Invite the girls over for a stylish afternoon tea from The Great British Bake Off winner, John Whaite
White chocolate and lemon florentines
Makes: 12
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
For the Florentines
- 60g unsalted butter
- 60g light brown soft sugar
- 2tsp honey
- Zest 1 lemon
- 150g flaked almonds
- 4 dried apricots, finely chopped
- 1½tbsp plain flour
For the topping
- 100g white chocolate
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4 and line two baking sheets with baking paper.
Place the butter, sugar and honey in a small pan and set over a medium heat. Stir until everything has melted together. Remove from the heat and add the remaining ingredients, stirring well until everything is mixed and the almonds and apricots are coated in the syrup.
Dollop 12 teaspoons of the mixture on to the lined baking sheets, leaving large gaps between each blob to allow the Florentines to spread as they bake. Place the trays into the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or until they turn golden.
Remove the Florentines from the oven and leave to cool on the baking sheets until they start to harden. Gently peel the baking paper away from the Florentines and place them on a cooling rack, with a sheet of foil placed underneath.
Melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, then drizzle over the Florentines and allow to set.
195 calories 14g fat
- FYI With their intense sweet-sour taste, dried apricots add zing to desserts and savoury dishes alike. They’re also high in fibre and count as one of your five-a-day – making them a perfect afternoon snack!
Passionfruit and raspberry swiss roll
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
- 3 large eggs
- 90g caster sugar
- 1tsp vanilla bean paste
- 90g plain flour
- 1tbsp sunflower oil
- 2tbsp caster sugar
- 200ml double cream
- 2tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 2tbsp Limoncello liqueur (optional)
- 125g raspberries
- 150g passionfruit curd (available in big supermarkets, or you can use lemon curd instead)
- 150g raspberry jam
- Seeds and juice from 1 passionfruit
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4, and grease and line a 30x20cm Swiss roll tin. To make the sponge, ensure you have a really clean bowl – the best way to do this is to wipe it with a piece of tissue soaked in a little vodka first. If you can, use a metal bowl as little drops of fat can adhere to plastic, which will reduce the volume when whisking. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla paste into the mixing bowl and whisk until very pale and tripled in volume. This will take 10 minutes with a handheld electric whisk, or 5 minutes in a freestanding electric mixer. Sift the flour into a small bowl, then empty it with the sunflower oil into the side of the bowl containing the egg mixture – if you tip it into the middle of the bowl, you’ll knock air out of the mixture. Using a large metal spoon or spatula, fold the flour and oil into the egg. Gently pour the batter into the Swiss roll tin and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven. Place a piece of baking paper on to the worktop and sprinkle caster sugar over it. Flip the sponge on to the baking paper, then peel off the paper on which the sponge was baked. Using the fresh paper, roll the sponge into a tight spiral from one of the longer sides so that the paper and sponge are wrapped around one another. Cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the filling by whipping the cream until it forms soft peaks, then fold in the icing sugar and Limoncello if using. Fold in the raspberries, crushing them slightly. Fold the passionfruit curd into the cream, but don’t completely mix it in as you want to get a rippled effect.
Once cooled, unroll the sponge and use a palette knife to spread the raspberry jam across it. Dollop the cream mix on to the roll, leaving about 1cm of sponge clear at the end. Roll back up – without using the baking paper – then place on to a serving plate or tray, seam side down. Sift over a final finish of icing sugar, and drizzle over the passionfruit seeds and juice.
396 calories 18g fat
