almond rocher cake

almond rocher cake

13 Jul 2026

I did mull over whether to post this recipe for Nadine Ingram's Almond Rocher cake as it's unlikely you'll ever make it. I made this for my neighbour's birthday and I do like to go all out for birthdays. The recipe is very long. There are many steps, though none are difficult. Nuts are toasted; egg whites are whipped; praline is made; custard is made; mascarpone is whipped and chocolate is melted to make ganache. Most of these steps need to be done the day before you assemble the cake, so you'll need lots of storage tins and try not to count how many eggs you'll be use.

Nadine's Note

The almond rocher really is best eaten on the day it's assembled, because the praline melts and the custard fades to a matt colour overnight. All the components of this cake can be made the day before in preparation for assembly the next day. Keep the sponges and rocher at room temperature overnight and the praline will need to be kept in an airtight container to avoid the humidity melting it away. Make the ganache on the day of serving, as it’s so quick to make.

Jillian's Notes

The cakes are best baked in springform pans but you'll need 4. If you only have 2 or 3 tins like I do, I suggest baking the Almond Rochers first. Once they're cold they're easy to remove from the tins and stored in airtight containers freeing up the tins for the flourless chocolate cakes.

The recipe is pretty faithful to the original except for the custard recipe. I made the custard from the recipe and it split dramatically. Rather than tempting fate and wasting double cream, single cream and 3 more egg yolks I turned to Natalie Paull and used her cold start custard recipe. It's definitely not as rich as the original custard recipe but it still tasted lovely.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 20 cm cake, adapted from Love Crumbs by Nadine Ingram. 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. 

8 inch Almond Rocher Cake - serves 10-12

Roasted almonds

80g skin on natural almonds

200g flaked almonds

Almond praline and paste

80g roasted natural almonds

80g caster sugar

Almond custard

60g caster sugar

20g cornflour

pinch salt

40g pure cream

2 egg yolks

200g full cream milk

1 tsp vanilla paste

80g almond praline paste (from above)

250g mascarpone

Flourless chocolate sponge

6 egg yolks

220g sifted pure icing sugar

7 egg whites

pinch salt

90g sifted cocoa powder

Almond rocher

200g toasted flaked almonds

5 egg whites

pinch salt

200g pure icing sugar, sifted

½ tsp vanilla paste

Chocolate ganache

100g roughly chopped dark chocolate

100g pure cream

Roast the almonds

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 160°C, fan forced. Line 2 trays with baking paper. On 1 tray scatter the raw almonds for the praline and on the 2nd tray, evenly scatter the flaked almonds for the almond rocher. 

Toast the raw almonds for 10 minutes then remove from the oven. Toast the flaked almonds for 15 minutes or until the flaked almonds are dark golden, checking halfway through and giving the pan a shake to ensure they colour evenly. Once you are happy all the almonds are coloured nicely, remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cool, store the almonds in separate airtight containers until required.

Almond praline and paste

Line a tray with baking paper and set it aside. Place the roasted raw almonds and caster sugar in a frying pan or medium-based saucepan and toss together to combine, then place over medium heat. Shake the almonds occasionally and when you start to see the sugar turn glassy and melt around the outside, use a wooden spoon to gently stir the nuts every so often to distribute the melting sugar. 

Continue to cook until all the sugar has dissolved and there is a golden caramelised coating on the almonds. Turn the heat off and scatter the almonds onto the prepared tray. If you can, separate the almonds by using the tip of your wooden spoon to flick them apart, so that you have individual almonds to decorate the top of the cake. Allow the praline to cool completely.

Once cooled, crush 80g of the praline into a paste using a small food processor or a pestle and mortar or place it in a plastic bag and smash using a rolling pin until as fine as possible. Choose the almonds that are clumped together and save the singular ones for the top decoration. Cut the remaining almonds in half lengthways using a very sharp knife and set aside to decorate the cake later. Store the praline and sliced almonds in separate airtight containers

Almond custard

In a medium bowl, weigh the sugar, cornflour, salt and cream. Add the egg yolks last and hand whisk to make a creamy paste. Stream the milk in then the vanilla and whisk well. Scrape the mix into a small saucepan.

Place the saucepan on a medium-high heat and hand whisk at a slow pace to allow the heat to suffuse through the mix. Work the small balloon whisk into the corners of the saucepan (where the custard thickens first). After around 3 minutes of whisking, the custard will start to look like a creamy liquid. Speed up the whisking now the custard will thicken fast. It will look lumpy but just whisk quickly and it will all come together into an evenly thick paste in another 1 minute. Keep whisking to achieve silky, evenly thick success.

As soon as it looks smooth and thick, slow down the whisking and wait for a few burp-like bubbles to pop over the surface. It's a super thick custard and your whisk should leave obvious furrows as it moves through the mix.Take the pan off the heat. Scrape the custard into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard to prevent a rubbery skin forming. Cool the custard in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours.

French flourless chocolate sponge

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 150°C, fan forced. Grease and dust 2 x 20-cm cake tins with cocoa then line the bases with baking paper.

Place the egg yolks and half the icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until pale and thick. Decant the sabayon into a larger bowl, so you can use the electric mixer bowl to whip the whites. Ensure the bowl is clean and dry and place the whites and salt in the bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, then whip on high speed until soft ribbons form. Reduce the speed to medium and gradually add the remaining icing sugar, 1-tablespoon at a time. Continue to whip the meringue until firm peaks form, but don't overbeat.

Using a spatula, fold the meringue into the sabayon one-third at a time, alternating with the cocoa, also one-third at a time. Sift the cocoa over the surface of the sabayon again before folding it through to prevent any lumps finding their way into the sponge. Meringue lumps may start to form as the meringue sits dormant in the stand mixer bowl. To prevent this, use a spatula to first smooth them over the surface of the sponge before actually folding them through. Trying to remove a lump of meringue from the sponge after it’s folded through will result in over-working the batter. If you can see lumps, use a whisk in a folding motion to remove them.

Pour the sponge into the prepared cake tins and smooth the surface gently with an offset palette knife. Bake for 15-18 minutes. (My sponges took 25 minutes) The sponge is ready when the middle bounces back when pressed with your finger. Remove the sponges from the oven and allow to cool in the tins.

Almond rocher

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 160°C, fan forced. Line the base and sides of 2 x 20-cm cake tins with baking paper. 

Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on high speed until soft ribbons form, then reduce the speed to medium and gradually add the icing sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, allowing a few seconds between each addition. Whisk the meringue for 5-7 minutes or until thick and glossy. Remove the bowl from the electric mixer. Roughly crush the toasted flaked almonds using your hands, then using a spatula fold through the meringue along with the vanilla paste until thoroughly combined. Divide the meringue between the prepared tins and bake for 30-45 minutes or until the top is crisp and golden. Remove the rochers from the oven and allow to cool in the tins.

Chocolate ganache

Place the chocolate in a bowl and have a whisk at-the-ready. Place the cream in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil, then pour the cream over the chocolate. Set aside for 5 minutes for the chocolate to melt then whisk until smooth and glossy. Set the ganache aside at room temperature until you are ready to assemble the cake.

To assemble

Whisk the mascarpone until firmly whipped. Use a spatula to soften the almond custard, removing any lumps. If the lumps are persistent use a stick blender to smooth out the mixture. Using a spatula, fold the custard through the mascarpone in three batches. The aim here is to retain the thickness you have whipped into the mascarpone by adding the custard slowly. Once you have finished, you should have a thick filling that holds up firmly and will be spread over the cakes, not poured over them. If the finished almond custard is not as thick as you had hoped, return the entire filling to the stand mixer and whisk on medium speed until firm.

Carefully remove the sponges from the tin, then peel off the baking paper. Place one sponge onto a serving platter and pour over half the ganache, and then spread it evenly over the surface using an offset palette knife. Remove the rochers from the cake tins by pulling up the paper liners to lift them out. Place one of the layers on top of the ganache, then spoon over half the almond custard and spread it all the way to the edges. Sprinkle with half the sliced almond praline. Repeat the layers again: sponge, ganache, rocher and custard, finishing the cake by standing the remaining almond praline decoration upright. Any crushed praline resulting from the slicing process can be sprinkled on top for contrast.

Cutting a clean slice from such a tall cake is tricky. I'd suggest refrigerating the cake to firm the custard and ganache and then use a sharp serrated knife to saw through each layer. Let the slice come back to room temperature before eating.

 

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

btw, my neighbour loved his birthday cake.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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roasted rhubarb almond and polenta muffins

roasted rhubarb almond and polenta muffins

29 Jun 2026

Last month I shared a recipe for roasted peach almond and polenta muffins. They were delicious and I planned to make a rhubarb version as soon as it was rhubarb season. Well it's rhubarb season in Sydney so I bought a bunch of rhubarb and set to work adapting the recipe.

First things first, oven roast the rhubarb. Please don't skip this step because raw rhubarb turns into tough inedible nubbins when baked for 30-40 minutes. If you have any leftovers they're delicious topped with yoghurt. 

I made a few changes to the batter - a little more sugar, a bit more egg and I added some chopped uncooked rhubarb because too much rhubarb is never enough. I ran out of muffin liners and discovered the new liners I bought were much smaller. Instead of 6 muffins I ended up with 9 muffins.

Here's the recipe for you adapted from a Claire Ptak recipe which will make 9 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 rhubarb almond and polenta muffins - makes 9 muffins
Oven roasted rhubarb

400g trimmed rhubarb
2½ tbs sugar 
1 tbs grated orange rind
½ cinnamon stick
juice ½ orange

Batter ingredients 
125g caster sugar plus raw sugar for sprinkling
125g room temperature unsalted butter
The grated rind of 1 orange (minus the 1 tbs used in the rhubarb)
2 eggs 
165g almond meal 
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt 
112g polenta flour
60g diced rhubarb
icing sugar to serve 

Oven roasted rhubarb
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional, or 170°C, fan forced. Trim the fruit to fit into a roasting pan and sprinkle with the sugar. Grate the orange before juicing. Sprinkle over 1 tbs of the rind and then reserve the rest to use in the batter. Add the cinnamon stick and the orange juice to the tin, then roast uncovered for 10 minutes. The rhubarb should still be quite firm as it needs to be trimmed to the size of your muffins. Remove the tray from the oven and cool completely before storing the roasted rhubarb in an airtight container the fridge. Reserve any juice.

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional or 170°C, fan forced. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with 9 paper liners. (I was aiming to make 6 muffins but my new paper liners are much smaller and I ended up with 9 muffins)

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

In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond meal, baking powder, salt, and the polenta flour. Add this to the butter mixture and mix well then fold through the diced rhubarb. Scoop the batter into the lined muffin pan and top with 3 or 4 rhubarb slices then sprinkle generously with raw sugar.

Bake the muffins for 30-40 minutes on the centre rack of the preheated 190°C conventional, or 170°C fan forced oven 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 simmer the reserved rhubarb cooking juices in a small pan to form a syrup. Just before serving, glaze the rhubarb pieces with the syrup, then dust the muffins with icing sugar.

These muffins will keep for up to 4 days in an airtight container and I think they actually taste better the day after baking.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Roasted peach almond and polenta muffins

Roasted peach almond and polenta muffins

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.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian 

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passover week 2026 - flourless chocolate bundt cake

passover week 2026 - flourless chocolate bundt cake

23 Mar 2026

Welcome to Passover Week 2026, where I challenge myself to produce beautiful cakes and pastries using only Passover friendly ingredients. I do not use any artificial rising agents such as bicarb soda or baking powder, even though they are permitted. My Grandma Sonie would be rolling over in her grave if I did such a thing. 

Every year I try to make one dairy free recipe for Passover week and this year's recipe is a flourless chocolate bundt cake, adapted from a recipe for flourless chocolate teacakes from Sweet by Ottolenghi and Helen Goh. 

I needed to make a few adjustments to the recipe to make it both dairy free and kosher for Passover. I swapped oil for the butter in the cake and used another water ganache recipe which didn't contain either corn syrup or butter. Apparently kosher for Passover amaretto exists but I don't have any in my cupboard so I just added more coffee to the mixture.

The original recipe makes 6 small bundt cakes but I only have 4 small bundt tins so I decided to make one larger bundt cake instead and adjusted the recipe accordingly. If you'd like to make 6 small bundt cakes please refer to the linked recipe.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a small bundt cake. 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. 

Flourless chocolate bundt cake
105g vegetable oil
160g dark chocolate (70% cocoa content, roughly chopped)
130g caster sugar
1-tsp instant coffee granules (dissolved in 2 tbs of boiling hot water)
10mls amaretto/coffee 
130g almond meal
4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
½ tsp sea salt

Method
Brush the base and sides of a small bundt tin with cocoa pan release – equal quantities of butter or margarine, oil and cocoa powder - and place in the fridge until needed.

Place the oil and chocolate and in a large microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Whisk the mixture and, when melted, remove the bowl from heat. And half of the sugar, along with the dissolved coffee granules, the amaretto or coffee, almond meal and egg yolks. Stir to combine and then set aside.

Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment in place. Beat on high speed for about 1 minute, until soft peaks form. Slowly add the remaining sugar and continue to beat for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is light and dry. 

Spoon one dollop of the egg whites into the chocolate and fold to combine before gently folding the remainder. Set aside at room temperature for an hour to rest. 

Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C conventional. Once the cake batter has rested spoon the batter into the prepared tin. Place the bundt tin on a baking sheet in the centre of the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with just a few crumbs attached (not wet batter). Remove from the oven, let the cake sit for 10 minutes before inverting it onto a wire cooling rack. Set aside until completely cooled and then gently tap out the cake.

Water ganache
75g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
30ml boiling water
15 mls maple syrup
1/2 tsp Passover vanilla extract

Water ganache
Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Pour over the boiling water. Either microwave for 20 seconds on high, or place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for 1-2 minutes, to melt the chocolate. Gently stir together with a whisk until combined and smooth then stir in the maple syrup and vanilla. 

Set aside at room temperature for 20-30 minutes until ganache thickens to a spreadable consistency then spread ganache over the top of the cake and let it drizzle down the sides. Allow the ganache to set before serving.

As you can see, the cake came out gloriously squidgy, just what you want in a flourless chocolate cake. If you can, bake the cake the day before serving because I think cakes made with nut meal taste better as they mature.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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christmas cookies 2025 - GF orange and passionfruit shortbread creams

christmas cookies 2025 - GF orange and passionfruit shortbread creams

22 Dec 2025

I wasn't planning to post again before Christmas but after delivering this year's cookie boxes, a clear favourite emerged and it felt mean not to share the recipe with you. 

I tried out a few new recipes for this year's cookie box and none were a success so I returned to old favourites like these thumbprint cookies, an assortment of amaretti and glazed gingerbread.

Some of my friends can't eat nuts, so chocolate crinkle cookies and brown pumpkin snickerdoodles made their way into their cookie box, whilst others are gluten intolerant. In the end each cookie box contained a different selection. I posted some of the boxes to my interstate friends and in general the cookies arrived unscathed.

Here's what I made - hazelnut baci sandwiched with dark chocolate, thumbprint biscuits, sour cherry and pistachio amaretti, rum glazed gingerbread and chocolate crinkle cookies. The standout however were the orange and passionfruit shortbread creams, a reworking of an old Stephanie Alexander recipe for passionfruit shortbread I've made in the past. The recipe has been updated and adapted by Natalie Paull. 

I made 3 batches of the recipe for Christmas. I used reduced lemon juice matched with lemon rind for one batch; I used reduced orange juice with orange rind for another batch and strained passionfruit juice with lemon rind for the third batch and all were delicious. The cookies do spread during baking and more so when I used GF flour, so make sure you allow for this.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 12 sandwich biscuits, although the batch is easily multiplied. 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. 

Orange and passionfruit shortbread creams - makes 12
Ingredients
90g unsalted butter, softened
50g icing sugar mixture
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
30mls orange juice, regular or reduced (see below)
90g GF or regular self-raising flour, sifted
50g cornflour/cornstarch, sifted
¼ tsp sea salt flakes

Filling
30g room temperature unsalted butter
Pinch salt
75g icing sugar mixture
The pulp of 1 medium passionfruit

Reduced orange juice

Squeeze the zested orange and place the juice into an oversized plastic container as the juice will froth and bubble as it cooks. Place the container in the microwave and microwave the strained fruit juice on High(100%) heat in bursts of 2–3 minutes until the target amount of 30g has been reached. Refrigerate the juice until needed.

Method
Place butter, sugar and zest in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 8 minutes, or until fluffy. Add the orange juice and beat until combined. Sift over flours and add the salt flakes. Reduce speed to low and mix until combined and dough looks like a soft, thick paste. Working quickly, transfer mixture to a piping bag with a 1cm star nozzle. Do not let dough stand, or piping will be difficult.

Grease a large baking tray and line with baking paper. Pipe 24 swirls allowing room around each swirl for spreading and puffing. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

While the biscuits are in the fridge, preheat oven to 170°C, conventional. Bake for 15 minutes on the centre rack of the preheated 170°C, conventional oven or until golden on edges. Cool on tray for 15 minutes before placing on a cooling rack.

Passionfruit filling
Place butter in a bowl and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the icing sugar mixture, then mix to combine. The mixture will be a bit thick. Add the passionfruit pulp and mix until well combined. If the filling is very soft return to the fridge for 10 minutes or so to firm.

Sandwiching
Match the shortbreads for size then place half the cooled swirls, bottom side up, on a clean tea towel and pipe (or spoon) a blob of the filling on each one. Sandwich with the top swirl and lightly press (with a little swirly wiggle) to bring the filling just flush with the biscuit edge. Swipe a finger around the edge to neaten any stray frosting. Chill for 15 minutes to set the filling before serving.

I'ts been quite a year for me, so l'll be taking a break from the blog for a few weeks. I'll see you all again some time in January.

I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers.

See you all again in 2026.

Bye for now,

Jillian 

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chocolate cake with brown butter cream cheese icing

chocolate cake with brown butter cream cheese icing

8 Dec 2025

Sometimes I’m a little late to the party. Apparently this chocolate sheet cake with brown butter frosting from Bon Appetit was all the rage a few years ago. I was making a birthday cake for 6-year-old twin girls and as I knew they both loved chocolate, sprinkles and lashings of creamy icing, the sheet cake recipe fitted the brief, but I wanted to make a layer cake. The cake doesn’t rise much so I used the full recipe to make two 8 inch cake layers.

The cake uses a mountain of sugar, so I cut down the sugar in the cake batter. I thought apricot jam would go well with the toasty brown butter icing so I filled the cake with apricot jam.

I’m not much of a cake decorator at the best of times but my piping bag split mid swirl. I put the camera down, covered the icing with sprinkles, packed the cake into a container and drove to my friend’s place. Unfortunately lighting the candles and blowing them out trumped taking any further photos of the cake that day.

The cake was divine, but the icing was so SWEET it made my teeth hurt. When I came home I decided to tweak the recipe a bit. For cake number two I made a single layer gluten free cake and topped it with a different but far less sweet brown butter icing. After levelling the cake, I coated it with layer of apricot jam, then drizzled some jam over the icing. I shared the cake with my neighbours and again it was declared a success.

Here's the recipe for you which will make an 8-inch layer cake. 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. 

If you’d like to make a 17 cm single layer cake, use half the batter and the cake will take close to an hour to bake. For the icing use 100g of butter, 100g cream cheese, 30g of milk powder, 125g of icing sugar, a tsp of vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

Chocolate layer cake with brown butter cream cheese icing
Cake
350g caster sugar
225g plain flour (I used GF)
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
70g Dutch-process cocoa powder
250mls hot tap water
200mls vegetable oil
2 eggs
180ml well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

Brown butter cream cheese icing
150g full fat softened cream cheese
150g unsalted butter, squidgy soft divided in 2
2 tsp vanilla paste
50g dried milk powder
pinch salt
175g icing sugar

Filling
1/3 cup apricot jam or flavour of your choice

Method
Place a rack in the centre of the oven; preheat the oven to 190⁰C, conventional. Grease and line the base of two 8 inch tins with baking paper, then dust with cocoa powder. Set to one side.

Whisk the sugar, flour and bicarbonate of soda in a medium bowl until well combined.

In a large jug, whisk the cocoa powder with the cup of hot tap water and mix until the cocoa has dissolved. Add the vegetable oil, the eggs, the buttermilk, the salt and vanilla extract and whisk again just to combine. Add the cocoa mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk gently until just combined and the batter is smooth. Scrape the batter evenly into the 2 prepared tins.

Bake the cakes on the centre rack of the preheated 190⁰C, conventional oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when gently pressed or a tester inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.

Let the cakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Cut around each cake with a knife before inverting onto a wire rack. Peel away the baking paper; invert the cakes and cool completely on the rack.

Icing
Place 75g of unsalted butter in a small saucepan over a medium-low heat and cook until it begins to foam. Stir constantly until the mixture turns a dark nut brown colour. Remove from heat and immediately pour the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl into the fridge and cool for about 15 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the fridge. Add the cream cheese, the remaining butter, the vanilla paste, milk powder and salt into the bowl. Sift the icing sugar over the top. Beat with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes on speed 4 (below low) until pale, and fluffy then store covered in the fridge until needed. If refrigerated, rewarm in the microwave in 20-second bursts until softened.

Assembly

Level the top of the cakes if needed. Place one cake layer onto a serving platter. Spoon a small amount of the icing into a piping bag fitted with a 1 cm nozzle. Pipe a cm of icing around the edge of the cake to form a dam. Spoon 1/3 cup of jam into the well, level with an off set spatula then gently place the second layer on top.

Spoon or pipe swirls of icing onto the top of the cake. Store the cake in an airtight container in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before seving. The cake will keep covered for up to 3 days.

I am not usually a chocolate cake fan but this cake is really moist and absolutely delicious.

Next week is Christmas Week on the blog where I'll be sharing 5 new recipes with you. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope you are as well.

See you all again next week.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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