eton mess cake

eton mess cake

22 Jul 2024

It's the middle of winter here in Sydney and the only saving grace, fruitwise, are the berries. I loaded up my trolley with berries at the fruit shop, and brought them home with me. But what to make?

I had any number of berry and cream laden cake recipes that I could have chosen but I decided to make an Eton Mess Cake. This cake is a play on Eton Mess, a classic English dessert made from broken meringues, whipped cream and berries. In a case of happenstance, I had a plastic container filled with mini meringues that I wanted to use up and I couldn't think of a better way to use them.

You can make the cake 1-2 days in advance but please don't decorate the cake ahead of time. If you do, the meringues will soften and dissolve and you'll lose the contrast between the soft billowy cream and the crunchy meringue.

Here’s the recipe for you, which makes a 17cm square cake that I adapted from here. 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.

Eton Mess Cake - makes a 17cm square cake, which serves 6-8 people
Ingredients

125g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 tsp lemon rind

125g room temperature unsalted butter, plus extra for the tin
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs
100g self-raising flour, sifted with a pinch of salt
50g almond meal
50ml full cream milk
45mls cream
50g strawberries, hulled and diced into 1 cm pieces
50g raspberries, fresh or frozen
1-2 tsp caster sugar, extra

Topping
250ml thickened cream
75g strawberries, halved
50g fresh raspberries
3-4 baby meringues, roughly broken up
Baby mint leaves

Method
Heat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease and line a 17cm square tin with baking paper (leave some overhanging to help lift the cake out once done).

Place the sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and using your finger tips, massage the lemon rind with the sugar. Add the room temperature butter and the vanilla to the bowl and beat together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Crack in the eggs, one by one, and mix between each addition until combined. Mix in the flour followed by the ground almonds and gently stir in the milk and the cream. Using a spatula, gently fold in the strawberries and raspberries.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin, spread out evenly and sprinkle with a little extra sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Once cooked, remove from the oven to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then lift from the tin onto a wire rack to cool completely. When cooled, place the cake on a serving plate.

Topping

Using a hand mixer, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Just before serving, roughly spread the cream over the cake then scatter with the strawberries, raspberries, broken meringue pieces and a few mint leaves. If you make this ahead the meringues will soften and dissolve and you'll lose the contrast between the soft billowy cream and the crunchy meringue.

Well this went down a treat at work - the combination of whipped cream, fresh berries and a hint of mint was declared a winner.

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

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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double chocolate sour cream pound cake

double chocolate sour cream pound cake

11 Jul 2024

I recently borrowed a few cookbooks from the library, including a copy of Alison Roman's book, 'Sweet Enough'. I trawled through the book and bookmarked a few recipes, including this one for her Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake.

I am not a chocolate person but my next door neighbour's daughter is. After a few weeks of fruit and citrus based cakes, I decided to make something with Minnie in mind. I had a scraping of sour cream left in the fridge, and some long forgotten chocolate chips so a chocolate sour cream pound cake it was.

I made a small loaf cake and normally I'd just halve the recipe but I would have ended up with a very tiny loaf cake so I had to tweak the proportions a little.

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.

Double Chocolate Pound Cake
Ingredients
100g plain flour
45g cocoa 
¾ tsp baking powder
pinch salt 
85g unsalted butter
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
135g sour cream or whole-milk yoghurt
112g chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate bar (optional)
1 tbs raw sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 190°C, conventional. Line a small loaf pan with baking paper and put to one side.

Sift the flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a medium bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer place the butter, caster sugar and vanilla and beat for 4-5 minutes or until extremely pale and fluffy. Scrape down sides. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each to incorporate. Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until mixture is smooth, fluffy and well incorporated.

With mixer on low, add about half the flour mixture, followed by the sour cream, followed by remaining flour mixture. Just before everything is incorporated, add three-quarters of the chocolate, if using.

Scrape batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate (if using) and the  raw sugar. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cake is puffed, considerably taller and pulling away from the sides of the pan. Due to the melted chocolate pieces in the batter, this is a difficult cake to test for 'doneness' using a skewer. Cool entirely before removing from pan.

I wasn't sure if I'd overbaked the cake due to the cake testing issues but no-one seemed to complain. As this is a sturdy cake I decided to dunk my slice into my cup of tea, something I've never done before. The hot tea melted the chocolate chunks in the cake and it was delicious.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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pumpkin and orange spice cake

pumpkin and orange spice cake

1 Jul 2024

I borrowed Philip Khoury's new book, A New Way to Bake, from my local library. While I have done a great deal of gluten free baking the last few years, plant based baking is a bit of a mystery to me. I knew Phil had designed the book to be made with easy to access ingredients. I've pored through the recipes and discovered most recipes rely on plant based milks, in particular soy milk which I loathe, but the notes suggested I could just use water.

I went to Dungog for the Kings Birthday weekend and came home with a pumpkin from my brother, Farmer Andrew's garden. I've made a batch of oven roasted pumpkin soup but I still have half the pumpkin left, so the first recipe I made from the book was this pumpkin spice cake. I baked the cake in a bundt tin rather than a loaf tin and decorated the cake with a few pepitas and some candied orange rind made with the remainder of the orange. If you make the candied peel, you'll need to make it ahead of time.

Here's the recipe for you, which you can see Phil make here, which makes a small bundt or loaf tin. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon although most of the ingredients in this recipe are by weight. 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. 

Pumpkin and orange spice cake
Cake
150g pumpkin, peeled and deseeded 
60g brown sugar  
80g caster sugar
40g extra virgin olive oil 
1 tsp grated orange rind 
112g plant-based milk or water, at room temperature 
1 tsp apple cider vinegar  
150g plain flour (gluten-free plain flour will also work) 
1 tsp baking powder 
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp ground cinnamon 
pinch ground nutmeg 
½ tsp ground ginger  
¼ tsp ground cloves 
pinch sea salt flakes
 
Bundt cake icing 
100g icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs orange juice 
½ tsp grated orange rind

Loaf cake icing

165g icing sugar

45g orange juice
¼ orange, grated

To decorate
1-2 tbs pepitas or pumpkin seeds
candied orange rind (optional)

Candied orange rind

½ orange, rind removed and finely sliced

40g water

40g caster sugar

Additional caster sugar for coating

Method
Grease and flour a small bundt tin or line a small 600g loaf tin with baking paper and set to one side. 

Cut the pumpkin into 3 cm chunks, add the chunks to a saucepan large enough to just cover them with water and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until a sharp knife meets no resistance when you poke a piece of the pumpkin. Strain the pumpkin, discarding the water. Leave the pumpkin to chill for 30 minutes in the fridge until it has cooled to room temperature. (I used 150g of oven roasted pumpkin).

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan. (I baked the cake at 190°C conventional). Add the cooled pumpkin, sugars, the oil, orange rind, milk and vinegar to a large bowl and blend them with an immersion blender until smooth. You can also do this step in a blender or a food processor.

Add the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, spices and salt to another large bowl and mix with a whisk. Add the blended ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk until combined. 

Pour the batter into the greased bundt or lined loaf tin and place in the preheated oven on the centre rack. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before inverting the cake and removing from the tin.  If baked in a loaf tin, using the baking paper remove the loaf cake from the tin and cool completely on a wire rack with a rimmed baking sheet underneath.

Bundt cake icing
Combine the icing sugar and grated rind in a small bowl. Add enough orange juice to create a thick but pourable icing. Drizzle over the cake still on the cooling rack or placed on a piece of greaseproof paper. Leave for 30 minutes to set a little before decorating with the pepitas and the candied orange rind, if using.

Loaf cake icing
If making the loaf cake, make a thinner icing. Drizzle over the cake still on the cooling rack or you can use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over the cake. Leave for 30 minutes to set a little before decorating with the pepitas and the candied orange rind, if using.

Candied orange rind
Place the orange rind in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 30 seconds before draining. In a small saucepan combine the water and sugar and bring to the boil. Add the orange rind and lower the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for 10 minutes before removing the pan from the heat and leaving the rind to cool in the syrup. When cool pour the mixture through a fine sieve to drain. Remove the peel and toss through some caster sugar. Place on baking paper and allow to set before storing in an airtight container.

The cake will keep for up to 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container.

I shared the cake with my workmates and didn't tell them it was plant based until after the cake was eaten. The cake disappeared in record time and it was declared delicious. Now I can't wait to bake another recipe from Phil's book.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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lemonopita

lemonopita

30 Jun 2024

A few years ago I stayed on the lovely island of Milos in the village of Plaka. I visited the local pastry shop most days, Paleos Pastry, and one day, on their recommendation I came home with a piece of orange cake, which in retrospect, I think may have Portokalopita. It was drenched with syrup, intensely orange flavoured, but I found it to be very, very sweet.

I've never made Portokalopita before but a few years ago I bookmarked a recipe and it was high on my list of things to make. Portokalopita is made with filo pastry not flour and after it comes out of the oven, it's doused with cold citrus flavoured syrup. I thought if I made a lemon flavoured version, Lemonopita, it might not be so sweet. I had half a packet of filo left over from a savoury pie I made a few weeks ago and as I always have lemons, olive oil and yoghurt on hand I decided to make a lemon version. Always one to gild the lily I candied a few lemon slices to decorate the cake once it had cooled down.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from here, which makes a 17cm round or square cake. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon although most of the ingredients in this recipe are weighed. 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. 

Lemonopita
Ingredients
190g fresh filo pastry
½ cup (110g) caster sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp finely grated lemon zest, from 1 medium lemon 

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extraxt
1/2 cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil
125g Greek yoghurt
1 tsp baking powder

Lemon syrup
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
150g granulated sugar
¾ cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
the peel of one lemon

To serve

candied lemon slices (optional)
1 cup (250 mls) cream, softly whipped 

Method
Preheat the oven to 100°C, conventional. Lay out the pastry and loosely scrunch up each sheet and place bunched next to each other on a baking tray. Dry in the oven for 1 hour. Carefully turn over the sheets and bake for a further 20 minutes or until completely dry. Break the shards of crisp pastry into small pieces into a bowl and set aside. You can also leave the pastry shards to dry out on the bench top.

Place the sugar and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and whisk for 7-9 minutes until pale and doubled in size. Add the zest, vanilla, olive oil, yoghurt and baking powder, and whisk until well combined. Fold through the broken pastry until well combined then rest the mixture for 30 minutes, stirring every so often to prevent the pastry from clumping. 

To prepare the syrup, place all the ingredients in a medium saucepan over high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Pass through a seive, then set aside to cool completely.

 

Preheat the oven to 180°C conventional. Lightly grease the base and side of a 17cm round springform cake pan and line the base with baking paper. Place the tin onto a large piece of foil and scrunch the foil around the tin to create a seal. Spoon mixture into the prepared pan. Bake on the centre rack of the preheated  oven for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven. Pierce holes into the cake with a skewer and pour over half the syrup. Set aside for 1 hour to absorb. Serve the cake with cream, the remaining syrup and a few candied lemon slice if desired.

I made this cake in stages. I dried out the filo sheets last weekend and stored them in an airtight container. I also made the lemon syrup in advance which I kept in the fridge until I was ready to make the cake. The cake came together very easily and topped with lemon syrup and cream, it was a delight to eat as well. It's cold, grey and wet in Sydney and despite that, I almost felt transported back to summer in Milos. One can dream

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Cinnamon tea cake topped with pears and plums

Cinnamon tea cake topped with pears and plums

17 Jun 2024

As we're firmly in winter here in Sydney, think driving rain and frosty mornings, I'm hungry all the time. There is nothing like a slice of cake and a cup of tea when the hangries strike.

When I saw this Helen Goh recipe I knew I had to make it but I decided to change it up just a little. I had a few plums stashed in my freezer but not enough to cover the cake so I went for a pear/plum combination for the topping then browned the butter, because everything tastes better with browned butter.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from here which makes a 17cm 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, refer to the original recipe.

Cinnamon tea cake topped with pears and plums
Ingredients
90g unsalted butter
135g caster sugar
finely grated rind of 1 large lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
70g sunflower (or other flavourless) oil
75ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
75g almond meal 
120g plain flour
1¼ tsp baking powder
pinch fine sea salt
freshly whipped cream, to serve

Topping
1 medium ripe pear, peeled and halved
1 plum, halved, pitted then thinly sliced
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp caster sugar

Method
Put the butter into a small pan and cook over a low heat until the butter becomes brown and smells nutty. Immediately transfer the browned butter from the pan to a heatproof bowl then set aside to cool until tepid. You should have 75g of butter. If you don’t, then add a little cold water until it weighs 75g. 

Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional and line the base and sides of a 17cm cake tin (preferably with removable base) with baking paper.

Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl and rub together firmly between your thumb and fingers until the sugar is very fragrant and tinged yellow. Add the eggs and whisk together until combined, then add the oil. Whisk until smooth, then add the milk and vanilla, whisking until combined. Add the almond meal and sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the mix. Stir gently with the whisk until just incorporated into the batter, then dribble in the butter around the perimeter of the bowl, stirring gently. Scrape the batter into the lined cake tin.

Prepare the topping
Remove the core and stem from the pear with a small metal spoon or paring knife, then slice the pear halves into 0.5cm pieces, keeping them together. Now fan out the pieces so that they’re slightly overlapping and, using a small spatula, lift portions of the overlapping pear slices and place them gently on top of the cake batter. Do the same with the plum slices and continue until all the slices have been used and the top of the cake is entirely covered. Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the fruit.

Place the cake in a preheated oven and bake for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before removing it from the tin. Serve with freshly whipped cream.

This is a very lovely cake and as it's a melt and mix number, is very easy to make as well. I can see I'll be making any number of fruit topped versions of this cake in my future.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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lemon moon cake

lemon moon cake

12 Jun 2024

Whilst looking through a back copy of Delicious Magazine I spied a Scandinavian baking feature. Everything looked delicious but when I saw a photo of the Lemon Moon Cake I knew I had to make it.

I looked online and found many recipes for Lemon Moon Cake and in the end cobbled together two recipes to come up with a recipe that I think captured the lemony essence of the cake. Marzipan is a key ingredient in this cake, but it's hard to find in Sydney, so instead I deconstructed the marzipan into its constituent elements (almond meal, sugar and water or in this case lemon juice) so you won't need to track it down. 

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from here and here which makes a 17cm 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, refer to the original recipe.

Lemon Moon Cake
115g caster sugar
Grated rind of one lemon
100g room temperature unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
100g plain flour
¾ tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
55g almond meal
50g lemon marmalade (pureed)
1-2 tsp lemon juice, if needed

Icing
100g icing sugar, sifted
½ tsp vanilla paste
½ lemon, juiced

To decorate
Shredded zest of ½ lemon (I used some candied lemon rind)
Toasted chopped blanched almonds

Method
Grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm diameter spring-form pan with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the caster sugar with the lemon zest and rub together with your fingers until the sugar is fragrant. Add the butter and vanilla and using the paddle, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, ensuring you incorporate fully between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a small bowl and stir through the almond meal. Stir the flour mixture into the cake mixture and fold with a spatula until combined. Add the pureed lemon marmalade and if needed, a tsp or so of lemon juice.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, level the top of the cake and bake on the centre rack at 170°C, conventional for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. If the top of the cake is browning too quickly, cover the top of the cake with some foil. Let the cake cool in the tin for ten minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool completely before decorating.

Icing
Place the icing sugar in a bowl. Add the vanilla paste and sufficient lemon juice until you have a mixture with the consistency of runny honey. If it's a bit thick add a little boiling water. Spoon the icing over the top of the cake and allow to set before decorating the top of the cake with the chopped almonds and the lemon zest.

The cake proved to be a pretty popular one and was devoured by my workmates in record time.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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