The double-cream split and the ube jam didn’t really taste at all like ube, but Biscoff single-handedly redeemed everything!

Frankly, we’ve never heard of Biscoff until it was all over social-media, appearing everywhere from cookies, pies to ice-cream. It has that distinctness that’s similar to Amaretti biscuits; the flavour doesn’t get lost when you use it as an ingredient in something.

I made banoffee pie for Mary’s birthday and I attempted to do some variations to elevate it a bit more; putting the caramel on top of the bananas instead of underneath them, and then piping the cream topping in structured swirls. The cut bananas turn brown so putting the caramel on top ensures that they keep their colour. But using canned caramel means softening it you see and this is where it failed- the sauce was too runny and it ran down the sides (should’ve microwaved it instead of diluting it with cream).

The second disaster was the cream topping. I used double cream for the 1st time and didn’t realise that you had to watch it like a hawk in the mixer. Whisking it too long and it could become butter - which I wouldn’t have minded- but it didn’t, yet it inexplicably split (which made piping pointless).

Note 1: try making it in a smaller springform pan (which is so GODDAMNED hard to find) to give it better height.

But the Biscoff base was SPECTACULAR. It was like having a deliciously crisp and buttery cookie at the bottom. It didn’t really matter if everything else looked like a hot mess - the pie though as a whole was satisfyingly rich without being cloyingly sweet. Note 2: a Biscoff base is more delicate than one made from Graham crackers or digestives. For an eight-inch round pan, you can use two packets or about 500 grams of biscuits for a stturdier base.

Two days after the Banoffee I realised that I had an open bar of cream cheese, some leftover long life cream and one final packet of Biscoff, so I thought, why not an ube cheesecake as I also had a jar of ube in the pantry?

Making a cheesecake is easy enough - could make it with my eyes closed - but the Youtube videos were right in recommending that you not only use purple food colouring, but also ube extract. The ‘ube’ cheescake neither looked nor tasted like ube - but the nearly 2-inch Biscoff base again saved the day!