blood orange, almond and polenta cake with orange scented ganache

blood orange, almond and polenta cake with orange scented ganache

31 Aug 2025

My love for blood oranges knows no bounds. I've been enchanted by blood oranges since I was first introduced to them when I was 15. I was on a school trip to Europe and by the time we'd arrived in Italy I was craving both orange juice and steak. The steak could wait until I returned home but not the orange juice. Not even the ridiculously high price could stop me from ordering the juice and when it arrived it was blood red. We thought they'd made a mistake and had given us tomato juice, but one sip revealed there had been no mistake and we'd been served the best orange juice of all, blood orange juice.

I found a recipe for a blood orange cake in 'Love Crumbs' by Nadine Ingram, which she'd named 'A Waltzing Orange Cake'. I waited for blood oranges to return to the fruit shop and a few weeks back, there they were in all their glory. I bought a bag of blood oranges and set to work making both the cake and a batch of blood orange and vanilla marmalade. 

Whilst I loved the cake toppings, I found the cake quite dry. I've made many blood orange cakes in the past and thought one of those cakes might work better as a base for those lovely toppings. I returned to the kitchen for round 2 and came up with this recipe for a blood orange, almond amd polenta cake with an orange scented ganache. The cake, which is both gluten free and dairy free, was adapted from a Nicola Lamb recipe whilst the toppings (and instructions) are pure Nadine.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17-cm 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. To make this cake you'll need 4-5 blood oranges, depending on their size, and 1 lemon. If blood oranges aren't in season, regular oranges will do nicely.

Blood orange, almond and polenta cake with an orange scented ganache - makes a 17-cm cake

Blood orange jelly slices -start this process 2 days ahead

1 blood orange

80g caster sugar

90ml water

¼ tsp cardamom pods, crushed

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

  

Orange scented ganache

200g pure cream

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

½ tsp cardamom pods, crushed

1 blood orange, zested

55g white chocolate good quality, finely chopped

Cake

The zest of 2 blood oranges

The blended flesh of 1-2 blood oranges to make 135g of puree

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

½ cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil

125g almond meal

50g superfine polenta flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt

Citrus syrup

¼ cup (55g) caster sugar

1 tbs water

¼ cup (60 mls) freshly squeezed blood orange juice

Juice of ½ lemon

pinch salt

Blood orange jelly slices – start these 2 days before serving the cake.

Slice the oranges into 2 mm-thick rounds using a very sharp knife. Take your time as you want every slice to be completely round without tears. Place the slices in a large bowl and pour over boiling water from the kettle to well cover the slices, then wrap the bowl in plastic film for 6 hours until cold. Repeat the process twice more to make a total of three blanches over an 18-hour period. Don't worry, they can sit for longer if you need to leave them overnight. This is a technique used to soften citrus and remove the bitterness, while maintaining the vibrant colours. It's normally done by bringing the fruit to the boil in a saucepan, however, in the case of delicate orange slices they would be broken up in the process.

Place the sugar, water, cardamom and vanilla bean and seeds in a large, wide saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Discard the blanching water from the oranges and gently add the orange slices to the cardamom syrup, laying them carefully over the base of the saucepan, then cover them with a round piece of baking paper to ensure the top of the slices don't dry out.

Continue to simmer the orange slices on the lowest heat possible for about 1 hour -1 hour 30 minutes or until the syrup reduces to a jelly and coats the oranges in a glossy, translucent glaze. Turn off the heat and let them cool at room temperature. After this they can be stored in the fridge stacked up in a jar with any remaining syrup poured over them for approximately 3 months.

Orange-scented ganache

Place the cream, vanilla, cardamom pods and the orange zest in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow the flavours to mingle for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, place the finely chopped chocolate into a medium bowl and set it beside the stove. Strain the aromatics out of the cream and return the cream to the boil, then pour it over chocolate and stir the ganache until it is smooth and all the chocolate has dissolved. Pour the ganache into a container with a lid and cool in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

Cake

Preheat oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease a 17cm-round cake pan and line the tin with baking paper.

Place the grated rind and sugar into a bowl and massage together until the sugar becomes fragrant. Add the eggs and whisk to combine, followed by the oil. Whisk in almond meal and the polenta flour mixture alternating with the blended orange pulp to form a loose batter. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 55-65 minutes until the top is just firm and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 1 hour, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Syrup

Combine sugar with the water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer, add the orange juice and cook for 4-6 minutes until thickened and starting to caramelise. Cool syrup, then mix in the juice of ½ lemon and a pinch of salt and stir until combined. Cool completely to room temperature.

To assemble

Remove the cake from the tin by inverting it onto a plate, removing the baking paper and then flipping it back the right way up onto a platter.

Remove the orange-scented ganache from the fridge and give it a good whisk to incorporate any white chocolate that may have settled to the bottom or fat from the cream that may have floated to the top. Whip the ganache in the bowl of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment or use a hand whisk to whisk until firmly whipped, then spread or dollop evenly over the top of the cake. 

Arrange the blood orange jelly slices on top, noting that they're difficult to slice through when cutting the cake, so a bit of strategic placement based on the number of guests will make portioning much easier or you can place an orange slice on each plate then cut the cake afterward and drizzle with the syrup to serve. 

I took this to a friends place and we served the cake for dessert and it was a triumph! If you don't feel like making the ganache or the blood orange jelly slices, this cake topped with whipped cream and drizzled with some orange syrup is still a delight.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Exploring the landscape of my heart - hazelnut dacquoise with pears and blackcurrants

Exploring the landscape of my heart - hazelnut dacquoise with pears and blackcurrants

4 Jun 2025

I borrowed a copy of Nadine Ingram's Love Crumbs from my local library and bookmarked about 1/4 of the recipes. Many of the recipes require time; have multiple steps and sometimes difficult to source ingredients but then again, what is life without a challenge. Nadine's recipes are precise and her instructions are very detailed. Although I've reduced the size of the cake I've only made small edits to the instructions.

I decided to make a small version of 'Exploring the Landscape of my Heart', 3 layers of hazelnut dacquoise layered with pears and blackcurrants. This is not a recipe for the faint hearted but as I'm on extended leave from work I have time to tackle some of the more complex recipes from the book. As it's now winter in Sydney, pears abound and I knew my local source of frozen sour cherries also stocked blackcurrants, so off to Russkis Deli I went.

I bought a bag of roasted hazelnuts in Canberra then on my return I made some crème fraiche, a key ingredient of the Gianduja ganache. Then I roasted the pears and made the blackcurrant compote, followed by the hazelnut dacquoise. The whipped ricotta was made just before I assembled the cake.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16cm cake, which serves 6-8 people. 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.

Hazelnut dacquoise with pear and blackcurrants

Blackcurrant compote
200g blackcurrants, fresh or frozen
35g caster sugar
½ orange, zested and juiced

Baked pears
3 pears, bosc are best
½ vanilla bean, split seeds scraped
50g brown sugar
½ orange, zested and juiced

Hazelnut dacquoise
200g hazelnuts, toasted and peeled
25g unsalted butter, softened for greasing
5 (150g) egg whites
155g caster sugar

Whipped ricotta
250g fresh ricotta, drained overnight
¾ tbs caster sugar
½ vanilla bean, split seeds scraped
½ orange, zested

Gianduja ganache
75g hazelnuts, toasted and peeled
45g icing sugar
120g good quality milk chocolate (minimum 40% cocoa solids)
100g crème fraiche

To assemble
1 tbs icing sugar

Blackcurrant compote
Place the blackcurrants, sugar and orange zest and juice in a medium saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring the fruit so that the sugar evenly coats the berries. Once the sugar is dissolved, increase the heat to medium and simmer the compote for 10-15 minutes or until the syrup thickens. Even if you're using frozen blackcurrants there shouldn't be much liquid coming out of the fruit and the syrup should glaze the fruit perfectly. Turn off the heat and allow the compote to cool completely in the saucepan. The compote can be made up to 4 days in advance and kept in the fridge. 

Baked pears
Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan forced. Begin by peeling the pears, taking care to remove all the skin, even the little crown around the stem. Cut the pears in half and use a Parisienne scoop or melon baller to remove the core and the fibrous stem leading from the seeds to the stem, being careful to preserve as much of the pear flesh as possible. The stem should also come off but, again, try to maintain the integrity of the pear's shape by taking it off carefully.

Scrape the vanilla seeds from half the bean using a sharp paring knife and while the seeds are still stuck to the blade, spread them evenly onto each pear half, then place the pears cut-side up in a flat baking dish. Sprinkle the pears with the sugar and zest, then squeeze over the orange juice and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. flip the pears over and return them to the oven for a further 15 minutes or until they are tender. The ripeness of the pears will determine the cooking time, so test them after the first 20 minutes by piercing them with the tip of a paring knife to check their tenderness. A little bite can be a lovely thing, so no need for them to be absolutely soft. Use your judgement to decide when they should be removed from the oven, then allow them to cool completely in the baking dish. The pears can be baked up to 4 days in advance and kept in the fridge.

Hazelnut dacquoise
Preheat the oven to 175°C, fan forced. After the hazelnut skins have been removed, crush the nuts finely either using a food processor or a pestle and mortar. It's fine to have a few coarser pieces for texture, although the majority of the crumb should be fine like breadcrumbs.

Line the base only of 3 x 16cm cake tins with baking paper and butter the sides of the tins with the softened butter. Remove 30g from the hazelnut crumbs and roll them around the inside of the tins, pressing them into the sides of the tins to embed into the butter. This will give the dacquoise a rustic edge when the cakes are removed from the tins. Don't worry if you also get crumbs on the base of the tin.

Separate and weigh the egg whites and place them into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add a pinch of salt and whip the whites on high speed until soft ribbons start to form, then gradually add half the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, until the meringue is thick and glossy. Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the remaining crushed hazelnuts and the remaining sugar, then fold through thoroughly. 

Divide the dacquoise between the tins and use an offset palette knife to smooth the tops. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and crisp. Remove the dacquoise from the oven, leaving them to cool for only 5 minutes, before slipping them out of the tins onto a cooling rack. As the dacquoise cools the meringue becomes chewy and a little sticky, so if you leave them in the tins for longer they may stick to the bottom.

The dacquoise layers will sink and form a crater in the middle, this is completely normal and will give you a place to fill with all the fruit and ricotta. (Mine didn't).

Whipped ricotta
The ricotta for this recipe is fresh, so it will need to be well-drained for 24 hours in advance. Be sure to remove it from the plastic the night before as sometimes it sits in the whey and doesn't drain.

Scrape the seeds from the remaining vanilla bean and place them on a chopping board, then sprinkle with the sugar and use a knife or offset palette knife to rub the sugar into the seeds. This is the best way to distribute vanilla seeds through a mixture to infuse the flavour. 

Combine the ricotta, zest and vanilla sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip everything together on high speed for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to incorporate any wayward ricotta lumps. This filling falls like soft clouds onto the cake layers and while it will start to form thick ribbons around the whisk as you whip it, the consistency will never be firmly whipped. It only has a very small amount of sugar because I want to retain the pure quality of the ricotta.

Use a spatula to remove the ricotta from the mixing bowl, then cover and place in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the cake.

Gianduja ganache
Ensure the hazelnuts have been toasted to golden, as sometimes, if pre-peeled hazelnuts are sourced, they can be quite beige, and the resulting flavour is not as good.

Place the hazelnuts and icing sugar in the bowl of a small food processor or a blender and blitz together until a smooth paste forms. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly in order to achieve a consistent, smooth texture and engage the pulse function (if you have one) to return the nuts to the middle of the bowl. Once you are happy the paste is smooth, turn off and leave the paste in the food processor bowl.

Melt the milk chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, ensuring the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir the chocolate occasionally to distribute the heat and try not to heat the chocolate higher than 50°C. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of the food processor with the paste and blend until very smooth, again scraping down the sides of the bowl to create a cohesive mixture. Turn off the machine again. What you have in the food processor now is the components of gianduja. The addition of the crème fraîche below turns it into a ganache.

Bring the crème fraîche to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, then pour it into the food processor with the gianduja and continue to blend until shiny and silky. Pour the ganache into a bowl then cover it and leave at room temperature to cool until ready to use.

This recipe will make more than enough for the cake sizes here, since a minimum amount of 75 g of hazelnuts is needed to create a smooth paste in a small food processor. Rest assured, excess ganache can be kept in the fridge then melted and poured over ice-cream when comfort is needed.

To assemble
Position a dacquoise layer on your platter. Pour approximately ¼ cup of the gianduja ganache into the centre and spread to the outside of the cake using an offset palette knife, trickling a little over the edges. Arrange half the pears evenly over the surface of the chocolate, (I halved each pear and managed to fit 5 quarters over the cake) then spoon over half the whipped ricotta and gently push to the edges. Spoon one-third of the blackcurrant compote over the ricotta and top with the second layer of dacquoise. (I didn’t but I would drain the currants first before assembling the cake). Repeat this layering, finishing with the third layer of dacquoise. Dust the top with icing sugar and scatter with the remaining blackcurrant compote.

Nadine suggests making all the components ahead of time and assembling the cake very last-minute and to eat it on the same day. 

I must say that I disagree. I thought the cake was at its best the day after making it when the dacquoise had softened and the flavours had a chance to infuse. The blackcurrants are refreshingly tart and I topped my breakfast porridge with the leftover baked pears and blackcurrant compote.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Raspberry olive oil and cream cheese dome

Raspberry olive oil and cream cheese dome

23 May 2025

For my friend Bianca's birthday, I decided to go all out and whipped up this Raspberry, olive oil and cream cheese dome. The cake was inspired by a recipe from Nicola Lamb's book, Sift, whilst the idea for the decoration came from 'Luna' a recipe from Nadine Ingram's book, Love Crumbs. 

This is not a cake you can make on a whim. The ganache, the cake and the filling all need to be made the day before you serve the cake but as long as you're methodical, it shouldn't give you too many problems. I am no expert with a piping bag, but I figured I had enough skill to decorate the dome.

Nicola's recipe made a 3 layer citrus, olive oil cream cheese dome sandwiched together with marmalade, mandarin segments and a whipped cream cheese filling. I wasn't sure the 5 year old twins would eat a marmalade filled cake so instead of an orange flavoured cake and syrup, I used lemon; I swapped the marmalade for a pot of rhubarb and raspberry jam and dotted the cream filling with some raspberries. I finished the cake with lemon scented ganache instead of Swiss meringue butter cream and decorated the cake with raspberries instead of flower petals and orange segments, seen here.

I didn't have the correct size tray so I baked the cake in two 8 x 12 inch trays. It meant my cake layers were thinner but I had so much cake, I could easily make a 4 layer cake. I needed to use more jam but I had plenty of the whipped cream cheese filling. As this was a birthday cake, I wasn't able to take photos of the interior of the cake except for one awful one taken on my phone. 

Here's the recipe for you, which makes a 4 layer 20cm dome. 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.

Raspberry, olive oil and cream cheese dome - serves 10-12
Equipment
2 x 8 x 12 inch baking trays or one 39 x 27cm baking tray

A mixing bowl, at least 20cm wide at the top with a base of around 10cm

 
Olive oil cake
Zest of 2 lemons 
200g caster sugar
160g extra virgin olive oil
110g Greek yoghurt
3 whole eggs
110g plain flour
110g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder 
¼ tsp bicarb soda 
¼ tsp flaky sea salt

Lemon syrup – this will make more syrup than you need
50g lemon juice
50g caster sugar

Whipped cream cheese
250g full-fat cream cheese
35g caster sugar
180g double cream
60g olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp fine salt

Lemon scented ganache
85g good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
320g pure cream
Zest of 2 lemons

To assemble
265g berry jam 
1 punnet (125g) raspberries

To decorate
1 punnet (125g) raspberries

Olive oil cake

Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional and line the baking tray (s) with baking paper.

Add the lemon zest to the caster sugar and rub in between your fingers to release the oils. Next, whisk in the olive oil, yoghurt and eggs. In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisk into the wet ingredients until smooth. 

If using one tray, pour the mixture into the lined baking tray and bake for 18-20 minutes or until firm and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Move to a cooling rack, remove the cake from the tray and leave to cool completely. 

If making 2 separate cakes, pour half the mixture into one tray, bake for 18-20 minutes, then repeat the process with the second tray. If your oven is big enough to bake both cakes at the same time, rotate the trays half way through the bake time to ensure an even bake. The cakes can be made 1-2 days in advance and kept well-wrapped at room temperature.

Syrup
Heat everything together and bring to a simmer. Leave to cool. This can be made 1 week in advance and kept in the fridge. This makes more than you need.

Whipped cream cheese
Put the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl. Whisk until it is smooth. Add the double cream, olive oil, vanilla extract and salt then whisk until stiff and thick. Make this when you are ready to assemble.

The dome
Cut 1 x 20cm circle, 1 x 16cm circle, 1 x 12 cm circle and 1 x 9-10cm circle from the cake sheets. The leftovers are your snacks. Wet a mixing bowl then line the bowl with clingfilm - make sure it is at least 20cm wide at the top with a base of around 10 cm.

To build

Place the 10cm cake circle in the base of the bowl. Douse with the syrup, then spread 45g jam on top, followed by 100g of whipped cream cheese. Nestle a third the raspberries into the cream. Place the 12cm cake layer on top. Douse with syrup, then spread over 60g jam, followed by 150g of whipped cream cheese. Nestle a third the raspberries into the cream. Place the 16cm cake layer on top; douse with lemon syrup then spread over 75g jam, followed by the rest of the whipped cream cheese. Nestle the remaining raspberries into the cream cheese. Spread 85g jam on the final cake, then place on top, jam-side down. Lightly press down the top layer before dousing the cake with the lemon syrup. You will have some leftover syrup. Cover the top of the cake with the overhanging plastic wrap then chill the entire cake in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Lemon scented ganache
Place the chocolate into a medium bowl and set it beside the stove, then place the cream and lemon zest into a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and allow the lemon to infuse for 20 minutes. Return the cream to the boil and pour it over the chocolate, then use a hand whisk to mix the ganache until there are no lumps of chocolate remaining. Refrigerate the ganache overnight.

Just before using, remove the lemon ganache from the fridge and give it a good whisk to incorporate any chocolate that has floated to the top and set. Whip the lemon ganache to medium-firm whip. As you are piping the cream onto the cake, it will naturally continue to set in the piping bag and so a firm whip may cause it to split. It's important that it's not too soft, either, as you won't achieve the definition in the piping.

To decorate

Put a plate/cake board underneath the mixing bowl and flip it over to release the cake so it is the right way up. 

Fit a piping bag with a closed star piping tip and scoop one-third of the lemon ganache into the bag at a time. Working with this small amount at a time will give you more control and prevent your hands from warning the cream, potentially causing it to become runny. Begin piping with a little spiral of cream to cover the top of the cake to get a feel for the weight of the bag and your own dexterity. Then decorate the sides by piping the cream in an upwards direction, letting go of the pressure in the bag on the approach to the top so that you can form little peaks. Turn the cake as you go until the sides are all covered. You can practice on something that isn't the cake first, just to establish a rhythm before piping on the actual cake. 

Refrigerate the cake but bring to room temperature before enjoying. The covered cake will last 3 days in the fridge.

I want you to ignore the quality of the phone image and focus on those layers. I have to say the cake was a triumph and the twinnies licked their plates clean.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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white chocolate, blackberry and ginger cheesecake

white chocolate, blackberry and ginger cheesecake

23 Mar 2025

I put in a request for 'Love Crumbs' by Nadine Ingram at my local library, then waited about 6 months before the book finally arrived. I pored over the book and bookmarked about 20 recipes that I wanted to try.

This recipe from Love Crumbs is called 'Hansel and Gretel' and it's a white chocolate cheesecake atop a gingerbread base, adorned with brambles or mulberries. It's a family thing but I'm not keen on a reconsituted cheeecake base  so I went rogue and fashioned my own gingerbread base but kept the original cheesecake filling. The original recipe made a 25cm cake so I halved the cheesecake ingredients to fit my 17cm springform tin.

The cheesecake is baked in a water bath, which is problematic if you only have springform tins. Springform tins are not watertight so I use layers of foil and kitchen string to make a watertight seal accompanied by a healthy dose of good luck. Whilst trawling instagram I saw a reel which blew my mind. In the reel, the springform tin was put into a slightly larger regular cake tin, which was then placed into the water bath. I was just itching to try out this new to me method.

The recipe called for ½ tsp smoked salt, which I didn't have in the cupboard. I'm sure you could just use regular sea salt but I looked online for a recipe and made some at home. I also made the ricotta cheese, just because. I thought about making the mascarpone as well but thankfully common sense prevailed and instead I bought some at the supermarket.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm 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. Please note the cheesecake needs to rest in the fridge overnight, so you'll need start this process the day before serving. 

Small white chocolate, blackberry and ginger cheesecake 
Base 
60g unsalted butter 
25g caster sugar 
75g plain flour
½ tsp ground ginger 
½ tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

Cheesecake
60g good quality white chocolate, roughly chopped 
½ tsp smoked sea salt
2 eggs, separated
75g caster sugar
150g cream cheese, softened
100g mascarpone
140g fresh ricotta, drained
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 tsp finely grated lemon rind
170g blackberries or mulberries, plus extra to serve
 
Base 
Grease and line the base of a 17cm-springform cake tin with baking paper and flour the sides. Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional.

Brown half (30g) of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it turns a foamy tan brown. Place the browned butter in a bowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes until cool and the butter has thickened. Remove the bowl from the fridge and add the remaining butter, the sugar and the vanilla and beat until creamy. Add the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until you get a sandy texture. Lightly knead the dough until it forms a dough. If the dough seems a little dry, you might need to add a tsp or 2 of water. Transfer the dough to the tin and flatten with the back of a tablespoon to create a level base. Bake the base in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until just lightly coloured.  Cool on a wire rack while making the cheesecake filling.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C, conventional. In the recipe the cheesecake was baked at 120°C, which my oven can't do, so I cooked it on the lowest temperature setting.

Cake
Melt the chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water or the chocolate will seize. Remove the bowl from the heat, then stir through the smoked salt and set aside. Place the yolks into a small bowl and the whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. 

Weigh the sugar, reserving 25 g for the egg whites and place this next to the mixer in preparation for later. Place the remaining 50g sugar, cream cheese, mascarpone and ricotta and the egg yolks, into the bowl of a food processor and blend everything together until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl using a spatula and blend again to ensure there is no residual cream cheese lumps in the mixture. Add the vanilla bean paste, the melted chocolate and lemon zest to the cheeses and blend again to combine. 

Pour the cake filling into a bowl large enough to accommodate the whipped egg whites. Now begin whisking the egg whites on high speed until you see soft ribbons starting to form. Reduce the speed to medium and gradually add the sugar until firm peaks start to form. Be careful not to overwhip the whites. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a spatula to fold the meringue through the cake filling in two batches, pressing out any lumps formed in the meringue before folding it through, then pour the cake filling over the base.

Place the springform tin into a slighter larger regular cake tin, then place the regular cake tin into a deep-sided baking tray that can be used as a water bath. This method of baking creates a slow heat, which will enable the cake to cook evenly throughout, avoiding cracking and a souffle top. 

Place the baking tray containing the cake tin in the oven and use a jug to pour water into the baking tray until it comes two-thirds of the way up the sides of the cake tin. Close the oven door and bake the cheesecake for 1 hour, then open the oven door and press the berries into the surface of the cake. Bake the cake for a further 30 minutes or until the centre springs back when pressed with your finger. If you feel the cheesecake is not giving you this news, just leave it in the oven for another 10 minutes to be sure.

Switch the oven off and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. Leave the cheesecake in the switched off oven for another hour, then take the baking tray out of the oven and remove the cake from the water bath. When cool, cover the cheesecake then chill in the fridge overnight.

The next day
Remove the cheesecake the tin and place it on a serving plate. The best way to cut this cake is with a knife that has been run under hot water in between each slice, or by dipping the knife into a large jug of boiling water from the kettle. Top each slice with a few extra berries.

I took this to a friend's house and we had this for dessert. As expected, this delicate berry topped cheesecake atop a gingery base was absolutely delicious. 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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chocolate berry birthday cake

chocolate berry birthday cake

18 May 2022

A dear friend recently celebrated her 40th birthday so naturally I made her a birthday cake. I decided to make a chocolate berry birthday cake inspired by Nadine Ingram's recipe for Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake. 

The cake is filled with a mascarpone custard and a berry compote. I made most of the elements, including the cake layers, the day before I assembled it. Nadine suggests cooling the cakes, removing them from the tins and wrapping them snugly in plastic film to help preserve the moisture and flavour of the cakes. The cake layers need to be stored at room temperature not in the fridge or they'll dry out.

Here’s the recipe for you which makes an 8 inch double layer 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 like, you can use 1/2 cup of berry jam instead of the compote but spread the jam over the cake first before topping it with the mascarpone custard. 

Chocolate berry birthday cake - makes a 2 layer 20cm cake
Pastry cream
125 mls milk
1 egg yolk
25g caster sugar
10g plain flour

Berry compote
200g frozen berries
55g caster sugar
Juice half an orange

Cake
185g very soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
185g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 eggs and 1 white, lightly beaten
160gm self-raising flour
30gm cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
3/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
60 ml milk

Mascarpone custard filling
100g mascarpone
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
200mls pure cream

To decorate
A few fresh berries

Pastry cream
Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, then add the flour and whisk until well combined.
 
When the milk comes to the boil, reduce the heat to low. Remove 60 ml of the milk from the pan and pour it over the egg yolk mixture. This warms it a little in preparation for being added to the scalding milk. Give the yolk mixture a quick whisk, then pour it into the boiled milk (still over low heat), ensuring you scrape all the yolk from the bowl with a spatula. Stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula for 2 minutes or until the cream starts to thicken. As soon as it does, swap your spoon for a whisk and continue to cook the pastry cream for 1 minute longer to ensure the flour is completely cooked. The mixture should be quite thick. Remove from the heat and spread out the cream on a flat tray. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate until cold.

Berry compote 
Place all the compote ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the berries don't catch on the base of the pan. The compote will thicken a little but the consistency you are looking for is not jam. You want to retain as many of the whole berries as possible so that when you cut the cake you will see the berries studded through the layers. Remove the compote from the heat and leave it to cool for a few hours. The compote can be made well in advance of when you want to assemble the cake and kept in the fridge for up to 5 days. You won’t need all the compote for this recipe and if you like you could use 1/2 cup berry jam instead.

Cake 
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease two 20 cm-diameter cake tins, line with baking paper, then grease paper and dust with cocoa. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until pale and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Add egg, a little at a time and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, until incorporated.

Meanwhile, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and sift twice. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with milk, until just combined. Turn off mixer, scrape down sides of bowl and the paddle, then beat on high for 2 seconds to aerate batter. Divide batter between tins and smooth tops. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the cakes then reduce temperature to 170°C and bake until the centre of cakes spring back when lightly pressed (10-15 minutes). Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tins.

Mascarpone custard filling
Place all the filling ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a hand whisk). Whisk for 1-2 minutes or until the creams are stiffly whipped, being careful not to over-whip them. 

Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and loosen it first with a spatula then add it to the bowl of whipped cream and whisk on low speed for just 20 seconds - you don't want to whisk the pastry cream for too long after it has been added to the whipped cream as it will destroy the fluffiness of the filling. This filling can be prepared the day before you want to assemble the cake and stored in the fridge.

To assemble 
Level the cakes if needed. Spread half the mascarpone custard filling over one of the layers then spoon the compote over the mascarpone. Place the other layer on top and spread with the remaining mascarpone then top with the berries. Store in the fridge then bring back to room temperature before serving.

Sorry I can't show you a slice of cake but the cake looked very festive topped with 4 candles, one for each decade and the custard filling was a big hit.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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flour and stone old fashioned vanilla cake

flour and stone old fashioned vanilla cake

21 Nov 2021

Whilst browsing through YouTube, I found a video of Nadine Ingram from Flour and Stone presenting a masterclass for Carriageworks markets. I watched Nadine make her old fashioned vanilla cake sandwiched with mascarpone custard cream and fresh berries.

I have a copy of Nadine's book and in the book the cake was sandwiched together with mascarpone custard cream and berry compote. Coincidentally I'd made berry compote the previous day and with some just about to expire mascarpone in the fridge I decided then and there to make a smaller version of the cake the very next day.

 

I found the video really helpful. I was surprised to see how soft the butter was that Nadine used and also the length of time she spent creaming the butter and sugar.

 

I had to do a bit of maths first then followed Nadine's instructions only altering the oven temperature and bake time to suit my oven. As I'd used some egg white in the batter, my cake once baked was only lightly golden and each layer was perfectly level so I didn't need to trim the layers.

Here's the recipe for the Flour and Stone old fashioned vanilla cake which makes a 3 layer 16cm cake. 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.

If you'd like to make a 23cm/9 inch cake double all the ingredients, using 5 or 6 whole eggs in the cake. You can watch Nadine making the cake here in which she shows you how to make the cake using two 9 inch cake tins.

Here are some of Nadine's recommendations.

'Make the pastry cream and berry compote at least 4 hours before the sponge. Ideally this cake should be baked on the day you wish to eat it; however, if you really must bake it the day before due to time restraints, you have to promise me you will not fill the cake until the day it is being eaten. 

When baking a day ahead you will get best results if you cool the cakes, remove them from the tins and wrap them snugly in plastic film. This will preserve the moisture and flavour of the cakes until the following day. Store at room temperature, not in the fridge or they'll dry out'. 

 

Flour and stone old fashioned vanilla cake

Pastry cream  

125 mls milk 

1 egg yolk

25g caster sugar

10g plain flour

 

Berry compote 

200g frozen berries 

55g caster sugar

Juice half an orange  

 

Cake

185 gm very soft unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing 

185 gm caster sugar

1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 eggs and 1 white, lightly beaten

165 gm self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

25 gm cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

50 ml milk

 

Mascarpone custard filling

100g mascarpone 

1/2 tsp vanilla paste

200 mls pure cream

 

To decorate

Icing sugar

 

Pastry cream 

Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring to the boil over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, then add the flour and whisk until well combined.

When the milk comes to the boil, reduce the heat to low. Remove 60 ml of the milk from the pan and pour it over the egg yolk mixture. This warms it a little in preparation for being added to the scalding milk. Give the yolk mixture a quick whisk, then pour it into the boiled milk (still over low heat), ensuring you scrape all the yolk from the bowl with a spatula. Stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula for 2 minutes or until the cream starts to thicken. As soon as it does, swap your spoon for a whisk and continue to cook the pastry cream for 1 minute longer to ensure the flour is completely cooked. Remove from the heat and spread out the cream on a flat tray. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate until cold.

Berry compote 

Place all the compote ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the berries don't catch on the base of the pan. The compote will thicken a little but the consistency you are looking for is not jam. You want to retain as many of the whole berries as possible so that when you cut the cake you will see the berries studded through the layers. Remove the compote from the heat and leave it to cool for a few hours. The compote can be made well in advance of when you want to assemble the cake and kept in the fridge for up to 5 days. 

 

Cake  

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease three 16 cm-diameter cake tins, line with baking paper, then grease paper and dust with flour. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until pale and fluffy. Add egg, a little at a time and scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, until incorporated.

Meanwhile, combine flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt and sift twice. With mixer on low, add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with milk, until just combined. Turn off mixer, scrape down sides of bowl and the paddle, then beat on high for 2 seconds to aerate batter. Divide batter between tins and smooth tops. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 140°C and bake until centre of cakes spring back when lightly pressed (5-10 minutes). Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tins.

Mascarpone custard filling

Place all the filling ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a hand whisk). Whisk for 1-2 minutes or until the creams are stiffly whipped, being careful not to over-whip them.

Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and loosen it first with a spatula then add it to the bowl of whipped cream and whisk on low speed for just 20 seconds - you don't want to whisk the pastry cream for too long after it has been added to the whipped cream as it will destroy the fluffiness of the filling. This filling can be prepared the day before you want to assemble the cake and stored in the fridge.

To assemble  

Trim off any dark crust from the top of 2 of the cakes. Lay out the cake layers in front of you so that you have two cut layers and one with the crusty top. Check that all your layers are the same thickness and make adjustments by trimming them if necessary.

 

Spread half the mascarpone custard filling over one of the cut layers and then spoon half the compote over the mascarpone. Place the other cut layer on top and spread with the remaining mascarpone and berry compote, as you did for the first layer. Place the crusty-top layer of cake on top and dust with icing sugar to finish. This cake needs no accompaniment - it is perfect just the way it is!

This was honestly the lightest, fluffiest butter cake I have ever made or eaten. This will be my go-to recipe from now on.

See you all again next week with the first of  the Christmas bakes for Xmas 2021.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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