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 The cake was originally made with lemon syrup, so if limes are a bit pricey where you live, just use lemons instead.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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olive oil loaf cake with pear and hazelnuts

olive oil loaf cake with pear and hazelnuts

12 May 2025

I borrowed Julia Busuttil Nishimura's recipe book, Good Cooking Every Day from the library and I was reading this recipe on the train when an card inspector came by to check my OPAL card. After he checked the card he commented on how appetizing this cake looked. I've been meaning to make the cake ever since but first I had to wait for pear season.

Autumn seems to have come in a rush. With the changing colours of the leaves, the fruit selection has also changed. Some plums are holding on as are grapes but otherwise its all apples, pears and citrus. I bought a few pears and put them in the fruit bowl waiting for them to ripen.

Here's the recipe for you, adapted from this Julia Busuttil Nishimura recipe, which makes a small loaf 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.

Olive oil loaf cake with pear and hazelnuts

Ingredients
2 eggs
100g caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
70ml light-flavoured extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
80g ground hazelnuts
80g GF or regular plain flour, sifted with 1 tsp baking powder

good pinch of sea salt

To serve

crème fraîche

Poached pears
100g caster sugar
1 star anise

1 bay leaf
1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
juice of ½ lemon
2 small firm pears, peeled, cored and cut into 2 cm pieces.

Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional or 170°C fan-forced. Grease, flour and line a small loaf tin with baking paper.

Poached pears

Place the caster sugar, star anise, bay leaf, vanilla pod and seeds, 250 ml (1 cup) of water and the lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over a medium heat, then add the pears and cook for 6-8 minutes or until just tender. Remove the pears with a slotted spoon and set aside. If the syrup lacks viscosity, continue to simmer the syrup until slightly thickened, remembering it will thicken upon cooling. Reserve the syrup for later. 

Method

Whisk together the eggs, caster sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl. Stream in the olive oil and whisk until just incorporated. Whisk in the ground hazelnuts, then finally whisk in the flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. 

Fold in the pears (approximately 150g) and spoon the batter into the tin. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when tested. 

Use a toothpick to poke holes in the hot cake, then pour over 100mls of the cooled syrup. 

Allow the cake to cool in the tin, then turn out and serve with the crème fraîche and a drizzle of olive oil or any left over pear syrup.

I made a gluten free version to share with my neighbours, and it was well received and the dollop of crème fraiche on top elevates the cake to dessert status. This is one very delicious cake.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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chocolate freckle biscuits

chocolate freckle biscuits

5 May 2025

I subscribe to a few substack feeds and one I can always rely on to share great recipes is Jill Dupleix's. Jill is a well known food writer and I have one of her cookbooks in my collection.

A few weeks back Jill shared a recipe for fairy biscuits. Like most Aussie kids growing up, I just loved fairy bread, but I also loved a chocolate freckle. Using Jill's recipe as my base, I turned her fairy biscuits into chocolate freckle biscuits. I had a scrape of cream cheese I wanted to use up, so I put that into the dough a la the sugar cookie recipe from the King Arthur Baking website, but you can just use 100g butter. 

Cocoa is a drying agent so the chocolate flavoured dough was a bit dry. The hundreds and thousands didn't adhere all that well to the uncooked biscuit, but a quick brush with water put that to right.

Here's the recipe for you which makes about 30, 5cm biscuits. 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.

Chocolate freckle biscuits, makes approximately 30 biscuits.
Ingredients
80 g unsalted butter, softened
20g cream cheese, softened
80 g caster sugar
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
180 g plain flour
20g cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

100 g hundreds and thousands

Method
Heat the oven to 170⁰C, conventional (150⁰C fan-forced). Line two baking trays with baking paper, and place hundreds and thousands in a small bowl.

Beat the butter, cream cheese and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and salt until well-mixed. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into the mixture in two lots, gradually bringing it together with a spatula until it comes together as a smooth dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 6mm thickness. Using a 5 cm cutter, cut into rounds. Lightly brush the top of the cookie with water, then invert and press the cookie gently into the hundreds and thousands, then place the cookie plain side down on the prepared tray. Repeat with remaining biscuits, leaving a little room for spreading. You should be able to fit 12 biscuits on each tray. If you’re baking one tray at a time, refrigerate the 2nd tray of cookies until you're ready to bake them. 

Bake for about 15 minutes or until just-cooked. Pull them out when you can lift one up enough to see the bottom. Tap the bottom and if you hear the sound of the tap, they’re done – and will continue to firm up as they cool. If you think you have taken them out of the oven a bit early, then leave them on the hot baking tray for 5 minutes before removing to the wire rack.

Use a spatula to transfer the biscuits to a wire rack, and leave to cool. When completely cool, store in an air-tight container.

The end result, a pleasing crisp chocolate biscuit coated in crunchy hundreds and thousands. I think they might be a little bit addictive, so I packed them up and gave them to my neighbours to avoid temptation.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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gluten free sour cherry almond and ricotta cake

gluten free sour cherry almond and ricotta cake

27 Apr 2025

I love sour cherries and when the Gelato Bar was still in existence, I'd treat myself to a slice of their sour cherry and cheese strudel. A few months ago I went on the hunt for frozen sour cherries to make a sour cherry pie. I bought 2 packets but as I keep baking with the cherries, I'll have to hunt down some more before I can make that sour cherry pie.

Instead of pie, I made a gluten free sour cherry, almond and ricotta cake, so that I could share it with my  neighbour who is gluten intolerant. The cake was inspired by a Julia Busuttil Nishimura recipe but I went off piste, I think I can claim it as my own. It's a one bowl cake and you could probably make the cake with jarred sour cherries, but as they're so delicate I worry they might disintegrate as you stir them through the batter.

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.

Gluten free sour cherry ricotta cake

Cake

100g frozen sour cherries, dusted with 1 tsp flour

110g self-raising GF flour

¼ tsp baking powder

pinch of sea salt

25g almond meal

125g caster sugar 

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

125 g fresh full-fat ricotta

1 egg

75 ml/70g light-flavoured extra-virgin olive oil

Topping

50g frozen sour cherries

2 tbs flaked almonds 

1 tsp raw sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C conventional. Grease, flour and line the base of a 17 cm round cake tin with baking paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl. Stir through the almond meal, removing any lumps in the process. Set aside.

Place the caster sugar, lemon zest, vanilla and ricotta in a large bowl and whisk together until well combined. Add the egg and the olive oil and whisk until smooth. Add in the flour and mix until just combined. Add the frozen cherries and mix gently to combine, then spoon the batter into the tin. Smooth the surface, then scatter with the reserved frozen cherries followed by the flaked almonds. Lastly, sprinkle over the raw sugar.

Place the tin on the centre rack and bake for 1 hour at 190°C conventional or until a skewer comes out clean when tested. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

The cake is easy to make; has a really tender crumb and every now and then you get a little pop of sour cherry. It's a keeper.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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anzac biscuit tart

anzac biscuit tart

21 Apr 2025

In Australia and New Zealand we commemorate ANZAC Day on April 25. Rather than baking a batch of Anzac biscuits I thought I'd try my hand at making the Anzac Biscuit Tart from Tarts Anon.

The original recipe makes a 25cm tart so I needed to tweak the proportions to make a 16cm tart. I'd love to say that it all went smoothly, but it didn't and if/when I remake the tart I will make some key changes. 

The tart has many components - a pastry shell/a coconut caramel/an Anzac biscuit and a coconut and almond frangipane. I used my own shortcrust pastry recipe, and it was the only element that worked as it should.

The coconut caramel seized. The Anzac biscuit doubled in size and was way too thick. Because ithe biscuit was so thick, it prevented the heat getting to the coconut frangipane so even after 40 minutes, the filling wasn't completely cooked. The 40 minute bake time ensured the biscuit was so well cooked, that it was almost impossible to cut!

Plans for the future. Make the biscuit layer much, much thinner and sandwich the biscuit to the almost completely cooked tart with a thin layer of the coconut dulce de leche and bake it for another 5 minutes to fuse the 2 layers. Despite all the problems, the tart tasted absolutely amazing.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16cm tart. 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.

Anzac Biscuit Tart 
Shortcrust pastry
120g plain flour
Pinch salt
60g cold unsalted butter, diced
2-3 tbs cold water

Coconut caramel 
40g coconut cream
100g caster sugar
5g salt
50 g milk
45 g butter
approx 50 g Dulce de Leche

 
Anzac biscuit 
35 g butter
6 g water
16 g golden syrup
40 g plain flour
25 g quick oats
40 g soft brown sugar
27 g desiccated coconut
pinch salt
1 tsp grated lemon rind 
1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Coconut cake batter 
100 g butter 
30 g natural almond meal
40 g desiccated coconut
50 g plain flour
¼  tsp baking powder
pinch salt 
90 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
80g eggs (1 and 1/2)

To finish 
Icing sugar, for dusting

Pastry
To make the pastry, combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor, and whiz for a few seconds until well combined and free of lumps. Add the cold butter and whiz until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add sufficient cold water and whiz until a soft dough just starts to form around the blade. Remove the dough from the food processor and gather the pastry into a ball; flatten slightly before wrapping in plastic and placing in the fridge. You’ll only need about 2/3 of the pastry dough to make a 16cm tart. The pastry freezes well so just wrap the remaining pastry in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. 

Refrigerate the pastry for an hour and then roll out thinly - 4mm thick. Line a greased 16 cm flan tin with the pastry then return to the fridge for another 30 minutes.

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 bring to 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 this mixture and mix with an equal weight of dulce de leche and store in a container.

Anzac biscuit
Preheat your oven to 150°C fan forced/170°C conventional. Line a tray with baking paper.

Place the butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan and warm gently. Mix all of the dry ingredients, except the bicarbonate of soda, with the lemon rind 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. 

Once a dough has formed, spoon it onto the lined baking tray, then spread thinly into a circle the same size as the base of your tart tin. Bake this mixture for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 120°C fan forced/140°C conventional 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 your oven temperature to 165°C, fan forced/185°C, conventional to preheat for baking the tart and place a baking tray on the middle shelf.

Coconut cake batter
Firstly, brown the butter. Place the 100g butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook gently until it turns a foamy tan brown and smells nutty. Remove the pan from the heat and pour into a heatproof bowl. Weigh the brown butter and if it’s less than 75g, just top it up with water. Place the bowl in the fridge for 15 minutes.

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

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract together in a large bowl until pale. Gradually add the eggs and mix until well combined.  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 100 g of the coconut caramel over the base of the tart, then pour 325 g of the coconut batter on top. Place the biscuit circle on top, then transfer the tart into the preheated 165°C fan forced/185°C conventional oven to bake for approximately 30 minutes ( my filling wasn't cooked through after 40 minutes, so maybe 50 minutes to 1 hour) or until the crust is an even colour and the centre of the tart is firm. If the biscuit is getting too brown, cover with foil. Remove from the oven and allow to cool inside the tin.

Once cool, remove the tart from the tin and portion into slices. Finish each slice with a dusting of icing sugar.

It's always a pity when after so much hard work you can't cut a clean slice but not so bad when the tart tastes so delicious.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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