Raspberry olive oil and cream cheese dome

Raspberry olive oil and cream cheese dome

23 May 2025

For my friend Bianca's birthday, I decided to go all out and whipped up this Raspberry, olive oil and cream cheese dome. The cake was inspired by a recipe from Nicola Lamb's book, Sift, whilst the idea for the decoration came from 'Luna' a recipe from Nadine Ingram's book, Love Crumbs. 

This is not a cake you can make on a whim. The ganache, the cake and the filling all need to be made the day before you serve the cake but as long as you're methodical, it shouldn't give you too many problems. I am no expert with a piping bag, but I figured I had enough skill to decorate the dome.

Nicola's recipe made a 3 layer citrus, olive oil cream cheese dome sandwiched together with marmalade, mandarin segments and a whipped cream cheese filling. I wasn't sure the 5 year old twins would eat a marmalade filled cake so instead of an orange flavoured cake and syrup, I used lemon; I swapped the marmalade for a pot of rhubarb and raspberry jam and dotted the cream filling with some raspberries. I finished the cake with lemon scented ganache instead of Swiss meringue butter cream and decorated the cake with raspberries instead of flower petals and orange segments, seen here.

I didn't have the correct size tray so I baked the cake in two 8 x 12 inch trays. It meant my cake layers were thinner but I had so much cake, I could easily make a 4 layer cake. I needed to use more jam but I had plenty of the whipped cream cheese filling. As this was a birthday cake, I wasn't able to take photos of the interior of the cake except for one awful one taken on my phone. 

Here's the recipe for you, which makes a 4 layer 20cm dome. 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.

Raspberry, olive oil and cream cheese dome - serves 10-12
Equipment
2 x 8 x 12 inch baking trays or one 39 x 27cm baking tray

A mixing bowl, at least 20cm wide at the top with a base of around 10cm

 
Olive oil cake
Zest of 2 lemons 
200g caster sugar
160g extra virgin olive oil
110g Greek yoghurt
3 whole eggs
110g plain flour
110g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder 
¼ tsp bicarb soda 
¼ tsp flaky sea salt

Lemon syrup – this will make more syrup than you need
50g lemon juice
50g caster sugar

Whipped cream cheese
250g full-fat cream cheese
35g caster sugar
180g double cream
60g olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp fine salt

Lemon scented ganache
85g good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
320g pure cream
Zest of 2 lemons

To assemble
265g berry jam 
1 punnet (125g) raspberries

To decorate
1 punnet (125g) raspberries

Olive oil cake

Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional and line the baking tray (s) with baking paper.

Add the lemon zest to the caster sugar and rub in between your fingers to release the oils. Next, whisk in the olive oil, yoghurt and eggs. In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisk into the wet ingredients until smooth. 

If using one tray, pour the mixture into the lined baking tray and bake for 18-20 minutes or until firm and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Move to a cooling rack, remove the cake from the tray and leave to cool completely. 

If making 2 separate cakes, pour half the mixture into one tray, bake for 18-20 minutes, then repeat the process with the second tray. If your oven is big enough to bake both cakes at the same time, rotate the trays half way through the bake time to ensure an even bake. The cakes can be made 1-2 days in advance and kept well-wrapped at room temperature.

Syrup
Heat everything together and bring to a simmer. Leave to cool. This can be made 1 week in advance and kept in the fridge. This makes more than you need.

Whipped cream cheese
Put the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl. Whisk until it is smooth. Add the double cream, olive oil, vanilla extract and salt then whisk until stiff and thick. Make this when you are ready to assemble.

The dome
Cut 1 x 20cm circle, 1 x 16cm circle, 1 x 12 cm circle and 1 x 9-10cm circle from the cake sheets. The leftovers are your snacks. Wet a mixing bowl then line the bowl with clingfilm - make sure it is at least 20cm wide at the top with a base of around 10 cm.

To build

Place the 10cm cake circle in the base of the bowl. Douse with the syrup, then spread 45g jam on top, followed by 100g of whipped cream cheese. Nestle a third the raspberries into the cream. Place the 12cm cake layer on top. Douse with syrup, then spread over 60g jam, followed by 150g of whipped cream cheese. Nestle a third the raspberries into the cream. Place the 16cm cake layer on top; douse with lemon syrup then spread over 75g jam, followed by the rest of the whipped cream cheese. Nestle the remaining raspberries into the cream cheese. Spread 85g jam on the final cake, then place on top, jam-side down. Lightly press down the top layer before dousing the cake with the lemon syrup. You will have some leftover syrup. Cover the top of the cake with the overhanging plastic wrap then chill the entire cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Lemon scented ganache
Place the chocolate into a medium bowl and set it beside the stove, then place the cream and lemon zest into a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow the lemon to infuse for 20 minutes. Return the cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate, then use a hand whisk to mix the ganache until there are no lumps of chocolate remaining. Refrigerate the ganache overnight.

Just before using, remove the lemon ganache from the fridge and give it a good whisk to incorporate any chocolate that has floated to the top and set. Whip the lemon ganache to medium-firm whip. As you are piping the cream onto the cake, it will naturally continue to set in the piping bag and so a firm whip may cause it to split. It's important that it's not too soft, either, as you won't achieve the definition in the piping.

To decorate

Put a plate/cake board underneath the mixing bowl and flip it over to release the cake so it is the right way up. 

Fit a piping bag with a closed star piping tip and scoop one-third of the lemon ganache into the bag at a time. Working with this small amount at a time will give you more control and prevent your hands from warning the cream, potentially causing it to become runny. Begin piping with a little spiral of cream to cover the top of the cake to get a feel for the weight of the bag and your own dexterity. Then decorate the sides by piping the cream in an upwards direction, letting go of the pressure in the bag on the approach to the top so that you can form little peaks. Turn the cake as you go until the sides are all covered. You can practice on something that isn't the cake first, just to establish a rhythm before piping on the actual cake. 

Refrigerate the cake but bring to room temperature before enjoying. The covered cake will last 3 days in the fridge.

I want you to ignore the quality of the phone image and focus on those layers. I have to say the cake was a triumph and the twinnies licked their plates clean.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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pistachio cake with lime syrup

pistachio cake with lime syrup

19 May 2025

Last year I took out a copy of 'In Belinda's Kitchen' by Belinda Jeffrey from the library and I bookmarked a few recipes including this one for a pistachio and lime syrup cake. Earlier in the year I paid $7.50 for 3 of the tiniest limes you've ever seen and I didn't want to repeat the experience so I've been waiting for lime season to arrive. The cake was originally made with lemon syrup, so if limes are a bit pricey where you live, just use lemons instead.

I love baking with pistachios and I normally have a packet stored in my fridge. You'll need to make your own pistachio meal for this recipe and you want a fine meal like almond meal. You are not looking to make pistachio paste. I use a mini food processor to make nut meal and I process the nuts in 30 second bursts. Belinda suggests pulsing the nuts in the food processor with a tablespoon of flour from the recipe, as the flour helps prevent them becoming oily and forming a paste. Michael James suggests freezing the nuts before grinding them. I did both and I ended up with a finely ground nut meal.  

Here's the recipe for you, which makes a 17cm round cake, 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.

Pistachio and lime syrup cake 

Cake
30g GF or regular plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
50g pistachios, finely ground 

finely grated zest of 2 limes
60g almond meal
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 x 60g eggs, at room temperature

To serve

Rich cream or thick Greek-style yoghurt

Syrup and topping 
45g caster sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lime juice, strained
45g pistachios, roughly chopped

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Butter a 17-cm round cake tin. Line the base with buttered baking paper then dust the tin with flour. 

Tip the flour, baking powder, ground pistachios, lime zest and almond meal into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk them together with a balloon whisk for a minute or so, then set the bowl aside.

Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand-held electric beater) and beat them on medium speed for about 4 minutes, stopping and scraping down the sides occasionally, until the mixture looks creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, allowing each egg to be absorbed before adding the next. (Don't worry if the mixture looks a little curdled after adding the last egg it will come together again when you add the dry ingredients.) Tip in the flour mixture and mix everything together on low speed until it is just combined be careful not to over-mix it, or the cake may be a bit tough. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top.

Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, or until it springs back when lightly pressed in the centre and a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer it to a wire rack and leave it to cool a little in the tin.

When the cake is lukewarm, make the syrup. To do this, put the sugar and lime juice into a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the chopped pistachios, increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil.

Turn the cake out onto a serving plate and peel away the baking paper. Slowly spoon the hot pistachio and lime syrup evenly over the top, then leave the cake to cool completely. Serve with softly whipped cream or yoghurt.

I shared the cake with my neighbours and in return I was given a container of pumpkin and lentil soup. Gotta love my neighbours.

 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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canberra and bungendore

canberra and bungendore

13 May 2025

Easter came and went in a haze, so I was determined to go away for ANZAC Day and I decided to drive down to Canberra. I was interested in seeing the Ethel Carrick exhibition at the National Gallery, before it closed and the Fit to Print exhibition at the National Library of Australia. I enjoyed both exhibitions greatly as well as my dinner at Bar Rochford.

Canberra is much cooler than Sydney so the leaves had already started to change colour. In the morning I took a walk around the streets of Braddon so I could enjoy the autumnal hues before I drove back home to Sydney via Bungendore.

It's been 25 years since my last trip to Bungendore. We'd been out for dinner the night before and I had a very queasy tummy so I lay down on the back seat of the car for the whole journey from Sydney, so my memories of Bungendore are few. I don't remember it being so charming.

It was a grey, dreary sort of day. I parked the car and went for a wander down the main thoroughfare with my camera.

I found the retro looking Motel Bungendore, which has clearly seen better days.

My Dad loved nothing better than a long distance country drive, and we'd often end up staying in one of these roadside motels with their ingenious little cupboards containing the breakfast that you'd ordered at reception the night before.

There were other gems like the CWA Hall.

And the Royal Hotel. 

Just across the street was St Philip's Anglican Church. It looks peaceful but I took these photos accompanied by the squawks from a flock of cockatoos. 

I turned tail and headed down the other side of the street, past this rose in all her faded glory.

The next stop was the prettiest Police Station I think I've seen in NSW.

Surrounded by immaculate gardens.

Last but not least was the lovely Old Stone House.

The Old Stone House operates as a wedding venue and as a former wedding photographer, I would have loved to have photographed a wedding in its beautiful grounds.

After my little wander it was back into the car for the drive back to Sydney.

I hope you enjoyed coming along with me on my mini break in Canberra and Bungendore.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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olive oil loaf cake with pear and hazelnuts

olive oil loaf cake with pear and hazelnuts

12 May 2025

I borrowed Julia Busuttil Nishimura's recipe book, Good Cooking Every Day from the library and I was reading this recipe on the train when an card inspector came by to check my OPAL card. After he checked the card he commented on how appetizing this cake looked. I've been meaning to make the cake ever since but first I had to wait for pear season.

Autumn seems to have come in a rush. With the changing colours of the leaves, the fruit selection has also changed. Some plums are holding on as are grapes but otherwise its all apples, pears and citrus. I bought a few pears and put them in the fruit bowl waiting for them to ripen.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from this Julia Busuttil Nishimura recipe, 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.

Olive oil loaf cake with pear and hazelnuts

Ingredients
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
70ml light-flavoured extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
80g ground hazelnuts
80g GF or regular plain flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder

good pinch of sea salt

To serve

crème fraîche

Poached pears
100g caster sugar
1 star anise

1 bay leaf
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
juice of ½ lemon
2 small firm pears, peeled, cored and cut into 2 cm pieces.

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional or 170°C fan-forced. Grease, flour and line a small loaf tin with baking paper.

Poached pears

Place the caster sugar, star anise, bay leaf, vanilla pod and seeds, 250 ml (1 cup) of water and the lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, then add the pears and cook for 6-8 minutes or until just tender. Remove the pears with a slotted spoon and set aside. If the syrup lacks viscosity, continue to simmer the syrup until slightly thickened, remembering it will thicken upon cooling. Reserve the syrup for later. 

Method

Whisk together the eggs, caster sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl. Stream in the olive oil and whisk until just incorporated. Whisk in the ground hazelnuts, then finally whisk in the flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. 

Fold in the pears (approximately 150g) and spoon the batter into the tin. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when tested. 

Use a toothpick to poke holes in the hot cake, then pour over 100mls of the cooled syrup. 

Allow the cake to cool in the tin, then turn out and serve with the crème fraîche and a drizzle of olive oil or any left over pear syrup.

I made a gluten free version to share with my neighbours, and it was well received and the dollop of crème fraiche on top elevates the cake to dessert status. This is one very delicious cake.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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chocolate freckle biscuits

chocolate freckle biscuits

5 May 2025

I subscribe to a few substack feeds and one I can always rely on to share great recipes is Jill Dupleix's. Jill is a well known food writer and I have one of her cookbooks in my collection.

A few weeks back Jill shared a recipe for fairy biscuits. Like most Aussie kids growing up, I just loved fairy bread, but I also loved a chocolate freckle. Using Jill's recipe as my base, I turned her fairy biscuits into chocolate freckle biscuits. I had a scrape of cream cheese I wanted to use up, so I put that into the dough a la the sugar cookie recipe from the King Arthur Baking website, but you can just use 100g butter. 

Cocoa is a drying agent so the chocolate flavoured dough was a bit dry. The hundreds and thousands didn't adhere all that well to the uncooked biscuit, but a quick brush with water put that to right.

Here's the recipe for you which makes about 30, 5cm biscuits. 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.

Chocolate freckle biscuits, makes approximately 30 biscuits.
Ingredients
80 g unsalted butter, softened
20g cream cheese, softened
80 g caster sugar
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
180 g plain flour
20g cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

100 g hundreds and thousands

Method
Heat the oven to 170⁰C, conventional (150⁰C fan-forced). Line two baking trays with baking paper, and place hundreds and thousands in a small bowl.

Beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and salt until well-mixed. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into the mixture in two lots, gradually bringing it together with a spatula until it comes together as a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 6mm thickness. Using a 5 cm cutter, cut into rounds. Lightly brush the top of the cookie with water, then invert and press the cookie gently into the hundreds and thousands, then place the cookie plain side down on the prepared tray. Repeat with remaining biscuits, leaving a little room for spreading. You should be able to fit 12 biscuits on each tray. If you’re baking one tray at a time, refrigerate the 2nd tray of cookies until you're ready to bake them. 

Bake for about 15 minutes or until just-cooked. Pull them out when you can lift one up enough to see the bottom. Tap the bottom and if you hear the sound of the tap, they’re done – and will continue to firm up as they cool. If you think you have taken them out of the oven a bit early, then leave them on the hot baking tray for 5 minutes before removing to the wire rack.

Use a spatula to transfer the biscuits to a wire rack, and leave to cool. When completely cool, store in an air-tight container.

The end result, a pleasing crisp chocolate biscuit coated in crunchy hundreds and thousands. I think they might be a little bit addictive, so I packed them up and gave them to my neighbours to avoid temptation.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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