more photos:

Sometimes the absolute simplest of desserts is the most memorable and most enjoyed. Simplicity is something I have been striving towards lately and although I have never been the type to take the “easy route” it is getting less painful for me to do so. It’s not to say that there isn’t a time and place for ornate, delicate and distinctive desserts…it’s more that you need to realize when that time is, where that place is and keep the simple ones for every other instance.

I have always been a huge fan of puddings, custards, mousses, soufflés, ice creams and sorbets. They can envelop a multitude of flavour combinations and be so decadent that it’s difficult to believe. At the same time they can also be so utterly simple that you are almost embarrassed to make them for company. Of course there is often no need to tell said guests just how effortless their dessert was – especially when they are gobbling up every last dollop with satiated smiles on their faces.

When Chandra proposed liquor as the SHF theme for April I was pretty excited. It is somewhat of a challenge to bake with liquor and make the dessert not taste like those Cointreau-filled chocolates my dad used to have foisted upon him by his Italian tradesmen. I kept an eye out for a long time for a dessert that I both wanted to make and that wouldn’t taste like a big ole’ slug of brandy when I was done with it.

Last weekend I was lounging on the couch watching Nigella Bites and there it was: she was making Double Orange Syllabub. Now, I have only had syllabub once in my life and the memory of it has stuck with me for over ten years now. The sweet, pudding-like but not really pudding-like (more marshmallow-y or meringue-y really) texture and the underlying cloying flavour of wine and or liquor that flavoured it was really quite striking. I decided that was a great choice – it fit the liquor theme, the SHF dessert theme and my new simplicity theme. I switched up her recipe and used my favourite spring/summer flavour in it and it was divine. It was decadent but not too sweet and not too heavy…the perfect spring-time dessert.

Don't forget to check Chandra’s site for her rather drunken Liquor-is-Quicker SHF round-up, coming later this weekend!

Comments:

Related Recipes   Lemon Raspberry Syllabub