SLIDER

strawberry buttermilk and halva cake

29 Jun 2025


Every now and again Instagram suggests a post that interests me, which is how I came upon this recipe by
Baked by Benji. The recipe is for a buttermilk halva cake topped with cream and strawberries which
 would be the perfect cake to bake to celebrate the start of Wimbledon.


I grew up eating halva so I didn't need to buy any because I had an almost full container in the fridge. I spent a small fortune on strawberries though because it's not really strawberry season here in Sydney. I had a small container of mixed black and white sesame seeds that I use to top my sourdough bread, so I used them to top the cake.

Benjamina reports that the cake can be baked in advance, wrapped well in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container. Once the cake has been decorated, it’s best served on the same day. Any leftovers will need to be stored in the fridge but the refrigerated cake will start to dry out. 


The recipe makes a very deep 17-cm cake, which I think might work even better as a layer cake sandwiched together with extra cream and berries. I've given measurements for both options. 


Here's the recipe for you which makes a deep 17-cm round cake, which I've adapted from a Benjamina Ebuehi recipeFor 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. 


Strawberry buttermilk and halva cake – makes a deep 17cm single or layer cake
Cake
80g unsalted butter, softened
120g caster sugar
65g plain or vanilla halva
pinch sea salt flakes
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
185g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
80ml buttermilk

Strawberries (double for sandwich cake)
150g strawberries
2 tsp caster sugar
squeeze of lemon
2 tsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted in a dry pan
 
Topping (full amount for sandwich cake, reduced amount for a single cake)
250/200ml cream
100/75g crème fraiche or cream
1 tsp/3/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbs/2 tsp icing sugar

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

Add the butter, sugar and halva, salt and vanilla extract to a bowl and beat for 3-4 minutes until pale and creamy. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after adding each one.

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a separate bowl. Add half of this to the butter mixture and stir until smooth. Mix in the buttermilk followed by the rest of the flour mixture.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45-48 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let it cool completely.


Strawberries 
Prepare the strawberries by washing them and slicing into discs. Add them to a shallow bowl and add the sugar and squeeze of lemon. Give it a gentle stir and then let it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes until they get syrupy.

Topping 
To make the topping, add the cream, crème fraîche, vanilla and sugar to a bowl and whisk by hand until the cream starts to thicken and holds soft peaks. Be careful not to over whip!


Once the cake is cool, top it with the cream and use the back of a spoon to swirl it around. Spoon on the strawberries along with some of the syrup. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds on top and serve. 

If you're going down the layer cake route, halve the cake horizontally into 2 separate layers. Spoon some of the strawberry juices over the base layer. Spoon over just under half of the whipped cream and the berries. You may want to place the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm the cream before topping with the final layer. 


Gently place the remaining cake over the cream and berries, then 
top it with the cream and use the back of a spoon to swirl it around. Spoon on the strawberries along with some of the syrup. Sprinkle the toasted sesame seeds on top and serve.


She's pretty isn't she?

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

Bye for now,

Jillian



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Rhubarb and Apple Custard Crumble Cake

23 Jun 2025



Winter suddenly arrived in Sydney so it's time to make comfort food. I had some leftover oven roasted rhubarb in my fridge and a few green apples in the fruit bowl, so I made a rhubarb and apple custard crumble cake. 


I've made an apple custard teacake before and a rhubarb version, so I was quietly confident that a rhubarb and apple cake topped with crumble would be a winner. The base of the cake comes from 
Sift by Nicola Lamb; the caramelised apples from Nicola Lamb's Substack, Kitchen Project; the custard from this Women's Weekly recipe and the oat crumble was adapted from a Nigel Slater recipe. There will be a bit too much fruit for the top but it keeps well and you can use it to top your morning porridge.

Here's the recipe for you which makes either an 8-inch round or square 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.


Rhubarb and Apple Custard Crumble Cake
Vanilla custard
2 tablespoon custard powder
40g caster sugar
1 cup (250ml) milk
20g butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble
25g rolled oats 
50g plain flour
40g raw sugar 
Pinch of salt
Pinch cinnamon
50g unsalted butter

Oven roasted rhubarb
200g rhubarb
Zest of ½ orange
35g caster sugar
30g water or orange juice

Caramelised Apples
300g Granny Smith apples (you'll need 200g prepared weight)
50g caster sugar
25g unsalted butter

Cake
120g 
room temperature unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
60g light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp flaky salt 
2 eggs
110g plain flour
50g spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarb soda
120g sour cream or Greek yoghurt

Custard
Combine the custard powder and sugar in a small saucepan; gradually stir in the milk. Stir over heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat; stir in the butter and essence. Press plastic wrap over the surface; cool.

Crumble
Stir together the oats, flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon. Rub the cold butter into the mixture until crumbs form. You want a mix of smaller and chunkier crumbs. Set aside or keep in the fridge until ready to use.

Oven roasted rhubarb
Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Cut the rhubarb into 8cm x 2cm batons, then mix with the orange zest, sugar and water or orange juice in a small roasting tray. Roast for 15-17 minutes or until the rhubarb is slightly tender. Leave to cool overnight in the fridge for the best colour. If you don't mind that too much, then you can use it right away.

Caramelised apples
Peel and core and cut into even pieces, about 1-2cm in width. In a low, wide frying pan, add the caster sugar. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat until it starts to melt, caramelize, and even burn in places, about 3-4 minutes. You can move it around if you want, but I normally just let it do its thing. Add the butter along with the apples, reduce the heat to medium-low and let the mixture come to bubble. Lower the heat, then allow the apples to simmer in the caramel sauce for about 10 minutes or until tender. Depending on the varieties, you might get a mixture of mushier and firmer pieces. Once the apples are caramelised and softened, remove the pan from heat. Let the caramelised apples cool slightly before using, or cool completely and store in the fridge for 3 days.


The cake
Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease, flour and line the base of the tin with baking paper. If using a square tin then line the tin with baking paper that extends above the lip of the tin by 5cm to help you remove it later. 
 
Cream the butter and sugars together for 2–3 minutes until light.  You don’t need to go ultra-white and fluffy here. Next, emulsify in the eggs. Due to the ratio between butter and eggs, it WILL probably look (and be) split. Don’t worry. Continue anyway. Stir through the sifted flours, salt and raising agents. Finally, stir through the sour cream.

Spread the batter evenly on the base. Loosen the custard by stirring or blitz with a stick blender if lumpy. Dot the cake 
generously with blobs of custard, then place the apples and rhubarb all over the top. You may not have room for all the fruit. Finally, scatter with the crumble, making sure there is still space for the cake and custard to peek out. 


If making the round cake bake for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. If baking the square cake, it will take less time to bake so start checking after 45 minutes. It’s ready when there’s only the slightest hint of a wobble in the middle. A skewer may not come out clean because of the fruit and custard so check the internal temp is 96°C. 


Cool 
in the tin for about 30 minutes before carefully removing the cake and leaving it to cool completely on a rack for about 2 hours before cutting. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days but bring to room temperature before serving. 


As expected this rhubarb, apple and custard cake topped with crumble was a delight and will definitely be added to my winter repertoire.


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

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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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)


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

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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