Lamington Cake

Blow everyone away at afternoon tea time with this lamington cake. The recipe is slightly adapted from Poh Bakes 100 Greats. Instead of using day-old sponge cake to make individual morsels, an orange chiffon cake is the base of this elegant remastering. I'm afternoon-tea-obsessed, and I'll pretty much take lamingtons which ever way they come, but this version is my current favourite.

Lamington Cake:

From here

For the Cake:
5 eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
150g caster sugar
80ml grapeseed oil
100 ml tinned coconut milk
finely grated zest of 1 orange
80 ml orange juice
150g plain flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt


For the Icing:
300g icing sugar mixture
30g good-quality cocoa powder
20g butter
90 ml tinned coconut milk
200g desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 160˚C fan-forced.

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk all the seven egg whites with the cream of tartar to medium peaks. Add the remaining sugar in 4 batches, mixing well after each addition, until stiff and very fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the oil and whisk, then add the coconut milk, orange zest and juice and whisk until combined. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk until just smooth.

Spoon one-third of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture and whisk until combined to form a batter. Add the batter to the remaining egg white mixture and fold until well combined and incorporated; stir gently with a whisk to get rid of any pockets of egg white, if necessary.

Pour the batter into a 25 cm angel cake food tin and bake for 30–40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert the cake tin when it comes out of the overn, and allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin. Loosen the cake from the tin bu running a knife around the outer and inner sides of the tin. The cake should release easily. Then, slide the knife along the bottom of the tin and transfer the caketo a wire rack.

Make the Icing:
Combine the icing sugar, cocoa, butter and milk in a heatproof bowl. Place over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water, then whisk until the mixture is smooth.

Pour and spread the chocolate icing over the entire cake, then sprinkle top and out and inner sides with coconut.

Matcha and White Chocolate Cake

Watching Netflix and eating cake... life.

Matcha and White Chocolate Cake

slightly adapted from here

For the Cake:

3 eggs

Unsalted butter, same weight as the eggs

Caster sugar, same weight as the eggs

Plain flour, same weight as the eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon matcha

100g white chocolate, chopped (The only white chocolate I had in the house had toasted hazelnuts in it so I used that. You can use plain white chocolate and add about 2 tablespoons toasted hazelnuts... or just use plain white chocolate.)

For the White Chocolate Glaze:

100g white chocolate chopped

35ml cream

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a 20cm x 10cm loaf pan with baking paper. Set aside.

Crack the eggs and weigh them, then weight out the same amount of butter, caster sugar and plain flour. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter together for 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Sift in the flour, baking powder and matcha and fold in using a spatula. Stir through the chocolate, pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from pan and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Make the Glaze:

Put the chocolate and cream into a heat-proof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until the chocolate has melted and the glaze is smooth. Leave to cool to a drizzling consistency, then drizzle over the cake. Leave to set for about 20 minutes before slicing.

Espresso and Hazelnut Bundt Cake with Dulce de Leche Drizzle

I adore Tasmania. It's were husband and I spent our honeymoon. "Back in the Day" we took our classic Alfa Romeo on the boat from Melbourne to Devonport and spent the next three weeks on a road trip which covered the length and breadth of this gem of an island. We've been back with the boys a few times over the years, but we recently spent an extra long weekend back in Hobart, while our boys attended a beach volleyball camp in Sydney. We don't spend a lot of time away from our sons, so a weekend of indulging in the things we like to do, without having to consider them, was a luxury we took full advantage of. Imagine hours of walking, reading, window shopping, browsing book shops, museums and galleries. Drinking wine on the pier, going out for late dinner dates and slow walks home. The weekend also involved things the boys love to do, like sleep-in, have long breakfasts, stroll through markets, go to the movies (The Square, Lady Bird and Sweet Country), stop for afternoon tea in quaint cafes and eat lots of cake. We didn't elaborate too much on those things when they asked us what we got up to without them. What they don't know won't hurt them, right?... It can be our little secret. And on the topic of cake...

Espresso and Hazelnut Bundt Cake with Dulce de Leche Drizzle

adapted from here

For the Cake:

260ml water

1 tablespoon instant espresso granules

125g unsalted butter, chopped

60ml coffee liqueur

300g "00" flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

210g hazelnut meal

330g caster sugar

85g dark muscovado sugar

2 eggs

125ml buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon sea salt flakes

For the Drizzle:

150g dulce de leche (homemade or store bought)

80g icing sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons boiling water

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and flour a 2.5 liter capacity bundt pan. Set aside.

Put the water, coffee, butter and liqueur unto a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the coffee has dissolved and the butter has melted. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, hazelnut meal, caster sugar and muscovado sugar together. Add the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, salt and butter mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, place the pan onto a baking tray and bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Make the Drizzle:

Mix the drizzle ingredients together until smooth and drizzle over the cooled cake.

Mediterranean Orange Cake with Cardamom Creme Anglaise

If I ever needed any excuse to eat cake, the fact that it's fresh out of the oven would be good enough for me.

Mediterranean Orange Cake with Cardamom Creme Anglaise

slightly adapted from here

For the Creme Anglaise:

500ml full cream milk

1 vanilla bean split in half lengthways and seeds scraped

3 cardamom pods, bruised

5 egg yolks

70g caster sugar

For the Cake:

180g almond meal

65g fresh breadcrumbs

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon orange flower water

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

150g caster sugar

4 eggs

160ml vegetable oil 

Make the Creme Anglaise:

Heat the milk, vanilla bean and seeds and the cardamom pods in a saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling. Remove from the heat, discard the vanilla bean and set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar until combined. While whisking, pour the warm milk over the egg mixture. Return the mixture to the stove and stir over low heat until it coats the back of the spoon (around 86C). Do not boil. Stain through a fine meshed sieve and set aside to cool. 

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 170C. Lightly grease the base and sides of a 22cm round cake tin and line with baking paper, making sure the paper comes up 2cm above the top of the pan. Set aside.

Put the almond, breadcrumbs, baking powder and orange zest into a bowl and whisk to mix. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the sugar and eggs together until thick and pale. Gradually add the oil and orange blossom water and beat until well combined. Use a large metal spoon to fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  

Allow to stand in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack rack to cool.

Bundt Cake with Chocolate and Walnuts

This is one of those no-frills, quick-to-whip-up, "plain" cakes. They are inevitably far more delicious than they might look. Under promise, over deliver is the name of the game.

Bundt Cake with Chocolate and Walnuts

350g unsalted butter, at room temperature

350g caster suagr

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

5 eggs, at room temperature

½ cup buttermilk

450g plain flour

150g corn flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

200g chopped wanuts

100g chopped dark chocolate

Icing sugar, for dusting

Whipped cream, for serving

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 24cm Bundt pan. Set aside.

Put the butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium high for about 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and buttermilk and mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix the plain flour, corn flour and baking powder together. Sift if over the butter mixture and gently fold it in. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the chopped chocolate and spoon in the remaining batter. Level the top and bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust liberally with icing sugar and serve with generous dollops of whipped cream.

Simple Vegan Chocolate Cake

I have a KitchenAid mixer which I adore. It's an absolute treasure and a gift from husband. I love it and I use it almost every day. In fact, I don't think I could live without it. But on days when all I want to do is some gentle stirring, I make cakes like this one. It only requires a couple of mixing bowls and a saucepan and I get to have my cake and eat it too.

Simple Vegan Chocolate Cake
slightly adapted from here

For the Frosting:
60ml cold water
75g coconut butter (not coconut oil)
50g dark brown sugar
1½ teaspoons instant espresso powder
1½ tablespooons cocoa powder
150g dairy free dark chocolate, chopped

For the Cake:

225g plain four

1½ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1½ teaspoon instant espresso powder

75g cocoa powder

300g dark brown sugar

375ml hot water

75g coconut oil

1½ teaspoons cider vinegar

Make the Frosting:

Put all the frosting ingredients except the chopped chocolate into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once everything has dissolved turn off the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Leave for a minutes, then give it a stir. It will be smooth and shiny. Set aside to cool.

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 180C and slide a baking sheet in to heat up.

Line the bottom of a 20cm round springform cake pan with baking paper. Set aside.

Put the flour, baking soda, salt and espresso powder into a mixing bowl and stir to mix.

In a separate bowl, stir the sugar, water, coconut oil and vinegar until the oil has melted. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until the cake comes away from the sides of the pan.

Remove from the oven and leave the cake in its tin to cool on a wire rack.

Frost the Cake:
Give the frosting a stir. It should be a good spreading consistency buy now. Spread the frosting over the unmoulded cake and use a offset palette knife to ease it to the edges. Leave the cake in its tin for 30 minutes for the frosting to set before unmoulding and slicing.

Spiced Orange Cake with Rum Raisin Ice Cream

This is the kind of cake you bake when your hens are laying like the clappers and your orange trees are sighing with relief every time you pluck a golden orb from its branches... which would be right about now in my world.

Spiced Orange Cake with Rum Raisin Ice Cream

adapted from here

For the Ice Cream:

1 cup sultanas

1 cup dark rum

150g caster sugar

6 egg yolks

500ml full cream milk

500ml cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the Cake:

3 whole oranges

300g ground almonds

300g caster sugar

2 teaspoons baking poweder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

7 eggs

Make the Ice Cream:

Put the rum and sultanas into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to soak overnight. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the rum. Blitz half of the sultanas in a small food processor to make a paste. Set aside.

Place the sugar and yolks into a medium saucepan.  Whisk until pale and thick, about 2 minutes, add milk and stir until smooth.  Place over medium heat, and stir until the mixture thickens and can coat the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.  Strain through a fine sieve into a large bowl.  Add sultanas, sultana paste, reserved rum, cream and vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the custard, and refrigerate until completely cold.  

Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturers instructions.  Eat straight away, or spoon into a freezer-safe container and chill in the freezer to firm up.

Make the Cake:

Put whole oranges (unpeeled) in a saucepan.  Cover with cold water, bring to the boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 2 hours, then drain.  When cool, cut in half and remove the pips, then put them (skin and all) into a food processor and blitz until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 160C.  Grease and line a 24cm round cake tin.  Set aside.

Weigh the orange pulp.  You'll need 450g (discard the rest). Place it back in the food processor, along with all the dry ingredients and the eggs, one at a time, until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 60 - 80 minutes, or until the sides start to come away from the tin.  If the cake is browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil.

Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before turning it out.

Three Layer Chocolate Cake with Caramel Frosting

We always have cake in our house.  Except for that time our best friends from interstate, travelled the width of this wide brown land to visit us. It was the day after we arrive home from a 3 week holiday in Japan. On that particular, I had nothing.  I've never been able to live that down.

Three Layer Chocolate Cake with Caramel Frosting

slightly adapted from here

For the Cake:

180g unsalted butter, at room temperature

400g brown sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

350g plain flour

120g cocoa powder

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

375ml buttermilk, at room temperature

For the Frosting:

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature

400g brown sugar

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

125ml cream

325g icing sugar, sifted

Make the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Grease 3 x 20cm round cake pan and line them baking paper or paper liners.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar for 5 minutes on medium-high, scraping the sides of the bowl down now and then.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add the vanilla and beat again.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, instant espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.  

Reduce the speed of the mixture to its lowest setting and add a third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk.  Do the same again, then add the final third of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans and bake for about 25 minutes, until the cakes spring back when gently pressed in the centre.  Allow cakes to cool in the pans for 20 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the Frosting:

Put 115g of the butter and all of the sugar into a saucepan, stir to mix and place it over a medium heat.  Bring to a boil and boil for 4 minutes, stirring once or twice.  Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream (being careful as steam will billow up and the mixture will spit and bubble).  Place back on the heat and cook for a further minute.  Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 30 minutes, stirring now and again.  

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the still warm mixture on medium speed and add the icing sugar. I place a clean tea towel over the mixer and bowl to stop the sugar from puffing up and out.  Continue beating until the frosting is just about room temperature.  Add the remaining butter and the vanilla and beat until the mixture becomes a spreadable consistency.  It should still be a little warm.

Assembly:

Place one cake on a serving platter. Spread with a big spoonful of the frosting.  Place another cake on top and frost it and then do the same with the final cake layer.  Using the remaining frosting to cover the sides of the cake.  If the frosting starts to set, run your spreading knife or palette knife under hot water to heat it up, dry it and continue spreading.  Leave it for 2 hours before slicing to allow the frosting to set. Keep the cake at room temperature.