Viennese Quark Cake

Quark is starting to get some prominence in the supermarket with the launch of the product by Barambah Organics. Schultz Organic Dairy, a long time producer of quark, is also more available in supermarkets. Quark is a European style cottage cheese that is much creamier than the drier cottage cheese we are used to in Australia and, with the addition of cultures, has a mild yoghurt tang. Quark can by used for anything that you may use creme fraiche or sour cream for. In Germany it is very popular smothered over baked or boiled potatoes and topped with fresh herbs. A very similar product in Austria, called topfen, is mixed with eggs and sugar and sometimes butter to form a luscious thickened cream for a variety of , and strudels. While quark is an essential ingredient for baked cheesecakes in the two German speaking countries, the approach to cheesecake is different. German cheesecake often includes a crust to encase the baked filling while the classic Viennese topfen torte or curd cake is made with almond meal and, except for a little dusting of the buttered tin with bread crumbs, is essentially gluten free. If you are gluten intolerant omit the crumbs or use gluten free breadcrumbs instead. The combination of butter, quark, eggs, sugar and almond meal gives this Viennese cake an extremely light texture that will surprise you. But a word of caution; you will need a light, quick hand when folding through the beaten egg whites otherwise a heavy, lardy consistency may result.

Tips: make sure your beater and bowl are clean (essentially free of any fats) when beating egg whites to ensure a good volume results and check out this youtube for how to fold egg whites.

Serves 6-8

semolina or fine breadcrumbs for dusting 120 g unsalted butter at room temperature 120 g quark 120 g pure icing sugar 4 eggs, separated pinch salt zest of a lemon 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 120 g almond meal vanilla sugar flavoured icing sugar or plain icing sugar for dusting

16 x 5 cm fluted quiche mould with removable base or 20 cm springform tin

Preheat oven (fan forced) 160ºC. Butter the tin and dust with semolina or fine breadcrumbs.

In a mixer using the K or paddle beater beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add one egg at time, beating well with each addition to amalgamate well. Add the quark, lemon zest and vanilla essence and mix through. Set aside.

Using a separate clean and dry bowl whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. If you do this with the electric mixer you will need to remove the butter/ quark mixture and thoroughly wash and dry the bowl and replace the paddle beater with a balloon whisk.

Fold a third of the beaten egg white into the quark mix to loosen it and then fold the rest in quickly with a spatula with a cutting motion, along with the almond meal. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Remove from the tin, dust with icing sugar and serve. Strawberry

When making a strawberry tart or cake I’m always on the lookout for small, local strawberries that have real flavour. Small, tender strawberries are becoming impossible to find now as supermarkets and grocers favour big, crunchy varieties with a better shelf life. If you want to make a tart filled with strawberries and all you have is the supermarket jumbo variety it means you have to slice up the berries and then the end result can sometimes be disappointing. Thankfully there are some producers in Victoria that have small, tender berries. I had the opportunity to visitPortland Strawberries in Southwest Victoria and bought some sensational strawberries which I used to make this strawberry tart with a strawberry custard base. These berries had an intense strawberry colour, so there was no need to resort to the usual deception of a couple of drops of food dye to colour the custard. Lining the tart shell with a strawberry custard instead of the traditional vanilla cream (crème patissière) makes for a lighter tart with a more intense strawberry flavour.

First Choice Fruit & Vegetables in Lygon Street, Carlton, currently have Sorace’s Yarra Valley strawberries which are nice and small and sweet. Otherwise seek out little strawberries at farmer’s markets, direct from farm gates or ask your grocer to do the sourcing for you (if you don’t ask, you don’t get) and if you get lucky, use the opportunity to make a special .

Elizabeth’s Strawberry Custard Tart

22 cm tart ring or fluted tin

Select 50-55 of the smallest strawberries but of roughly similar size to fill your tart shell. Remove the stems, wash and drain them and then dry them completely with kitchen paper.

Pâte Sablée

This is a rich, sweetened with a shortbread- like consistency.

75 g pure icing sugar 2 egg yolks few drops vanilla extract 240 g plain flour pinch salt 200 g cold unsalted butter

Combine the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla. Mix the flour with the salt and sift it onto a clean bench. Cut up the butter into small cubes and mix it through the flour with a scraper or knife. Dribble the egg mixture over the flour. Gather the mass together and with the heel of your hand squish the pastry by pushing it down and away from you. Do this kneading a few times and then roll the pastry into a ball and flatten it with your hand. Little bits of uncombined butter are fine and will make for a light pastry. Cover the disc of dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to rest before rolling it out. Meanwhile make the strawberry custard.

Strawberry Custard

350 g strawberries 10 g icing sugar 3 egg yolks 60 g caster sugar 300 ml milk 2 large sheets (7 x 23 cm) titanium grade gelatine (5 grams each)* 1 tbs thick cream (45%)

Puree the strawberries and the icing sugar with a stick blender or food processor. Pass the pulp through a sieve to remove the seeds. Measure the pulp. You should have 300 ml of pulp. Put the gelatine leaves in a basin of iced water to soften. Mix half the caster sugar with the milk in a small saucepan and heat it until you start to see little bubbles on the edges. It should be hot but not boiling. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl with the remaining sugar with a whisk until creamy. Pour the hot milk into the eggs and whisk and then pour it back into the saucepan. Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula stir the custard over low heat until it starts the thicken. Remove the custard from the heat. Squeeze the water out from the gelatine with your hand and whisk the softened leaves into the warm custard. Mix in the strawberry puree and leave the strawberry custard to cool and then place it in the fridge until cold. Whisk through the cream once chilled. Bake the Tart Shell

Roll the pastry out onto a floured bench until approximately 5 mm in thickness. You will have more pastry than you need but you can use it to make a couple of small, individual or freeze it for another time. Line the tart mould, gently pressing the dough into the corners with your fingers. Trim the edges and line the base with baking paper or foil. Place the pastry shell in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill before baking. Heat the oven to 190ºC. Place pastry weights or dried beans onto the foil to cover the base and bake the shell blind for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, reduce the temperature to 170ºC and bake for a further 10 minutes, until the base is lightly golden and crisp. Cool on a wire rack.

Assembly

When the tart shell is completely cold, fill it with the strawberry custard, smoothing it over evenly with the back of a spoon. Return the filled tart to the fridge for 15- 20 minutes to firm up the custard base.; it will make placing the strawberries on top much easier.

Glazed Strawberries

2 tbs red currant conserve

Heat the conserve and when liquid press it through a sieve to remove any fruit pulp. Use the warm jelly to brush or dip each strawberry before placing the berries in the tart.

Enjoy.

*Leaf gelatine is available from: The Essential Ingredient , Savour Chocolate and Patisserie School and the Gelita brand is available at some specialty baking shops. If you only find the Gold grade (2 grams per leaf) use the equivalent amount in grams.

A Gift-Spanish Lemon Cake

Cooking something special for someone is one of the nicest gifts. It could be a birthday cake, a meal for a sick friend, some home-made jam for colleagues or biscuits you’ve made with your children to give at Christmas. The process of cooking or baking and packaging your special gift can often be the best way of telling someone they are special or you are thinking of them in difficult times. It may cost little to make something but its value in time and thought can be immeasurable.

This simple lemon cake is made with yoghurt and olive oil and is very light; the perfect gift.

Spanish Lemon Cake

275 g S.R. flour 100 g caster sugar zest and juice of a large lemon 2 eggs 150 ml extra virgin olive oil 125 g plain yoghurt

Prepare a 22 cm Savarin tin or round cake form with a central hole by greasing it well.

Preheat the oven 160ºC (fan forced).

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the whole eggs, oil and yoghurt and lemon juice and gently mix with a whisk until combined. Pour into the cake mould and bake until golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean; approximately 25 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven and leave it in the tin for 5 minutes and then turn it upside down onto a wire rack to cool.

Lemony Twist Pavlova

This is a twist, a lemony twist, on a traditional pavlova that you may love to try this summer. Rather than making it easy with the usual whipped cream and fruit, I’ve added a degree of complexity with a chilled lemon sabayon and a layer of fresh raspberries hidden beneath. The addition of lemon zest and juice to the meringue also adds extra tang. You will not be disappointed and your guests will ooh and aah when the pavlova is cut, revealing a luscious, secret layer of fresh raspberries.

A sabayon (French) or zabaglione (Italian) is a light creamy dessert made by whisking eggs yolks and sugar with white wine or marsala over a double boiler until thick. It can be served warm as is or chilled and folded through with whipped cream. What I have done is use lemon juice instead of wine and gone for the chilled option to make this pavlova. You will have to be a bit patient making the sabayon; it needs to be beaten for a good 15 minutes over very gently heated water (not actually simmering or you may end up with scrambled eggs) to become thick. Unless you want a work out for your triceps (bat wings) use a hand held electric beater. The great thing about my recipe is that you get to use up those eggs yolks left over from making the meringue without having to make masses of mayonnaise or have an eggy breakfast.

I hope you love this lemony twist on a pavlova as much as I do

The Meringue

6 eggs whites pinch salt 2 cups caster sugar zest of a lemon juice of half a lemon, approx. 1 tbs

Preheat oven to 130ºC fan forced or 150ºC convection.

Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.

Separate the eggs, retaining the yolks for the sabayon. Using very clean beaters and bowl (to ensure the whites thicken) beat the egg whites with the salt (stabilises the whites but not essential) until they start to hold a peak. Add the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time whilst the mixer is running and beat until the sugar in well incorporated (not grainy) and the meringue is thick and glossy. Add the lemon zest and a tablespoon of lemon juice on a low speed until combined. Pile the meringue onto the baking sheet and using a palette knife or spatula form a neat circular “cake” with the perimeter slightly higher to hold the cream and fruit. Bake for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave in the oven for a further 60 minutes. The meringue should be only very lightly coloured and crisp to the touch. Remove to completely cool on the bench. The Lemon Sabayon

6 egg yolks 6 tbs caster sugar 9 tbs lemon juice, strained zest of a lemon 600 ml thickened cream

Place the yolks and sugar in a metal bowl that will fit inside a saucepan. Heat 3 cm of water in the saucepan to the simmer and turn right down. Beat the egg yolk and sugar using an electric hand mixer. When the mixture is pale and starts to thicken add the zest and 1/3 of the juice. Keep beating until it thickens more and add another third of juice. You will need to beat for a good 15 minutes before the sabayon is thick and creamy at which point you can add the rest of the juice. Continue to beat until you have thick ribbons falling off the beater. Place the bowl in an ice bath in the sink (just some cold water with a tray of ice cubes floating in it) and allow to cool completely. Store in the fridge until ready to assembly the pavlova.

beat over water with gentle thick ribbons of lemon heat sabayon

Beat the cream until it is very thick. You need to beat it more than you normally would for a pavlova because it will be folded through the cold sabayon which will loosen the mix considerably.

To Assemble

500 g fresh raspberries* 100 g flaked almonds, lightly toasted

Toast the almonds on a baking tray in a 180ºC oven for approximately 10 minutes. After 5 minutes check them and turn them over gently with an egg lifter. Check them every 2 minutes as they can darken quickly. Remove and leave to cool completely.

Transfer the meringue to a platter. Spread with just under half the sabayon cream. Place the raspberries in a bowl and squash about 1/3 with the back of a spoon and mix it through the rest. This will bring out the natural sweetness and help form a fruity layer. Layer the raspberries over the cream, making sure you put them well inside the perimeter of the pavlova (you want to hide your raspberry surprise). Layer the rest of the cream over the top. Sprinkle over the toasted almonds so that they more or less cover the cream. Store the assembled pavlova in the fridge, uncovered, until ready to serve; it will be easier to cut an hour or more after assembly.

*my tip: you can get large punnets of raspberries for jam at the very reasonable price of $9 at Boccaccio IGA Balwyn.

Cranberry Yoghurt Cake

This cranberry yoghurt cake is really tangy and moist, with a very fine crumb. The delightful tangy flavour comes from the combination of lemon zest, fruity, frozen cranberries and yoghurt. Cranberries are quite common in supermarkets as dried fruit or as a fruit juice but you can also find the whole frozen cranberries in the frozen berry section of the store. Cranberries are not grown in Australia, so expect to find imports from Canada or cooler European countries. If you can’t locate any you could use fresh blueberries but you won’t have the fruity tang in each bite. This is very much a granny cake but with a modern, all-in-one-bowl, mix-it-up approach. Although you don’t see yoghurt used in old fashioned cakes its high fat content reduces the amount of butter needed, giving the cake a softer, finer texture than a traditional butter cake. Gran would be very impressed, just don’t tell her how easy it was to make.

150 g unsalted butter, melted 1 cup caster sugar 1/2 cup Greek or thick tub set full fat yoghurt 2 eggs zest of a lemon 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 11/2 cup S.R. flour 1 1/4 cups frozen whole cranberries

Preheat oven to 150°C. Butter and line a small loaf tin with baking paper. Add all the ingredients except the flour and cranberries to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the flour and stir it in well to form a smooth batter. Fold through the cranberries and scrape the mixture into the loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out cleanly. Cool for 5 minutes before turning out the cake and cooling completely on a wire rack.