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!

Lychee Rose Summer Cooler

The inspiration for this drink recipe came from a mocktail I tried at my birthday dinner late last year at The Glass Brasserie at the Hilton Sydney. It was a great night, with amazing food and the best company. My brother and his girlfriend travelled from interstate to surprise me on the night, which pretty much made it one of the best birthdays ever. 

Lychee Rose Mocktail at the Glass Brasserie

I chose the Lychee Rose mocktail, obviously because of the rosewater in it! I love rosewater, as I’m sure you have noticed, and can’t go past anything on a menu that contains it. And in this case, I’m very glad I tried it. Not only was it amazing, but it has inspired a Summer drink that can be made very easily at home. 

This recipe also showcases lychees while we have them in season, but canned ones (rinsed first) will work well too. I have been enjoying making this drink over the past couple of months, and I find it can last at least a week in the fridge (particularly if the lychees are freshly bought). I have also taken to buying more lychees than I need, pureeing and sieving them, and freezing the juice to use later. I also like making up some ice cubes with a few torn rose petals and a splash of rosewater to add to the jug or glass upon serving. This recipe is also really good frozen into ice block moulds, with a few chunks of lychee dropped into each - perfect for those super hot Summer days! 

On another note, this week marks the beginning of our kitchen renovation. It is a slightly daunting and exciting time, but does however mean I won’t be cooking almost anything but toast for quite a few weeks. I have however come prepared! These past couple of months I have been spending almost every weekend baking and shooting in order to have some recipes to share here during the kitchen renovation - this is the reason I have only posted one recipe on the blog this year! All my spare time has been taken up with the baking side of things! I look forward to sharing the end result with you when it’s all done, but until then I hope you enjoy the recipes to come over the next few weeks! 

Lychee Rose Summer Cooler

Ingredients: 

1L pineapple juice 

250ml cranberry juice

250ml water

5 tbsp rosewater 

12 fresh lychees, plus extra 

fresh rose petals, optional 

Method: 

You will need a jug of at least 2L capacity for this recipe. 

Puree the 12 lychees, and pass through a sieve to remove any lumps. Add all the ingredients, except the rose petals, to the jug and stir. Taste and top up with water if needed, add ice. 

Use rose petals and extra lychees to decorate when serving.

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!

Chocolate & Date Torte (Gluten Free + Passover Friendly)

Last month, one of my very good friends got married. It was very exciting! Especially as my friend very kindly asked me to help with the wedding favours and make a gluten-free dessert. I was quite surprised when she asked me. As much as I love baking, I sometimes don’t have the confidence that what I can do will be good enough, or will live up to what people want. My friend however, had complete confidence in me. This particular friend has been so very supportive of what I have been doing lately, and her support has meant so much to me. 

Working with my friend and her lovely mother on this order was lots of fun and really enjoyable. We tossed up a few ideas for the favours, and ended up landing on the rosewater and cardamom macaroons that I make. I liked this option as they are gluten and dairy free so all the wedding guests could enjoy them, and as almonds are a traditional bonbonniere gift I thought this was a nice link. My friend had a fantastic stamp made for her wedding, to use for the invitations and order of service, so we used this as the front of the label for the favours. I think the stamp was the best part of the favours! It looked fantastic and was a nice link to all the other elements of the wedding. 

Thanks so much again to my wonderful friend. I so appreciate your support and for giving me an opportunity to be part of your wedding. Congratulations to you and your husband! 

Congratulations!

Here is the recipe for the gluten free dessert I made for the wedding. It was a really nice torte to make and I am definitely looking forward to making it again soon. The original recipe used all dark chocolate. I changed it a little to include milk chocolate as well, as I often find dark chocolate too bitter. 

* this recipe needs to be started the day before serving.

Ingredients: 

250 g whole blanched almonds

150 g milk chocolate, broken into pieces 

100 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

6 egg whites

115 g caster sugar

250 g pitted dates, finely chopped

To serve:

100 g milk chocolate

80 g dark chocolate 

250 ml whipped cream 

Method: 

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 24 cm springform cake tin. 

Place the almonds and chocolate in a food processor and lightly blend. You still want small chunks of almonds and chocolate. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, and whisk until the whites are thick and glossy. 

Gently fold the almonds, chocolate and the chopped dates into the egg white mixture. Pour mixture into prepared tin, smooth the top if necessary. Bake for 45 minutes. 

Once the torte is cooked leave in the oven, turn the oven off, and leave the oven door propped open. Leave torte in the oven until completely cool. 

Once the torte has cooled, remove from the tin and place on a large plate or platter. Refrigerate overnight. 

The next day, melt the remaining chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a small amount of simmering water (the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). 

Allow the melted chocolate to cool a little, then drizzle over the cake. 

Serve with whipped cream. 

Original Recipe from ‘Monday Morning Cooking Club - The Feast Goes On’ by Lisa Goldberg, Merelyn Frank Chalmers, Natanya Eskin, Lauren Fink, Paula Horwitz and Jacqui Israel, p.187 (Harper Collins, 2014).

Originally Posted October 9, 2014.