Rhubarb and raspberry crostata

Rhubarb and raspberry crostata

29 Jan 2018

I hope you all enjoyed the Australia Day Long Weekend. It gave me the chance to get into the kitchen to work on some new recipes for you. If you think you've seen a rhubarb raspberry crostata on the blog before, it's because you have. I made individual rhubarb and berry crostatas a few years ago but found the original pastry a bit too rich so I reworked the recipe using a different pastry and added frangipane to the filling. 




I love the idea of a crostata, which is just a free-form pie, but every time I make one the pastry splits and the filling leaks everywhere. This one was no different.




Despite all the problems I had with the pastry, the end result was so delicious I'm not giving up on crostatas. Pretty much anything looks good dusted in icing sugar!


Here's the recipe for you. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams; I use unsalted butter and my oven is a conventional gas oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Jillian’s Rhubarb and Raspberry Crostata - serves 8
Pastry
250g plain flour
¼ teaspoon salt
150g cold butter, diced
⅓ cup cold water

Filling
1 bunch (500g) rhubarb, rinsed, drained, trimmed
200 g frozen raspberries
¾ cup caster sugar
2 tbsp custard powder

Frangipane
50 g unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
1 tsp grated orange rind
75g almond meal
1 tbs plain flour
1 egg, beaten lightly

Topping
1-2 tbs milk
Raw sugar, Demerara or coffee crystals

To serve
Icing sugar
Double cream or ice-cream

Method
On a flat work surface, combine the flour and salt, then incorporate the cold diced butter with your fingers. Rub the butter into the flour until the butter pieces are no larger than the size of peas. Make a well in the centre of the flour, and pour in the cold water. Using your hands, mix the water into the flour until dough is formed. Flatten the pastry into a disc; wrap the dough in plastic and put in the refrigerator for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Chop the rhubarb into 5cm pieces and put into a bowl with the frozen raspberries, caster sugar and custard powder; toss to coat. To make the frangipane; place all the ingredients into a food processor then process all the ingredients to form a soft paste.

Lightly dust a large sheet of baking paper with flour (I used the Le Creuset toughened non stick baking sheet from Everten) and roll the pastry out to form a rough circle approximately 30cm in diameter. Transfer the pastry on the baking paper to a large oven tray. Spread the frangipane in the centre of the pastry, leaving an 8cm border. Top with the drained rhubarb mixture.  Lift the sides of the pastry up over the fruit and crimp in place. Brush the edges of the pastry with milk and lightly sprinkle with raw sugar or coffee crystals.



Bake on the lower shelf of the oven for 45-50 minutes or until crisp and golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve with double cream or ice-cream, if desired.



The combination of flaky pastry, the tartness of the berry and rhubarb filling offset by the frangipane made for a very delicious tart and they're still talking about it at work. Next time I make this I'm planning to make it as a lattice pie using the same pastry and the same filling.



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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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pannacotta lamington cake

pannacotta lamington cake

22 Jan 2018

With Australia Day just around the corner I decided it was time to revisit the humble lamington, a bit of a tradition on the blog. In past years I've made lamingtons, lamington cupcakes, a lamington cake and pannacotta lamingtons. This year I decided to combine the pannacotta lamingtons with the lamington cake to make a pannacotta lamington cake. 



You make a butter cake. You halve the cake, then soak the cake halves in pannacotta, then when the pannacotta has set you sandwich the cakes together with raspberry jam, before coating the cake in chocolate. As a finishing touch you toss some coconut around the edges of the cake.




What could possibly go wrong? Everything! The cake didn't rise as much as it should and it wouldn't brown. The first batch of pannacotta curdled so I had to remake it. I ran out of home-made raspberry jam and had to scavenge through the pantry looking for another red jam (rhubarb and apple). When I found the packet of shredded coconut I knew I had in the cupboard, it had yellowed and I couldn't use it so I used flaked coconut instead of a 50:50 mix. Worse was to come.



I photographed the cake and cut myself a slice, which I have to say was delicious so I'm happy to share the recipe with you. 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 20ºC.

Lamington Cake – inspired by Flour and Stone.

Pannacotta

1 tablespoon cold water

1¼ teaspoons gelatine

½ cup full cream milk

Scant ¼ cup caster sugar

½ vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped

1 cup buttermilk or cream

Butter Cake

125 grams (4 oz) unsalted butter

100 grams (½ cup) caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1¾ cups self-raising flour, sifted

¼ cup plain flour

¾ cup milk or buttermilk

Chocolate glaze

150 gm dark chocolate (56%-60% cocoa solids), finely chopped

50 gm butter, diced

50 gm icing sugar, sieved

1-2 tbsp cream or milk

To finish

Raspberry jam, for spreading

50 gm coconut flakes or shredded coconut or a mix of both

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over the water. Set aside until the gelatine has softened, 5 minutes. Place the milk, the sugar and the vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatine. Cool to room temperature, and then remove the vanilla bean from the milk mixture. Gradually whisk the milk into the cream or buttermilk and stir together gently. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a jug and leave to one side while you make the cake.

Cake

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease and line the base and sides of two 20cm round tins with baking paper. You’ll use one tin for baking the cake and the second one for the pannacotta soak

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until combined well. Sift the flours together into a small bowl. Add the flour alternately with the milk to make a soft batter. Spread the mixture into the prepared tin; smooth the surface and bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden and the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Cool in tin. When cool turn out the cake but don’t discard the baking paper. Trim the top flush if necessary and slice horizontally. Place the bottom half back into the cake tin still in the baking paper. Place the other half in the second lined cake tin. Pierce the cakes all over at small intervals with a skewer. Gradually pour the pannacotta mixture over cakes, letting the liquid soak in, and refrigerate until set (4-5 hours or overnight).

Glaze

Stir chocolate, butter and icing sugar in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and stir in milk. You can also melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave before adding the icing sugar and milk or cream. Cool briefly.

To assemble, remove the cakes from the tins. Place one cake half on a wire rack on a tray. Spread the bottom half with jam and sandwich together with the remaining half. Pour the chocolate glaze over cake, spreading over top and sides. Combine the flaked and shredded coconut in a bowl, press onto side of cake and refrigerate the cake until set (30-40 minutes).

To serve, cut into slices with a hot wet knife. The lamington cake will keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I took the cake into work and as I transferred the cake from the cake carrier, it slid off the base and landed chocolate side down onto the floor. I could save the bottom layer but the top layer was destroyed so in the end I was the only one who managed to taste the complete cake. I do have plans to remake the cake some time in the future but for now I'm still a bit too traumatised.

Happy Australia Day!

See you all again next week.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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soft gingerbread tiles with lemon butter glaze

soft gingerbread tiles with lemon butter glaze

15 Jan 2018

When I returned to Sydney I bought a few items at the Boxing Day sales including these snowflake pie crust cutters. I doubt I'll ever use them to decorate pies but I thought they'd make great cookie cutters.



I couldn't wait to use them and I knew exactly what to make, the soft gingerbread tiles with lemon butter glaze from Sweet by Ottolenghi and Helen Goh.

I made a few adaptations to the original recipe. I don't like the taste of molasses and didn't have any treacle in the house, so I used golden syrup instead. To save time I threw everything into the food processor and found I didn't need to use the full quantity of golden syrup. When I made the glaze I went down the non-alcoholic route and used lemon juice rather than rum.



The original recipe said it would make 12-14 biscuits depending on the size of the cookie stamp but I made about 30 cookies. I was a bit generous with the glaze so I ran out, so if you use small cutters like I did, you might need to make a little more glaze. 



Here's the recipe for you. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams; I use unsalted butter and my oven is a conventional gas oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Soft Gingerbread Tiles with Lemon Butter Glaze - makes 30 small cookies

Soft Gingerbread 

235g plain flour

1 tbs dutch process cocoa powder

½ tsp bicarb soda

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp salt

85g unsalted butter at room temperature

90g brown sugar

75-100g golden syrup

1 large egg yolk

Rum or Lemon Butter Glaze

80g icing sugar

⅛ tsp cinnamon

15g unsalted butter, melted and warm

15 mls dark rum (or lemon juice)

1 teaspoon warm water

Method

Place the dry ingredients into a food processor and whiz for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and sugar and whiz until soft breadcrumbs form. Add the egg yolk and the golden syrup and whiz until the mix comes together. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently.If the dough is soft you may need to chill the dough before rolling out.

Preheat oven 190ºC. Line two baking trays with baking parchment and set aside. Roll out the dough so it’s 6mm thick Dip the cookie stamps in a small bowl of flour, shake off any excess and then press them firmly into the dough, one at a time, to create a deep imprint. Using a round biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the pattern, cut out the pieces of imprinted gingerbread.

Transfer the cookies to the lined baking trays about 1-inch apart. Re-roll the dough and continue to stamp and cut until all the dough is used up. Bake for 9-10 mins, rotating the trays halfway through, until firm to the touch. Don’t be tempted to cook any longer as the gingerbread will continue to firm as they cool.

While the biscuits are in the oven, prepare the glaze as it needs to be brushed on while they are still warm. Sift the icing sugar and cinnamon into a bowl. Add the melted butter, rum (or lemon juice) and water and mix with a spoon until smooth. The glaze will thicken slightly if it sits around, so stir through a little more warm water if you need to – it should be the consistency of runny honey.

Remove the biscuits from the oven, leave to rest for 5 mins, then brush or dab the glaze all over with a pastry brush. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Biscuits will keep for up to five days in an airtight container.

Like all Ottolenghi recipes, this one worked like a dream and the gingerbread was packed with flavour.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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apricot and almond cake

apricot and almond cake

8 Jan 2018

Hi Every-one,

Happy New Year and welcome to the first post of 2018. I may have taken a break from blogging but I've done plenty of baking since my last post. I think I baked at least 4 dozen mince pies and made a huge batch of chocolate chip cookie bark to share with my Brisbane friends while I was away.

I normally make plum cake at this time of year, however apricots have been plentiful and not too expensive this summer so I thought I'd make an apricot cake instead. 




I made the cake on a very hot Sydney day and the smell of the cake as it baked almost distracted me from the heat coming from the kitchen. The cake came out of the oven looking golden brown and smelling delicious.

This cake is nothing complicated, just a lemon scented butter cake topped with apricots and almonds but often simple is delicious.

If you'd like to make this at home, here is the recipe for you which makes an 18 cm cake. I think you could also bake this in a 20cm cake tin but you'd just layer all the apricot slices on the top of the cake and it might need a little less time to bake. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams; I use unsalted butter and my oven is a conventional gas oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Apricot and almond cake  

Cake Ingredients  

6 apricots  

125 grams (4 oz) unsalted butter  

100 grams (½ cup) caster sugar  

1 tsp grated lemon rind  

2 eggs  

3/4 cup self raising flour  

½ tsp baking powder 

¼ cup (35 g) finely ground whole almonds 

1/4 cup milk or plain yoghurt  

2 tablespoons caster sugar  

2 tbs flaked almonds 

  

Method   

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease and line the base and sides of an 18 cm springform tin with baking paper.  

  

Cut the apricots in half and remove the pits. Slice each apricot half into thirds and sprinkle with a little of the extra caster sugar. Set aside.   

  

To make the cake, cream the butter, sugar and lemon rind together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until combined well. Sift the flour and baking powder together and stir through the ground almonds. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to make a soft batter. You may not need to use all the milk. 

Spoon half the batter into the lined tin and decoratively arrange half the apricot slices over the top of the batter sprinkling the apricots with some caster sugar. Spoon the remaining cake batter over the apricots, gently pressing the apricot slices down into the batter. Sprinkle with the rest of the caster sugar and the flaked almonds. 

Bake the cake for 50 minutes – 1 hour or until the cake is golden brown and tests cooked when a skewer is inserted into it.  Cool the cake in the tin for about 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.  

  

  

I took this into work today to sweeten my workmate's first day back at work for 2018. 

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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