Louise Cake

I'm amazed at how many people have never heard of Louise Cake... if you have, you're clearly one of the lucky ones. Buttery moist cake like base (it's almost a pastry to be honest!), baked, then smothered in jam (traditionally raspberry), then topped with a coconut meringue, before being baked again. 

I recently purchased a slice of Louise Cake to take away from a cafe, and to my horror when I arrived home and sat down (with my cup of tea) to eat it, I realised they had given me the wrong one. Instead I had a caramel meringue slice - yuk. Okay, it was still pretty tasty, but I'm not the biggest caramel fan so it was a bit overwhelming for me. Needless to say, my Louise Cake crave was not fixed. 

You can find a classic Louise cake recipe in your Edmonds recipe book, it's one I've made dozens of times, but find you need about three pieces to feel satisfied. It's true with many of those old school recipes, the portions and ratios of base to topping were much smaller. So my version has a thicker more decadent base, and today I've chosen to smother it in homemade feijoa jam, but you could use any of your favourite jams, preserves, or even a lemon curd. The coconut topping is also thick, and I've tried not to add too much sugar. I find with the base and jam, the meringue doesn't need to be overly sweet, however it does require enough sugar to give it that wonderful thick glossy texture. 

Tips: 
Room temperature eggs are best for baking with. 
To separate eggs I just crack them in the middle and pour the egg yolk between the two halves over a bowl until the white drops out and the yolk is remaining in the shell. If you're not confident to do this then you can use a fancy egg separator contraption. 
The key is that you don't want any yolk in with the whites, but a bit of egg white with the yolks is A-Okay.    

Ingredients (makes 20-25 pieces):

Base

• 180 grams butter
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1 tsp coconut essence (use vanilla if you don't have coconut essence) 
• 3 egg yolks 
• 2 1/4 cups self raising flour 

Topping

• 1 cup of jam 
• 3 egg whites 
• 1/2 cup sugar - caster sugar is best
• 1 1/2 cups of desiccated or thread coconut 

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius, and line a 20 x 25cm baking tray with baking paper (allow the baking paper to come up higher than the tin if possible. 

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamed. If you have a freestanding cake mixer it makes this job really really easy. Once creamed add your egg yolks and coconut essence, mix till well combined.

 

Now add the flour and stir, or mix well until you have a crumbly dough. Press the dough evenly into your lined pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes till risen and lightly golden on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes before adding the toppings. Increase the oven temperature to 180 degrees Celsius. 

While the base bakes, prepare the topping. If you are using the same bowl on your mixer, make sure that the bowl is thoroughly cleaned. You don't want any of the butter residue in the bowl otherwise the whites will not whip properly. Beat the egg whites on high using a freestanding or hand electric mixer. 

Once thickened, gradually add the sugar. I add a few spoonfuls at a time while continuing beating. You eventually want the mixture to be thick white and glossy, like meringue. You may want to rub a little of the mix between your fingers to check that the sugar has dissolved. If it still feels quite grainy, beat for another couple of minutes. Finally fold in the coconut. 

On the slightly cooled base, spread your jam evenly, getting right to the edges. (Note: If your base has shrunk down during cooling, that's fine - remember it's a cross between a cake and a pastry). Use a spatula to dollop and spread the coconut meringue mixture evenly across the top of the jam. 

Once spread, I rough up the top a bit so that it's not too smooth. Pop back into the oven for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden on top. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before using a sharp knife to slice the still warm slice into 20-25 pieces. Then leave to cool completely before removing from the tin. 

This is ideal served with mugs of hot tea. Enjoy x

 

Spiced Grapefruit Marmalade

Do you have an over supply of grapefruit this season?? Looking for a way to use them up? They're the type of bitter sweet fruit that you can't really over indulge in, so this week I made marmalade. It's actually ridiculously easy, and just involves a little time and care. Oh, and jars. You definitely need jars to store it in. So save up all your glass jars, clean and remove the labels, so you can fill them with this homemade recipe. 

Ingredients (makes approximately 4 cups) 

• 1.5kg whole grapefruit
• 1.5 kg white sugar
• 5 cardamom pods (optional) 
• 2 tbsp crushed ginger
• Jars 
• Baking soda 

The day before wash and dry your grapefruit to remove any dirt from the skin. 

Cut each fruit in half, and thinly slice them, skin, pith and all. Place slices, and any juice into a large soup pot. Cover with 1 & 1/2 cups of water. Put the lid on and leave overnight to soak. 

The next day add 1.5kg of sugar, bruised cardamom pods and ginger to the pot and turn onto a medium heat. Cook stirring occasionally (be sure not to let it get too hot and boil over) for about an hour. It will thicken and you will know it's ready by testing it. 

To test your marmalade is ready drop a small spoonful onto the bottom of a small plate, allow to cool for 20 seconds and tilt the plate, if it isn't runny then it is ready. I like mine quite thick, others prefer a runnier marmalade, so you have to decide for yourself. 

While your jam is cooking you need to sterilise some jars. I prefer to do it in a pot of boiling water and baking soda, but there are other methods. To do the baking soda method, bring a large pot of water, with 2 tbsp of baking soda mixed in, to the boil. Submerge each jar and lid for at least a minute, remove carefully with tongs. Also clean your ladle in this mixture. 

While your marmalade is still hot, ladle it into the sterilised jars, put the lid on tightly and set aside to cool. Jars will keep for up to a year. Refrigerate once opened.