As a young girl, I would read the cookbooks that mum kept in the bottom kitchen drawer. As there was always flour, butter, milk, and eggs in the house, I was continuously searching for new recipes to bake. As a girl I would make spend my weekend kneading, folding and baking puff pastry to make tarts, creating new versions of candies and baking all the colour rainbow cakes. This is where I got my drive to learn the techniques to make the perfect French fruit flan. Sweet short crust pastry, diplomat cream, topped with fresh fruit and clear cake glaze.

At Jacican, I make all my pastry from scratch, spending up to three days making fresh puff pastry – one day to make the detrempe, the second day to do the first two folds then rest overnight and the third day to fold and turn twice more. From there, it can become vanilla slice!

On the up-side, the rough puff pastry only takes 20 minutes. A quick pastry that you can make in the afternoon, then bake for dinner.

Choux pastry has recently become a favourite, frequently making an appearance on the harvest lunch menu as dessert (with fresh curd and ice-cream). I’ve even worked out a gluten-free version of profiteroles.    

Making lollies came about when cooking with my niece. She wanted to learn how to make musk sticks and so did I. Now there’s musk sticks, boiled lollies, caramels and chocolates coming out of my kitchen regularly.

Not everything I bake contains flour, sugar or animal products. As a chef, I am always on the look out for new ways to bake things and new recipes to write and make. This has led me to develop my own recipes for gluten-free and vegan cakes, using fresh fruit and vegetables from the kitchen garden and no-gluten. There are even a few recipes I share in gluten-free baking that are sugar-free as well.

If you can’t make it to any of the scheduled pastry classes, I am happy to host a private pastry class of your choice any time you like. This includes macarons and dome desserts.

Let’s get together and bake!

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