Lammys

I have been wanting to make pink and white lamingtons for the longest time...and now here they are! Vanilla sponge squares decorated with a white chocolate ganache (equal parts cream and white chocolate), and covered in lightly toasted shredded coconut.

xx emmsy

Let them eat cake: A new twist on an old favourite

Bored one day and desperate to create, I thought I would trial a new flavour combination: a basic vanilla sponge with lavender infused honey, vanilla cream and fresh raspberry puree.

Basic sponge recipe:
190 g plain flour
1/4 t bi-carbonate soda
6 eggs (3 separated)
3/4 C sugar
65 g butter, melted
1 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 165 degrees.

Thoroughly sieve flour and bicarb soda (2-3 times). Set aside.

Whip 3 egg whites for approximately 3 minutes, until whites start to thicken and gloss. Slowly add 1/2 cup sugar while beating. Beat until stiff peaks form, similar to meringue mixture. Set aside.

Beat 3 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks with sugar until mixture becomes light and creamy, and has tripled in size (approx 5 minutes on a medium beat). Add melted butter and vanilla extract.


Using a spatula, fold flour into the egg mixture. Fold until flour is incorporated, but do not over-mix. Start by adding approx 1/3 of the meringue mixture and fold through very gently, as you want to keep as much air in as possible. Repeat until all ingredients are mixed together.


Pour batter into lined and greased 20cm cake pan and bake for around 55 minutes, until the cake is springy to touch and a skewer comes out clean.


As soon as the cake came out of the oven, I lightly heated 200g honey, 50g water with 3 lavender buds. Do not let the honey mixture boil as it will thicken and turn to toffee.


Once your lavender infused honey syrup is complete, slice the top off the cake to flatten and cut cake in half. Open the middle halves and drizzle honey syrup onto cake. I used approx 3/4 of this mixture, just enough so the honey and lavender fragrance really shone through.


Beat 500g cream and add 1 cup icing sugar. Cream should be thick enough to spread and keep its shape. Add cream to the middle of the cake and place the second layer of cake on top. Spread with more cream and drizzle with fresh raspberry puree*.

*To make the raspberry puree, I put 250g raspberries with a dash of sugar and water in a heavy based pot or saucepan. Cook until raspberries break down and mixture is thick and glossy. Push through sieve to remove seeds.

Preparing the puree (excuse the terrible lighting!)

It seems like a dedicated process but it's not - and the little touches made the cake completely worthwhile!

a bientot et bonne nuit

xx emmsy

And the award winning cake is...

Thanks for the kind congratulations on the Bake Off 1st prize - I'm stoked!  Most importantly, we managed to raise $900 as part of Cancer Council's Australia's Biggest Morning Tea, which makes me even happier :)

Have to say Emmsy, your turkish delight cake probably would have knocked mine out of the ball park, it looks capital Unreal.  Recipe, please?!

Here is the recipe for my award winning Pink Velvet Cake (I added a gorgeous - and expensive - pile of fresh raspberries to decorate), courtesy of The Australian Women's Weekly, which is one of my favourite culinary sources.  Happy baking !  Jas.xx

a shout out and HUGE congratulations...

to my home girl jas, who took out FIRST PLACE today at her work's baking challenge. Jas doesn't work just anywhere, guest judges included Jared Ingersoll founder of Danks St Depot, and Joanna Savill, editor of SMH's Good Living and the annual Good Food Guide.

She has promised to post some pictures up but i know already that she's whipped up something pretty special.

To tide you over until she knocks you over with her mean skills, i present to you, an orange + almond cake with a cream cheese frosting, dressed with pistachios, turkish delight and freeze dried strawberries. it looks like christmas :)

xx emmsy