Helen Goh

Helen Goh presents a make-ahead frozen version of Eton mess combining cooked plums and raspberries with softly frozen condensed-milk cream, broken meringue and toasted coconut. The dessert serves eight, requires at least eight hours of freezing, and can be adapted with apricots, peaches or nectarines.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for a large American-style shortcake topped with whipped vanilla cream and a mixture of seasonal stone fruit and berries. The shortcake is made with flour, butter, cream, vanilla and fennel seeds, chilled, baked until golden, then layered with macerated fruit and cream. It serves 8–10 and is finished with the crisp fennel-sugar crust and mint.

Helen Goh shares recipes for pineapple, lime and ginger paletas and mango paletas seasoned with chilli, lime and salt. Both versions use a simple sugar syrup, blended fresh fruit and diced fruit pieces for texture, then freeze in moulds for at least six hours. The pineapple version is sharp and bright, while the mango version is sweeter and finished with Tajín before serving.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for a rolled pavlova serving eight to 10 people, combining crisp, marshmallow-soft meringue with whipped cream, mascarpone and strawberries macerated in sumac and lime zest. Pistachios and additional berries finish the dessert, whose tart, fragrant elements balance the sweetness of the meringue.

Helen Goh shares a soft, buttery apricot traybake flavored with soured cream, rosemary, orange zest and vanilla. The cake is topped with halved apricots and a fragrant sugar crust, then baked for 40–45 minutes and served warm or at room temperature with pouring cream.

Helen Goh shares a lemon and pistachio snacking cake designed for simple, everyday eating. The single-layer cake combines melted butter, oil, lemon zest and juice, eggs, and dry ingredients, then is baked for about 35 minutes and finished with a lemon glaze and chopped pistachios. It serves eight to 10 people and can be prepared in roughly 10 minutes before baking.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for 12 individual gooseberry and almond pies. The pies combine a sharp gooseberry compote with sweet almond cream in blind-baked pastry cases, topped with flaked almonds and served with whipped cream or crème fraîche. The pastry, compote and almond cream can be prepared up to three days in advance, with the assembled pies baked shortly before serving.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for Thailand’s khao niao mamuang, combining steamed glutinous rice with sweetened coconut milk and ripe mango. The rice should be soaked for at least six hours, steamed until tender, mixed with most of the coconut sauce, rested, and served with mango, reserved sauce, and toasted sesame seeds.

Helen Goh presents a recipe for Anzac sandwich biscuits made with oats, coconut, golden syrup and sugars, filled with a lightly salted dark chocolate ganache enriched with olive oil. The biscuits are baked until crisp at the edges and soft in the middle, then cooled and assembled in pairs. The recipe is linked to Anzac Day and the biscuits’ historical association with Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for a light ricotta cake flavoured with orange and vanilla and filled with rum-soaked raisins. The cake is baked in a bundt tin and can be finished either with an optional dark-chocolate ganache or a simpler dusting of icing sugar. It is intended as a dessert for the end of an Easter meal and serves 8–10 people.

Helen Goh combines a crumbly, buttery peanut-crusted shortbread with blackcurrant jam to create thumbprint cookies. The recipe makes 13 cookies and involves chilling the dough, coating it in crushed salted peanuts, filling thumbprint indentations with jam, and baking at 170C for about 35 minutes.

Helen Goh provides a lemon curd layer cake recipe designed for Mother’s Day. The cake uses lemon curd in a tender sponge and is layered with lemon mascarpone cream, then finished with extra curd and edible flowers. The recipe serves 8–10 and takes about an hour to bake.

Helen Goh’s crumble combines rhubarb, ripe pears, orange and vanilla with a topping made from browned butter, flour, brown sugar, oats and toasted hazelnuts. Optional crushed fennel seeds add an aromatic note. The fruit is baked beneath the chilled crumble mixture until bubbling and golden, then served with cream, vanilla ice-cream or thick yoghurt.

Helen Goh presents baked apples filled with dried fruit, pecans, brown sugar, tahini, cinnamon and lemon, then topped with a crisp oat-and-sesame mixture. The apples bake in apple juice until tender and can be served warm with cream, yoghurt or ice-cream; simple substitutions make the dessert vegan or dairy-free.

Helen Goh presents a DIY New Year’s Eve pavlova bar featuring coffee meringues, espresso mascarpone cream, brandy-soaked cherries and whisky caramel. The components can be prepared up to three days ahead, then assembled by guests with optional cocoa and edible gold-leaf decoration.

A Guardian tasting of widely available supermarket chocolate truffles finds M&S Swiss truffle assortment the best overall and best bargain, praised for its variety, decent chocolate and generous quantity. Monty Bojangles also performs well, while Tesco and Asda receive positive but more qualified assessments. Waitrose is undermined by overpowering orange flavour, and Morrisons, Co-op, Aldi and Lidl are criticised for excessive sweetness or synthetic flavours. Sainsbury’s Free From truffle ranks last because of its waxy texture, failure to melt and artificial salted-caramel taste.

Helen Goh provides instructions for making three varieties of edible Christmas baubles from marshmallows and Rice Krispies: pistachio and cranberry, chocolate-orange and ginger, and peppermint candy cane. The recipe includes shaping, decorating and optional ribbon-hanging techniques, with each version designed as a festive table decoration or gift.

Helen Goh’s recipe uses cranberries, orange, ginger and a buttery brown-sugar caramel base to create an upside-down cake with a tender, soured-cream-enriched crumb. The cake serves 8–10, takes about 10 minutes to prepare and 1 hour 15 minutes to cook and cool, and can be served warm or at room temperature with cream, soured cream or vanilla ice-cream. Frozen cranberries should be used without thawing.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for a rich, fudgy pear, chocolate and hazelnut torte serving eight to ten. The dessert combines toasted hazelnuts, dark chocolate, butter, brown sugar, eggs, cardamom and ripe pears, and is baked until set at the edges but slightly wobbly in the center. It is cooled, dusted with icing sugar and served at room temperature with crème fraîche or ice cream.

Helen Goh presents a Halloween-inspired forest floor cake made from a tender chocolate sponge with cocoa, olive oil, kefir and coffee, topped with rosemary-infused dark chocolate ganache. Optional decorations including cocoa nibs, nuts, sesame seeds, rosemary, edible flowers, chocolate shards and meringue mushrooms create the appearance of soil, foliage, bark and fungi. The cake serves 10–12 and is recommended with whipped cream.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake topped with maple pecan brittle. The cheesecake uses roasted butternut or Kent squash puree rather than canned pumpkin for deeper flavor and a smoother texture, with a ginger-nut biscuit base, spiced cream-cheese filling and whipped cream topping. The cheesecake requires cooling and at least six hours of chilling, while the brittle can be prepared up to three days in advance.

Helen Goh provides a recipe for a dense, tender toffee apple pudding cake made with apples, dried figs, cinnamon and muscovado sugar. The cake is baked in a Bundt tin and topped with apples cooked in a glossy butter, sugar, cream and lemon toffee sauce, then served with cream or crème fraîche.