Carrot Cake with Quince Syrup and Spiced Buttercream

I love a good carrot cake. The recipe is always easy, no need for a mixer, and can be adapted quite a lot too. 

This most recent adaptation came about when it suddenly occurred to me that quince syrup could be substituted for the usual honey/golden syrup often used in carrot cakes. I buy sticky quince syrup from Singing Magpie Produce, and I’m not sure if there is anyone else who produces a similar product. 

While I highly recommend buying from Singing Magpie Produce, if you are outside Australia or wish for another alternative, date syrup/molasses can be used instead. In fact I’m sure many other fruit based syrups/molasses could be trailed in a recipe like this. I just wouldn’t try pomegranate molasses, as it would be too tart. 

Using a product such as quince syrup rather than honey or something similar, allows the cake to be less sweet - though the buttercream here makes up for that! However the combination is quite nice as they compliment each other. This is also a nice cake without icing too if you want to keep it as it is. 

You could make this cake an Easter carrot cake by decorating with small Easter eggs or similar. 

Carrot Cake with Quince Syrup and Spiced Buttercream

Ingredients: 

75g panela or brown sugar

125ml canola or vegetable oil

125ml quince syrup (I use this one)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

225g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground cardamom 

3 medium carrots, grated

For the icing:

150g unsalted butter, at room temp 

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

190g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamom 

Method: 

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

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, quince syrup, eggs and vanilla.

Then add the flour, baking powder and spices. Sift in the bicarb soda and whisk together until combined.

Then add the grated carrots to the cake mixture and mix to combine. 

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden, springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean.

Remove the outer edge of the cake tin and allow the cake to cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing, beat the butter and vanilla 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 spices and beat for a further minute or two, or until the icing sugar is well combined and the icing is light and fluffy. 

Spread the icing over the cake.

Serves 8-10. 

Easy Christmas Fruit Loaf Cake

I am going to preface this recipe with, this is not a traditional Christmas fruit cake. 

That is the exact reason however, that I love this cake. 

I have always severely disliked heavy alcohol laden Christmas cakes, and this is my much lighter take on the traditional. This cake uses delicious dried fruit, but the cake is more cake-y than fruit heavy. 

This cake is not alcohol free (but could easily be made so), but by using a large quantity of good quality vanilla extract (which contains alcohol) to soak the dried fruit you get an intense vanilla, only slightly alcoholic taste to the cake. All in all a much lighter flavour and texture than a traditional Christmas fruit cake. 

I have cooked it in a particularly skinny loaf tin as this creates the perfect serve when cutting slices of the cake (unfortunately the shape of the cake makes it much harder to photograph!). You could use something similar in size, just keep in mind a different shaped tin may change the cooking time for this cake.

I have used making this Christmas cake as a great opportunity to bake with some really great ingredients from some Australian businesses I really love. 

Riverland Melange and Sticky Quince Syrup from Singing Magpie Produce

The mixed dried fruit is from Singing Magpie Produce and is called their Riverland Melange. It is a combination of sun dried quince, pears, apricots, peaches, black figs and white figs. While I highly recommend using a dried fruit mix like this, you can of course use any kind of mixed dried fruit for this cake. I also used Singing Magpie Produce’s soon to be released sticky quince syrup. As a lover of quince I bought this as soon as I could, when Sue at Singing Magpie Produce put together a limited run of a ‘Christmas Bakers Box’ containing this syrup, dried citrus and the Riverland Melange. It is delicious in both sweet and savoury recipes, and can be substituted with honey or date syrup. 

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I am a big fan of the Ballarat business, Grounded Pleasures and use their panela sugar at every opportunity. So this cake was no exception. Light brown or muscovado sugar could be substituted for the panela however. I also used some of their vanilla extract to soak my dried fruit in. This vanilla has a strong flavour, with the PNG sourced vanilla beans being paired with PNG white rum to create the extract. Any good quality vanilla extract can be used. Alcohol free vanilla extracts could also be used, to make this cake alcohol free.

Finally I used the Gewurzhaus St Nicolas Spekulaas spice for this cake, to give it a lovely festive edge. However you could also substitute with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp mixed spice.

Easy Christmas Fruit Cake

Easy Christmas Fruit Loaf Cake

Ingredients: 

260g mixed dried fruit (I used Singing Magpie Produce Riverland Melange) 

50ml good quality vanilla extract (I used Grounded Pleasures Vanilla Extract)

75ml boiling water

300g plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp Spekulaas Spice (I used Gewurzhaus St Nicolas Spekulaas ground spice); alternatively use 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp mixed spice

250g unsalted butter, softened

240g panela sugar (I used Grounded Pleasures Panela), or brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tbsp sticky quince syrup (I used Singing Magpie Produce) or honey

50g mixed nuts such as almonds, pistachios or macadamias

35g (approx.) natural almonds, for decoration

10g blanched pistachios, roughly chopped, for decoration 

Method: 

Chop the dried fruit, and place into a bowl. Cover with the vanilla extract and boiling water and leave to soak for about half an hour. 

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius, and line a 31 x 7.5 x 8cm loaf tin with baking paper. 

Combine the flour, baking powder and spice in a medium sized bowl and briefly whisk to combine and remove any lumps. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until well combined and fluffy. 

Add the eggs one at a time, ensuring they are well combined after each addition.

Add the sticky quince syrup and the flour mix and mix until combined. 

Remove the bowl from the stand mixer, add the soaked fruit along with any liquid left in the bowl and mix into the batter using a large wooden spoon or a spatula. Then add the nuts. 

Transfer the mixture to the prepared loaf tin and arrange the almonds around the outside. Sprinkle over the chopped pistachios, and bake for about 1 hour 15min. Check the cake at around 45min-1hour, and cover with foil if necessary. The cake will be ready when the top is golden and a skewer comes out clean. 

Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 20-30mins, then remove onto a wire rack.

Easy Christmas Fruit Loaf Cake

Reference: ‘Piri Piri Starfish - Portugal Found’ by Tessa Kiros (Murdoch Books, 2008), pp.191-2.

Easy Christmas Fruit Loaf Cake

Dried Quince & Almond Butter Biscuits

These biscuits showcase a couple of things I really love at the moment - almond butter and dried quince. I am actually having a thing will all nut butters at the moment, especially pistachio, but finding a recipe that used it in a biscuit was super exciting. My moment with dried quince has been quite long standing, after meeting Sue of Singing Magpie Produce last year. When I saw this particular recipe I knew I needed to try it with Singing Magpie Produce’s Dried Quince. 

The recipe originally comes from Georgina Hayden’s first book ‘Stirring Slowly.’ I have followed Georgina on Instagram for a while, but up until recently didn’t have any of her books. To be honest I haven’t really come across them in bookshops here in Sydney. But after seeing a bit of the behind the scenes of Georgina making her second book ‘Taverna’ on Instagram, I knew I needed to get her books, ASAP. I pre-ordered ‘Taverna’ online, and in the meantime bought ‘Stirring Slowly’ online too.

Both books are utterly delightful and jam packed filled with recipes I want to make. The recipe for Almond, Oat and Raisin Cookies jumped out at me instantly when I first looked at ‘Stirring Slowly’, which is the recipe these biscuits are based on. The recipe reminded me of the Oatmeal Biscuits my Grandma used to make, but with the addition on almond butter and raisins. 

Always being on the lookout for a new way to use dried quince, I decided to make these with my dried quince from Singing Magpie Produce, rather than raisins. I really like the addition of the dried quince, you could even add more if it to the biscuits when baking for a bigger quince hit. Many other dried fruits would work if you don’t have any dried quince, and other nut butters would work well too. Though if you can get some dried quince, I highly recommend it. It’s so good I often find myself eating it straight from the packet before I have a chance to make anything with it, it’s that good.

Dried Quince & Almond Butter Cookies

Ingredients: 

175g rolled oats (not instant)

150g plain flour 

1 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 tsp baking powder

125g softened unsalted butter or margarine

75g almond butter 

1tsp vanilla bean paste

125g Panela sugar

200g brown sugar

2 eggs (large)

100g roughly chopped dried quince (I buy mine from Singing Magpie Produce) 

Method: 

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

In a medium bowl mix the oats, flour, cinnamon and baking powder together and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter, almond butter and vanilla bean paste together until smooth. Add the sugars and mix until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and mix until combined. 

Fold in the flour, either with a wooden spoon or mix briefly on the lowest speed of your stand mixer. Add the chopped dried quince and gently mix to evenly distribute. 

Spoon heaped teasponfuls of the mixture on to the prepared trays, leaving gaps between each as they will spread a fair bit during baking. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the biscuits are turning golden but are still soft in the middle. Biscuits can be left on the baking trays to cool.

Reference: ‘Stirring Slowly’ by Georgina Hayden (Square Peg, 2016) p.196. 

A Christmas Gift Guide for Foodies

Heavily inspired by Betty Magazine’s lust worthy gift guide, and after much deliberation over what I will be buying people for Christmas, I thought I would put together a Christmas Gift Guide for the foodies in your life (or for yourself of course!). 

These are a selection of my favourite cookbooks I love to give as gifts and one’s that are on my wish list this year!

I have also included a selection of food or food related gifts from Australian based small business that I love, to give you some extra inspiration for the festive season.

Each picture has click through link, so if you want more information about any of the books or products, click their picture.

NB: If buying online from these great small businesses, please note their Christmas delivery cut off dates so you aren’t disappointed. 

Farmer - The Cookbook

WILD Adventure Cookbook - by Sarah Glover

Ottolenghi Simple - by Yotam Ottolenghi

Now & Again - by Julia Turshen

A Table in Venice - by Skye McAlpine

Greatest Hits - Katherine Sabbath

1. Farmer - The Cookbook, starting at $40. This book is a charity project supporting Rural Aid for farmers affected by the drought. The book is due to be released in February 2019, however there is a great Christmas gift option for $50, where you get a Gift Voucher mailed to you to give to the recipient for Christmas, and the book itself will get mailed to them come February next year. For more information check out their Chuffed fundraising page.

2. WILD Adventure Cookbook by Sarah Glover, $69.95. This book started as a Kickstarter project between Sarah Glover and photographer Luisa Brimble, and since then gone on to be released in the USA and is also available in bookstores here in Australia (David Jones and Booktopia to name a couple). This is a really different style of cookbook and is filled with beautiful images of food being cooked outdoors.

3. Ottolenghi Simple - by Yotam Ottolenghi, $34.95. I don’t know many who don’t want this book! Yotam Ottlenghi’s recipes are always fantastic and this book has an edge of comfort and simplicity, whilst maintaining his characteristic flavour combinations and interesting ingredients.

4. Now & Again - by Julia Turshen, $40.75. Julia’s recipes and food writing are so enjoyable, and I can’t imagine anyone not getting some good use out of this book. This book creates magic from leftovers in Julia’s trademark friendly and inviting style.

5. A Table in Venice - by Skye McAlpine, $46.25. This book is a dream, visually and in terms of the recipes. The photography and design of the book are stunning and would make a lovely gift for any lover of Italian food.

6. Greatest Hits - by Katherine Sabbath, $125. This book is like nothing else you’ve seen before! A pop-up cookbook filled with Katherine’s fun and colourful creations would be the perfect gift for any keen baker.

Rocky Road Bon Bon -Sweetness by Adora

Toasty Block-O-Choc - Bakedown Cakery

Sun Dried Smyrna Quince - Singing Magpie Produce

Real White Drinking Chocolate - Grounded Pleasures

Cornersmith Gift Voucher

Crumpet Rings - The Lost & Found Department

1. Rocky Road Bon Bon from Sweetness by Adora Chocolates, $12. These are the best rocky road you can get. Coming in dark, milk and white chocolate each bar contains handmade SweetMallows (Sweetness by Adora’s handmade marshmallows) along with their handmade pâte de fruit.

2. Toasty Block O Choc from Bakedown Cakery, $12. This chocolate bar is unlike any other - it’s caramelised white chocolate! Much more addictive than it’s regular white chocolate sibling, this bar is well worth a try. But get in quick as Bakedown are changing their chocolate offering in 2019 and Toasty will be no more! All Bakedown chocolate bars come in beautifully designed packaging so they make the perfect gift.

3. Sun Dried Smyrna Quince from Singing Magpie Produce, $33. You've probably heard me go on about this dried fruit before, but they are just so good! Sun dried in Monash, South Australia these quinces come from trees planted over 100 years ago, and have won many a food award, and for good reason!

4. Real White Drinking Chocolate from Grounded Pleasures, $12.90. I love this white drinking chocolate! White drinking chocolate can be very hard to find, but Grounded Pleasures has you covered. The chocolate is beautiful and creamy, yet not too rich and is great for a warming winter drink. It can also be used in baking and for iced drinks too. Grounded Pleasures also make a variety of other drinking chocolates which are well worth checking out.

5. Cornersmith Gift Voucher from Cornersmith, from $50. Who wouldn’t want to do a cooking class at Cornersmith? From bread making to pickling and preserving Cornersmith offers a wide range of classes during the year which are super enjoyable and informative.

6. Crumpet Rings from The Lost and Found Department, $2.50 each. The Lost and Found Department sells a range of baking ware handmade in Tasmania, and one of these products are these crumpet rings. Used to cook crumpets on the stove, these rings are a rare gem as they are otherwise extremely hard to come by! The are a great little present for any keen baker.

Toasty Bloc-O-Choc by Bakedown Cakery (stars are Christmas Limited Edition Toasty Caramel & Praline by Bakedown Cakery)

Greatest Hits The Pop Edition by Katherine Sabbath

My Open Kitchen Gathering 2018 + Quince Scones

Last month I attended the first ever My Open Kitchen Gathering in Orange NSW which was hosted and organised by Sophie Hansen of the blog Local is Lovely. The My Open Kitchen project stemmed from Sophie’s Rural Woman of the Year win in 2016 and encompasses an e-course, podcast, workshops and now this Gathering. All are focused on the food and farming community and learning to bring social media into the fold to make better connections. 

The My Open Kitchen Gathering brought together ‘IRL’ all the things that are taught in the e-course and that are spoken of on the podcast, with a series of panel discussions from some super interesting women in the food/photography/social media space. The keynote speaker for the day was Sara Taster of the blog Me & Orla. Coming all the way from the UK to speak, having Sara there was like an amazing private live episode of her podcast Hashtag Authentic. Sara spoke eloquently on her Instagram and small business journey, and about how we all have a unique and unrepeatable opportunity in life as each of us are unique and unrepeatable. 

My Open Kitchen Gathering 2018, held at the Old Convent in Borenore NSW.

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My Open Kitchen Gathering 2018 - The final panel discussion of the day

The day also brought together lots of ‘Insta-friends’ and My Open Kitchen e-course friends, and it was so great to finally meet these lovely ladies in person and catch up with those I’ve met at previous workshops. As My Open Kitchen has a heavy focus on farmers and producers, there was a little marketplace where attendees could sell some of their produce/wares during the lunch break on the day. I was particularly interested in the dried quinces sold by Sue of Singing Magpie Produce. After being in the same e-course group as Sue late last year, I had heard a little about her products and was very intrigued by the quinces. I managed to sample a little of the quince - which was absolutely amazing, but missed out on buying a packet. A week or so after the Gathering I ordered some online and eagerly awaited their arrival. 

When my package from Singing Magpie Produce arrived it made my week. I was having a particularly bad week having been bed ridden after complications from a procedure in hospital I had the week after the Gathering. The quinces are a deep burgundy colour and have a slightly sticky texture, not all shrivelled up and bone dry like dried fruits from the supermarket shelf. I kept them in my room for a few days as an emergency snack until I was feeling better and was allowed to move about again. I then began thinking about how I could bake with them. The below recipe for quince scones is what I came up with. I figured if dried dates and sultanas can go in scones, then why not these?

Quince Scones

Quince Scones

Ingredients: 

450g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

3 tbsp icing sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

200ml cream

125ml sparkling water

2 tbsp lemon juice

80g dried quince, chopped into small pieces

1 egg, lightly beaten  

unsalted butter, to serve

Method: 

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a large baking tray with baking paper, and dust a little flour over the top. 

Place the flour, icing sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl, and sift over the baking powder. Using a whisk mix the dry ingredients together.

In a jug, quickly and briefly whisk the cream, water and lemon juice together, then add to the dry ingredients. Add the chopped dried quince and mix together with a flat bladed knife, then turn out on to a lightly floured bench. Lightly knead the dough to bring it together, then press to dough out until it is 2-3cm thick. 

Using a 4.5/5cm cutter cut out rounds from the dough, dusting the cutter with flour if the dough sticks too much. Place the rounds on the prepared tray, leaving no gaps in between each round. Bring the dough back together and continue cutting until it is all used up. 

Brush the tops of the cut scones with the beaten egg ensuring only the tops are covered and it doesn’t drip down the sides. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden and puffed. Turn the tray around in the oven about halfway through so they cook and colour more evenly. 

Serve warm with the butter. 

Makes 18-20. 

Reference: ‘Bill’s Basics’ by Bill Granger (HarperCollins Publishers, 2010), p.50.