brown sugar cake with brown sugar cream and oven roasted strawberries

brown sugar cake with brown sugar cream and oven roasted strawberries

19 Oct 2026

To celebrate the publication of Simple Too by Ottolenghi and Verena Lochmuller, a number of recipes appeared online including a recipe for a brown sugar cake topped with brown sugar cream and sumac roasted strawberries.

It's peak strawberry season here so this cake was on the top of my 'to bake' list. I already have a killer oven roasted strawberry recipe courtesy of Nadine Ingram so I made a batch with which to top the cake. I made some creme fraiche and I was good to go.

Ottolenghi cake recipes are usually very reliable but I had problems with this one.  The batter made with melted butter was very loose and when baked, it rose around the edges but sank in the centre leading to a dense texture. I find this happens quite often with wet batters leavened with baking soda so I remade the cake. This time I used the creaming method and I used self raising flour instead of plain flour with leavenings. I also increased the quantity of flour just a little. I made the second cake the old fashioned way using a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and it came out perfectly.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from an Ottolenghi recipe, which makes a 16-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. The linked recipe is the original recipe whilst the recipe below is the adapted version.

Brown sugar cake with brown sugar cream and oven roasted strawberries 

Strawberry compote

¾ tbs dried mint

Scant ½ tsp pink peppercorns, crushed

4 cardamom pods, cracked

55g caster sugar

1 lemon, zested

3 dried hibiscus petals

1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

250g washed and hulled ripe strawberries

Cake

100g unsalted butter, room temperature 

150g brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs 

140g SR flour

½ tsp fine sea salt

50g creme fraiche or plain yoghurt

Brown sugar cream

125ml cream

125g creme fraiche (or use 85g pure cream and 40g yoghurt instead of 125g crème fraiche)

1 tsp vanilla bean paste 

25g brown sugar

To serve (optional)

Fresh mint sprigs and icing sugar, to serve  

Strawberry compote

Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grind the mint, peppercorns and cardamom in a spice grinder, but you could also use a pestle and mortar.  Add this to the sugar along with the lemon zest, hibiscus petals and the seeds from the vanilla bean. Toss the strawberries in a large bowl with the sugar mixture and spread evenly over the base of a large baking tray. Add the scraped vanilla bean and roast in the oven for 20 minutes, giving the tray a little shake halfway through to distribute the syrup. Remove the strawberries from the oven and cover and allow to cool, reserving the juices. If you like, you can reduce the juices by cooking over a low heat in a small saucepan for about 5 minutes, until they’re syrupy.

Cake

Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease and line the bottom and sides of a 16-cm round cake tin with baking paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter, brown sugar and the vanilla extract until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat to incorporate. The mixture might look a little curdled at this stage. Sift the flour and salt together and add to the butter mix in thirds, alternating with the crème fraiche and mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin smoothing the top. Bake on the centre rack of the preheated 190°C, conventional oven for 30–35 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a wire rack before unmoulding.

Brown sugar cream 

Place all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to soft peaks.

Assembly

Remove the cake from the tin and put on a serving plate. Just before serving dollop the cream on top, and spoon over the strawberries and drizzle with the reserved juice. Decorate with mint sprigs and then dust with icing sugar, if using.

The baked sponge will keep for 2 days, tightly wrapped. The cake is delicious served plain and it would work well sandwiched with jam and cream. The cream is best prepared on the day, and once the cake has been decorated, it needs to be served immediately.

I shared the cake with my neighbours, who enjoyed it as did I. The brown sugar cake was just lovely unadorned, served with a cup of tea.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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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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chocolate hot cross buns

chocolate hot cross buns

30 Mar 2026

I am a traditionalist when it comes to hot cross buns. I only eat them at Easter time and I'm definitely a dried fruit hot cross bun girl. However my next door neighbour does not eat fruit in any form so I decided to step outside my comfort zone to bake some chocolate hot cross buns.

Who else to turn to for my recipe other than the baking goddess herself, Natalie Paull. Last year when her chocolate hot cross buns recipe appeared in Delicious magazine I made a batch which were declared delicious, so this year I made another batch.

You'll need to begin the recipe a day ahead and you’ll need a piping bag or a small zip-lock bag for the cross. Although these are best eaten the day they're baked, the buns are still good the next day.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 8 buns, adapted from here. 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.

Natalie Paul Chocolate hot cross buns - makes 8
Ingredients
1½ tbs dark cocoa powder
1¼ tbs milk, boiled
1 small orange
100ml water, tepid
1 tsp instant dried yeast
35g light brown sugar
300g strong (baker’s) flour
3 tsp mixed spice powder
45g unsalted butter, chilled, chopped
Cooking oil spray, to grease
160g dark (70%) chocolate, chopped (I used 125g)

Glaze
50g caster sugar
2 tsp golden syrup
½ vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped (substitute 1 tsp vanilla-bean paste)
Finely grated zest of 1 orange

Cross
¼ cup (35g) plain flour
¼ cup (25g) dark cocoa powder
1 tsp icing sugar mixture
2 tsp vegetable oil

Method
Mix cocoa powder and boiled milk in a small bowl until a thick rough paste forms. Trim and discard the stem ends of the orange, then roughly chop the trimmed orange and puree in a food processor until almost smooth. Set aside 100g of orange puree.

Pour tepid water into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add yeast, 10g brown sugar and 100g flour.  Whisk by hand until a smooth paste. Place remaining flour and brown sugar on top, then add orange puree, spices, 1 tsp fine salt, chilled butter and the cocoa paste. Stand for 30 minutes.

Attach dough hook to mixer and knead on low for 15 minutes. Add chocolate and knead for a further 5 minutes. It should be soft, smooth and not wet – add 1-2 tbs more flour if it is. Scrape into a plastic tub or large bowl lightly sprayed with cooking oil spray. Rest at room temperature for 40 minutes, or until puffed. Lift dough up by one side and shake to lengthen. Fold dough over on itself and place back in the tub. Turn dough 90⁰ and repeat the shake and fold – this activates the gluten in the dough. Press plastic wrap on top, cover and chill overnight.

The next morning, place the chilled dough onto a lightly floured surface. Portion into 8 x 100g portions. Roll each into a tight ball and place in a 2 x 3 formation, with the extra two on the side, on a shallow baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 hour, or until puffed, almost touching and bounces back lazily when poked lightly.

Meanwhile, for the glaze, place all ingredients with 1½ tbs water in a small saucepan and place over high heat. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes, until slightly thickened and syrupy. Set aside to cool.

For the cross, place all ingredients in a medium bowl with ¼ cup (60ml) water and ¼ tsp fine salt. Whisk until combined and smooth, adding more water if the paste is too thick to pipe. Transfer cross paste to a piping bag and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 210°C/190°C fan-forced. Cut a 5mm tip off the piping bag and pipe crosses over the top of buns. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 190°C and bake for another 10 minutes or until firm and bouncy when pressed. Remove the buns from the oven and brush with glaze. Cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes: adjust the cross mixture with 1-2 tsp extra water if it’s too thick or stiff to pipe. You’ll have more paste than you need, but the exact amount would be hard to pipe easily. Another way of checking buns are cooked is using a kitchen thermometer. The internal temperature will be 90⁰C.

Although these are best eaten the day they're baked, the buns are still good the next day and the butter is not negotiable.

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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sour cherry and hazelnut bars

sour cherry and hazelnut bars

3 Nov 2025

Helen Goh recently visited Australia to promote her new book, Baking and the Meaning of Life. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend any of the events because I was overseas myself. 

Now that I'm home again it's time to get back into baking and naturally the first thing I baked was from Helen's new book. I don't have a copy yet but I had a sneak peak at the book at the local book shop and it's a gorgeous tome. 

I decided to make the plum and pistachio bars from the book using what I had at hand, frozen sour cherries instead of plums and hazelnut meal instead of pistachios. I also made them with gluten free flour so I could share them with my neighbours.

The bars are a riff on a Bakewell tart, with a pastry base and a frangipane filling. Fruit is used in lieu of jam and a dredging of icing sugar replaces the icing.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17 cm cake, which I adapted from a Helen Goh recipe. 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. 

Sour cherry and hazelnut bars - makes 8 bars
Pastry
100g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)

30g icing sugar
pinch fine sea salt
65g unsalted butter (cold, cut into cubes)
2 tsp (ice cold) water

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Sour cherry and hazelnut filling
55g self-raising flour
¼ tsp baking powder
pinch fine sea salt
100g unsalted butter (softened)
100g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
25g ground almonds
25g ground pistachios or hazelnuts
½ tsp vanilla extract
100g frozen sour cherries
15g coarsely chopped toasted skinned hazelnuts

To finish
icing sugar (for dusting)

Method
To make the pastry, combine the flour, icing sugar and salt in a food processor. Process for a few seconds, then add the butter and pulse a few times until the mixture is the consistency of crumbs. Lightly whisk together the egg yolk and water, then add this to the mix, pulsing just to combine.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface – it will be quite soft and slightly sticky. Dust your hands lightly with flour, pat the dough to form a ball. Wrap loosely in plastic wrap and press gently to form a flattish disc. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days) before using. 

Meanwhile, line the base and sides of a 17cm square cake tin, ideally with a removable base, with baking paper. If your tin doesn’t have a removable base, extend the baking paper 5cm over the side of the tin; this will help with removing the cake later.

Remove the pastry from the fridge. If it has been in the fridge for longer than 1 hour, allow it to rest at room temperature for a few minutes. Tap the pastry with a rolling pin to soften it slightly before rolling it out to 4 mm thick. Place the cake tin on the pastry to use as a guide to cut out a 17 cm square. Using your rolling pin to help lift the square, gently lower it into the base of the tin and prick it all over with a fork. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180˚C fan-forced/200°C conventional. Bake the pastry for 15–17 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C fan-forced/180°C conventional.

To make the filling, sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Place the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until just combined – not until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a minute between each addition. Once the eggs are all incorporated, reduce the speed to low and add the sifted dry ingredients, followed by the ground almonds, pistachio or hazelnut meal and the vanilla extract. Mix until just combined, then scrape into the pastry shell and smooth out into an even layer using an offset spatula or spoon. 

Place the frozen cherries in a single layer on top of the batter – they will eventually sink but need to be exposed to the heat of the oven in the first instance. Sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts before placing in the oven.

Bake on the centre rack for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown and firm – tap the centre of the cake with your 3 middle fingers to check. When cooked, transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Using the baking paper, lift the cake out of the tin. Dust liberally with icing sugar and slice into 8 even bars.

Preparation Tip
If sour cherries don’t take your fancy, you can replace them with apricots, raspberries or plums.

This was a nice gentle return to baking. The bars have a buttery shortbread base, a nutty cake like filling brightened with bursts of sour cherries and some crunch from the toasted hazelnuts -a winning combination. 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apricot cheesecake crumble bars

apricot cheesecake crumble bars

15 Sept 2025

I love making jam and marmalade but I don't eat much of either. I usually give away the pots of jam or use them in my baking and the remaining jars of jam I store under the bed or in my sunroom. I think I have 2 unopened jars of fig jam, 2 unopened jars of apricot jam, 2 unopened jars of blood orange marmalade, 4 unopened jars of plum conserve and any number of half consumed pots of jam lurking in the fridge. 

Consequently I'm always on the lookout for recipes using jam and that's how I came across this recipe by Sarah Kieffer. I made an apricot version of her creamy jammy coffee cake and added oats to the streusal. The topping and filling were delicious but I wasn't sold on the base layer. I cast my mind back to the raspberry cheesecake crumble bars I made a few years ago and decided the apricot cream cheese coffee cake would work better served as bars with a shortbread base. Off to the kitchen I went and came up with this variation.

Here's the recipe for you which makes an 8 inch 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.

Apricot cheesecake crumble bars
Base
175g unsalted butter
⅓ cup (75g) caster sugar
1½ cup (225g) plain flour, sifted
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Crumble
3 tbsp (25g) rolled oats

3 tsp demerara or raw sugar

Filling
2/3 cup apricot jam

1 tbs lemon juice
250g room temperature cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon yoghurt or cream

Method
Grease and line an 8 inch square tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional.

In a food processor, process all the ingredients for the base until a soft dough forms around the blades. Take out 1/3 of the dough (160g) and place in a small bowl. Add the oats and demerara sugar to the dough and place in the fridge. This will form the crumble topping. Take the remaining ⅔ of the dough and press the mixture into the base of the prepared tin. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the base is golden. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

  
Filling

Gently warm the jam in a pan until loose, then remove from the heat. Stir through the lemon juice and then set to one side while you make the cheesecake filling. 

Wipe out the food processor then combine the remaining filling ingredients in the food processor and whiz until smooth then pour over the prepared base. Dot the jam over the cheesecake, then strew over the crumble mix.

Return to the oven and bake the cake for 45 minutes or until the filling is just set and the crumble golden. Allow to cool before storing in the fridge to firm up. 

Cut into squares or bars with a damp knife before serving. The bars will keep for 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge. They will start to soften after 2 days but are still delicious. These are best served at room temperature. 

These apricot cheesecake crumble bars with their crisp shortbread base, filled with a creamy cheesecake filling brightened with a pop of apricot jam then topped with oaty crumbs were a treat. If I were to make any changes, perhaps I'd add a teaspoon or 2 of lemon rind to the cheesecake layer just to add a bit more of a citrus zing.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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almond crumble cake with nectarines and blackberries

almond crumble cake with nectarines and blackberries

17 Feb 2025

Stone fruit are at their best at the moment, so I'm taking every opportunity to bake with them while they're in season. I recently took out a copy of Julia Busuttil Nishimura's Good Cooking Everyday from my local library and bookmarked most of the cake recipes.

I was going to make an almond crumble cake with peaches and blackberries as per the recipe, but my peaches were a bit too firm. I had 2 almost too ripe necatrines in the fruit bowl so used them instead. I really needed a third nectarine to properly cover the cake batter so I threw in a few more blackberries than the original recipe suggested.

The cake came out of the oven smelling so delicious but I did wait until it was cool before tucking into my slice. It was amazing and when I shared the rest of the cake with my enighbours, they expressed the same opinion.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm square or round cake. Just double the quantities to make a 30cm x 20cm cake. The cook time will stay the same. 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.

Almond crumble cake with nectarine & blackberry

Almond crumble 
30g flaked almonds 
30g plain flour
25g caster sugar 
20g almond meal
pinch of sea salt 
30g cold unsalted butter, cubed

 
Fruit filling 
3 yellow nectarines or 2 peaches 
10 g caster sugar 
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon 
1 teaspoon plain flour
75g blackberries, halved

 

Cake 
100g unsalted butter, softened
75g caster sugar 
100g brown sugar 
½ tsp vanilla extract 
2 eggs 
50g almond meal 
100g self-raising flour 
40 ml full-cream milk
pinch of sea salt 
pure icing sugar, to dust 

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional. Grease and line a 17 x 17 cm square or round baking tin with baking paper. 

Crumble
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is damp and holds together in a crumbly manner. Set aside. 

Fruit filling
Halve the nectarines, remove the seeds and cut into wedges. If using peaches, make a cross in the base of each peach, blanch in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then transfer to an ice bath. Peel off the skin and discard before halving the fruit and cutting into wedges. Place the fruit in a bowl with the caster sugar, cinnamon and flour. Toss to coat and set aside.

Cake
Cream the butter, sugars and vanilla extract in the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on a medium-high speed for 6-8 minutes or until pale and very fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl with a spatula as needed. Reduce the speed to low and add the almond meal, flour, and salt in thirds, alternating with the milk and mix until just combined. 

Spoon the batter into the tin and smooth the surface with the spatula. Arrange the fruit evenly on the batter, then top with the blackberries. Scatter on the almond crumble and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and springs back when touched. 

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve. 

It was delicious the first day of eating and equally as delicious 3 or 4 days later. 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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