Christopher Thé previously owned Black Star Pastry.

He now has a new café, Hearthe.

Christopher is now making rainforest cherry and rose custard strudel cups.

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Recipe below:

Rainforest cherry and rose custard strudel cups

MAKES 12 CUPS

Strudel is a versatile pastry that can be wound around baking rings to make convenient cups. And what better to fill them with than beautiful rainforest cherry?

Imagine a cherry with a watermelon texture, a fragrance reminiscent of roses, and a sweet and tangy taste with a dry finish.

These cherries, which are a variety of lilly pilly, are just one example of countless interesting fruits that grow in this land.

Today, we’re lucky enough to be able to buy them online, frozen, and have them delivered to our door.

The strudel cups and rose-scented custard act as a lovely vessel for other fruits, too.

Equipment: twelve 5 cm (2 in) metal baking collars

Rose syrup

700 g (1 lb 9 oz) caster (superfine) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped

20 g (3⁄4 oz) fresh, organic rose petals (see note)

rind of 1 orange

Rosewater custard

300 g (101⁄2 oz) almond milk

40 g (11⁄2 oz/1⁄3 cup) cornflour (cornstarch)

30 g (1 oz) caster (superfine) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthways and seeds scraped

40 g (11⁄2 oz) plant-based butter

30 g (1 oz) rosewater

Strudel cups

1 quantity Strudel dough (page 41) (or use 1 packet store-bought filo pastry instead)

macadamia oil, or oil of your choice

50 g (13⁄4 oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar

200 g (7 oz/2 cups) almond meal

To assemble

36 rainforest cherries

40 g (11⁄2 oz) rosewater

100 g (31⁄2 oz) cocoa butter

white linaria flowers, to garnish

Substitutions

rainforest cherries > raspberries, red cherries

To make the rose syrup, combine 1 litre (34 fl oz/4 cups) water, the sugar and vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat.

Add the rose petals and orange rind. Agitate with a spoon while the syrup is still warm. Allow to cool then transfer to a preserving jar and store in the fridge until required.

For the rosewater custard, add the almond milk, cornflour, sugar and the vanilla bean and seeds to a saucepan, and cook over a low heat, whisking constantly.

When the mixture thickens, leave to bubble for 1 minute, then transfer to a tall jug.

Add the butter and rosewater and blend with a hand-held mixer until smooth.

Transfer to a container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard. Allow to cool and refrigerate until required.

Make the strudel dough and follow the instructions on page 79 to pull it.

Once it has air-dried long enough that it loses its ability to stretch but not so long that it will crumble when worked, brush it with macadamia oil and sprinkle it with icing sugar and almond meal.

Cut it into twelve long strips 2 cm (¾ in) wide and twenty-four 10 cm (4 in) squares.

Oil the outsides of the baking collars and line with strips of baking paper.

Cover the top edge of a collar with two squares of strudel pastry.

This will form the base of the cup when turned upside-down.

Wind a long strip of pastry around the collar, making your way to the top.

Place, base side down, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat for the other collars and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180˚C (360˚F).

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool and remove the collar and strip of baking paper.

While the pastry is cooling, add the rainforest cherries to the rosewater and leave to macerate for 30 minutes before proceeding

To assemble, add the cocoa butter to a heatproof bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, or until liquid.

Lightly brush the inside of the pastries with the melted cocoa butter and refrigerate until the cocoa butter is solid.

Fill a piping (icing) bag with the rose custard and pipe into the pastry cups until they’re two-thirds full. Drain the rainforest cherries using tweezers, place on the custard and garnish with white linaria flowers.

NOTE Use only roses that you know haven’t been sprayed with pesticides.

Strudel dough

This old-school pastry is able to be stretched impossibly thin. You can also use it to make pastry sheets that can be employed in the same way as filo pastry.

MAKES 700 G (1 LB 9 OZ)

400 g (14 oz) bread flour

2 g (1⁄16 oz/1⁄2 teaspoon) salt

100 g (31⁄2 oz) canola oil, or vegetable oil

200 g (7 oz) cold water

Method

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and start mixing on slow speed.

Pour in the oil in a slow drizzle. Once homogeneous, slowly pour in the cold water while mixing.

Allow the dough to become homogeneous, then remove the paddle and attach the dough hook.

Work the dough on medium speed until smooth and shiny, about 8 minutes.

The dough should be able to pass the window-pane test (see page 44). If the membrane breaks, continue mixing for a couple more minutes and repeat the test until it passes.

Remove the dough from the mixer, knead briefly and wrap in plastic wrap.

It is best to rest the dough outside the fridge until ready, about 1 hour, as cold dough will be more difficult to stretch.

If making the dough for later, refrigerate for a maximum of 1 day, as the oil starts to seep from the dough with prolonged cold storage. Strudel dough also oxidises quickly, so is best used fresh. Strudel dough can be frozen and thawed for later use.

This is an edited extract from Modern Australian Baking by Christopher Thé, published by Hardie Grant Books. Available in stores nationally. Photography by Chris Chen.