helen goh's anzac cake

helen goh's anzac cake

22 Apr 2024

Last year, ANZAC Day came and went so quickly I didn't have time to bake anything to commemorate the day so I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. 

The cake of ANZAC Day 2023 was Helen Goh's ANZAC Cake. When I looked through the cupboard I had everything I needed. I just needed to snaffle a sprig of rosemary from the local Bellevue Hill flower box with which to finish the cake.

The cake has all the constituent ingredients of ANZAC biscuits, just in cake form. The oats are in the base and the coconut in 2 forms, coconut milk in the cake and shredded coconut in the topping. Please don't think about forgoing the topping, reminiscent of the topping found on a lumbarjack cake, because it's the topping that makes the cake.

Here's the recipe for you adapted from here, 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. If you'd like to make a larger cake, refer to Helen's original recipe.

Helen Goh's Anzac Cake 

Cake 
65g rolled oats 
135ml canned coconut milk
112g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder 
scant ¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt 
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing tin 
65g soft brown sugar (light or dark) 
65g golden syrup 
2 large eggs, at room temperature
icing sugar, to serve 

whipped cream, to serve

a sprig of rosemary

Topping
40g unsalted butter 
50g soft, light brown sugar
50g dried shredded coconut 
30ml cream or coconut milk
pinch sea salt

Method 
Preheat the oven to 190°C, conventional. Grease and line a small loaf tin with baking paper, allowing an overhang on the sides to ease lifting the cake out when baked. 

Place the oats in a food processor and pulse a few times to achieve an uneven texture – some fine and some more coarsely cut. Transfer to a bowl with the coconut milk, stir to combine, then allow to soak while you prepare the rest of the cake. 

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Set aside for the time being. 

Combine the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the paddle attachment and blend on medium-high speed until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mixture will have the appearance of scrambled eggs at this stage, which is normal. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, then add the oats soaked in coconut milk. Beat on low speed until just combined, then add the sifted dry ingredients and mix a few seconds longer – it won't be completely incorporated yet. 

Remove the bowl from the food processor and finish folding the batter with a rubber spatula, then scrape into the prepared loaf pan. Place on the middle shelf of the preheated 190°C conventional oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

While the cake is baking, place all the ingredients for the topping in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the butter has melted, and the ingredients are combined. Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven (keep the oven on) and gently spoon the topping mixture evenly over the surface of the cake. Return to the oven and bake for another 12-15 minutes until the topping is golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 15 minutes before lifting the loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Sift over some icing sugar, top with a sprig of rosemary (for remembrance) and serve with cool, whipped cream if desired. 

I shared this cake with my neighbours, who found the cake as delicious as I did. This recipe is a definite keeper.

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

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - passover amalfi lemon cake

passover week 2024 - passover amalfi lemon cake

16 Apr 2024

This is a recipe I've made a few times before, which I've only lightly renovated for Passover. An Amalfi lemon cake is made using a whole lemon, olive oil, eggs, sugar, almond meal with a small quantity of either flour or polenta to bind it together. I swapped my Passover baking mix (equal quantities of superfine matzo meal and potato starch) for the flour and skipped the small quantity of baking powder.

As it's an oil based cake, if you'd like to keep it pareve, skip the whipped cream topping, dust the top of the cake with icing sugar and serve it with the syrup and perhaps a citrus fruit salad. The lemon syrup is key here and in the future, I'd double the quantity. Also, if you can, make the cake the day before you serve it as I think it gives the cake a bit of time to mature and develop its flavour.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 17cm cake. If you'd like to make a larger version refer to the linked recipe. 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.

Passover Amalfi Lemon Cake - adapted from Delicious magazine 
Ingredients
1 small lemon (preferably seedless)
1/2 cup (125ml) extra virgin olive oil 
125g almond meal
50g passover baking mix (superfine matzo meal mixed with potato starch)

Pinch salt  
2 eggs
125g caster sugar

  
Lemon syrup
1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon 

Candied Lemon Slices - optional

1 lemon, thinly sliced into rounds

⅓ cup caster sugar

⅓ cup water

 
To decorate

candied lemon slices, optional
250mls cream, whisked to stiff peaks 

Method 
Place lemon in a deep saucepan, cover with cold water and place a small plate on top to keep lemon submerged. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes or until lemon is just soft, topping up water if needed, or microwave the lemon with 1 tbs water in a covered bowl for 3-4 minutes, then drain and cool completely. Cut into quarters and remove seeds. Place in a blender with oil and whiz until smooth and emulsified. Set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 170°C, conventional. Grease and flour a 17 cm-round cake pan with superfine matzo meal and line the base with baking paper. Mix together the almond meal, passover baking mix and salt. Place eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine, then whisk in lemon puree and the almond meal.

Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the top is just firm and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 1 hour, then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Lemon syrup
Combine sugar and juice of 1/2 lemon in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a simmer and cook for 4-6 minutes until thickened and starting to caramelise. Cool syrup, then mix in remaining juice of 1/2 lemon until combined. Cool completely to room temperature. 

Candied lemon Slices

To make the candied lemon slices, put the water and sugar into a frying pan over a medium heat. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to turn golden brown. Slide in the lemon slices and cook for a few more minutes before turning over. Cook until well coated with the toffee. Carefully remove the lemon slices from the toffee and place on the baking paper to cool. Arrange a few of the slices over the top of the cream to serve. Any leftover lemon slices can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge between pieces of baking paper.

To serve 
Top the cake with cream, drizzle with syrup and decorate with a few candied lemon slices.

This went down very well with my taste testers, aka workmates, who had no idea the cake had been renovated for Passover. I've made this cake twice before but I don't remember having a slice so I can't compare the 2 versions. Both times I made the larger version with double the lemon syrup. The lemon syrup is key here and in the future if I make a smaller cake, I'd double the quantity of syrup as it makes the cake, literally.

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Passover Week 2024.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - passover sachertorte with apricot compote

passover week 2024 - passover sachertorte with apricot compote

14 Apr 2024

Welcome to Passover Week 2024. I thought it was time to make a showstopper for Passover. I turned to the baking queen, Natalie Paull, and adapted her recipe for sachertorte with apricot compote but made it passover friendly and dairy-free. Instead of flour, I used superfine matzo meal and potato starch then topped the cake with a dairy free chocolate ganache adapted from here and swapped apricot syrup for the apricot liqueur.

Passover baking is always a little unpredictible. Even though I thought I'd completely folded the superfine matzo meal through the batter, I did not and annoying white blotches could be seen when I cut the cake into slices. I admit to using a bit of creative Photoshop and artfully draped apricot slices to conceal the worst of the blotches.

Matzo meal does not bake the same way as flour and the cake exterior was very dry to the touch. Even a generous coating of apricot jam couldn't glue the ganache to the cake and some of the ganache detached when I sliced the cake. The next day, the cake was easier to slice and both the texture and flavour improved as the cake matured. That's good news because it means the cake can be made and coated with ganache well ahead of time and is all the better for doing so.

I served the cake with some of the leftover apricot compote, so if you plan to do the same you might want to double the quantity of the apricot filling. 

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 3.5 x 7 inch 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.

Passover sachertorte with apricot compote
Chocolate sponge  
100g dark (70%) chocolate, chopped
15g Dutch cocoa powder
15ml extra virgin olive oil
pinch fine salt 
135 mls water 
4 large eggs, at room temperature
120g caster sugar
45g superfine matzo meal
40g potato starch

 
Apricot filling – you’ll only use about half this quantity 
410g can apricots in juice
Large strips of peel and the juice of 1 orange
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar

Water Ganache 
200g chopped dark chocolate (48%)
80ml boiling water
20mls maple syrup 

Decoration
60g apricot jam
30g dark (70%) chocolate
Dutch cocoa, to dust

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced. Grease base and sides of an 8 inch square pan and line with baking paper.

Chocolate sponge

Place chocolate, cocoa, oil, pinch fine salt and 135 mls water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly until smooth and starting to simmer. Scrape into a large bowl. Set aside until lukewarm.

Place eggs and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk for 8 minutes on medium-high speed until thick and tripled in volume. Meanwhile, sift matzo meal and potato starch together 3 times.

Add egg mixture to chocolate mixture and gently fold until combined. Sift over half the flour mixture, gently fold until almost all incorporated, then sift over the remainder. Gently fold until there are no floury or chocolatey streaks.

Scrape into the prepared tray and smooth out to level. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the top is dry and the sponge is springy. Rest for 10 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack, peel away the paper, then re-invert and cool fully. 

Filling
Drain apricots over a medium saucepan and add the orange peel, juice and sugar to the syrup. Bring to the boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Gently boil for 15 minutes until a thick syrup forms. Next, thickly slice apricots, add to syrup and simmer for 5 minutes to soften. Set aside to cool. Reserve syrup and the peel for decoration. 

Assembly
Cut sides of the sponge to straighten, if needed. Cut into two equal pieces. Place the first piece back onto the cooling rack. Brush with 1 tbs of the apricot syrup and gently spoon over half the apricot mixture, lightly pressing the apricots into the sponge with the back of the spoon. You could use apricot jam for this step if you like. Brush remaining sponge with syrup and place, syrup-side down, to finish. Adjust sponge stacks to align pieces and press lightly. Brush crumbs from the side, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. The following day, return the cake to the cooling rack. Warm the jam in a small bowl in the microwave with 1 tbs boiling water and brush top and sides of cake with the jam.

Ganache
Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Pour over the boiling water. Either microwave for 20 seconds on high, or place a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for 1-2 minutes, to melt the chocolate. Gently stir together with a whisk until combined and smooth. Now stir in the maple syrup. Set aside at room temperature for 20-30 minutes until ganache thickens to a spreadable consistency. 

Place the cooling rack over a baking tray to catch any dripping chocolate, pour ganache slowly over the cake, guiding ganache to fall down the sides. Smooth top and sides with a metal spatula to evenly coat and set aside to set. 

While ganache sets, melt the remaining dark chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second bursts and smooth thinly onto a sheet of baking paper. Cover with a second piece of baking paper and roll up to form a 2cm-diameter cylinder. Freeze for 30 minutes, then unroll – the chocolate will break into shards.

Once the ganache has set, lift the cake carefully onto a serving plate using an egg lifter. Just before serving, top the cake with the chocolate shards, dust with cocoa and top with reserved candied peel. Cut with a hot damp knife. To get the neatest slices I found it best to cut the cake longitudinally first then crosswise. Serve with the remaining apricot compote. 

You know how I don't like chocolate cakes, well I'll make an exception for this one which was absolutely delicious, especially the ganache. I may have even had 2 slices.

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Passover week 2024.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - chocolate almond macaroon teacakes

passover week 2024 - chocolate almond macaroon teacakes

Some recipes only need to be lightly adapted to become Passover friendly and this Claire Ptak recipe from her book, Love is a Pink Cake, is one such recipe. All I had to do was swap the cornflour for potato starch and I was done. The recipe is naturally gluten free and if you made the hot water ganache recipe from the Passover Sachertorte with apricot compote post, these little treats would be dairy free as well. 

The recipe is a bit fiddly but the teacakes are delicious and not too sweet. The original recipe was for 12 teacakes but I halved it to make 6. I doubled the marshmallow recipe though just to ensure there was sufficient marshmallow to go around. If you make 12 teacakes, I would make a 3 egg white marshmallow recipe just to be on the safe side.

Here's the recipe for you which makes 6 teacakes. 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 almond macaroon tea cakes - makes 6
For the almond macaroon base
25g flaked almonds, lightly toasted
37g almond meal
80g caster sugar 
2 tsp potato starch
1 egg white

For the marshmallow
2 egg whites
100g caster sugar
3 tsp golden syrup
Small pinch fine salt

For the chocolate ganache 
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped 
120g cream

1 tsp maple syrup

To finish

25g flaked almonds, lightly toasted

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C conventional and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Mix the toasted flaked and ground almonds, 50g of the caster sugar and the potato starch together and set aside. Put the remaining sugar and egg whites into a clean bowl and whisk together to form soft peaks. Fold the two mixtures together, then spoon 6 x 5cm circles of the mixture onto the lined tray and flatten slightly with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully peel off the paper and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Marshmallow

Put all the ingredients into the metal bowl of your stand mixer and set over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl or it will cook the egg whites). Whisk continuously by hand with a balloon whisk, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is very warm to the touch. If using a sцgar thermometer, whisk continuously for 2 minutes, or until it reads 70-75°C whichever comes first. Transfer the bowl to your electric mixer (fitted with the whisk attachment) and whisk quickly until stiff peaks are just beginning to form.

Put the mixture in a piping bag with a large round nozzle. Pipe large bubble shapes onto your cooled macaroons (or use a spoon).

Ganache

Put the chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Heat 100g of the cream until just beginning to bubble, then pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then stir until smooth. If the ganache is a little broken or spilt, stir in the remaining cold cream and stir until smooth.

Position the wire rack of macaroons over a baking paper-lined tray, to catch any chocolate drips. Spoon the chocolate over the marshmallow macaroons, coating them evenly. Top with the flaked almonds, then leave to set for 15 mins before serving.

The teacakes do not have a long shelf life so I would serve them the same day they're made.

See you all tomorrow with another bake for Passover Week 2024.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - passover blackberry meringue tart and a tribute to bill granger

passover week 2024 - passover blackberry meringue tart and a tribute to bill granger

I'm pleased to report that I've finally managed to make a successful passover pastry tart shell, although it took me 2 attempts. Thankfully the recipe makes enough pastry for a 9 inch tart shell so I had more than enough to play with. The pastry, which I adapted from an Aran Goyoaga recipe, is very fragile so treat it with care. On my first attempt, I blind baked the shell for 20 minutes but when I removed the paper the sides slumped and the base puffed up. 

Unbeaten, I learned from my mistakes and the second time around I baked the pastry shell for much longer before I removed the paper, which I did with extreme caution. It took about 45 minutes for the shell to cook through and I took the extra step of sealing the baked tart shell with egg white before I spooned in the filling. The other good news is the pastry shell keeps well in an airtight container so can be made some time in advance.

This was to be a lemon meringue pie but the filling made with potato starch was so gloopy, I binned it. Instead I turned to a recipe I'd bookmarked some time ago. It's a Bill Granger recipe and like so many I was shocked and saddened by the news of Bill Granger's untimely passing. In part this post is a tribute to Bill's influence on the Australian restaurant scene and to my cooking.  Bill managed to make simple tasty food accessible to all and I was a regular at bills surry hills. I've slightly adapted the technique but the flavours are all Bill's and the tart is magnificent. The filling is not very sweet but is balanced out by the meringue topping.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a 16cm tart but to make a 23 cm tart, just double the filling and topping ingredients. You will have enough pastry. If you'd like to make this tart gluten free, dairy free and pareve, you can make the coconut crust 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.

Passover blackberry meringue tart 

Pastry 
1 scant cup (125g) superfine matzo meal
¼ cup (25g) almond meal
2 tbs tapioca starch
1 tbs caster sugar
pinch sea salt
110g unsalted butter, cut into 1cm pieces
1 egg yolk
2 - 4 tablespoons iced water
1 egg white, broken up with a fork

Filling
Finely grated rind and juice ½ lemon 
350g fresh or frozen blackberries

1 tbs water
1 tbs potato starch mixed with 1 tbs water
55g caster sugar

Topping

80g caster sugar

20mls water
45g egg whites

pinch salt

 
Pastry - this makes sufficient pastry to make a 23cm tart. Any leftover pastry can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for later use.

Method

Combine the first 5 ingredients in the food processor and pulse to aerate. Add the diced butter and pulse ten times until butter is the size of peas. Whisk together the egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of ice water. Add it to the dough and pulse until it comes together. Add more ice water if needed. Knead the dough a couple of times and wrap it in plastic wrap forming it into a flat disc and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Roll the pastry out to 5mm thickness on a sheet of baking paper and line a 2 cm deep 16 cm diameter tart ring. Trim and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Place a baking tray on the centre rack and preheat the oven to 180⁰C, conventional. Cover the pastry with a crumpled sheet of baking paper, then fill with pastry weights. Place the tart shell on the preheated oven tray and blind bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove paper and the pastry weights and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until the tart shell is golden.

 
Gently brush the still warm pastry with egg white and return to the switched off oven for 10 minutes or until the egg white has dried out. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Unmould when cool.

Filling
Heat the lemon rind and juice, 190g berries, 55g caster sugar and 1 tbs water in a saucepan over medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes until berries start to release their juices. Cook, crushing with a spoon, for a further 3 minutes or until softened. Strain the berries, reserving the juice, before returning the berries to the saucepan. 

Mix the potato starch with the cold water, then add to the saucepan containing the berries and cook for 1-2 minutes until the berries have thickened and are shiny. Stir through the remaining berries, remove from heat then set aside to cool completely.

Meringue

Combine the remaining 80g sugar and 20 ml water in a saucepan. Heat gently over low heat for 1-2 minutes until sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium and cook until the temperature reaches 120°C on a sugar thermometer.

Meanwhile, in a stand mixer whisk the egg whites and salt to stiff peaks. Whisking constantly, add hot sugar syrup in a slow, steady stream. Continue to whisk for 10-15 minutes until meringue cools to room temperature and is thick and glossy.

Assembly

Just before serving, spoon the reserved berries into the tart case and top with meringue, making soft peaks with the back of a spoon. Gently brown the meringue using a kitchen blowtorch. (Alternatively, place the pie under a hot grill for just a few seconds.) Remove from the pan, place the tart shell onto a serving dish then slice and serve with the reserved berry sauce.

This is best served the day it's made although the tart will keep for a few hours stored in the fridge.

Edible crisp Passover pastry and I managed to cut a neat slice as well - a Passover miracle!

See you all again tomorrow with another bake for Passover Week 2024. 

Bye for now, 

Jillian

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passover week 2024 - white chocolate and macadamia brownies

passover week 2024 - white chocolate and macadamia brownies

Having made a few complicated baked for this years Passover Week, I thought it was time to dial back the effort a notch and make a batch of brownies. In the past, I've found that Passover mix (equal quantities of superfine matzo meal and potato starch) makes excellent brownies so when I saw this Kimmy Gastmeier recipe in the April Delicious magazine for white chocolate, wattle seed and macadamia brownies, I decided to renovate the recipe for Passover. I left out the wattle seed as it doesn't have Passover certification and instead made some supercharged espresso - 1 tsp espresso powder to 2 tsp of boiling water.

It wasn't all smooth sailing of course. My 'Kosher for Passover' white chocolate failed to melt nicely so I had to resort to using a stick blender to whip the batter into submission but it all turned out well in the end.

Here's the recipe for you which makes a small batch of brownies. To make a larger batch double the ingredients and bake them in a 23 cm skillet. 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.

White chocolate and macadamia passover brownies
Ingredients

90g white chocolate, roughly chopped
60g unsalted butter, roughly chopped
80g white sugar
30g brown sugar
1 egg 
2 tsp strong espresso, cooled
½ tsp vanilla extract
75g Passover baking mix sifted with a pinch of salt
50g lightly toasted macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
Sea salt flakes

Method
Grease a small cast iron skillet and line with a piece of baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C, conventional.

Place the chopped chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the pan doesn’t touch the water. Leave untouched for 5 minutes before removing the bowl from the heat. Stir until the mixture is smooth before adding the sugars. Stir to combine.

Add the egg and beat until smooth, before adding the espresso, the vanilla followed by the Passover baking mix. Stir vigorously until the mixture becomes very glossy then pour the batter into the prepared pan. Scatter the chopped macadamias over the batter.

Place the skillet on the centre rack of the preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the brownie is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre of the brownie comes out clean. Place the skillet on a wire rack and cool completely before removing the brownie from the skillet. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and before cutting into pieces to serve.

I took the brownies into work and they were a hit. My workmates loved the soft base and the crunchy top.

That was the last bake for Passover Week 2024. See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.

Bye for now,

Jillian

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