Pandan Tres Leches Cake + 13 Ways with Pandan

13 Ways with... Pandan

I have Steph and Karen to thank for introducing me to Pandan. A somewhat uncommon ingredient to us everyday Aussies, but these green leaves are used extensively in South East Asian cuisine. Lending a delicate, almost floral taste that is perfect in baked goods, drinks and even ice cream, in a similar way to how we would use vanilla. I wanted to shine the spotlight on this great ingredient with 13 interesting and unique ways to it!

Drink it...

Picture Credits: Cooking Tackle & Singapore Shiok

1. It was a little surprising not to find more drinks made using pandan, but this Ginger Honey Pandan Drink from Cooking Tackle combines some of my very favourite ingredients in one drink. It looks so soothing, like something that would make you feel a lot better when you are sick.

2. How refreshing does this Lime Drink with Pandan look? The recipe comes from from Singapore Shiok, and I can imagine it would really hit the spot on a hot day, especially in the humid Malaysian climate! I am hoping that I can track down some fresh pandan leaves soon so I can try this.

Freeze it...

Picture Credits: The Food Dept & Dessert First

3. It is great to see Pandan being featured on incredible and popular blogs like The Food Dept. which is one of my new favourites, as the recipe ideas and photography are both amazing. Their Pandan ice cream with toffee pecans looks so good! I have made pandan ice cream before but the toffee pecans would take it to a whole other level of yum.

4. I remember seeing this post on Dessert First a few years ago (when I was still a Daring Baker!) before I had tried pandan for myself. These Pandan Cheesecake Pops are so cute and I can imagine how good they would taste. This post is really interesting for a side by side comparison of using pandan leaves vs pandan extract, and aside from the green colour which comes from the extract, the taste was remarkably similar!

Bake it...

Picture Credits: Spicyicecream & Alanabread

5. This Caramelised Pandan Cake with Coconut Sorbet from my archives was my first foray into baking with pandan, inspired by the dessert at Ms G's in Sydney. I gave it a calorific French-toast-like twist by soaking the chiffon cake in a sweet egg mixture and cooking it in caramel, with a big scoop of coconut sorbet to serve. This is actually one of my favourite desserts that I've made on this blog!

6. Another delicious looking recipe is this Jasmine Pandan Macarons from Alanabread. I can only imagine how nicely the pandan flavour goes with the floral jasmine! And as always I love the neon-green colour of the filling.


Picture Credits: Raspberri Cupcakes

7. As I mentioned, my friend Steph introduced me to Pandan, and her blog Raspberri Cupcakes is an amazing source for recipes using the ingredient. I love how she combined an Aussie dessert with the Asian ingredient to create these Pandan Lamingtons. And we all know how well pandan goes with coconut!

8. Okay, one recipe wasn't enough, so here is a beautiful Pandan Cotton Soft Cheesecake with Kaya also from Raspberri Cupcakes. Kaya is a coconut jam cooked with eggs and pandan leaves until caramelised, so you can imagine how delicious it would be slathered generously inside this cheesecake! I'm still looking for a way to use the kaya I brought back from Malaysia and I think this might be it!


Picture Credits: Masam Manis & Pickyin

9. I have never tried combining pandan and chocolate together, but the green and chocolate swirls in this Pandan Marble Cake from Masam Manis look so beautiful! This would be a delicious cake for a birthday party.

10. Another beautiful dessert is this Pandan Gula Melaka Cake from Pickyin. I absolutely love the icing roses and detailed tutorial for making layer cakes, but I am most intrigued by the flavour combination. I think the Palm Sugar frosting would be a perfect match for a cake flavoured with pandan!


Picture Credits: Ribbon and Circus & We Dare Food

11. It was actually through a waffle that I first experienced pandan, at a little shop in Cabramatta with the girls, and now I always get one whenever I go back! More recently I saw them on the menu at my favourite local Thai place Green Peppercorn. So then I had to include these Pandan Waffles from Ribbon and Circus in this roundup, as I can only imagine how good homemade would be.

12. And after the waffles, try these Pandan Pancakes from We Dare Food! Give your breakfast a green twist by adding pandan to your pancakes and serve them with a delicious coconut syrup. Or some kaya. Yum!



13. Yes, this cake is very very green. And also delicious. While looking for an interesting turn on the classic South American Tres Leches (three milks) cake, I wondered if an Asian twist would work. When pandan leaves are unavailable, a good quality extract or paste is my weapon of choice, which also gave this cake the most incredible colour. For the three milk soak, I used a combination of milk, sweetened condensed milk and coconut milk. And the Pandan Tres Leches Cake was born.

I'm so happy with how it turned out, the cake is incredibly moist without turning soggy, and actually tastes even better a day or two after making it. The coconut milk was definitely a good move here, as it goes so nicely with pandan. I topped the cake simply with some barely sweetened whipped cream and fresh raspberries for a colour and tart flavour contrast. But I think a palm sugar caramel drizzled over the top would be quite amazing as well!

I hope this roundup inspires you to experiment with some less common ingredients soon, and if you have any other great pandan recipes please share them with me in the comments below!

Berry Buttermilk Cupcakes

It’s been a less than awesome week, but I hate to come here and complain. So instead, I’m going to make a list of all the things that have been making me happy lately and hopefully that will make me feel a little better!

• jacaranda trees in bloom everywhere • green juice • a new rooftop BBQ (more on this soon) • fluffy hotel robes • chocolate covered almonds • mojitos • finding time to read • morning walks • philosophy's birthday cake lip gloss • pinning apartment decorating ideas • our travel bucket list • old playlists that are still awesome • seeing summer stone fruit starting to appear at the market • I'm uncharacteristically excited about Christmas this year • cocktails in jugs • new cookbooks • discovering a lovely little homewares shop in Mornington • homemade pizza • the pierces • turquoise nail polish • strawberries • blueberries • raspberries!


I don't bake cupcakes nearly enough these days, but I still love how easy and delicious they are, not to mention how quickly they disappear whenever I do make them! The summer berries have been fabulous so far this spring and I had to show them off in a fruity little cake. Buttermilk is my secret weapon when it comes to cakes these days, I will not make a chocolate cake without it! If you're after a moist, fluffy, vanillary cake, this is it. A whole tablespoon of vanilla extract might sound like a lot, but it's the perfect amount for these cakes.

Cream cheese icing is still my favourite, so I may be biased but I think it was a perfect match to the cake and the berries inside and on top. Here's hoping things start to get a little less crazy soon, but in the meantime, cupcakes help! Hope everyone has a sweet weekend xx

PS: all of you should go over to Raspberri Cupcakes and wish Steph a happy birthday today!! :)

Mini Lemon Sugar Bundt Cakes

I wasn't sure how to start this post, because really, these mini bundt cakes were not at all what I had planned to bake last weekend. I had visions of a wintery cake, maybe some brioche and if I got time, a batch of fun sprinkle-covered marshmallows, but I spied some cute mini bundt tins while shopping for something else entirely and thought about the Meyer lemons I had at home from my tree, Sparky. And then it all fell into place.


One of the most important lessons I've been learning lately is to just go with it and see where I end up. I've fallen into quite a few serendipitous opportunities, which never would have happened if I kept trying to force things to happen. So maybe there's something to this whole "come what may" mindset...

Anyway, back to the cake! I based the recipe off Sweetapolita's vanilla bean bundt, which was so lovely the last time I made it. I stayed fairly close to the recipe except of course for adding lemon juice and zest, and reducing the sugar a little since I would be covering the outside with a zesty lemon sugar coating, inspired by Donna Hay's spiced version. Also, I halved the quantity which was the perfect amount for 4 smaller bundt tins. The lemon flavour came through beautifully and we all loved these sunny little cakes.

Chocolate Red Velvet Cake, and a Book Review

It’s a fairly big claim to release a book entitled ‘Best-ever Baking Recipes’ but I think a collection of simple, reliable and delicious baked treats is essential for every home cook. London-based food writer David Herbert’s new book contains over 200 recipes, from simple classics such as Chocolate Chip Cookies to show-stoppers like this Chocolate Red Velvet Cake, and practically everything in between. There’s definitely something for everyone!


The book itself is beautifully designed, with good hit of retro flair that really appealed to me and suited these classic baked goods. I felt a wave of nostalgia when I flipped through it for the first time, spotting a recipe for Rock Cakes, which was one of the very first things I ever baked as a child.

I can imagine teaching my kids to make some of these classic baked treats one day. I only wish that there were a photograph to go with every single recipe! A great photo really does make you want to get straight into the kitchen. 

It’s the first time in a long time that I didn’t make a single adaptation or substitution to a recipe, except for making it 2 layers instead of 3. It served as a sort of reminder that it’s okay to keep it simple sometimes… though it’s not that this cake was anything short of impressive just on its own! The instructions were clear and easy to follow, and the cake turned out perfectly. The white chocolate and cream cheese icing was sinfully rich.


I have a copy of this fabulous book, ‘Best-ever Baking Recipes’ by David Herbert to give away to one lucky reader, worth $49.95. Simply leave a comment and tell me what your childhood favourite sweet treat was!

The competition is open to Australian residents only, and the winner will be announced on Friday 11th May. Good luck!

Review copy sent to me by Penguin Books

Chocolate Ombre Cake

It’s my sister Beth’s 19th birthday today, which of course makes me feel very old. I’ve mentioned before what an amazing, smart, beautiful girl she is, but she’s going to have to listen to me say it all over again! In the last year especially we’ve become very close and have had a great many adventures, including our recent trip to Melbourne together. I’m so lucky to have such a great sister.



And of course no birthday is complete without cake! I have to admit, this cake is not the one I had planned. I’ve had so many utter baking failures lately! After making three batches of ugly macarons that were supposed to decorate the outside of the cake, Steph suggested an ombre icing style instead and everything clicked into place. Ombre, meaning going from dark to light, is a gorgeous trend at the moment. I was inspired by this blog, although my version is definitely more slap dash messy chic!



I used my new favourite chocolate cake in the world - David Lebovitz's Devils Food Cake - which is almost impossible to mess up and produces a beautiful, rich cake every time. For the icing itself Beth requested our favourite cream cheese icing, which was lovely, but a swiss meringue buttercream would also work beautifully as well. What I love the most about the ombre effect is that it looks very impressive, but it’s actually not difficult to achieve. I even made a little video of how I decorated it! Enjoy...

Wishing a very very happy birthday to my dear sister Beth. Wishing you the best year ever xox



Chocolate Ombre Cake
Serves 10

Devil’s Food Cake (adapted from David Lebovitz)
• 200g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 225g butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups caster sugar
• 4 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup strong black tea or coffee
• 1 cup milk

Cream Cheese Icing
• 500g cream cheese (2 packets) at room temperature
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Purple food colouring (gel or liquid – or any colour you like)

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line 3 x 20cm cake pans with baking paper. Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, salt, bicarb soda, and baking powder in a bowl. Using an electric mixer with a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated and then mix in the vanilla extract.

Mix together the tea/coffee and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, then add the tea and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients. Spoon evenly between cake pans. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in tin about 5 minutes, then place on a wire rack and cool completely before icing.

Before you ice the cakes, trim with a serrated knife so each is level. To make the icing, place the cream cheese into the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until softened. Add icing sugar and vanilla and whip until smooth. Spoon about 1/5 of the icing into a small bowl, and add enough colouring until you’re happy for this to be the darker purple shade. Spoon another 1/5 of the icing into another small bowl, adding enough colouring for this to be the lighter purple shade.

To decorate, have a look at the video! Place the first layer of cake onto a plate or cake stand. Spread icing onto first layer with an offset spatula, and top with second layer of cake. Spread another layer of icing on the surface of the second layer. Top with the third layer, and then frost the entire cake with a thin layer of white icing – the crumb coat.

Now, starting at the bottom of the cake, spread a layer of the darker purple icing 1/3 of the way up the cake. Spread a layer of the lighter purple icing another 1/3 up the cake. Finish with the white icing, spreading over the remainder of the cake. Blend the icing with your offset spatula and serve.

Chocolate and Blackberry Cupcakes

It’s been a long, long time since I last made cupcakes, but I’ve had them on the brain lately and it seemed like the perfect time to make some. They had to be chocolate, of course, but the choice of what to pair them with was quite difficult with all the beautiful fruit around this summer. I thought about cherries, raspberries, and even figs, but some beautiful blackberries caught my eye at the market and instantly knew what I wanted to do.



I should preface this by saying that this is the second week in a row that I’ve made this same Devil’s Food Cake. And the search for the best chocolate cake might now be over because David Lebovitz has the answer! I trust this man implicitly on all matters of chocolate and ice cream.



I stuck pretty closely to the recipe, but instead of using coffee as in the original, I used black tea, which gave it a beautiful subtle flavour. I love that such a simple recipe can produce such a delicious cake that would be the most amazing base for any number of icing flavours.



I tossed up using a blackberry ganache, but I wanted to see that great purple colour so I chose to make a buttercream instead. It was only when I was editing the photos that I realised how similar these cupcakes look to Steph’s raspberry cupcakes! Told you we were soulmates ;)



Devil’s Food Cupcakes
Adapted from David Lebovitz
Makes 14-15 cupcakes

• 9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ½ cups plain flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon bicarb soda
• 112g butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups caster sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup strong black tea
• ½ cup milk

Blackberry Buttercream
• 2 large egg whites
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 125g butter, at room temperature, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup blackberries, fresh (or frozen and thawed)
• Extra blackberries, to decorate

Line cupcake tray with cupcake papers and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, salt, bicarb soda, and baking powder in a bowl. Using an electric mixer with a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated and then mix in the vanilla extract.

Mix together the tea and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the tea and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients. Spoon into cupcake cases, filling about 2/3rds full. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool in tin about 5 minutes, then place on a wire rack and cool completely before icing.

To make the blackberry buttercream, puree the blackberries and strain to remove the seeds and set aside. Whisk together egg white and sugar in a large heatproof bowl. Clip a candy thermometer to side of bowl. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk until mixture reaches 160°F and sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes.

With a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg white mixture on high speed until cooled and thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, and add butter, 1 cube at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. If mixture is runny at this point, refrigerate for 10 minutes and then continue beating until it starts to hold its shape (this can take a while). Beat in blackberry puree and vanilla. Place in a piping bag and ice cupcakes. Top with a fresh blackberry and serve. If you have any icing leftover, you can store it in an airtight container for a few days.

Vanilla Malt Sprinkle Bark Cake

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, baker extrordinaire, Steph.

It's a rare and special thing to find a friend you'd almost call your soul mate. But seriously, we can practically read each other's minds sometimes. She is one of the most beautiful and creative people I know, and totally my favourite person to brainstorm baking ideas with, which made it all the more tricky to keep this birthday cake idea a surprise! And in the end, the cake she made was remarkably similar to what I came up with. Mind reader I tell you!



The idea for the cake came after I saw Sweetapolita's genius idea to make cake batter sprinkle bark. While it looks completely awesome, the process is so simple - just melt, spread, chill, then repeat with white chocolate, and then go totally nuts with colorful sprinkles. I thought it would be cool to cover a whole cake with the sprinkle bark! I used a nice 70% dark chocolate and a good quality white chocolate, which made such a huge difference to the end product. I also threw some strawberry flavoured popping candy into the mix as an extra little surprise, and the reaction from Steph was absolutely priceless when she realized.



For the cake itself, the decision was tricky because many cake flavours would work well here. Steph has always loved anything malt-flavoured, so I made a Malted Vanilla Bean cake based on one of her favourite recipes, with a gorgeous vanilla bean buttercream. I totally loved the cake, and I don't say this often, but I could seriously eat that buttercream from the bowl with a spoon.

I was sooooo happy with how the cake turned out and Steph loved it. I love that sprinkles never fail to bring out the inner child in everyone, so I think this cake would be perfect for young or old. Huge thanks must also go to my sister Beth who helped a lot with making the sprinkle bark and icing the cake.

Happy birthday Steph! I hope you have an amazing day filled with love and sprinkles!



Vanilla Malt Sprinkle Bark Cake

Vanilla Malt Cake (adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes)
• 195g butter, room temperature
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• ½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 195g self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 120g Horlicks (or Milo for a chocolate malt cake)
• 60ml milk
• 60ml boiling water

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the bottom of two 20cm round springform tins. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and then vanilla seeds and vanilla extract, beating to combine. Sift flour, baking powder and Horlicks together and then fold gently into the mixture until nearly combined. Add milk and fold again, then add water and fold once more.

Quickly divide mixture between the two prepared cake tins and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove and cool in tins for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Sprinkle Bark (adapted from Sweetapolita)
• 180g high quality dark chocolate (I used 70%), chopped
• 320g high quality white chocolate, chopped
• Sprinkles of your choice, I used sprinkles, hundreds and thousands and popping candy

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Melt the dark chocolate, and then pour onto your parchment/mat and spread (with a small offset spatula for ease) until desired thickness is achieved. Freeze for 20 minutes to set.

Melt the white chocolate, and let sit for about 3 minutes. Remove tray with set chocolate from the freezer. and pour white chocolate on top, repeating the same spreading technique as you did with the dark chocolate. Toss sprinkles on right away. Freeze for 20 more minutes. Once set, break or cut into pieces. Store in the refrigerator.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream (adapted from Cupcake Project)

• 1 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• Seeds of ½ vanilla bean, scraped
• 1 tablespoon milk

Mix together sugar and butter until they are blended and creamy. Add vanilla bean and milk and continue to beat for another minute.If desired, add more vanilla bean to taste, or more icing sugar to make it stiffer.

To assemble, place one cake onto a plate or cake stand. Cover top with vanilla bean buttercream. Place second cake on top. Cover top and sides with vanilla bean buttercream and smooth with an offset spatula to get a nice finish. Place pieces of broken sprinkle bark over the top and sides of the cake, and serve.

Ginger Beer Bundt Cake

I suppose for those of you who know me well, the surprising thing is not that I made a Ginger Beer Bundt Cake, but that it has taken me four years to do so! I have an insane love of ginger beer (you can blame Steve for that) and it's pretty much the only soft drink I like. I think my bottle-a-day habit helped to keep The Rocks convenience stores in business! I have been wanting to use it in a cake for ages, and when I bought my first ever Bundt tin a few weeks ago, I just knew it would be perfect.

Have you been to visit Sweetapolita? It's one of my favourite baking blogs, and I just fell in love with the vanilla bean Bundt cake she made. How perfect is that glaze?! I decided to adapt that recipe to use mostly ginger beer as the liquid component in the cake and the glaze, as well as some extra ground ginger for flavour.



The cake was easy to put together and baked up beautifully, with a great crumb and texture, and it stayed nice and fresh for days. But I was a little disappointed that even after adding a cup of ginger beer and close to 2 tablespoons of ground ginger, the flavour of the cake had mellowed out after baking and the ginger wasn't discernible at all!

Next time I think I'll use a more concentrated ginger beer cordial rather than the soft drink to get much more flavour from the same amount of liquid. Same goes for the glaze. But I can't deny that even though I wish there was more of a ginger hit, this is still a lovely cake and one that I'll definitely be making again.



Ginger Beer Bundt Cake
Serves 8-10
Adapted from Sweetapolita

• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons ground ginger (or to taste)
• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ¾ cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 cup ginger beer cordial

Ginger Beer Glaze
• ½ cup ginger beer, or ginger beer cordial
• Approximately 5 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 1-2 teaspoons ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 175°F (350°F). Generously butter pan and dust with flour, knocking out the excess.

Sift together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger. Beat together the butter and sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla extract. Combine milk and ginger beer cordial in a jug. Alternately add flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared pan, smoothing and spreading evenly. Gently tap pan on counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake for about 1 hour, until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 1 hour, then invert onto a rack and cool completely.

To make the glaze, whisk icing sugar 1 cup at a time into the ginger beer until it reaches a consistency that will drizzle slowly and not run off the cake. Whisk in ground ginger to taste. Once the cake has cooled, place it on a wire rack over a baking pan and drizzle glaze on top. You might need to go over it a few times to get a nice thick glaze.

Chocolate and PX Brownie Cake

When I started this blog, I never ever thought that I’d meet people who would one day become some of my closest friends. As we reminisced about our early dinner ‘dates’ at Lotus and Gazebo, and the many adventures we’ve had since then, I thought about how incredibly lucky I am to have Steph and Karen in my life, and I hope they’ll be around for a long time yet.

For Karen’s birthday, Steph and I decided that we should make her an epic homemade birthday cake. We often brainstorm baking ideas together, but we haven’t really collaborated on a baking project together since the Lemon Lime and Bitters macarons. As we threw some ideas around, we kept coming back to the insanely awesome combination of Chocolate and Pedro Ximénez sherry, two of Karen’s favourite things in the world. But what if we made it even more awesome by baking up some buttery shortbread, studded with chocolate and cocoa nibs? It absolutely had to be done!



I was in charge of making the cake, and I decided on a fudgy chocolate brownie cake that formed the base of the Peanut Butter and Banana Mousse cake that I made last year. I omitted the peanut butter and added some PX, and deliberately under-baked it a little bit so it would be extra rich and gooey in the middle. I have to say, it smelled absolutely amazing as it was in the oven! The next morning I packed up the cake and headed to Steph’s place to make the ganache. And in major heart attack-inducing fashion, I nearly dropped the cake in transit...twice.

The chocolate and PX ganache that we made was luscious and totally sexy, spread in messy swirls over the cake. The cocoa nib shortbread that Steph made was absolutely delicious! She decided on some cute heart shapes to encircle the cake and tied it with a ribbon, which I think ended up looking really, really cute. Head over to her blog for the recipe! The reaction from Karen was absolutely priceless, and the verdict was that the cake was "better than sex" - quite the endorsement.

Happy Birthday Karen!!! Thank you for being so damn awesome! I'm so glad you liked the cake, it was so fun to make and to work with Steph on another baking/styling project. We better put on our thinking caps to come up with something even more awesome for next year ;)



Chocolate and PX Brownie Cake
Adapted from this recipe
Serves 6

• 200g butter
• 100g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 3 eggs
• 210g caster sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 1/3 cup Pedro Ximénez sherry
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ganache
• 175g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 150ml pouring cream
• ¼ cup Pedro Ximénez sherry

Cocoa Nib Shortbread
Recipe on Raspberri Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F). Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering, stirring occasionally until smooth. Whisk eggs and caster sugar in an electric mixer until thick and pale, fold through chocolate mixture then fold in flour and Pedro Ximénez. Spoon into a buttered, baking paper lined springform pan (I used 2 x 20cm pans), smooth top and bake until just firm to touch (20-25 minutes) Cool completely in pan.

To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside. Combine the cream and Pedro Ximénez in a saucepan and heat until just before boiling point. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until combined. Refrigerate for 15 minutes or until cooled, and then whisk with electric beaters until ganache is luscious and spreadable. Spread over top and sides of cake.

Caramelised Pandan Cake with Coconut Sorbet

Oh man, I love pandan! I have my food blogging friends to thank for that, after showing me the light with a delicious pandan waffle when we went for lunch in Cabramatta about a year ago. Since then, I’ll always order pandan flavoured desserts when I can, and one of my favourites in recent times was the Pandan Chiffon Cake at Ms G’s. While I did really like the dessert, I thought it needed some kind of crunch added to make it even better and that’s where the idea for this dessert came from.

I was also lucky enough to be invited to the launch of Dinner Explorer by Electrolux, which appealed immensely to my hostess tendencies. The website gives you everything you need including menus, drinks, and decorating ideas to cater for any number of occasions from Melbourne Cup to Footy Finals, to obscure holidays like Marie Antionette’s Birthday (November 2nd) or Polish Dumpling Day (September 28th)!



On the night, Peter Gilmore demonstrated how to make a decadent Christmas brunch – a caramelised brioche with cherry compote (as well as a majorly awesome White Peach Bellini that will definitely be on repeat come summer). It was remarkably simple but absolutely delicious, and I was inspired to create a spin on Ms G’s dessert. I made a pandan chiffon cake and soaked squares of it in a typical egg-milk mixture as you would French Toast.

While Peter had access to a steam oven, I used the microwave to gently pre-cook the cake, and then made a dry caramel in a fry pan with some butter added at the end for some extra richness, and carefully cooked the cake in the caramel mixture until it was golden. I served it with a very simple coconut sorbet (made without an ice cream maker) and some lovely fresh strawberries, playing off the awesome flavours in Ms G's version. It was a huge hit!

I really enjoyed both making and eating this dessert, with some of my favourite flavours. While it is quite involved, you’re free to buy store bought pandan cake and sorbet to make things quicker. I really loved the light, fluffy pandan cake, and I think it would be perfect on its own or with a light coconut glaze. Many thanks to Electrolux for inviting me along to the event, and for the inspiration and ideas!



Caramelised Pandan Cake with Coconut Sorbet
Serves 6

Coconut Sorbet (adapted from Epicurious)
• 1 x 400g can coconut cream
• ¼ cup ice cold water
• 1 tablespoon rum

Pandan Chiffon Cake (adapted from Iron Chef Shellie)
• 10 egg whites, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup caster sugar, for egg whites
• 10 egg yolks
• 145g caster sugar, for egg yolks
• 210ml coconut milk
• 90ml vegetable oil
• 1 ½ teaspoons pandan paste
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 300g plain flour, sifted
• 3 ½ tablespoons, sifted
• Pinch salt

To assemble
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 200g caster sugar
• 100g salted butter
• Strawberries, hulled to serve

For the coconut sorbet, whisk ingredients in a medium bowl and then transfer to a 20x30cm glass baking dish. Freeze until frozen, stirring every 30 minutes, about 3 hours. This can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep frozen. Alternately, churn in an ice cream maker if you have one!

For the pandan chiffon, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time and beat thoroughly after each addition until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl whisk egg yolks with caster sugar until fluffy. Add coconut milk, vegetable oil, pandan paste, vanilla extract, flour and baking powder. Whisk until combined. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture in 3 batches.

Pour into a 25cm cake tin, lined with baking paper (or use a loaf pan and another smaller cake tin). Bake for 30 minutes at 180°C (350°F) or until a skewer comes out clean. When cake is out of the oven, immediately invert the cake still in the tin and place on a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, and then cut into eight 10x10cm squares, about 3cm thick. Any leftovers can be frozen (or nibbled!)

To assemble the dessert, whisk the egg with milk and vanilla in a bowl. Dip squares of cake into the mixture and place four squares on a sheet of baking paper. Fold up to enclose and place on a plate in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes on high heat. Repeat with remaining cake.

In a large frying pan, melt caster sugar without stirring until golden brown then place knobs of butter in the pan and swirl to melt. Shake the pan around a little and turn the heat down to low. Unwrap the cake and place directly on top of the hot caramel.

Allow to cook on the first side for about 1 minute and then using a spatula of palette knife carefully turn over the cake and cook on the other side for a further minute. Turn once more and turn the pan off. Place each piece of caramelized chiffon cake into the center of each serving plate and dust with icing sugar. Scatter strawberries around the plate and top with a scoop of coconut sorbet. Serve immediately.

Bourke St Bakery's Carrot Cake

With Fathers Day on the weekend, it made me think about how lucky I am to have grown up with such a great Dad. I've written about him before – how there is almost nothing he can't fix (except that one toaster, which in his words "failed spectacularly") and no trade he can't seem to master, from mechanic to architect, plumber to chef (but, er, not at the same time) and almost everything in between. He’s a pretty clever guy!

Carrot Cake is one of my Dad's favourite desserts, second only to the Kumquat Pecan Pie I made a few years ago. I decided to try a different recipe this year, from the Bourke St Bakery cookbook, which came highly rated by a few friends who have tried it. This is one of my favourite books to just sit and flick through, the pictures are stunning and the recipes are inspirational. Plus it's always nice to try making these awesome bakery treats at home.



The recipe may look a little bit long and complicated but as long as you follow the order of steps as it’s written, you won't have any problems. I doubled the spices (and quadrupled the cinnamon) because I like a headily spiced carrot cake, but stayed true to the rest of the recipe and it turned out beautifully. The cake was quite light thanks to the meringue component that is folded in at the end, and I really like the rustic look.

While I like this version better than my usual go-to recipe, especially with the addition of walnuts, Dad ever-so-slightly preferred the other one, which produces a slightly denser cake. But the thing every great carrot cake should have, no exceptions, is a fantastic cream cheese icing, so I used my favourite recipe, which is possibly the easiest (and dare I say it, most delicious) icing in the entire world, and that is something that Dad and I definitely agree on.

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy xox



Carrot Cake
Serves 8
Adapted from Bourke St Bakery Cookbook

• 70g walnuts
• 150g self-raising flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 egg whites
• 60g caster sugar (for eggwhites)
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 160g caster sugar (for egg yolks)
• 170ml extra light olive oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 125g carrots, peeled and grated

Cream Cheese Icing
• 250g cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F) and grease a 20cm round cake tin and line the base and sides with baking paper. The paper should protrude about 2.5cm above the tin.Place the walnuts on a baking tray and cook for 4-5 minutes or until lightly roasted. Cool and cut into thirds.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt into a bowl. Repeat to ensure they are evenly mixed.Put the egg whites in a very clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks start to form. Slowly pout in the sugar for the egg whites while the motor is still running and whisk until soft peaks form. Quickly transfer the meringue to another bowl and set aside until needed.

Put the egg and egg yolk in the bowl of an electric mixer and add the sugar for egg yolks. Mix on high speed for 3-4 minutes or until the mixture doubles in volume and is quite airy. With the motor still running, slowly pour the oil in a thin stream being careful that it doesn’t split or deflate too much.Remove the bowl from the mixer and with a spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture until combined. Fold in the carrots and walnuts. Working quickly, lightly fold in the meringue, but do not fold in completely. You should still be able to see white streaks through the mixture.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. You may need to drop the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) after the first 30 minutes if the top is browning too quickly.

To make cream cheese icing, combine ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer until smooth.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for about 30 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Using a serrated knife, slice horizontally through the centre of the cake to form two even-sized layers and fill with cream cheese frosting. Dust the top of the cake with icing sugar and serve.

Sticky Date Cheesecake with Bourbon Caramel Sauce

If you’ve been reading for a while, you might know that I have a distinct fondness for sticky date pudding. Come winter, it’s one of the things I crave the most. In fact, I’d go so far to say that I’d ask for it as part of my last meal, or wish it to be one of my few possessions on a desert island. This year I wanted to do something a little bit different, since I have already posted multiple pudding recipes over the years (always in August... coincidence?) and I decided to turn it into a cheesecake.

It’s a funny story really, I thought I was being a bit clever with this flavour combination and set about combining a few different recipes to give me the perfect sticky date cheesecake. I had already made the gingernut crust base (I love gingernut biscuits!) and the sticky date filling. As I was unwrapping the cream cheese from the packaging, what was the recipe on the back? Sticky date cheesecake!

Crazy coincidences aside, I stuck to my recipe and I was so happy with how it turned out. I have issues with really dense, heavy cheesecakes and can usually only manage a few bites of them before throwing in my dessert fork in defeat, but this one is the perfect texture. In fact, it's deceptively light, considering that there's half a kilo of cream cheese in it! I used a recipe that I had made before (but never got around to blogging) and substituted caster sugar for brown sugar, which was just lovely with the dates.

No sticky date pudding is complete without an awesome caramel sauce. I tricked mine up with a good glug of bourbon and some sea salt. This sauce is also totally amazing over ice cream, in the rare case that you have any leftover. Or, make extra and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.



Sticky Date Cheesecake with Bourbon Caramel Sauce
Serves 10
Adapted from taste.com.au

Cheesecake
• 1 x 250g packets gingersnap biscuits
• 125g butter, melted
• 2 x 250g packets cream cheese, room temperature
• 200ml sour cream
• 100g brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

Sticky Date Mixture
• Melted butter, to grease
• 1 ½ cups seedless dates
• 1/3 cup bourbon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Bourbon Caramel Sauce
• 1 cup pouring cream
• 60g butter, chopped
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons bourbon
• Big pinch sea salt

Brush a 24cm springform pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Place the biscuits in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely crushed. Add the butter and process until combined. Transfer to the prepared pan and press firmly over the base. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

Place the dates and bourbon in a saucepan over low heat and simmer until liquid is absorbed. Place into a food processor with 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and pulse until it becomes a smooth mixture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 160°C (320°F). Place the cream cheese, sour cream and brown sugar in the bowl of stand mixer and mix until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.

Pour half the cream cheese mixture onto the prepared biscuit base, then spoon in the sticky date filling. Swirl with a skewer and then pour the remaining cream cheese mixture on top. Bake for about 1 hour or until just set. Turn oven off and cool inside with the door ajar, for 1 hour. Place in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight to chill.

To make bourbon caramel sauce, place the cream, butter, sugar, bourbon and sea salt in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, bring to the boil and cook for 5-7 minutes or until thickened. Set aside and allow to cool.

Strawberry Cake

There haven’t been a lot of recipe posts here lately and for that I do give my apologies. There’s been a lot going on in the last couple of weeks – my birthday was amazing, Steve and I went on a whirlwind trip to Melbourne, I contracted a rather nasty cold, we moved offices to Kings Cross, and I’ve had a few downright baking disasters!

With so much happening, and with the chilly winter weather starting to get to me, I have been in a bit of a hibernation phase. I’ve been spending a lot of time at home, curled up in bed with a cookbook, or with my laptop keeping me warm while I re-watch some of my favourite TV shows. The much-needed downtime has been just what I needed to kick start my inspiration again.



Which is why, when I saw some gorgeous and fragrant Queensland strawberries, I snaffled them up immediately. They tasted lovely and sweet – a little reminder of spring is just what I needed to lift my mood.

I decided to use them in a simple yet stunning cake from Martha Stewart. The light batter puffed around the sweet fruit, and the raw sugar on top gave the cake a nice crackly crust. It was a lovely afternoon tea cake, served simply with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream and some more fresh strawberries.



This recipe would be a great starting point to try with other fruit too – I think that a mixture of berries, pears, apricots or even rhubarb would be delicious! You could even try playing around and mixing up the flours like Aran did in her beautiful version of this cake.

Another thing to note is that the original recipe called for a pie tin, but I used a normal spring-form cake tin and it worked fine. But whatever type of baking tin you decide to use, just be sure to grease it very well. I can't wait to bake this cake again when the weather warms up, and it would be a lovely cake to take on a picnic! But in the meantime, it's a nice little reminder that spring is just around the corner.

So tell me, readers, how do you shake the winter blues?



Strawberry Cake
Recipe from Martha Stewart
Makes one 20cm cake

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 ½ cups plain flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 500g strawberries, hulled and halved
• 2 tablespoons raw sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter a 20cm cake pan. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl.

Place butter and caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, and then mix in egg, milk and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low, and mix in the flour mixture in batches. Transfer batter to buttered cake tin. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle raw sugar over berries.

Bake cake for 10 minutes, and then reduce oven temperature to 160°C (325°F). Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in cake tin on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and cut into wedges. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream if desired. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

Pear and Earl Grey Crumble Cake

Wow, it has been free-eezing this week! I think winter is officially here now. The 2°C mornings have definitely been a struggle on the getting-out-of-bed front. But I’ve been really enjoying delicious hearty dinners, my favourite winter produce and cup after cup of nice hot tea.

I fell in love with Karen’s post about the gorgeous French Earl Grey poached pears. Not only were they so cute and tiny, but I am a big fan of this beautiful, fragrant tea so I could imagine how lovely they were going to taste! Enveloped in a delicious sour cream enriched cake batter and topped with a crunchy hazelnut crumble, this was an absolutely beautiful cake.

In fact, we liked it so much that I made a batch of muffins from the same recipe the very next day. And both were gone by Tuesday! It’s a great, simple recipe, but the thing I like most about this cake is that it’s the perfect starting point for almost any kind of fruit filling. Rhubarb would be totally delicious, as would apples, berries, or quinces as in the original recipe. So if you’re planning some long weekend baking, give this recipe a try!

Pear and Earl Grey Crumble Cake
Serves 8

French Earl Grey Poached Pears - Recipe adapted from Citrus & Candy
• 1L water
• 125g caster sugar
• 20g French Earl Grey tea leaves
• 1 strip orange peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 pears

Combine the water, sugar, tea leaves, orange peel and vanilla extract in a pot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes to infuse. In the meantime, peel and core the pears and cut into 3mm cubes. Strain the tea mixture into another small pot and add the pears to the poaching liquid. Bring back to a boil then reduce the heat again and simmer pears gently for about 10 minutes. Pears are ready when a skewer pierces through the flesh easily. Remove from the heat and leave the pears to cool down in the syrup. Once cooled, store in the fridge.

Crumble Cake - Recipe adapted from Gourmet Traveller
• 150g softened butter
• 135g caster sugar
• 120g brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 300g crème fraiche or sour cream
• 170g self-raising flour
• 150g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon finely grated cinnamon

Crumble topping
• 85g brown sugar
• 60g roasted hazelnuts, coarsely chopped
• 35g butter, coarsely chopped
• 30g plain flour

Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Beat butter and sugars in an electric mixer until pale (2-3 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add crème fraiche and beat to just combine, then stir through flours and cinnamon.

Spoon half the mixture into a buttered and floured 24cm diameter springform tin lined with baking paper. Scatter pears over and then pour over remaining batter and smooth the top.

For the crumble topping, combine ingredients and a pinch of salt in a bowl and rub with fingertips until coarse crumbs form. Sprinkle over batter. Bake cake is golden and a skewer inserted in the center withdraws clean (50 minutes-1 hour). Cool slightly in tin. Remove cake and cool to room temperature. Serve drizzled with pear syrup.

Double Chocolate Muffins

Hi guys, I’m still away in Perth, but my sister Beth was kind enough to write a guest post for spicyicecream, along with a recipe for some totally delicious chocolate muffins. She's a sweetheart. Enjoy!

For a while now, my sister has been asking me to do a guest post here on her blog; So while Lisa is holidaying once again with her beloved in Perth, I have grabbed the opportunity. My name is Beth, Lisa’s younger sister (although I am quite smug that I can call her my “little sister” because I am taller than her by quite a few inches).

I can remember so many things that I shared with Lisa when I was growing up. Despite the five year age gap, we are actually quite close, having shared a room for quite a few years. I look back fondly on the nights where neither of us could sleep, so we’d just talk about random things, until she fell asleep when I was in the middle of a sentence...

It was, and still is, a regular thing to cook with Lisa. I’ve watched her grow and develop her kitchen skills, just as she’s watched me, and of course, encouraged her undying love for anything to do with food. Seriously though, if she mentions a Kitchen-Aid one more time…

Surprisingly, neither of us have ever started a food fight, but the kitchen benches still get their regular dose of chocolate or flour. Instead, Lisa and I have declared “Food War”. In an attempt to make her jealous, I sent her a picture of the lamb shish that I was about to devour at Erciyes Restaurant in Surry Hills. She then responded with a picture of her own dinner, which got the ball rolling of “whose is more delicious”.

As a way of competing with all of the delightful things I’m sure she will post about from Perth, I made the ultimate chocolate muffins…and they are AMAZING. The soft and fluffy top with the slightly oozy centre, make these the best muffins I have ever baked in my life! The only thing I would do different ? Have Lisa by my side when making them.

Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Makes 12
Recipe from ‘Baking From My Home to Yours’ by Dorie Greenspan

• 80g unsalted butter
• 115g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¼ cup buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Line 12-hole muffin tray with paper cases.

Melt the butter and half of the chopped chocolate together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients and melted butter and chocolate mixture over the dry ingredients and with a whisk or rubber spatula, stir gently but quickly to blend.

Stir in the remaining chocolate. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.