I used one of my favourite dessert books, Donna Hay’s Modern Classics 2

Ingredients

220g fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup caster sugar

Base:

85g shortbread biscuits
1/2 cup almond meal
45g butter, melted

Filling:

600g cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the base I used Freedom Food’s gluten free Crunchy Coconut cookies – they are pretty crumbly to eat as biscuits but work really well for a cake base.

Process the blueberries in a food processor and press through a sieve (you should have 1/2 cup of puree). Place the puree and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is disolved. Rapidly simmer for 8 minutes or until thick. Set aside to cool.

To make the base, process the biscuits in a food processor until crushed. Add the almond meal and butter and process until combined. Grease a 22cm springform tin and line the base with non stick baking paper. Press the crumb mixture over the base and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees. To make the filling, process the cream cheese in a food processor until smooth. Add the sour cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla and process until combined and smooth. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the base. Drizzle the blueberry mixture over and swirl lightly with a butter knife.

Bake for 1 hour or until set. Refrigerate and serve cold.

My tip: keep an eye on the blueberry when it’s simmering – I let mine simmer for too long and it ended up too thick, so the swirling process at the end didn’t work and all the blueberry just dropped down to the bottom of the cake. Still tasted nice in the end, just doesn’t look as pretty as the picture in the cookbook!

Ingredients (to serve 2):

140ml milk

1/2 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped and reversed

rind of 1/2 a lemon

50g caster sugar

2 gelatin leaves

140ml cream

For the blueberry soup:

150g caster sugar

400g blueberries, washed

30ml gin

Warm the milk, vanilla bean, seeds and lemon rind in a saucepan over medium heat and allow to infuse off the heat for 15 minutes. Add sugar and allow to dissolve over medium heat.

Soak gelatin leaves in cold water and, when soft, squeeze out excess water and add to warm milk (I couldn’t find gelatin leaves anywhere so just used gelatin powder). Pass mixture through a fine strainer and allow to cool. Stir in cream and pour into 2 lightly greased 150ml plastic dariole moulds. Refrigerate overnight.

To make the blueberry soup, bring 200ml water and sugar to the boil. Add 300g blueberries and simmer gently for about 10 minutes to allow flavour and colour to ‘come out’ of blueberries. Pass through a fine strainer. Chill and add gin.

Turn panna cottas out of moulds onto the centre of 2 bowls. Surround with remaining blueberries, pour around soup and serve.

This dessert was beautiful – the creamy panna cotta was a nice contrast to the fruity blueberry “soup”. The one thing I would do differently next time is buy plastic moulds – I didn’t have any so used ramekins and it was quite a challenge getting the panna cottas out once they had set – you can see the top of the panna cotta is a bit bruised from the process! Overall though I was impressed at how quick and easy this was to make – it would be a great dessert for summer when you don’t want to use the oven.

Ingredients for the cake:

200g plain flour (substitute with gluten free flour)

200g caster sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

40g cocoa powder

175g soft unsalted butter

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

150ml sour cream

Ingredients for the icing:

75g unsalted butter

175g dark chocolate broken into small pieces

300g icing sugar

1 tablespoon golden syrup

125ml sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

sugar flowers, optional (I used the below sugar flowers)

Take everything out of the fridge so all the ingredients can come to room temperature. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line and butter two 20cm cake trays with removable bases.

Now combine all the ingredients in a food processor – flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream – and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. Divide this batter into the prepared tins and bake until a thin skewer comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the two cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time.

Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don’t worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the icing later.

To make the icing, melt the butter and chocolate in a good sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Go slowly either way; you don’t want any burning of seizing.

While the chocolate and butter are cooling a little, sieve the icing sugar into another bowl. Add the golden syrup to the cooled chocolate mixture, followed by the sour cream and vanilla and then when all this is combined whisk in the sieved icing sugar.

When you’re done you may need to add a little boiling water – say a teaspoon or so – or indeed some more icing sugar: it depends on whether you need the icing to be runnier or thicker, or indeed it might be right as it is. It should be liquid enough to coat easily, but thick enough not to drip off.

Spread the icing in between the 2 cakes like a sandwich, then cover the whole cake in icing and add the sugar flowers to decorate.

I loved how simple this cake was to make – really easy and tasted beautiful. Was really really sweet though, I felt like I’d had my weeks worth of sugar with a few bites!

This recipe is for the Cookbook Challenge week 40, theme is Apple. It’s from my Moroccan cookbook, Moorish – Moroccan Green Apple and Lime Cake.

Warning: This is not a recipe you want to do on a day you have no patience, it is not a cake you whip up and throw in the oven, more of a creative artistic piece that needs a lot of love and attention!

Ingredients

5 Granny Smith apples

90g unsalted butter, melted

150g caster sugar

zest of 2 limes

1 tablespoon rosewater

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Peel and core the apples, quarter and slice them as thinly as you can. I used a peeler.

Cut a circle of baking paper to fit the base of a well buttered 21cm cake tin and brush with melted butter. Cover the bottom of the tin with a layer of finely sliced apple. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar and a little lime zest. Then continue to layer, butter and sprinkle with sugar and zest until the tin is full. Cover with foil.

Half fill a baking tray with hot water and carefully place the cake tin in the centre. Place in the centre of the oven and cook for 1 hour. At this point you should check the water level, which may have dropped. If so, carefully pour in extra water from a boiled kettle, to bring the level back up to half-full. Cook for a further hour, then remove from the oven and sprinkle the surface of the cake with rosewater.

Cut out another circle of baking paper and lay over the top of the cake. Find a flat plate that just fits inside the cake tin, and weigh it down with a couple of heavy tins or weights. You will probably find some juice and melted butter spills over – don’t worry about this. Leave to cool completely before refrigerating for a minimum of 12 hours, and up to 24 hours.

When you are ready to serve the cake, remove the weights, plate and greaseproof paper. Carefully loosen around the sides with a sharp knife and invert onto a plate. Serve with lightly whipped cream and a dusting of cinnamon and icing sugar.

Here are some of my suggestions to help with your Easter preparations.

Silly Yaks in Northcote is opening their factory outlet on Saturday 27th March, with gluten free hot cross buns for sale along with heaps of other gluten free food goodies to stock up on, click here for more details.

Or if you’d prefer to give it a try making them yourself, Tjuz.com has a good Gluten Free Hot Cross Buns Recipe.

Coles has a feature in their latest in store magazine and on their website on Gluten Free Easter Treats with some nice recipes.

Now, I have to share with you possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen in baked form! Bakerella’s Easter Cake Pops!

Below are the Easter Eggs …

and Spring Chickens …

How utterly cute is this idea? Bakerella has some instructions on how to make the cake pops using cake mixture, however I think they would work well with my Rum Balls recipe too as an easy Gluten Free option…

These Rum Balls are so so so easy to make and you only need a few ingredients.

2 packets of Arnott’s Rice Cookies

1 tin condensed milk

250g cooking chocolate – you can use dark, milk or white depending on what you like better

Put the cookies and cooking chocolate in a blender and pulse until all combined

Put the mix into a bowl and add the condensed milk – add gradually until you have a good consistency, it should be sticky enough to roll into a ball with your hands but not too sticky so it’s glugy

Roll the mixture into small balls (or egg shapes if you’re making the Easter pops). Here you can either roll in dessicated coconut and you’re finished, or if you want to try the Easter pops, melt some cooking chocolate and cover the balls in the chocolate (dip them in using a skewer), then place them on some baking paper and let them dry. Now follow Bakerella’s instructions above to make shapes / characters!

Here is the finished product (excuse the bad photo, this was taken a while ago before I got my flash new camera that I am totally in love with) – half coconut and half chocolate covered. To get the red coloured balls just use milk chocolate with the cookie mixture and add a dash of red colouring when you’re mixing in the condensed milk.

You can also add a dash of your favourite liqueur like Kaluha or Baileys when mixing in the condensed milk.

Happy Easter!

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease 12 holes of a standard muffin tin or line with paper cases. Sift 280g (2 and 1/4 cups) plain flour (I used gluten free flour) into a large bowl and add 2 heaped teaspoons of baking powder, 200g (1 cup) caster sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 200g (1 and 1/4 cups) grated carrot and 100g (1 cup) desiccated coconut. Stir until combined, then make a well in the centre. In a smaller bowl, beat together 2 eggs, the grated zest and juice of 1 lemon, 1 tablespoon honey and 200ml vegetable oil. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and lightly fold together. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin holes. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

I’ve never managed to make muffins that look like the cookbook pictures – mine always taste good but they come out really flat, they never have the texture you see in the pictures for some reason.

Ingredients:

250g dark chocolate, chopped

225g unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp brandy or orange liqueur

5 eggs

1 tbsp plain flour (I used almond meal)

icing sugar for dusting

I also added some grated orange zest

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 23×5cm springform tin. Line the base with baking paper. Wrap the base and sides in foil to keep water out.

Melt the chocolate, butter and sugar in a pan over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth. Cool slightly. Stir in the brandy. Beat in the almond meal then slowly beat in the chocolate mixture until well blended. At this point you’re supposed to pour into the tin, but for me it was really runny and didn’t at all look like it would cook properly, so I added almost a cup of almond meal.

Place the tin in a large roasting tin and pour boiling water into the roasting tin to a depth of 2cm. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edge of the cake is set, but the centre is still soft to the touch.

Remove the tin from the water bath and remove the foil. Cool on a wire rack completely (the cake will sink in the centre and may crack).

Carefully run a knife around the edge of the cake. Remove the side of the springform tin and turn the cake onto a wire rack. Remove the springform base and the paper so the bottom of the cake is now on top.

Cut 6-8 strips of baking paper 1cm wide and place over the cake in a lattice style pattern. Dust the cake with icing sugar then carefully remove the paper. Serve cake with cream or ice cream.

The key to getting this cake right is to wait until it’s completely cool until you decorate with the icing sugar. I decorated when it was still a bit warm and by the time it was cut to eat the icing sugar had melted into the cake. It still tasted good though!

This recipe is from an old Italian cookbook I took from Mum’s bookshelf a few years ago, ‘The Good Food of Italy and the Mediterranean’

Ingredients

6 egg yolks

200g castor sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons Marsala or sweet sherry

In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and Marsala. Whisk until mixture is light and fluffy.

Place bowl in a larger saucepan of shallow simmering water. Whisk mixture over simmering water for 8 minutes or until it thickens.

Remove zabaglione from heat and continue whisking until mixture cools, about 7 minutes.

Pour into serving glasses and chill until ready to serve.

Ingredients

50g unsalted butter

400g rasberries, blackberries, mulberries or a mixture

1/3 cup caster sugar

double or clotted cream, to serve

For crumble topping:

1/3 cup soft brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

60g unsalted butter, chopped

2/3 cup plain flour (I used gluten free flour)

Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees celcius.

To make the crumble topping, mix sugar, baking powder and ginger in a bowl. In another bowl, crumble butter into flour with your fingertips to make pea-sized pieces, then toss flour mixture with sugar mixture. Set aside.

Use some of the butter to grease four 125ml capacity gratin dishes. Divide berries among dishes. Press down on them lightly with the back of a spoon. Scatter over sugar. Spoon over crumble topping; it should be no more than 1cm deep (any extra crumble can be put into a suitable container, labelled and frozen, ready for a crumble some other day). Divide remaining butter into small pieces and dot over tops of crumbles. Set dishes on a baking tray with a lip to catch any overflowing juices.

Bake crumbles for 15 minutes or until topping is golden and berry juices are bubbling through. Leave crumbles to cool for several minutes before serving with spoonfuls of double or clotted cream.

This was one of those recipes. Week 8 of the Cookbook Challenge had the theme of Sweet so I turned to one of my Christmas presents, Movida Rustica, which is full of beautiful Spanish recipes. I thought I’d give Nougat a go so I went and bought a kitchen thermometer because you need to cook to specific temperatures…how hard can that be?

Ingredients

1/3 cup honey

225g glucose syrup

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 egg whites

rice paper (for lining)

1 1/3 cups blanched almond kernels, toasted

grated zest of 1 lemon

Place the honey and 175g (1/2 cup) of the glucose syrup in a small heavy-based saucepan. Stir over low heat until well combined, then cook until the temperature reaches 130 degrees celcius on a kitchen thermometer.

Meanwhile, put the sugar, remaining glucose syrup and 50ml water in another small heavy-based saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then cook until the temperature reaches 170 degrees celcius.

While the syrups are cooking, beat the egg whites, beating continuously. When the sugar syrup reaches 170 degrees celcius, very slowly add it to the egg whites and continue beating until the mixture has cooled enough so that it is just hot, but not hot enough to burn you.

Lightly grease a 15 x 25cm tray and line with rice paper.

Stir the almonds and lemon zest into the nougat mixture, then pour it into the prepared tray. Cover the top of the nougat with more rice paper, cutting the sheets to fit. Leave to stand until cool, then cut into 12 pieces. The nougat will keep in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Now…I actually made 2 attempts at this recipe…here is how the first attempt turned out:

It was very sticky and way too soft to be nougat!

Here is how the second attempt turned out:

A little better, not quite as sticky but still not hard like nougat should be, it was a bit more like a fluffy marshmallow. So…at least now I know how to make marshmallow!