posh jam and cream buns

posh jam and cream buns

2 Jun 2025

I saw a photo of these Tulameen raspberry, cardamom & mascarpone splits on the Lannan Bakery's instagram page and I thought they looked so cute, I wanted to create my own version. 

Whilst they might be known as 'splits' in Edinburgh, where I'm from they're known as a jam and cream bun or doughnut depending on whether the buns are baked or fried. When I was little, the absolute best jam and cream doughnuts came from Goldstein's Bakery at the Gold Coast. On Sunday morning my Dad would stand in a queue and would come home with dozens of the doughnuts nestled in a pristine white paper bag. The buns were filled with fresh whipped cream rather than mock cream, which was unusual at the time. I loved those doughnuts, but I haven't lived in QLD for a very long time and its been decades since I last ate a jam and cream bun sitting on the beach at Surfers Paradise with my friend Debra, whilst wearing a teeny tiny bikini. I was only 19.

In recreating the buns I used many sources. The bun dough is from the Seasonal maritozzi recipe in Sift by Nicola Lamb. The shaping method and instructions come from Erin Clarkson aka Cloudy Kitchen and of course the decoration was inspired by Lannan Bakery. The buns looked so fancy my sister declared that they were 'posh' hence the name.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 6-8 buns, adapted from a Nicola Lamb recipe with instructions from Cloudy Kitchen. 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.

Posh jam and cream buns – makes 6-8 buns 
Preferment
75g whole milk
1 vanilla pod, scraped
4g caster sugar (about 1½ tsp)
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
3g dry yeast (about 1 tsp)
120g strong bread flour

Second dough
50g whole eggs (about 1)
60g whole milk
120g strong bread flour
4g fine salt (about ¾ tsp)
35g caster sugar
45g butter, softened

Glaze 
1 egg whisked with 1 tsp water or 1-2 tbs cream or melted butter

Vanilla whipped cream - enough for 8 buns
300g cream
20g icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch salt

To serve
Berry jam 
Icing sugar, to dust
fresh raspberries, halved (optional)

Preferment
Heat the milk, vanilla seeds, sugar and citrus zests until simmering. Cool to around 35-40°C, then add the dry yeast and let it sit for 10 minutes until bubbly.
Stir in the strong bread flour to form a stiff dough, and let it rest for 2 hours, covered, in a warm place. The dough should be risen, very fragrant and airy. You can keep the preferment in the fridge for up to 3 days and use it anytime. If you are using it from cold, it will take longer to reactivate and the other ingredients must be warm to help it along.

To mix the second dough, add the egg and milk to a mixer bowl. Tear up the preferment and add to the bowl, along with the flour, salt and sugar. Mix on a medium speed for 8-10 minutes, until medium gluten development is reached - this is when you can pull on the dough and it stays together but it is still quite fragile. You can take it further than this, but this is the minimum requirement before adding the butter.

Add the soft butter, then mix for a further 5-8 minutes on a medium speed until full gluten development is reached.  Cover the dough and leave to proof for 2 hours or until puffy and somewhat doubled in size. My dough was very sticky so I did 3 sets of stretch and folds every 30 minutes and then I placed the dough in the fridge for an overnight rise.

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Turn the dough out onto a surface and knead a few times. Divide the dough into 6-8 equal portions, then shape each into a ball.

To shape the buns

Take a ball of dough and flatten slightly, then roll into a sausage about 4” (10cm) long, making sure it is even and the ends are rounded. Place onto the baking sheet. Repeat the shaping with the remaining pieces of dough, spacing the rolls out well on the baking sheet. Cover the baking sheets lightly with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 30 to 45 minutes (will be slightly longer if your dough is cold), or until puffy, and a small indentation is left when poked gently with your finger. (My buns took 1½ hours to proof in my cold kitchen).

While the buns are rising, preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Brush the buns with the egg wash, melted butter or cream. Bake on the centre rack of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes , rotating the trays half way through, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Filling and assembly
Place the cream, icing sugar, vanilla bean paste and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl. Whip until medium peaks form. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star tip.

Cut each bun vertically down the centre, making sure not to cut the whole way through. Open the buns up a bit, then spoon or pipe 1-2 tsps of jam inside. Pipe or spoon the cream filling into the middle of each bun and then pipe blobs of berry jam or place a few halved raspberries onto the cream. Just before serving, dust the buns with icing sugar.

Best served the day that they are made. I froze the leftover buns, defrosted them and filled them to order with jam and cream when the time arose.

Well these were a hit with the neighbours and worth making a batch of rhubarb and raspberry jam and 2 batches of the preferment when the first batch failed to rise. I'm sure I'll be making another batch of these posh jam and cream buns quite soon.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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gluten free coconut caramel tart (ANZAC biscuit tart)

gluten free coconut caramel tart (ANZAC biscuit tart)

Yes, you are correct, you have seen this tart before. I made this tart for ANZAC Day and whilst it tasted delicious it caused me all kind of problems. The biscuit layer was too thick which stopped the coconut cake layer from cooking completely even after 45 minutes. 

I don't like a recipe to defeat me and I thought this tart was so nice it was worth the effort involved in remaking the tart. I did make some changes. Firstly, I made a much thinner ANZAC biscuit - about 2mm thick. I then filled the uncooked pastry shell with the coconut cake batter and baked the tart until the cake layer was fully cooked. Once the cake layer was cooked I topped it with the ANZAC biscuit layer and returned the tart to the oven until the biscuit turned a toasty brown. I also made the tart gluten free so I could share the tart with my neighbour and I have to be honest, the gluten free version was better than the original.

Gluten free pastry is a bit tricky to work with. As it doesn't have any gluten the pastry is inclined to crumble and if you don't refrigerate the tart after it's baked, it will collapse. I warn you - do not attempt to unmould the tart until it has cooled completely and rested in the fridge for an hour or two otherwise will end in tears.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16cm tart, adapted from a Gareth Whitton recipe from Tarts Anon. 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.

Coconut Caramel Tart (GF) – 16cm tart 

GF pastry
70g gluten free plain flour, plus more for dusting
30g potato starch 
20g tapioca starch 
pinch sea salt flakes
75g cold unsalted butter, cut into small dice
2 to 3 tbs (30-45g) ice-cold water

Coconut caramel
40g coconut cream
95g caster sugar
5g salt
55g milk
45g unsalted butter
approximately 40g dulce de leche

Anzac biscuit
25g butter
5g water
12g golden syrup
30g gluten free plain flour
17g quick oats
30g soft brown sugar
20g desiccated coconut
pinch salt
⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda

 
Coconut cake batter
90g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
25g natural almond meal
30g desiccated coconut
40g gluten free plain flour
scant ½ tsp baking powder
pinch salt
80g caster sugar
1 egg

To serve
Icing sugar

Pastry
Combine the plain flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to aerate the flour. Add the diced butter and pulse about ten times or until the butter is the size of peas. Add 2 tbs ice water and pulse until the dough starts to come together. Check the dough by pressing it between your fingers. Depending on humidity, you might not need all the ice water. Add the remaining tablespoon if the dough seems too dry and crumbly-it should stick together without feeling wet.

Transfer the dough onto a work surface, and bring it together without handling it too much. The warmth of your hands can melt the butter, and we want to keep it cold. Cold butter aids in creating a flaky crust. Wrap the pastry in baking paper and flatten slightly. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. 

To roll the dough, dust a work surface with flour. Start rolling the dough from the centre outward, turning it 90 degrees every time. Make sure the surface and rolling pin are well floured to avoid sticking. Sometimes, especially if it's too cold, the dough will tend to crack. If this happens, bring the dough back together and knead it a couple of times to give it elasticity and warm it slightly. Roll out the pastry to a 4 mm thickness then use the pastry to line a 16cm tin. Again if the pastry cracks while doing this, just gently press it back together. Place the lined tart shell back in the fridge for an hour.

Coconut caramel
In a saucepan, bring the coconut cream to a simmer and set aside. Add the sugar, salt, milk and butter to another saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.

Continue to cook while whisking, to ensure it doesn't burn, and reduce the liquid until the mixture becomes thick and caramelised. At this point, remove the caramel from the stove, add the coconut cream and whisk to combine. Give it a quick blitz with a hand-held blender until shiny, then allow to cool. Once set, weigh out 40g of the caramel and mix with an equal weight of dulce de leche and store in a container.

Anzac biscuit
Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional or 150°C, fan forced.

Place the butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan and warm gently. Mix all of the dry ingredients except the bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and set aside. Once the butter and syrup mixture has fully dissolved, bring to a simmer and whisk in the bicarbonate of soda. As soon as the syrup foams and expands, pour into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well until a dough has formed. You will only use about half the batter to make the Anzac biscuit topping. I made 2 Anzac biscuits with the leftover batter.  

Line a small baking tray with baking paper and trace around the tart tin. Using this as a template, make a thin layer of biscuit the same size as the base of your tart tin.  Bake this mixture for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 140°C conventional/120°C, fan forced and bake for a further 10 minutes. Then, while the biscuit is still hot, place the base of the tart tin on top and cut around it to get a clean circle. Allow this to cool and set aside for later. 

Increase the oven temperature to 200°C conventional or 180°C, fan forced and then place a baking tray on the centre rack. 

Coconut cake batter
Put the chopped butter into a small saucepan. Place over a medium heat and cook until the butter starts to foam, turns brown and smells like toasted hazelnuts. Take the pan off the heat and immediately pour into the bowl of a stand mixer. Refrigerate the bowl for 15 minutes or until the butter is no longer liquid. You will need 75g of the cooled butter.

Weigh the dry ingredients, except the sugar, into a separate bowl and stir them together. 

Add the sugar to the bowl of the stand mixer and using the paddle, mix on low speed for 2-3 minutes until lightened. Add the egg and mix until incorporated. Finally, mix in the dry ingredients, making sure that there are no lumps suspended throughout the batter.

To assemble and bake
To assemble the tart, spread 80g of the coconut caramel over the base of the tart, then pour 300g of the coconut batter on top then use an offset spatula to smooth the filling. Transfer the tart onto the preheated baking tray and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 190°C, conventional/170°C fan forced and bake for a further 25 minutes or until the crust is an even colour and the centre of the tart is firm. 

Gently place the biscuit circle on top of the filling, then return the tart to the oven to bake for a further 15 minutes. I used a thin layer of dulce du leche to sandwich the 2 layers together but I don’t think that’s necessary. Remove the tart from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Let the tart cool completely, then once cool, place the whole tart, still in the tin in the refrigerator to firm up the crust. When the crust is firm, you can unmould the tart and place it into an airtight container.

Once cool, remove the tart from the tin and using a serrated knife to cut through the crust, portion into slices. Finish each slice with a dusting of icing sugar.

I can't tell you how good this tart is - very short pastry base; luscious coconut caramel filling and the crunchy biscuit top. I was so impressed with my neatly sliced pieces of tart especially as I used gluten free pastry. I honestly didn't think it was possible.

See you 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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pistachio cake with lime syrup

pistachio cake with lime syrup

19 May 2025

Last year I took out a copy of 'In Belinda's Kitchen' by Belinda Jeffrey from the library and I bookmarked a few recipes including this one for a pistachio and lime syrup cake. Earlier in the year I paid $7.50 for 3 of the tiniest limes you've ever seen and I didn't want to repeat the experience so I've been waiting for lime season to arrive. The cake was originally made with lemon syrup, so if limes are a bit pricey where you live, just use lemons instead.

I love baking with pistachios and I normally have a packet stored in my fridge. You'll need to make your own pistachio meal for this recipe and you want a fine meal like almond meal. You are not looking to make pistachio paste. I use a mini food processor to make nut meal and I process the nuts in 30 second bursts. Belinda suggests pulsing the nuts in the food processor with a tablespoon of flour from the recipe, as the flour helps prevent them becoming oily and forming a paste. Michael James suggests freezing the nuts before grinding them. I did both and I ended up with a finely ground nut meal.  

Here's the recipe for you, which makes a 17cm round cake, 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.

Pistachio and lime syrup cake 

Cake
30g GF or regular plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
50g pistachios, finely ground 

finely grated zest of 2 limes
60g almond meal
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g caster sugar
2 x 60g eggs, at room temperature

To serve

Rich cream or thick Greek-style yoghurt

Syrup and topping 
45g caster sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) fresh lime juice, strained
45g pistachios, roughly chopped

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Butter a 17-cm round cake tin. Line the base with buttered baking paper then dust the tin with flour. 

Tip the flour, baking powder, ground pistachios, lime zest and almond meal into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk them together with a balloon whisk for a minute or so, then set the bowl aside.

Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer (or use a hand-held electric beater) and beat them on medium speed for about 4 minutes, stopping and scraping down the sides occasionally, until the mixture looks creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, allowing each egg to be absorbed before adding the next. (Don't worry if the mixture looks a little curdled after adding the last egg it will come together again when you add the dry ingredients.) Tip in the flour mixture and mix everything together on low speed until it is just combined be careful not to over-mix it, or the cake may be a bit tough. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top.

Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes, or until it springs back when lightly pressed in the centre and a fine skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer it to a wire rack and leave it to cool a little in the tin.

When the cake is lukewarm, make the syrup. To do this, put the sugar and lime juice into a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the chopped pistachios, increase the heat and bring the mixture to the boil.

Turn the cake out onto a serving plate and peel away the baking paper. Slowly spoon the hot pistachio and lime syrup evenly over the top, then leave the cake to cool completely. Serve with softly whipped cream or yoghurt.

I shared the cake with my neighbours and in return I was given a container of pumpkin and lentil soup. Gotta love my neighbours.

 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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canberra and bungendore

canberra and bungendore

13 May 2025

Easter came and went in a haze, so I was determined to go away for ANZAC Day and I decided to drive down to Canberra. I was interested in seeing the Ethel Carrick exhibition at the National Gallery, before it closed and the Fit to Print exhibition at the National Library of Australia. I enjoyed both exhibitions greatly as well as my dinner at Bar Rochford.

Canberra is much cooler than Sydney so the leaves had already started to change colour. In the morning I took a walk around the streets of Braddon so I could enjoy the autumnal hues before I drove back home to Sydney via Bungendore.

It's been 25 years since my last trip to Bungendore. We'd been out for dinner the night before and I had a very queasy tummy so I lay down on the back seat of the car for the whole journey from Sydney, so my memories of Bungendore are few. I don't remember it being so charming.

It was a grey, dreary sort of day. I parked the car and went for a wander down the main thoroughfare with my camera.

I found the retro looking Motel Bungendore, which has clearly seen better days.

My Dad loved nothing better than a long distance country drive, and we'd often end up staying in one of these roadside motels with their ingenious little cupboards containing the breakfast that you'd ordered at reception the night before.

There were other gems like the CWA Hall.

And the Royal Hotel. 

Just across the street was St Philip's Anglican Church. It looks peaceful but I took these photos accompanied by the squawks from a flock of cockatoos. 

I turned tail and headed down the other side of the street, past this rose in all her faded glory.

The next stop was the prettiest Police Station I think I've seen in NSW.

Surrounded by immaculate gardens.

Last but not least was the lovely Old Stone House.

The Old Stone House operates as a wedding venue and as a former wedding photographer, I would have loved to have photographed a wedding in its beautiful grounds.

After my little wander it was back into the car for the drive back to Sydney.

I hope you enjoyed coming along with me on my mini break in Canberra and Bungendore.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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