Liège Waffles

I like to consider myself a waffle connoisseur. Perhaps the title of Professional Waffler is a bit much, but when one purchases a state-of-the-art waffle iron (equipped with patented Waffle IQ™ technology that calculates optimal cooking times, an LCD screen, a batter moat, a few knobs, speakers, a lock, and over a dozen settings) no other title would give my obsession justice.

Liège waffles with red fruit and sour cherry sauce

That’s why, after buying the waffle iron and making waffles a half-dozen times, I was so surprised to see my passion begin to fade. Rather than enjoying a delectable waffle each morning, I sometimes caught myself turning to their inferior pancake cousins. Waffles just became so… boring.

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Strawberry, Almond, and Rose Tart

A few weeks ago, while browsing the websites of Paris’s top pâtisseries, I spotted Hugo et Victor’s Tarte Fraise (strawberry tart). The pastry’s strawberry-red shell complemented its meticulously arranged strawberry slices superbly—I was quite inspired by its colour.

Strawberry, almond, and rose tart with toasted meringue

This weekend, I had a chance to experiment with adding food colouring to tart dough. The results were impressive. The trick is to use a food colouring that does not lose its pigment when baked.

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La Fraise

Ladurée Patisserie’s La Fraise (French for simply Strawberry) caught my eye two weeks ago, when I was vacationing in London. After interrogating a sales associate with a barrage of questions, I learned that the interior of La Fraise consists of fluffy coconut sponge cake and house-made strawberry compote enrobed in a heavenly strawberry crème mousseline.

A homemade version of Paris’s Ladurée Patisserie’s La Fraise entremet cake, bursting with strawberry flavour!

The crème is then covered with strawberry-red dacquoise cake, studded with royal icing “seeds”, and impaled with a gum paste stem before being neatly arranged in rows in the Ladurée display case. Don’t be turned off by the cartoony, almost gimmicky appearance of this eye-catching entremet cake; La Fraise is incredibly tasty.

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