unruly raspberry and lemon buns

unruly raspberry and lemon buns

5 Oct 2025

I first found Cecilia Tolone, an American born pastry chef who now calls Sweden home making cinnamon or cardamom buns in her home kitchen during lockdown. For a number of years Cecilia worked as the head pastry chef at Frantzén in Stockholm, a 3 Michelin star restaurant. These days she runs a Saturday bakery from her home. There are 4 items in the pastry boxes that she makes and Cecilia always includes 2 kinds of buns. 

One week Cecilia made raspberry buns. I just love yeasted buns. I've made cinnamon buns, chocolate buns, lemon buns, rhubarb buns, passionfruit and custard buns, jam filled buns and blueberry buns, but I'd not made raspberry buns before. This oversight needed to be rectified so off to the kitchen I went. Please note this is not the recipe that Cecilia uses, this is my own tried and tested bun dough recipe, which I adapted from a Sarah Kieffer recipe.

Things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped. The day on which I made the buns was really cold, which made rolling out the bun dough very difficult. By the time I tried to roll the buns the filling had solidified meaning the raspberry pieces sprinkled over the butter filling went everywhere. My kitchen looked like a crime scene. 

After baking I glazed then topped my buns with some raspberry sugar which I made by whizzing 2 tbs sugar with some freeze dried raspberries. It's a nice touch but as freeze dried raspberries are hard to find, just use regular sugar or some pearl sugar instead.

I've recently changed the brand of dried yeast I use and had forgotten this brand is more active. As the bun dough proved and then baked, the scrolls I'd so carefully rolled all unravelled. If you're brave and would like to make a fancy bun, I've attached a link to the King Arthur Baking website with videos of the shaping process. Next time, I might reduce the quantity of yeast a little and ditch the fancy shaping and just roll them up like cinnamon buns. 

Here's the recipe for my unruly raspberry and lemon buns which makes 8 buns. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. 

Raspberry and lemon buns
Dough
1¼ tsp yeast
150 mls lukewarm milk
30g caster sugar or honey
1 room temperature egg 
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (300g) plain flour 
½ tsp salt
60g room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling
100g caster sugar
4 tsp grated lemon rind
Pinch salt
80 g room temperature unsalted butter
1 tbs almond meal
75g frozen raspberries, roughly crushed

To finish
20g melted butter or cream

 
Lemon Syrup 
30g caster sugar
30mls water
30 mls lemon juice

Raspberry sugar (optional)
5g freeze dried raspberries
30g sugar
Pinch salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Dough
Grease a large plastic container and set to one side. Combine the yeast, milk and sugar in a large liquid measuring cup and rest for 5 minutes or until foamy then stir in the egg and the vanilla. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt and stir on low to combine. Add the egg mixture and mix on low to combine. With the mixer on low, add the butter, one piece at a time. When all the butter has been incorporated (about 10 minutes), increase the speed to medium and beat the butter into the dough, until all the little butter pieces are incorporated, and the dough comes away from the side of the bowl. 

Transfer the dough to the prepared container. Cover the container with a lid or with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Place your fingers or a spatula underneath the dough and gently pull the dough up and fold it back over itself. Turn the container and repeat this folding again. Continue 6 to 8 more times, until all the dough has been folded over on itself. Re-cover the container and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat this series of folding 3 more times, for a rise time of 2 hours and a total of 4 foldings. Replace the lid or tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.

Filling
Combine the sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a small bowl then using your fingers rub the lemon zest into the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients (other than the raspberries) and mix with a spoon until you have a smooth paste.
 
Shape the dough
Flour a work surface and knead the dough 10 to 12 times to activate the gluten. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the top lightly with flour, and cover with a tea towel and let come to room temperature. 

Grease and line 2 baking trays with baking paper and set to one side. Roll the dough out to a 12 x 16" rectangle on a lightly floured bench. Spread the filling over the dough then sprinkle the berry pieces over the filling.

Take the easy route. Roll the dough up from the long side and cut into 8 equal pieces and place on the prepared trays. Brush each bun with a little cream or melted butter then cover the buns loosely with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for an hour or until risen by half.

If you'd like to go fancy, then fold the dough like a letter. Starting on the right side, fold towards the left, making a crease roughly 1/3rd of the way (around 6.5” from the right edge). Press to adhere. Repeat the motion with the left side, folding from left to right, covering the first fold. Again, press the layers together to adhere. After folding, the dough block should measure roughly 12” by 6.5". Roll to extend the length of the block and remove any air bubbles, working the dough to about 16” by 8”.

Cut 8 or 9 strips. Gently twist the strip, then wrap the dough around itself into a knot, tucking the ends underneath. Place on the prepared tray. Brush each bun with a little cream or melted butter then cover the buns loosely with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for an hour or until risen by half. Video instructions for shaping are here

While the buns are proofing, prepare the lemon syrup and the raspberry sugar, if using.

Syrup
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Mix in the lemon juice; bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Take off the heat and set aside until needed.

Raspberry sugar
Place all the ingredients into a small food processor and whiz until well combined. Set aside until needed.

To bake
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Once the buns have risen, remove the plastic wrap and bake for 15-20 minutes, swapping the trays around halfway, until golden and cooked through. The interior should look fluffy and bready (not raw and stretchy) and should have an internal temperature 95-98°C.  Immediately after baking, brush the rolls with the glaze and then garnish with the sugar. Let the buns set for a few minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. These are best eaten on the day of baking.

So how were my unruly buns? So delicious that I know I'll make them again.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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sour cream marble pound cake

sour cream marble pound cake

29 Sept 2025

Last year I went on a quest to find the perfect marble cake recipe. I tried a few recipes but none were quite right so I was quite excited when Erin Clarkson of Cloudy Kitchen posted her marble sour cream cake recipe. Erin is a perfectionist so I knew she would have ironed out any recipe kinks and that the end result would be a dream.

Sour cream is something I don't normally have in my fridge but I had everything else so once the sour cream was procurred I went to work. I made a few small changes to Erin's recipe. I lowered the sugar for a number of reasons but mainly because I planned to ice the cake and I was worried the iced cake would be overly sweet. I used GF flour as my neighbour is gluten intolerant and I increased the bicarb soda a little to overcome any potential density issues. The chocolate sour cream icing is a long standing favourite adapted from a Julia Turshen recipe for her Happy Wife, Happy Life Chocolate Cake.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a small loaf cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20-ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. If you'd like to make a larger cake in a Pullman Pan, please refer to the original recipe.

Marble Sour Cream Cake
Chocolate Portion
55g coarsely chopped 70% cocoa dark chocolate

30g room temperature sour cream

Vanilla Portion
115g room temperature unsalted butter

220g caster sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 room temperature eggs
170g room temperature sour cream

185g plain flour (I used GF flour)
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 

Chocolate sour cream icing
65g roughly chopped 52% cocoa dark chocolate

1/3 cup (85g) room temperature sour cream

2 tsp maple syrup

Method
Preheat the oven to 165°C, conventional. Grease and line a 8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5" (21.5 x 11.5 x 6.3cm) loaf pan with two pieces of parchment paper so that the interior of the pan is lined. Leave the edges overhanging to form a sling to allow for easy removal. Clip the edges down with binder clips if needed. 

Chocolate Portion
Melt the chocolate in 30 second intervals in the microwave, stirring between each interval if needed. Alternatively melt in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the water does not touch the bowl. Leave the chocolate to cool while you make the rest of the cake, then fold in the 30g measure of sour cream once it has cooled.

 
Vanilla Portion
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, and the mixture has lightened in colour. Scrape down the sides once or twice to ensure that all the mixture is evenly creamed. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides as needed. 
Add in the sour cream and mix to combine. 

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and bicarbonate of soda. Add to the mixture and mix until just incorporated. Scrape the bowl to ensure there are no unmixed pockets of butter at the bottom of the bowl.

Assembly 
Remove 210g of the vanilla cake batter from the mixing bowl and transfer to a medium bowl. If you haven't already, mix the 30g sour cream measure into the cooled chocolate and mix to combine. Add the cooled chocolate and sour cream mixture and mix until combined and homogenous. 

Using a 1 tbs scoop for the chocolate batter and a 2 tbs scoop for the vanilla, or just eyeballing it, blob the chocolate and vanilla batter into the pan. There is less chocolate batter than vanilla so make sure that the chocolate blobs are smaller than the vanilla. I like to do it in three layers - the first layer to almost cover the bottom of the pan, then bang the pan on the counter to remove any bubbles and give the batter a swirl using a butter knife. Then, repeat the blobbing process with more chocolate and vanilla batter. Again, bang the pan on the surface to remove any big bubbles and swirl the batter. Do this one more time with the remaining batter.

Swirl the mixture well using a butter knife, going horizontally and vertically across the pan. Swirl as much or as little as you like. Give the pan one final bang on the counter to make sure there aren't any bubbles. Oil the blade of a small knife and run the blade down the middle of the batter to help give an even split in the cake as it cooks. 

Place the marble cake on the middle shelf of the preheated 165°C, conventional oven and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, checking after about an hour. The outside should be a deep golden brown and a skewer inserted into the cake should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs attached. Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes then use the parchment paper as a sling to remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cake cools, prepare the icing.

Icing
Place the chopped chocolate into a microwave safe bowl and melt the chocolate in the microwave in 15-second increments, stirring between increments, until melted. Remove from the microwave and whisk in the sour cream and maple syrup. The icing should be smooth and quite silky. Refrigerate the icing until it thickens but is still spreadable. When the cake has cooled, top with the icing and allow the icing to set before serving. Store the cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. 

Notes
Because of the nature of the swirling, sometimes you'll end up with some bubbles in the cake. This is fine - make sure you bang the pan a bunch of times on the counter to help remove as many as possible.

As expected, the cake was delicious with a perfect crumb and a perfect swirl and the chocolate sour cream icing was the perfect topping for this cake.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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sour cherry torte

sour cherry torte

21 Sept 2025

I recently inherited Mum's old handwritten recipe book. Mum wasn't a baker but she had some tried and true cake recipes, all of which were given to her by her best friend Milli. This recipe was written on a piece of paper in Milli's handwriting and I found it folded up within the pages of the book. I copied it out many years ago and the recipe has been stored in that dusty old recipe box for years. I can't remember Mum ever making this tart. She did not enjoy making pastry and she loved cherries so much, she would have eaten them all long before they made their way into a tart shell.

Milli's mother-in-law was born in Germany and she came to Australia as a young widow with her children around the time of the 2nd World War. Mrs. Ortweiler was a great cook and this was probably one of her recipes. I've done some research and although I can't find an exact match, there are a number of Swiss cherry tart recipes (Chriesiwähe) that are similar. As I'd never seen or tasted this tart before, I went in a little bit blind. I used frozen sour cherries for the tart filling, so increased the sugar a little from the original recipe which was quaintly measured written in tablepoons. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17-cm tart. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. If you'd like to make a 23cm tart, you'll have enough pastry but you'll need to double all the filling ingredients as the original recipe used a kilo of pitted cherries.

Sour cherry torte

Pastry 
¼ cup (45g) icing sugar
¼ cup (25g) almond meal
1⅓ cup (200g) plain flour
pinch salt
110 g (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
cold water

Cherry layer
1 egg beaten with 1 tbs water
2 tbs fresh breadcrumbs
325g frozen sour cherries
1 tbs caster sugar

Filling

1 tsp plain flour

1 tsp milk
1 egg, separated
40g caster sugar
pinch cinnamon
1 tsp grated lemon rind
20 mls lemon juice
30g sour cream

To serve
Icing sugar
Thick cream

Pastry
To make the pastry, combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor, and whiz for a few seconds until well combined and free of lumps. Add the cold butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and sufficient cold water and whiz until a soft dough just starts to form around the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor and gather the pastry into a ball; flatten slightly before wrapping in plastic and placing in the fridge. Refrigerate the pastry for an hour. 

You’ll only need about half of the pastry dough to make a 17cm tart. The pastry freezes well so just wrap the remaining pastry in plastic wrap and store in the freezer.  

On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out thinly - 4mm thick. Line a greased 17 cm flan tin with the pastry mixture. Brush the pastry case with the egg mixture and sprinkle the base with the breadcrumbs then return to the fridge for another 30 minutes. 

While the pastry is in the fridge, preheat the oven to 200°C conventional and place a baking tray on the centre rack to preheat. Remove the pastry shell from the fridge, fill with the frozen cherries and place on the preheated baking tray. Reduce the temperature to 180°C, conventional and bake for 30 minutes. 

Filling
While the torte is in the oven, make the filling. Blend the flour with the milk, then add the yolk, sugar, cinnamon, lemon rind and lemon juice and stir until sugar has dissolved. Add sour cream and mix again. After 30 minutes, remove the tart from the oven, sprinkle 1 tbs caster sugar over the sour cherries and place to one side.

 
To finish the filling, beat the egg whites in a small bowl until stiff and gently fold them into the mixture then pour the filling over the cherries. Return the torte to the oven and bake for a further 30- 45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and set. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. When completely cool unmould the tart. 

Just before serving dust the top of the tart with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of cream.

I shared this with the neighbours and it received rave reviews. 

The tart is delicious because of its simplicity. It has crisp tart shell with a tart sour cherry filling all topped with a soft lemon souffle mixture. 

See you all again next week, with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apricot cheesecake crumble bars

apricot cheesecake crumble bars

15 Sept 2025

I love making jam and marmalade but I don't eat much of either. I usually give away the pots of jam or use them in my baking and the remaining jars of jam I store under the bed or in my sunroom. I think I have 2 unopened jars of fig jam, 2 unopened jars of apricot jam, 2 unopened jars of blood orange marmalade, 4 unopened jars of plum conserve and any number of half consumed pots of jam lurking in the fridge. 

Consequently I'm always on the lookout for recipes using jam and that's how I came across this recipe by Sarah Kieffer. I made an apricot version of her creamy jammy coffee cake and added oats to the streusal. The topping and filling were delicious but I wasn't sold on the base layer. I cast my mind back to the raspberry cheesecake crumble bars I made a few years ago and decided the apricot cream cheese coffee cake would work better served as bars with a shortbread base. Off to the kitchen I went and came up with this variation.

Here's the recipe for you which makes an 8 inch cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20-ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

Apricot cheesecake crumble bars
Base
175g unsalted butter
⅓ cup (75g) caster sugar
1½ cup (225g) plain flour, sifted
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Crumble
3 tbsp (25g) rolled oats

3 tsp demerara or raw sugar

Filling
2/3 cup apricot jam

1 tbs lemon juice
250g room temperature cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon yoghurt or cream

Method
Grease and line an 8 inch square tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional.

In a food processor, process all the ingredients for the base until a soft dough forms around the blades. Take out 1/3 of the dough (160g) and place in a small bowl. Add the oats and demerara sugar to the dough and place in the fridge. This will form the crumble topping. Take the remaining ⅔ of the dough and press the mixture into the base of the prepared tin. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the base is golden. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

  
Filling

Gently warm the jam in a pan until loose, then remove from the heat. Stir through the lemon juice and then set to one side while you make the cheesecake filling. 

Wipe out the food processor then combine the remaining filling ingredients in the food processor and whiz until smooth then pour over the prepared base. Dot the jam over the cheesecake, then strew over the crumble mix.

Return to the oven and bake the cake for 45 minutes or until the filling is just set and the crumble golden. Allow to cool before storing in the fridge to firm up. 

Cut into squares or bars with a damp knife before serving. The bars will keep for 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. They will start to soften after 2 days but are still delicious. These are best served at room temperature. 

These apricot cheesecake crumble bars with their crisp shortbread base, filled with a creamy cheesecake filling brightened with a pop of apricot jam then topped with oaty crumbs were a treat. If I were to make any changes, perhaps I'd add a teaspoon or 2 of lemon rind to the cheesecake layer just to add a bit more of a citrus zing.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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chocolate, raspberry and cream cheese brownies

chocolate, raspberry and cream cheese brownies

8 Sept 2025

We've had a very wet winter here in Sydney, so one rainy Sunday I decided to do a spot of baking. I picked up my copy of Beatrix Bakes Another Slice and browsed through the book. I was intrigued by the brownie recipe which used ingredients with which I was familiar but the technique used was wildly different.

The brownies are made from pantry staples and cream cheese, all of which I had in the kitchen, so I decided to make a small batch. Just as I was about to put the brownies in the oven, I topped them with some frozen raspberries to make the fruity 'adaptrix', a Natalie'ism.

Here's the recipe for you (in Natalie's own words) adapted from here, which makes a 17-cm square tin of brownies. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20-ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C. If you'd like to make a larger batch please refer to the original recipe.

Chocolate, raspberry and cream cheese brownies - makes 12 bite-size brownies

Ingredients
Cooking oil spray 
100g egg (2 eggs) 
150g raw caster sugar 
55g good bittersweet chocolate (around 50-60% cocoa)
120g unsalted butter 
45g plain flour, regular or gluten free
30g Dutch (unsweetened) cocoa powder 
heaped ¼ tsp sea salt flakes
90g good extra-dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa)
55g full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
50g frozen raspberries

Method
Heat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Lightly spray a 17-cm square, 5 cm deep cake tin with cooking oil and line the base and sides with baking paper. Ensure any flappy paper edges are trimmed flush with the tin or secure them with clips.

Combine the egg and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment beat on speed 4 (below medium) for 8 minutes until you have a thick and pale foam.

While the mix beats, weigh the bittersweet chocolate into a small heatproof bowl. Heat the butter to bubbly hot (stovetop or microwave) and pour it over. Stir until the chocolate has melted and is smooth.

 
Scrape the warm chocolate/butter mix into the egg mix and beat for 5 minutes on speed 5 (medium) - it will look like a fluffy and flowy chocolate mousse. While it mixes weigh the flour and cocoa together and sift into a small bowl. Weigh the salt flakes on top. Chop the extra-dark chocolate into fine shards and add 65g to a separate bowl. Tear up the cream cheese into small hazelnut-sized chunks to sit on top of the chocolate. Set aside.

Stop the mixer and tip in the sieved dry ingredients. Beat on speed 2 (above low) for 1 minute until the flour is absorbed. Take the bowl off the mixer and stir in the chocolate and cream cheese. Some cream cheese lumps will remain and some will smear through, lightening the batter slightly all of this is good. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Press the frozen raspberries (fresh ones will scorch) into the top after smoothing the batter and then scatter the remaining extra-dark chocolate on top.

If you find a few too large nuggets of cream cheese when scraping and smoothing, massage them into the ideal size with the tip of your offset spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes (mine took 40-45 minutes at 170°C, conventional) until the top of the brownie is slightly puffed, has a noticeable cracked border about 2 cm from the edge and fine fissures further across the surface. My Perfect Squidge Temperature (PST) hits at 95°C (205°F), with sticky clumps of mottled paste (not liquid chocolate).

Bake for 5 - 10 minutes longer if you want a more cakey brownie (internal temperature 100°C/210°F). If you want super-gooey filling, cook it for 5-10 minutes less, but you will definitely have to chill before cutting. Internal temperature taking is genius for brownies - no matter the batter, recipe or oven, you can always get the squidge right.

Cool at room temperature for around 30 minutes before cutting with a hot, damp knife, or chill it for a creamy fudge texture. The first warm bar, with still-molten chocolate chunks, is one of the greatest kitchen gifts bestowed upon a home baker. The brownies can be kept covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Allow the brownies to soften to room temperature or zap to re-soften before eating.

Adaptrix

It's a bit nutty
Add 60g roughly chopped (to about the size of your pinky fingertip) lightly toasted nuts, keeping a smattering to sprinkle on top. Pecans and walnuts are faves for the mellifluous texture. Avoid almonds, as they are too jarring against the soft brownie texture. Hazelnuts get a hall pass if chopped to a medium coarseness (half pinky fingertip). Heads up, they are very, very good with the Mocha Adaptrix.

Mocha
Coffee, more than salt or vanilla, will elevate the chocolate flavour - I add this for adults. Add 3g of instant coffee powder to dissolve with the hot butter.

The big chill
Score maximum brownie points and make the batter, then delay the bake. After smoothing the batter into the tin, chill overnight, uncovered is fine. Bake as above - just increase the time by 10+ minutes to allow for the cold start. Some baking boffins swear this melds the ingredients to make a better brownie. I just like that I can mix, rest and bake for easy warm brownie joy.

As promised, these brownies were very rich and squidgy, so I cut them into 12 small pieces. I shared the brownies with my neighbours and they were big fans.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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blood orange, almond and polenta cake with orange scented ganache

blood orange, almond and polenta cake with orange scented ganache

31 Aug 2025

My love for blood oranges knows no bounds. I've been enchanted by blood oranges since I was first introduced to them when I was 15. I was on a school trip to Europe and by the time we'd arrived in Italy I was craving both orange juice and steak. The steak could wait until I returned home but not the orange juice. Not even the ridiculously high price could stop me from ordering the juice and when it arrived it was blood red. We thought they'd made a mistake and had given us tomato juice, but one sip revealed there had been no mistake and we'd been served the best orange juice of all, blood orange juice.

I found a recipe for a blood orange cake in 'Love Crumbs' by Nadine Ingram, which she'd named 'A Waltzing Orange Cake'. I waited for blood oranges to return to the fruit shop and a few weeks back, there they were in all their glory. I bought a bag of blood oranges and set to work making both the cake and a batch of blood orange and vanilla marmalade. 

Whilst I loved the cake toppings, I found the cake quite dry. I've made many blood orange cakes in the past and thought one of those cakes might work better as a base for those lovely toppings. I returned to the kitchen for round 2 and came up with this recipe for a blood orange, almond amd polenta cake with an orange scented ganache. The cake, which is both gluten free and dairy free, was adapted from a Nicola Lamb recipe whilst the toppings (and instructions) are pure Nadine.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17-cm cake. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. To make this cake you'll need 4-5 blood oranges, depending on their size, and 1 lemon. If blood oranges aren't in season, regular oranges will do nicely.

Blood orange, almond and polenta cake with an orange scented ganache - makes a 17-cm cake

Blood orange jelly slices -start this process 2 days ahead

1 blood orange

80g caster sugar

90ml water

¼ tsp cardamom pods, crushed

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

  

Orange scented ganache

200g pure cream

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

½ tsp cardamom pods, crushed

1 blood orange, zested

55g white chocolate good quality, finely chopped

Cake

The zest of 2 blood oranges

The blended flesh of 1-2 blood oranges to make 135g of puree

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

½ cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil

125g almond meal

50g superfine polenta flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt

Citrus syrup

¼ cup (55g) caster sugar

1 tbs water

¼ cup (60 mls) freshly squeezed blood orange juice

Juice of ½ lemon

pinch salt

Blood orange jelly slices – start these 2 days before serving the cake.

Slice the oranges into 2 mm-thick rounds using a very sharp knife. Take your time as you want every slice to be completely round without tears. Place the slices in a large bowl and pour over boiling water from the kettle to well cover the slices, then wrap the bowl in plastic film for 6 hours until cold. Repeat the process twice more to make a total of three blanches over an 18-hour period. Don't worry, they can sit for longer if you need to leave them overnight. This is a technique used to soften citrus and remove the bitterness, while maintaining the vibrant colours. It's normally done by bringing the fruit to the boil in a saucepan, however, in the case of delicate orange slices they would be broken up in the process.

Place the sugar, water, cardamom and vanilla bean and seeds in a large, wide saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Discard the blanching water from the oranges and gently add the orange slices to the cardamom syrup, laying them carefully over the base of the saucepan, then cover them with a round piece of baking paper to ensure the top of the slices don't dry out.

Continue to simmer the orange slices on the lowest heat possible for about 1 hour -1 hour 30 minutes or until the syrup reduces to a jelly and coats the oranges in a glossy, translucent glaze. Turn off the heat and let them cool at room temperature. After this they can be stored in the fridge stacked up in a jar with any remaining syrup poured over them for approximately 3 months.

Orange-scented ganache

Place the cream, vanilla, cardamom pods and the orange zest in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow the flavours to mingle for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, place the finely chopped chocolate into a medium bowl and set it beside the stove. Strain the aromatics out of the cream and return the cream to the boil, then pour it over chocolate and stir the ganache until it is smooth and all the chocolate has dissolved. Pour the ganache into a container with a lid and cool in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Cake

Preheat oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease a 17cm-round cake pan and line the tin with baking paper.

Place the grated rind and sugar into a bowl and massage together until the sugar becomes fragrant. Add the eggs and whisk to combine, followed by the oil. Whisk in almond meal and the polenta flour mixture alternating with the blended orange pulp to form a loose batter. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes until the top is just firm and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 1 hour, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Syrup

Combine sugar with the water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer, add the orange juice and cook for 4-6 minutes until thickened and starting to caramelise. Cool syrup, then mix in the juice of ½ lemon and a pinch of salt and stir until combined. Cool completely to room temperature.

To assemble

Remove the cake from the tin by inverting it onto a plate, removing the baking paper and then flipping it back the right way up onto a platter.

Remove the orange-scented ganache from the fridge and give it a good whisk to incorporate any white chocolate that may have settled to the bottom or fat from the cream that may have floated to the top. Whip the ganache in the bowl of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment or use a hand whisk to whisk until firmly whipped, then spread or dollop evenly over the top of the cake. 

Arrange the blood orange jelly slices on top, noting that they're difficult to slice through when cutting the cake, so a bit of strategic placement based on the number of guests will make portioning much easier or you can place an orange slice on each plate then cut the cake afterward and drizzle with the syrup to serve. 

I took this to a friends place and we served the cake for dessert and it was a triumph! If you don't feel like making the ganache or the blood orange jelly slices, this cake topped with whipped cream and drizzled with some orange syrup is still a delight.

See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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