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!

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.

Plum Cake | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry opened the last present to find a new, hand-knitted jumper from Mrs Weasley, and a large plum cake.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
J.K Rowling

Harry Potter will always be a classic - along with Enid Blyton it was one of those stories that made me somewhat wish I had gone to boarding school as a child (though honestly, looking back it would have had to be a boarding school in the UK with a clear focus on magical studies). The characters in the books are constantly receiving parcels and surprises from those at home and it all seemed like such a thrill. Mrs Weasley’s presents always seemed the best as well - a hand knitted jumper? Yes please. Homemade cakes and fudge and all the warmth that could possibly be given.

The days are beginning to become a little warmer in Melbourne as the winter comes to an end, and it was in anticipation of an upcoming warm weekend that I, rather determinedly, stated I would be making a plum cake to eat in the park. What I did not factor in was an event at work that Friday night that resulted in finding myself at a nearby bar ordering an array of gin martinis late into the night. Nevertheless I persisted, I came home and somehow, in a rather tipsy state, made a plum cake that Friday night.

It was a crumbly, buttery, delicious mess of a cake. And we inhaled it the next day, wrapped up (who was I kidding - it’s still winter, it’s freezing) in jackets, perched in a nearby garden, tearing off chunks of the cake with our hands because neither of us thought that forks or spoons could possibly come in handy.

Plum Cake
Ingredients
5-6 plums, cut in half with the stone removed
130g butter
150ml milk
1tbsp apple cider vinegar
150g plain flour
100g almond meal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bi-carb soda
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare a 9” cake tin by greasing the sides and placing a circle of baking paper at the bottom.

2. Mix together the milk and the apple cider vinegar and leave top it for a few minutes until it begins to curdle.

3. Using either a mixer or by hand, cream together the butter and sugar until it’s light and well mixed.

4. In a seperate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients and combine.

5. Add the milk and apple cider vinegar mix to the cream butter and sugar and combine briefly.

6. Slowly add the wet mix to the dry, mixing until well combined.

7. Pour the mix into your prepared cake tin and press the plus halves down on top into the batter. I like using quite a few plums in mine - so it’s really up to preference.

8. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Enjoy!

Victoria Sandwich | The Flatshare

'Hi Leon, I don't know - I've not really thought about it like that, actually. My knee-jerk reaction is yeah, he's good for me. But then, I don't know. We were very up and down, one of those couples everyone's always talking about (we've broken up and got back together a few times before). It's easy to remember the happy times - and there were tons of them, and they were awesome - But  guess since we broke up I've only remembered those. So I know that being with him was fun. But was it good for me? Ugh, I don't know.
Hence the Victoria sandwich with homemade jam.
Tiffy xx'
The Flatshare
Beth O'Leary

I think that everybody can appreciate what it’s like to have housemates. Coming home to a house that may already be full of people, the smell of dinner beginning to waft from the kitchen and the scattering of shoes that have to be kicked away from the front door. It’s always a delight when you manage to find housemates that you get along with, whether that be mutual ignorance of each other or a tentative friendship that can grow.

In Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare, main characters, Leon and Tiffy, have a seemingly ideal arrangement. Tiffy works days and has the flat and bed at nights. Leon works nights and has the flat and bed during the days. A somewhat ideal arrangement for a city as expensive as London. The Flatshare is a quirky and charming look into the lives of Leon and Tiffy, through the narration of both their personal lives and the multitude of notes they leave scattered about for each other.

One aspect of The Flatshare that I instantly connected with was Tiffy’s coping mechanisms of baking. Who doesn’t deal with any life issues that way? Had a bad day, bake a cake. It is possibly the best way to deal with any stressful situation. While Leon and Tiffy do tend to favour tiffin (a dessert I had never heard of until this read) I immediately jumped at the chance to try my hand at a Victoria sandwich.

Most of my memories associated with Victoria sandwiches are from my grandma. It was her go to cake - the lightest and fluffiest sponge you could ever imagine, layered with thick cream and fresh berries. Delicious. I may not have created something as good as my memories of my grandma’s version - but this one is pretty damn good.

*Notes: I always use Nuttelex as my butter replacement, but you can use whatever you have handy. Best to make the jam the day before or leave enough time to allow it to cool.

Victoria Sandwich
Ingredients
Cake
550g self-raising flour
350g butter *see note
350g golden caster sugar
400ml milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Buttercream
70g vegetable shortening, softened
150g butter *see note
3 cups icing sugar
2 vanilla pods, scraped out
Homemade Strawberry Jam
400g frozen or fresh strawberries
2 cups white sugar
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
Decorations
Fresh strawberries (or any other berries you want, really)
1 tbsp icing sugar

Jam

1. If using fresh strawberries, mash up before placing them in a saucepan. If using frozen, just add straight into a medium saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice.

2. Keep the saucepan on a low heat, continuously stirring until the sugar is dissolved completely. If you’re using frozen strawberries, begin to mash them down with a fork during this time as they start to defrost.

3. Increase the heat until bubbling lightly. The jam will start to thick and become quite syrupy. Once it reaches the consistency you want, transfer it to a bowl and refrigerate until you’re ready to put the cake together.

Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, and prepare two 8” cakes tins by greasing them well and placing a a square of baking paper on the bottom.

2. Stir together the apple cider vinegar and milk - leave to sit and curdle for a few moments.

3. In a large bowl cream together the butter and golden caster sugar until light and fluffy.

4. Sift in the flour, baking power and add in the vanilla extract and milk mixture. Mix until the batter is smooth with no lumps - but be careful not to over-mix. I did mine in my stand mixer and only mixed it for approx. 2 minutes.

5. Split the batter between the cake tins and place into the oven for 30 minutes. If a skewer inserted into the middle comes out wet, or the middle still looks a little wobbly, leave in for an additional 5 - 10 minutes.

6. After they’ve come out of the oven, leave them in the tins for at least 15 minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack. Leave the cakes to cool completely before attempting to put them together, otherwise the heat will melt the jam and buttercream.

Buttercream

1. While the cake is cooling it’s a great time to make the buttercream. Beat together the shortening and butter until it’s lightly and fluffy, and well mixed.

2. Gradually add in the icing sugar, mixing as you go and the vanilla seeds scraped from the pod.

3. The end result should be a buttercream that’s firm enough to hold the two cakes in place but not so firm it’s hard to spread.

4. If your cakes are properly cooled, it’s time to put it all together. Spread a layer of jam on one cake, and a layer of buttercream before sandwiching them together. You can also put fresh berries between the layers if you like as well.

5. Finish the cake off with a sifting of icing sugar and some berries on top. Absolutely delightful with a cup of tea!

Coconut Cream Cake | The Reptile Room

Both the kitchen and the cake were still warm from baking. The cake was a magnificent thing, rich and creamy with the perfect amount of coconut.
The Reptile Room
Lemony Snicket

I’m not a huge cake eater, I much prefer the savoury side of eating and tend to find cake just not quite satisfying. However, I kind of love making cakes. Which is quite fortunate for my housemates and neighbours. This particular cake is so delicious during hot weather, the frosting is creamy, with the notes of coconut throughout creating an almost refreshing mouthful. While the cake itself isn’t too sweet.

Obviously I’m on a little bit of a Series of Unfortunate Events kick at the moment. My parents recently dropped off a lot of my childhood books that were still at their house. Including a heap from the above mentioned series. I think the finishing up of the recent Netflix series has inspired me to do a bit of a reread - I have no memory of reading some of the parts, so it’s definitely a fascinating thing to revisit. I genuinely have no idea how the book series finishes at this stage, and am super curious to whether it’s the same as the television show.

Of course I had to make Uncle Monty’s (was the death of any guardian quite as awful as this one?) coconut cream cake from The Reptile Room.

Coconut Cream Cake
Ingredients
Cake
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tsp bi-carb soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1/2 vegetable oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
Frosting
100g vegetable shortening, softened
1/2 cup coconut cream, can kept in fridge over night, scoop the solid cream from the top
1 cup cream cheese (I used Sheese brand, but any works well)
4 cups icing sugar

Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare two round 18cm cake tins. I highly recommended both greasing the pans and also placing a square of baking paper at the bottom to assist in getting the cakes out.

2. Sift together the four, baking power, bi-carb soda and salt, add in the desiccated coconut, sugar and mix to combine.

3. Mix in the vegetable oil, coconut milk, vinegar and vanilla and stir. It will be quite a thick batter, but take care not to mix too much.

4. Divide the batter between both pans evenly and smooth out the top best you can - the thickness of the batter can make this a little hard but just do your best.

5. Bake for around 30 minutes, check by inserting a skewer into the middle to see if it comes out clean. Leave to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

1. I recommend using either a stand mixer or hand mixer for this process - however it can be done by hand - it’s just hard.

2. Combine the cream cheese and the vegetable shortening in a mixer until light and fluffy.

3. Add in the icing sugar - about a cup at a time, along with spoonfuls of the coconut cream (make sure the coconut cream is properly solid when doing this).

4. Keep adding the icing sugar until it is all gone and the frosting is mixed well - but still nice and fluffy.

5. You can frost the cake however you like, I recommend a layer in-between the two cakes and some on top. While I did frost all the sides, it can be tricky to do without creating a bit of a mess and potentially ruining the cake - however as long as it tastes good does it really matter what it looks like?

6. You can decorate with a little left over desiccated coconut and kind of whatever you like. I used fresh raspberries, but that’s just because raspberries make everything better. The cake will last roughly three days before becoming stale, and tends to dry out a little if kept in the fridge. Still delicious though!

Tipsy Chocolate Cake | The Rules of Magic

But rules were never the point. It was finding out who you were. In the kitchen there was a chocolate tipsy cake for breakfast. The girls might as well learn early on, this was not a house like any other.
The Rules of Magic
Alice Hoffman

I have a tradition every year in October - I watch Hocus Pocus, The Craft and Practical Magic. Even though Halloween isn’t hugely celebrated within Australia (though it is gradually becoming more popular) it is still quite nice to embrace a little bit of the spookiness of the holiday.

I didn’t realise that Practical Magic is based on a book of the same name by Alice Hoffman - though, very loosely based I have to say. Still quite an enjoyable read though, Hoffman manages to illustrate such a beautiful and mesmerising world with her writing. Her descriptions of food, even something as simple as a burger or a pizza feel almost magical. So, once I saw she had brought out a prequel to the book, The Rules of Magic, I was quite eager to purchase it.

I ended up enjoying Rules of Magic so much more than Practical Magic, the combination of Hoffman’s magical words combined with the scenery of New York in the 1960’s blend together to create a stunning story. The history of the girls aunts from Practical Magic is somehow a lot more enticing in comparison. Plus, a staple within The Rules of Magic is Franny’s tipsy chocolate cake, a cake that “is the most chocolaty chocolate you’ll ever taste.”

This cake definitely ticked all the boxes, I made it gluten free since I had friend coming over to watch said movies that needed that particular dietary requirement. While it is not necessary if you don’t want to make it gluten free, any chocolate mud cake recipe will really work for this - however, the gluten free recipe did make it particularly dense, chocolate addled and overall delicious.

Spending a night watching Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman cast spells, while eating spoonfuls of this decadent cake and drinking endless cups of tea is possibly the cosiest night you’ll ever have.

I based the cake aspect of this recipe off of a great gluten free, vegan one I found at - I’ve got my own good recipes for gluten free cake and for vegan chocolate cake, but struggled finding one that worked for both dietary requirements.

Tipsy Chocolate Cake
Cake
2 cups gluten free flour
1 1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 teaspoons xanthin gum
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons of bi-carb soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of milk (I used coconut - but anything you have would work fine)
Frosting
100g of shortening (softened)
250g of butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups of icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
60ml of whiskey or rum (any dark spirit will taste amazing!)
1/4 cup of melted dark chocolate (not entirely necessarily - I just found it gave an even creamier, chocolatey taste to the frosting and cut through the sweetness of the icing sugar a little)

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and grease the inside of two round cake pans (18cm or alternatively just one big one if you prefer), place a square of baking paper at the bottom of each also to help stop the cake sticking.

2. Mix together all the dry cake ingredients and separately mix together all the wet cake ingredients. Stir very well until the batter is nice and smooth.

3. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth down the top best you can - don’t stress if it doesn’t look perfect, we’re going to cover the entire thing in frosting anyway. Bake for about 40 minutes until the tops spring back at a touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

4. Allow to cool almost completely before removing them from the cake pans.

5. While the cake is cooking is a good time to make your buttercream frosting. This is definitely best to do with a mixer - your arm will likely tire out before the frosting gets anywhere near done .

6. Combine the butter with the shortening in your mixer and combine until fluffy - depending what kind of shortening you’re using it may take up to five minutes.

7. Add in the rest of the ingredients, except for the booze, and mix together until combined - add in the booze a little bit at a time just to make sure it doesn’t go too runny.

8. Once the cake is cooled feel free to spread the frosting on however you like, just use a bit of the frosting to sandwich the two cakes together! I kinda just lumped all mine on and spread it around till I made it pretty - decorations are pretty much up to personal tastes, I imagine chocolate curls and raspberries would be delicious.