iced vovo cake

iced vovo cake

19 Jan 2026

Australia Day is just around the corner and although it might be a polarising public holiday, I use the day to celebrate Australian recipes. 

Apart from the Tim Tam,  I don't think there's a biscuit more Australian than the iced vovo biscuit. The iced vovo biscuit is a very plain biscuit topped with pink fondant icing, raspberry jam and desiccated coconut. I wasn't much of fan of the old iced vovo growing up. I only liked the raspberry jam portion and would peel it off and give the biscuit back to someone else to finish. A few years ago my friend Amanda gifted me a small iced vovo pin which now holds pride of place on my fridge. I guess Amanda must have been the recipient of a raspberry jam free iced vovo.

However when I saw a picture of this Iced VoVo Cake by Natalie Paull in the much missed now discontinued print version of Delicious magazine I was sold and knew I had to make it. The base is a classic butter cake flavoured with coconut, topped with raspberry flavoured frosting and some raspberry jam then coated in shredded coconut. I didn't make the raspberry jam from the recipe as I already had a small pot of homemade rhubarb and raspberry jam in the fridge.

The icing used to decorate the cake is a classic American style 7 minute frosting which is bright white. However the addition of freeze dried raspberries to the frosting turns it a kind of mauve colour. So if you want a bright white icing to match the picture shown in Delicious Magazine don't add the freeze dried raspberries but you will lose out on the flavour they impart.

Here's the recipe for you adapted from here which makes a small loaf cake. If you'd like to make a larger cake then refer to the original recipe. 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.

Iced VoVo Cake – Natalie Paull
Ingredients
145g caster sugar
75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
25ml vegetable oil 
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 large egg at room temperature
1 large egg, separated, at room temperature
150g plain flour, sifted
¾ tsp baking powder, sifted
1/4 cup (22g) desiccated coconut
1/3 cup (80ml) coconut milk
Shredded coconut, to decorate

Raspberry jam
120g frozen raspberries
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 tbs lemon juice

Raspberry rose royal frosting
2 egg whites (1 reserved from cake)
3/4 cup (90g) pure icing sugar, sifted
10g freeze-dried raspberries, crushed
½ tsp rosewater or vanilla extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C conventional/150°C fan-forced. Grease base and sides of a small loaf pan and line with baking paper.

Add sugar, butter, oil, zest and vanilla to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on high speed for 8 minutes, scraping side of bowl occasionally, or until mixture is fluffy. Combine the whole egg and egg yolk (reserving the egg whites for the frosting) in a bowl and gradually add to the mixture, beating until combined and fluffy.

Place flour, baking powder and a pinch of fine salt in a medium bowl. Add desiccated coconut and stir to combine.

Using a large spatula, fold in half the flour mixture until almost fully incorporated. Fold in half the coconut milk until almost fully incorporated. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and coconut milk until thoroughly combined. Transfer mixture to prepared pan and smooth top. Bake for 1 hour or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then gently remove from pan to cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, to make the jam, place all ingredients in a small heavy-based saucepan over high heat and boil rapidly, stirring frequently, for 6-8 minutes, until thickened. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until required.

For the icing, place the 2 egg whites, the icing sugar and ¼ tsp salt flakes in the bowl of a stand mixer placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water (don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water). Using a whisk, stir the mixture until it's warm to touch. Place the bowl in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed until mixture is fluffy and thick, 5-7 minutes. Reduce the speed to low, add berries and rosewater or vanilla and whisk until combined.

To assemble, place the cake on a serving platter. Cut a long 2.5 cm-wide strip of baking paper to sit lengthways along the top of the cake. Secure each end with toothpicks. Smooth the icing across the top (including over paper) and long sides of cake. Lift the cake up and over a large bowl, pick up handfuls of shredded coconut and press into top and sides, letting excess fall back into the bowl.

Place cake back on serving platter, peel away the paper strip to expose the strip of cake. Spoon jam over exposed strip (if jam is too thick, add 1 tsp of water to loosen it up). Smooth frosting onto short edges and dust with more shredded coconut. 

Slice as desired.

Any recipe from Natalie is guaranteed to be delicious and this iced vovo cake was no exception. Every element was delicious and when combined even better.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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xmas week 2025 - fresh strawberry sponge cake with mascarpone mousse

xmas week 2025 - fresh strawberry sponge cake with mascarpone mousse

19 Dec 2025

For Xmas Week 2025, I thought I'd include a showstopper. I bookmarked a few cake recipes in 'Beatrix Bakes:Another Slice' by Natalie Paull, but ultimately I decided upon this one, the fresh strawberry sponge cake with mascarpone mousse as it's strawberry season in Sydney. The cake can be made with other in season berries or fresh figs.

The original recipe made an 8 inch layer cake and the cake layers were baked in a large rectangular 40 cm × 30 cm × 2 cm tin, then cut to size. I didn't have a rectangular tin large enough so I baked the cake in a smaller tin. The cake took a little longer to bake then I removed the brown edges from the still warm cake with a small sharp knife. Once the cake was cold, I then split it horizontally.

The filling needs to set overnight so you'll need to make the cake and the filling the day before you plan to serve it, then unmould and decorate just before serving. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make the 20cm cake, you can find the recipe here. 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.

Fresh strawberry sponge cake with mascarpone mousse – 17cm
Buttersponge cake
35g unsalted butter
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
45g full cream milk
25g egg yolk (from approx 1 egg)
80g egg whites (from approx. 3 eggs)
½ tsp vanilla paste
50g self-raising flour 
pinch salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
55g caster sugar

Filling
1 quantity mascarpone mousse
120g strawberry jam (homemade or very good store-bought). Match the jam to the berries used
250g fresh, perfectly ripe strawberries/raspberries or blackberries, washed and hulled

Mascarpone mousse
150g good quality white chocolate finely chopped 
185g mascarpone
265g cream (35% fat)
6g titanium strength gelatine leaves + cold water
113g full cream milk
½ tsp vanilla paste
teeny pinch of fine sea salt

Strawberry sherbet dust – this makes more than you need
20g icing sugar
5g freeze-dried strawberries
¼ tsp citric acid

Cake
Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Grease and flour a deep 17cm round tin and line the base with baking paper. 

Place the butter and lemon zest in a small saucepan over a medium–high heat and cook until the butter is sunshine yellow with white milk solids on the base. When cooked, pour the yellow butter into a wide mixing bowl, leaving the white solids behind, and immediately add the milk to cool the mixture down quickly. Hand whisk in the egg yolk and vanilla. 

Weigh the flour and salt into a small bowl and set aside with a sieve on top.
Put the egg white and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip on speed 6 (medium–high) for 1–2 minutes, until the whites have changed from foamy to stiff and white. Start adding the sugar to the whites very gradually – about 1 heaped teaspoon every 20 seconds, so the whole process takes 3–4 minutes. It is imperative to the success of the cake that the meringue is so stiff you could carve a knife through it. After all the sugar is in, reduce to speed 1 (low) for 1 minute to even out the air bubbles. 

Sift the dry ingredients over the butter/milk/yolk mix and whisk in by hand to make a smooth paste, then gently and thoroughly fold in one-third of the meringue. Gently fold in the remaining meringue and do a final fold with a plastic spatula until no white streaks remain. Scrape the mixture into the tin and smooth the top, making a recess in the centre to control doming. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is pale gold. While the cake bakes, set up a cooling rack on your work surface and spray it with cooking oil. As soon as the cake is done, quickly run a knife along the unpapered sides and confidently flip the cake from the tin onto the cooling rack. Gently peel away the paper and set the rack over your sink (or carefully elevate) to get maximum cooling airflow beneath. 

While the cake cools, start the white chocolate and mascarpone mousse so it is still pourable when you reach assembly time. 

Mascarpone mousse filling
Beat the mascarpone and cream to soft slumpy peaks then refrigerate until needed. 

Soften the gelatine leaves in enough cold water to just cover them, and leave until the gelatine feels like soggy cling wrap. While it softens, heat the milk, vanilla and salt in a small saucepan until you get a bubbly boil across the entire surface. Squeeze out the gelatine leaves and add to the hot milk. Stir until dissolved. 

Place the chopped white chocolate into a medium bowl and pour over the milk mixture. Whisk to melt the chocolate. If it’s stubborn, heat in the microwave in 30 sec bursts until the chocolate has melted. Cool the mix at room temperature to around 23-25°C. Every 5 minutes or so, gently whisk and scrape down the side of the bowl with a flexible plastic spatula. Do this until the mix begins to set. This should take around 10–20 minutes – less time in colder weather and more when it’s 36⁰C! Gently fold the cooled chocolate mixture and chilled cream together.

Assembly 
While the cake cools, lightly spray the deep 17-cm round cake tin with oil spray, then line with baking paper. Invert the cooled cake onto a work surface and remove the baking paper, then carefully scrape off the browned cake edges with a sharp paring knife. Split the cake horizontally. Divide the strawberry jam between the two sponge cakes, spreading to the edges of the cake.

Place one round sponge cake into the lined cake tin, jam-side up. Pour in half of the mascarpone mousse mixture, then smooth out and tap lightly. Place the strawberries in concentric circles – “top to tail”. Pour over the remaining mascarpone mousse and gently shake to ensure it fills in the gaps of the strawberries. Flip the second sponge circle on top, jam-side down. Cover the cake with plastic wrap, then sit a flat plate (or tart tin base) on top with a weight on top (like a block of butter). Chill for at least 4 hours but overnight is best before unmoulding.

Strawberry sherbet dust
Place all the ingredients into a small food processor, blitz the ingredients to a powder.

To serve
Just before serving, peel the plastic wrap back to expose the cake. Place the serving platter on top, then invert onto the serving platter. Remove the tin and gently peel away the paper. 

Just before serving, sift a snowdrift of sherbet dust over the top of the cake, as the sherbet dust will liquefy a little when chilled and uncovered. Cut into wedges to serve.

Natalie can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. She gently holds you hand as you make one of her recipes and if you follow her instructions, all will end well. This was a beautiful cake in every sense of the word

That was my final bake for Christmas week 2025. I was planning to post again on Monday but I'm not sure that I will.

For those of us who live in Sydney, the past week has been challenging and I'm still trying to come to terms with what took place in my own backyard.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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xmas week 2025 - sour cherry almond tart

xmas week 2025 - sour cherry almond tart

15 Dec 2025

Welcome to Xmas Week 2025. If you look through the archives, you'll see that I've made loads of sour cherry items this year and for good reason. Sour cherries are delicious. 

Last year I borrowed a copy of Tarts Anon by Gareth Whitton where I found his cherry almond tart recipe. As you know I like to make recipes my own, so I came up with my own verison. The pastry recipe is my own. The brown butter filling was inspired by Natalie Paull from Beatrix Bakes and the sour cherry technique came from Gareth Whitton of Tarts Anon. 

I take my research very seriously so I've made this tart twice now, just to make sure the recipe was perfect and it is. You can make the tart the day before serving, just store it in an airtight container at room temperature.

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

Sour cherry almond tart – inspired by a Gareth Whitton recipe

Almond shortcrust pastry
¼ cup icing sugar
¼ cup almond meal
1⅓ cups plain flour
Pinch salt
110g (4 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cold water

Sour cherries
1 680g jar of sour cherries
caster (superfine) sugar, see method
citric acid, see method

Frangipane Filling
120g unsalted room temperature butter
100g caster sugar
1 tsp finely grated orange zest 
2 room temperature eggs 
110g almond meal
2g fine sea salt 
2 tbs plain flour 
20g dark rum or orange juice
5g vanilla paste

To decorate

fresh cherries (optional)

icing sugar

Pastry
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 and sufficient cold 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. You’ll only need about half of the pastry dough to make a 17cm tart. The pastry freezes well so just wrap the remaining pastry in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. 

Refrigerate the pastry for an hour and then roll out thinly - 4mm thick. Line a greased 17 cm flan tin with the pastry then return to the fridge for another 30 minutes.

Sour cherries
Strain the sour cherries from the jar, reserving the liquid. For every 100g of the cherry liquid, measure out 60g of caster sugar and 2g of citric acid. Add the sugar and citric acid to a saucepan with the cherry liquid, bring to a simmer over medium heat, then stir together to ensure the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. (This can also be done with the same amount of fresh pitted cherries by replacing the cherry liquid with water and poaching the de-seeded cherries in the syrup until they are soft.) Pour this liquid over the jarred cherries and let sit in the syrup for at least 3-4 hours before using.

Frangipane Filling
Start the frangipane by cooking half (60g) of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it turns a foamy tan brown. Scrape it into the bowl of an electric stand mixer to cool for 15 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional and place a heavy baking sheet on the middle shelf. 

Add the remaining butter, sugar and orange rind with the browned butter to the bowl of an electric stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, beat the ingredients on medium for about 8 minutes until the mix is pale and fluffy. Scrape the bowl down with a stiff plastic spatula twice during this.  Add the eggs in two additions, allowing the creamed base to re-fluff up between additions. If the creamed mixture separates from the temperature difference of too fast egg addition, just keep going, it will be dense but still delicious.

Weigh the almond meal and salt, stir through the flour and set aside. Stop the mixer and scrape the mix off the paddle attachment. We are working by hand and using a stiff plastic spatula now. Add the rum or orange juice and the vanilla and mix well. Tip in the almond meal and salt and stir thoroughly.

 

To assemble and bake
Pour a thin layer of almond batter (about one-third of the quantity) into the prepared pastry shell to cover the base. (This will keep the cherries in place when adding the remaining batter). Then, strain off 100 g of the marinated sour cherries (see previous page) through a sieve and discard the liquid. Blot the fruit on some paper towels, then arrange them over the batter in three concentric circles, with a gap of roughly ½ cm in between each circle and in between each cherry.

Pour the remaining batter over the top of the cherries, stopping about ½ cm from the top of the pastry and push any floating cherries under the surface. Place the tart into the oven to bake for approximately 30-40 minutes or until the crust is an even golden brown and the centre of the tart is firm. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool inside the tin. Once the cake layer has completely cooled, remove the tart from the tin. 

If you like you can gild the lily by crowning the tart with some fresh cherries. Otherwise to serve, portion into slices and dust with a light coating of icing sugar. A dollop of cream to serve with the tart is optional but it would be a nice touch.

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Xmas Week 2025.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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chocolate, raspberry and cream cheese brownies

chocolate, raspberry and cream cheese brownies

8 Sept 2025

We've had a very wet winter here in Sydney, so one rainy Sunday I decided to do a spot of baking. I picked up my copy of Beatrix Bakes Another Slice and browsed through the book. I was intrigued by the brownie recipe which used ingredients with which I was familiar but the technique used was wildly different.

The brownies are made from pantry staples and cream cheese, all of which I had in the kitchen, so I decided to make a small batch. Just as I was about to put the brownies in the oven, I topped them with some frozen raspberries to make the fruity 'adaptrix', a Natalie'ism.

Here's the recipe for you (in Natalie's own words) adapted from here, which makes a 17-cm square tin of 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. If you'd like to make a larger batch please refer to the original recipe.

Chocolate, raspberry and cream cheese brownies - makes 12 bite-size brownies

Ingredients
Cooking oil spray 
100g egg (2 eggs) 
150g raw caster sugar 
55g good bittersweet chocolate (around 50-60% cocoa)
120g unsalted butter 
45g plain flour, regular or gluten free
30g Dutch (unsweetened) cocoa powder 
heaped ¼ tsp sea salt flakes
90g good extra-dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa)
55g full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
50g frozen raspberries

Method
Heat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Lightly spray a 17-cm square, 5 cm deep cake tin with cooking oil and line the base and sides with baking paper. Ensure any flappy paper edges are trimmed flush with the tin or secure them with clips.

Combine the egg and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment beat on speed 4 (below medium) for 8 minutes until you have a thick and pale foam.

While the mix beats, weigh the bittersweet chocolate into a small heatproof bowl. Heat the butter to bubbly hot (stovetop or microwave) and pour it over. Stir until the chocolate has melted and is smooth.

 
Scrape the warm chocolate/butter mix into the egg mix and beat for 5 minutes on speed 5 (medium) - it will look like a fluffy and flowy chocolate mousse. While it mixes weigh the flour and cocoa together and sift into a small bowl. Weigh the salt flakes on top. Chop the extra-dark chocolate into fine shards and add 65g to a separate bowl. Tear up the cream cheese into small hazelnut-sized chunks to sit on top of the chocolate. Set aside.

Stop the mixer and tip in the sieved dry ingredients. Beat on speed 2 (above low) for 1 minute until the flour is absorbed. Take the bowl off the mixer and stir in the chocolate and cream cheese. Some cream cheese lumps will remain and some will smear through, lightening the batter slightly all of this is good. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Press the frozen raspberries (fresh ones will scorch) into the top after smoothing the batter and then scatter the remaining extra-dark chocolate on top.

If you find a few too large nuggets of cream cheese when scraping and smoothing, massage them into the ideal size with the tip of your offset spatula. Bake for 25-30 minutes (mine took 40-45 minutes at 170°C, conventional) until the top of the brownie is slightly puffed, has a noticeable cracked border about 2 cm from the edge and fine fissures further across the surface. My Perfect Squidge Temperature (PST) hits at 95°C (205°F), with sticky clumps of mottled paste (not liquid chocolate).

Bake for 5 - 10 minutes longer if you want a more cakey brownie (internal temperature 100°C/210°F). If you want super-gooey filling, cook it for 5-10 minutes less, but you will definitely have to chill before cutting. Internal temperature taking is genius for brownies - no matter the batter, recipe or oven, you can always get the squidge right.

Cool at room temperature for around 30 minutes before cutting with a hot, damp knife, or chill it for a creamy fudge texture. The first warm bar, with still-molten chocolate chunks, is one of the greatest kitchen gifts bestowed upon a home baker. The brownies can be kept covered in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Allow the brownies to soften to room temperature or zap to re-soften before eating.

Adaptrix

It's a bit nutty
Add 60g roughly chopped (to about the size of your pinky fingertip) lightly toasted nuts, keeping a smattering to sprinkle on top. Pecans and walnuts are faves for the mellifluous texture. Avoid almonds, as they are too jarring against the soft brownie texture. Hazelnuts get a hall pass if chopped to a medium coarseness (half pinky fingertip). Heads up, they are very, very good with the Mocha Adaptrix.

Mocha
Coffee, more than salt or vanilla, will elevate the chocolate flavour - I add this for adults. Add 3g of instant coffee powder to dissolve with the hot butter.

The big chill
Score maximum brownie points and make the batter, then delay the bake. After smoothing the batter into the tin, chill overnight, uncovered is fine. Bake as above - just increase the time by 10+ minutes to allow for the cold start. Some baking boffins swear this melds the ingredients to make a better brownie. I just like that I can mix, rest and bake for easy warm brownie joy.

As promised, these brownies were very rich and squidgy, so I cut them into 12 small pieces. I shared the brownies with my neighbours and they were big fans.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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lemon poppyseed morning buns/lemon poppyseed scrolls

lemon poppyseed morning buns/lemon poppyseed scrolls

4 Aug 2025

I recently watched a Danish baking video which featured one of the bakers from Duo Bakery making their famous lemon poppyseed scrolls. They looked absolutely delicious. The baker didn't provide a recipe but he described the process involved, so I set to work making my own version.

I've made laminated dough before but this time I made a batch of the Croiss-ain't/faux-ssaint dough - from Beatrix Bakes – Another Slice. It's made more like rough puff pastry, something I've not made before and is a tiny bit less labour intensive than laminated dough. 

I followed Natalie's instructions for the Orange ras el hanout sunshine buns from her book which are baked in an 11cm springform pan but I made the buns a little smaller to fit into a Texas muffin tin. However when I rewatched the video, I realised they'd made scrolls and as I wanted to recreate their recipe, I made another batch of Croiss-ain't/faux-ssaint dough. This time I used a food processor to sort out the butter because grating butter is a very messy process and with that batch of dough, I made scrolls. The dough yields 8 scrolls and the bake time is much the same. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 morning buns or 8 scrolls and you’ll need to start the process the day before baking. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20-ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.

If you're making the morning buns, as well as a Texas muffin tin you'll need a baking tray to place on top of the buns while they're baking. If you're making the regular scrolls, you'll just need 2 baking paper lined trays and of course, a cooling rack.

Croiss-ain't/faux-ssaint dough - from Beatrix Bakes – Another Slice - makes approximately 570 g (1 lb 4 oz) dough.
Ingredients
120g unsalted butter
200g bakers' flour
50g wholemeal plain flour
50g caster sugar
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp bread improver (optional)
1½ tsp dry yeast
70 g/ml full-cream milk
70 g/ml water

Method
Grate the butter on the coarse side of a box grater. Line a shallow tray with baking paper and loosely distribute the butter over the surface - tease it out if it is clumping. Keep chilled. You can also cut the cold butter into 1 cm cubes and pulse in a food processor with the flour, sugar, salt and improver until the butter is pea sized before decanting into a large bowl and continuing with the recipe.

In a small bowl, whisk the yeast into the milk and water with a hand whisk until it has dissolved, then set aside.

Swizzle the flours, sugar, salt and improver (if using) together in a large mixing bowl. Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients and toss together, squeezing the butter through your fingers just a few times. Rubbing too much butter in will diminish the final flakiness - still a great dough though!

Add the liquid/yeast mix to the butter/flour mix and toss together. Squeeze and press with your hands until it comes together. Lightly form into a small, thick rectangle, 15 cm x 20 cm (6 in x 8 in) and wrap lightly in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.

Place the dough on a generously flour-dusted work surface. Roll the dough out to a long wide rectangle around 45 cm x 25 cm (17½ in x 10 in). If any large cracks start forming at the edges, just smoosh them back together to keep the sides as smooth and neat as possible. The rectangle will neaten after each roll, and the final block will have tidy sides. Fold into thirds like a letter, re-wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.

After the rest, bring the dough out again to a lightly floured work surface and position the dough with the open end facing you. Re-roll the dough to a rectangle 45 cm x 25 cm (17½ in x 10 in) again. The butter will be lovely and lumpy and may poke through the surface throughout. Fold into thirds like a letter and chill, lightly wrapped, for 30-60 minutes.

Repeat the roll a third (final) time exactly as above. Wrap fully but not restrictively tight and chill overnight, for a long prove (cold ferment). The dough won't proof dramatically, but you will feel a subtle pillowy puff. It will be ready to use between 24-48 hours. Freeze after that.

Lemon Poppyseed Morning Buns/Scrolls – makes 6 morning buns or 8 scrolls 
1 batch croiss-ain’t/faux-ssaint dough (see above)
Filling
100g caster sugar
4 tsp grated lemon rind
Pinch salt
80g room temperature unsalted butter
1 tbs almond meal

For the tin
20g softened butter
¼ cup of poppyseeds

Lemon Syrup
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
30mls water
¼ cup lemon juice

Lemon sugar
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs finely grated lemon rind

Filling
Combine the sugar, lemon zest and a pinch of salt in a small bowl then using your fingers rub the lemon zest into the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a spoon until you have a smooth paste.

To assemble
Generously butter the wells of a jumbo muffin tray and then coat with poppyseeds.

Take the cold dough from the fridge and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to form a 40-cm x 12 cm rectangle. Using a very sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the dough on the short side into 6 x 2 cm pieces. If making scrolls, roll the dough into a 25 x 24cm rectangle and cut the dough on the short side into 8 x 3 cm pieces. Spread the filling evenly out onto the dough then roll each piece up firmly, again from the short side. 

Set the buns into the wells of the prepared muffin tins. If making the scrolls, wet your finger and tuck one end of the dough under the bun and lightly brush the outside of the scroll with your damp finger. Place the poppyseeds into a small bowl and roll the scroll on it's side to coat with the poppyseeds. Place 4 of the buns onto each prepared baking trays, spaced well apart. Spray the tops of the buns lightly with cooking oil, then cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave in a mildly warm space or at room temperature in a warm kitchen (longer in cooler conditions) to have the final proof for 2-3 hours. 

These buns need a very long cool proof to fully puff the internal structure. Too warm and the butter will melt before the dough is fully proofed and fluffed. If this happens, bake them still delicious. In addition to the poke test, look for the internal layers to separate and puff a little. I do like to take an internal temperature of 25°C (75°F) for the perfect proof - underproof and the baked bun dough will be gummy inside.

While the buns are proofing, prepare the syrup and lemon sugar.

Syrup
For syrup, combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Mix in the lemon juice; bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Take off the heat and set aside until needed.

Lemon sugar
Place the sugar and lemon rind into a bowl. Thoroughly combine, then set aside until needed.

Bake
When the buns are almost proofed, preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. Remove the plastic; place a second baking tray on top of the muffin tin, then place in the oven. Turn the heat down to 180°C conventional and bake for 20 minutes until pale gold, then take the top tray off and bake another 8-12 minutes, until tanned brown. If they look like they are browning too fast, carefully cover with a sheet of foil. No second tray is needed if you're making the scrolls.

To test for doneness, tug at the heart of a swirl. The interior should look fluffy and bready (not raw and stretchy) and should have an internal temperature 95-98°C. The exterior should be a deep tawny brown. Remove the tray from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. 

Using a knife loosen each bun from the tin/tray before the melted sugar sets, then brush 1-2 tbs of the syrup over each bun. Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes to let the buns absorb the syrup then remove from the tin. Dredge each bun with the lemon sugar then place on a wire rack to cool. Allow the buns to cool for 30 minutes before eating, so the butter re-sets. Can be eaten warm or at room temperature.

Cooling briefly before removing the buns from the tin helps keep the scroll from unravelling while ultra-hot. Too long and the dough will sweat and compromise the crisp exterior. The second cooling, after removing from the tin, sets the butter-laden structure beautifully for a proudly set form.

The morning buns are nice, but the scrolls are next level. The baker from Duo described these scrolls as a guilty pleasure and I have to agree. These lemon poppyseed scrolls are absolutely magnificent!

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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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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