the caster sugar.
5. Strain this liquid through the fine-mesh sieve into a jug.
6. Pour the mixture into the coffee cups, dividing it equally. Bake for about 45 minutes until custards are very lightly set on top. To test, tilt one of the cups slightly: the custard should come away from the side of the cup and the centre should still be slightly wobbly.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool; the mixture will thicken on cooling. Chill until required.
8. When ready to serve, sprinkle a teaspoon of demerara sugar evenly over the surface of each custard and caramelise with a blow-torch.
9. Serve as soon as possible, with a few chocolate coffee beans if you like.