May 2026 / DELICIOUS BITES

danube wave cake

11 May 2026

Have you ever heard of a Danube Wave Cake? No, I hadn't either until a photo of the cake popped up on my feed. Intrigued I did a deep dive into the history of the cake which has German or Austrian origins as the name suggests.

Traditionally the cake consists of a layer of vanilla cake, topped with a layer of chocolate cake, sour cherries, a layer of vanilla pudding, then finished with a layer of chocolate. As the cake bakes it forms a wavelike pattern.

The cake is usually made in a square or oblong tin and served in squares. Originally I planned to make a bundt cake but realised that wasn't going to work, so instead I baked the cake in a 17-cm round tin. I eschewed the pudding layer for a cheesecake situation but in retrospect should have increased the quantity of cheesecake as I thought the layer was a bit scanty. I have adjusted the quantities for you.

Here's the recipe for you adapted from here. Eva's cake has a creme mousseline topping if you'd prefer the more traditional take. 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.

Danube wave cake - makes a 17-cm cake

Cake

125g unsalted butter at room temperature

125g caster sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

125g SR flour

125g frozen sour cherries or well drained bottled sour cherries

Chocolate batter

30g 70% dark chocolate

1½ tbs cocoa

20g full cream milk

Cream cheese topping - double what I photographed

250g room temperature cream cheese

55g caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs cream or yoghurt

10g cornflour

Chocolate ganache

60mls cream

60g dark chocolate, finely chopped

Cake

Grease and line the base and sides of a 17cm springform tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, sugar, a pinch of salt and vanilla until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Sift the flour before mixing into the batter.

Transfer half of the batter to a separate bowl and set aside. Melt 30g of dark chocolate over hot water and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir the cooled chocolate into the reserved batter along with the cocoa and the milk and mix to make a smooth batter.

Cream cheese topping

Place all the ingredients into the bowl of a small food processor and mix until combined. If a little too thick add an extra tbs of cream or yoghurt.

Assembly

Spoon the vanilla portion of the cake into the pan and smooth it out. Gently spoon over the chocolate batter and level it out using an offset spatula. Press the still frozen sour cherries into the chocolate batter. Lastly pour over the cheesecake filling and rap firmly onto the kitchen counter to level the filling.

Place the cake onto the centre rack of the preheated 180°C, conventional oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until the cheesecake layer has set and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Place the cake tin on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before loosening the ring. When completely cool, reclip the ring and cover the cake, before placing the cake in the refrigerator for a few hours, ideally overnight.

The next day, remove the paper base from the bottom of the cake then clip the ring back in place before topping the cake with chocolate ganache.

Ganache

Place the cream into a microwave safe container or a small saucepan and heat until close to boiling point. Place the finely chopped dark chocolate into a small bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to melt. Stir vigorously until the ganache is silky smooth and lumpfree.

If there are a few stubborn lumps, microwave for another 10 seconds and stir again. Leave the ganache at room temperature to thicken before pouring onto the surface of the chilled cake. Level out the ganache with an offset spatula and again rap the tin a few times on the kitchen benchtop until the chocolate layer is level. Cover the top of the tin and place the cake in the fridge for an hour or until the ganache layer has set.

I served the cake at room temperature and whilst the cake is lovely, because of the cheesecake layer, it's quite rich so small servings are best. The cake can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

4 May 2026

When I lived in Canada, muffins were a thing and I probably ate a life's supply during my year there. These days I rarely eat muffins and let's be honest, a muffin is just a cupcake without the icing. I was however enticed by these images of fruit topped muffins at Violet Cakes, Claire Ptak's London bakery.

Apricots, plums, quince, figs, and cherries are some of Claire Ptak's favourite toppings but it was the rhubarb topped muffins caught my eye. It's a little too early for rhubarb here but I found some end of season peaches and roasted them to top the muffins. Ideally I'd have topped each muffin with 3 slices of peach but I didn't have enough and when I went back to the shop there were no peaches to be found. Instead I topped one of the muffins with some plum quarters I found buried in the freezer and I topped another muffin with some frozen raspberries.

Here's the recipe for you adapted from a Claire Ptak recipe which will make 6-7 muffins. 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.

Roasted peach almond and polenta muffins - makes 6 muffins

Almond paste

165g almond meal

35g icing sugar

20mls water

Ingredients

3-4 peaches

75g caster sugar plus extra for the peaches
125g room temperature unsalted butter
220g almond paste (at least 60% almonds), broken into pieces

Zest of 1 orange
1½ eggs (80g egg)
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp seasalt
112g polenta flour

raw sugar for sprinkling

Optional glaze

2-3 tbs warmed thinned apricot jam

Method

To make the almond paste, combine the almond meal and sugar in a small food processor. Gradually add enough water until a paste forms. Remove the paste from the food processor and need a few times. Wrap in plastic until needed.

For extra luxurious muffins, roast the fruit first. Halve and stone the peaches and place, cut side up, in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with sugar and a little water, and taste. Depending on the ripeness and the variety of the fruit, you may want to add half a scraped vanilla pod, the zest of 1 orange or lemon, or half a cinnamon stick. Roast for 35 to 45 minutes, until soft and a little caramelised. Use a bit more fruit than you think you'll need as it shrinks in the cooking. Cool completely before slicing the fruit.

Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional or 170°C, fan forced. Double-line a 6-cup muffin pan with paper liners. (I suggest using two liners per muffin because the fruit makes these particularly juicy.)

In a stand mixer, cream the butter, almond paste, sugar, and orange zest until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly and mix well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, salt, and polenta flour. Add this to the butter mixture and mix well. Scoop into the lined muffin pan and press 3 peach slices on top of the muffins then sprinkle the fruit with some raw sugar.

Bake the muffins on the centre rack of the preheated 190°C conventional or 170°C oven for 30-35 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean and the tops of the muffins spring back to the touch. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the tin. If you like, you can glaze the fruit with some warmed apricot jam. These keep well for up to 4 days in an airtight container.

These are really good and I will definitely be making them again once its rhubarb season.