Watermelon and strawberry slushie

Today we feel like an egg left out on the pavement to cook. Broken and abandoned... Just kidding.  Temperatures here have decided to skyrocket again and so we're going to be living in 40 degree days for a bit. On the brink of heat-induced insanity, we needed to find a source of hydration and fast. Our salvation came in the form of my father knocking on the door with arms full of groceries.  Much like I mentioned in our banana and chocolate muffin recipe post, the fact that my dad can't pass up fruit on special still stands, because he walked through the door with two huge watermelons, and of course, his beloved bananas.  The conversation that occurred went a little like this:

Alexia: Hey Tash, guess what? 
Natasha: What?
Alexia: My dad just walked in the door with watermelon. He intends to eat it himself but I fully intend to sabotage his plans by turning it into a dessert of some sort.
Natasha: Bags being taste-tester.

So off we went into the kitchen to make nice things.

This, however, is why we cannot have nice things:

Cameras should come with a warning: "Objects viewed through camera are closer than they appear," to stop things like this happening.  Or maybe Alexia should just be more coordinated.  Neither of these things seem likely to happen in the near future.

Regardless of fails, this slushie is so easy, you are only three or four ingredients away from a refreshing and cooling healthy slushie thing.

Watermelon and strawberry slushie:

To every 2 parts of watermelon you use, add 1 part of strawberries and add one and half cups of ice. Whizz it all up in a blender and serve.  If you want to, you can add a sprig of fresh mint for an even fresher summer hit. Serve and enjoy!

New traditions

We thought that it would be a good idea to start a new family tradition this Christmas. We decided onmaking a gingerbread house. So though not a very original choice, it's sparkly, colourful and delicious, so why not?Admittedly we got off to a questionable start this year by deciding we were too lazy to make the gingerbread from scratch (I know shock horror considering this is a baking/cooking blog). Instead we bought one pre-made from the lovely place that is IKEA and went crazy with lollies and icing.

Will you be starting any new holiday traditions this year?

Lemon Layer Cake

Lemon layer cake for mum's birthday. Easy, delicious and not too sweet, just the way she likes it. The lemon flavour wasn't as strong as I had anticipated, so I recommend adding more lemon rind to the cake if your after a stronger lemony hit. This cake tastes best the next day, served at room temperature. The iced cake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Lemon Layer Cake

Lemon butter cake recipe by Margaret Fulton  in Margaret Fulton Baking which can be purchased here.

Lemon icing recipe by Julie Goodwin as seen in Our Family Table which can be purchased here.

Lemon butter cake

160g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

Grated rind of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 eggs

1 2/3 cups (250g) self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup of milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 160 if you have a fan-forced oven.

Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and gradually beat in the sugar with the rind until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs beating well after each.

Add the lemon juice and beat until it is just mixed in. Don't worry if the mixture appears curdled.

Sift the flour and salt and fold into the creamed mixture alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Take care not to over beat the mixture.

Add a little more milk if necessary so that the mixture drops easily from the spoon.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and gently smooth the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave in the tins for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Lemon butter icing

125g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (300g) icing sugar mixture

11/2 Tbs lemon juice

Using electric beaters, beat the butter until light and creamy.

Gradually add the icing sugar, beating constantly.

Add half the lemon juice and beat until well combined.

Add the remaining lemon juice a little at a time until you achieve a spreadable consistency.

When the butter cakes have cooled to room temperature the cakes are ready to be iced. assembled and decorated.

Enjoy!

Banana and Chocolate Muffins!

Yes, this is another chocolate and banana recipe! Bear with me here though, because I guarantee you won't regret making these bananalicious babies! Unlike our previous banana and chocolate post, this one is a lot sweeter, it really makes your sweet tooth - or if you're like me: sweet teeth - ecstatic.

My father should be awarded a prize in the category I just made up in my head called 'Person who buys ALL the bananas when they're on special at Woolworths' category.  It is literally impossible for us to eat all the bananas he buys before they go bad and go all oozy and sugar-spotted and blech.  Bad for my brothers' school lunches but perfect for my 'let's get rid of these festering things in the fruit bowl and turn them into cake' recipes.  When I created this recipe on the spot while trying to get rid of the gross bananas, it was originally a loaf cake.  I made it a few times as a loaf cake but it became really obvious that the cake was WAY too moist and crumbly to slice, so while I was trying to cut it it turned into a pile of crumbs and squish. A delicious pile of crumbs and squish though, to be more accurate.  Just for convenience I decided that to avoid destroying nice things in the future, I'd make them into muffins instead.

Banana and Chocolate Muffins:

100g of caster sugar
150g of butter, softened 
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
2 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup self-raising flour
3 brown bananas, well-mashed
100g of chopped good-quality dark cooking chocolate

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius.  Line a muffin tin with paper cases.
Mix butter and caster sugar on high speed until light, pale and fluffy. Add vanilla essence.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add a little of the milk, alternating adding flour to the mixture, until you achieve a light and fluffy batter, similar to the consistency of the mixture in the first photo in this post.
Add the mashed banana to the cake mixture, folding it in well with a spatula. Don't use the electric mixer for this or you'll over-work the flour.
Add the roughly chopped chocolate and mix through.

Spoon the mixture into prepared muffin tin and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean.

And that's it! Next time you forget about including fruit in your diet because you've been baking too much, just chuck the gross bananas into a cake! Fruit and cake - here at Smorish, we aim to keep your diet balanced.

Enjoy!

Cafe Review! Tartine Cafe, Perth City!

Today, we popped in to this little gem found on the corner of Wellington St and William St, Perth, for a beautiful morning tea after a productive morning of retail therapy as a celebration of the beginning of the summer holidays. 

(We are not sponsored by Tartine and this is not a commissioned post).

Walking into this gorgeous warm, homely European-style cafe, you immediately feel as though you've stepped into a miniature Europe.  Immediately welcomed by the friendly and enthusiastic staff, you're overwhelmed with the choices you can make about what the heck it is you're going to spend hours being emotional over. The counter is abundant, overflowing with homemade baked deliciousness like the moistest looking slices of pear and raspberry loaf, banana bread, jars of caramel-filled shortbread, fresh danishes and pastries - literally, they spoil you for choice.  Once we had finally ordered from their glass cabinet display of goodies - lemon coconut and pistachio slice ($3.75), a humungous pear tartlet ($5.50) and a hazelnut caramel slice ($3.50) plus cappuccinos ($4.30) - we sat at a lovely polished wood table and chairs and patiently waited for our orders. We didn't have to wait very long because literally three minutes later our orders arrived at our table together.  One thing I've always hated about ordering a slice and a coffee at a cafe is that the slice or  cake always arrives at your table before the coffee does, so I was so happy to find that at Tartine, they wait for your coffees to be made and then serve your sweet snack along with the coffee. The coffees at Tartine are delicious, served extra hot, full of strong coffee goodness. 

I  couldn't refrain from tasting before we took a photo. Not even sorry.

The pear tartlet has a smooth, light, creamy and fluffy moist filling, topped off with sliced pears and a clear glaze, in a perfect delicate shortcrust pastry, which was thoroughly enjoyed.  The filling had an ever-so-slight hint of amaretto and almond, reminding us of Nonna's biscotti.  As you can see, we weren't able to wait to eat it til after a photo had been taken. Sorrynotsorry.

The lemon, pistachio and coconut slice was amazing!  From the first bite you're hit with an explosion of lemon and coconut in an incredibly refreshing slice.  The filling had the perfect balance of lemon and coconut, topped off with an incredibly lemony icing layer, giving the slice an overall perfect lemon flavour balance.  The only thing I will say about this is that the base was almost impossibly hard to cut through.

Next up is the decadent chocolate, caramel and hazelnut slice. The filling was the highlight - creamy, sprinkled through with roasted hazelnut with a deep rich, nutty, caramel flavour. The hard base seemed to be another problem in the chocolate, caramel and hazelnut slice, though the chocolate base was almost painful to cut through this time, as well as being dry. The chocolate topping complemented the caramel really well, and it wasn't overly rich.



Overall, we had a really good experience with Tartine Cafe and we highly recommend paying them a visit! We will definitely be revisiting!

Happy foody-ing!

Chocolate lace cookies

Monday afternoon, after a long day at university, I visited a lovely place, full of relaxation and happiness.  This perfect little place is called Procrastination Station, and I visit it with stunning regularity.  It is so easy for me to visit Procrastination Station, because often it's situated in my own house, and 9 times out of 10, it's in my kitchen. It's not my fault I'm always at Procrastination Station. I blame it on assignments and unenthusiastic lecturers and a sore brain.

Anyway, on Monday, mid-assignment, I decided that this blog had a depressing lack of chocolatey indulgence and it needed to be fixed, so off I went to Procrastination Station.  I've made these beauties quite a few times now, and they've always been a hit, mainly because they're the perfect "I'm-eating-away-my-feelings-leave-me-alone" food, which is what stress forces me to do. They are amazing, the perfect pick-me-up.  Rich, sweet, powdery, chocolatey perfection.  So I thought I'd share these pretties with you to make me feel better about myself.

Chocolate Lace Cookies

Makes about 52 - this is not accurate, due to the fact greedy family members stole some away whilst I was baking

225g of dark courveture chocolate
1 1/4 cups of plain/all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of pure cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups of caster sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/3 of a cup of milk
Extra caster sugar for rolling
Icing/confectioner's sugar for rolling

Preheat your oven to 180˚C.  Roughly chop the chocolate and melt in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl the chocolate's in.  Once it's done, set aside to cool.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa into a bowl.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined.  Add the melted chocolate.  Put the mixer on low speed and add the milk and dry ingredients, alternating between the two, until just combined.

Divide the dough into halves and wrap with plastic wrap.  Chill in the freezer for about 2 hours or until firm.

Once the dough is done chilling in the freezer with its icecream homies, scoop teaspoon-sized portions and roll them into balls with clean hands.  I found it helps to dampen your hands with water for this bit as they roll more smoothly and less mixture sticks to your hands.  Roll the balls in caster sugar and then toss them in the icing/confectioner's sugar.  Be liberal with the confectioner's sugar as this is what gives the cookies their gorgeous white shells.  Dont be afraid to pile a bit of icing sugar on top of the balls for extra powderyness.

Place the balls onto a tray lined with baking paper, spaced about 2-3 inches apart as they will spread as they cook.  Bake them until the icing sugar splits and the cookies have flattened - about 10-15 minutes.  You can gauge when they're ready by feeling the edges of the cookies.  Once the edges start to harden, it's time to take them out to cool.

When families attack.

Let the cookies cool and enjoy with a tall glass of milk!

A printable version of the recipe can be found below!

Macarons!

 

Well, it's been a while and I can only apologise, though there are other things in life that require your attention more than a blog post at times.  But, this post is about something so good that I think we can forget about the lack of posts and enjoy a stroll down the road towards diabetes together with this super sweet one.

Over this past weekend I was put in charge of making some cupcakes for a First Communion.  As soon as this was decided there was no shortage of ideas in my magnificent mind. First, I knew there absolutely had to be super rich chocolate cupcakes somewhere in this project and second: there had to be macarons involved as well. Yep. Macarons and cupcakes. Together.  A match made in heaven, seriously.

So, I took to my Zumbo book again - a little nervously - and made his macarons.  The first time I tried Zumbo's macarons - or "Zumbarons" as he refers to them - was for Easter of this year.  Let's just say that they weren't very pretty.  I didn't use a stencil to make sure each macaron was perfectly round and were all the same size like I did this time (which I highly recommend you do if you're a macaron newbie like me.  It really makes a difference) so they were as big as the palm of my hand and all weird shapes.  The chocolate ganache that I made was runny and just flooded out of the macarons, not to mention I wanted to make the macarons a lovely lime green colour but what really happened was a putty green disaster. If there's one thing I hate most in the world it's putting something you're not very proud of up in front of your family to eat and you know your creation is yuck and you know they think so too but they're too nice to say what they really think which I think is something along the lines of, "what the heck is this, you failure?! BACK TO THE KITCHEN."  So you can see why I was a bit nervous travelling down macaron territory again.  I wasn't looking forward to getting gang bashed by desserts while they screamed in my face how inadequate I was.  But it's okay. I've learned and it's in the past now.

This time round, they were glorious and I was so so happy with the small chubby macarons that I produced.  The prettiness and yummyness boxes were all ticked.

Macarons - recipe from Zumbo by Adriano Zumbo

300g of almond meal
300g of pure icing (confectioners' sugar)
110g of egg whites, room temperature (the amount of eggs you'll need will vary depending on their size)
75mL of water
Food colouring (make them pretty)
2g of powdered egg white (because I'm lazy, I didn't bother with this. It just seemed redundant and they turned out perfect without it)
110g egg whites, extra, at room temperature

Grease 3 large baking trays and line with non-stick baking paper.  I drew small circles 2cm in diameter on the back of the baking paper as a guide.  You don't want the circles to be much larger than that for small macarons because the batter will relax after you pipe it and spread a little. 

Sift almond meal and icing sugar together into a large bowl.  Put the egg whites into an electric mixer and set aside while you complete the next step.

Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved (after about 7 minutes).  While you're doing this make sure to wash down the sides of the saucepan with water on a pastry brush to avoid crystallisation.  Increase the heat and bring to the boil.  At this stage, add the food colouring.  Cook until the mixture reaches 118˚C.  When it gets close to this temperature add the powdered egg whites (if you're using them) to the egg whites in the mixing bowl and whisk on medium speed until frothy. 

Once the sugar syrup is at the right temperature, increase the mixer speed to high and pour the syrup in a steady stream down the side of the bowl.  Whisk until warm, about 8 minutes.  Add the extra egg whites to the dry ingredients and then add the meringue.  Using a spatula, fold the mixture together until well combined and until it begins to loosen, softening the meringue.  When the mixture falls slowly off the spatula, you've got the right consistency to start piping. 

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and pipe straight down onto your prepared baking trays.  Make sure you leave a substantial gap between your macarons.  If you have the right texture, the macaron will soften again slightly and the tip on top of the macaron will drop leaving a smooth top. 

Leave the macarons at room temperature for 30 minutes or until a skin forms.  This skin will lift when they are cooking, giving the macarons their distinctive foot at their base.  Preheat the oven to 135˚C.  To test if the macarons are ready, gently touch one with your fingertip to check that a light skin has formed - the macarons should not be sticky.

Bake the macarons for 16 minutes, until they have a firm outer shell. Remove from the oven and set aside for 2 minutes, then carefully remove one macaron with a spatula to check that the base is also cooked and dry.  If the base is still slightly sticky, return the macarons to the oven for 2-3 minutes and then check again.  Cool the macarons completely on the trays.


Now that your shells are ready, you might like to match up likely pairs of macaron shells to sandwhich together before you make the ganache!  For the filling, I just made a simple dark chocolate ganache.

Simple Dark Chocolate Ganache

150g of pouring/whipping cream
200g good quality dark chocolate
60g unsalted butter, softened

Put the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.  Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, set aside for 3 minutes.  Stir until the ganache is glossy and smooth.  Set aside and let cool for 5 minutes.  Using a stick mixer, blitz in the butter until smooth.  Set the mixture aside to cool until it becomes firm enough to pipe.

Pipe the ganache on the bottom of one macaron shell and sandwhich it with its pair.

Enjoy!!

If you would like to check out more of Adriano Zumbo's amazing creations (which, trust me, you do) then click here to go to his website.  If you'd like to buy a copy of his book Zumbo where this macaron recipe is from plus many many more delightful recipes click here.

Rainbow Orange Wedge Jewels

 For months I've been seeing  rainbow coloured items splashed everywhere on the Internet; Instagram, 9Gag, Facebook, Tumblr... Now I get that most of the photos of rainbow zebras are probably Photoshopped but I thought that recreating some rainbow foods I've seen around the web would be a pretty cool thing to do. So I did!

One of my favourite rainbow themed food photos I've seen are the rainbow jelly orange wedges (or Jell-O if you're from the States).  Basically they're orange wedges but where the flesh of the orange normally is, is a sparkly pretty wedge of colourful jelly looking not unlike a jewel (hence why I refer to them as orange wedge jewels. I know right? I'm brilliant).  It is ridiculously easy and seeing as how here in Australia oranges and lemons are in full force, I thought I'd use some of the hundreds of oranges growing on our trees right now and make some pretty things with some freshly squeezed O.J as a bonus.  We don't do wasteful around here!  Obviously you can do whatever colour(s) you want with this.  These are a huge hit with kids as I found out when I experimented these with my family.  Even the adults are wowed.  They'd be great for kids parties and the like, so go ahead and try these out!

Rainbow Orange Wedge Jewels

Jelly- whatever colours/flavours you want (I used six colours- red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple)
As many oranges as you want wedges

Firstly, what you want to do is cut each orange in half then juice it.  Then using whatever tools you want (not a drill) gently scoop out the pulpy flesh left inside the orange half.  I alternated between a knife and a spoon.  The orange flesh should come out relatively easily.  I was able to peel the segments cleanly away from the skin really easily.

Place the empty orange halves in a muffin tray so filling the halves is a lot easier and obviously less messy. 

Next prepare your jelly/jellies.  Pour the jelly liquid into the orange halves and refrigerate until they're set. 

Once the jelly is set, carefully cut each half into quarters with a sharp knife.  This bit can get a little tricky and messy doing it for the first time but try to do it in one fluid movement.  This way you get a clean cut through the jelly and no ragged edges, though I did get a few myself.

And that's it! Enjoy your rainbow orange wedges and freshly squeezed orange juice!

Tackling Adriano Zumbo one pear at a time...

I've  had Adriano Zumbo's book "Zumbo" for over six months and the entire time it's been in my possession it's been sitting in my room on a stand collecting dust.  To be completely honest I was slightly intimidated by epic recipes and mentions of rose emulsions and lychee caviar to try any of these recipes... until about two weeks ago when I finally decided on something to make.  Aside from his macarons or "Zumbarons" I found this recipe to be the easiest and least fiddly, which is saying something about the rest of  the recipes in his book!  I don't doubt I'll try them all eventually but for now his "Lavender Up" bar cake is entirely satisfying for a first shot...

The Zumbo Lavender Up cake is basically a pear, blueberry, lavender and coconut flavoured creation which is friggin' delicious and not nearly as weird as it may sound.  In fact I did have a taste of the mixture before I baked it and I think it's pretty fair to say that the spoon was licked completely clean.  I'm not even sorry. 

You'll need a few extras ready before you start though:

Lavender sugar:

200g caster sugar
50g dried lavender


Put the sugar and lavender into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.

 Simple sugar syrup:

250g caster sugar
250g water


Put the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and cool completely.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Clear neutral glaze:

250g water
10g pectin (I used Jamsetta for those of you in Australia and anywhere else that sells it)
265g caster sugar
20g liquid glucose


Place the water in a saucepan and heat to 60˚C.  Mix the pectin with 65g of the caster sugar, add to the water and stir to combine. Bring to the boil and add the remaining sugar.  Return to the boil and add the glucose. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  To use, reheat to 35˚C in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, or in a microwave.

Adriano Zumbo's "Lavender Up" bar cake 

For the caramel:

300g caster sugar
120g water
60g  liquid glucose
220g coconut cream


Lightly spray two bar tins (7.5cm x 20cm) with cooking oil.  Line the trays with non stick paper, enough so the paper extends over the sides of the tin longways.  (This makes the cake easier to turn out, as well as makes sure it really doesn't get stuck in the pan.)

Put the sugar, water and liquid glucose in a small, deep saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved.  Bring the mixture to the boil and cook until the caramel is dark amber in colour.  NB: One thing the book doesn't remind or suggest you do when making the caramel is making sure you wash down the sides of the saucepan with water when you're waiting for the mixture to colour to make sure the mixture doesn't crystallise. I did this with a pastry brush (with Natasha's help while I was occupied doing other components.) 

Meanwhile, bring the coconut cream to the boil in a separate saucepan and remove from the heat.  Add this warm to the caramel once it has reached the dark amber colouring you need to deglaze. Be super careful doing this though as when the coconut cream hits the caramel it will rise a spit, releasing a lot of heat.

After you've done this, divide the caramel between the two tins.

For the poached pears:

4 beurre bosc pears
2.5kg of sugar syrup (make 5 batches)
Seeds scraped from one vanilla bean
Small pinch of saffron threads


200g fresh blueberries (I could only get a hold of canned blueberries unfortunately.)


Peel and core the pears and cut each into two even halves.  Put the pears, syrup, vanilla seeds an saffron in a saucepan and cover with a cartouche.  A cartouche is just a round of baking paper cut to fit just over the contents of the pan.  Bring to the boil over medium heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the pears are tender but not mushy.  Transfer them to a bowl to cool completely.

Cut each piece of pear in half length ways and then into three wedges.  Arrange the pear pieces randomly over the caramel in the tins.  Scatter the blueberries over the pears to fill in the gaps between pears.  If I could suggest one thing though, it would be to leave the pears in their halves rather than wedge them, just for presentation reasons.

Note how the blueberries lack their beautiful blue colouring and a lot of their plumpness? DON'T BUY CANNED BLUEBERRIES FOR THIS. Learn from my mistake. They're ugly.

For the cake batter: 

150g unsalted butter
240g light palm sugar, grated
180g lightly beaten egg
310g plain flour
5g baking powder
75g cornflour
50g lavender sugar
120g desiccated coconut
100g creme fraiche
150g coconut cram
Finely grated zest and juice of one orange
Finely grated zest and juice of one lemon


Preheat the oven to 160˚C.  Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes or until pale and fluffy.  Gradually add the egg, mixing well between each addition.  Mix in the sifted flour, baking powder and cornflour.  Mix in the combined lavender sugar and desiccated coconut.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the creme fraiche, coconut cream and all the zest  and juice, mixing until well combined.



I love that you can see the little purple flecks of lavender in the mixture.


Divide the mixture between the two tins, filling them no more than 1cm from the top and place on a baking tray.  Cook for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out just a little moist. Cool the cakes in their tins and then carefully invert onto a wire rack.

To finish:

**Can I just say that I found this step entirely optional just because I saw it as another layer of sugar you could do without**

200g of clear neutral glaze


Heat the clear neutral glaze in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until it reaches 35˚C and then pour over the cakes.  Transfer to a serving plate.

A long recipe but entirely worth it! It was honestly one of the best cakes I've tasted/made.  The lavender was such a subtle flavour but made a world of difference.  It didn't taste soapy at all.  Stealing dozens of lavender flowers with Natasha from various houses in our neighbourhood definitely payed off! We just hope the owners of the houses weren't looking out their window to find two girls ripping out bunches of lavender from their bushes and running off to find the next unsuspecting bushes. Awkward...

The next time I make this cake though, I'll make a couple of changes.  First of all I think the glaze was slightly redundant, seeing as the caramel glazes the cake pretty well in the first place.  The entire thing is pretty sugar intensive  and I'd like to not give my pancreas a heart attack by adding another flavourless layer of sugar.  I might try leaving out the pear and blueberry layer next time as well and soak the cake through with some vanilla sugar syrup or the caramel, just to switch things up a bit and see what works best.  The cake in itself is quite dense but not to such an unpleasant heavy level for my tastes.  I really enjoyed the consistency of the cake but I'm thinking moistening it up with a bit of syrup or caramel would loosen the cake a tad. 

Om freaking nom.

You can find Adriano Zumbo's website at adrianozumbo.com
You can buy Adriano Zumbo's book "Zumbo" here (UK) and here (US).