White chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake with almonds, a hint of orange and topped with cream cheese frosting. Jump to recipe.

Apparently you can expect recipes to be a rarity from me this year – cake has slid further down the priority list than I would like. It seems like a fact of life that every year gets busier (with a brief pause there with lockdown baking time), but the addition of exam study and attempts at research on top of work has really tipped it over. I’ve always wished I was one of those people who could be incredibly productive until the small hours of the morning and survive on less sleep than the rest, but sadly sometimes fatigue means only a meaningless phone scroll (maybe an episode of euphoria) and bed is possible.

I am still eating (and therefore cooking) so maybe badly lit iphone photos of a thrown together risoni salad is all I can offer – but maybe that’s all you are out there making too? The reintroduction of social lives and the end of WFH really spelled the end for sourdough projects and time to page through cookbooks. 

In better news, the New Zealand borders finally opened and I managed to escape back for a few weeks of annual leave. This white chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake was a product of Mum’s successful rhubarb plants (we also had rhubarb and raspberry tart for those with similar crops). It’s a variation on a theme – my favourite cakes are buttery, moist and rich, often nut based (almonds, pistachio, coconut or walnuts) and full of seasonal fruit, whether that’s apricots, plums or berries. It’s one layer (cleaning up 2 cake tins is just too much) and hastily dressed with a swoop of citrus-y cream cheese frosting. This one is studded with chopped white chocolate which partially melds with the batter – normally I find white chocolate too sickly (dark all the way) but it stands up to the sharp rhubarb and raspberries here perfectly.

The post White chocolate, rhubarb and raspberry cake appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.

Lemon-y apricot, pistachio and cardamom cake. Jump to recipe.

I’m definitely a stuck record but I can’t believe its already been three months since a recipe here! Life is busy etc etc. To sum up – Victoria emerged blinking from lockdown, life outside of home resumed, everyone got covid (myself included, very mildly) and it has been a strange summer of lots of hospital work, cancelled plans because of isolation requirements, retail and hospitality closures with staff furloughs and everyone trying to reach this elusive “new normal” (I realise this is what the rest of the world probably went though a long time ago – we are a little behind). It still beats lockdown. The last hurdle left is border closures – NZ and WA remain the last islands standing, having somehow (luckily for them, unluckily for us) kept out omicron. 

Baking has been a little neglected in the interim, but I’ve prioritised a version of my favourite summer cake (basically anything involving stonefruit and nuts in combination). It’s a lemony apricot, pistachio and cardamom cake, moist with an almost caramelised exterior and not too sweet. The apricots roast and soften on the surface, the cake just sturdy enough to keep them afloat. It’s also low maintenance, which is all I can really tolerate currently – one (to two) bowls, no mixer, no creaming butter, no frosting – just a few lashings of lemon glaze to decorate. Rave reviews received all round. 

The post Apricot, pistachio & cardamom cake appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.

I know I’ve published three banana bread recipes before (a basic version fancied up with espresso mascarpone, a slightly alternative tropical passionfruit coconut version and a healthy-ish tahini heavy version) and there are literally millions to be found on the internet. Maybe even billions, who knows. I still think you need this recipe. It’s the only one I ever make anymore, and whenever anyone asks for the recipe I struggle because it only exists as an ingredients list on my iphone notes. It’s a one bowl mix frequently made the night before work and might be the only reason they kept me around (adjectives used included life changing).

It’s extra moist thanks to oil, tahini and yogurt, heavy on the banana with a thick sugar caramelised top (crucial) and studded with dark chocolate and toasted walnuts. Tahini delivers an extra subtle nuttiness, but you can substitute with extra vegetable oil if you don’t have any. The recipe originated in Violet Bakery’s buttermilk banana bread and has metamorphosed into this over a few years – I never have buttermilk on hand but always have yogurt, like the additional depth of tahini, and have changed quantities around a bit so it works in a standard size loaf tin. Walnuts and dark chocolate also never hurt.

Key points for optimal banana bread making 

• EXTREMELY ripe bananas. Almost black. A few spots doesn’t cut it. It also works perfectly with frozen bananas, so leave them to go almost black on the counter then freeze and defrost in the microwave when you want to use (make sure to use all the liquid that leaks out). Make sure to mash them very thoroughly until silky and shiny (warming them a bit in the microwave can also help here). Big chunks of bananas tend to sink to the bottom and don’t deliver the even moist bread you want. 
• Loaf tin size: somewhere along the way in making this recipe I lost my grandmother’s loaf tin, and then realised when finding another one that it was a bit larger than standard size, and really there is no standard size anyway. This recipe works well in either an 8.5 x 4.5 inch tin (21.5cm x 11.5 cm) or a 9 x 5 inch (23 x 12 cm) tin (won’t be quite as tall and will cook a bit faster).
• If tahini isn’t your thing or you don’t have any, sub in the same weight vegetable oil. 
• Dark brown and demerera sugar–  important! You could sub in regular brown sugar and caster sugar respectively, but the originals are worth it for the caramelised interior and dark sugar crusted top. 
• Cooking time: the last thing you want after going to all this effort is to overbake your loaf (my literal nightmare). When cooked, the top will spring back to touch with a firmness you wouldn’t associate with liquid batter underneath BUT a skewer may still come out with crumbs or even a little gooey batter attached (I put this down to hitting chocolate chunks / banana on the way down). I like to leave it to cool completely in the tin overnight and have never ended up with runny insides. I’ve suggested 40-50 minutes in a 180°C oven on fanbake as mine takes about 45 minutes, but it will all depend on the oven and tin that you’re using. 

The post My best banana bread appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.

Panna Cotta Lamington Cake: a raspberry & almond cake soaked in vanilla panna cotta and coated in dark chocolate ganache, like a grown up lamington crossed with a bread & butter pudding. Jump to recipe.

Hello we’re back for the second recipe of 2021 (see, one a month. It’s going to be a thing. Hold me to it). It’s one I’ve been sitting on for a while and promised the recipe way back in lockdown mid last year, but I got distracted by the amount of nothing I was doing. Isn’t it amazing how the less busy you get the less you manage to get done?

Please don’t let the word panna cotta put you off. Maybe it’s just me, but historically I am not at all a fan. I think I was scarred by a version that was served up in college, soap-like and jiggly and textureless and eaten after too much cheap wine. I tried it again at The Engine Room and concluded it was that specific college panna cotta that was dreadful, rather than all panna cottas of the species, and I shouldn’t tar them all with that brush. In theory. I still can’t shake the fear that any panna cotta I ever order might turn out like soap, and so am never adventurous enough to venture from the much safer chocolate puddings and tarte tatins and tiramisus of a dessert menu. Or maybe I still just don’t like panna cotta. 

Regardless, this is not a panna cotta as you know it. Instead, it is a cake drenched in the stuff – bathed in vanilla cream, not unlike a bread and butter pudding. It somehow soaks evenly through the almond and raspberry sponge without a hint of sogginess. Moist and dense, but never ever wet. Dark chocolate ganache painted all over and toasted coconut finishes it off. It’s not too sweet but very rich, and could just as easily be served up with a morning coffee as it could be with a scoop of cream for dessert. It’s inspired by the legendary panna cotta lamingtons of Sydney’s Flour & Stone, using my favourite almond raspberry cake base and simplifying it a little for ease of weeknight cake baking rather than weekend project (not that we don’t love the latter). 

The post Raspberry & Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta Lamington Cake appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.

Hello again! I can’t quite believe it’s already March and this is my first post of 2020. Work as a junior doctor started in January and it’s been a whirlwind learning curve. As much as medical school prepares you (largely to know when to ask for help), there are huge gaps which can only be picked up on the run – or three coffees deep on a Saturday evening when your pager continues to buzz.

Despite the increase in responsibility and the inability to skive off at 2pm, it’s 1000x better than being a student. The stress-induced exhaustion of the first week or two has faded – it’s incredible how an increase in workload becomes the new normal. My job isn’t exactly House of God (though elements of it continue to ring true – a good buff or turf absolutely exists), and some days feels more like administration with endless faxes, phone calls and electronic discharge summaries (can report that typing speed has also improved), but being part of a team and a useful cog in the wheel is hugely satisfying.

And this recipe! A nectarine, blueberry and walnut cake with passionfruit cream cheese frosting. It’s a favourite combination of fresh summer fruit and a nutty, moist cake – this time helped along by toasted walnuts and juicy nectarines. The cake itself isn’t too sweet, relying on pockets of stone fruit and a tangy passionfruit note to the frosting. I brought it into work the other day and it quickly disappeared – would love to hear what you think too.

The post Nectarine, Blueberry & Walnut Cake with Passionfruit Frosting appeared first on The Brick Kitchen.