DELICIOUS BITES

rosinenschnecken

31 Aug 2026

Last year I attended a conference in Freiburg, Germany. I'd heard good things about a bakery in Freiburg called Brotbruder so I made my way across town. The bakery was busy with a queue outside, always a good sign, and I treated myself to a Rosinenschnecken, aka, a raisin snail.

The snail was lovely and I wanted to recreate it when I came home. I had little to go on because all the recipes I found online didn't match the snail I'd consumed. From my memory the dough wasn't sweet and there didn't appear to be a frangipane or custard filling. The roll was topped with a shiny glaze, which may have been the only sweetening.

I used my foolproof overnight rise dough, topped it with a vanilla butter filling and plumped sultanas. I baked half the batch and covered each snail with lashings of vanilla flavoured glace icing as they came out of the oven. I was quite disappointed. I found the snails tooth achingly sweet so for the second batch I remade the glaze with lemon juice which I drizzled over each snail.

These snails were so much better then the first batch. They were smaller than the Brotbruder snails though so I'm going to tweak the recipe a bit and see if I can get a snail even closer to the original.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 8 snails and you will have to make the dough a day or 2 before making the snails. 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.

Rosinen Schnecken

Dough
1¼ tsp yeast
150 mls lukewarm milk
30g caster sugar
1 room temperature egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (300g) plain flour
½ tsp salt
60g room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the filling
75g sultanas (golden raisins)
50g unsalted butter, softened
55g caster sugar
1 tbs almond meal
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch seasalt flakes

Assembly
Melted butter/beaten egg/cream

Icing
150g icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs lemon juice

Dough
Grease a large plastic container and set to one side. Combine the yeast, milk and sugar in a large liquid measuring cup and rest for 5 minutes or until foamy then stir in the egg and the vanilla. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt and stir on low to combine. Add the egg mixture and mix on low to combine. With the mixer on low, add the butter, one piece at a time. When all the butter has been incorporated (about 10 minutes) increase the speed to medium and beat the butter into the dough, until all the little butter pieces are incorporated, and the dough comes away from the side of the bowl.

Transfer the dough to the prepared container. Cover the container with a lid or with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Place your fingers or a spatula underneath the dough and gently pull the dough up and fold it back over itself. Turn the container and repeat this folding again. Continue 6 to 8 more times, until all the dough has been folded over on itself. Re-cover the container and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat this series of folding 3 more times, for a rise time of 2 hours and a total of 4 foldings. Replace the lid or tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.

Whilst the dough is resting, prepare the sultanas. Place the sultanas in a small heatproof bowl, then cover with ½ cup of boiling water or tea and steep for a minimum of 1 hour.

The next day, take the dough out of the fridge. Flour a work surface and knead the dough 10 to 12 times to activate the gluten. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the top lightly with flour, and cover with a tea towel and let come to room temperature.

Filling
Thoroughly drain the sultanas, then make the filling by mixing the remaining ingredients into a smooth paste.

Assembly

Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. Roll the dough out into a rectangle measuring about 40 x 25 centimetres. Spread the filling evenly over the dough then sprinkle with the drained sultanas. Place the dough with the short side in front of you and use a ruler and a sharp knife or pizza cutter to mark out eight 3-cm slices. Roll each slice firmly to form a tight roll then place 4 snails onto each prepared tray with plenty of space between the snails. Cover the trays with a clean tea towel or plastic wrap and leave to rise for 1 hour or until puffed and well risen.

While the buns are proofing, preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. When the buns have proofed, brush the tops of the buns with the beaten egg, melted butter or cream. Place the tray of buns onto the centre rack of the oven then bake the buns for 25-30 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and place the tray on a cooling rack.

Glaze
Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice until you have a smooth thick glaze. Liberally drizzle each snail with the glaze while they are still warm and let cool before serving.

These are best served the day of baking but can be kept overnight in an airtight container and served the next day.

I froze 2 uncooked buns and pulled one out to defrost and bake when the need for a raisin snail arose. I can confirm they freeze really well and are a real treat when eaten freshly baked and iced.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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rhubarb and pistachio frangipane tart

24 Aug 2026

I was invited to a friend's place for dinner and I usually bring the dessert. As it's rhubarb season here I decided to make a rhubarb frangipane tart but with a twist. Instead of making the frangipane with almond meal alone, the frangipane was made with a mix of pistachio and almond meal. The idea came from Nicola Lamb's fancy rhubarb tart recipe which is in her cookbook, Sift.

I sourced some pistachio meal but I find the taste of pistachio meal a bit intense so I added in some almond meal to balance out the flavour of the frangipane. The rest of the tart is a tried and true recipe that I've been making for many years.

Here's the recipe for you which makes an 11 x 33cm tart. You’ll only need about half the pastry for this recipe. The pastry freezes well, so wrap securely and freeze until needed. 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.

Rhubarb and pistachio frangipane tart

Filling
1 bunch of rhubarb, washed, trimmed of tough strands and cut into 10-cm lengths
85g caster sugar
thinly peeled rind and juice of ½ orange
1 cinnamon quill

Pastry
¼ cup/40g icing sugar
¼ cup/25g almond meal
1⅓ cups/200g plain flour
pinch sea salt flakes
110g cold unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
Cold water

Frangipane
100g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp grated orange rind
1 large egg
50g pistachio meal
50g almond meal
2 tbs plain flour
pinch sea salt flakes

To assemble
½ cup rhubarb or raspberry jam
Sieved warmed apricot jam

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C, conventional. Arrange rhubarb snugly in a baking dish, scatter sugar and orange peel over, drizzle with juice and add cinnamon quill. Cover with foil and roast for 5-10 minutes or until you can just pierce the rhubarb with a knife. Set aside to cool. You’ll need about 325g of the rhubarb slices. I like to cook the rhubarb juices until they form a syrup, which I then mix with apricot jam when glazing the tart.

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. Refrigerate the pastry for 30 minutes.

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to 4mm thickness. Line a rectangular (11x33cm) tart tin with the pastry and return to the fridge while you prepare the filling.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional and place a baking tray on the centre rack.

Filling
Cream the butter, sugar, vanilla and orange rind together until pale and fluffy. Mix in the egg followed by the flour, ground nuts and salt to form a soft batter. You can also do this step in the food processor.

Assembly
Remove the tart shell from the fridge. Cover the base of the tart with the jam. Carefully cover the jam with the frangipane filling. Smooth the top with a knife then arrange the rhubarb lengths over the frangipane filling.

Place the tart on the baking tray in the preheated oven. Reduce the oven to 190°C, conventional and bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour or until the filling is set and the pastry nicely browned. If the rhubarb is drying out too much cover with foil or baking paper. When baked, remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

When cold, glaze the top of the tart with some thinned, warmed apricot jam. Just before serving, unmould from the tin and cut into slices.

This received rave reviews from the dinner party guests who declared it the perfect mix of sweet and sour and that it needed no adornments.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passionfruit bundt cake

17 Aug 2026

It's passionfruit season in Sydney and when I saw a net of plump passionfruit in the grocery store, I had to buy one. My first thought was to make a passionfruit cake and I baked it in my favourite bundt tin.

Rather then re-inventing the wheel, I used a favourite Aran Goyoaga lemon yoghurt and olive oil cake recipe as my base and turned it into a passionfruit version. As it's an oil based cake, it's quick and easy to put together.

Here's the recipe for you which will make a 5-cup bundt cake. 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.

Passionfruit bundt cake
Cake
65g (¼ cup) fresh or frozen passionfruit pulp (I don’t like seeds so I blitz the pulp, then strain out the juice.

2 tbs (40g) full fat yoghurt
100g (⅔ cup) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch table salt
65g (⅔ cup) almond meal, any lumps broken up
135g caster sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 eggs
100mls (80g) extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

Passionfruit icing
20g unsalted butter, melted
70g icing sugar, sifted
1 passionfruit

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease and flour a 5-cup bundt tin and place in the fridge until needed.

Combine the passionfruit juice/pulp with the yoghurt and set to one side.
Sift the flour, the baking powder and salt into a small bowl. Stir through the almond meal and set aside.

In a large bowl, rub together the sugar and lemon zest until fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl and stir to combine. Drizzle in the oil and the vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Add the flour in batches alternating with the yoghurt mixture and stir until a smooth batter is formed.

Pour the batter into the prepared bundt tin and bake on the centre rack for 45 to 50 minutes at 180°C, conventional or until a cake tester comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack, set over a baking tray. While the cake cools, make the icing.

Passionfruit icing
Place the melted butter in a small bowl. Add the icing sugar then enough passionfruit pulp to make a smooth thick icing. Beat vigorously until shiny, then pour the icing over the cake.

If the icing thickens too much, zap it for a few seconds in the microwave. Once iced, set the cake aside to let the icing set before serving.

The passionfruit icing is definitely the MVP here and I ate half the icing before it made it's way to the cake! The cake also received a tick of approval from my taste testers.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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chocolate zucchini cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing

10 Aug 2026

As the 10 year old birthday girl has simple tastes I decided to make cupcakes for her bithday celebration. I took a tried and tested chocolate cake recipe from Clare Scrine and turned it into cupcakes. To reduce the ingredient quantity to suit the tin size I had to reverse engineer the process so out came the calculator, a pen and paper.

The batter needed 1½ eggs but I didn't feel like cracking a second egg so I added a little more sour cream to the batter. I wasn't sure about the bake time either, so I started with 15 minutes and the cupcakes weren't quite ready so I added another 5 minutes and they were done.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 cupcakes, adapted from a Clare Scrine recipe. The icing recipe is generous so you may have some leftover. 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.

Chocolate zucchini cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing

Cake
1 egg
75g sour cream
100ml/90g vegetable oil (or other neutral oil)
50ml black coffee, cooled or water
1 tsp vanilla extract
110g finely grated zucchini
135g brown sugar
scant ½ tsp sea salt flakes
120g self-raising flour
scant ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
35g Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Chocolate cream cheese icing
125g cream cheese, at room temperature
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch sea salt flakes
140g icing sugar
25g dutched cocoa powder

60g melted dark chocolate, cooled

To top
Dark chocolate flakes or sprinkles

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease a 6 hole Texas muffin tin and dust with flour or cocoa. If you like you can place a small piece of baking paper into the base of each hole.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, vegetable oil, cooled coffee/water and vanilla until well combined and a little frothy. Add the zucchini and stir well to combine.

In a separate large bowl, combine the sugar, salt, flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined, ensuring you scrape right to the bottom of the bowl to mix well.

Distribute the mixture evenly between the muffin holes (about 110g/hole), then transfer to the oven and bake for 20–25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake comes out mostly clean. It’s important not to overcook the cakes, so keep a close eye on them. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes. Carefully loosen each cake with an offset spatula before unmoulding and placing on a cooling rack.

Chocolate cream-cheese icing
Place the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and salt flakes into the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa on top. Beat with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes on speed 4 until fluffy. Stir through the cooled melted chocolate. Store covered in the fridge until needed. If the cream cheese icing is too firm, zap it in the microwave for a few seconds to rewarm.

Just before serving, top each cake with a generous dollop of the cream cheese icing and some chocolate flakes.

The cupcakes were a hit and were described as the 'most delicious chocolate pillows' and best of all, the non fruit eating birthday girl didn't notice the zucchini in the cake. Even this non chocolate believer thought they weren't too bad.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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rhubarb and custard buns

3 Aug 2026

I wanted to make as many rhubarb flavoured bakes as I could before rhubarb season was over. As you know, I do love a good bun and whilst I've made rhubarb buns before I wanted to make some rhubarb and custard buns inspired by the rhubarb custard buns at Juno The Baker.

I used my go-to bun dough as my base, adapted from a Sarah Keiffer recipe and made some rhubarb compote inspired by a Trine Hahnemann recipe and a batch of cold start custard from a Natalie Paull recipe. I put them together and hey presto, I had some rhubarb and custard buns.

Here's the recipe for you which will make 7-8 buns. 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 and custard buns
Rhubarb jam
150g rhubarb
55g caster sugar

Cold start thick custard
25g caster sugar
10g cornflour
pinch fine sea salt
20g cream
1 egg yolk
100g milk
½ tsp vanilla paste

For the filling
50g unsalted butter, softened
55g caster sugar
1 tbs almond meal
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch seasalt flakes

To finish
1 egg lightly beaten/melted butter or cream

Rhubarb jam
Cut the rhubarb into one-centimetre pieces, place in a saucepan with the sugar and bring to the boil. Cook for five minutes, then drain through a sieve placed over a heatproof bowl. Return the juice to the pan, bring to the boil once more and cook down until a syrup forms. Leave to cool.

Cold start thick 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 (paste or scraped pod and seeds) 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.
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 and 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. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Dough
Grease a large plastic container and set to one side. Combine the yeast, milk and sugar in a large liquid measuring cup and rest for 5 minutes or until foamy then stir in the egg and the vanilla. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt and stir on low to combine. Add the egg mixture and mix on low to combine. With the mixer on low, add the butter, one piece at a time. When all the butter has been incorporated (about 10 minutes) increase the speed to medium and beat the butter into the dough, until all the little butter pieces are incorporated, and the dough comes away from the side of the bowl.

The next day, flour a work surface and knead the dough 10 to 12 times to activate the gluten. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the top lightly with flour, and cover with a tea towel and let come to room temperature.

Make the filling by mixing all the ingredients into a smooth paste.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Roll the dough out into a rectangle measuring about 40 x 15 centimetres. Spread the filling evenly over the dough. Fold the left third of the dough in towards the centre, and fold the right third of the dough over that towards the centre, like you're folding a business letter. Gently run the rolling pin over the dough to press out any big bubbles.

Roll the dough out a bit more so that it forms a 16 x 30 cm rectangle and then cut across into eight two-centimetre strips. Take each strip and twist it, then roll each twist into a spiral. Place the rhubarb buns on the prepared tray, pressing down on each so they spread slightly. Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes or until puffed and well risen.

While the buns are proofing, preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional.

Make an indent in the top of the bun and spoon in 1 tbs custard, followed by a spoonful of the rhubarb. Brush the tops of the buns with the beaten egg, melted butter or cream. Place the buns onto the centre rack of the oven then bake the buns for 25-30 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush with the reserved rhubarb syrup. Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.

These are best served the day of baking and are so delicious, I wished I'd made a larger batch! If the whole rolling and folding is too much for you, just make scrolls like Juno did.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Roasted Apple Cake

27 Jul 2026

I recently celebrated a birthday and my sister gifted me a copy of the Monday Morning Cooking Club's new recipe book, 'A Year of Jewish Cooking'. Whilst our switchboard was being upgraded, leaving my building without power during daylight hours, I spent the day perusing the book from cover to cover.

I had some unexpected dinner guests recently and I needed to make a quick and easy dessert. I had Granny Smith apples in the fruit bowl so I decided to make the roasted apple cake from the book. It's definitely a rustic looking cake but it suited the family style meal I'd made.

I've made the cake twice now and I've made a few small changes from the original recipe to suit the smaller tin size and what was in my kitchen at the time. Instead of lining the whole tin with baking paper as seen in the photos for the second cake, I just lined the base and the cake unmoulded easily.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17-cm cake, adapted from The Monday Morning Cooking Club. You can find the original recipe for an 8-inch cake in the Australian newspaper but it's under a paywall. 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.

Roasted Apple Cake - serves 6-8
Apples
2½ large Granny Smith apples, peeled
15 mls unsalted butter
15 mls apple cider vinegar
35g brown sugar

Cake
100g caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
115g self raising flour

pinch salt
60 mls yoghurt or pure cream
1 tbs sugar mixed with ¼ tsp cinnamon

To serve
Cream

Roasted apples
Preheat the oven to 180°C conventional. Roughly chop the apples into 1 cm dice. Place in a small ovenproof dish with the butter, apple cider vinegar and brown sugar and mix together. Roast for 40 minutes, basting from time to time, until just cooked through. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Reduce the oven temperature to 170°C conventional. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17-cm springform cake tin with baking paper.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer and bear together for a minute or so to release the citrus oils. Add the butter and beat until very pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla, stopping the mixer and scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Using a spatula, fold it into the butter mixture, followed by the cream/yoghurt. Using the spatula, gently fold half of the roasted apples and any juices through the cake batter.

Spoon into the prepared tin and scatter the remaining apples evenly on top. Sprinkle with half the cinnamon sugar and bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool and serve with whipped cream and the reserved cinnamon sugar.

My brother-in-law took home the leftovers so I made a second cake to share with the neighbours and it was well received by all.

SLIDER

rosinenschnecken

31 Aug 2026

rhubarb and pistachio frangipane tart

24 Aug 2026

passionfruit bundt cake

17 Aug 2026

chocolate zucchini cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese icing

10 Aug 2026

rhubarb and custard buns

3 Aug 2026

Roasted Apple Cake

27 Jul 2026