almond rocher cake

almond rocher cake

13 Jul 2026

I did mull over whether to post this recipe for Nadine Ingram's Almond Rocher cake as it's unlikely you'll ever make it. I made this for my neighbour's birthday and I do like to go all out for birthdays. The recipe is very long. There are many steps, though none are difficult. Nuts are toasted; egg whites are whipped; praline is made; custard is made; mascarpone is whipped and chocolate is melted to make ganache. Most of these steps need to be done the day before you assemble the cake, so you'll need lots of storage tins and try not to count how many eggs you'll be use.

Nadine's Note

The almond rocher really is best eaten on the day it's assembled, because the praline melts and the custard fades to a matt colour overnight. All the components of this cake can be made the day before in preparation for assembly the next day. Keep the sponges and rocher at room temperature overnight and the praline will need to be kept in an airtight container to avoid the humidity melting it away. Make the ganache on the day of serving, as it’s so quick to make.

Jillian's Notes

The cakes are best baked in springform pans but you'll need 4. If you only have 2 or 3 tins like I do, I suggest baking the Almond Rochers first. Once they're cold they're easy to remove from the tins and stored in airtight containers freeing up the tins for the flourless chocolate cakes.

The recipe is pretty faithful to the original except for the custard recipe. I made the custard from the recipe and it split dramatically. Rather than tempting fate and wasting double cream, single cream and 3 more egg yolks I turned to Natalie Paull and used her cold start custard recipe. It's definitely not as rich as the original custard recipe but it still tasted lovely.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 20 cm cake, adapted from Love Crumbs by Nadine Ingram. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20ml 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. 

8 inch Almond Rocher Cake - serves 10-12

Roasted almonds

80g skin on natural almonds

200g flaked almonds

Almond praline and paste

80g roasted natural almonds

80g caster sugar

Almond custard

60g caster sugar

20g cornflour

pinch salt

40g pure cream

2 egg yolks

200g full cream milk

1 tsp vanilla paste

80g almond praline paste (from above)

250g mascarpone

Flourless chocolate sponge

6 egg yolks

220g sifted pure icing sugar

7 egg whites

pinch salt

90g sifted cocoa powder

Almond rocher

200g toasted flaked almonds

5 egg whites

pinch salt

200g pure icing sugar, sifted

½ tsp vanilla paste

Chocolate ganache

100g roughly chopped dark chocolate

100g pure cream

Roast the almonds

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 160°C, fan forced. Line 2 trays with baking paper. On 1 tray scatter the raw almonds for the praline and on the 2nd tray, evenly scatter the flaked almonds for the almond rocher. 

Toast the raw almonds for 10 minutes then remove from the oven. Toast the flaked almonds for 15 minutes or until the flaked almonds are dark golden, checking halfway through and giving the pan a shake to ensure they colour evenly. Once you are happy all the almonds are coloured nicely, remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cool, store the almonds in separate airtight containers until required.

Almond praline and paste

Line a tray with baking paper and set it aside. Place the roasted raw almonds and caster sugar in a frying pan or medium-based saucepan and toss together to combine, then place over medium heat. Shake the almonds occasionally and when you start to see the sugar turn glassy and melt around the outside, use a wooden spoon to gently stir the nuts every so often to distribute the melting sugar. 

Continue to cook until all the sugar has dissolved and there is a golden caramelised coating on the almonds. Turn the heat off and scatter the almonds onto the prepared tray. If you can, separate the almonds by using the tip of your wooden spoon to flick them apart, so that you have individual almonds to decorate the top of the cake. Allow the praline to cool completely.

Once cooled, crush 80g of the praline into a paste using a small food processor or a pestle and mortar or place it in a plastic bag and smash using a rolling pin until as fine as possible. Choose the almonds that are clumped together and save the singular ones for the top decoration. Cut the remaining almonds in half lengthways using a very sharp knife and set aside to decorate the cake later. Store the praline and sliced almonds in separate airtight containers

Almond custard

In a medium bowl, weigh the sugar, cornflour, salt and cream. Add the egg yolks last and hand whisk to make a creamy paste. Stream the milk in then the vanilla and whisk well. Scrape the mix into a small saucepan.

Place the saucepan on a medium-high heat and hand whisk at a slow pace to allow the heat to suffuse through the mix. Work the small balloon whisk into the corners of the saucepan (where the custard thickens first). After around 3 minutes of whisking, the custard will start to look like a creamy liquid. Speed up the whisking now the custard will thicken fast. It will look lumpy but just whisk quickly and it will all come together into an evenly thick paste in another 1 minute. Keep whisking to achieve silky, evenly thick success.

As soon as it looks smooth and thick, slow down the whisking and wait for a few burp-like bubbles to pop over the surface. It's a super thick custard and your whisk should leave obvious furrows as it moves through the mix.Take the pan off the heat. Scrape the custard into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard to prevent a rubbery skin forming. Cool the custard in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours.

French flourless chocolate sponge

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 150°C, fan forced. Grease and dust 2 x 20-cm cake tins with cocoa then line the bases with baking paper.

Place the egg yolks and half the icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until pale and thick. Decant the sabayon into a larger bowl, so you can use the electric mixer bowl to whip the whites. Ensure the bowl is clean and dry and place the whites and salt in the bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, then whip on high speed until soft ribbons form. Reduce the speed to medium and gradually add the remaining icing sugar, 1-tablespoon at a time. Continue to whip the meringue until firm peaks form, but don't overbeat.

Using a spatula, fold the meringue into the sabayon one-third at a time, alternating with the cocoa, also one-third at a time. Sift the cocoa over the surface of the sabayon again before folding it through to prevent any lumps finding their way into the sponge. Meringue lumps may start to form as the meringue sits dormant in the stand mixer bowl. To prevent this, use a spatula to first smooth them over the surface of the sponge before actually folding them through. Trying to remove a lump of meringue from the sponge after it’s folded through will result in over-working the batter. If you can see lumps, use a whisk in a folding motion to remove them.

Pour the sponge into the prepared cake tins and smooth the surface gently with an offset palette knife. Bake for 15-18 minutes. (My sponges took 25 minutes) The sponge is ready when the middle bounces back when pressed with your finger. Remove the sponges from the oven and allow to cool in the tins.

Almond rocher

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 160°C, fan forced. Line the base and sides of 2 x 20-cm cake tins with baking paper. 

Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on high speed until soft ribbons form, then reduce the speed to medium and gradually add the icing sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing a few seconds between each addition. Whisk the meringue for 5-7 minutes or until thick and glossy. Remove the bowl from the electric mixer. Roughly crush the toasted flaked almonds using your hands, then using a spatula fold through the meringue along with the vanilla paste until thoroughly combined. Divide the meringue between the prepared tins and bake for 30-45 minutes or until the top is crisp and golden. Remove the rochers from the oven and allow to cool in the tins.

Chocolate ganache

Place the chocolate in a bowl and have a whisk at-the-ready. Place the cream in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil, then pour the cream over the chocolate. Set aside for 5 minutes for the chocolate to melt then whisk until smooth and glossy. Set the ganache aside at room temperature until you are ready to assemble the cake.

To assemble

Whisk the mascarpone until firmly whipped. Use a spatula to soften the almond custard, removing any lumps. If the lumps are persistent use a stick blender to smooth out the mixture. Using a spatula, fold the custard through the mascarpone in three batches. The aim here is to retain the thickness you have whipped into the mascarpone by adding the custard slowly. Once you have finished, you should have a thick filling that holds up firmly and will be spread over the cakes, not poured over them. If the finished almond custard is not as thick as you had hoped, return the entire filling to the stand mixer and whisk on medium speed until firm.

Carefully remove the sponges from the tin, then peel off the baking paper. Place one sponge onto a serving platter and pour over half the ganache, and then spread it evenly over the surface using an offset palette knife. Remove the rochers from the cake tins by pulling up the paper liners to lift them out. Place one of the layers on top of the ganache, then spoon over half the almond custard and spread it all the way to the edges. Sprinkle with half the sliced almond praline. Repeat the layers again: sponge, ganache, rocher and custard, finishing the cake by standing the remaining almond praline decoration upright. Any crushed praline resulting from the slicing process can be sprinkled on top for contrast.

Cutting a clean slice from such a tall cake is tricky. I'd suggest refrigerating the cake to firm the custard and ganache and then use a sharp serrated knife to saw through each layer. Let the slice come back to room temperature before eating.

 

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

btw, my neighbour loved his birthday cake.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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little queenie - strawberry buttermilk sponge cake

little queenie - strawberry buttermilk sponge cake

9 Feb 2026

February 14 was always a special day in our household, not because it was Valentine's Day but because it was my Grandma Edie's birthday. Grandma and I would go shopping together and for a treat we would have morning tea in the McDonnell and East cafe, secreted in the Ladies Department and we always had a slice of sponge cake usually topped with passionfruit and cream. Grandma is long gone but in honour of her birthday, I thought I'd bake her a cake and of course it had to be a sponge cake. 

Nadine Ingram is the owner of Flour and Stone, a cult Sydney bakery. Last year I borrowed a copy of Love Crumbs, her second book, from the library. The cakes all looked lovely, but many of the recipes were very complicated with multiple steps or required hard to find ingredients. 'Little Queenie' caught my eye because at it's heart it's a sponge cake filled with berries and cream. Honestly, is there a better cake partnership than that? Little Queenie does require some special ingredients such as freeze dried strawberries, pink peppercorns and hibiscus flowers. Freeze dried strawberries are sold in my local supermarket but the pink peppercorns and hibiscus flowers used to flavour the strawberry compote are not. In the end I found and purchased them both online. 

Here's the recipe for you, written in Nadine's inimitable style, 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. If you'd like to make a towering 20-cm cake, then double the ingredients for the cake and you'll need 50% more of the compote, filling and decorations. 

Little Queenie - strawberry buttermilk sponge
Buttermilk sponge
3 eggs, separated
90g caster sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar
75g plain flour
15g cornflour
1/2 tsp baking powder
12g unsalted butter
50ml buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla paste

Strawberry compote
¾ tbs dried mint
Scant ½ tsp pink peppercorns, crushed
4 cardamom pods, cracked
65g caster sugar
1 lemon, zested
3 dried hibiscus petals
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
250g ripe strawberries, hulled

Mascarpone filling
50g room temperature cream cheese

100g mascarpone
125g cream
60g Greek yoghurt
40g caster sugar
¾ tsp vanilla paste

To decorate
1 fresh egg white 
6 mint sprigs
50g caster sugar
½ tbs crushed cardamom pods

15g freeze dried strawberries

1 tsp cracked pink peppercorns 

5 dried hibiscus petals

Buttermilk sponge
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease and line 2 x 17 cm cake tins with baking paper and set them aside. I prepare all the ingredients before I start whipping the eggs for the sponge, that way, folding the sponge can happen swiftly and there is no delay in putting the sponge in the oven.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, but don't start whipping just yet. The egg yolks can be set to one side in a small bowl next to the stand mixer, just give them a little whisk with a fork for now. Combine the caster sugar with the cream of tartar in a small bowl and set beside the mixer. Sift the flours and baking powder together twice then set them to one side, being sure to leave the sieve nearby also.

Melt the butter in a saucepan then turn off the heat. Add the buttermilk and vanilla paste, allowing them to warm slightly in the residual heat of the pan.

Now you can whip the egg whites. Begin on high speed to create volume until you see soft ribbons starting to form, then reduce the speed to medium. Gradually add the sugar mixture to the meringue, 1 tablespoon at a time, leaving 10 seconds between each addition until all the sugar has been incorporated. Beat the meringue for a further 1 minute to allow the sugar to dissolve fully and create a more stable meringue base for the sponge. This will ultimately contribute to the height and fluffiness of the finished sponge, so be patient here.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and, while still beating, trickle the egg yolks directly into the bowl, scraping the last of the egg yolk out with a spatula. Increase the speed to medium until you can see that all the egg yolk has combined with the meringue. This will take no longer than 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a spatula, make a couple of folds through the meringue, scraping all the way to the bottom of the bowl to ensure the eggs are fully incorporated. 

Sift half the flour evenly over the top of the sponge and fold through gently until all the flour is combined, then sift in the remaining flour and fold it through. Add approximately 1/3 cup of sponge batter to the saucepan with the buttermilk mixture, then gently fold them together using a spatula. This will create a fluffy cloud of buttermilk. Then fold the buttermilk cloud back through the sponge until everything is well combined and hopefully still lovely and fluffy.

Divide the sponge between the prepared tins and smooth the tops ever so slightly with a palette knife. Place the tins immediately into the centre of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check the sponges at 18 minutes; they will be ready when the middle springs back slightly when pressed with your finger. Remove the tins from the oven and allow them to sit for only 2 minutes before slipping the sponges out onto wire cooling racks. This step prevents the sponges from shrinking around the edges.

Strawberry compote
Locate a deep baking tray in preparation for roasting the strawberries. While the sponges are cooling, combine the mint, peppercorns and cardamom together in a bowl. I find the most effective way to do this is in a spice grinder, but you could also use a pestle and mortar. Add this to the sugar along with the lemon zest, hibiscus petals and the seeds from the vanilla bean. Toss the strawberries in a large bowl with the sugar mixture and spread evenly over the base of the baking tray. Add the scraped vanilla bean and roast in the oven for 20 minutes, giving the tray a little shake halfway through to distribute the syrup. Remove the strawberries from the oven and allow to cool in the tray.

Mascarpone filling
Place the room temperature cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Swap the attachment to the whisk and add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Beat everything together to combine. Using a spatula, scrape down to the bottom of the bowl to check that all the cream cheese has been incorporated, then give one final whip until the cream is thick and fluffy. Remove the bowl from the mixer and set to one side.

To decorate
Lightly whisk the egg white, then brush the mint sprigs with a little egg white on both sides. Toss the leaves in the caster sugar and sprinkle with ground cardamom then place onto a baking paper lined plate. Leave out on the counter for the mint to dry then store in an airtight container. 

To assemble
Place one sponge onto your chosen serving platter, then spread half the mascarpone filling evenly over the top of the sponge all the way to the edges, or use a piping bag fitted with a #11 plain nozzle. Press half the strawberries from the compote into the surface of the filling bearing in mind that when you put the other sponge on top, the strawberries shouldn't protrude too high and prevent the sponge from sitting flat. Spoon some of the roasting syrup over the strawberries and trickle a little over the sides. Place the second sponge on top, then spread the sponge with the remaining mascarpone filling and remaining strawberries. Add the dried strawberries, hibiscus petals and mint, then finish with a few twists of cracked pink peppercorns.

This sponge, as with all sponges, should be eaten on the day it is baked. The filling and the strawberries can be prepared the day before, but the sponge must be baked the same day you are celebrating. There is no journey so arduous that a sponge should suffer being baked yesterday for.

We followed Nadine's advice and ate the sponge cake the day it was baked and the cake was a triumph!

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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the fable of the wolves - rhubarb ginger parkin

the fable of the wolves - rhubarb ginger parkin

27 Oct 2025

I've never made parkin before but as I love all things ginger I was pretty sure I'd be a fan. From my research it's a sturdy cake to be enjoyed on Bonfire Night. It's usually baked in a square tin or a loaf pan and can be served as dessert with stewed fruit and custard. In this version by Nadine Ingram, from her book Love Crumbs, she tops the parkin with a layer of oven roasted rhubarb. 

I barely altered the recipe other than to reduce the amount of sugar in the oven roasted rhubarb from 200g down to 75g. I oven roast rhubarb all the time and generally 75g is sufficient for a 500g bunch of rhubarb and I glazed the rhubarb with some of the reduced cooking liquid after the cake was baked. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes either an 8 inch square cake or a medium size loaf cake. The original recipe made a 20 x 30cm cake so I reduced the quantities by a third. 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. 

Rhubarb Ginger Parkin - makes an 8 inch square cake or a medium loaf cake

Baked Rhubarb
4 large rhubarb stalks

1 vanilla bean

75g caster sugar
1 orange, peeled into strips and juiced

Yorkshire Parkin
100g treacle
100g golden syrup
75g unsalted butter
75g brown sugar
100g oatmeal
75g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb soda
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
pinch ground allspice
1 tbs + 1 tsp ground ginger

pinch salt
2 eggs 
100ml buttermilk
2 pieces stem ginger, finely chopped or 1-2 tbs ginger marmalade (optional)

Baked Rhubarb
Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan forced. Cut the rhubarb stalks lengthways down the middle then cut into 9 cm-long batons. Arrange, in rows, in a baking dish.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise down the middle and scrape the seeds out onto your chopping board. Sprinkle the seeds with 1-tablespoon caster sugar and use an offset palette knife to rub the sugar through the seeds. The friction from the sugar will disperse the tiny seeds evenly through the sugar and break up any clumps. Sprinkle the vanilla sugar and remaining caster sugar over the rhubarb, then add the orange peel and juice over the top of the fruit.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the rhubarb is softened. Bear in mind that once the rhubarb goes into the parkin, it will not cook any further, so baking the rhubarb to the point where it will be tender within the crumb of the cake will be important here. Test the stalks by pressing them with your finger: you're looking for them to 'squash’ under the pressure of your touch. Remove from the oven and set aside, keeping the oven on.

Yorkshire Parkin 
Line the base and sides of a 20 cm x 20 cm baking dish or Pullman loaf tin with baking paper. Place the treacle, golden syrup, butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan and bring the mixture almost to the boil, then remove the saucepan from the stove and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Sift all the dry ingredients together into a medium bowl. You will find there will be coarser parts of the oatmeal remaining in the sieve, so just return the husks back to the bowl along with the dry ingredients. The purpose of this step is to aerate and distribute the spices through the flour, you will definitely appreciate the texture of those coarse oats as they will preserve the moisture in the cake.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the warm treacle mixture along with the eggs and buttermilk. Whisk everything together until well incorporated. The stem ginger can be added last and I highly recommend this addition; it provides pleasant spikes of ginger as you eat this deliciously warming cake.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top using an offset palette knife. Bake for 30 minutes or until a crust starts to form on the top of the cake. Remove the cake briefly from the oven at this stage and arrange the rhubarb batons across the top in rows, pressing them ever so slightly into the surface. Return the cake to the oven and reduce the temperature to 150°C, fan forced for a further 20-30 minutes. 

To test the cake is ready, use the sharp point of a small knife. The crumb of this cake should be left slightly sticky, so when you remove the knife, you should feel a little resistance. Rest assured, traces of raw batter will be obvious and, if this is the case, just return the cake to the oven in 5-minute increments to avoid overcooking.

The next step is optional. While the cake is baking, pour off the rhubarb syrup and place it in a small saucepan. Bring the syrup to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the liquid for a few minutes until it thickened. Once the cake is out of the oven, glaze the rhubarb by gently brushing it with the syrup. 

Place the cake on a cooling rack and let the cake cool completely before storing it in an airtight tin. The flavours improve with keeping and the cake becomes more sticky so try and resist eating it for at least 24 hours. The cake was quite chewy for the first day or two, so next time I'll soak the oats in buttermilk before making the cake just to jump start the softening process. Don't skip the rhubarb topping by the way as it's delicious.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Exploring the landscape of my heart - hazelnut dacquoise with pears and blackcurrants

Exploring the landscape of my heart - hazelnut dacquoise with pears and blackcurrants

4 Jun 2025

I borrowed a copy of Nadine Ingram's Love Crumbs from my local library and bookmarked about 1/4 of the recipes. Many of the recipes require time; have multiple steps and sometimes difficult to source ingredients but then again, what is life without a challenge. Nadine's recipes are precise and her instructions are very detailed. Although I've reduced the size of the cake I've only made small edits to the instructions.

I decided to make a small version of 'Exploring the Landscape of my Heart', 3 layers of hazelnut dacquoise layered with pears and blackcurrants. This is not a recipe for the faint hearted but as I'm on extended leave from work I have time to tackle some of the more complex recipes from the book. As it's now winter in Sydney, pears abound and I knew my local source of frozen sour cherries also stocked blackcurrants, so off to Russkis Deli I went.

I bought a bag of roasted hazelnuts in Canberra then on my return I made some crème fraiche, a key ingredient of the Gianduja ganache. Then I roasted the pears and made the blackcurrant compote, followed by the hazelnut dacquoise. The whipped ricotta was made just before I assembled the cake.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16cm cake, which serves 6-8 people. 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.

Hazelnut dacquoise with pear and blackcurrants

Blackcurrant compote
200g blackcurrants, fresh or frozen
35g caster sugar
½ orange, zested and juiced

Baked pears
3 pears, bosc are best
½ vanilla bean, split seeds scraped
50g brown sugar
½ orange, zested and juiced

Hazelnut dacquoise
200g hazelnuts, toasted and peeled
25g unsalted butter, softened for greasing
5 (150g) egg whites
155g caster sugar

Whipped ricotta
250g fresh ricotta, drained overnight
¾ tbs caster sugar
½ vanilla bean, split seeds scraped
½ orange, zested

Gianduja ganache
75g hazelnuts, toasted and peeled
45g icing sugar
120g good quality milk chocolate (minimum 40% cocoa solids)
100g crème fraiche

To assemble
1 tbs icing sugar

Blackcurrant compote
Place the blackcurrants, sugar and orange zest and juice in a medium saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring the fruit so that the sugar evenly coats the berries. Once the sugar is dissolved, increase the heat to medium and simmer the compote for 10-15 minutes or until the syrup thickens. Even if you're using frozen blackcurrants there shouldn't be much liquid coming out of the fruit and the syrup should glaze the fruit perfectly. Turn off the heat and allow the compote to cool completely in the saucepan. The compote can be made up to 4 days in advance and kept in the fridge. 

Baked pears
Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan forced. Begin by peeling the pears, taking care to remove all the skin, even the little crown around the stem. Cut the pears in half and use a Parisienne scoop or melon baller to remove the core and the fibrous stem leading from the seeds to the stem, being careful to preserve as much of the pear flesh as possible. The stem should also come off but, again, try to maintain the integrity of the pear's shape by taking it off carefully.

Scrape the vanilla seeds from half the bean using a sharp paring knife and while the seeds are still stuck to the blade, spread them evenly onto each pear half, then place the pears cut-side up in a flat baking dish. Sprinkle the pears with the sugar and zest, then squeeze over the orange juice and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. flip the pears over and return them to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until they are tender. The ripeness of the pears will determine the cooking time, so test them after the first 20 minutes by piercing them with the tip of a paring knife to check their tenderness. A little bite can be a lovely thing, so no need for them to be absolutely soft. Use your judgement to decide when they should be removed from the oven, then allow them to cool completely in the baking dish. The pears can be baked up to 4 days in advance and kept in the fridge.

Hazelnut dacquoise
Preheat the oven to 175°C, fan forced. After the hazelnut skins have been removed, crush the nuts finely either using a food processor or a pestle and mortar. It's fine to have a few coarser pieces for texture, although the majority of the crumb should be fine like breadcrumbs.

Line the base only of 3 x 16cm cake tins with baking paper and butter the sides of the tins with the softened butter. Remove 30g from the hazelnut crumbs and roll them around the inside of the tins, pressing them into the sides of the tins to embed into the butter. This will give the dacquoise a rustic edge when the cakes are removed from the tins. Don't worry if you also get crumbs on the base of the tin.

Separate and weigh the egg whites and place them into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add a pinch of salt and whip the whites on high speed until soft ribbons start to form, then gradually add half the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, until the meringue is thick and glossy. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the remaining crushed hazelnuts and the remaining sugar, then fold through thoroughly. 

Divide the dacquoise between the tins and use an offset palette knife to smooth the tops. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Remove the dacquoise from the oven, leaving them to cool for only 5 minutes, before slipping them out of the tins onto a cooling rack. As the dacquoise cools the meringue becomes chewy and a little sticky, so if you leave them in the tins for longer they may stick to the bottom.

The dacquoise layers will sink and form a crater in the middle, this is completely normal and will give you a place to fill with all the fruit and ricotta. (Mine didn't).

Whipped ricotta
The ricotta for this recipe is fresh, so it will need to be well-drained for 24 hours in advance. Be sure to remove it from the plastic the night before as sometimes it sits in the whey and doesn't drain.

Scrape the seeds from the remaining vanilla bean and place them on a chopping board, then sprinkle with the sugar and use a knife or offset palette knife to rub the sugar into the seeds. This is the best way to distribute vanilla seeds through a mixture to infuse the flavour. 

Combine the ricotta, zest and vanilla sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip everything together on high speed for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to incorporate any wayward ricotta lumps. This filling falls like soft clouds onto the cake layers and while it will start to form thick ribbons around the whisk as you whip it, the consistency will never be firmly whipped. It only has a very small amount of sugar because I want to retain the pure quality of the ricotta.

Use a spatula to remove the ricotta from the mixing bowl, then cover and place in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the cake.

Gianduja ganache
Ensure the hazelnuts have been toasted to golden, as sometimes, if pre-peeled hazelnuts are sourced, they can be quite beige, and the resulting flavour is not as good.

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. 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. What you have in the food processor now is the components of gianduja. The addition of the crème fraîche below turns it into a ganache.

Bring the crème fraîche to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, then pour it into the food processor with the gianduja 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.

This recipe will make more than enough for the cake sizes here, since a minimum amount of 75 g of hazelnuts is needed to create a smooth paste in a small food processor. Rest assured, excess ganache can be kept in the fridge then melted and poured over ice-cream when comfort is needed.

To assemble
Position a dacquoise layer on your platter. Pour approximately ¼ cup of the gianduja ganache into the centre and spread to the outside of the cake using an offset palette knife, trickling a little over the edges. Arrange half the pears evenly over the surface of the chocolate, (I halved each pear and managed to fit 5 quarters over the cake) then spoon over half the whipped ricotta and gently push to the edges. Spoon one-third of the blackcurrant compote over the ricotta and top with the second layer of dacquoise. (I didn’t but I would drain the currants first before assembling the cake). Repeat this layering, finishing with the third layer of dacquoise. Dust the top with icing sugar and scatter with the remaining blackcurrant compote.

Nadine suggests making all the components ahead of time and assembling the cake very last-minute and to eat it on the same day. 

I must say that I disagree. I thought the cake was at its best the day after making it when the dacquoise had softened and the flavours had a chance to infuse. The blackcurrants are refreshingly tart and I topped my breakfast porridge with the leftover baked pears and blackcurrant compote.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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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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