SLIDER

strawberry all in one pavlova

27 Jan 2025



It's the Australia Day public holiday today, so I decided to make a pavlova topped with whipped cream and some fresh strawberries. I've been making pavlovas my whole life using the tried and trusted method of slowly incorporating 60g of caster sugar for every 30g of egg white before adding a little bit of vinegar, cornflour and vanilla, that was until last year when I saw Adam Liaw make an all in pavlova on The Cook Up.


It was a revelation. There was no gradual adding of caster sugar, instead he used icing mixture instead of caster sugar and just put all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisked it for 8 minutes and hey presto, he had meringue. As i
cing mixture already includes starch, there's no need to add any extra cornflour, you just need egg whites, a pinch of salt and some vinegar and vanilla extract. 


Since then I've made a batch of meringues and and a pavlova using this method but I found the pavlova very sweet so I've reduced the sugar a little in the recipe. It's still a struggle baking a pavlova in my gas oven. It doesn't have a temperature option below 160
°C. It just has 'minimum' and it took 3½ hours in the oven at minimum before the pavlova was cooked enough to remove it from the baking paper.


Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16cm pavlova. If you'd like to make a bigger pavlova just increase the quantity of egg whites and icing mixture. 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. 



All in One Pavlova
90g egg whites, from approximately 3 egg whites 
Pinch of salt
135g icing mixture 
¾ tsp white vinegar 
¾ tsp vanilla extract
 
Topping
200mls thickened cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 punnet strawberries, washed, hulled and dried
Icing sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C conventional. Line a flat baking tray with baking paper and using a 16cm tin as your guide, mark out a circle on the paper. Flip the paper over and use this as your template. Place the paper onto the baking tray.

Place the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer with a pinch of salt and whisk on low speed until just combined. Add the icing mixture to the bowl and beat at high speed to form a glossy stiff meringue. This will take about 8 minutes. Gently fold through the vinegar and vanilla extract.




Spoon the meringue onto the baking paper to form a 16cm circle with a slightly flattened top. This will subside during the baking process creating a well for the cream. Place the pavlova in the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 130°C, conventional, or the lowest setting for your oven and bake for 1¼ - 1½ hours or until the pavlova is dry and very lightly coloured. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool for a further 1 1⁄2 - 2 hours in the switched off oven, wedging the door open very slightly with a chopstick.



When cool, remove the pavlova from the baking paper and store in an airtight container. Just before serving, top the pavlova with the lightly whipped cream and berries and a dusting of icing sugar. 



This pavlova didn't make it into work. I shared it with my neighbours who were very pleased that I did. It was simply delicious. 


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

Bye for now,

Jillian
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fig and earl grey victoria sponge

12 Jan 2025


Last year, when figs were in season, I made a batch of fig and earl grey jam using this
recipe because I planned to make a 
Fig and Earl Grey Sponge Cake. Before I had a chance to make the cake, figs disappeared from the fruit shop and I completely forgot about the 2 pots of jam which I'd stored under my bed.


I've had nothing but good results making my version of Nicola Lamb's Victoria Sponge cake recipe, so I knew I would use that as the base for my recipe when I rediscovered the pots of jam at Christmas time. As soon as figs appeared in the fruit shop I bought a punnet and off to the kitchen I went to make the cake. Of course you don't need to make your own jam, store bought is fine, and remember to steep the cream with the tea leaves the night before you decorate the cake.

Here's the recipe for you 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. 


Fig and Earl Grey Sponge Cake
Cake 
135g unsalted butter, soft (20°C is great!)
3g (½ tsp) sea salt flakes
165g caster sugar
45g cream
2 whole eggs 
1 egg yolk 
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g whole milk
165g plain flour
10g baking powder (around 2 tsp)
2 tsp sugar for a crispy top

Filling  
300mls thickened cream
1 tsp loose leaf earl grey tea
½ cup fig and earl grey jam

Topping
Fresh figs
Berries
Icing sugar, for dusting

Method
The night before you plan to bake the cake, pour the cream into a bowl and add the earl grey tea leaves. Leave it to cold steep overnight. 

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm tin with baking paper. Set aside.

Cream the soft butter with salt and sugar for 2 minutes on medium speed using a stand mixer. This is enough for the butter and sugar to aerate slightly and become a little paler, but not so much that it is whipped. 

Mix together the cream, whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract and milk.

Sift together the plain flour and baking powder. Set aside. Starting with the liquid, alternate adding the liquid and dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar, in around three batches, scraping down as necessary. Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the sugar.


Bake for 45 minutes on the centre rack of the preheated 190°C oven , then check if the sponge is golden and bouncy, and pulling away from the sides slightly. Bake for additional 5 minutes if seems underbaked. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack. When completely cold, use a long serrated knife to slice horizontally through the centre of the cake, separarting the cake into 2 layers.

Filling
Strain the cream, then whip to soft peaks and bring the jam to room temperature if it is kept in the fridge. 


Assembly
Place one of the cake halves onto a serving plate spreading jam all over the base. Spoon 2/3 of the cream onto the jam layer and spread to the edges with the back of a spoon - leave a 1-inch border if you don't want it to splurge too much! if you want, you can top the cream with a few fresh fig slices. 
As a splurging insurance policy, you can pop your cake in the fridge or freezer to firm up the cream a bit. 


Smooth the cream a little, then add the sugared sponge layer. Add a small dollop of cream to the top of the cake, then add slices of fresh fig and a few berries. Dust with icing sugar and serve. 


The cake will keep in the fridge for 3 days, stored in an airtight container.




No surprise, the cake was absolutely delicious.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian
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The Violet Butterscotch Blondies

11 Jan 2025


Happy New Year and welcome to the first post for 2025. I'm easing myself back slowly into the kitchen after a mammoth 2 months of baking. I decided to make some blondies using a Claire Ptak recipe. 
The day before I returned to work, I made the caramel shards then quickly but the batter together. By the time the blondies had cooled I'd lost the light so I put them into an airtight container and returned to photograph them a few days later.


They're delicious but even though I reduced the sugar in the recipe, I found them very sweet. To take the sweetness down a notch I've dropped the sugar in the batter even more. I could have taken the caramel a bit further which would have taken the edge off the sweetness and instead of milk chocolate, dark chocolate pieces would also help.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from here, which makes 8 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. 


The Violet Butterscotch Blondie – Claire Ptak
Caramel shards
15 ml water
75g caster sugar

Ingredients
125g unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the tin
1 egg
125g light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
60g milk chocolate, broken into small pieces

Caramel
Have a sheet of greaseproof paper ready on a heat proof surface. Measure the water into a heavy-bottomed pan. Cover with the sugar and place over a medium-low heat until the sugar starts to dissolve. Resist the temptation to stir the pan as this can cause crystallisation. Once the sugar starts to dissolve, turn up the heat to medium-high until the sugar is a dark golden brown. Pour the caramel onto the greaseproof paper in a thin and even layer. Leave to cool, then use a sharp knife to chop into smallish shards. Be careful, as the caramel can be quite hard.



Blondies
Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Butter a 17 x 17 cm baking tin and line with baking paper.

Gently melt the
125g butter in a small, heavy-bottomed pan and set aside to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar and vanilla until frothy, then whisk in the melted butter.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a separate bowl then add add to the egg and butter mixture along with the milk chocolate pieces. Mix until just combined.




Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and smooth the top with a palette knife or spatula. Sprinkle 40g of the caramel shards over the top and bake for 30 minutes. The centre should be puffed and set but still a little gooey.



Leave to cool completely in the tin, then cut into 8 thick but smallish pieces.


These will keep well for more than 3 days in an airtight container.


A perfect bite sized treat served with a nice cup of tea.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian



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