Chocolate and orange is a combination that you either love or hate. For some, the slight acidity of the citrus works really well with chocolate, both milk and dark, while others find the tastes to be dissonant. Fanny, from Food Beam, was a member of the latter camp until she decided to try making Bill Granger's Chocolate and Mandarin Cake. The cake is a nearly flourless chocolate cake, made rich with ground almonds and a bit of mandarin orange zest. There isn't enough zest to make the orange flavor overwhelming, although the bright flavor does come through the deeply flavored cake and is helped along by serving the cake with slices of mandarin. The only thing that Fanny doesn't share is what motivated her to go against her usual inclinations and try the recipe in the first place. Whatever her reason, it seems like it was a success.

The Ricotta Hotcakes from Sydney Food by Bill Granger are easily some of the best pancakes in the world, as JenJen from Milk and Cookies found out when she made a batch for herself. The pancakes manage to have a tremendous amount of flavor and an incredibly light texture all at the same time. In all honesty, the pancakes need nothing on them, but original version served at bills in Sydney is heavenly and comes with sliced bananas and honeycomb butter, which is a compound butter made with crushed honeycomb candy (like the inside of a Violet Crumble) and a touch of real honey. JenJen just used real honeycomb to top hers for an interesting, but simple, twist. Whatever you use, you won't regret trying the recipe for a second.

Fruit tarts make a lovely, tasty dessert during the summer, in no small part because fresh fruit and berries are incredibly beautiful and the presentation is hard to beat. The fresh fruit choices for tarts don't have to be limited to raspberries and strawberries, as Fanny from Food Beam illustrates with her stunning Mango Tart, which was derived from Bill Granger's recipe in Sydney Food. The tart has a crumbly shortcrust base, almost like a shortbread biscuit, and is filled with a creamy, vanilla custard. The fresh, ripe mangoes are sliced into thin strips and layered on top, their flavor blending with the smooth custard and their texture contrasting nicely with the shell of the tart. Since the tart base can be prepared in advance, this is a relatively simple dessert that would make a lovely addition to any meal on a hot day. And if you can't resist using some more traditional berries, you can easily substitute them for the mango in this recipe.

When I mentioned that the chef I would most like to have cook for me is Bill Granger, it did not immediately occur to me that some people are unfamiliar with him. He is an exceptionally talented Australian cook whose style is of simple, fresh food with clean tastes and, of course, an Aussie flair. I bought a copy of Sydney Food when I first visited his restaurant in Sydney, bills. The cookbook, which includes all the favorites from the cafe menu, is beautifully put together , with straightforward instructions and mouthwatering illustrations. Since it is an Aussie cookbook, you will want to either have a scale or a conversion chart with you when you cook from it, or just try one of his newer cookbooks, like bills food.

Highlights of Sydney Food include Granger's internationally famous scrambled eggs and bills' signature coconut bread (my personal favorite), as well as the incredibly good ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter and a wide selection of savory dishes.