White Peach & Passionfruit Sponge Cake

The idea for this cake came to me when I went into a new fruit and veg shop and saw some donut peaches from the USA. Usually, I really try to stick to what is in season, however there are some things (white cherries and donut peaches in particular) that I can’t resist no matter what season or where they have come from. 

After I bought them I realised they wouldn’t last long enough for me to end up eating all of them fresh. Then I remembered this White Peach & Passionfruit Jam recipe I had made last year. I already had lots of passionfruit pulp in the freezer so I set about making the jam with the donut peaches. The jam is so tasty, just like Summer in a jar. 

I usually serve it with scones, but this time I thought adding it to the filling of a sponge would make a lovely Summery cake for this time of year. I used the same sponge recipe as the Duck Egg Sponge I have previously posted here on the blog, but with regular chicken eggs (5 eggs rather than the 4 duck eggs). If you can find duck eggs I highly recommend using them for a sponge cake like this one, the rise and the texture you get with them are really something else. 

Make the jam a day or so before you intend to have the sponge. And since the festive season will soon be upon us, I would recommend putting the jam into smaller jam jars and gifting it to others. It would be such a lovely gift to receive and a great showcase of the Australian produce that is now in season. 

If you don’t feel like making the jam, use some extra peach and passionfruit to fill the middle of the sponge as well as decorating the top.

White Peach & Passionfruit Jam 

Ingredients: 

1kg white or donut peaches (just ripe)

10 passionfruit

600g white sugar or jam sugar

100g brown sugar 

juice of 1/2 lemon

Method: 

Sterilise 3-4 jam jars (about 280-300ml capacity) by washing them in hot soapy water and then placing them in the oven to dry (upside down) at 90 degrees Celsius. Jars can be left for 20 minutes or until they are ready to be used. 

Place two small plates in the freezer for later.

Remove the skins from the peaches (if proving difficult don’t worry about it too much), and deseed. Roughly chop and place in a large heavy based saucepan. Scoop the pulp out of each passionfruit and add to the pot, along with the remaining ingredients. 

Sit the pot over low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved and the juices start coming out of the fruit. Increase the heat and stop stirring. Allow the jam to simmer for about 15-20 minutes, then check if it has reaching setting point. Remove one of the plates from the freezer and drop some of the jam onto the plate. Leave for a moment, then run your finger through the jam, If the jam creases it is ready. If not, keep the jam over the heat and test again after another 10 minutes or so. The rate at which the jam sets will depend on the ripeness of the peaches. 

Once the jam has reached setting point, remove the jam jars from the oven. Using a ladle and a jam funnel, fill each jar with the jam and secure the lids. 

Allow to cool at room temperature, then store in a cool dry place for up to six months. Refrigerate once opened, or if conditions are hot and humid. 

White Peach & Passionfruit Sponge Cake

White Peach and Passionfruit Sponge Cake

Ingredients: 

x5 eggs, room temperature

140g golden caster sugar 

160g plain flour, plus extra for the tin

2 tsp baking powder 

300ml pouring cream

butter, to grease the tin

5 tbsp White Peach & Passionfruit Jam, approx.

1 white or donut peach, to decorate

pulp of 1/2 passionfruit, to decorate

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and butter and flour two 20 cm loose bottomed cake tins. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the eggs and sugar. Whisk for about 10 minutes, on medium to high speed. The mixture will triple in size and become pale and fluffy. 

While the eggs are whisking, measure the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl and whisk together to remove any lumps. Carefully add the flour and baking powder to the whisked eggs, gently and quickly folding it into the eggs with a large metal spoon.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared tins, and bake for 15-20 minutes. The cakes will be golden in colour and spring back when lightly touched. 

Leave the cakes to cool in their tins for a couple of minutes. Place a sheet of baking paper on a cooling rack, and remove each cake from their tins on to the paper. This will prevent the cakes sticking to the cooling racks. Alternatively, you can leave the baking paper that is already on the base of each cake, and place them straight on the racks. 

Once the cakes have cooled (this shouldn’t take too long), prepare the cream filling. Whip the cream until it has thickened and soft peaks are forming. Place one of the cakes on a cake stand or serving plate, and top with half of the cream. Dollop over the White Peach and Passionfruit Jam, ensuring it is evenly placed over the cream. Place the second sponge on top and finish with the remaining cream. Slice up the peach and use to decorate the rim of the cake. Sprinkle over the passionfruit pulp to finish. 

Serve immediately.

References: ‘Real Food Projects’ by Kate Walsh (Murdoch Books, 2016), p.62; ‘Local is Lovely’ by Sophie Hansen (Hachette Australia, 2014), p.50.

Homemade Marshmallows (Gluten + Dairy Free)

I have always loved marshmallows. I would eat them by the bowlful as a kid, much to my Mum’s dismay. I’d often melt them in the microwave, add Rice Bubbles, and eat them like a massive LCM (or rice crispy treat), but with much more marshmallow! 

Then while I was at uni, a friend introduced me to Sweetness the Patisserie in Sydney, who make their own marshmallows, known as Sweet Mallows. They are made with natural flavours, and come in an amazing variety of flavour combinations. These homemade, (much) more natural versions of the marshmallows you buy in the lolly isle at the supermarket, make you never ever want to eat the supermarket variety again.

I then stumbled across the below recipe in the recipe book from the Parisian confectioners,  À La Mère de Famille (check out this post for more on the Parisian confectioners). Its not an overly complicated recipe, you just need to be organised, work quickly and have a sugar thermometer. So once I bought a sugar thermometer, there was nothing stopping me finally making marshmallows for myself! 

The flavour combinations are really quite endless, and I think they make cute gifts (cue impending holiday season!). The flavour of the marshmallows develops a lot after a day or so, so I would recommend making them a day or two in advance before giving them as gifts. They also require tossing in the icing sugar and potato flour mix more than once over the first couple of days, particularly in humid conditions. They will otherwise absorb the first lot of icing sugar and potato flour quite quickly and become wet and sticky. And let’s face it, its always handy when you are making gifts, or just cooking generally, to have things that can be prepared in advance! 

Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients for Raspberry Marshmallows: 

15g gelatine sheets

100g raspberry pulp

20g water

50g mild honey

240g sugar

100g egg whites

1 tsp freeze dried raspberry powder, sifted, optional

75g icing sugar

75g potato flour/starch 

Ingredients for Passionfruit Marshmallows:

15g gelatine sheets 

70g strained passionfruit pulp

40g water

50g mild honey

240g sugar

100g egg whites

1 tsp freeze dried passionfruit powder, optional

75g icing sugar

75g potato flour/starch 

Method: 

Place the gelatine in bowl of cold water, and leave to soak for 5 minutes. Then drain and set aside. 

Place the egg whites in a bowl, and have everything ready to whip them once the sugar syrup starts to heat up (see following step).

In a large saucepan heat, the raspberry pulp or passionfruit pulp, water, honey and sugar until it reaches 114 degrees Celsius on a sugar thermometer. The sugar syrup will start rapidly boiling and increase in size, so make sure you use a large enough saucepan. This shouldn’t take too long, so once the mixture starts to increase in temperature, start whipping the egg whites on a low/medium speed.

Once the sugar mixture has reached 114 degrees Celsius, and the egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks, gently fold the sugar mixture and gelatine in to the egg whites. 

Increase the speed of the mixer (medium to high speed), and allow the marshmallow to thicken and cool. This will take a few minutes. Add the freeze dried raspberry powder or passionfruit powder, if using, and continue to whip the marshmallow until it has cooled to at least 40 degrees Celsius. Whilst the marshmallow is thickening and cooling, lay a sheet of baking paper on a clean dry surface and generously dust with combination of the icing sugar and potato flour. 

Once the marshmallow has thickened and cooled, pour it onto the prepared surface and spread into a rectangular shape, about 1.5-2cm in thickness. Dust with more icing sugar and potato flour, and leave to set. 

I found it didn’t take very long for the marshmallow to set, but leave it about 30 mins to be sure - it will be set when it bounces back when pressed and the outside area dusted with the icing sugar and potato flour is no longer sticky. You may need to dust the marshmallow more than once depending on the humidity. 

Once the marshmallow has set, cut into cubes, and toss cut marshmallows in a bowl filled with icing sugar and potato flour. Cut cubes of marshmallow may need dusting a couple more times as the first lot tends to be absorbed after a few hours (particularly in humid conditions). Keep a bowl or container of the icing sugar and potato flour handy so the marshmallows can be re-dusted if needed. 

Reference: ‘À La Mère de Famille: Artisanal Recipes’ by Julien Merceron (2013, Hardie Grant Books), pp.108-112. 

Easy Passionfruit Loaf Cake

This recipe came about when I wanted to use up some passionfruit leftover from the sponge cake I made a little while ago. I do find it funny that whenever we have leftover or almost over ripe fruit in the house we use it to bake with! We’d probably be better off just eating it, rather than adding sugar and butter to it, but that wouldn’t be as much fun though would it? 

The base of this loaf cake is one I use often for cupcakes and whole cakes as well. It is quite versatile and has featured on the blog in the past in different forms. You can substitute the margarine for butter, the golden caster sugar for caster sugar, and the buttermilk for regular or skimmed milk. You can even use vanilla extract if you don’t have any vanilla bean paste. This loaf cake is that easy - you don’t even need to have all the right ingredients for it to be great! 

I apologise if anyone is throughly sick of seeing recipes for cake that involve passionfruit from me. Unfortunately, when there is something I like, I keep using it! And when I get an idea for a cake or recipe, I find it hard to think of anything else until the idea has been brought to life! So be prepared for a few more slightly repetitious cakes in the next little while! All of which however, can be altered to suit your tastes or what you have available. This loaf cake for example, would be just as good using lemon juice in the icing. 

On another note, the size of the loaf cake my look a little deceiving in the photos. This is because about half of it had already been eaten by the time I could take photos! 

Ingredients: 

125 g canola based margarine

3/4 cup golden caster sugar (raw caster sugar)

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 eggs 

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup buttermilk 

For the Icing: 

1 1/2 cups icing sugar 

3-4 small passionfruit  

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and line a loaf tin with baking paper. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the margarine, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. 

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add half the flour and half the buttermilk and mix. Add the remaining flour and buttermilk and mix on medium speed until well combined. 

Transfer the mixture into the loaf tin, smoothing the top. Bake for 1 hour, or until the cake springs back when touched lightly and a skewer comes out clean. 

Cool in the tin for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack, leaving the baking paper underneath the cake (this will prevent the cake from sticking to the rack, and catch any runaway icing later). 

Once the loaf has cooled completely, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the pulp of 3-4 passionfruit gradually, mixing after each addition. Stop adding pulp when the icing is a nice smooth consistency. Drizzle the icing over the cake, allowing it to fall down the sides. Leave for 2-3 hours to allow the icing to dry before storing in an airtight container, or eat straight away!

All baking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.

A Passionfruit Sponge & One Year of Blogging

With the holiday season over, I was preparing to take a short break from baking and get some blog planning and other bits and pieces done. The weekend after New Years however, I suddenly realised - one year since I began this blog was coming up in four days! This mini milestone completely took me by surprise. I had nothing planned, but knew a cake at least, was 100% necessary.  

I decided to make a classic passionfruit sponge. I had looked through a few cookbooks and food magazines, trying to come up with something that was totally new and different. But I then thought, it was probably better to celebrate one year of my blog, with something that better represented what I have been doing for the past year. I don't tend to make cakes that have ingredient lists that span 3 pages, and need to be started two days in advance. As much as I appreciate eating things that have that much effort put into them, I am not always that keen to be the one putting the effort into making them! 

I have made a couple of passionfruit sponges before, but neither have made it onto the blog. I was never completely happy with the texture and knew that the search for the best recipe wasn't over. I found this recipe in a issue of Country Style magazine, in a section of the magazine that focuses on heirloom recipes. This recipe was sent in by someone whose father discovered a love and talent for baking in his retirement, and now in his 90's is his families go-to baker. 

The recipe was quite different to the others I had tried, and it turned out exactly how I wanted! The result was light and fluffy. And the bonus was, it wasn't difficult to make and took less than half an hour to cook. It will now be my go to sponge cake recipe! 

Thanks to all of you who read this blog, follow and support me. I appreciate it very much! Here's to another year of blogging, taking photos and eating! 

Ingredients: 

Butter and plain flour, for greasing cake tins 

4 eggs 

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 cup cornflour 

1 tbsp custard powder 

1 tsp cream of tartar 

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

Ingredients for Icing and Filling: 

1 1/2 cups icing sugar 

3-4 passionfruit

1 cup of thickened cream 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Use a little butter to grease two (20 cm) sandwich tins, then dust them with some flour. Line the base of each tin with baking paper. 

Separate the eggs, and set the yolks aside. Place the whites into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until they form stiff peaks. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture has become stiff and glossy. Add the yolks and beat until just combined. Sift in the dry ingredients, and gently fold into the egg mixture using a large metal spoon.

Divide the mixture between the two tins, and bake for 20 minutes. The cakes will be ready when they are golden in colour and spring back when touched lightly. 

Line two cooling racks with baking paper. Remove cakes from their tins, and allow to cool on the prepared racks. Allow to cool completely before icing or filling the cake. 

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, and gradually mix in the passionfruit pulp until the icing is smooth. I used three small passionfruit. Let the icing stand for a few minutes to allow it to thicken. 

Meanwhile, whip the cream and spread over one of the cakes (top side down). It is easiest to ice and fill the cake on the plate you will serve it on. Use the pulp of one passionfruit to drizzle over the cream. Top with the remaining sponge cake, and ice the cake with the icing. 

This cake is best served immediately after it is assembled, however, it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. 

Original Recipe found in Country Style Magazine, November 2014 Issue, pp.76-77 (article: ’never too late’, recipe originally by Bill Bevan).

All baking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.

Coconut & Passionfruit Pancakes

Happy long weekend! 

It seems to me that here in Australia, we love nothing more than a good long weekend. So to celebrate, I am posting this recipe for coconut and passionfruit pancakes. Mostly because, if you can’t take some time making a leisurely breakfast on the long weekend, when can you? 

If you don’t like the thought of doing all the preparation and cooking in the morning, you can prepare the passionfruit syrup and the batter (up until the egg whites stage) the night before. Before whipping up the egg whites and adding them to the mixture, just make sure the batter has been out of the fridge for a little bit. 

This recipe comes from Bill Granger. I have consciously attempted to lessen the amount of his recipes that I make and blog about on here. At one stage, a few months ago, I had made so many of his recipes from various books, that it was going to look like I wasn’t capable of doing anything else. While I think that is a compliment to Bill, I thought that variety was also probably a good idea. 

I went about making these pancakes, firstly because I had frozen so much passionfruit pulp it would really be ridiculous not to use it, and I had been following the hype surrounding Bill’s new restaurant opening in Bondi. I figured if I couldn’t get to Bondi to eat at his restaurant, I would just have to make a recipe of his myself. 

Luckily for me, a week or so after making these pancakes, I got to visit bills in Bondi. I absolutely loved it. There were so many great options to chose from on the lunch and drinks menu, I had real difficulty making a decision. It is definitely a must visit if you are in Bondi or nearby. 

Ingredients: 

1 1/3 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp caster sugar

3/4 cup coconut, desiccated or shredded

pinch of salt

4 eggs, separated

1 cup milk 

1 cup coconut milk 

50 g butter, melted

butter, for cooking

banana slices, to serve

Ingredients for the Passionfruit Syrup:

1/2 cup caster sugar 

1/4 cup passionfruit pulp

Method: 

To make the passionfruit syrup, mix the sugar and pulp in a saucepan. Place on a medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool until needed. 

To make the pancakes, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and coconut in a bowl. In another bowl, combine the egg yolks, coconut milk and milk. Whisk until combined. Add this mixture, and the butter, to the flour and mix lightly until just combined. 

In the bowl of a electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. 

In two batches, gently fold the egg whites in to the batter. 

Using a large fry pan, heat some of the butter. To cook the pancakes, place heaped tablespoons of the batter, on to the pan and cook for about two minutes a side. The first side will be cooked when the surface of the top side of the pancake has formed small bubbles. Don’t overcrowd your pan with pancakes. If you can only do a couple at a time, turn the oven to a low heat and place cooked pancakes on a tray to keep warm. 

Serve pancakes with slices of banana and the passionfruit syrup. 

Original recipe from ‘Bills Open Kitchen’ by Bill Granger (2003, Murdoch Books), p. 23. 

bills in Bondi can be found at 79 Hall St Bondi Beach, NSW.

Originally Posted October 3, 2014.

All baking, styling and photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.

Passionfruit Biscuits (Egg Free)

This recipe has been adapted from the Rose Biscuits I made a little while ago. After making those biscuits, it got me thinking about other flavours I could make. I didn’t take long to choose passionfruit as the next flavour, and the fact that passionfruit season is coming to an end only made me want to try it more!

On the first attempt of these I used vanilla extract in the biscuits, and passionfruit pulp for the icing. They were nice, however the sweetness of the vanilla competed with the passionfruit flavour. When I made them again, I strained some passionfruit pulp and added it to the biscuit mixture. While the difference was fairly subtle, it allows the passionfruit to be the dominate flavour, which is definitely what I wanted! If you don’t want to strain the passionfruit pulp, you can leave it out or add no more than a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mixture. 

Ingredients: 

200g unsalted butter, softened

100g golden caster sugar (or caster sugar)

200 g plain flour, sifted

100g almond meal

2 tablespoons strained passionfruit pulp (no seeds) 

Ingredients for the Icing: 

2-3 tbsp passionfruit pulp

2 cups icing sugar 

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and line two baking trays with baking paper. 

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and strained passionfruit pulp until all combined. Add the sifted flour and almond meal and mix until combined. 

Using a teaspoon, take spoonfuls of the mixture and roll into balls and place on the baking trays. Flatten the balls a little so they form fat round discs. 

Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until slightly golden. Cool biscuits on the trays or on a wire rack. 

Once the biscuits are cool, place the sifted icing sugar in a medium bowl. Add two tablespoons of passionfruit pulp and mix until the icing is the consistency of a smooth paste. Heat in a microwave for 10 seconds, and continue mixing. If the mixture is too dry, gradually add more of the passionfruit pulp. Add more sifted icing sugar if the icing becomes too runny. If the icing won’t combine well, heat it again for no more than 10 seconds in a microwave. Spread some icing in a circular motion on top of each biscuit and leave to dry for a couple of hours. 

Makes approx. 36-38 biscuits. Store in a airtight container.

Originally Posted June 4, 2014.