'French Laundry' Apple Cake & Vanilla Cream Sauce

The dining room was quiet except for the staccato duet of fork on plate. My friend T. held up his well-scraped plate and broke the silence: "This is what 'I want more' looks like."

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That evening's plate-scraping was due to this simple-but-soulful apple cake; the recipe borrowed and improvised from my prized copy of Thomas Keller's The French Laundry Cookbook. The recipe originates from Sally Schmitt, who owned and ran the kitchen at The French Laundry restaurant before chef Thomas Keller bought it in 1994 and brought it to its current re-known. The recipe pays homage to their relationship, which still continues to this day: Chef Keller gets his apples for The French Laundry from The Philo Apple Farm, where Sally and her husband, Don, have retired.

Vanilla Bean Latte Layer Cake

A homemade mocha torte introduced me to my first taste of coffee when I was still too young to drink it. Coffee and I continued our illicit affair in stolen bites of any dessert it graced - until we both felt we were ready and old enough to 'get serious'. With a lot of milk and sugar as a protective measure, I drank my first latte and never looked back. I still have a weakness for coffee-flavoured desserts and this triple-layer cake truly satisfies the craving: it takes all the flavours of a vanilla bean latte and translates them directly into dessert. Three, in this case, is not a crowd, but a definite crowd-pleaser: this cake, with its rich and flavourful three layers, made at least 20 people remember their 'first time'.

Spiced Pear Breakfast Bread & Pear Curd

Aside from my imaginary French Patisserie, I also run an imaginary Bed & Breakfast where I treat myself like a guest in my own home and let myself wake up to something indulgent. There is nothing quite as nurturing or sensual as taking the time to get up early and whipping together a spiced pear loaf, crawling back to bed while it bakes, and drifting awake to the scent of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. This is a breakfast-in-bed treat for eating in your robe, where crumbs fall happily past the folds to encourage a loosening of ties and a stolen moment of warm sunlight on bare skin. Pears slightly past their prime are transformed into a spiced sauce that moistens the cake as well as a creamy, silky curd to spread on top (of the cake and whatever else you fancy).

Apple Flognarde

A flognarde by any other name would taste as sweet: a kissing cousin to the better-known clafoutis (which is made with cherries), this custardy-pancake dessert lets seasonal fruit shine atop a bed of pillowy batter. Flognarde comes from the Occitan words fleunhe and flaunhard, which mean 'soft' and 'downy', respectively. This apple flognarde certainly lives up to that sensual description: it has the body of a cake, the soft, inner creaminess of a custard or flan and a puffiness that holds the fruit of your choice like a sweet duvet. I chose to use apples for the fruit in this flognarde, who, nestled one atop the other, got downright delicious under the custardy covers. 

Blueberry Peach Frangipane Tart

The orchards of Southern Ontario have a long-standing love affair with summer sunshine. Their union produces some of the country's sweetest, juiciest, sexiest peaches, which in turn inspire desserts so delicious, they often lead to amorous unions of their own. Blueberries and peaches are known for their summer flings: over the moon for one another in crumbles, muffins, cakes, and this tasty Blueberry Peach Frangipane Tart. I made the tart to celebrate a union of friends both new and old at a late summer dinner party inspired by Lidia Bastianich's soon-to-be-released cookbook: Lidia's Favorite Recipes. This tart tastes like summer love feels, and is gone just as quickly.  

Al Fresco with Friends - Lidia Bastianich's Ziti with Roasted Eggplant & Ricotta Cheese

Nothing bonds quite like good food, cooked with love, shared amongst good company. Italian food has a particularly cohesive quality where one can sit down a stranger and rise a relation. I recently invited a number of friends to enjoy a multiple-course, Italian-themed meal inspired by renowned chef/author Lidia Bastianich. Her culinary catchphrase is "Tutti a tavola a mangiare!" (Everyone to the table to eat!). This phrase resonates with me, as both the sensual and the sacred nature of sharing food has drawn me into kitchens since I licked my first spoon. The magnetic potency of this saying is notoriously 'cooked into' the food Lidia prepares: luring hungry people to gather around their tables not just to enjoy food, but also to enjoy one another's company. My dinner guests that evening told me they were lured toward my house by the smell of chocolate. Ignoring for a moment the reality of the nearby Kit Kat factory, I indulged in the compliment that my house could be located not just geographically, but sensually. The truth is, on most nights, with the right breezes, this is entirely possible. This perfect late-summer evening was no exception: the evening's menu highlighted a tasty, seasonal pasta dish from Lidia's brand-new cookbook: Lidia's Favourite Recipes (on sale Oct. 16th). The Ziti with Roasted Eggplant and Ricotta Cheese was a standout, and judging by the friends that gathered around my table that evening, infused with exactly the right amount of 'come-hither' deliciousness.

Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Bites

Some of the most seductive things in life take only two bites: one to start, and a second that leaves you wanting more. Luckily, this recipe for Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnut Bites makes enough to 'start again' as many times as you like. These highly addictive doughnuts are also made for sharing: I knocked on my neighbour R.'s door with a plateful of them, which prompted him to text his wife boastingly about what she was missing out on. She made him text her photos of the doughnuts periodically to ensure there were still some there when she came home!