It’s a bit rude to exploit friend’s gifts on my blog but this is certainly not the first time so let me just apologise and move on.

The cupcakes and boxes looked so special, I could not help photographing them to share before I delivered them to the twins celebrating their birthday tomorrow.

They are Valentine themed boxes, but can be used for any feminine occasion as they are too pink and gorgeous for words.

Order online from www.ingoodcompany.co.za or pop into their shop in Parkhurst and fill them with Vanilla or Red Velvet Cupcakes (just search the blog page for recipes).

I belong to a dinner club known as the Bookless Club, and I hosted the first dinner party of the year. Since February is the month of love and scorching temperatures, I chose the theme “Love Shack” which incorporated a kitsch  island style feel.

I decided on the dessert after tasting the dish at Paputzi’s (a coffee shop) in Linden. It’s a crème brûlée without the brûlée, and is instead layered between crisp sheets of phyllo pastry.

It has to be made a day in advance and would therefor never make it as a course recipe and so I decided to share it with you as it’s simply OUTSTANDING.

Being lazy and impatient (not to mention very hot and pregnant) I made a cheat custard which requires no baking and a water bath, so the result is a slightly heavier crème but absolutely delicious never-the-less. Feel free to use your favourite recipe but bake the custard in a dish instead of individual ramekins.

Phyllo Pastry filled with Vanilla cream, served with island fruit and butterscotch sauce

Quick Vanilla Crème 

12 egg yolks
1 litre cream
10 ml vanilla extract
½ cup caster sugar

• Combine egg yolks, cream, vanilla and castor sugar in a pot, heating slowly and stirring consistently for about 20 minutes.
• When the mixture thickens and starts to split, remove and pour the mixture in a blender (in 2-3 batches) and blitz till smooth
• Pour into a bowl and refrigerate overnight

Phyllo pastry discs
6-8 sheets phyllo
Melted Butter
Brown sugar

• Brush a sheet of phyllo pastry with butter and then sprinkle about a heaped dessert spoon of sugar onto the sheet. Repeat with another 2-3 sheets
• Cut pastry into about 12 squares and place on a baking tray lined with a non-stick mat
• Repeat with the remaining pastry.
• Bake at 180 ˚C for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Make these discs 4 days in advance, provided they are kept in an airtight container.

To serve
Dollop the vanilla cream in-between 2 squares of pastry

Serve with fruit ( I used strawberries, blueberries and raspberries) drizzled with butterscotch sauce (see White pear tarte tatin recipe) and dust the dessert with icing sugar

Stoned fruit are abundant and if you shop at Carreira shopping centre on Republic road, very reasonably priced, where you are able to pick up a boxes of peaches, nectarines and apricots from only R30.

I have been making apricot chicken, poached nectarines with Greek yoghurt and honey and now a peach tart, which caught my attention because it uses white peaches.

There is nothing like the smell and taste of a fresh juicy ripe yellow peach but whenever I poach or roast them, they remind me of KOO tinned peaches, while white peaches not so.

I also find that white peaches are easy to poach and skin, and are much easier to halve and de-pip.

You can use a large muffin pan (the 6 hole) or 4 x 10cm round moulds.

This recipe was dainty, not overly sweet and that’s just not me so I made extra butterscotch sauce.

If you are going to make butterscotch sauce you could always cook the peaches in the sauce and not bother with the caramel, just watch that it does not burn.

Butterscotch sauce
½ tub (125ml) cream
100g butter (use the guidelines on the butter wrapping, you do not need to weigh)
½ cup tightly packed soft dark brown sugar

Place ingredients in a saucepan and simmer until the sugar is reduced and the sauce thickened

White Peach Tarte Tatin

For the caramel
125ml sugar
80ml honey
100g butter
Juice of a lemon

For the tart
4-6 ripe white peaches peeled
1 roll ready made puff pastry

• To make the caramel, combine the sugar and honey in a saucepan and heat without stirring until the sugar is melted and turns the colour of tea.
• Add the butter and lemon juice and pour the caramel into the muffin pan or moulds.
• Halve the peaches, remove the stone and then slice the peaches and place on top of the caramel.
• Cut discs from the pastry to fit the size pan-if using a tart mould (I use the actual mould to cut circles).
• Place a piece of pastry on top of the peaches and bake at 200 ˚C for about 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Rest for a few minutes before turning over the tarts. If you are using a muffin pan-just use a spoon.

Serve warm from the oven with vanilla ice-cream and butterscotch sauce

Cocktail printables

Spoon Wreath-plastic spoons and a glue gun

Easy double layer flowers using old paper

Bird templates

Button pens-glue gun, layered buttons on Pick n Pay pens

Old pieces of material cut into circles and glue-gunned or sewed onto clips

white paper, flea market wire words, buttons and string

4 hearts with a brad= a flower

paper bag stars-5 bags, double sided tape a punch and string. Template on Hostess Blog

4 felt circles folded into quarters, sewn together=flower

http://www.eatdrinkchic.com/archives.cfm/category/do-it-yourself/page/1

http://papercrave.com/paper-crave-printable-hol

Bird shapes

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