sour cherry karpatka

sour cherry karpatka

28 Jul 2025

Karpatka, karpatka, karpatka. Everywhere you turn on Instagram these days, you'll see versions of Karpatka, a mountainous choux dessert inspired by the snowy peaks of the Carpathian Mountains. Karpatka originally comes from Poland, but my Polish born Grandma didn't have this dessert in her culinary repertoire. It's a reasonably modern invention and when Grandma Edie arrived in Australia in the late 1920's she didn't know how to cook. Her very Aussie neighbours taught her the basics so she could whip up a trifle or an apple cake but dessert in her house was quite often jelly and ice cream.

The inspiration for this Karpatka comes from Nicola Lamb. In her book Sift she has a recipe for Plum Karpatka but it's not plum season in Sydney. In her substack, she has a recipe for a peach karpatka but it's not plum season either but with a bag of frozen cherries in my freezer, I turned to Marta Beimin's recipe and whipped up a sour cherry compote. Edd Kimber uses some pistachio paste in his version, so I put a few spoons into my version as well.

I followed the recipe precisely, other than making it gluten free, and once filled I placed the karpatka in the fridge to set for 2 hours. 2 hours wasn't long enough and when I removed the karpatka from the tin, it splodged everywhere. It still tasted lovely, so I've made some suggestions which hopefully will produce a reasonably upright karpatka from which you can cut a clean slice.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17-cm Karpatka. 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.

Sour cherry karpatka - makes a 17cm cake
Choux base
45g whole milk
45g water
45g butter
½ tsp flaky sea salt
10g caster sugar
60g self-raising flour or 60g plain flour with scant ¾ tsp baking powder
2 whole eggs

Optional
2-3 tbs pistachio paste

Sour cherry compote
200g pitted frozen sour cherries 

20g caster sugar (adjust to taste)
1½ tsp potato starch
1½ tbs cold water

Mascarpone custard
200g full cream milk
1 egg 
50g caster sugar
20g cornflour
1½ tsp good quality vanilla extract
165g room temperature mascarpone

Choux 
In a small pan, heat the milk, water, butter, salt and sugar together. Bring to a rolling boil and stir to make sure the sugar/salt has dissolved. Sift the flour several times and add into your boiling liquid.

Reduce the heat and stir rapidly until a smooth paste forms and a dry film is formed. If you have a thermometer probe, check that it is above 70°C.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs - this makes them easier to combine. 

Move paste into a bowl and either spread it out to cool down or paddle on a low speed if using a stand mixer. When you can touch the paste comfortably for 10 seconds, start to add the eggs. I do this in 3-4 additions, mixing well between each. The finished choux paste will be smooth and shiny and will ‘drop’ off the spoon when nudged. Choux can be kept in the fridge for 3 days before using.

To bake

Preheat the oven to 210°C, conventional /190°C fan. Grease and line the base of two 17-cm tins with baking paper. Spread 130g of choux paste in each tin, leaving the top slightly rough and wavy and using a palette knife to help. If you only have one tin, bake one at a time.

Bake for 10 minutes at 210°C, then lower to 190°C conventional and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until well peaked, golden and crisp. Leave to cool completely in the tins on a cooling rack, then remove.

Sour cherry compote
Place the frozen sour cherries and sugar into a small saucepan. Cook the fruit on low heat until the cherries are soft and starts to release some juices.

In a small bowl, combine the potato starch with water and add it to the cherries. Continue to cook the sour cherry compote over a low heat, stirring constantly, until it’s thickened. Allow it cool down before serving. Taste for sweetness and add a little extra sugar if needed.

Mascarpone custard
Whisk the egg, sugar, cornflour and vanilla together in a jug. Heat the milk in a small pan until simmering. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture whilst whisking constantly to temper, then return the custard to the pan. Cook for 3–4 minutes over a medium heat until boiling, whisking the whole time to make a very thick custard. Pour into a clean container, then set aside to cool and gelatinise – make sure you put clingfilm or baking paper on the surface, so it doesn't form a skin. You want it to be totally cold and firm before continuing with this recipe.

When you’re ready to make the cream, make sure your mascarpone is room temperature as it will combine more easily. It does tend to be a bit lumpy so you must be prepared to work it! Beat the mascarpone until its smooth. Once that’s ready, beat the creme patissiere until smooth and no longer jelly-like. The easiest way to do this is in a stand mixer, if you have one. Now fold/mix the two together - it should make a very thick cream. You can also do this in your stand mixer with the paddle attachments. Leave in the fridge until ready to use.

Assembly method
Line one of the cake tins with acetate or paper. This will help you get a smooth edge.

Place your less cute choux disc in the base. If using, dollop 2-3 tbs of pistachio paste over the base then pile in the mascarpone custard, alternating with the sour cherry compote. Drizzle with the juice. Place the most mountainous choux disc on top then allow the cake to settle/reset by resting in the fridge for a few hours or even overnight. 

If storing the karpatka in the fridge overnight, don’t top it with the 2nd choux disc. Cover the filled karpatka before placing in the fridge and store the second choux disc in an airtight container to keep it crisp. Just before serving, place the 2nd choux disc over the cream filling, remove the karpatka from the tin and dust with icing sugar.

Note

You can also use your favourite jam in the middle of this! The karpatka can be stored in the fridge for 3 days but the choux will soften.

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lemon cream tart

lemon cream tart

21 Jul 2025

A few weeks ago I bought a small 18cm fluted tart tin from Daiso, something I've wanted for ages. Whilst I love my straight sided 17cm tin, it's really deep so it takes double the filling and double the time to bake.

So what to make in my new tin? Obviously it needed to be a tart and with a clutch of lemons from my brother's lemon tree, a lemon tart seemed just the thing. I looked through my copy of 'Beatrix Bakes, Another Slice' by Natalie Paull and came upon her recipe for Lemon Cream Tart. I used my regular almond shortcrust pastry for the tart shell but was keen to try the filling.

Now I have a lemon tart recipe that I've used for years, but I was keen to try out another recipe. My regular tart filling is made with double cream and when I've made it with single cream, the filling has cracked. Natalie's recipe is made with single cream, so as I made it I kept my fingers crossed that the filling wouldn't crack as the tart cooled. The filling cracked. Thankfully the recipe makes a little more filling than you need and I'd already cooked the curd to setting point so I spooned some of the leftover curd over the top of the tart, smoothed it out with my off-set spatula then put the tart back into the fridge for a while to allow the curd to set. Whilst not perfect, it looked good enough that my neighbours were none the wiser.

Here's the recipe for you, almost word for word from Natalie, which makes a 3cm deep 18cm tart.  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 tart can be kept at room temperature on the first day then chilled up to 2 days but bring to room temperature before eating.

Lemon Cream Tart – serves four

Almond shortcrust pastry
55g cold unsalted butter, diced
25g icing or caster sugar 
15g almond meal
100g plain flour

pinch sea salt flakes
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
iced water water

Method
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 yolk and a little iced 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 30 minutes.

Roll out the soft pastry to 4mm between two sheets of baking paper. Remove the paper and drape the pastry into the tart case, gently pressing it into the edges and base. Place the lined tart case into the freezer until the pastry is firm, around 30 minutes, or in the fridge for an hour.

To blind bake

The uncooked tart case can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for 2 days. Trim before filling by cutting the edge with a sharp knife. Reserve any remaining pastry or offcuts for later use. 

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Place aluminium foil, dull side down, into the chilled and lined tart then fill with weights - baking beans, sugar or raw rice work well. Bake for 40 minutes until dry, then remove the weights and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden. Place on a wire rack to cool

Lemon custard filling 
150g egg (3 eggs) 
20g egg yolk (1 egg, reserving the white to seal the tart shell) 
2 large lemons 
120g caster sugar
150g/ml cream, preferably double 

1/4 tsp sea salt flakes

Fill a 25 cm wide saucepan with 5 cm of water, place on the stovetop and bring to a low simmer. Choose a stainless-steel bowl to sit on top that is slightly wider than the pan so the bottom of the bowl won't touch the water. Into that bowl (before placing it over the saucepan), place the 3 eggs and the yolk. Place the egg white in a separate small bowl and lightly whisk to break it up you'll use this to seal the tart shell later.

Finely grate the zest of 1 lemon, then juice all the lemons, strain and weigh 90 g/ml of juice. Add the zest into the juice and set aside.

For the next step, have all the components separate and ready to build the filling fast. This will stop the sugar and lemon juice reacting with the egg yolk and little hard orange lumps forming. Add the sugar into the egg bowl and hand whisk together until combined, but not frothy. Whisk in the lemon juice/zest, then whisk in the cream and salt until fully combined. Place the bowl on the double boiler, gently whisking often until the mix reaches 60°C (140°F) around 8-10 minutes. The custard will get a little thicker, the foam will dissipate, and the custard will turn a more sunshiny yellow.

If the filling cooks fast and gets chunky and set at the edges of the bowl, just give the mix a vigorous whisk off the stove to redistribute the heat. Pre-cooking the filling gives you a creamier mouthfeel and means the custard won't separate into layers during baking.

Remove the bowl from the heat and pour the filling through a fine sieve into a measuring jug. Discard the zest. If you have a little froth on the top you can spoon this off, but it's not vital. Set the filling aside at room temperature while you prepare the crust.

Preheat your oven to 140°C conventional and adjust the oven racks - set one in the lower part of the oven and remove all the ones above it, allowing space to manoeuvre a jug in easily to pour the filling in later.

Place the blind-baked crust, still in the tin, on a shallow baking tray. If there are any large cracks or dipped sides, massage a little leftover dough to a soft paste consistency and gently patch any large fissures taking care not to press hard and break the crust. Then meticulously brush the inside of the tart with the whisked egg white.

Return the baking tray and crust to the oven and bake for 5 minutes to seal the crust before filling. With the tart still in the oven, and your eye on where the crust edge is lowest, carefully and slowly pour the custard into the crust to fill as far as you can. If your jug, when tilted, is too big for the oven, switch to a smaller cup to scoop in the last of the mix. Don't overfill, or the filling will cascade between the crust and tin.

If you're using a shallow tin, bake for 25-30 minutes (start checking at 20 minutes and then check in 5-minute increments) until there is a 2 to 3 inches diameter centre of quivering, thickshake like filling in the middle of the tart. If using a deep tin, bake for 40-50 minutes but start checking at 35 minutes. This wobbly centre will continue to cook and set firmer upon cooling. Turn the oven off, keep the door closed and leave for 5 minutes. The wobbly centre should have set firm and feel like the most delicate bouncy custard trampoline when touched lightly with your fingertips. 

Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool at room temperature for at least 1 hour (longer for deeper tarts) before cutting the first slice. You can also chill to hasten the setting (and eating).

I have given you a little extra filling in case you need it (slightly larger tin, super tall crust sides with no blind-baking shrinkage you genius!). You can cook the leftover in the double boiler to 80°C (175°F), then chill to set in a wee dish. 

Please note, if you've overcooked the tart or if you keep the tart for a few days, cracks will appear along the crust line. To repair, a little smear across the crack towards the crust with a small palette knife will cover it up. 

To serve - after baking, cool to room temperature for 1 hour, then chill for 30 minutes (unchilled, the filling is a little too tremulous). Or chill further for creamier, stable slices. If the tart surface is a little uneven in colour, dust with icing sugar and wait until the sugar dissolves. Your tart should now be smooth. If all else fails, dredge the surface thickly with icing sugar to cover any imperfections.

This makes a lovely, soft set gently lemon flavoured tart. If I were to make this tart again, I'd make it with double cream just to see if that would keep the cracks at bay.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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macadamia and raspberry blondie

macadamia and raspberry blondie

14 Jul 2025

Last month I borrowed Michael James excellent baking book, Sweet Seasons, from the library. I bookmarked quite a few recipes and for my first bake, I decided to make a batch of macadamia and raspberry blondies topped with caramelised white chocolate ganache. Whilst I am not a regular chocolate fan, I've always loved white chocolate in all its forms and in particular, caramelised white chocolate.

It's raspberry season here, so fresh berries abound but for baking I prefer to use frozen berries. Michael suggests using rhubarb when raspberries are out of season. Just gently poach it in a not-too-sweet sugar syrup - you want the acidity of the rhubarb to meet the sweetness of the white chocolate. Pistachio and rhubarb are also a wonderful combination, so consider switching out the macadamias as well. A slightly different version of the blondie can be found here, on the Delicious website.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from Sweet Seasons, which makes a 7-inch square blondie. My blondies were pretty chunky, so I think you could also bake the blondies in an 8-inch square tin or a slice tin, but it might take less time to bake. 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.

Macadamia and raspberry blondie - makes 12 blondies

Ingredients

215g spelt flour

slightly heaped 1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 and 1/2 tbs malted milk powder 
145g unsalted butter, softened
145g dark brown sugar
75g whole egg, at room temperature (1 and 1/2 eggs)
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
85g toasted macadamias, roughly chopped
75g white chocolate bar cut into chunks
100g raspberries, fresh or frozen
grated zest of 1 lemon

Caramelised white chocolate ganache
125 g caramelised white chocolate bar
125 g cream

To decorate (optional)

Freeze dried raspberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C, fan forced. Grease and line a 17 x 17 cm baking tin or a slice tin with baking paper.

Ganache

Finely chop the caramelised white chocolate bar and place into a heatproof bowl.  Place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to just below the boil, then pour the cream over the chocolate. Set aside for 5 minutes, then stir until smooth. Set aside at room temperature until it becomes a thick, spreadable consistency. You can refrigerate the mixture to speed up the process.

Blondie

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and malted milk powder together in a medium bowl to combine and knock out any lumps.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed for 10 minutes, until pale and light. Scrape the side of the bowl with a spatula, then add the eggs and vanilla and beat until just combined.
Add the flour mixture in two stages, beating at each addition until just combined, and scraping down the side of the bowl as required. Add the macadamias and white chocolate chips and mix until just combined. The mixture will be thick.

Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly with a spatula. Place the raspberries evenly over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes on the centre rack or until the blondie is golden on top, and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Once cool, spread the ganache over the blondie, sprinkle with freeze dried raspberries, if desired, then cut into slices for serving.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. 

These were very luxe and now I can't wait to make a rhubarb and pistachio version.

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

Bye for now,

Jillain

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chocolate hazelnut friands

chocolate hazelnut friands

7 Jul 2025

I subscribe to Liz Prueitt's substack feed, 'Have Your Cake'. Liz is one of the founders of Tartine Bakery and her recipes are all gluten free. She recently shared a recipe for chocolate hazelnut financiers by Sandra Holl of Floriole Bakery. They looked delicious and I had everything I needed to make them. Rather than making the ganache from the recipe, I used leftover hazelnut ganache I had in my fridge. If you'd like the original ganache recipe, please refer to the link.

Financiers are more commonly known as friands in Australia and I own a friand tin, so it was pulled out of the cupboard for the occasion. Although it's supposed to be a non-stick tin, my friand tin let me down. Despite thoroughly greasing the tin, 7 of the 8 friands stuck to the tin. I don't trust non-stick tins and usually grease and flour the tin and place a small piece of baking paper in the base, but I was off to the ballet and I was in a hurry so I skipped a few of those steps. Thankfully the friands are very moist and once out of the tin, I was able to wrangle them into shape with an off set spatula.

Here's the recipe which makes 8 friands or small cakes. 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 hazelnut friands - makes 8
Ingredients

115g unsalted butter, melted, cooled
pinch sea salt flakes

80g hazelnut meal
50g cocoa powder
150g icing sugar
½ tsp baking powder

140g/4-5 egg whites, large, room temperature

Hazelnut ganache

75g hazelnuts, toasted and peeled

45g icing sugar

120g good quality milk chocolate (minimum 40% cocoa solids)

100g crème fraiche or cream

To assemble
120ml ganache, warmed enough to drizzle
½ cup toasted hazelnuts, cut in half

Sea salt flakes, optional

Friands

Add the sea salt flakes to the melted butter and set to one side. Whisk the hazelnut meal, cocoa, sugar, and baking powder together in a bowl, then stir in egg whites just until combined. Slowly add the melted butter, stirring to incorporate. Cover the bowl then refrigerate the batter until firm.

Preheat oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease eight wells of a muffin or friand tin then dust the wells with cocoa powder. Divide the batter between 8 wells then place on the centre rack of the preheated 190°C, conventional and bake for 9 minutes. Rotate the tin then reduce heat to 180°C, conventional, and bake for another 9 minutes. Check the friands are cooked with a cake tester - a few attached crumbs are okay. Remove the tray from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack. Loosen the friands with a knife before cooling. When cool, turn out of moulds.

Hazelnut ganache
Place the hazelnuts and icing sugar in the bowl of a small food processor or a blender and blitz together until a smooth paste forms. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly in order to achieve a consistent, smooth texture and engage the pulse function (if you have one) to return the nuts to the middle of the bowl. Once you are happy the paste is smooth, turn off and leave the paste in the food processor bowl.

Melt the milk chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, ensuring the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl or you can do this in the microwave oven in 30 second bursts. Stir the chocolate occasionally to distribute the heat and try not to heat the chocolate higher than 50°C. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of the food processor with the paste and blend until very smooth, again scraping down the sides of the bowl to create a cohesive mixture. Turn off the machine again.

Bring the crème fraîche or cream to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, then pour it into the food processor with the hazelnut paste and continue to blend until shiny and silky. Pour the ganache into a bowl then cover it and leave at room temperature to cool until ready to use. If the ganache has solidified, return to the microwave for 15 seconds to soften, then stir vigorously until shiny.

To assemble

Spoon some of the hazelnut ganache on top of the friand, just so it reaches the sides. Let it set. Set some of the toasted nuts decoratively on top. If you like, drizzle some additional ganache over the whole cake then finish with a few sea salt flakes.

Alternatively, you can simply dip the tops of the cakes into the melted ganache, letting the excess drip off. Top with nuts and drizzle additional ganache over the whole cake if you like. Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

These little morsels are just delicious and even though I'm not a chocolate lover, I managed to polish off 2 of these babies.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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