Darina Allen: My top basic baking tips and three of my favourite recipes to try

Irish Examiner

10-05-2025

It is definitely time for a column on baking…it's been far too long but I've been prompted by World Baking Day on May 18 to share a few of my favourite confections.
For some, baking isn't just a culinary activity, it's an art form and a perfect way to show off your artistic talent. There are countless Instagram and podcasts celebrating bakers' creativity. Seems to be no end to the possibilities, from riffs on brownies and cookies, pies, buns and scones and cakes, roulades.… Can you think of a more fun way to unwind, polish up your skills and spread joy.
Oh well, Okay, perhaps you'd prefer to play a game of golf or tennis, but I certainly don't know a better way to bring a smile to someone's face than to present them with one of your homemade cakes or a little packet of crunchy cookies – much better pressie than a dodgy bottle of wine if you're going to a supper party.
Last week, when I invited some friends to supper, I was presented with some still warm, sweet and nutty white chocolate and tahini cookies. Such a delicious recipe, a new flavour for me.
This is the brilliant thing about baking, there's always room for a new confection or a riff on a traditional favourite. Talking about favourites, do you know about the Cherry Bombe podcast? it's recorded in the Rockefeller Centre in New York, where Kerry Diamond interviews amazing women chefs from all over the world but mostly the North American continent – you might also want to know about the sister podcast, Jesse Sheehan's She's my Cherry Pie, dedicated to bakers.
Recently, she hosted Ballymaloe pastry chef, JR Ryall to talk about the hotel's 'legendary dessert trolley' (her words, not mine). They had an in-depth chat about how to make the perfect chocolate éclairs with hot tips on how to achieve crisp choux pastry and the perfect glaze.
If you follow this recipe, you'll definitely have the perfect éclair. Seek out JR's Ballymaloe Desserts for the recipe. Just one of the many fascinating baking podcasts, check them out.
So, back to basics: baking is an exact science and to get consistently delicious results it's vital to measure accurately. Invest in a really good scales, perhaps one that can weigh down to a couple of grams.
Buy the finest ingredients and, where appropriate, use good Irish butter not margarine or any of those other spreads. If you're going to invest your precious time and energy baking, it might as well be delicious.
You'll also need an accurate oven. I find that I get best results in a conventional oven with elements on top as well as underneath.
A fan oven is OK (brilliant for meringues and crispbreads) but it's a more drying heat so I find my cakes tend to go stale faster and are often paler in colour. If you're not sure about your oven, for the sake of a few euros, it could be worth investing in an oven thermometer for greater accuracy.
Have fun and share the joy.
Choux au Craquelin
recipe by:Darina Allen
These delicious choux buns have an irresistible crunchy craquelin top.
Servings
15
Preparation Time 
15 mins
Cooking Time 
35 mins
Total Time 
50 mins
Course 
Baking
Ingredients For the choux pastry
75g strong flour (baker's)
Small pinch of salt
110ml water
50g butter, cut into 1cm cubes
2-3 eggs depending on size (free-range if possible)
For the craquelin
85g plain flour
65g butter (room temperature)
80g caster or granulated sugar
For the chantilly cream
300ml whipped cream
½ - 1 tbsp icing sugar
2-3 drops pure vanilla extract
For the chocolate sauce
50g plain chocolate
25g unsweetened chocolate
175ml stock syrup, approx. (see below)
Rum or pure vanilla extract
For the stock syrup
Makes 200ml approx.
110g sugar
150ml water
Method
First make the choux pastry.
Sieve the flour with the salt onto a piece of silicone paper. Heat the water and butter in a high-sided saucepan until the butter is melted.
Bring to a fast-rolling boil, take from the heat. (Note: Prolonged boiling evaporates the water and changes the proportions of the dough).
Immediately after the pan is taken from the heat, add all the flour at once and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon for a few seconds until the mixture is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the saucepan to form a ball.
Put the saucepan back on a low heat and stir for 30 seconds - one minute or until the mixture starts to fur the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from the heat and cool for a few seconds.
Meanwhile, set aside one egg, break it and whisk in a bowl. Add the remaining eggs into the dough, one by one with a wooden spoon, beating thoroughly after each addition.
Make sure the dough comes back to the same texture each time before you add another egg. When it will no longer form a ball in the centre of the saucepan, add the beaten egg little by little.
Use just enough to make a mixture that is very shiny and just drops reluctantly from the spoon in a sheet.
Next make the craquelin.
Combine the flour, butter and sugar in a bowl. Mix with your fingers to form a dough then knead to a smooth consistency. Allow to rest for 15 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Transfer the craquelin dough to a floured sheet of parchment paper and roll out very thin — approx. 2mm.
Pipe the choux and place the discs on top of the craquelin.
Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 35 minutes.
Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Sweeten the whipped cream to taste with icing sugar and a dash of vanilla extract. Put into a piping bag with a rose nozzle and pipe into the buns.
Alternatively, split the buns in half crossways and fill with the sweetened cream or filling of your choice.
Dust with icing sugar.
Serve with hot chocolate sauce.
For the chocolate sauce: Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water or in a low heat oven. Gradually stir in the syrup. Flavour with rum or pure vanilla extract.
Dissolve the sugar in the waterand bring to the boil.
Boil for 2 minutes then allow it to cool. Store in the fridge until needed.
Didi's Tahini and White Chocolate Cookies
recipe by:Darina Allen
Thank you Didi for sharing this delicious recipe, my new favourite.
Servings
30
Preparation Time 
15 mins
Cooking Time 
13 mins
Total Time 
28 mins
Course 
Baking
Ingredients 1 large egg
1 egg yolk
100g caster sugar
90g light brown sugar
120g butter
6 tbsp good quality tahini (I like the Greek Haitoglou tahini)
150g of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of Fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt
200g white chocolate chips, Valrhona white chocolate drops if you can get them, coarsely chopped
Method
Combine the eggs and both types of sugar in a bowl and whisk until combined.
Melt the butter. Add to the tahini and eggs, gently whisk to combine.
Add the flour, baking powder and salt, mix with a fork until all ingredients are incorporated and the dough is soft yet firm.
Add the coarsely chopped white chocolate and incorporate into the dough mix.
Scoop the dough with a generous teaspoonful onto a parchment-covered baking tray.Alternatively, shape your dough into a roll of 4cm diameter, wrap in parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator or freezer.
Cut into approx. 3cm slices.
Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3.
Just before baking, sprinkle the cookies with sea salt and bake for 10-13 minutes until the centre of the cookie loses its glistening buttery shine. It's worth rotating the baking tray halfway through.
Cool on a wire rack.
Chocolate Bubble Cake
recipe by:Darina Allen
This impressive looking cake is a speciality of Claire Ptak's of Violet Cakes located at 47 Wilton Way in London.
Servings
20
Preparation Time 
20 mins
Cooking Time 
60 mins
Total Time 
1 hours 20 mins
Course 
Baking
Ingredients For the cake
330g plain flour
150g cocoa powder
1½ tsp fine sea salt
2¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp baking powder
520g caster sugar
3 eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
300g plain yoghurt
150g vegetable oil
340g hot water
For the marshmallow icing
5 egg whites (200g)
340g caster sugar
50g golden syrup
A pinch of fine sea salt
1½ tsp vanilla extract
To decorate
Gold leaf (optional)
Fresh flower petals, for example Marigolds and/or Johnny Jump Ups (little Pansies)
Method
Preheat the oven to 160˚C/ Gas Mark 3/ Fan 140˚C. Butter and line your cake tin with enough greaseproof paper to come up the sides of the tin, this will help to remove the cake later.
Measure the dry ingredients, including the sugar, into a large mixing bowl and whisk with a balloon whisk to distribute the salt, bicarbonate of soda, and baking powder evenly throughout the other dry ingredients.
In another bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (except for the hot water).
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Starting in the middle of the bowl, whisk in a clockwise, circular motion. Don't switch direction or you'll end up with lumps. Gradually whisk together until you have a smooth but thick batter.
Whisk in the hot water until smooth.
Pour the batter into your pan right away and bake for 50-60 minutes until the top is springy to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Allow the cake to cool completely in the tin.
Once the cake has cooled, prepare the marshmallow. Have your mixer ready with a whisk attachment.
Measure all of the ingredients into a metal bowl and place over a saucepan of boiling water (do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl or it will cook the egg whites).
Whisk continuously until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is very warm to the touch. Use a thermometer and whisk continuously until it reads 72°C or 70°C (162˚F or 158˚F) for two minutes, whichever comes first. Transfer the mix into the bowl of your electric mixer and whisk on high speed until nearly stiff peaks form.
Put the icing into a piping bag with a large round nozzle and pipe 20-24 big bubbles in rows over the top of the cooled cake. Use a tiny sieve to dust a strip of cocoa powder lengthwise across the cake. Decorate with flakes of gold leaf and a scattering of fresh flower petals.