Category: Baking,Reviews,Recipes | Post by: Andrea Wong
A Second Helping: More From Ladies, a Plate
Many of us remember the days of biscuit tins filled with home-baked treats and it seems that this is back in fashion, along with many other nostalgic things. As a keen home-baker, I am really happy to see that the tried and true recipes are back with Alexa Johnston's latest offering, A Second Helping: More From Ladies, a Plate.
A Second Helping, like Alexa's first baking book Ladies, A Plate draws from the experience and wisdom of popular recipes that circulated the communities in New Zealand years ago. With delights like Cream Lilies and Princess Fingers, this book is filled with more gems of traditional baking. We get a little glimpse of the stories behind these community cookbooks and some of the bakers, through insightful snippets peppered throughout the book. The inclusion of the original - usually imperial - measurements also helps the feeling of tradition and respect for the old recipes.
Below is the recipe for Chcoaroon Cake, a delicious-looking cake with a coconut ripple and with a crispy coconut topping. Enjoy.
Chocaroon Cake
One of my favourite community cookbooks, simply called Our Recipe Book, was published in December 1967 by the Karitane Public hall Building Committee. It has an interesting selection of recipes and as soon as I saw this one with its promising name and its baked-in filling and topping I knew I had to try it. At the end of the recipe Mrs L. Stewart, who contributed it to the book, noted: 'this recipe won $10 in a recipe contest.' More than 40 years ago $10 was a much more significant amount than it seems today, and the cake is so pretty and delicious it certainly deserved its prize.
FOR THE CAKE
| 3 oz |
butter |
85 g |
| 4 oz |
sugar |
115 g |
| 1 tsp |
lemon zest* |
1 tsp |
| 1/2 tsp |
vanilla essence |
1/2 tsp |
| 2 |
egg yolks |
2 |
| 6 oz |
self-raising flour** |
170 g |
| 1 cup |
milk |
225 ml |
| 2 tsp |
jam |
2 tbsp |
* finely grated
** or use plain flour and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
FOR THE CHOCAROON LAYER
| 2
|
egg whites |
2
|
| 2 tbsp |
sugar |
30 g |
| 1/2 cup |
desiccated coconut |
40 g |
| 1 tbsp |
cocoa |
1 tbsp |
icing sugar, for dusting
|
GETTING READY
Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Lightly grease a medium-sized (8. x 4. in/22 x 11 cm) loaf tin and line the bottom with a rectangle of baking paper. Bring the butter, eggs and milk to room temperature. Sift the flour, with the baking powder if using it.
MIXING AND BAKING
- Make the Chocaroon mixture first. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually beat in the sugar. Fold in the coconut and the sifted cocoa. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar until soft and light, then beat in the lemon zest and vanilla. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Fold in the flour alternately with the milk to make a soft batter.
- Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin, followed by half the Chocaroon mixture, spread out as evenly as possible. Top with the remaining cake mixture and spread this lightly with the jam. (The jam just helps the topping adhere to the cake, so it needn't be a thick layer; I used the apricot glaze on page 76.) Top with the remaining Chocaroon mixture.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cake is pulling away from the sides of the tin. Cool in the tin, then turn out very carefully. A paper towel on top of the cake when you turn it out will contain any loose coconut. Sift a little icing sugar over before serving the cake in neat slices.
An extract from A Second Helping: More from Ladies, a Plate by Alexa Johnston. Published by Penguin Group (NZ). RRP $45.00. Available at all good booksellers nationwide. Copyright © Alexa Johnston, 2009.
Thanks to Penguin Group for supplying a copy of the book for reviewing purposes.