A happy accident...

Today is such a gorgeous, warm sunny day...hardly like early April at all. If it weren't for the lack of leaves on some of the trees, I'd be convinced it was late May. To celebrate I made this Sunshine Orange Drizzle Cake for the Coffee Tree this morning. Flavoured with orange zest, soaked in orange syrup while still warm and then finsihed with an orange sugar glaze. When I took the lid off the delivery box we all 'aahhed' as we breathed in the smell!

Sometimes, a mistake can turn into something unexpectedly good. So it was when I created these Pecan Caramel Custard Bars...

I was going to make something completely different, and began to make my favourite caramel sauce. I boiled the sugar and water, and when I had a beautiful burnished brown colour & that unmistakeable toffee smell, I added double cream. But in my enthusiasm, I added far too much! I was left with a thick, creamy caramel custard that would never have done for what I'd intended...but of course, i couldn't waste it! I'd already made a shortbread base, so I toasted some pecan nuts I had....added some egg yolks to the custard ...added the nuts and poured it over the cooked shortbread before baking it for around half an hour at a low temperature. It turned out perfectly...smooth and rich and the caramel went perfectly with the pecans.

The recipe is now going in my book! You'll know the story behind it ...it proves that sometimes it can be good to make mistakes!

Have a great day xoxo