Lemon Rosemary Bundt Cake | The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The room filled with the smell of warming butter and sugar and lemon and eggs, and at five, the timer buzzed and I pulled out the cake and placed it on the stovetop. The house was quiet.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bender

I turned 30 at the beginning of this year. It was an interesting milestone, that assumption that one should be filled with dread at the prospect of their thirties, the end of their carefree twenties. There's a slightly different feeling I have about it though, because in all honesty I think I probably had the mentality of someone in their thirties for the last six years. Declining any big nights out to instead stay in with a new television show, a book or a particularly delicious take away meal.

My 30th wasn't much different. After an incredible 10 course dinner at a local restaurant, my night was spent greedily watching reruns of Buffy (I forgot how amazing that show is) and scoffing slices of the lemon rosemary bundt cake I'd made earlier that day.

The inspiration for the cake came from a book that I surprisingly had many people recommend to me, insisting I'd find many meals I'd be wanting to recreate from its pages. Well, I had already read it and they were correct. I'd been wanting to find an excuse to make a lemon cake, I much prefer to the tartness of it compared to other cakes, and the glimpse of my copy of the book as I wandered past the bookshelf was enough to have me bundling up lemons at the local farmers market, and picking twigs of rosemary from a neighbours front yard.

This cake is quite delicious, enough so that between myself and my partner we practically demolished it within the day.

Lemon Rosemary Bundt Cake
IngredientsCake
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2/3 cup raw caster sugar
Zest of one lemon
2 sprigs of rosemary, stripped from the trig and diced very finely
1 tbsp vinegar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb soda
1tbsp cornflour
1/2 tsp salt
115g butter, softened
190ml milk
3 tbsp yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze1 cup icing sugar + extra just in case
Juice of one lemon

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 180C and prepare a 22cm bundt pan (if you have a different size one - it'll likely be totally fine) by greasing the inside thoroughly and then sprinkling a light scattering over flour throughout.

2. Combine the vinegar, yoghurt and the milk, leaving to the side for five minutes or until the milk curdles into buttermilk.

3. Sift the flour and cornflour together into a large bowl, adding in the bi-carb, baking soda, diced rosemary and salt.

4. In a seperate bowl cream together the butter and raw caster sugar until light and fluffy. Adding in the vanilla, zest and curdled milk, combine until well mixed.

5. Slowly add in the flour, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go and transfer into the prepared cake tin.

6. Bake for around 40 - 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave in the pan for at least 10 minutes before gently transferring it onto a cooling rack. Leave to cool completely before glazing.

Glaze

1. Combine the icing sugar and lemon juice into a bowl and mix until it is a firm glaze. You may need to add a little more icing sugar or a little more liquid - depending on how runny you want it to be.

2. Drizzle over the the cooled cake. You can garnish with some sprigs of rosemary, lemon zest or lemon slices - what ever you want. Enjoy!

Little Women | Apple Turnovers

There was a momentary lull, broken by Hannah, who stalked in, laid two hot turnovers on the table, and stalked out again. These turnovers were an institution, and the girls called them ‘muffs’, for they had no others and found the hot pies very comforting to their hands on cold mornings.
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott

There's something deliciously comforting about the smell of apples and spices cooking while it rains lightly outside (ignoring the fact that it is summer and despite the rain it's still just so hot). I remember reading Little Women for the first time at a young age - it would be hard to pinpoint when I first picked it up exactly. There are faint memories though that my grandmother passed it to me to read when I was staying with her.

I spent New Years Day at the cinemas, viewing the newest adaptation of Little Women from Greta Gerwig. I absolutely adored it and can't wait to see it again - this may be the only adaptation that I've actually had sympathy for the character of Amy at all. The rest of the day was spent cooking up and eating these pastries as I flicked through my copy of the book, enjoying the small things that jumped out in memory to me.

Apple Turnovers
Makes approx. 8
Ingredients
6 granny smith apples, cored and peeled
3 tbsp raw caster sugar
2 sheets puff pastry
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp water

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare 2 baking trays with baking paper or by greasing them well.

2. Dice the apples very finely, they shouldn't be more than a cm large. Place them into a medium sized saucepan along with 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp raw caster sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp sea salt, and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. Cook on medium until apples have softened and the water have caramelised a little. Remove from the heat before the apples become too squishy.

3. Combine the remaining sugar, spices and salt together and mix well. Put to the side till later.

4. Lay the two sheets of puffy pastry out, slice each down the middle diagonally, and then again in each corner. In the end you should have 8 triangles of pastry.

5. Spoon the apple mix onto one side of the triangle, folding the other edge over and pressing the edges closed with the prongs of a fork. Repeat with all triangles of pastry and transfer to the baking tray.

6. Using a fork poke a few holes in the top of each, and brush well with the melted butter. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon mix on top before baking for around 15 minutes or until the top of the pastry is golden and brown. Enjoy!

Oliebollen | The Miniaturist

She hands Nella the first olie-koek. It is still warm, and the fried crust breaks apart under Nella’s teeth, releasing the perfect blend of almond, ginger, clove and apple. ‘And Marin still loves him?’ Nella asks.
The Miniaturist
Jesse Burton

This recipe is coming in quite late, due to just…nothing. I’ve been oddly exhausted at all times lately, napping as soon as I get home from work and not finding the energy to manage anything. I’ve been determined from the next week to ensure that the (now) normal collapse into bed doesn’t occur. Instead I want to focus my energies on completing things that actually cause me to feel excited.

The Miniaturist is a book that had been sitting on my shelf for the better part of a year - I grabbed it at random one day as I was heading out, realising that I had finished my last book I was keeping in my bag. I think I finished it within the week. It is an incredible book, that manages to draw you in close, leaving me to read it in secretive bursts over a cup of tea or coffee at work, determined to get to the end. I mentioned to a friend that I was wanting to try to make the delicious fried dough that Nella dines on during the novel, Olie Koek, and she immediately got excited. Turns out, she’s half Dutch, and Oliebollen (what they are now known by) are the traditional food her family would make every New Years. I can’t describe the delight I felt when she exclaimed they tasted exactly the same as the ones her family would make.

I changed a few of the ingredients around from what Nella mentions in the book, these did not contain almonds for example, and I wanted them to be a bit more full of spices. Otherwise, these doughnuts are amazingly light and fluffy, with chunks of apple and raisins throughout. 

Oliebollen
Makes approx. 12
Ingredients
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp white sugar
250ml lukewarm milk
2 tbsp caster sugar
250g plain flour
4 tbsp raisins
1 apple, peeled and diced into small pieces
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spices
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil, for frying
1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting 

1. Combine the yeast, white sugar and warm milk together. Leave to sit until the mixture turns frothy.

2. Combine the flour, raisins, apple, spices, salt, vanilla and caster sugar together in a large bowl. Mix well.

3. Add in the yeast mixture to the flour and mix to combine well. The mixture will be quite sticky and wet - which is fine. If it's too close to liquid add in a bit more flour.

4. Place a clean cloth over the top of the bowl and leave to sit in a warm place to rise. It should take approximately an hour to double in size.

5. Heat the oil in a deep pan to around 180C - I recommend using a thermometer for this as it can be hard to ensure that the oil remains the same heat while cooking when its on the stove.

6. Using a metal spoon that has been dipped in the oil, scoop out balls from the dough, dropping them in to cook for around 3 - 4 minutes before turning them to cook the other side. They should be a light brown in colour - I recommend testing the first one to see if the length of time is enough to cook the inside.

7. Dust with the icing sugar and enjoy hot!

Almond & Pear Cake | The Landlady

“‘Good gracious me,’ he said. ‘How absolutely fascinating.’ He turned away from the dog and stared with deep admiration at the little woman beside him on the sofa. ‘It must be the most awfully difficult to do a thing like that.’

‘Not in the least,’ she said. ‘I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. All you have another cup of tea?’

‘No, thank you,’ Billy said. The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it.”
The Landlady
Roald Dahl

The days are slowly warming, the scent of Australian pollen is beginning to fill the parks of Melbourne and the urge to run away to the countryside is coming in full. I would argue that there is no better place to experience Spring within Australia than Victoria - the brisk edge of chillness still lingers throughout but the days seem to stretch longer.

I took a trip to Daylesford to celebrate the warming weather, spending a weekend tucked away in a tiny studio airbnb, following random bush walks that seemed to stretch for hours, and lounging the afternoons away in a hot chocolate apothecary with numerous books. The town was delightfully quaint and brought about a few moments of reminiscing about my own childhood in a similar setting.

As most children, I adored Roald Dahl - I’ve gone on about my love for Matilda before (and assumption that I should probably have developed telekinetic powers since I also read a lot as a child). But, his short stories are oddly what remains firmly etched within my brain. I think I likely picked up a copy of his short stories from my parents bookshelf when I was around 14, expecting something similar to the children’s tales that I had devoured before, and was shocked to encounter stories of murder, horror and general…weirdness.

Picking up a book that contained the completed short stories of Roald Dahl was something special, and a recent reread has left me remembering the delights of his writing. Despite reading it previously, it seems that every short story’s end comes as a complete surprise, much like when I first read them.

While I promise this cake contains no secret ingredients that a particular character from one of his short stories is fond of - it is instead delicious. Moist, crumbly and perfect with a cup of tea and a good book on a spring afternoon.

Almond and Pear Cake
Makes one 8” cake
Ingredients
100g plain flour
125g butter
125g caster sugar
90ml milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
100g almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bi-carb
3 pears, peeled, cored and cut in half and thinly sliced
50g flaked almonds
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Grease an 8” cake tin, lining the bottom with a circle of baking paper.

2. Combine the apple cider vinegar and milk - leave to sit for five minutes, or until it begins to curdle.

3. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer, and cream together until pale and fluffy. Slowly add in the prepared milk mixture while beating.

4. Remove the sugar mix from the mixer and fold in the flour, bi-carb, baking powder, almond meal and cinnamon. Mix until combined.

5. Pour the cake mixture into your prepared tin and arrange the slices of pear on top neatly (or messily - it’s your cake).

6. Place into the oven and bake for 25 minutes before removing it to scatter the flaked almonds over the top. Return the cake to the oven and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Though do be careful not to poke the skewer into one of the pear slices.

7. Leave to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from tin. It is particularly good with a cup of tea and some coconut yoghurt. Enjoy!

Raspberry Meringue Tart | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

‘The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,
All on a summer day:
The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,
And took them quite away!"
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll

When I first moved to Melbourne at the age of 19, I began working at a tiny cafe near my house. Looking back - getting paid $14 an hour and working ridiculous shifts, really wasn't worth it or really that legal unfortunately. However, it did mean that I met a very good friend of mine, Laura. Her and her partner were regulars at the cafe, coming in almost every weekend. When I stopped working there, it was quite sudden and I did not have the opportunity to really say good to anyone - only a few months later though, at a showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 I spotted Laura, perched outside with a wand ready. We exchanged contact details - and since then, her and her partner have moved to Brisbane, but we've also travelled together and put effort in to make sure that we see most Marvel movies together.

She is also a absolutely huge Alice in Wonderland fan, and this year I planned an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party for her when she was down visiting. A weekend of op-shopping and cooking ensured that I put together a tea party that would make the Mad Hatter proud and leave all guests tumbling down the rabbit hole.Despite theming the whole tea party around Alice in Wonderland, I sort of missed out on making what I really wanted to, the Queen of Hearts' tart. So, obviously the solution was to wait till a rainy night months later to attempt to make it.

You will need a 25cm tart case and ideally a candy thermometer and a standmixer/electric beater but can be done without. You can use this method if you don’t have a candy thermometer https://www.thespruceeats.com/making-candy-without-a-candy-thermometer-520309.

*Note: if using fresh raspberries, up the ¼ cup of milk to ¾ a cup.

Raspberry Meringue Tart
Makes one large tart (25cm across)
Tart Pastry
550g plain flour
50g caster sugar
220g butter
185ml milk
Raspberry Filling
1 cup caster sugar
½ cup corn flour
1 tsp agar agar powder
1 lemon, zested and juiced
200g raspberries, fresh or frozen
¼ cup milk *see note
½ tsp vanilla extract
Meringue
½ cup chickpea liquid (the juice from a can of chickpeas!)
½ tsp cream of tartar60ml water
1 1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp agar agar powder 

Tart Pastry

1. Combine the sugar and flour in a large mixing bowl, adding in pieces of the butter and using your fingers to mix them. The result should resemble wet sand.

2. Make a well in the middle and pour in the milk, mixing until the pastry comes together into a ball.

3. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before use.

4. Preheat oven to 160C.

5. When the dough has had time to rest, prepare a 25cm tart case with cooking spray or butter.

6. Lightly dust a surface with flour and roll out the pastry dough until it approx. 5mm thick – ensure that the pastry has been rolled out to a sixe wider than the tart case and gently place the pastry into the prepared case, pressing the pastry into the corners. Trim any overhanging edges.

7. Line the pastry with baking paper, using baking beads or even rice/dried beans to weight it down. Blind bake for 20 minutes and leave to cool.

Raspberry Filling

1. Place all ingredients into a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat. Ensure that all ingredients have been well mixed together – mashing the raspberries when necessary.

2. Continue to heat on medium, stirring occasionally until the mixture resembles that of a pudding consistency.

3. Remove from heat and strain the mix through a fine mesh sieve or some cheesecloth – essentially you’re just trying to get all the seeds from the raspberries out. If you prefer you can totally leave them in.

4. Pour the raspberry filling into the prepared pastry and refrigerate overnight or at least for three hours (it will take a little while to set properly).

Meringue

1. Combine the chickpea liquid and the cream of tartar together and beat until stiff peaks form. It will take a few minutes – probably longer if you’re doing this by hand, though it is an amazing workout.

2. Combine the agar agar, water and sugar together in a small saucepan – heating until it reaches around 112C.

3. While beating the meringue, slowly pour in the hot sugar mixture, continuing to beat for the next 8 minutes or so – until the meringue has cooled.

4. When the meringue is ready, you can either use a piping bag or just a spoon to pop the meringue on top of the prepared raspberry tart – as much as you like.

5. A blowtorch is best – but if you don’t have one, like me, you can pop the tart into a low heat oven for a little or even use a few matches (I did this – didn’t work that great).

6. Leave for about 30 minutes to let the meringue set a little before cutting into the tart. Enjoy!

Cocoa Sour Cream Cake | Matilda

The cook disappeared. Almost at once she was back again staggering under the weight of an enormous round chocolate cake on a china platter. The cake was fully eighteen inches in diameter and it was covered with dark-brown chocolate icing.
Matilda
Roald Dahl

I think for any young girl that was a big reader, there is no character more-so than Matilda that was easy to identify with. I would re-read Matilda over and over - along with adoring the movie version (which was honestly so perfect). A few years back even, I had the chance to go see the stage production of Matilda also, which was slightly disappointing - you don't think you'll see yourself cheering for the sort of awful parents quite so much.

This cake isn't quite the monstrosity that Bruce Bogtrotter is forced to eat within the story - I do not own cake tins of that size, and my salary won't quite support the cost of making a cake that big - but three layers of chocolate cake with the tang of sour cream to bring it all together, is a good enough representation for me. Also - just cover it all with chocolate flakes if you're really craving that insane chocolate hit.

Note: I used Tofutti sour cream for this! Worked super well.

Cocoa Sour Cream Cake
Ingredients
Cake
1 cup sour cream *see note
2 1/3 cups plain flour
2 cups golden caster sugar
180 ml non-dairy milk (it’s fine to substitute dairy milk if needed)
1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp oil
2/3 cup good quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb soda
400g butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
Frosting
100g vegetable shortening, softened
90g dark chocolate
90g butter
1/3 cup sour cream
1tsp vanilla
4 cups icing sugar
Dark chocolate flakes for decoration, optional

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 180C and prepare three 8” round cake pans by greasing and line with baking paper.

2. Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar together to form buttermilk and leave to the side until curdled.

3. Add in the oil and vanilla to the buttermilk mix and leave to the side.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer (can be done by hand, just a bit harder), combine all the dry ingredients and the butter, mixing until it is crumbly and resembles damp sand.

5. Gradually add in the milk mixture and combine thoroughly.

6. Pour the cake mix evenly into the three prepared pans and bake for 25- 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

7. Leave cakes in the pans to cool for about five minutes before removing them from the pans and leaving them on a cake rack to cool completely. They will need to be completely cooled before you can frost them.

Frosting

1. Heat a saucepan of water until boiling; place a metal or glass bowl on top with the chocolate in it until melted and smooth.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the shortening and butter and mix until light and fluffy.

3. Add in the sour cream and vanilla and melted chocolate and combine.

4. Add in the icing sugar one cup at a time, mixing until the chocolate butter cream is smooth and creamy.

5. Sandwich the layers of cake together with the frosting and then cover the outside as best you can. I tend to use a flat spatula and pop the cake plate on top of an empty bowl so it’s easier to turn and get a good covering.

6. Enjoy large slices with a scoop of ice-cream or Bruce style – eat the entire thing in one go with your hands.