Swiss Roll

Swiss rolls use sponge cake as the base. There are many variations for the sponge cake. e.g. plain, chocolate, marble... and there are even more variations for the fillings. I like rolls versus layer cake because I can use less cream between the layers and enjoy more the flavour of the sponge. And I like to use fresh fruit for the filling. The top choice fruit is mango. Mangoes go extremely well with cream. When the special kind of fruit is out of season, I use fruit jam instead. It goes well with a cup of English tea in the afternoon. For even more fun, special flavour can be added to the cream too.

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry muffin is a good snack food. There are many kinds of muffins, but blueberry muffins, like chocolate chip cookies, are the all time favourite. The colour combination for the eyes , the exquisite flavour of blueberries for the taste, make it a winner. They are easy to make and are good for breakfast, afternoon tea, in between meals snacks...And blueberries are nutritious too!

Mango, sago and pamelo dessert

Many of my friends like this mango sago pamelo dessert. It seems like a strange combination but the ingredients complement each other surprisingly well. The mango gives the main flavour , the sago gives a pleasant texture (something to chew) and the pamelo gives occasionally 'out of the blue' sweet sour bites. The secret of this dessert lies in the balance of the ingredients. The amount of milk and cream can vary with personal preference.

Opal's tip: try different kinds of sugar to get delightful surprises, e.g. rock sugar gives a lighter, refreshing taste, palm sugar gives a buttery flavour, honey suggests yet another sweetness on your tongue...