Pastry & baking, tested at home
Restaurant pastry, made at home.
Classic French and European recipes with precise weights, clear methods and the small techniques professional kitchens rely on.
Recipe of the week
Lemon tart with silky lemon cream
7 hr, with chilling · Serves 8 to 10
All recipes
12 recipes
Tarts · Intermediate
Lemon tart with silky lemon cream
A crisp almond pastry shell filled with a lemon cream that is emulsified with butter, so it sets glossy and smooth rather than eggy.
7 hr, with chilling · Serves 8 to 10
Cakes · Easy
Basque burnt cheesecake
The crustless San Sebastián cheesecake, baked hot and fast so the outside caramelises nearly black while the centre stays soft and creamy.
6 hr, with cooling · Serves 10 to 12
Desserts · Intermediate
Dark chocolate fondant with salted caramel
The restaurant classic: a light chocolate sponge with a molten centre, turned out onto the plate and served with warm salted caramel.
1 hr 15 min, with chilling · Serves 6
Viennoiserie · Intermediate
Swedish cardamom knots
Soft, buttery knots fragrant with freshly ground cardamom, finished with pearl sugar and a glossy syrup glaze, as served in Stockholm bakeries.
3 hr, with proving · Makes 12
Small bakes · Easy
Brown butter and honey madeleines
Shell-shaped French sponges with nutty brown butter and a touch of honey, baked from a well-rested batter to get their signature hump.
3 hr 30 min, with resting · Makes 24
Small bakes · Easy
Pistachio and raspberry financiers
Little almond and pistachio cakes made with brown butter and egg whites: crisp-edged, moist inside, with a raspberry baked into each.
1 hr 30 min, with resting · Makes 12
Pâtisserie · Advanced
Paris-Brest with hazelnut praline cream
A ring of crisp choux pastry with flaked almonds, filled with a rich praline crème mousseline. A centrepiece of French pâtisserie.
4 hr · Serves 8
Tarts · Intermediate
Poached pear and almond tart
Vanilla-poached pears fanned over a rich frangipane in a crisp pastry shell, finished with an apricot glaze. A Parisian bistro favourite.
4 hr, with chilling · Serves 8 to 10
Viennoiserie · Advanced
Breton kouign-amann
The caramelised butter cake of Brittany: laminated dough folded with butter and sugar, baked until the outside shatters into dark caramel.
5 hr · Makes 12
Desserts · Intermediate
Vanilla bean crème brûlée
A just-set vanilla custard under a thin sheet of burnt sugar that cracks under the spoon. Simple, but every detail matters.
5 hr, with chilling · Serves 6
Viennoiserie · Intermediate
Classic French brioche loaf
A golden, feather-soft loaf made with plenty of butter and eggs and a slow overnight rise. Perfect for toast, French toast or bread and butter pudding.
16 hr, with overnight rise · Makes 2 loaves
Tarts · Intermediate
Dark chocolate and salted caramel tart
A cocoa pastry shell with a layer of soft salted caramel under a glossy dark chocolate ganache, finished with flaky sea salt.
5 hr, with chilling · Serves 10 to 12
Three habits of pastry kitchens
01
Weigh everything
Pastry is chemistry. A digital scale is more accurate than cups and spoons, and it means fewer bowls to wash.
02
Watch the temperature
Butter, eggs and doughs behave differently a few degrees apart. A probe thermometer takes the guesswork out of custards, caramel and bread.
03
Give it time to rest
Resting pastry, batters and doughs in the fridge relaxes gluten and develops flavour. Most recipes here can be started a day ahead.
About Zest Kitchen
A small collection of pastry recipes adapted from restaurant and bakery methods for an ordinary home oven. Every recipe gives weights in grams, oven temperatures for fan and conventional ovens, and notes on what to look for at each stage.