God Save the Queen...

by Karolina, 3rd June 2012

...or how I celebrate Diamond Jubilee.
A lot of you probably know that this year marks 60 years of Queen Elisabeth's reigns in Great Britain. The main events are happening this weekend and spilling into next week when British are enjoying extra 2 days of holidays. Although I don't live in UK anymore, I decided to have a small Diamond Jubilee celebration. Any occasion for celebration is good, isn't it? :)

So, I looked around for some inspirations.And I found this gorgeous cake on  BBC Good Food website.

It was just perfect for my Jubilee party.

Unfortunately I ran out of time and some ingredients, so I had to improvise and change a recipe but the general idea stayed the same.

I was creating the flag! :)

Yep, this is it.

Original recipe calls for sponge cake with icing cream. As I ran out of eggs and time I made it with waffles, layers of custard with whipped cream on top covered with berries (strawberries and blueberries) to create the pattern of Great Britain flag.

I agree that version with sponge would have been nicer and more practical to eat. Next time I would just try the original recipe. However, I think it was good enough and this cake definitely has the looks :)

On top of that it's finally the season for berries, which I looooooooove :)

This cake will be perfect for any tea party and I'm sure you could create pretty much any flag using your imagination and some fruits and berries :)

I would love to hear from you, maybe you have some great ideas?

And how do you like my flag-cake?

Strawberry fields...(with rosemary)

by Karolina, 19th April 2012

Spring is here!!! Yay!!!
Spring symbolizes for me everything nice and pretty - my birthday, flowering fruit trees, sun rays waking up all creatures and plants around, new and colourful fruits and veggies...
I could probably give up all other seasons for Spring - mild & nice Spring.
Are you fan of Spring as well?

I would like to show you today little breakfast/dessert recipe.
It's a celebration of my favourite colour - Red :) and even better - it has strawberries in!

I like in this recipe for its simplicity but at the same time refined taste.

It combines cheese (Philadelphia style or any similar cheese), strawberries and....rosemary syrup.

Yep...rosemary, you read it right. 

First time I tasted combination of sweet with rosemary was in cute little cafe in Krakow where they served raspberry mousse with rosemary. It intrigued me...I tried it..and I was caught...Absolutely exquisite combination!

So this time I decided to try it in a little bit different combination.

You know what you're thinking - rosemary syrup - it sounds like some awful cough syrup.I promise - it is not. It smells divine and is excellent addition to cocktails and fruits.

First the syrup - really easy to make.

I usually do in proportions 1:1 - sugar + water and add a few sprigs of rosemary. Let it simmer until the sugar is dissolved, cool down, take out rosemary and...ready :)

Check the recipes for simple rosemary syrup here or here

Once we have syrup ready...time for yummy cheese delight

Strawberry cheese with rosemary syrup

250 g cheese

a few strawberries

2-3 tbs rosemary single syrup

Mix the cheese to fluff it a bit, add syrup spoon by spoon until well combined. 

Cut strawberries into chunks or slices and add to the cheese mixture. 

If you like it very sweet sprinkle with confectionery sugar.

Enjoy!

Tell me how you like it. 

I'm really, really curious how you'd like the combination of fruit and rosemary syrup.  

This will be excellent with rasberries too...I'll definitely try when raspberries will be in season.

Bon appetit!