plum and rosemary polenta cake

plum and rosemary polenta cake

26 Jan 2026

My first post of the year was an apricot rosemary and polenta cake which was very well received by my neighbours. I wanted to make a plum version so as soon as blood plums appeared in the fruit shop I bought half a dozen.

I knew I'd have to change the recipe a little. The apricot cake was topped with halved apricots cooked in a rosemary flavoured caramel. Plums are very difficult to halve cleanly and if cooked in the caramel would have fallen apart. Instead I quartered the plums then just before baking I poured the rosemary caramel over the plum topped cake. As plums go well with hazelnuts, I swapped out some of the almond meal for hazelnut meal.

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

Plum and rosemary polenta cake – makes a 17-cm cake
Plum topping
5 plums, stoned and quartered 
1 tbs caster sugar 

Cake
65g full cream milk
15g polenta or medium cornmeal
75g whole egg (1 and ½ eggs)
75g unsalted butter, softened
75g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
75g almond meal and 20g hazelnut meal
25g medium cornmeal
Scant ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp flaky sea salt

Caramel
20g butter
20g caster sugar
½ tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary needles

To serve 
Crème fraîche

Plum topping 
Halve the plums, remove the seeds then cut again into quarters. Sprinkle the plums with the caster sugar and set aside for 30 minutes, reserving any juice that forms.

The polenta
Heat the milk to a simmer and add the polenta. Whisk over a medium-low heat until thickened, then continue to whisk for a few minutes until creamy and smooth - taste it and check for hard lumps. Once it is tender, leave to cool. Once cooled, blend the polenta with the eggs and set aside.

Cake
Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan. Line the 17-cm cake tin with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes until slightly lightened. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the eggs/polenta mixture slowly until well combined.

Mix the dry ingredients together - the almond and hazelnut meal, cornmeal, baking powder and salt - then stir them through the butter/sugar mixture. Spoon into the cake tin and smooth out. Nestle the plum quarters into the batter then prepare the caramel. 

Caramel
Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the sugar and heat until bubbling and browning slightly. Add the chopped rosemary and bubble for 30 seconds or so, then add any plum juices that have formed. Cook the caramel gently for 3-5 minutes then turn off the heat. Pour the still warm rosemary/butter/caramel over the top of the plums.

Place the cake on the centre rack and bake in the preheated 190°C/170°C fan oven for 60 to 70 minutes. The plums will have sunk into the cake and the cake will be deep golden. If you insert skewer into the cake, only a few moist crumbs should hang on. 

Leave to cool in the tin before serving slightly warm with a spoonful of crème fraîche. The cake will last in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

This was so different from the apricot version. It was a lovely moist cake but the hazelnut flavour was quite dominant, overshadowing the polenta. If there's a next time I'd just use almond meal.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apricot and rosemary polenta cake

apricot and rosemary polenta cake

5 Jan 2026

I'm back with my first bake for 2026. The apricot season is notoriously short in Sydney so I made Nicola Lamb's apricot and rosemary polenta cake before the apricots disappeared for the year.

As I'd made the apricot topping before, it was just the cake batter that was new to me. I've made polenta before and I've made cornmeal cakes before, I've just not combined the 2 before in the one cake.

The original recipe makes an 8 inch cake. Sometimes when you reduce a cake recipe you have to make a few adjustments. I was supposed to use 1 and 1/2 eggs in the batter, and the half an egg thing is the bane of my existence. Usually I separate the egg and use the yolk, then freeze the egg whites but as I was short on eggs, I used one egg and some yoghurt. Otherwise the cake was very easy to put together and in no time at all, the cake was in the oven. My cake took about 10 minutes longer to cook than suggested but that's not unusual for an apricot or plum cake.

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

Apricot and rosemary polenta cake - serves 6
Cake
65g full cream milk
15g polenta or medium cornmeal
50g whole egg (1 egg)

25g Greek yoghurt
75g butter, softened
75g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract
95g ground almonds 
25g medium cornmeal
½ tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt

Apricot topping

25g butter
25g caster sugar
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary leaves
4 apricots, halved and stoned

To serve 
Crème fraîche or labne

The polenta
Heat the milk to a simmer and add the polenta. Whisk over a medium-low heat until thickened, then continue to whisk for a few minutes until creamy and smooth - taste it and check for hard lumps. Once it is tender, leave to cool. Once cooled, blend the polenta with the egg and yoghurt and set aside.

Apricot topping
Melt the butter, add the sugar and heat until bubbling and browning slightly. Add the rosemary and bubble for 30 seconds or so, then place the apricot halves into the pan, cut-side down. Add the rest of the large pieces of rosemary around the apricots. Cook for 5 minutes over a low heat - check and see if the apricots have coloured a little. The butter/sugar should be dark in spots like a dark caramel. If not, remove the apricots from the pan and cook the caramel for a little longer. Turn off the heat.

Cake
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional. Line the base and sides of a 17cm cake tin with baking paper.

Cream the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes until slightly lightened. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the eggs/polenta mixture slowly until well combined.

Mix the dry ingredients together - the ground almonds, cornmeal, baking powder and salt - then stir them through the butter/sugar mixture. Pour into the cake tin and smooth out. Nestle the apricots in the batter, cut-side up then pour the rosemary/butter/caramel over the top.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted will have a few moist crumbs hanging on. Leave to cool in the tin for 10-20 minutes before unmoulding as this is a very tender cake. Serve warm or cold with a spoonful of crème fraîche or labne. The cake will last in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

This cake is delightful. It's tender in the middle and crunchy around the edges. The rosemary combined with the polenta and the tart apricots gives an intriguing savoury note to the cake. The plum season has just begun and I can't wait to make a plum version.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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xmas week 2025 - passionfruit posset flower tarts

xmas week 2025 - passionfruit posset flower tarts

18 Dec 2025

Welcome to Day 4 of Xmas Week 2025. Christmas is peak passionfruit season in Australia so when I saw a photo of these sweet little passionfruit topped tarts in Nicola Lamb's cookbook, Sift, I immediately added them to my Xmas folder.

The recipe isn't particularly complicated but it does involve a number of steps. The pastry shells, passionfruit juice and white chocolate ganache can be prepared in advance. The passionfruit posset needs a few hours to set before you can decorate the tarts so remember to factor that in if you're planning to serve these for Christmas lunch. 

Don't make the rookie mistake I made and use regular cream for the posset because you'll end up with a very loosely set posset. On a warm Sydney day the posset pretty much melted in the heat as I photographed the tarts. I'd made a few extra tart shells, so I bought some double cream and I remade the passionfruit posset. The second batch of posset set up nicely in under 2 hours.

Here's the recipe for you which makes six 8cm tarts. 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. 

Passionfruit posset flower tarts 

Tart cases
45g icing sugar, sifted 
165g plain flour
15g ground almonds
pinch flaky sea salt

100g cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1 egg yolk 

Whipped vanilla ganache
300g thickened cream 
1½ tsp good quality vanilla bean paste
Pinch of fine salt
120g white chocolate, finely chopped

Posset
30g passionfruit juice (about 3 passionfruit)
10g lime juice
200g double cream (48% fat)
60g caster sugar
40g butter
1g flaky sea salt (about 1/4 tsp)

Plus
2-3 passionfruit, to serve

Pastry
Mix the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse a few times to break up the butter into pea sized pieces. Add the egg folk and mix until a dough forms around the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor and knead lightly a few times to bring the dough together. Wrap in plastic then refrigerate the pastry for 1 hour.

Roll out the soft pastry between two sheets of baking paper to a 4mm thickness. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes until firm. 

Have your six 8cm tart tins handy. Trim the pastry so it is larger than the tart tin you are lining. For small tart cases, you may want to use a circular pastry cutter. 

Remove the paper and drape the pastry into the tart tin, gently pressing it into the edges and base. Place the lined tart tins into the freezer until the pastry is firm, around 30 minutes, or in the fridge for an hour.

To blind bake
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional/170°C fan. Place foil dull side down in your chilled and lined tarts. Fill with weights - baking beans, sugar or raw rice work well. Place the tart shells onto a baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes on the centre rack until dry, then remove the weights and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden. Take the tart shells from the oven and place on a cooling rack

The baked tart cases can be kept in an airtight container for 3 days. Refresh in a 180°C conventional/160°C fan oven for 5-10 minutes before using.

Vanilla ganache

Heat the cream with the vanilla and salt until simmering. Pour this over the white chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour into a container and leave to chill completely.

To juice the passionfruit for the posset, spoon out the flesh, discard the seeds and place into a blender. Blitz until liquefied, then pass through a fine sieve to remove any seeds.

Passionfruit posset

Juice the passionfruit by spooning out the flesh, then placing the pulp into the bowl of a small food processor. Blitz until liquefied, then pass through a fine sieve to remove any seeds. Mix the passionfruit and lime juices  together and set aside. 

Heat the cream and sugar together, then continue to simmer for 3 minutes to ensure the sugar is fully dissolved. Turn off the heat, then whisk in the juice, followed by the butter and salt. Pour this mixture into the tart cases, about 50g per case, and put into the fridge to chill completely, around 2 hours.

To finish

Whip the ganache until soft peaks form, being careful not to over-whip. This can take less than a minute in a stand mixer on a medium speed. Either spoon blobs on top of each tart or transfer into a piping bag and cut a large 1.5cm hole or fit with a round tip. Pipe blobs around the edge of the tart cases. Add a spoonful of passionfruit pulp into the middle of each.

These tarts are best enjoyed on the day they are made but can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, though the tart cases will soften.

Yes they are a bit fiddly to make but Christmas comes but once a year. Not only are the passionfruit posset flower tarts pretty to look at, they taste just as good as they look.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apricot, rosemary and ricotta cake

apricot, rosemary and ricotta cake

24 Nov 2025

I've had this Elizabeth Hewson recipe for a tinned apricot, ricotta and thyme cake bookmarked for quite some time. When the time finally came to make the cake the first apricots of the season had arrived at my fruit shop. As I love fresh apricots, I incorporated fresh apricots into the cake recipe. 

I didn't have any fresh thyme at home but I had rosemary. Inspired by a Nicola Lamb recipe for an apricot, rosemary and polenta cake from her cookbook Sift, I decided to combine the 2 recipes. I used Elizabeth Hewson's cake recipe for the base and topped the cake with the apricot and rosemary topping from Nicola Lamb's recipe. I'd also run out of lemons so I made another change and used grated lime rind in my cake. 

She's a sturdy thing this cake, more cheesecake in texture than cakelike but she's very delicious. Elizabeth doused her cake with a syrup made from the tinned apricot juice, but as I'd not used the tinned variety I served my cake simply topped with double cream.

Here's the recipe for you, inspired by this recipe from Elizabeth, which makes a 17cm 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. 

Apricot, rosemary and ricotta cake - makes a 17cm cake

Ingredients
100g room temperature unsalted butter

160g well drained full cream ricotta from the deli

150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon or lemon

2 eggs
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

40 mls Greek yoghurt

Apricot topping

20g unsalted butter
20g caster sugar
1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, finely chopped and 1 sprig of fresh rosemary

4 fresh apricots, halved and stoned

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C, conventional or 160°C fan-forced. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm-cake tin with a removable base.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the butter, ricotta, vanilla, zest and sugar together and mix until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides. Sift the flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt into a bowl then fold the flour mixture through the ricotta mixture in thirds, alternating with the yoghurt. Mix until combined then spoon the batter into the tin and smooth out the top with an offset spatula. 

Apricot topping

Melt the butter, add the sugar and heat until bubbling and browning slightly. Add  the chopped rosemary leaves and bubble for 30 seconds or so, then place the apricot halves into the pan, cut-side down. Add the rosemary sprig and cook for 5 minutes over a low heat. Check to see if the apricots have coloured a little, and if so, carefully remove the apricots. The butter/sugar should be dark in spots like a dark caramel. If not, then cook the caramel for a few more minutes before turning off the heat. Nestle the apricots in the batter, cut-side up then pour the rosemary/butter/caramel over the top.

Place the cake on the centre rack of the preheated 180°C, conventional oven. Bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes or until golden and when you insert a skewer into the cake, a few crumbs adhere. 

Place onto a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmoulding the cake. Cool completely before serving.

When cool, slice and serve with thick cream.

I took this to my brother's place and I'm pleased to say, the cake went down a treat. Now I'm kind of itching to make the apricot, rosemary and polenta cake.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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blood orange, almond and polenta cake with orange scented ganache

blood orange, almond and polenta cake with orange scented ganache

31 Aug 2025

My love for blood oranges knows no bounds. I've been enchanted by blood oranges since I was first introduced to them when I was 15. I was on a school trip to Europe and by the time we'd arrived in Italy I was craving both orange juice and steak. The steak could wait until I returned home but not the orange juice. Not even the ridiculously high price could stop me from ordering the juice and when it arrived it was blood red. We thought they'd made a mistake and had given us tomato juice, but one sip revealed there had been no mistake and we'd been served the best orange juice of all, blood orange juice.

I found a recipe for a blood orange cake in 'Love Crumbs' by Nadine Ingram, which she'd named 'A Waltzing Orange Cake'. I waited for blood oranges to return to the fruit shop and a few weeks back, there they were in all their glory. I bought a bag of blood oranges and set to work making both the cake and a batch of blood orange and vanilla marmalade. 

Whilst I loved the cake toppings, I found the cake quite dry. I've made many blood orange cakes in the past and thought one of those cakes might work better as a base for those lovely toppings. I returned to the kitchen for round 2 and came up with this recipe for a blood orange, almond amd polenta cake with an orange scented ganache. The cake, which is both gluten free and dairy free, was adapted from a Nicola Lamb recipe whilst the toppings (and instructions) are pure Nadine.

Here's the recipe for you 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. To make this cake you'll need 4-5 blood oranges, depending on their size, and 1 lemon. If blood oranges aren't in season, regular oranges will do nicely.

Blood orange, almond and polenta cake with an orange scented ganache - makes a 17-cm cake

Blood orange jelly slices -start this process 2 days ahead

1 blood orange

80g caster sugar

90ml water

¼ tsp cardamom pods, crushed

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

  

Orange scented ganache

200g pure cream

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

½ tsp cardamom pods, crushed

1 blood orange, zested

55g white chocolate good quality, finely chopped

Cake

The zest of 2 blood oranges

The blended flesh of 1-2 blood oranges to make 135g of puree

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

½ cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil

125g almond meal

50g superfine polenta flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt

Citrus syrup

¼ cup (55g) caster sugar

1 tbs water

¼ cup (60 mls) freshly squeezed blood orange juice

Juice of ½ lemon

pinch salt

Blood orange jelly slices – start these 2 days before serving the cake.

Slice the oranges into 2 mm-thick rounds using a very sharp knife. Take your time as you want every slice to be completely round without tears. Place the slices in a large bowl and pour over boiling water from the kettle to well cover the slices, then wrap the bowl in plastic film for 6 hours until cold. Repeat the process twice more to make a total of three blanches over an 18-hour period. Don't worry, they can sit for longer if you need to leave them overnight. This is a technique used to soften citrus and remove the bitterness, while maintaining the vibrant colours. It's normally done by bringing the fruit to the boil in a saucepan, however, in the case of delicate orange slices they would be broken up in the process.

Place the sugar, water, cardamom and vanilla bean and seeds in a large, wide saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Discard the blanching water from the oranges and gently add the orange slices to the cardamom syrup, laying them carefully over the base of the saucepan, then cover them with a round piece of baking paper to ensure the top of the slices don't dry out.

Continue to simmer the orange slices on the lowest heat possible for about 1 hour -1 hour 30 minutes or until the syrup reduces to a jelly and coats the oranges in a glossy, translucent glaze. Turn off the heat and let them cool at room temperature. After this they can be stored in the fridge stacked up in a jar with any remaining syrup poured over them for approximately 3 months.

Orange-scented ganache

Place the cream, vanilla, cardamom pods and the orange zest in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow the flavours to mingle for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, place the finely chopped chocolate into a medium bowl and set it beside the stove. Strain the aromatics out of the cream and return the cream to the boil, then pour it over chocolate and stir the ganache until it is smooth and all the chocolate has dissolved. Pour the ganache into a container with a lid and cool in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Cake

Preheat oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease a 17cm-round cake pan and line the tin with baking paper.

Place the grated rind and sugar into a bowl and massage together until the sugar becomes fragrant. Add the eggs and whisk to combine, followed by the oil. Whisk in almond meal and the polenta flour mixture alternating with the blended orange pulp to form a loose batter. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes until the top is just firm and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 1 hour, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Syrup

Combine sugar with the water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer, add the orange juice and cook for 4-6 minutes until thickened and starting to caramelise. Cool syrup, then mix in the juice of ½ lemon and a pinch of salt and stir until combined. Cool completely to room temperature.

To assemble

Remove the cake from the tin by inverting it onto a plate, removing the baking paper and then flipping it back the right way up onto a platter.

Remove the orange-scented ganache from the fridge and give it a good whisk to incorporate any white chocolate that may have settled to the bottom or fat from the cream that may have floated to the top. Whip the ganache in the bowl of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment or use a hand whisk to whisk until firmly whipped, then spread or dollop evenly over the top of the cake. 

Arrange the blood orange jelly slices on top, noting that they're difficult to slice through when cutting the cake, so a bit of strategic placement based on the number of guests will make portioning much easier or you can place an orange slice on each plate then cut the cake afterward and drizzle with the syrup to serve. 

I took this to a friends place and we served the cake for dessert and it was a triumph! If you don't feel like making the ganache or the blood orange jelly slices, this cake topped with whipped cream and drizzled with some orange syrup is still a delight.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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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.

Other than using gluten free flour, I followed the recipe precisely 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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