This simple basic mixture is very versatile and you can use it can to make cupcakes, patty cakes or a light slab cake.  If you trace the map of Australia on greaseproof paper and lay it over the top of the cooled cake, you can make a lamington cake for Australia Day.  You can easily double the quantities required for the cake if you are using a larger tin – just make sure you get the arithmetic right!

Preheat oven to 180degC.  Line a slab tin (30cm x 20cm) with baking paper.
Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat on high speed for three minutes.  Spoon into lined tin and smooth the top.
Bake 25 – 30 minutes or until risen and a light gold colour.    Test for doneness with a skewer.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
When cool, place the traced map of Australia over the top of the cake and use a small sharp knife to cut out the shape.
Ice with chocolate icing and decorate with shredded coconut.
For the icing:
Sift together the icing sugar and cocoa. Make into a smooth icing with boiling water, vanilla and butter.  If icing thickens, add a little extra hot water.

Cooking with Sheridan 050112Here’s a terrific way to use leftover panettone from Christmas and New year celebrations.  The recipe is from the 2012 Paesanella Calendar which photographer Andrew Payne and I put together recently.

Place the blueberries and half the raspberries in a bowl. Combine 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier and 1 tablespoon sugar. Pour over the fruit. Leave to to macerate for one hour.
Make a coulis by pureeing the remaining raspberries with remaining liqueur, sugar and ¼ cup warm water. Taste for sugar. Set aside.
Toast the panettone slices on both sides until golden.  Place one round in the middle of four plates.
Spread the mascarpone over each round, leaving a little for the top.  Spoon the macerated fruit evenly over each pizza and top with a scoop of mascarpone. Drizzle each with the pulp of half a passionfruit.

This recipe is from my new book, The Cook’s Garden. If your family like scones, they will love these ones, so you might want to double the mixture.
I like my scones to stand high (somehow it feels so much more generous), and always bake them close together, packed side by side, so that they rise well.

Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F/Gas 7).
Cream together the butter, sugar and zest.  Stir in the pumpkin and egg. Sift together the dry ingredients and stir into the pumpkin mixture. Add a little milk if mixture is too dry.
Turn out onto a lightly floured bench or board and pat mixture out to 3–4 cm (1–1½ in) thickness.
Cut them out with a glass or round cutter dipped in flour and place close together on a greased tray or tin. Cook for about 20 minutes or until golden.
Try them with homemade Apricot Jam (page 192 of The Cook’s Garden) and thick cream. Heaven! Makes 12

This is a terrific tart for any season, similar in style to a frangipane tart, but without the pastry base.  It can be made in a ceramic quiche or pie dish and served straight from oven to table. It’s also good with tinned fruit.

Preheat oven 180 C. Line a 26cm flan dish or tin with baking paper and brush sides with melted butter.
Melt butter and sugar together over low heat stirring until sugar is dissolved, approximately five minutes – it should be thick and honey-like in consistency. Remove pan from heat and cool for 10 mins. Add eggs and whisk together lightly.
In a separate bowl sift flour and baking powder and stir through almond meal. Make a hole in the centre and pour in the butter mixture.  Combine well with a wooden spoon.  Spoon batter into prepared flan tin or quiche dish.
Cover with fruit of your choice, starting from outside circle working in (for this tart, I used two apples, peeled, cored and cut into crescents and dotted them with raspberries).
Sprinkle top with flaked almonds. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in centre of flan comes out clean.

Tip:  the top can be glazed with warm apricot jam.

This delicious, three–layered cake is from my new book The Cook’s Garden (NH $49.95), in-store now.  It’s easy to make and you can serve it for afternoon tea, or warm as a dessert with cream.

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
Cream together the butter and sugar, add zest and egg yolk. Fold in the sifted flour and water. Form into a ball with your hands and wrap in greaseproof paper. Chill for ½—1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and press over the base of a 24 cm (9½ in) springform pan, reserving a third for the top.
For the cream cheese filling, blend all the ingredients together in a food processor or beat together well in an electric mixer. In a bowl mix together the soaked raisins with the apples and cinnamon.
Pour the cream cheese filling over pastry base and top with apple mix. Divide the reserved pastry into five pieces. Press the pieces between the palms of your hands into small circles. Lay over the top to form a pretty pattern. Bake for 1–1¼ hours, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. When cool, remove from springform pan, and dust with icing sugar.

If you’re off to London this summer, don’t miss the new Winnie the Pooh playroom at the Athenaeum Hotel (recently recognised as the Best UK Family Hotel).
Packed with loads of Winnie toys, musical instruments, Lego Duplo, colouring sets and games all featuring the beloved bear and his friends, the Hundred Acre Wood setting playroom is now open for summer playtime.
The playroom is sure to be a hit with the more than 1,000 children who visit the hotel each summer, giving parents a welcome break to enjoy a meal or spa treatment, as the hotel’s nanny keeps a watchful eye over the kids in the playroom. Even parents may not want to miss out on the complimentary honey-flavoured ‘High Tea’, made using Regent’s Park bees’ honey, which will be hosted by the kids’ concierge in the playroom every weekend.

Athenaeum apartment entrance, London

Here’s how to make a Honey Bee cake at home:

Preheat oven to 180degC.

Line the bottom and sides of a 23cm square cake tin with non-stick baking paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the sour cream and eggs.
Add the sifted dry ingredients and beat until smooth.  Be careful not to overbeat as it will toughen the mixture.
Spoon into the prepared pan and spread with the honey bee topping.  Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
For the topping: combine the butter, milk, brown sugar, honey and cinnamon in a small saucepan.  Heat until butter has melted, stirring to combine.  Remove from heat, add the walnuts and cool slightly before spooning over cake batter.

Tip: The walnuts will have more flavour if lightly toasted – spread them on a baking sheet and place in a moderate oven for 5 – 8 minutes.

More info: www.disney.co.uk/winnie-the-pooh
www.athenaeumhotel.com



What would you do with this fat strawberry? I’d use it in an Eton Mess (a mixture – or mess – of smashed meringues, whipped cream and berries).
Just where the name comes from is a mystery – some people say it may have come about when a Labrador dog accidentally sat on a picnic basket. But it probably originated in the dining halls of Eton College – you can imagine what went on!  If you buy a broken pavlova case or commercial mini meringues, you can assemble the whole thing very quickly.

To make the Meringues:

When making meringues, it’s a good idea to open a new bag of sugar to ensure there’s no extra moisture in sugar.
Preheat oven to 120degC (100 degC) if using fan-forced).
Line a baking tray with baking paper.Beat the egg whites and salt on low speed of electric mixer until frothy. Add cream of tartar.
Gradually add the caster sugar about a tablespoon at a time, beating between each addition until the mixture is glossy before adding the next tablespoon.
Continue until mixture is very stiff. Add the vanilla essence.
Spoon large spoonfuls (or use a piping bag with Size 11 tip) or shape between two spoons onto trays lined with baking paper.
Bake for one hour.  Ease meringues with a spatula and leave in the oven another 30 minutes or until dry.
Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place.

For the Eton Mess:

Whip the cream to soft peaks.  Hull and halve the strawberries.  Put the cream in a large bowl and throw in the strawberries.
Now for the best part: smash up the meringues and add them to the bowl.  Fold together and spoon onto individual dishes.
Tip: for a more elegant presentation, pile the “mess” into a pretty bowl and decorate with cut berries and mint or strawberry leaves.

Maddison Fogarty (who is currently living in Hong Kong), made a batch of these scones from Mini Chef – Cooking with Kids the other day.  Didn’t she do well? You can serve them with butter or whipped cream and jam. For soft scones, wrap in a clean tea towel for ten minutes as soon as they come out of the oven. For crusty scones, cool on a wire rack.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 16–18 minutes

Equipment you will need:
Measuring cups and spoons
Mixing bowl
Baking trays
Baking paper
5–6cm (2–2½inch) scone
cutter or glass
Pastry brush

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 230ºC (210ºC fan-forced/500ºF/Gas mark 9). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the cream and water. Mix all ingredients together to make a soft but not sticky dough.
3. Knead lightly on a floured bench top and pat out to 2cm (1 inch) thickness. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Turn over so that smooth side is on top.
4. With a scone cutter or glass dipped in flour, cut into 5cm (2inch) rounds and place close together on the baking tray— this helps them to support each other as they rise, and to
retain their moisture.
5. Brush tops with milk and bake for 15–18 minutes or until well risen and golden.

Variations: For fruit scones, stir through 2 x 40g (1oz) mini sultana and apricot or sultana and apple packs or ½ cup sultanas and a little mixed spice.

It's going, it's going...it's scone

The recipe for this luscious tart was given to me by Courtney Bracks, the talented owner/chef of Ciao Thyme and Café Viva in Darling St., Balmain, Sydney.  Courtney has cooked for the stars – but doesn’t have stars in her eyes.

Preheat oven to 220degC/200degC Fan Forced.  Grease a 35cm x 13cm tart dish with removable base.
Make the pastry: place flour, butter, salt, nutmeg and sugar in the food processor and pulse until crumbly.  Add water and process until it forms a ball around the blades.  Turn out, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out pastry to fit the tart dish and level edges. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.  Remove tart base from fridge and bake blind in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside while preparing the fruit.
Prepare the fruit: cut the plums (or figs) in half, remove stones and toss in sugar.  Caramelise the fruit in a frying pan with some butter until well coloured.
For the frangipane filling: cream together the butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time then beat in the almonds and brandy.
To assemble the flan: fill tart case with cold frangipane filling, top with the plums (or figs). Lower oven temperature to 180degC (160degC fan Forced) and bake tart for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Cool a little before serving.

The recipe for this luscious tart was given to me by Courtney Bracks, the talented owner/chef of Ciao Thyme and Café Viva in Darling St., Balmain, Sydney.  Courtney has cooked for the stars – but doesn’t have stars in her eyes.

Preheat oven to 220degC/200degC Fan Forced.  Grease a 35cm x 13cm tart dish with removable base.
Make the pastry: place flour, butter, salt, nutmeg and sugar in the food processor and pulse until crumbly.  Add water and process until it forms a ball around the blades.  Turn out, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Roll out pastry to fit the tart dish and level edges. Place in freezer for 20 minutes.  Remove tart base from fridge and bake blind in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside while preparing the fruit.
Prepare the fruit: cut the plums (or figs) in half, remove stones and toss in sugar.  Caramelise the fruit in a frying pan with some butter until well coloured.
For the frangipane filling: cream together the butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time then beat in the almonds and brandy.
To assemble the flan: fill tart case with cold frangipane filling, top with the plums (or figs). Lower oven temperature to 180degC (160degC fan Forced) and bake tart for 30 – 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Cool a little before serving.

Note: the pastry can be left in the freezer for 2 weeks.  The frangipane filling and fruit can be prepared two days before – you’ll find that the frangipane puffs up better if left in the fridge.

Ciao Thyme
212 Darling Street
Balmain Sydney
(02) 9555 5455

Cafe Viva
4/189 Darling Street
Balmain
(02) 9810 9028