passover week 2022 - passover plum and walnut cake

passover week 2022 - passover plum and walnut cake

7 Apr 2022

 

When I finally made the Ottolenghi Apricot walnut and lavender cake last year, I noticed it contained very little flour. I figured I could easily adapt the recipe for Passover, so when plums were in season I froze a dozen because I wanted to make a plum version of the cake. It would be just as easy to make this cake gluten free.

 

 

I figured the plums would overpower the delicate flavour of lavender so I left it out. Instead of flour I used my Passover mix, which is equal quantities of superfine matzo meal mixed with potato or tapioca starch.

Plums are much juicier than apricots so the finished cake is very moist but also very delicious. Rather than icing the cake I decided to glaze the plums. I used a lemon drizzle to do this but thinned apricot jam brushed over the top would work just as well.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a larger cake please refer to the original recipe for quantities. 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.

 

Passover plum and walnut cake – adapted from Plenty More Cookbook 

Ingredients

90g unsalted butter, at room temperature 

2 tsp olive oil 

120g caster sugar, reserve 1 tbs 

60g almond meal 

the seeds of ½ a vanilla bean 

1 tsp grated lemon rind 

2 large eggs, whisked 

60g walnuts, freshly blitzed in a food processor to a coarse powder 

45g Passover mix (equal quantities superfine matzo meal and potato starch) sifted 

Pinch salt 

400g pitted plums, quartered 

 

Glaze

1-2 tbs Apricot jam warmed or lemon drizzle

 

Lemon drizzle (optional) 

1 tbs caster sugar 

1 tbs water 

1 tbs lemon juice 

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 190ºC, conventional. Grease and line the base and sides of a 17-cm cake pan with baking paper.

Place the butter, oil, sugar, almond meal, vanilla seeds and lemon rind in a stand mixer and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Add the eggs in small additions and continue to beat until well incorporated then fold in the ground walnuts, the Passover mix and salt.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Arrange the plum quarters slightly overlapping all over the top of the cake, taking them right to the edge. Sprinkle over the reserved sugar.

Bake for 70-80 minutes – cover with foil if the top starts to brown too much; also, note that when you insert a skewer to test for doneness, it will come out a little sticky because of all the moisture in the apricots.

While the cake is in the oven prepare the drizzle if using. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, dab the drizzle or warmed jam over the top of the cake then leave the cake to cool before serving.

Plums are much juicier than apricots so the finished cake is very moist and almost pudding like in texture but also very delicious. 

See you all again tomorrow with the final recipe for Passover week 2022.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Passover week 2022 - flourless chocolate espresso cake

Passover week 2022 - flourless chocolate espresso cake

4 Apr 2022

Every Passover I make a flourless chocolate cake and to date I've not repeated a recipe because there are so many out there.

This recipe comes from 'Old Food' by Australian writer Jill Dupleix. Jill adapted Julia Child's recipe for Reine de Saba or Queen of Sheba cake by doubling the amount of chocolate. The only change I made to the recipe to make it Passover friendly was to leave out the rum and I also reduced the baking time to 35 minutes to ensure a squidgy centre. I've made this cake a few times now usually with almond meal and on this occasion with hazelnut meal and whilst they're both nice, I think I prefer the cake made with hazelnut meal. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a larger cake you can try this recipe, adding 1-2 tbs warm espresso to the mix. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g 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. 

 

Flourless chocolate espresso cake, adapted from Old Food by Jill Dupleix.

Ingredients

Cocoa powder

125g 70% dark chocolate, chopped

1 tbsp strong, warm espresso coffee

85g caster sugar

85g unsalted butter, chopped

65g almond or hazelnut meal

3 eggs, separated 

Pinch salt

 

Method 

Heat the oven to 175ºC, conventional. Lightly grease and dust a 17cm round cake tin with cocoa; line the base with baking paper. 

Place the chocolate, coffee, sugar and butter in a bowl sitting in a pot of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water. 

 

 

Once the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat and stir until well mixed. Add the ground nuts and mix well. Beat in the egg yolks one by one. Beat the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl with a pinch of salt until stiff and peaky and stir a couple of spoonfuls into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, before gently folding in the rest.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 35 - 45 minutes (less for squidgy and more for cakey) or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

 

Leave to cool before removing from the tin and don’t worry if the crust falls or collapses. That’s perfectly normal, if not desirable. Just before serving dust the top of the cake with cocoa.

 

See you all again tomorrow with some more baking for Passover week 2022.

 

Bye for now,

 

Jillian

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