Passover Almond Cake

Passover Almond Cake

16 Apr 2009

I spent Easter with my family and as always it rained. There's no better way to spend a rainy day than baking. As it was also Passover, I decided to bake a cake that could be eaten at Passover.



I made my Mum's Almond Cake and simply substituted the dried breadcrumbs for fine matzo meal.



I honestly don't think the cake looks or tastes any different from an almond cake made from the regular recipe. I've tracked down a photo I took last year so you can compare.



All cut and ready to eat!



See you all again soon.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Cocoa Hazelnut Rochers

Cocoa Hazelnut Rochers

12 Apr 2009

Happy Easter/Passover, whichever festival you're celebrating. It's always a challenge looking for tasty morsels to bake which don't require flour. 



When I found a recipe for cocoa almond rochers in a 2008 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine, it filled the bill - a sweet morsel that combined nuts, chocolate but without flour.



As always I needed to tinker with the recipe so in my version, I halved all the ingredients but doubled the cocoa powder, used toasted hazelnuts instead of the almonds, lowered the cooking temperature substantially but doubled the cooking time! 



I think they taste and look pretty good. You could also substitute the nuts with the equivalent weight of chopped hazelnut chocolate.

Happy eating,

Jillian

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Friday Favourite - Scudamores

Friday Favourite - Scudamores

10 Apr 2009

When I started photography I was only 12 years old so of course my first camera was a film camera, a little agfamatic. I only began getting my film scanned when I started doing wedding photography in 2003. That means all my travel photography images taken prior to 2004 are stored as negatives in archival sleeves. I primarily shot film until about 3 years ago and only changed because my clients were asking for digital imagery coupled with the difficulties involved in getting film developed.

I still use black and white film at weddings and whenever I travel I always carry a few rolls of film with me. Last year I had some of my older film images scanned but have never posted them to my blog, although some of the black and white images do appear on my website. I've decided to do a Friday Favourite feature, where I pull out some of my favourite images, primarily travel and primarily shot on film.



I chose this photo which I shot early one morning in 1999 whilst visiting my brother who was living and studying in Cambridge. I don't have the negatives with me but I'm pretty sure I was shooting Ilford Delta 400 at the time. It's always been one of my favourite images. I love the position of the punts and the reflection of the chimneys in the corner of the image. During my last year studying photography at the Sydney Institute, I had to submit a portfolio of 10 images for review. My portfolio had the theme of places and faces and featured a combination of my travel and wedding images. This was one of the images I submitted.

My travel images are available for puchase either as prints or on canvas. Just email me info@jillianleiboff.com for sizes and pricing,


Jillian

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Apple Almond Cake

Apple Almond Cake

8 Apr 2009

It's autumn here, although it's arrived a little later than usual. That means the fruit shop is filled with apples, pears and quince. When it came time to bake something for morning tea, I knew it had to be one of my many apple based cake recipes. I've always liked anything made with apples and my grandma used to make an apple cake for dessert nearly every Friday night.



I think I have at least 4 or 5 apple cake recipes in my recipe collection. I'm planning to bake them all, then do a taste test at work and see which one tops the poll before deciding which apple cake recipe makes the final cut for the book.



This recipe first appeared in Good Taste magazine 10 years ago, but it's years since I last made it. One of my work colleagues asked if I've developed all the recipes that I bake. I explained that most of my recipes are adaptations of original recipes. In this case I've increased the quantity of the mixture, added vanilla and ground macadamia nuts to the original mixture and almost doubled the cooking time. Does that make the recipe my own now? I'm not sure but I do know that it was wolfed down by the throng and some people even came back for second helpings.



Some of the apple photos on the blog were taken in Cambridge during my trip to the UK last year. My friend's house is built on what used to be an apple orchard and some of the original apple trees are still in their garden.



Enjoy the fruits of autumn,

Jillian

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Happy Birthday Mona

Happy Birthday Mona

5 Apr 2009

One of my favourite brides from 2008 is celebrating a special birthday on April 6 so I've attached one of my favourite black and white film images from her wedding day.



Happy Birthday Mona,

Jillian

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Lime Poppyseed Cake

Lime Poppyseed Cake

2 Apr 2009

I've been baking my way through all the cakes I've ever taken in to work. Monday was a special day for one of my colleagues who was celebrating one of those landmark birthdays that end in zero.



Somehow I remembered that Wendy likes the taste of lime, so I pulled out one of my old favourite recipes for lime poppyseed cake.



The touch that makes the cake so special is the simple lime and sugar syrup that's poured over the cake once it comes out of the oven. It's been years since I last made the cake so I'm keen to try a piece.



My own slice is resting in the freezer to be consumed after the Easter break - well I did have the little banoffee pies and a caramel chocolate tart to taste test as well.



Jillian

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