Sticky prune teacakes or puddings

Sticky prune teacakes or puddings

17 Aug 2025

Even though the biscuit tin was empty, I decided I wanted to eat cake rather than a cookie. During my search, this recipe for sticky prune cakes by Edd Kimber's from his book Small Batch Bakes, popped up and with all the ingredients in my pantry I decided to make a batch.

The recipe is a riff on a sticky toffee pudding so if you don't have any prunes in the house, I'm sure you could use dates or even dried figs. 

As it's winter here and I was in the mood for a warm dessert, I heated up the sticky prune teacakes and served them as a pudding with stewed apple and butterscotch sauce and they were delicious!

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 small cakes or puddings. 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.

Sticky prune teacakes

Ingredients
40g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
115g ready-to-eat prunes, halved
150ml brewed black tea (I like earl grey)
75g light brown sugar
1 tbsp black treacle
1 large egg
75g rye flour
25g plain flour
¼ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb soda
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling

Butterscotch Sauce - if making puddings

Ingredients

45g unsalted butter

¾  cup brown sugar

¾ cup cream

1 tbs pure maple syrup

pinch sea salt flakes

Method
Heat the oven to 180°C, conventional, and lightly grease a six-hole muffin tray.

Put the prunes into a small saucepan, pour in the hot tea and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until almost all the liquid has been absorbed by the fruit.

Meanwhile, put the butter, sugar and treacle in a bowl and beat for about five minutes, until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg until fully combined. In another bowl, whisk the flours, salt and baking powder, then add to the butter mixture and mix briefly just to combine.

Take the pan of prunes off the heat, add the bicarb and stir just until it starts to foam. Set the mixture aside to cool for 5 minutes, then add to the batter and mix briefly until combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tray, sprinkle liberally with demerara sugar, then bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cakes spring back to a light touch. Remove and leave to cool for five minutes, then carefully turn out and put on a wire rack to cool completely. The cakes will keep in a sealed container for at least four days.

If you like, you can serve these warm as a pudding with stewed fruit and butterscotch sauce.

Butterscotch Sauce

Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, stir, then bring to a simmer. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes, until thickened, then remove from heat. Serve warm.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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sour cherry karpatka

sour cherry karpatka

28 Jul 2025

Karpatka, karpatka, karpatka. Everywhere you turn on Instagram these days, you'll see versions of Karpatka, a mountainous choux dessert inspired by the snowy peaks of the Carpathian Mountains. Karpatka originally comes from Poland, but my Polish born Grandma didn't have this dessert in her culinary repertoire. It's a reasonably modern invention and when Grandma Edie arrived in Australia in the late 1920's she didn't know how to cook. Her very Aussie neighbours taught her the basics so she could whip up a trifle or an apple cake but dessert in her house was quite often jelly and ice cream.

The inspiration for this Karpatka comes from Nicola Lamb. In her book Sift she has a recipe for Plum Karpatka but it's not plum season in Sydney. In her substack, she has a recipe for a peach karpatka but it's not plum season either but with a bag of frozen cherries in my freezer, I turned to Marta Beimin's recipe and whipped up a sour cherry compote. Edd Kimber uses some pistachio paste in his version, so I put a few spoons into my version as well.

I followed the recipe precisely, other than making it gluten free, and once filled I placed the karpatka in the fridge to set for 2 hours. 2 hours wasn't long enough and when I removed the karpatka from the tin, it splodged everywhere. It still tasted lovely, so I've made some suggestions which hopefully will produce a reasonably upright karpatka from which you can cut a clean slice.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17-cm Karpatka. 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.

Sour cherry karpatka - makes a 17cm cake
Choux base
45g whole milk
45g water
45g butter
½ tsp flaky sea salt
10g caster sugar
60g self-raising flour or 60g plain flour with scant ¾ tsp baking powder
2 whole eggs

Optional
2-3 tbs pistachio paste

Sour cherry compote
200g pitted frozen sour cherries 

20g caster sugar (adjust to taste)
1½ tsp potato starch
1½ tbs cold water

Mascarpone custard
200g full cream milk
1 egg 
50g caster sugar
20g cornflour
1½ tsp good quality vanilla extract
165g room temperature mascarpone

Choux 
In a small pan, heat the milk, water, butter, salt and sugar together. Bring to a rolling boil and stir to make sure the sugar/salt has dissolved. Sift the flour several times and add into your boiling liquid.

Reduce the heat and stir rapidly until a smooth paste forms and a dry film is formed. If you have a thermometer probe, check that it is above 70°C.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs - this makes them easier to combine. 

Move paste into a bowl and either spread it out to cool down or paddle on a low speed if using a stand mixer. When you can touch the paste comfortably for 10 seconds, start to add the eggs. I do this in 3-4 additions, mixing well between each. The finished choux paste will be smooth and shiny and will ‘drop’ off the spoon when nudged. Choux can be kept in the fridge for 3 days before using.

To bake

Preheat the oven to 210°C, conventional /190°C fan. Grease and line the base of two 17-cm tins with baking paper. Spread 130g of choux paste in each tin, leaving the top slightly rough and wavy and using a palette knife to help. If you only have one tin, bake one at a time.

Bake for 10 minutes at 210°C, then lower to 190°C conventional and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until well peaked, golden and crisp. Leave to cool completely in the tins on a cooling rack, then remove.

Sour cherry compote
Place the frozen sour cherries and sugar into a small saucepan. Cook the fruit on low heat until the cherries are soft and starts to release some juices.

In a small bowl, combine the potato starch with water and add it to the cherries. Continue to cook the sour cherry compote over a low heat, stirring constantly, until it’s thickened. Allow it cool down before serving. Taste for sweetness and add a little extra sugar if needed.

Mascarpone custard
Whisk the egg, sugar, cornflour and vanilla together in a jug. Heat the milk in a small pan until simmering. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture whilst whisking constantly to temper, then return the custard to the pan. Cook for 3–4 minutes over a medium heat until boiling, whisking the whole time to make a very thick custard. Pour into a clean container, then set aside to cool and gelatinise – make sure you put clingfilm or baking paper on the surface, so it doesn't form a skin. You want it to be totally cold and firm before continuing with this recipe.

When you’re ready to make the cream, make sure your mascarpone is room temperature as it will combine more easily. It does tend to be a bit lumpy so you must be prepared to work it! Beat the mascarpone until its smooth. Once that’s ready, beat the creme patissiere until smooth and no longer jelly-like. The easiest way to do this is in a stand mixer, if you have one. Now fold/mix the two together - it should make a very thick cream. You can also do this in your stand mixer with the paddle attachments. Leave in the fridge until ready to use.

Assembly method
Line one of the cake tins with acetate or paper. This will help you get a smooth edge.

Place your less cute choux disc in the base. If using, dollop 2-3 tbs of pistachio paste over the base then pile in the mascarpone custard, alternating with the sour cherry compote. Drizzle with the juice. Place the most mountainous choux disc on top then allow the cake to settle/reset by resting in the fridge for a few hours or even overnight. 

If storing the karpatka in the fridge overnight, don’t top it with the 2nd choux disc. Cover the filled karpatka before placing in the fridge and store the second choux disc in an airtight container to keep it crisp. Just before serving, place the 2nd choux disc over the cream filling, remove the karpatka from the tin and dust with icing sugar.

Note

You can also use your favourite jam in the middle of this! The karpatka can be stored in the fridge for 3 days but the choux will soften.

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pistachio and chocolate chunk cookies

pistachio and chocolate chunk cookies

31 Mar 2025

With that rather large jar of pistachio cream in the cupboard haunting me, I've been hunting for recipes utilising pistachio cream. I've come up with a a recipe for pistachio and white chocolate buns that I was going to make until I was side tracked by a batch of Edd Kimber pistachio and chocolate cookies.

They looked very good. I had all the ingredients and I also had a fancy new and unused cookie scoop I bought while in Tasmania. The pistachio and white chocolate buns were put on hold and into the kitchen I went to bake some cookies.

Whilst I love pistachio cream, it doesn't agree with me so I decided to make a half batch because these cookies were always destined to be shared with my neighbours. I always find cookie recipes way too sweet, so I reduced the sugar in the cookie dough and rather than making 6 cookies, my new cookie scoop yielded 9 cookies. As the cookies were a little smaller I needed to use less pistachio paste, about 1/2 tsp for each cookie.

I'm a fan of resting cookie dough so I made the dough 2 days before I baked the cookies. I also scooped the dough when it was soft, rather than chilling it. The dough was pretty solid though so I had to warm it a bit before I could encase the pistachio cream.

Here's the recipe for you which makes nine, 40ml cookies. Please refer to the original recipe if you'd like to make 12 cookies. 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. Please note the cookie dough needs to rest in the fridge for a few hours, plus you have to freeze the pistachio cream until it's solid, so you'll need start this recipe a few hours before baking.

Pistachio and chocolate chunk cookies – makes 9 

2 tbs pistachio cream
125g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp of fine sea salt
60g unsalted butter diced and softened
35g light brown sugar
35g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
85g dark chocolate (65-75% cocoa solids) roughly chopped
40g shelled pistachios roughly chopped
sea salt flakes for sprinkling on top

Method
Spread the pistachio cream out to a 1cm thickness onto a small baking tray lined with baking paper. Transfer to the freezer and freeze until solid. When solid, cut into 9 small cubes.

Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and the salt into a bowl.

Place the butter, sugars and vanilla into a bowl and using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, mix for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and beat for 1 minute or until fully combined. Add the flour mixture and mix, on low speed, until just combined. Add the chopped chocolate and the pistachios, and continue mixing until just until evenly distributed. 

Divide the dough into 9 equal portions and roll into balls then place the cookies into a large container, lined with baking paper. Cover and refrigerate the dough for a few hours or until firm. The dough can be made up to three days in advance.

Heat the oven to 180⁰C, conventional and line two large baking trays with baking paper.

Remove the pistachio cream from the freezer. Working with one ball of dough at a time, press into a large flat disc and put a cube of the pistachio cream on top. Fold the edges of the dough up and over the cream, sealing it in. Gently re-roll the dough into a ball. You can freeze the unbaked balls for up to three months – the cookies can be baked from frozen, simply add a minute or two to the bake time below.

Divide the cookies between the two baking trays and sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Bake the cookies for 14-16 mins or until the edges are golden but the centres are still a touch paler. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking tray for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will keep for four days in a sealed container.

I shared these with the neighbours and froze a few cookies for later. The reviews have come in for the cookies and they were declared a resounding success. 

I know it's hard to believe but both Passover and Easter are just around the corner. I've been baking up a storm for Passover and next week is Passover Week on the blog. I still have one more item to bake but from Monday April 7 I'll be sharing 5 Passover friendly bakes with you and I just can't wait! 

See you all again next week for Passover Week 2025.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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lemon almond poppyseed loaf

lemon almond poppyseed loaf

18 Aug 2024

A few weeks ago while I was grating some cheese, a small piece of plastic broke off the lid of my elderly food processor and without it, my food processor wouldn't work. As the food processor was so old, spare parts were no longer available so off I went to the shops to buy a new one, with a tape measure in hand because the food processor needed to fit into a kitchen cupboard. In the end only 2 food processors would fit the cupboard dimensions so I went with the most powerful model I could find. 

The food processor has been in the cupboard for a few weeks now and when the time came to take her on her maiden voyage, what was I to make? I decided to make a lemon almond poppyseed cake and used the food processor to make some almond paste. Almond paste is tricky to find in the shops and if you buy it online, the cost of the delivery is greater than the price of the goods. It's very easy to make in a food processor so after I figured how to get the lid on and off my new machine, 2 minutes later I had almond paste.

This recipe is adapted from the Crystal Almond Pound Cake recipe by Flo Braker, from her book The Simple Art of Perfect Baking. The recipe then reappeared in the Tartine Cookbook by Liz Prueitt and popped up again on Edd Kimber's blog. This version is closer to Edd Kimber's reimagining of the cake. Edd swapped the crunchy sugar glaze for a simple lemon syrup, iced the cake with lemon glace icing before topping it with candied lemon peel and a few poppyseeds. The finished cake looked so good, I decided to do exactly the same thing.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a small loaf cake and I used a 4 x 9 inch tin. 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.

Lemon almond poppyseed loaf - makes 1 small loaf cake and the recipe uses 3 lemons

Cake

65g plain flour, sifted (plus some for preparing the pan)

½ tsp baking powder
pinch salt

135g almond paste, at room temperature
135g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter, at room temperature (plus some for preparing the pan)
3½ eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 lemons, rind grated
14g poppy seeds (plus extra for decoration)

Lemon Glaze
75g lemon juice (the juice of 2 lemons)
75g caster sugar

Candied Lemon Peel
1 small lemon
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar, plus extra, for dusting
¼ cup (60mls) water

Lemon Icing
100g icing sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
juice of 1 lemon

Candied Lemon Peel
Remove the zest in wide strips from the lemon, making sure there is none of the bitter white pith attached. Slice it into very fine strips. Drop the strips into a saucepan of boiling water and leave them for 30 seconds, then drain them in a sieve.
 
Place sugar and water into a small saucepan. Heat over high heat, stirring all the while until the sugar has dissolved. As soon as it has, stop stirring and bring the mixture to the boil. Tip in the drained lemon zest strips and reduce the heat to low so the syrup bubbles gently. Cook the zest strips for 10 minutes, then remove the saucepan from the heat and leave them so cool in the syrup. Once cool, drain them through the sieve again.
 
When the zest is well drained, tip some caster sugar onto a plate and toss the strips of zest they’re coated in the sugar. Lay them onto a sheet of baking paper to set- they don't become brittle but remain pliable. Use them as you need them and store any leftover strips in a small airtight container at room temperature for up to a week
 
Cake
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Lightly grease and line a small rectangular loaf pan with baking paper.
 
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla and whisk together just to combine.
 
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the almond paste on low speed until it breaks up. This can take up to a minute, depending on how soft and warm it is. Slowly add the sugar in a steady stream, beating until incorporated. If you add the sugar too quickly, the paste won’t break up as well.
 
Cut the butter into 1-tablespoon pieces. Continue on low speed while adding the butter, a tablespoon at a time, for about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Then turn on the mixer to medium speed and beat until the mixture is light in colour and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. With the mixer still on medium speed, add the eggs in a very slow, steady stream and mix until incorporated. Stop the mixer and again scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn on the mixer again to medium speed and mix for 30 seconds more.

 
Add the lemon rind and the poppyseeds and mix in with a wooden spoon. Add the flour mixture in two batches, stirring after each addition until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl one last time, then spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula.
 
Bake on the centre rack of the preheated 180°C, conventional oven until the top springs back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes while you make the glaze.

 
Glaze
Add the lemon juice and sugar to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat for a couple minutes until the juice has come to a simmer and the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat and set aside.
 
Carefully turn the cake out onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan or a piece of greaseproof paper. Brush the syrup all over the top and sides of the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely on the rack. The cake breaks apart easily when warm, so don’t attempt to move it.

Icing
Mix the icing sugar with a pinch of salt then add enough lemon juice to form a very thick but pourable glaze. Pour the icing onto the top of the cake and use a spoon to tease it over the edges so it drips down the side. Top the cake with some of the candied peel then finish with a little sprinkling of poppy seeds. Let the icing set before serving. Kept covered, this cake keeps particularly well, at least 4 days.

I took the cake into work and it was gobbled up in a trice. Edd also made a blood orange version and, now that blood oranges have appeared in the shops, I think I'll do the same. Maybe I'll do the crunchy glaze next time.

Look at that perfect crumb!

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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chocolate easter egg marble cake

chocolate easter egg marble cake

28 Mar 2022

A few months ago I found a Malteser marble cake recipe by Edd Kimber and decided to rework the recipe to make it into an Easter egg cake.

 

 

Instead of the original loaf tin I decided to use my favourite copper bundt cake pan. Because the central funnel transmits heat to the centre of the cake, cakes baked in a bundt tin take less time than cakes baked in a loaf tin, another reason why I love them.

I topped the cake with a rich sour cream chocolate ganache then used a variety of Easter eggs for decoration, some whole, some crumbled and some white chocolate shards I had lurking in my fridge. Here's the recipe for you which makes a small bundt or loaf cake. if you make a loaf cake, you will need to bake the cake for about 70 minutes. 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. 

 

 

Chocolate Easter Egg Marble Cake inspired by an Edd Kimber recipe

Ingredients

115g unsalted butter, room temperature
185g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
200g plain flour
1¼ tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
115g soured cream, room temperature
15g cocoa powder
30mls strong coffee, cooled

 

Chocolate glaze

50g milk chocolate, finely chopped

50g dark chocolate, finely chopped

50g soured cream, room temperature

1 tsp maple syrup

 

To decorate

Easter eggs

 

Method

Heat the oven to 180⁰C conventional. Grease and flour a 5 cup bundt tin and place in the fridge until needed.  

 

Place the butter, sugar and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer and cream together for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time, mixing until combined before adding more. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the soured cream and starting and finishing with the flour. Divide the batter equally into two bowls. Sift the cocoa powder over one portion, add the coffee and beat together until smooth and combined. 

 

Alternately spoon the plain and chocolate batters into the tin in blobs, layering them almost like a chess board. Lightly tap the tin on a work surface to help eliminate any air pockets. Use a chopstick or skewer to swirl the batters together – do this briefly as you still want to keep definition between the layers.  

 

Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in the tin before inverting the cake onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

 

Glaze 

Place the chocolate into a stainless steel or glass bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate has melted. You can also do this step in a microwave. Remove from the heat and whisk in the sour cream and maple syrup. The glaze should be smooth and glossy. Cool for a few minutes in the fridge to thicken a little before pouring over the cake, allowing the excess to drip down the sides. Once the glaze has begun to set, decorate the cake with the Easter eggs, pushing in slightly to stick. The cake will keep, covered, for 3-4 days

I'm not a huge chocolate fan so I didn't try the cake but when I shared this with my neighbours it inspired cartwheels and tumble turns but then again that may just have been the sugar working on a 5 year old!

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

Happy Easter,

from Jillian

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rhubarb cheesecake crumble squares

rhubarb cheesecake crumble squares

19 Oct 2020

I had no intention of making these rhubarb cheesecake crumble squares until I walked into my local fruit shop and discovered that rhubarb was on sale. It's no secret that I adore rhubarb but how best to use it?

I decided to make a rhubarb version of these raspberry cheesecake crumble bars.

Decision made, I picked up some cream cheese on my way home and set to work putting these together.

I made these over the long weekend and with plenty of time on my hand, I baked the crust one day, then prepared the cheesecake filling and the rhubarb topping the following day.

The squares need cooling time before they're cut so it's best to bake them the day before serving.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 16 - 24 squares.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 20ºC.

Rhubarb Cheesecake Crumble Squares – adapted from the Raspberry Cheesecake Streusel Bars recipe from One Tin Bakes by Edd Kimber

Crumble 
225g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
350g plain flour
200g caster sugar
¼ tsp fine sea salt
5 tbs rolled oats
1 tbs raw sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Cheesecake 
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
⅓ cup Greek yoghurt, at room temperature
200g caster (superfine) sugar
1 tbs plain flour
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2 large eggs

Rhubarb topping
1 bunch rhubarb, washed, trimmed and cut into 5 cm lengths
3 tablespoons caster sugar mixed with 1 tsp finely grated orange rind

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 9 x13 inch brownie tin, (I used the Le Creuset non stick rectangular tin from Everten) then line with a strip of parchment paper that overhangs the two long sides of the tin. Secure the paper in place with two metal clips.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 9 x13 inch brownie tin, then line with a strip of parchment paper that overhangs the two long sides of the tin. Secure the paper in place with two metal clips.

For the crumble, mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Gradually drizzle in the melted butter, stirring with a fork to combine until the mixture has formed clumps, then tip about two-thirds (try ¾) of the mixture into the prepared tin and spread out evenly. Use a glass to compact it into a flat layer. Dock all over with a fork and then freeze for 10 minutes. Mix the remaining crumble with the oats, raw sugar and cinnamon then refrigerate until needed.

Bake the base for 10-15 minutes, or until just starting to brown, then remove and set aside to cool. 

To make the cheesecake, place all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix together until smooth and evenly combined. Pour the cheesecake mix evenly over the base. 

For the filling, arrange the rhubarb pieces decoratively over the cheesecake and then sprinkle with the caster sugar mixture. Strew the reserved crumble evenly over the top then bake for 50-60 minutes or until the crumble is lightly browned and the rhubarb is cooked through.

Leave to cool in the tin for an hour, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, before cutting into squares to serve. Bring to room temperature before serving. The squares can be store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 4 days.  

I gave some of these to my neighbours and they were declared 'magnificent'. High praise indeed. 

See you all again next week. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian

 

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