vanilla meringue cake with raspberries

vanilla meringue cake with raspberries

21 Sept 2026

I had a date with my favourite twin girls and I couldn't decide what to bake. They love chocolate, cream, custard and berries so I decided to make a meringue cake which I filled with cream and lemon curd. It wasn't the best choice of cake on a 33°C day. By the time I arrived at their place, the top layer had slid off the bottom layer on a slick of curd and cream. No doubt it still tasted delicious, but it didn't look so good. 

I decided to remake the cake, this time filling the meringue cake with cream and berries. Thankfully there was no car ride involved.

If you'd like to make your own version of this cake, here's the recipe for you which was adapted from a Belinda Jeffery recipe. I changed the proportions a little, increasing both the quantity of cake batter and the meringue layer. 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.

Vanilla meringue cake with raspberries
Cake 
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
pinch sea salt flakes
3 egg yolks (from 60g eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (60ml) milk
25g almond meal 

75g SR flour
1-2 x 150g punnets raspberries
 
Meringue
3 eggwhites (from 60g eggs)
150g caster sugar
2 tbs flaked almonds
1 tablespoon caster sugar, extra

Cream filling
125ml thickened cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Butter two 17cm springform cake tins and line the bases with buttered baking paper. Dust the tins with flour, tapping out the excess, and set them aside.

Put the butter, sugar and salt flakes into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat them on medium speed for about 4 minutes, until they’re light and fluffy. Now add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each one is added. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla and milk – the mixture may look quite curdled at this stage, but don’t worry, it will be fine once the flour is added. Combine the almond meal and flour in a small bowl and mix to remove any lumps. Mix in the flour mixture just until it’s combined.

Divide the batter equally between the two tins, then spread it out evenly into a shallow layer using an off-set spatula. Set the tins aside while you make the meringue.

Meringue layer

Thoroughly wash and dry the mixer bowl and beaters. Add the eggwhites to the bowl and beat them on medium speed until they’re just softly fluffy. Now add the sugar, a little at a time, beating well between each addition, until the meringue is thick and glossy – all up, this takes about 8–10 minutes.

Divide the meringue evenly between the cake tins and use a palette knife to spread it over the cake batter as smoothly as you can. Scatter the flaked almonds over each meringue layer, then sprinkle the extra sugar over the almonds.

Place the tins on the centre rack of the preheated oven and bake the cakes for 25–30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. The meringue may puff up a bit, but it will sink again once it cools.

Remove the cakes to two wire racks and leave them to cool in the tins for 8 minutes. After this time, release and remove the sides of the tins. Gently lay a sheet of baking paper over the top of one cake, carefully invert it onto a flat plate, remove the base and paper, then invert the cake again onto the cooling rack so it’s meringue-side up. Repeat this with the second cake. (The reason for the baking paper is to help stop the almonds dropping off as you invert the cake – you won’t completely avoid it, but the paper certainly helps.) If the tops look a little flattened from turning them over, gently ruffle them up with a fork. Leave the cakes to cool completely.

Close to serving time, make the cream filling. To do this, whip the cream and vanilla together until they’re thick and fluffy.

Assembly
Sit one cake layer, meringue-side up, on a serving plate or cake stand. Spread  the vanilla cream over the cake then  press the raspberries into the cream. Carefully sit the remaining cake on top, also meringue-side up. If the weather is cool, the cake will hold quite well like this for a couple of hours. Although the cake is best eaten the day it’s made, the filled cake can be stored covered in the fridge and served the next door. 

I shared the cake with my neighbours and it was well received. I'd like to make another version of the curd and cream filled cake, though next time I'll fill the cake once I've arrived at my destination.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Roasted Apple Cake

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. 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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mandarin hazelnut syrup cake

mandarin hazelnut syrup cake

22 Jun 2026

It's citrus season here and my fruit bowl is loaded with oranges, mandarins and limes. It seemed a shame not to take advantage of this bounty so I looked online for some inspiration which is where I found this mandarin flavoured hazelnut cake.

I looked through the fridge, my pantry and the fruit bowl and I had everything I needed to make the cake. It's a simple melt and mix cake and I'm sure it could be made using olive oil instead of melted butter. I've made many similar cakes before so I changed the method a little to reflect how I usually make a melt and mix cake.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17-cm cake, adapted from a Matt Moran recipe. 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.

Mandarin and hazelnut syrup cake 
Ingredients
250g mandarins, about 2 small mandarins
150g caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
65g eggs
125g plain flour
60g hazelnut meal (I used a combination of hazelnut and almond meal)

1 tsp baking powder
large pinch seasalt flakes
90g thick natural yoghurt, plus extra to serve

Mandarin syrup
180g caster sugar
Peel of 1 mandarin
Scraped seeds of ½ vanilla bean
180mls water

35mls lemon juice

To serve
2 - 3 mandarins, peeled and thickly sliced into rounds, reserve the peel of 1 mandarin for the syrup

plain yoghurt

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C, conventional or 160°C, fan forced. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17cm cake tin with a round of baking paper.

Peel 1 mandarin, then remove and discard any fine fibres from the skins. Blitz the skin and sugar in a small food processor until fine and smooth, transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Blitz the flesh of the mandarins you’ve peeled in the food processor until pureed, discard any seeds (I had 150mls of mandarin puree). Add the butter to the sugar mix, followed by the egg mixture and whisk to combine. 

Whisk the flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder and a pinch of salt together in a bowl. Add to the mandarin mixture alternating with the mandarin puree then whisk in yoghurt and mix until smooth. Spoon into prepared cake tin and bake on the centre rack of the preheated 180°C conventional oven for 55 minutes – 1 hour until risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted withdraws clean. Cool in tin for 10 minutes then transfer the tin to a wire rack. Loosen the cake with an off set spatula and invert onto the cooling rack. Remove the baking paper from the base of the cake, then invert and return to the tin.

Meanwhile, to make the mandarin syrup, blitz the sugar with the mandarin peel until fine, then combine in a wide saucepan with vanilla and the water. Stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, bring to the boil, reduce heat to medium, simmer for 5-6 minutes until lightly syrupy, skimming off any scum that comes to the surface. Remove from the heat, add lemon juice, stand to cool slightly. 

Peel the remaining mandarins, and take off any fibres, then thickly slice and combine in a container with half the syrup. Refrigerate to chill.

Pierce several holes in the cake then pour the rest of the warm syrup over the warm cake. Let the syrup soak in (this could take more than an hour) and cool to room temperature before serving.

Serve the cake with the mandarin slices, the syrup and extra yoghurt.

The cake was as delicious as you'd expect a nut cake doused with mandarin syrup topped with yoghurt would be. Could you make this using oranges? Absolutely.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apple pie with an olive oil crust

apple pie with an olive oil crust

15 Jun 2026

Is there anything better than a piece of homemade apple pie? I think not. Each year my Grandma Sonie made apple pie for her Mother's Day morning tea and her pie was delicious. Grandma only read and wrote in Russian, so I don't have a written version of her recipe, though there may be a copy in my Mum's hand written recipe book. I created my own version when I was a teenager, adapted from a Women's Weekly recipe and since then I have made many, many apple pies.

Phil Khoury specialises in plant based baking, and I was keen to try his apple pie recipe. The filling uses both the apple flesh and the peel, something I'd not seen before, whilst the pastry is olive oil based, something I've not made before. I was intrigued, so as soon as it was apple season, I got to work making my own version of Phil's apple pie.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16-cm tart, adapted from a Phil Khoury recipe and you can watch Phil make the pie here. To make a larger tart please refer to the original recipe. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60 g 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.

Apple Pie with an olive oil crust

Apple filling
500g apples (I used a mix of Pink Lady and Granny Smith apples)
75g caster sugar 
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
1½ tsp finely grated lemon zest and 1 tsp lemon juice
15g cornflour

For the flaky pastry
225g plain flour
½ tsp fine salt
15g caster sugar
90ml olive oil
15g cooked sweet potato, cooled (see Recipe Tips below)

To assemble
¼ cup apricot jam
Soya milk or cream 
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Vegan ice cream or cream, to serve

Filling
Peel and core the apples, reserving the peel. Either chop the apple peel finely by hand or blend in a small food processor. Set aside.

Thinly slice the peeled apples about 2 mm thick using either a sharp knife or a mandoline. Place the thinly sliced apples into a large bowl with the sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon juice, zest and cornflour and toss the apples gently until everything is combined. Stand for 20 minutes.

Pastry
Prepare the flaky pastry by mixing the flour, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the oil and use a silicone spatula or your hands to mix it into the flour. The oil should coat all the flour. Add the sweet potato along with 37 ml cold water and mix until the dough just comes together. Don't overmix because the dough will start to separate and become more difficult to handle.

Place two-thirds of the pastry dough between two sheets of baking paper then roll out into a large disc until it is 3-4 mm thick and about 9 inch in diameter. Roll out remaining one-third of pastry between two sheets of baking paper into a smaller (8 inch) disc that is 3 mm thick, and set aside.

Use the larger disc of pastry to line a 16 cm tart tin by removing the top sheet of baking paper and gently placing the tin on top of the pastry as a guide. Use a small sharp knife to trim the pastry around the tin, allowing for at least a 3 cm border, then remove the tart tin. Use the bottom sheet of baking paper to help flip the pastry gently into the tin, then carefully ease into the shape of the tin with your fingertips leaving any excess overhanging.

Chill the pastry in the fridge for 15 minutes, then use the tip of a small knife to ‘dock' the base with a few pricks, about 2 cm apart, to stop the base from puffing up. If blind-baking the pastry (see recipe tip), preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional/170°C fan forced. Scrunch up some baking paper, then unfurl it and press into the pastry-lined tart case and fill it with rice or baking beans. Bake for 18 minutes or until nicely golden. If the edges are browning too early, cover them with a piece of kitchen foil. Remove and allow to cool.

If not blind baking the pie, place a baking tray, on which the tart tin can sit while baking, on the middle rack. Preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional/180°C fan. 

Spoon the apricot jam over the base of the tart, then arrange the finely chopped apple peels over the jam and then gently layer the sliced apples on top, stacking to fill all the gaps. There will be some liquid leftover from the apples, so stir to agitate any settled cornflour and drizzle it slowly over the pie. You can push the apples into a slight domed shape, if you like.

Brush the overhanging edge of the piecrust with water, then place the smaller disc of pastry over the apples and press the edges together. Trim and crimp the edges as you like. Brush the soya milk or cream across the top of the pastry and sprinkle some demerara sugar on top for a tantalising crunch. Use a sharp knife to cut some steam holes – I like one in the centre then six in a little burst radiating from it.

Place the tart on the preheated tray then bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the tin and bake for another 20–25 minutes, until golden brown all over. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for at least 30 minutes. Serve warm with a scoop of vegan ice cream or regular cream or ice cream if not vegan.

Recipe tips
Prepare the sweet potato in advance, preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional or 180°C fan forced and bake whole sweet potatoes for 45 minutes. When cooked, halve and scoop out the soft potato inside. Cool completely before weighing and mashing with a fork ready to use in the recipe.

If using a metal tin, you do not need to blind bake the pastry case. Other tart dishes made from glass or ceramics do not conduct heat as well, so in this case you will need to blind bake the tart case as described above.

Once cooked, the apple pie keeps well in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days. When it’s cooled completely, slice from the fridge then reheat in the oven or microwave. 

The apple pie was so delicious and the olive oil pastry was a revelation. I had no problem lining the tart tin but I had some trouble getting the top crust in place without it cracking. The raw sugar topping covered up any flaws and once baked the olive oil crust was really crisp and it stayed that way for a few days. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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danube wave cake

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

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anzac pear crunch cake

anzac pear crunch cake

20 Apr 2026

Each year I like to bake something in honour of ANZAC Day but this year ANZAC Day kind of rushed up on me. I needed 2 days to bake what I'd planned and with only 1 day at my disposal I had to pivot. I found this lovely looking Anzac apple crunch cake on the New Zealand Woman's Weekly website and decided to make a pear version.

The cake is made from pantry items, so all I needed to buy were the pears.

I followed the recipe faithfully but came a bit unstuck when I topped the cake with the ANZAC biscuit topping. The cake sank as soon as I took it from the oven, meaning it was underbaked. Next time I'd bake it for a bit longer but I also find cakes made with bicarbonate of soda as the rising agent often sink so I'd ditch the bicarb soda and just use self raising flour instead.

Here's the recipe for you adapted from here, which makes a 17-cm 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. If you'd like to make a larger cake, refer to the linked recipe which makes a 21-cm cake.

Anzac pear crunch cake

Ingredients

115g unsalted room temperature butter

½ cup (125g) caster sugar

¼ cup (50g) brown sugar 
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1 egg
1 cup (150g) plain flour

½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarb soda
¼ tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground ginger
pinch sea salt flakes
1 apple or pear, peeled and diced
30mls milk

Topping
25g unsalted butter
40mls/g golden syrup
1 tbs (20mls) milk
⅓ cup (40g) rolled oats
⅓ cup (25g) shredded coconut
pinch sea salt flakes

Method
Preheat the oven to 175°C, conventional. Grease and line the base of a 17-cm round cake tin with baking paper.

Using an electric beater, cream the butter, sugars and lemon rind for 6-8 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until incorporated.

Sift over the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, spices and the salt, then fold together with the diced pear or apple and milk. Spoon into the cake tin and smooth the top. 

Bake for 40 minutes at 175°C, conventional. While the cake is in the oven, combine the butter, golden syrup and milk in a small pan and heat until the butter has melted. Place the oats, coconut, salt in a small bowl, pour over the butter mixture, and mix to combine. Take the cake from the oven and quickly spoon the topping over the par-cooked cake and return it to the oven. (The cake sank when I took it out of the oven at the 40 minute mark so I would increase the bake time to 50 minutes).

Bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until the cake is cooked in the centre when tested with a skewer and the topping is golden. Place on a wire rack to cool before unmoulding.

While it may not have been a perfect bake, you just knew that the cake was going to be delicious. Just a note that the cake isn't particularly sweet. If you'd like a sweeter cake, you could increase the sugar to a full cup.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2026 - lemon and passionfruit angel pies

passover week 2026 - lemon and passionfruit angel pies

25 Mar 2026

I bookmark passover friendly recipes, or recipes I think I can adapt, all the time. This recipe for passionfruit angel pies was earmarked for Passover Week 2025 but I ran out of time. 

What is an angel pie you might ask. Until I found this recipe by Rodney Dunn in an old issue of Delicious MagazineActually I didn't know either. Apparently an angel pie, is a small meringue topped shortbread dolloped with creme fraiche and curd.

I needed to make some changes. First I eliminated the flour from the recipe and swapped it for some superfine matzo meal and potato starch. Instead of creme fraiche, I used double cream. Passionfruit are quite expensive at the moment so I made a batch of lemon curd and just before serving I folded through some fresh passionfruit pulp.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 angel pies. 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.

Passover lemon and passionfruit angel pies
Lemon curd
1 egg, at room temperature
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
75 ml strained lemon juice 
2 tsp grated lemon rind
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
40g chilled unsalted butter, chopped

the pulp of 1-2 passionfruit

Shortbread pastry
150g Passover baking mix (equal quantities of superfine matzo meal and potato starch) 

90g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
20g (1 tbs) caster sugar 
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1-2 tsp iced water

Meringue
65g caster sugar
30g brown sugar
65g egg whites, (from 2 eggs at room temperature)

To serve
300 mls double cream

Curd
To make the curd, lightly whisk the egg, yolks, juice and sugar in a medium non-stick saucepan (off the heat) until very well combined. Transfer pan to a medium-low heat and cook, whisking continuously, for 8-10 minutes or until mixture very thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove pan from heat and add butter, piece-by-piece, whisking until smooth. Strain into a medium bowl and cover the surface directly with plastic wrap. Chill overnight or for up to 3 days.

Shortbread pastry
Place Passover baking mix, butter, sugar and a pinch of salt flakes in a large bowl. Using fingertips, rub in butter until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (you could also process in a food processor). Add 1 tsp iced water and gently knead until the mixture just comes together. Form pastry into a flat disc, enclose in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.

Line a large oven tray with baking paper. Remove pastry from fridge and set aside to soften slightly. On a lightly floured bench, roll dough out to a 5mm thickness. Using a 7-cm cutter, cut out rounds, re-rolling pastry as needed to create 6 rounds. Transfer to the prepared tray. Chill for 1 hour.  

Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Place the shortbreads on the centre rack and bake for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden and set. Carefully remove from the oven as the biscuits are fragile and place on a cooling rack.

Meanwhile, to make the meringue, reduce oven temperature to 130°C/110°C fan-forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Mark six 6-cm rounds onto the paper and turn upside down.

Whisk both sugars and 1/4-tsp fine salt in a medium bowl until there are no lumps. Place egg whites in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on medium-high speed to soft peaks. Add sugar mixture, a spoonful at a time, and whisk for 3 minutes on medium-high, or until all sugar is added and mixture is smooth when rubbed between fingers. 

Using 2 large dessert spoons, drop large quenelles of mixture onto the marked rounds, then using the back of a spoon, create a depression for the curd. Bake for 1-2 hours or until the meringue can be lifted cleanly from baking paper. Turn the oven off and leave meringues in the oven to cool completely with the door ajar (overnight is best).

To serve
Just before serving, stir some passionfruit pulp through the lemon curd. Place a shortbread biscuit onto each plate, top with a dab of cream followed by a meringue then spoon in some double cream and finish with a dollop of curd. 

Wowzer, these were good. The shortbread base is meltingly tender, the meringue crisp on the outside yet soft in the centre and you can never go wrong with lemon curd and cream.

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Passover Week 2026.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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