Double Layer Duck Egg Sponge Cake

A sponge cake is a good thing. A duck egg sponge cake is an extra good thing!

Whenever I manage to find duck eggs, which isn’t often at all, I make a sponge cake with them. Duck eggs, which can be a fair bit bigger than regular chicken eggs, give sponge cakes extra lift and height. Plus they often give an intense yellow colour to the sponge thanks to their yolks.

For this cake I used smaller duck eggs (which are similar to the size of jumbo chicken eggs), however if you have larger sized duck eggs you can reduce the amount of eggs you use by one.

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Ginger Oat and Raisin Slice

This recipe is loosely based on the Ma Lyn’s Fruit Slice in Amy Minichello’s cookbook Recipes in the Mail (p.71), which in turn comes from Christine O’Neill (and Ma Lyn of course!). 

When I was making the slice for the afternoon tea Amy and I hosted in August, the recipe really reminded me of how ANZAC Biscuits are made. The recipe refers to the slice base as a cake, but it really reminded me more of a biscuit. 

I enjoyed the slice so much, that the following weekend I made it again, and used Singing Magpie Produce’s Quince Syrup in place of the golden syrup, which added a lovely flavour and gave the slice a slighter deeper golden colour. When I was making the slice, the thought suddenly occurred to me, what would this slice be like if I added oats and ginger?

Something about the recipe’s similarities to ANZAC Biscuits, and me having not long used crystallised ginger in another recipe (I made these biscuits here but with crystallised ginger not stem), had my brain thinking up adaptations to Ma Lyn’s Fruit Slice and creating something new. 

I admit I sometimes do find it hard not to think about changes I can make to a recipe, or how a recipe could influence the creation of a new one. It’s not that the original recipe actually needs any changes, it is really really good as it is. However, recipe development and adapting recipes to work out how they could accommodate different flavours and ingredients just comes naturally to me. Recipe ideas come always come from somewhere, and sometimes one perfect recipe can bring many others to life. 

I took some of this slice to my work and one colleague said it reminded them of something their mum used to make, which was lovely to hear that a newly created recipe had some nostalgic value to someone else. Which ties back nicely to Amy’s cookbook and the nostalgia that I believe is what keeps all of us making and enjoying family recipes like those shared with Amy, that have in turn been shared in her book Recipes in the Mail. 

Oat Raisin and Ginger Slice

Ingredients: 

50g rolled oats (not instant oats)

80g golden raisins, chopped 

45g desiccated coconut

155g self raising flour

105g caster sugar

80g crystallised ginger, chopped

1 tsp ground ginger

125g unsalted butter

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method: 

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and line a 30 x 20cm slice tin with baking paper, ensuring some hangs over the sides so you can easily get the slice out of the tin later.

In a large bowl, mix the oats, golden raisins, coconut, self-raising flour, sugar, crystallised ginger and ground ginger with a wooden spoon. 

In a small saucepan melt the butter and the golden syrup over low/medium heat until the butter has just melted. 

Add the butter mixture, and the vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix together until combined with the wooden spoon you used earlier. 

Tip the mixture into the prepared tin, and press it out so it reaches the edges of the tin and has a relatively smooth top. You can use your wooden spoon for this or a spatula.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the slice is nicely golden brown. 

Allow the slice to cool in the tin for about 15-20 minutes, then using the overhanging baking paper, gently transfer the slice to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Once the slice has cooled completely, you can cut it into however many portions you would like, or you could just cut of bits as you want to eat it.

Makes about 12-15 portions, store in a airtight container. Will keep for 4-6 days. 

Blood Orange Yoghurt Cake

I rarely make cakes that I cannot eat. Where’s the fun in baking something that I cannot enjoy? 

But sometimes ingredients need to be used up, and cakes need to be made. In this case we had blood oranges and yoghurt that needed using so this Blood Orange Yoghurt Cake was the perfect solution. 

I really like blood oranges, however they do not like me. Anything vaguely orange citrus wise triggers migraine attacks for me (as does many other things), so I have had to give them up. I still so enjoy the surprise of what the blood orange will look like inside when first cut, and the fact that the juice will make the best naturally pink icing. 

So if unlike me, you can enjoy blood oranges please make this very easy cake and enjoy it in my stead!

Blood Orange Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients: 

175g Greek Style Yoghurt

150g caster sugar

2 eggs

125ml canola/sunflower/vegetable oil

finely grated zest of one blood orange

175g self-raising flour

cooking spray

Ingredients for the Icing:

125g icing mixture*

1-2 tbsp fresh blood orange juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (fan), and grease and line a 20cm round springform cake tin. 

In a large bowl whisk together the yoghurt, sugar, eggs, oil and blood orange zest until combined. 

Add the self-raising flour and whisk until combined, and there are no lumps. 

Pour into the prepared cake tin, and bake for about 45 minutes. The cake will be golden in colour when its ready, and a skewer will come out clean. If the cake looks like its peaking too much (this will depend on your oven), you can turn the temperature down by 5-10 degrees Celsius. 

Allow the cake to cool in its tin for a few minutes, before removing from the in and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

Once the cake has cooled, make the icing by combining the icing mixture and 1 tbsp of the blood orange juice in a medium bowl. Add a little more juice, a teaspoon at a time until you have a smooth thick icing. Don’t make the icing too thin or it will run off the cake, if it looks too thin you can add more icing mixture a little at a time to rectify. 

Spread the icing over the cake, allowing it to fall over the sides a bit. 

Serves 8-10, will keep for a few days in an airtight container. 

*you can use pure icing sugar instead it will just need to be sifted first.

Pistachio and Rhubarb Cake

To me, this is a very satisfying cake to make. The most complex part is blitzing the pistachios to form a crumb. You can use a stand mixer for this recipe, however if your butter is very much at room temperature (or you are using an alternative like margarine, which is the perfect consistency straight from the fridge), you could just use a wooden spoon to mix it all together in a large mixing bowl. 

The flavours are also exactly what I want to eat. Obviously I always want to eat cake that contains pistachio, and rhubarb adds a lovely sweet yet tart element to the whole thing that feels just right. 

The inspiration for this cake came from the many times I have been looking at Tilly Pamment’s new book ‘The Plain Cake Appreciation Society’ of late, and my eye constantly being drawn to the recipes that used pistachio and those that used rhubarb. Tilly’s book uses a lot of flavours that I love to bake with and eat, and it gave me an idea to create a simple cake with some things I already had ingredient wise. 

I basically always have pistachios of some kind on hand, and we have had some rhubarb in the freezer for a few months now that is crying out to be used. The pistachios add a really nice green colour to the cake, and also a great texture too. And as much as I love a cake with icing, I also really like that this cake doesn’t need one. The slightly chewy texture the pistachios give the outer of the cake is perfect the way it is. It also means a slice of cake can be enjoyed a little sooner, which is a win in my books. 

Pistachio and Rhubarb Cake

Ingredients: 

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

125g raw pistachios

175g self raising flour

150g rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces

1 tbsp slivered or roughly chopped pistachios 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 20cm round springform or loose bottomed cake tin.

Using a food processor, grind the pistachios into a fine crumb/meal (the same consistency as almond meal). Don’t over process or you may end up with pistachio nut butter, rather than pistachio meal. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs separately, beating well after each. 

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour and blitzed pistachios, then add to the batter and gently mix until just combined.

Transfer the cake batter into the tin and smooth the top. Push the rhubarb into the top of the cake a little, evenly covering the cake in the rhubarb pieces. Scatter the slivered pistachios over the top of the cake.

Bake for about an hour, or until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. 

Leave the cake to cool before removing from the tin. 

Serves 8, stores well in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Pistachio White Chocolate Blondie

I seem to be incapable of not thinking of recipes that use pistachio, or specifically crema di pistachio spread. I am well and truely obsessed, and I can’t see that changing any time soon. 

While the combination of pistachio and white chocolate is very good, you could also adapt this recipe to use a chocolate hazelnut spread (or similar) if thats more your thing (and it is certainly easier to buy than crema di pistachio) and swap out the chopped pistachios for chopped hazelnuts and the white chocolate could be substituted for milk or dark chocolate as well. 

You can essentially make this blondie recipe your own - as long as you keep the quantities of everything the same it will work a treat. 

I personally steer clear of actual chocolate in my blondie recipes as I can’t eat milk or dark chocolate, and therefore, do not want any in my blondie. For me it’s not a blondie if it has any milk or dark chocolate in it, as to me it becomes as inedible as an actual brownie. However feel free to make any adaptations that suit you, I know I’m most probably in the minority when it comes to not eating proper chocolate (i.e. all chocolate that is not white chocolate). 

And a final note on the recipe, I use panela sugar in my blondie as I much prefer the flavour and texture it gives. It creates a nice slightly caramel flavour without being sickly sweet which I think works really well. You can substitute with light or dark brown sugar if you don’t have any panela - though I do highly recommend you try it!

Pistachio Blondie 

Ingredients: 

135g unsalted butter, melted 

250g panela sugar 

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

270g plain Flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

150g white chocolate, chopped

50g + 2 tbsp pistachios, chopped

1/4 cup crema di pistacchio or pistachio butter, optional

Method: 

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line a 23cm square cake or brownie tin with baking paper. 

In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, panela sugar, eggs and vanilla extract with a whisk. 

Add the plain flour, baking powder and salt and mix again with a whisk until combined. 

Add in the chopped white chocolate and 50g pistachios and briefly mix together with a spatula or wooden spoon. 

Pour the blondie mixture into your prepared tin, and smooth the top with the spatula or wooden spoon you were just using. 

If using, dollop teaspoonfuls of the pistachio spread over the surface of the blondie, then using a knife, swirl the spread into the blondie. 

Sprinkle with the 2 tbsp of chopped pistachios.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden and a skewer comes out clean. 

Allow the blondie to cool in its tin, then remove and cut into 9 very generous slices or about 12 slightly less generous slices - or you can cut it however suits you. 

Store in an airtight container.

Serves about 12. 

Spiced Christmas Cupcakes with Very Vanilla Buttercream

Since I already have quite a few festive recipes on my blog, I decided this year something simple was in order. 

Basic cupcakes like these are great to make when you don’t have time for more complex baking, and they would be a good thing to make with kids as well since the cook time is short (and the decoration options are endless!).

These cupcakes are spiced with the Gewürzhaus Christmas Cake and Pudding Spice which I was gifted in November when I went to visit the new Gewürzhaus store in Sydney’s QVB. It elevates these cupcakes from basic to festive, and provides all the Christmas-y flavour you could need (with very little effort). Other festive spice mixes can be used - a gingerbread style spice mix would also work really well, or a combination of spices such as cinnamon, mixed spice and nutmeg.

The vanilla buttercream is a favourite of mine and has a great vanilla flavour thanks to both vanilla extract and paste. The recipe makes a generous amount so you will have a decent amount of icing on each cupcake, ready to decorate whichever way you please.

Spiced Christmas Cupcakes with Very Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients: 

125g unsalted butter, at room temp

95g caster sugar 

70g vanilla bean sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs 

250g self raising flour

3 tsp Gewürzhaus Christmas Cake and Pudding Spice*

105ml buttermilk

Ingredients for Vanilla Buttercream: 

200g unsalted butter, at room temp 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

240g icing sugar, sifted

festive sprinkles, to decorate (optional)

festive cupcake toppers, to decorate (optional)

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and line a 12 hole cupcake tray with cupcake cases. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time and mix well. 

Then add half the flour and mix on low speed until combined. Add the milk and mix on low speed until combined. Then add the remaining flour and Christmas Cake and Pudding Spice and gently mix until everything is combined and there are no lumps.

Spoon the mixture evenly amongst the cupcake cases, filling so the cases are about 3/4 full.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean and the cakes spring back to the touch. Remove the cupcakes from the tray and allow to cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing, beat the butter and vanillas in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for at least 1 minute, or until the butter is light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and beat for a further minute or two, or until the icing sugar is well combined and the icing is light and fluffy. 

Spread or pipe icing onto the top of each cupcake, and decorate as desired.

Makes 12 cupcakes, will keep for a few days in an airtight container.

*This spice mix is a mixture of cassia, coriander, ginger, clove, nutmeg, so a similar mix of spices could be used in its place. 

Gewürzhaus Christmas Cake and Pudding Spice was gifted by Gewürzhaus.