Here are some of the things I have been enjoying this month:

I’m quite late to the party on this one as I think Issue 10 has just been released, but I finally got my hands on Issue 9 of Cherry Bombe Magazine.
This month I am loving all the lovely Spring flowers. I have enjoyed many a bunch of roses picked from our garden, and have picked a bunch of hydrangeas each week for the last four weeks or so. I also bought a small bunch of peonies and they are taking pride of place on my desk at the moment.
Now that I am back working in the CBD of Sydney, I am enjoying popping over to the Food Hall in David Jones to check out all the lovely food and produce. I was excited to find they sell bagels and challah by Brooklyn Boy Bagels (my freezer is now stocked in case of a bagel emergency!).
I finally started listening to this podcast and am so glad I did.
Starting to think about Christmas and eyeing off all the cute festive things at Kikki-K.

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

This cake is Summer on a plate for me. Elderflower and berries are Summer staples, and they both go so well in this cake. If you don’t have any elderflower cordial you can substitute it in the cake for lemon juice (so 180ml lemon juice in total). For the cake pictured in this post I used duck eggs (which are pictured in the above photos), because I can’t not buy them when I see them! I used 6 as they are much bigger than chicken eggs, and they gave the cake and amazing rise. It was the tallest chiffon cake I have ever made!

Using Duck Eggs to Make the Chiffon Cake

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

300g self-raising flour

330g golden caster sugar

7 eggs, separated

100ml + 1 tsp elderflower cordial

80ml fresh lemon juice

1.5 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

200ml pouring cream

berries & edible flowers to decorate, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (or 170 degrees Celsius fan forced), and keep an angel food cake pan handy, but do not grease it.

Add 165g of the sugar and the egg yolks to the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat for at least 5 minutes or until the egg yolks have become thick and pale in colour.

While the egg yolks are beating, sift the flour at least 3 times to ensure it is well aerated.

With the mixer on low, gradually add the elderflower cordial (100ml), lemon juice, 1 tbsp of the lemon zest to the egg yolks. Mix until combined.

Sift the flour over the egg yolk mixture and gently fold in to the batter. Gently use a whisk if there are lumps of flour remaining in the batter.

Using another large bowl fitted to a stand mixer, beat the egg whites using the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Sift over the cream of tartar, then gradually add in the remaining sugar (165g), and whisk until the sugar has dissolved and the meringue mixture is stiff and glossy.

Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the meringue mixture into the egg yolks in 2 or 3 batches, and stop mixing once everything is just combined. They key is not to over mix, as the air you have beaten into the egg whites will help give the chiffon cake it’s characteristic rise.

Transfer the mixture into the ungreased angel food cake tin, and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Once the cake is done, invert it so the hole in the middle of the cake tin sits over the neck of a bottle. Leave like this until completely cooled - if the cake is not inverted once it comes out of the oven, it will sink. Once the cake has cooled, remove from the tin by carefully running a knife around the outside, middle and underneath of the cake.

To finish the cake, beat the cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form. Add the remaining lemon zest and elderflower cordial and whisk to combine. Use the cream to decorate the top of the cake, finishing with berries and edible flowers.

Reference: ‘Indulgent Cakes’ by The Australian Women’s Weekly (Bauer Media Books, 2014) pp.218-9.

Since I really enjoy reading other people’s favourites lists, I thought I would start my own and post some here on the blog or in my newsletter now and then. I find I discover new blogs, recipes, books and podcasts through other bloggers lists, or through similar round ups on podcasts, so I hope you can find the same here!

This new blog post from Beth Kirby of Local Milk - I love Beth’s honesty, and acceptance around the fluidity of her blog and it’s changing focuses over time, and her talk of slow living as “deciding what really matters to you and saying no to everything else”.
This Carrot Cake from My Name is Yeh - I made this (sans tahini) for my Dad’s birthday last month. It is now my favourite carrot cake, as the combination of the hawaij spices, carrot and caramel were just perfect!
A Bookish Baker’s blog post on why she is no longer niching her blog - In all the noise around monetising blogs, being an expert on one thing and there only being one path to follow for all this to be successful, sentiment such as that expressed in this post are so welcome and necessary.
Courage & Spice Podcast: The Podcast for Humans with Self-Doubt - This is a fairly new podcast from Sas Petherick, who has done extensive research on self-doubt. I am loving hearing Sas’ advice and interviews so far, they often feel like they are great personal pep talks letting me know that self doubt isn’t just something I experience, and there are things I can do to alleviate these feelings and start to boost my confidence.
‘Not Just Lucky’ by Jamila Rizvi - I can’t stop recommending this book (sorry to those who have already heard my insistent arguments on why they should read it!). If you are female you will probably be able to relate to this book. Jamila focuses on women and the work environment, and I can honestly say I related to so much more than I ever thought I would. There were so many moments where I thought, ‘Oh other women feel this way too?’, ‘I’m not the only one?’, and ‘OMG it’s like Jamila knows me’. It’s good to know you aren’t alone in how you feel, particularly in the work environment, and Jamila gives some great advice on how to deal with the gender inequalities that plague our workplaces.

But now on to the doughnuts (or donuts? 🤔I never know which). They are extremely simple to make - they take about 10 minutes to cook, which makes them not only slightly healthier than the traditional fried doughnuts but also much quicker to make. To intensify the vanilla flavour a little, you could use some vanilla sugar instead of the white sugar. I used blood orange juice in the icing, because I love the colour, and I still have lots of blood orange juice frozen from last season!

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts with Blood Orange Icing

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts with Blood Orange Icing

Ingredients:

135g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp bicarb soda

65g white sugar

60ml milk

60g Greek yoghurt

1 egg

40g margarine/unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

canola oil spray

For the Icing:

200-250g icing sugar

2 tbsp blood orange juice, approx.

selection of sprinkles, 100s & 1000s, dried edible flowers etc, to decorate

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and spray a 12 hole doughnut pan with canola oil spray.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda and sugar. If your bicarb soda is a bit lumpy, sift to remove the lumps - there’s nothing worse than biting into a baked good to find a lump of baking soda in there!

In a jug, whisk together the milk, yoghurt and the egg. Ensure the egg has been fully mixed into the other ingredients. Add the melted margarine and the vanilla bean paste and whisk until combined. Pour this into the flour mixture and mix until just combined - don’t over mix. Similar to muffins, these will toughen up if over mixed.

Place a medium/large piping bag or zip-lock bag over a large glass to it is easy to fill. Spoon in the batter, then pipe into the donut pan, ensuring you only fill each about three quarters the way up - there is plenty of raising agent in the batter so they will rise and expand, and if each doughnut is overfilled the hole in the centre will disappear!

Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the doughnuts are slightly golden and spring back to the touch.

Allow the doughnuts to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack, using a small icing spatula to gently prise the out if necessary (don’t use a knife as you may scratch your tin in the process).

Once the doughnuts have cooled, make the icing by mixing the 200g of the icing sugar and 1 tbsp of the blood orange juice together. If the icing is too runny add more icing sugar, if it is too dry add a little more blood orange juice. You don’t want to the icing to be very runny or it will all run off the donuts, and take any decoration with it!

To ice the doughnuts, dip the top side of each (the side that was facing down in doughnut pan), into the icing and twist to ensure it is evenly coated. Remove and allow any excess icing to drip off. Leave each doughnut to sit with the icing on for a minute or two, then decorate with the sprinkles etc.

Reference: ‘Sally’s Baking Addiction’ by Sally McKenney (Race Point Publishing, 2014), p.27.

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Baked Vanilla Doughnuts with Blood Orange Icing

Kulinary Adventures of Kath

Food Photography, Recipes & Baking