SLIDER

lemon scrolls

29 Jan 2023


Last year I made a batch of passionfruit custard filled scrolls. Whilst they tasted lovely, trying to roll them was a challenge and the kitchen bench ended up awash with custard, so it was back to the drawing board. I'm going to try making them again using today's recipe for the base then I'll top the roll with the custard prior to baking. I still haven't decided on the topping, so watch this space.

The good news is that these lemon filled scrolls turned out really well. They are lovely and light and nicely perfumed and flavoured with lemon and I think will make an excellent base for the custard scrolls. 


When I was researching ways to shape cinnamon rolls, I came across the Finnish cinnamon roll known as Korvapuusti. They looked really cute so when I 
made these lemon scrolls, I tried out this new to me shaping method. 

If you'd like to make a batch of these scrolls, here's the recipe for you which makes 10 -12 scrolls. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20°C. 

Lemon scrolls
Dough
1 tsp yeast
125 mls milk, lukewarm
30g honey
1 egg at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (300g) plain flour 
½ tsp salt
75g room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 

Filling
60g caster sugar
4 tsp grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Pinch salt
60 g room temperature unsalted butter
1 tbs almond meal

To finish
2 tbs melted butter or cream
2-3 tbs pearl sugar

Lemon Syrup 
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
1/3 cup water
1 piece lemon rind
40 ml fresh lemon juice

Dough
Grease a large bowl and set to one side. Combine the yeast, milk and honey 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 paddle, 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 added, increase the speed to medium and beat the butter into the dough, until all the little butter pieces are incorporated, 1 minute. Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl. The dough will be very sticky, and you will need a spatula to scrape the dough into the bowl.

Cover the bowl 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 bowl and repeat this folding again. Continue 6 to 8 more times, until all the dough has been folded over on itself. Re-cover the bowl with plastic 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. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.



Filling
Combine the sugar, lemon zest, cardamom 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
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. Line a tray with baking paper and set to one side. 

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to form a 40 x 30 cm rectangle. Spread the filling evenly out onto the dough then roll up firmly from the long edge. Using a very sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the dough on the diagonal to form 10-12 triangular shapes. Place the roll on the wide base then using your fingers or the blade of a knife, flatten out the roll. Step by step shaping instructions can be found here.


Set the rolls on baking trays covered with baking paper, about 5 cm apart. Cover with a cloth and leave the rolls to rise in a warm place until they have doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. Just before baking, brush each roll with some melted butter or cream then top with a sprinkle of pearl sugar. 

Bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes on the centre rack or until the rolls are golden brown, rotating the pan halfway through. While the rolls are baking, prepare the lemon syrup. 

Syrup
For syrup, combine sugar, water and lemon rind in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Take off the heat then mix in the lemon juice. Set aside until needed.



As soon as the scrolls leave the oven, drizzle 1-2 tbs of the syrup over each bun. Cool on the tray for a few minutes to let the buns absorb the syrup and then cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Can be eaten warm or at room temperature.


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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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raspberry lamingtons

23 Jan 2023


When I went to Melbourne recently, I wanted to visit Beatrix Bakes cake shop only to discover it had recently shut its doors. The owner, Natalie Paull, still sells cakes via her Instagram page and when I saw a photo of a
raspberry and rhubarb lamington on there, I knew I had to try and make a batch.


I was able to track down the 
Beatrix Bakes brown butter sponge recipe and cobbled together the rest. I made some raspberry jelly for the dip and a batch of rhubarb and raspberry jam for the filling. I've included a recipe for the jelly and the jam for you, but of course you could just buy some good quality jam and a packet of raspberry jelly crystals.


This recipe is a fiddle with loads of steps and it's best to make the cake the day before dipping to prevent it from crumbling. 
It's quite warm in Sydney at the moment, and the jelly dip started to melt in the heat, so I dipped 3 lamingtons at a time; then put the jelly back in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm a little and repeated the process until all were done. 


Here's the recipe for you, which makes 12 lamingtons.
 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.


Raspberry Lamington Recipe – makes 12
Brown butter sponge
160g (1 cup + 1 tbs) plain flour
½ tsp salt
4 room temperature eggs
150g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
85g (3 oz) unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry jelly
75g (2/3 cup) frozen raspberries
2 tsp gelatine powder
330mls (1 and 1/3 cup) cranberry drink
55g (1/4 cup) caster sugar or to taste

Topping and filling
1 cup each shredded coconut and desiccated coconut
½ cup raspberry or rhubarb jam
250 mls (1 cup) cream, softly whipped with ½ tsp vanilla bean paste

Sponge
Line an 8” square tin with baking paper, using canola spray to stick the sides down (but don’t spray on top of the paper). Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional.

Sift the flour with the salt onto a piece of baking paper and set to one side. Over a pot of barely simmering water, heat the sugar and the eggs in the mixer bowl until they are hot to the touch. Pop the mixer bowl onto the stand mixer or use an electric hand whisk and whisk for 8 minutes on a medium/high speed until the egg mix is pale, fluffy and can hold a peak. While this is whisking, brown the butter. Either heat the butter in a saucepan over a low heat until the butter starts to turn a toasty brown or do this step in a covered bowl in the microwave. It usually takes about 5 minutes on high in the microwave but check every minute or so. You should have about 75g of browned butter. Remove from heat, add the vanilla and set aside.

Gently scrape the egg mix into a wide, large-ish mixing bowl. Sift over half the flour/salt mix and gently fold in with a whisk, turning the mix over while spinning the bowl slowly. Fold in the remaining sifted flour until it has been fully incorporated. Slowly pour in the warm melted butter mix and fold in. Scrape the mix into the prepared tin and smooth the top a little. Place on the centre rack of the preheated 170°C oven and bake until lightly bouncy in the centre and golden brown (about 35 minutes). Cool on a wire rack, then refrigerate overnight in a sealed tin.

Raspberry jelly – you’ll need to start this process an hour or two before dipping. If it's a hot day you may need to use an extra 1/2 tsp gelatine powder to speed up the setting process.

Puree the frozen raspberries in a food processor or use a stick blender. Press through a coarse sieve to extract the raspberry seeds. Set aside.

Place the gelatine and 30 mls of the cranberry drink in a bowl and stir to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the gelatine has been absorbed. Place the remaining juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, add the gelatine mixture and stir to combine then add the raspberry puree and mix well. Leave the jelly to cool for 20 minutes then cover and place in the fridge until the jelly begins to thicken. It should be the consistency of raw egg white.

Assembly
Cut the cake into 12 equal pieces then put the cake into the freezer for about 30 minutes before dipping. Once that’s done, set up a dunking station with your sponge rectangles, bowl of jelly, a wire rack, a small bowl of cold water (this has great non-stick properties), a tray of mixed coconut, and a resting tray for the completed lamingtons.

Dip each lamington into the raspberry mixture, place on a wire rack over the jelly bowl to drain off any excess jelly. Dip your fingers in the cold water and pick up the lamington and place in the coconut and then roll the lamington in the coconut. Refresh the coconut as needed. 


Place the lamingtons on the resting tray then refrigerate for about 1 hour, or until the lamingtons have set. When dry, cut the cakes in half horizontally. Spread one half with jam (1-2 tsp each) then pipe the whipped cream on top then sandwich together. Repeat with remaining cakes. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days.

Rhubarb raspberry jam - makes about 600mls 
Ingredients
300g thinly sliced, washed and trimmed rhubarb
300g raspberries fresh or frozen
350g caster sugar
60mls fresh orange 
1 tbs finely grated orange rind

Method
Place all the ingredients into a bowl, cover and stand overnight.

The next day transfer the ingredients into a heavy-based saucepan. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, for approximately 20-25 minutes or until the mixture jells when tested on a cold saucer. Stand the jam for 10 minutes to settle before pouring into hot sterilised jars. 
Store in a cool, dark place for up to 12 months. Once opened, keep the jam in the fridge and use within 1 month.



Yes, they were a fiddle and the kitchen floor was covered with coconut, but I'm pleased to report that the lamingtons tasted as good as they looked. 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian
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'plumb' crumble cake

15 Jan 2023

Welcome to my first post for 2023. I hope you all had a good break over the holiday season. I've just returned from a few days in Melbourne, and I don't know about you, but I am not looking forward to returning to work this year.
 

As soon as plums appear in the fruit shop, I buy a few so I can make plum cake. I wanted to make something a little different this year and whilst searching, I found
this recipe
on the Monday Morning Cooking Club website.


The
recipe (and the story behind the name) really appealled to me but I decided to change it a little. I swapped the original crumble recipe for my favourite walnut crumble. Using the food processor made light work of both the crumble and the pastry. The pastry, which needs to rest for at least 2 hours before making the cake, was very soft and quite difficult to roll out. I rolled out the base with a rolling pin but in the end, I pressed the pastry up the sides of the tin using my hands.


Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. 
For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g eggs. My oven is a conventional oven so if you have a fan-forced oven you may need to reduce the temperature by 20°C. Please note the pastry needs to rest for at least 2 hours before making the cake.

'Plumb' Crumble Cake – makes a 17cm cake. 
Crumble Topping
½ cup (70 gm) walnuts 
¼ cup (55 gm) brown sugar
¼ cup (35 gm) plain flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
30 grams (1 oz) cold unsalted butter cut into small chunks

Base
60g plain flour
60g self-raising flour
Pinch salt
65g unsalted butter, chopped
55g (¼ cup) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
25g sour cream or yoghurt

To assemble
6 whole plums washed; stones removed then quartered. 
1½ tbs caster sugar

Crumble Topping
Pulse the walnuts in a food processor just a few times until coarsely chopped. Tip out into a small bowl then combine the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in the food processor. Add the butter and pulse until just combined. Place the crumble topping into the bowl containing the chopped walnuts and mix until incorporated. Refrigerate the topping while making the cake. 

Dough
Put the flours, salt and butter in a bowl and use your fingertips to mix them together until the butter is evenly dispersed and the mixture forms crumbs. Add the sugar, vanilla, egg yolk and sour cream and mix together using your hands or a wooden spoon. When a soft, sticky ball of dough is formed, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can also make the dough in a food processor.

Remove the dough from the fridge 30 minutes before using. Thoroughly grease a 17 cm springform cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180⁰C, conventional. 


On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough thickly to fit the base and halfway up the sides of the tin (use all the dough) then place the plums on top, arranging them very close together. If rolling out the dough proves troublesome, just press the dough into the base and halfway up the sides of the tin. Sprinkle the plums with the caster sugar. 


With your hands, squeeze the crumble mixture together and then break it up over the top of the plums. Place the cake on the centre rack in the oven and bake for an hour to 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until the cake is golden on top and the plums are cooked through. Serve warm or at room temperature with cream or ice cream.



It was a bit tricky working out if/when the cake was cooked. It looked ready after an hour, so I took the cake out but then I changed my mind and returned the cake to the oven for the full baking time. 



I had my slice of plum cake and, upon reflection, it tasted very much like something I'd made before. A little onsite reading revealed I'd made a version of the famous German plum cake known as Zwetschgenkuchen.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian
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