Preheat oven to 180degC (160degC fan forced). Line the base and sides of a 20cm x 30cm slab tin with baking paper.
Place the chocolate squares and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water – don’t let bowl touch the water. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine well. Remove from heat when melted and set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs with the caster sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest until light and fluffy. Stir in the cooled melted chocolate mixture, then fold in the sifted flours. Stir through the chopped nuts and white chocolate chips.
Spoon mixture into the prepared pan, spreading out evenly with a spatula.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until top has a firm crust. Leave to cool in the pan, dust with icing sugar, then cut into  squares.

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You’ll find plenty of good coffee and chocolate at The Rocks Aroma Coffee Festival, Argyle Street Sydney, on Sunday July 25th, 10am – 5pm.

Cream the butter and sugar then add the zest. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Pour the
filling into a 20cm pie shell and bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180C. Cool and
serve with vanilla custard or espresso gelato.

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Preheat oven to moderate (180degC). Line a loaf tin (10cm x 22cm) or 2 bars tins with baking paper.
Beat oil and sugar together, add eggs one at a time and mix well.  Beat in the milk and essence  or zest.  Sift in the flour and mix well to combine.  Stir through the raisins.
Pour into prepared tin and sprinkle walnuts on the top.  Bake 30 – 35 minutes.
Remove and cool and dust with icing sugar before serving.

Preheat the oven to 170degC. Grease a 25cm round cake tin and line the base with non-stick baking paper. Cream butter and sugar until light.  Add eggs one at a time. Fold through the coconut and flour.  Pour into the prepared tin and bake for one hour.Turn out onto a wire rack and brush with the hot syrup.  It seems like a lot of syrup but this cake will absorb it all. Spoon over more syrup from time to time.Dust with icing sugar and decorate with candied lime peel (optional).

Tip: For a punchier syrup, add the finely grated zest of the limes.  Or for a tropical touch, add the pulp of three passionfruit to the cooled syrup, stir to combine, then spoon over the cake.

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Preheat oven to 180degC. Line a 23cm round or square cake tin with non-stick baking paper, making sure it comes up around the sides.
Slice the cheeks off the mangoes, remove the skins then slice again into crescent shapes, reserving the stones.  Arrange the crescent slices in the bottom of the tin in the shape of a flower.  Place remaining slices around outer edges. Fill the centre with blueberries and put more blueberries around the outer edges, filling up the whole of the bottom of the tin.
Sift together the dry ingredients.  In another bowl, beat together the buttermilk,  melted butter, eggs and zest. Add sifted dry ingredients to egg mixture and beat until smooth.  Pour batter evenly over fruits, being careful not to disturb the pattern.
Bake for 35 -40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove and allow to sit in tin for 10 – 15 minutes.  Turn out. Whilst still warm, pour over the glaze.
Mango and Rum Syrup: Remove remaining mango flesh from stones. Put flesh into a blender with water and juice and blend until smooth. Put into a saucepan with the sugar and cardamom seeds, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 – 10 minutes.  Remove and push through a sieve. Stir in the rum. Pour syrup over warm cake, brushing evenly over all the fruit.

Tip: I love Kensington Pride mangoes, also known as Bowens, because they are so fat and juicy.  I also prefer their flavour to most other varieties.  The cake is names after the Black-Eyed Susan, a member of the sunflower family, and not after the Aussie band of the same name.

Helen commented: “I love this fruit and have found that using a grapefruit knife to slice a mango means I get more fruit off the stone.  Mangoes were and still are, a special treat for me.  As a child in the 50’s my late mother and I would share one.  This continued until her death in 2007. I do still eat this wonderful fruit which always brings back such great memories. I discovered this use for the grapefruit knife by accident some 10 or 15 years ago and thought it was time I shared with someone who might appreciate it. Love listening to you when I can.  My granddaughters, Cailyn and Emily Forrest are really into cooking after doing one of your workshops a couple of years ago.”

Kind regards,
Helen

Put the kiwifruit, strawberries, blueberries and half the raspberries in a bowl. Mix together the Maraschino and one tablespoon of the sugar and splash it over the fruit. Toss and set aside to macerate for one hour.
Slice off four discs of panettone, each about 2cm (3/4 inch) thick.  Place a disc in the middle of four plates Spoon a mound of the macerated fruit over each slide of panettone.
Make a coulis by pureeing the remaining raspberries with the remaining sugar and two tablespoons of warm water. Drizzle the coulis over and around the mound of fruit on each plate. Sprinkle with the chopped mint.

Tip: use slices of panettone for seriously decadent French toast – dip the slices (20 seconds each side) in a mixture of two eggs beaten with 300ml cream, 1 tbsp brandy and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.   Fry on both sides in frothy  melted butter until golden, drizzle with maple syrup and dredge with cinnamon sugar.

Preheat oven to 180degC. Line a mini muffin pan tin with mini cupcake liners or spray and flour the pan using olive oil cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together flours, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and sugar. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, pumpkin and buttermilk, then add to flour mixture and stir to combine.
Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, or until done when tested with a skewer. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer them to wire racks.

For the frosting: cream together cream cheese and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add maple syrup and beat until well combined.

Makes 30

Note: The beauty of these is that kids won’t know there’s pumpkin inside unless you tell them. The frosting is optional and not really necessary (only for sweet tooths!) – just dust them with icing sugar. I like them best served warm with a little butter.

Preheat oven to 180degC.For the pastry: pulse butter and flour in food processor until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add sour cream and egg and pulse until dough just forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate 20minutes.
Meanwhile combine ricotta ingredients in a bowl and beat to form a thick creamy texture.
Roll out the pastry and bake it blind in a 24cm – 26cm flan/tart tin with removable base for ten minutes. Brush with eggwash then bake another ten minutes until lightly golden.
Pour ricotta mixture into tart shell and top with blueberries. Reduce temp to 170 and bake tart for about 20 mins until set and golden. “Freerange eggs will give it a lovely sunny colour,” says Laura.
Best served warm from oven with yoghurt mixed with real maple syrup and cinnamon or just cream and extra berries.

Tip: Ready made shortcrust pastry works well too.

Makes 12

Preheat oven to 180degC.  Line 12 medium muffin tins with paper or foil liners.
Whisk together the milk and vinegar and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
Add the sugar, oil and vanilla and whisk until foamy.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, bi-carbonate of soda, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of greaseproof paper.  Add in two batches to the wet ingredients and whisk until no lumps remain – a few tiny ones are OK.
Spoon into lined muffin tins, filling three quarters of the way.  Bake 18 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Transfer to a cake rack to cool completely before icing – or use a stencil and dust with icing sugar for a pretty patterned top.

Suggested toppings (not for Vegans!):

Dark Chocolate Ganache:  Place 400g roughly chopped dark eating chocolate in a bowl. Bring 300ml thickened cream to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Pour cream over chocolate and stir until smooth.  Cover bowl and refrigerate for half an hour or until ganache is of a spreadable consistency.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:  beat 125 softened unsalted butter until creamy.  Add 2 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar with  1/2 cup sifted cocoa powder in batches, alternating with 3 tablespoons of  milk after each addition.  Beat well to combine then add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.  Beat for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.  For mocha buttercream, add a teaspoon of coffee extract.