Pistachio Raspberry & Rose Cake

Pistachio, raspberry and rose are three flavours that are made for each other in my opinion. They go so well together and the colours of each look so pretty and appealing too.

I used fresh raspberries for this cake, however if you are using frozen, only take them out of the freezer just before you want to use them so they don’t bleed into the cake batter too much. 

You can buy freeze dried raspberries from a few places now - I have bought them online from Fresh As (a New Zealand company), and Bakedown Cakery often sells them in their St Leonards store as well. I have also bought them from About Life in the past too. Alternatively, freeze dried strawberries are a little easier to come by, so they would be a good alternative to use. Otherwise dried edible rose petals would be a good option for the decoration. 

Also - how gorgeous are the white peonies in these photos?! Every year when peonies are in season I can’t help but buy some. I think they are some of the most beautiful flowers, and I have found if you buy them before the flower has opened you can get a good week or more out of them. Which is great, as they aren’t exactly the cheapest of flowers to buy! But their beauty is certainly worth it, particularly if like me, you don’t buy flowers all that often.

Happy Baking! xoxo

Pistachio Raspberry & Rose Cake

Ingredients: 

175g margarine or softened unsalted butter

175g light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp rosewater

125g + 1 tbsp pistachios

175g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

250g fresh raspberries

Ingredients for the Icing:

200g icing sugar, confectioners

1.5-2 tbsp rosewater

1 tsp freeze dried raspberries, lightly crushed

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 22-23cm springform cake tin.

Using a food processor, grind the all 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. Remove 1 tbsp of the ground pistachios and set aside. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the margarine and sugar. Beat using the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs separately, beating well after each. Add the rosewater and the ground pistachios and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour and baking powder, then gently fold into the main cake batter. 

Transfer the cake batter into the tin and smooth the top. Push each raspberry into the top of the cake so that cake is evenly covered with raspberries. Smooth the top if possible. 

Bake for about 50 minutes 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. 

Once the cake has cooled make the icing by whisking the icing sugar and 1 tbsp of the rosewater together. Gradually add more rosewater if the mixture is to dry, and more icing sugar if the icing is too runny. Ice the cake with the icing, then sprinkle over the 1 tbsp of crushed pistachios and the freeze dried raspberries to decorate. 

Pistachio Raspberry & Rose Cake

Reference: The Violet Bakery Cookbook’ by Claire Ptak (Ten Speed Press, 2015), p.137.

Pistachio Raspberry & Rose Cake with White Peonies

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking the link below!

Raspberry, Almond & Vanilla Layer Cake (Gluten Free)

There is a bit of a story behind this cake. I have been wanting to make something like this for a while, pretty much since I first tried the ‘Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake’ from Flour & Stone. While the ingredients are simple, the end result is definitely the best cake you can buy in Sydney. My version, while highly inspired by the cake at Flour & Stone, ends up being a bit different, but equally as delicious. 

It also ends up being gluten free as I opted to use a almond based cake for this recipe. I didn’t choose the almond cake deliberately for its gluten free qualities, I just wanted something that in some way resembled the cake at Flour & Stone, which is denser than a traditional sponge cake, yet still very light and fluffy.

Goodies from Flour & Stone, including the 'Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake'.

The 'Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake'.

My cake, inspired by the 'Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake' from Flour & Stone.

The cake recipe has been adapted from ‘Gran’s almond cake’ in Sophie Hansen’s book ‘Local is Lovely’. This book never ceases to provide culinary inspiration and great recipes.

The filling for this cake, while still being influenced by the ‘Old Fashioned Vanilla Cake’ which has a mascarpone element to its filling, is also inspired by my desire to use some of Pepe Saya’s great products. I visited the Pyrmont Grower’s Market earlier this month and came home with Pepe Saya’s mascarpone and buttermilk. I bought the mascarpone knowing I wanted to try make this cake, and I felt that such good quality products could only be used in something as special as a cake. The buttermilk was used to make a double batch of these muffins, which we are still eating as they freeze so well, and a double batch of these pancakes. The pancakes worked so well with the Pepe Saya buttermilk, I’m not sure I want to make them again unless I have it! 

The recipe for the filling ended up being an amalgamation of this recipe from Delia Online and this recipe from Fool Proof Living. The second recipe has some good tips about whipping mascarpone, as apparently if the mascarpone and cream you are whipping are different temperatures the mascarpone will split. Most places I looked advised using both products at room temperature, however I used both chilled from the fridge and it worked well. 

As a little side note, I did add some toasted coconut chips to the layers of the cake, mostly because I had some leftover from breakfast that morning. I didn't add it to the recipe as I didn't think it significantly added anything to the cake as a whole, however they are visible in some of the photos of the cake.

Raspberry, Almond & Vanilla Layer Cake (Gluten Free)

Ingredients: 

290g almond meal 

315g golden caster sugar

6 eggs, separated

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 tsp baking powder

Ingredients for the Mascarpone & Raspberry Cream 

200g mascarpone 

150ml thickened cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

35g icing (confectioners) sugar, plus extra for dusting

250g fresh raspberries

Method: 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and grease and line the base of two 18 cm round loose bottomed cake tins (spring form cake tins will work well too). 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar until they are pale and creamy. Add the vanilla bean paste and beat to combine. 

Sift in the almond meal and baking powder, and gently mix to combine. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. 

Using a large metal spoon, gently fold the egg whites into the almond meal mixture, a quarter at a time. 

Divide the mixture evenly between the two prepared cake tins. Turn the oven temperature down to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake the cakes for 30 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. 

Once cooked, cool the cakes in their tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely (leaving the baking paper lining on the cakes as they may stick to the racks). 

Once the cakes have cooled completely, make the mascarpone and raspberry cream. 

Place the mascarpone in a medium bowl and whip until it has thickened and soft peaks form. Gradually add the cream, extract and sifted icing sugar a third at a time, and continue to whip until all ingredients have combined and the cream has thickened and stiff peaks form.

Leave a quarter of the raspberries aside for decoration, and squash the remainder with a fork. Gently fold the squashed raspberries into the mascarpone cream. 

Remove the baking paper from the cakes and cut each of the cakes in half (horizontally). Place the base of one cake on a serving plate or cake stand and cover with a third of the mascarpone cream. Top with the top half of the cake, then another third of the cream, then top with the base of the second cake, the remaining cream and finish with the remaining cake half. 

Decorate with the remaining raspberries and dust with icing sugar. 

This cake is best served on the day it is assembled, but will keep in the fridge for a few days. 

Reference: ‘Local is Lovely’ by Sophie Hansen (Hachette Australia, 2014), p.233.

More Cake! Two Lovely Cakes from 'Tasty Express'

Ok. Now for the second part of my cake apology. Two cake recipes from ‘Tasty Express’.

After attending a Cook Republic workshop with Sneh Roy a little while ago, it re-inspired me to getting cooking from her lovely cookbook, ‘Tasty Express’ again. I was in the mood for cake (nothing unusual about that right?!), and couldn’t decide between the lemon cake and the rose and pistachio cake. So I made both. 

Both cakes are simple to make, yet yield great tasting cakes. It is unusual for me to make cakes without some kind of icing, and though it might seem strange to leave a cake un-iced, these two cakes are quite perfect as they are. Not that the perfect-ness of these cakes should ever have been doubted. They are Sneh’s recipes after all. 

Lemon Cake 

Ingredients: 

125g butter, softened

220g caster sugar 

Finely grated zest of 2 large lemons

3 eggs 

225 g self-raising flour 

Juice of one large lemon 

125ml milk

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift in the flour, and add the lemon juice. Beat for a few seconds, then add the milk and mix until just combined. 

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and tap the tin gently to remove any air bubbles. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. 

Leave the cake in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn onto a cooling rack. 

Serve warm or cooled. 

Original recipe from ‘Tasty Express’ by Sneh Roy (Ebury Press, 2014), p.192, or via Cook Republic blog.

Rose & Pistachio Cake with Fresh Raspberries 

Ingredients: 

125g butter, softened

220g caster sugar 

1 tbsp finely grated orange zest

1 tbsp rosewater

2 eggs

300g plain flour 

2 ½ tsp baking powder 

¼ tsp salt 

165ml milk 

70g Greek yoghurt 

60 g frozen raspberries 

65g pistachio kernels, chopped

Icing sugar, for dusting

Fresh raspberries and cream, to serve 

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, orange zest, and rosewater for 6 minutes on low speed. Mix until light and creamy. Add the eggs and beat well to combine. 

In a separate bowl, sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the butter mixture, milk and yoghurt and fold together until just combined. Gently fold through the frozen raspberries and pistachios. 

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 50-55 minutes or until golden and cooked through. 

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Dust with icing sugar and serve with fresh raspberries and cream. 

Original recipe from ‘Tasty Express’ by Sneh Roy (Ebury Press, 2014), p.195.

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking on the link below!

Raspberry & Rose Sponge Cake + Raspberry & Elderflower Cordial

These two recipes, raspberry & rose sponge cake and raspberry & elderflower cordial, are current favourites. They are great served together, or separately, and would be lovely additions to an afternoon tea or celebration over the warmer months. 

The flavours raspberry and rose are clearly firm favourites for me, and this cake in particular showcases how well they go together. 

Hopefully, now I have baked and posted these few recipes using flavours and ingredients I particularly love, I can move on to some new or different flavours than those I have been baking with recently. I saw a post on Instagram yesterday from someone who was talking about how they wanted to get more into cooking and was considering taking some classes. They then realised that they had enough cookbooks to inspire them to cook, and probably didn’t need to spend the money on classes! They resolved to try a new recipe from each of their cookbooks during this year. I think this is a great idea. As our cookbook collection spans at least 144 books, I think I should have enough inspiration and recipes to keep me going for a while, without always falling back on the flavours I love the most. 

So, I am giving myself a ‘cookbook challenge’. I am going to try and make something new from each cookbook I own. Hopefully I will discover some new favourites, and hopefully this will challenge me to tackle to daily dilemma that is dinner with more enthusiasm.

A small selection of the cookbook collection.

How many cookbooks do you have in your collection? Do you use them often? Let me know in the comments! 

Raspberry & Rose Sponge Cake

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 

1 tsp rosewater

Ingredients for Icing and Filling: 

2 cups icing sugar 

1/2 tbsp boiling water

3 tsp rosewater

pink food colouring

1 tbsp rose syrup

1 punnet raspberries 

1 cup of thickened cream 

edible flowers (fresh or dried), to decorate 

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 the rosewater, 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, add the water and rosewater and mix to form a smooth, slightly thick icing. If the icing is too thick add more water, too runny, more sifted icing sugar. Add a small amount of pink food colouring, and mix to create a light pink icing.

Whip the cream with the rose syrup, then roughly chop the raspberries and gently fold into the cream. Spread the cream 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. Top with the remaining sponge cake, and ice the cake with the icing. Decorate with edible flowers. 

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).

Raspberry and Elderflower Cordial

Raspberry & Elderflower Cordial

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup elderflower cordial

1 cup water 

1 litre cloudy apple juice 

handful frozen raspberries

For Ice Cubes: 

ice cube tray

water

raspberries 

Method:

Prepare the ice cubes the day before. Place small whole raspberries, or roughly chopped larger raspberries, into an ice cube tray. Cover with water and allow to freeze overnight. 

For the cordial, in a 1.5 litre capacity jug, add the elderflower cordial, water and apple juice. Top with a handful of frozen raspberries. Leave in the fridge to chill, and once the frozen raspberries have started to defrost, mix the cordial so it becomes stained with the red colour of the raspberries. 

Once ready to serve, add the raspberry ice cubes to the glasses and pour over the cordial. 

This recipe was originally published via Liveability.

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking the link below!

A Pink Tinged Birthday Cake

This cake was made early last month for my birthday. Yes, I made my own birthday cake! I had seen this recipe in the Australian Women’s Weekly book ‘Indulgent Cakes’ a few months earlier, and never had a reason to make such a big cake. So when it came to deciding what to make for my birthday, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to make it. 

This cake combines two things that I really love - raspberry and rosewater. You may have noticed I use these two ingredients a lot, particularly together. I actually have to try and not use them so much now, so my blog isn’t just a how-to on using raspberries and rosewater! 

The icing of this cake is marshmallowy, and the cake itself is pink. Also two things I love. Marshmallows and anything pink. This cake was definitely the right choice for my birthday! 

I made the cakes the day before and stored them between baking paper in air-tight containers overnight. The icing needs to be made then used straight away. It is also best to assemble and ice the cake just before you want to serve it, as the icing is at its best straight away. 

This cake can (and should) be stored in fridge, and will last a couple of days (the icing will start to dissolve away however). 

Ingredients for the Cake: 

250 g unsalted butter, softened

6 egg whites

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups caster sugar 

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsp bicarb soda

2 tsp white vinegar

3 tsp pink food colouring

Ingredients for the Filling: 

185 g raspberries 

1 tbsp rosewater

300 ml thickened cream

1/4 cup icing sugar 

Ingredients for the Icing: 

3/4 cup caster sugar 

1 tbsp glucose syrup 

2 tbsp water 

3 tsp rosewater 

3 egg whites 

fresh raspberries, for decoration

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line two 20cm round baking tins three times. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Then add the buttermilk, egg whites, sugar, flour and vanilla extract. 

In a separate bowl combine the white vinegar and bicarb soda. This mixture should become foamy. Add the pink colouring to the vinegar mixture. Then add the vinegar mixture to the main cake mix. Beat on a low speed until everything has combined, then beat for a couple of minutes on medium speed until the mixture turns a paler colour. 

Divide the cake mix evenly between the two prepared tins, and bake for 45 minutes. Test cakes with a skewer to ensure they are cooked through. Allow the cakes to stand in their tins for a few minutes, then turn them onto baking paper lined cooling racks (top side of cake facing down). 

Once the cakes are cool, carefully cut them in half. Place one of the layers on a serving plate, cake stand or board. Set aside.

To make the filling, lightly squash the raspberries in a small bowl with the rosewater. In a separate bowl beat the cream and icing sugar until the cream forms stiff peaks. Fold the raspberries into the cream. Spread one-third of the cream onto the base layer of the cake, and top with the next layer. Repeat with the remaining layers, finishing with a final layer of cake. 

To make the icing, place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixture. Then place 2/3 cup of the sugar, water, glucose and rosewater in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring mixture to the boil, and allow to boil for 3 minutes, or until a small amount can be rolled into a soft ball once dropped in cold water. If you have a sugar thermometer, the syrup should be 115 degrees Celsius at this stage. Once the syrup is boiling, start beating the egg whites until soft peaks form. Then beat in the remaining sugar. 

Remove the syrup from the heat and allow the bubbles to settle. With the mixer running, add the syrup to the egg whites in a thin stream. Beat on high speed for about five minutes, by which time the icing should have thickened and cooled.

Use icing immediately, trying to ice the top and sides of the cake evenly. Decorate with fresh raspberries. 

Recipe originally from, The Australian Women’s Weekly ‘Indulgent Cakes’  (2014, Bauer Media Books), pp.140-145.

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

Raspberry & Rose Muffins and Like Minded People

I like making muffins. They are quick, easy and lend themselves to a multitude of flavour combinations. This recipe is slightly different to the one I usually cook with. I was introduced to it by someone I used to work with. We worked together one day a week, and the whole day would be spent talking about food, restaurants, markets and cooking. Oh and we did some work as well! 

I always find it fantastic to talk to like minded people who enjoy food. Many of my friends aren’t as passionate about food as I am, and I sometimes start to feel a bit of a weirdo when I get excited about food stuff. So, it’s nice to have these other people around me who are just as passionate and interested in food as I am. That is one thing I do miss about not working at the moment. While there were frustrations with working, some of the people I had the pleasure of working with were passionate foodies and I learnt a lot from them. Often when I worked with another colleague I would be met with lists of foodie go-to places I had never heard of, or food related newspaper articles about something we had recently discussed. 

Another dear work friend and I could always be found in quiet moments searching through the cookbooks for sale, and talking about what we could make for dinner. My friend’s dinners always sounded so gourmet, it put my dinner of boring pasta or a vegemite bagel to deeper shame than they already were. 

When new cookbooks arrived, my friend could always be heard calling to me, ‘hey Kath luv, you could make this!’ or ‘There is a cookbook out there I know you would like!’. Which usually meant the rest of us from the coffee shop scrambling to take a look at the new delivery and laughingly fight over who would buy the books (sorry customers!).

One time another friend & colleague of mine and I ran to each other each holding Bill Granger’s book ‘Easy’. We both were holding on to our copies for dear life, thinking the other would want to buy it too. We laughed when we each saw the other clutching our books saying ‘This is mine!’ Thank God someone ordered two copies of that one! 

This recipe yields about 10 (smallish) muffins. If you double the recipe you will get a good 20 or so (smallish) muffins or 12 seriously massive ones (similar to the size of from a texan muffin tin). 

Ingredients: 

220 g flour 

2 tsp baking powder

125 g sugar 

1/2 tsp salt 

1 egg 

3/4 cup vegetable oil 

3/4 cup milk 

200 g raspberries, roughly chopped

2 tbsp rosewater 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a twelve hole muffin tin with cases (minus 2). 

In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl whisk together the vegetable oil, egg and milk. 

Add the raspberries to the flour mixture and gently mix. Add the oil mixture and the rosewater and gently mix until just combined. 

Fill muffin cases about 3/4 full, then bake for about 30 minutes. The muffins will be cooked when they are golden on top and spring back when touched. 

Recipe Adapted from ‘The Cook’s Companion’ by Stephanie Alexander, p.123 (1996).

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

For more recipes showcasing the best of rose, check out my eBook Baking with Rose by clicking the link below!