My Fresh Raspberry & Basil Coffee Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream

Luscious, juicy, fresh ruby-red raspberries, and the sweet taste of fresh basil ~ the flavours I used in one of my latest creations, a scrumptious, rich (but NOT heavy!), coffee cake.

♥ This is one of the most delicious coffee cakes I’ve ever made ♥ The marriage of fresh raspberries and basil is perfect! It was inspired by a delicious raspberry-basil jam I purchased from a lovely auberge in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. To make it even more special, I made a rich cream-cheese frosting which I flavoured with fresh lemon zest and vanilla.

Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or afternoon tea in the garden!

Just to tempt you, here are a few more photos:



The fresh tastes of summer! Juicy, ruby-red raspberries, and fresh basil.

 The cake is easy to make. It has a wonderful texture, somewhere between a cake and a buttermilk muffin, which is divine when it's warm from the oven. It you want to serve it warm, then serve the cream cheese buttercream in a bowl on the side.



Impossible to resist with a perfect cup of tea or a delicious latte!

Here is the link to the recipe on my gourmet webzine: EpicureanPiranha.com.

My Quest for the Best Challah!

My Quest for the Best Challah!, a photo by ©EpicureanPiranha on Flickr.

Challah is one of my favourite egg breads ~ the aroma of the loaves baking is sublime, and the rich dough is incredibly tender whith just a hint of sweetness! With cold butter, and perhaps some wild berry preserves, I could easily eat a whole loaf when it’s still warm from the oven (I actually did this a few years ago!). But I’d never tried baking one until last year. After researching recipes for this delicious Jewish specialty in my cookbooks and on the web, I had chosen the recipe I’d found in the Fleischmann’s Yeast cookbook. The proportion of butter and eggs seemed the most promising for what I wanted to achieve.

I have to admit that I was very pleased with the results. The baked loaves looked gorgeous, and had a wonderful flavour and texture. But the bread just wasn’t as rich tasting ~ and the dough not as golden ~ as I’d hoped! So I went back to my research, but still could not find a recipe that seemed better. Since I couldn’t find what I was looking for, I decided I’d have to create my own recipe!

I've just published it on my webzine My Quest for the Best Challah!

Chakchouka with Mediterranean Influences

Chakchouka with Mediterranean Influences, a photo by ©EpicureanPiranha on Flickr.

Sunday was gorgeous and sunny, and it prompted me to prepare a brunch inspired by the colourful cuisines of Tunisia and the Mediterranean!

Chakchouka (or shakshouka), is a sort of vegetable stew popular throughout northern Africa, Israel, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, where it’s known as ratatouille (although ratatouille includes several other vegetables, the cooking technique is the same). The dish I made was similar to Tunisian chakchouka, the main difference being in the spices I used: chilli, bay leaf and lots of chopped flat-leaf parsley.

My chakchouka was a highly seasoned mixture of slowly simmered tomatoes, onions, and lots of garlic, to which I added peeled, char-grilled bell peppers. Once this had reduced to a jammy consistency, I delicately poached fresh eggs in the mixture by baking for a few minutes in the oven. Served with a spicy couscous, grilled hot Italian sausages, a fresh green salad, crusty bread, and a cold beer from one of our many excellent microbreweries, it was the perfect brunch!