DELICIOUS BITES

little queenie - strawberry buttermilk sponge cake

9 Feb 2026

February 14 was always a special day in our household, not because it was Valentine's Day but because it was my Grandma Edie's birthday. Grandma and I would go shopping together and for a treat we would have morning tea in the McDonnell and East cafe, secreted in the Ladies Department and we always had a slice of sponge cake usually topped with passionfruit and cream. Grandma is long gone but in honour of her birthday, I thought I'd bake her a cake and of course it had to be a sponge cake.

Nadine Ingram is the owner of Flour and Stone, a cult Sydney bakery. Last year I borrowed a copy of Love Crumbs, her second book, from the library. The cakes all looked lovely, but many of the recipes were very complicated with multiple steps or required hard to find ingredients. 'Little Queenie' caught my eye because at it's heart it's a sponge cake filled with berries and cream. Honestly, is there a better cake partnership than that? Little Queenie does require some special ingredients such as freeze dried strawberries, pink peppercorns and hibiscus flowers. Freeze dried strawberries are sold in my local supermarket but the pink peppercorns and hibiscus flowers used to flavour the strawberry compote are not. In the end I found and purchased them both online.

Here's the recipe for you, written in Nadine's inimitable style, which makes a 17-cm cake. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. If you'd like to make a towering 20-cm cake, then double the ingredients for the cake and you'll need 50% more of the compote, filling and decorations.

Little Queenie - strawberry buttermilk sponge
Buttermilk sponge
3 eggs, separated
90g caster sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar
75g plain flour
15g cornflour
1/2 tsp baking powder
12g unsalted butter
50ml buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla paste

Strawberry compote
¾ tbs dried mint
Scant ½ tsp pink peppercorns, crushed
4 cardamom pods, cracked
65g caster sugar
1 lemon, zested
3 dried hibiscus petals
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
250g ripe strawberries, hulled

Mascarpone filling
50g room temperature cream cheese

100g mascarpone
125g cream
60g Greek yoghurt
40g caster sugar
¾ tsp vanilla paste

To decorate
1 fresh egg white
6 mint sprigs
50g caster sugar
½ tbs crushed cardamom pods

15g freeze dried strawberries

1 tsp cracked pink peppercorns

5 dried hibiscus petals

Buttermilk sponge
Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional. Grease and line 2 x 17 cm cake tins with baking paper and set them aside. I prepare all the ingredients before I start whipping the eggs for the sponge, that way, folding the sponge can happen swiftly and there is no delay in putting the sponge in the oven.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, but don't start whipping just yet. The egg yolks can be set to one side in a small bowl next to the stand mixer, just give them a little whisk with a fork for now. Combine the caster sugar with the cream of tartar in a small bowl and set beside the mixer. Sift the flours and baking powder together twice then set them to one side, being sure to leave the sieve nearby also.

Melt the butter in a saucepan then turn off the heat. Add the buttermilk and vanilla paste, allowing them to warm slightly in the residual heat of the pan.

Now you can whip the egg whites. Begin on high speed to create volume until you see soft ribbons starting to form, then reduce the speed to medium. Gradually add the sugar mixture to the meringue, 1 tablespoon at a time, leaving 10 seconds between each addition until all the sugar has been incorporated. Beat the meringue for a further 1 minute to allow the sugar to dissolve fully and create a more stable meringue base for the sponge. This will ultimately contribute to the height and fluffiness of the finished sponge, so be patient here.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and, while still beating, trickle the egg yolks directly into the bowl, scraping the last of the egg yolk out with a spatula. Increase the speed to medium until you can see that all the egg yolk has combined with the meringue. This will take no longer than 10 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a spatula, make a couple of folds through the meringue, scraping all the way to the bottom of the bowl to ensure the eggs are fully incorporated.

Sift half the flour evenly over the top of the sponge and fold through gently until all the flour is combined, then sift in the remaining flour and fold it through. Add approximately 1/3 cup of sponge batter to the saucepan with the buttermilk mixture, then gently fold them together using a spatula. This will create a fluffy cloud of buttermilk. Then fold the buttermilk cloud back through the sponge until everything is well combined and hopefully still lovely and fluffy.

Divide the sponge between the prepared tins and smooth the tops ever so slightly with a palette knife. Place the tins immediately into the centre of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check the sponges at 18 minutes; they will be ready when the middle springs back slightly when pressed with your finger. Remove the tins from the oven and allow them to sit for only 2 minutes before slipping the sponges out onto wire cooling racks. This step prevents the sponges from shrinking around the edges.

Strawberry compote
Locate a deep baking tray in preparation for roasting the strawberries. While the sponges are cooling, combine the mint, peppercorns and cardamom together in a bowl. I find the most effective way to do this is in a spice grinder, but you could also use a pestle and mortar. Add this to the sugar along with the lemon zest, hibiscus petals and the seeds from the vanilla bean. Toss the strawberries in a large bowl with the sugar mixture and spread evenly over the base of the baking tray. Add the scraped vanilla bean and roast in the oven for 20 minutes, giving the tray a little shake halfway through to distribute the syrup. Remove the strawberries from the oven and allow to cool in the tray.

Mascarpone filling
Place the room temperature cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Swap the attachment to the whisk and add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Beat everything together to combine. Using a spatula, scrape down to the bottom of the bowl to check that all the cream cheese has been incorporated, then give one final whip until the cream is thick and fluffy. Remove the bowl from the mixer and set to one side.

To decorate
Lightly whisk the egg white, then brush the mint sprigs with a little egg white on both sides. Toss the leaves in the caster sugar and sprinkle with ground cardamom then place onto a baking paper lined plate. Leave out on the counter for the mint to dry then store in an airtight container.

To assemble
Place one sponge onto your chosen serving platter, then spread half the mascarpone filling evenly over the top of the sponge all the way to the edges, or use a piping bag fitted with a #11 plain nozzle. Press half the strawberries from the compote into the surface of the filling bearing in mind that when you put the other sponge on top, the strawberries shouldn't protrude too high and prevent the sponge from sitting flat. Spoon some of the roasting syrup over the strawberries and trickle a little over the sides. Place the second sponge on top, then spread the sponge with the remaining mascarpone filling and remaining strawberries. Add the dried strawberries, hibiscus petals and mint, then finish with a few twists of cracked pink peppercorns.

This sponge, as with all sponges, should be eaten on the day it is baked. The filling and the strawberries can be prepared the day before, but the sponge must be baked the same day you are celebrating. There is no journey so arduous that a sponge should suffer being baked yesterday for.

We followed Nadine's advice and ate the sponge cake the day it was baked and the cake was a triumph!

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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sour cherry and pistachio scrolls

2 Feb 2026

Sour cherries and pistachios are a match made in heaven and feature in Honey and Co's delicious fitzrovia bun recipe. I recently bought a copy of Helen Goh's book, Baking and The Meaning of Life and in the book is a recipe for pistachio and sour cherry scrolls filled with pistachio paste.

I have a huge bottle of pistachio paste in my cupboard and I've been looking for ways to use it. Inspired by the photo in Helen's book, I made my own version. My bun dough is an adaptation of Sarah Kieffer's recipe from the Vanilla Bean Blog. Her pillowy soft cinnamon rolls recipe is so good I see no reason to ever use another recipe. The lemon cheese cream cheese icing recipe is one I developed some time ago.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6-8 scrolls. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Sour cherry and pistachio scrolls - makes 6-8 scrolls

Dough
1¼ tsp dried yeast

140 mls milk, lukewarm
30 mls honey
1 room temperature egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (300g) plain flour
½ tsp salt
60g room temperature unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
75g sour cherries, roughly chopped if they are large

Filling
175g pistachio paste

To finish
2 tbs melted butter or cream

Lemon cream cheese icing

30g unsalted butter, room temperature
60g cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
Pinch salt
1 tsp lemon rind
120g (1 cup) icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbs roughly chopped pistachios

Dough
Grease a large bowl and set to one side. Combine the yeast, milk and honey in a large liquid measuring cup and rest for 5-10 minutes or until foamy then stir in the egg and the vanilla.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix the flour and salt and stir on low to combine. Add the egg mixture and mix on low to combine. Mix for about 5 minutes then with the mixer on low, add the butter, one piece at a time. When all the butter has been added, increase the speed to medium and beat the butter into the dough, until all the little butter pieces are incorporated, for about 1 minute. Transfer the dough to the prepared bowl. The dough will be very sticky and you will need a spatula to scrape the dough into the bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Add the sour cherries to the bowl and gently press into the dough with your finger tips. Place your fingers or a spatula underneath the dough and gently pull the dough up and fold it back over itself. Turn the bowl and repeat this folding again. Continue 6 to 8 more times, until all the dough has been folded over on itself. Re-cover the bowl with plastic and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat this series of folding 3 more times, for a rise time of 2 hours and a total of 4 foldings. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours.

To Assemble
Flour a work surface and knead the dough 10 to 12 times to activate the gluten. Shape the dough into a ball, cover the top lightly with flour, and cover with a tea towel and let come to room temperature. Line a tray with baking paper and set to one side.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to form a 42cm x 30cm rectangle. Spread the pistachio paste evenly out onto the dough leaving a 1 cm border all around then roll up firmly from the long edge. Using a very sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the dough into 6-8 scrolls.

Set the rolls on a baking tray covered with baking paper, about 5 cm apart, cover with a cloth and leave the rolls to rise in a warm place until they have doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, conventional. Just before baking, brush each roll with some melted butter or cream. Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes on the centre rack or until the rolls are golden brown, internal temperature has reached 90°C, rotating the pan halfway through. While the rolls are baking, prepare the lemon icing.

Icing
Place the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, salt and lemon rind into a medium size bowl. Using a hand beater, mix on medium until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar and mix on low until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix on medium until the icing is light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove the scrolls from the oven and leave to stand for about 10 minutes before spooning the icing over the top and sprinkling with chopped pistachios. Allow the buns to cool for about 30 minutes, then gently tear them apart to serve.

I was really tired the day I made the scrolls so every scroll was a slightly different size but once slathered with icing no-one could tell. I had my scroll while it was still warm and it was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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zurich

30 Jan 2026

I flew into Zurich because of its proximity to Freiburg, where the conference I attended was held, so of course it made sense to fly home from there. An old friend of mine lives in Zurich so we were able to catch up while I was in town.

When I visit Zurich I often stay at the same hotel, located close to the Opera House, the lake and the Stadelhofen Railway Station. It makes getting to the airport a breeze.

Don't let the sunshine fool you. I was in Zurich for 2 days and the first morning of my stay was bright and sunny then it rained solidly for the rest of my stay.

I'd bought a Zurich card at the Airport so I tried to use as much public transport and visit as many museums and attractions as I could visit during my short stay. My first destination was the Kunsthaus Zürich.

I decided to walk there past the lake and the Grossmünster.

It was a Sunday so the shops were all closed but there were plenty of people out and about.

I arrived a little bit early so I walked around the exterior of the art gallery.

Autumn had arrived so the trees were losing their leaves.

There was artwork both inside and outside the gallery.

It had been a few years since my last visit and a new wing had been built joined to the existing building by an underpass.

The new building itself is a work of art.

The Kunsthaus Zürich is filled with art treasures.

I walked across the bridge to the Fraumünster Church to see the Chagall windows.

The windows are beautiful but too difficult to capture on a cloudy day.

I retraced my steps back to the Grossmünster because I had a tower to climb.

The 187 stairs were a bit of a challenge and I was glad when I finally reached the top. The views were worth the climb.

The next day the weather took a turn for the worse, think driving rain, swirling winds and inside out umbrellas, so I took very few photos.

I did brave the rain and returned to the Fraumünster Church to see the cloisters, which are closed on Sundays.

The peaceful cloister and it's beautiful murals.

A black and white image from a previous visit to Zurich when my film camera worked.

My last photos of a sodden Zurich.

I spent the afternoon in the teeny tiny Beyer Watch and Clock Museum. It was very busy so I waited in the rain for quite some time before I could enter. Although tiny, it's full of treasures and it was a nice way to spend a rainy afternoon.

They're my last images from my trip to Europe and North Africa. I guess that means its time to arrange my next holiday.

See you all again soon.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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plum and rosemary polenta cake

26 Jan 2026

My first post of the year was an apricot rosemary and polenta cake which was very well received by my neighbours. I wanted to make a plum version so as soon as blood plums appeared in the fruit shop I bought half a dozen.

I knew I'd have to change the recipe a little. The apricot cake was topped with halved apricots cooked in a rosemary flavoured caramel. Plums are very difficult to halve cleanly and if cooked in the caramel would have fallen apart. Instead I quartered the plums then just before baking I poured the rosemary caramel over the plum topped cake. As plums go well with hazelnuts, I swapped out some of the almond meal for hazelnut meal.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. For all my recipes, I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C.

Plum and rosemary polenta cake – makes a 17-cm cake
Plum topping
5 plums, stoned and quartered
1 tbs caster sugar

Cake
65g full cream milk
15g polenta or medium cornmeal
75g whole egg (1 and ½ eggs)
75g unsalted butter, softened
75g caster sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
75g almond meal and 20g hazelnut meal
25g medium cornmeal
Scant ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp flaky sea salt

Caramel
20g butter
20g caster sugar
½ tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary needles

To serve
Crème fraîche

Plum topping
Halve the plums, remove the seeds then cut again into quarters. Sprinkle the plums with the caster sugar and set aside for 30 minutes, reserving any juice that forms.

The polenta
Heat the milk to a simmer and add the polenta. Whisk over a medium-low heat until thickened, then continue to whisk for a few minutes until creamy and smooth - taste it and check for hard lumps. Once it is tender, leave to cool. Once cooled, blend the polenta with the eggs and set aside.

Cake
Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan. Line the 17-cm cake tin with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together for 2-3 minutes until slightly lightened. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the eggs/polenta mixture slowly until well combined.

Mix the dry ingredients together - the almond and hazelnut meal, cornmeal, baking powder and salt - then stir them through the butter/sugar mixture. Spoon into the cake tin and smooth out. Nestle the plum quarters into the batter then prepare the caramel.

Caramel
Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the sugar and heat until bubbling and browning slightly. Add the chopped rosemary and bubble for 30 seconds or so, then add any plum juices that have formed. Cook the caramel gently for 3-5 minutes then turn off the heat. Pour the still warm rosemary/butter/caramel over the top of the plums.

Place the cake on the centre rack and bake in the preheated 190°C/170°C fan oven for 60 to 70 minutes. The plums will have sunk into the cake and the cake will be deep golden. If you insert skewer into the cake, only a few moist crumbs should hang on.

Leave to cool in the tin before serving slightly warm with a spoonful of crème fraîche. The cake will last in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

This was so different from the apricot version. It was a lovely moist cake but the hazelnut flavour was quite dominant, overshadowing the polenta. If there's a next time I'd just use almond meal.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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london

21 Jan 2026

I was 15 the first time I visited London and I've been a regular visitor ever since. It desn't seem to matter how many days I spend in London, there are so many things to see and do in the city, I never manage to achieve everything that's on my 'to do' list and this visit was no exception.

I look forward to my visits to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Courtauld Gallery, but I also look forward to exploring new places.

My first full day in London was hectic. I'd booked tickets to the Cartier Exhibition at the V&A, tickets to the theatre and I had a dinner reservation as well. There was no time to return home in between each event so I used my time to explore around the theatre district, Bloomsbury and the Strand.

I love exploring the building as much as I enjoy the exhibits.

In an attempt to maintain my one pastry per day regime I visited Fortitude Bakehouse in Bloomsbury.

It's located in a small street flanked by interesting old buildings and this pub, the Friend at Hand.

The bakery is known for it's beignets.

I don't 'do' fried food so I sought another option, this apple custard and crumble croissant tart.

I was too busy to eat it though and carried it around with me all day. The poor tart was a bit battered and bruised by the time I returned home that evening.

I was on a mission to locate the Post Building and walked around in circles before I eventually found the entry point.

The Post Building has a roof garden with views over London. Compared to other viewing spots I've visited in London, it's very quiet and at times I had the place to myself.

I recognised the British Museum, the London Eye and the Shard.

The gardens were small but pleasant and a nice respite from the urban sprawl below.

A stand out feature was this view of the BT tower.

I had some time to kill before my matinee performance of Operation Mincemeat so I walked around Seven Dials.

I've been to Covent Gardens so many times but somehow I'd never made it to Seven Dials. I'd love to have photographed the monument properly but the base was obscured by a council truck.

Seven Dials was pretty busy with nice looking bars, shops and restaurants as well as ticky, tacky souvenir shops.

After my very long day in London, I was bolstered by a midnight snack of apple custard crumble tart.

On my second day in London I visited Holland Park. Although I'd visited the Design Museum on a previous occasion, I'd not been into the park.

I'd heard about the Kyoto garden so I made a beeline there.

Holland Park was very picturesque decked out in it's autumn hues.

I also found manicured gardens, and a beautiful Orangery.

After my walk through the gardens I headed over to the Courtauld Gallery to see the Wayne Thibaud exhibition.

Somerset House is across the road from the beautiful St Martins-in-the-Fields and not too far from the Inner Temple Gardens where I was headed.

I passed by the very cute Temple Place Cabmen's Shelter on my way.

The prices at the cafe are unbelievably low for London.

I had no idea what to expect as I walked over to the Inner Temple Gardens.

I was blown away by what I found, a hidden gem.

The gardens are only open for a few hours each day but I'm glad I made the effort, because I found them so beautiful. I stayed there for as long as I could enjoying the beautiful autumn light that filtered through the trees.

I certainly wasn't the only person enjoying the gardens. People were chatting, eating their lunch on the lawn or reading a book seated on one the many benches.

I photographed the gardens in both colour and black and white.

With great reluctance I dragged myself away because the gardens were about to close and my day was not over yet.

Not before admiring these still beautiful, past their prime hydrangeas.

I made a quick pilgrimage to Regent Street to visit Liberty of London.

They always have a beautiful display of flowers outside the front door by Wild at Heart Liberty.

More hydrangeas on display, although these ones were certainly not past their prime.

It was getting close to the end of October so the Regent Street Christmas lights had been installed.

I came home to have dinner and to collapse into bed because I had another big day planned for Day 3 in London. I woke to grey skies and rain and the dreary skies were an omen because the day didn't exactly go to plan.

As the weather was so awful, I decided it was going to be a gallery day. I'd bookmarked both the Emily Kam Kngwarray and Lee Miller exhibitions and I couldn't decide which exhibition to visit. Both were being held at the Tate Gallery and as I was on the bus on the way to the Tate Modern, I bought a timed ticket to the Lee Miller Exhibition.

The Tate Modern is an impressive building but unfortunately I'd gone to the wrong Tate gallery. The Lee Miller exhibition was at the Tate Britain and there was no way I was going to get there for 10.30 time slot.

Reassured by the staff at the Tate Modern that I could still use the ticket, I walked across the Millennial Bridge to take some photos of St Paul's before I caught the bus to the Tate Britain.

It was a very cold, wet and miserable day.

I eventually made it to the correct gallery and I was allowed in albeit 2 hours late. Apparently people make the same mistake all the time.

The Lee Miller exhibition was crowded but it was comprehensive and well worth the cross London bus trip. I also refamiliarised myself with the Turners and Constables housed at Tate Britain.

After all this walking I needed sustenance so I made my way to the Alaia Cafe in New Bond Street.

Whilst in London, I did not want afternoon tea, a substantial meal containing food items I can't, won't or don't eat. I just wanted scones, jam and tea, known in the UK as a 'cream tea'. Finding a cream tea proved to be difficult but I discovered it was being served at the Violet Cakes Bakery at the Alaia Cafe.

The cafe was all very sleek and glamorous but after all my traipsing about in the rain I wasn't and felt I didn't quite match the surroundings.

Even the Christmas decorations looked a bit folorn.

On my last day in London, I arranged to meet an old friend in Hampstead for a walk followed by a spot of lunch. I did a bit of a ramble around Islington in the morning before I caught the train to Hampstead as it was close to where I was staying and to Angel Station.

It's 10 years since my last visit to Islington to photograph Folklore, a long shuttered shop, for my Shopshoot series.

It was too early for shopping but as I roamed around Islington I found it as charming as I remembered.

I had my film camera with me.

Unfortunately it stopped working just after I took this photo of Carmela's Pizzeria and refused to work again until I took it to be repaired back home in Sydney.

I stumbled upon the lovely gardens of St Mary's Church.

They've been lovingly tended for well over a hundred years.

The gardens are located in the old burial grounds of St Mary's Church.

It was almost Halloween so there was a plethora of pumpkins at this fruit shop.

I kept walking to Angel tube where I caught the train to Hampstead. I arrived a little ahead of time so I wandered around the area before meeting my friend.