Creme brulee and chocolate bundt cake: Nicola Lamb’s Christmas crowdpleasers – recipes

Even though our to-do lists are longer and our homes busier than ever, there’s something about Christmas that gives us the extra chutzpah to bake. And not just any baking, but baking for a crowd. So, with this in mind, here are two crowdpleasing recipes – a rich hazelnut “Nutcracker” creme brulee and a resplendent chocolate fondant bundt cake – with a few make-ahead and shortcut secrets to give you a head start.Serve this rich, decadent dessert warm from the oven in the centre of the table, piled with ice-cream (and perhaps pouring cream, too – why not? It’s Christmas!). The batter can be made and kept in the fridge for up to 24 hours, then baked from chilled; add an extra 10 minutes to the cooking time if you do so, though

How to turn excess yoghurt into a silky-smooth dessert – recipe | Waste not

A delicious, gelatine-free panna cotta that saves yoghurt from the waste binI was really shocked to learn from environmental action NGO Wrap that, of the 51,000 tonnes of yoghurt that’s wasted in the UK every year, half of it is in unopened pots! The reason is our old arch enemy, date labels, which can cause confusion and trick us into thinking that perfectly safe yoghurt is not OK to eat. That’s one reason many supermarkets have scrapped use-by dates on the likes of yoghurt, but they still use best-before dates. Remember, if a product doesn’t have a use-by date, always do the sniff test before throwing it away.Today’s recipe is a light, gelatine-free version of panna cotta that’s instead set with agar agar (a type of seaweed), which gives it a soft-set texture. It’s refreshing, deliciously sour and simple to make

Benjamina Ebuehi’s pistachio and cherry meringue cake recipe | The sweet spot

I’m switching up my usual Christmas pavlova this year for a slightly different but equally delicious meringue-based dessert. Discs of pistachio meringue are baked until crisp, then layered with pistachio cream and cherry compote. The meringue softens a little under the cream as it sits, giving it a pleasingly chewy, cake-like texture. A very good option if you’re after a Christmas dessert without chocolate, alcohol or dried fruit.Thanks to the viral Dubai chocolate bar, pistachio creme is quite easy to come by in most supermarkets these days; it’s already sweetened and brings a lovely, soft green colour

Australian supermarket canned peaches taste test: the winner has an ‘absurdly low price’

In a blind taste test, Nicholas Jordan tastes 14 peaches in cans and plastic jars, in juice and syrup – but only one brand is worthy of decorating a pavlovaIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailBefore this taste test, it had probably been 20 years since I last ate a canned peach. But unlike most things that happened 20 years ago, I have a strong memory of the experience. Canned, tinned or any packaged peaches weren’t a staple of my childhood (neither were fresh peaches – I was too fussy to like much except plain carbs, sausages, apples and ice-cream). But somehow I remember not only eating tinned peaches but loving them, soft like panna cotta and as syrupy as a gulab jamun. Not quite the same as a fresh peach but delicious in a different way

All about the baby cheeses: how to curate a festive cheeseboard to remember

What should I serve on my Christmas cheeseboard?David, via emailIt will come as no surprise that Mathew Carver, founder of Pick & Cheese, The Cheese Barge and Rind, eats a lot of cheese, so in an effort to keep his festive selection interesting, he usually focuses on a specific area or region: “Last year, for instance, I spent Christmas in Scotland and served only local cheese.” Wales is up later this month. “I’m a creature of habit and tend always to go back to the cheeses I love, so this strategy makes me try new ones,” he explains – plus there’s nothing to stop you slipping in a classic such as comté in there too, because, well, Christmas.Unless you’re going for “the baller move” of just serving one glorious cheese, Bronwen Percival, technical director of Neal’s Yard Dairy, would punt for three or four “handsome wedges, rather than slivers of too many options”. After all, few have “the time or attention for a board that needs a lot of explaining”

Georgina Hayden’s recipe for pear, sticky ginger and pecan pudding

While our Christmas Day dinner doesn’t deviate too much from tradition, I do experiment with the dessert. My family, bar one sweet-toothed aunt, avoids dried fruit-based offerings, so classic Christmas cakes and puddings are a hard no. Over the years, I have tried variations on yule logs, pavlovas and sherry trifles, but the biggest crowdpleaser is easily sticky toffee pudding (or something along those lines). This year, I’m making this warming, simple but decadent pear, sticky ginger and pecan pudding, which feels festive and fancy, and can happily make an appearance whenever.This can be made the day before and reheated before serving