DELICIOUS BITES

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

14 Jan 2026

My good friend Kay and her sidekick Boris live in Glasgow, so whenever I'm in the area I like to visit them. Glasgow isn't that far from Morocco so I thought getting to Glasgow would be a breeze. Unfortunately there were no direct flights to Glasgow at all in october and no daily flights to Edinburgh either. That meant spending a few extra days in Marrakech and a layover at LHR, my least favourite airport in the world, but needs must.

Autumn in Scotland means one thing, grey skies and rain, so I made sure to pack my rain gear. Kay was on school holidays and she'd planned a full day's adventure. We started the day at the farm where her horse is stabled before a walk at Whitelee Windfarm, accompanied of course by Boris.

If you look very closely you can just see Boris.

Glasgow was so green compared to Morocco.

After our walk it was time for lunch. We drove to the Heron Farm Shop and Kitchen where I took in the view.

The view was just as beautiful in black and white.

The Heron Kitchen is dog friendly so Boris was able to sit indoors with us while we had our lunch.

We walked around the property which also houses a reception venue, The Heron Byre.

Autumn had definitely arrived in Glasgow.

The Heron Farm Shop had some pretty Christmas gifts and lovely fresh produce.

The next day I caught the train to Edinburgh, which is a 45 minute journey from Glasgow. The return trip cost me $68.00 and I almost choked on my cup of tea. The journey time is much the same as my daily trip to work, which during peak hours costs $10.80 for the round trip. How do the locals afford to travel by train???

I don't always visit Edinburgh when I'm in Scotland so I'd forgotten how crowded it can get.

It's very scenic though, all dressed up in autumnal hues.

I was on a mission though, so I couldn't tarry too long because I had places to see and things to do.

Doing some research before my trip I discovered there were swathes of Edinburgh I'd not visited.

I hoped that the 'off the beaten track' and 'little known by tourists' locations on my agenda were indeed that. They weren't.

I was on my way to the instafamous Lannan Bakery, located in Stockbridge, and walked there via the Water of Leith Walkway. The walkway was pretty busy and I kept my fingers crossed that I was the only person en route to the bakery.

I stopped at the very picturesque Dean Village.

A warning, I did take a few photos while I was there.

I was in Edinburgh in October and found many of the houses decorated for Halloween.

I walked past stone cottages with pretty details.

Not all cities read well in 'black and white'. Edinburgh does.

The colour versions.

Stockbridge is home to many cute shops and restaurants. How had I not been there before?

Could you get any more Scottish than this thistle topped gate?

I found Lannan Bakery and I joined the queue which snaked around the corner.

Was the queue long? Yes it was. Does Lannan employ queue monitors? Yes they do.

Did I line up for more than an hour? Yes, I did. Did they run out of the pastry I wanted to buy while I waited in the queue. Yes they did.

I pivoted and selected something else. While I was in the queue, I chatted to a lady who commented that the pastries we chose would never be delicious enough to justify the one hour + wait.

I carried my goodies back with me through the back streets of Stockbridge where I found many beautiful stone buildings

and pretty gardens.

I was still on a mission though, to locate Circus Lane, dubbed one of the most beautiful streets in the UK.

I had to wait patiently to get a clear view of the lane and St Stephen's Church. Apparently the tourists staging photoshoots mid-lane drive the local residents barmy.