a feijoa sponge fit for royalty
an easy cake for autumn afternoons, quick feijoa jam, and other brain food
I’m writing this having had my first ‘sick day’ off from work in what feels like forever. It’s curious how this tends to happen with seasonal change, the dropping of temperatures bringing with it a flex or fracture of equilibrium in our bodies and minds. It’s got me thinking that we’re certainly entering the season for warming broths, soups and stews ~ so keep an eye out for these types of recipes in the coming weeks.
Leaning further into the feijoa theme from last week’s newsletter, today I’ve got a couple more feijoa offerings to tempt your tastebuds and make the most of the brief but brilliant season in Aotearoa ~ apologies if feijoas aren’t your thing, I promise there will be non-feijoa recipes in the next edition.
I’m the type of person who likes to have some form of home baking in the tins at all times. While it’s not that often I get visitors at home, if someone does come round, I want to be able to offer them some home baked goodness to go with their cup of tea. Perhaps part of that is living in what used to be my Grandmother’s house, where she would always have something on offer from the dark green square biscuit tin for those who came by. Or maybe it’s just the simple fact that baking is an expression of love and care.
Now I am very aware that even having the time to bake can be a luxury for some people, and with rising food prices, it’s becoming less and less affordable to bake. But a baking recipe doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive to be fancy ~ often the most simple recipes actually bring the most satisfaction.
This week’s recipes were prompted by that same crop of feijoas I scurried down from Auckland to Dunedin the week or two prior, with the last few stragglers starting to turn in the sun on the dining room table. One of the best ways to use fruit that is slightly past its prime is making jam! So it’s a quick feijoa jam from some less-than-perfect feijoas that inspired the thrifty recipes I’m sharing today. This jam plays off the flavours of feijoa, ginger and lime (what an iconic trio!), and can be made in less than 10 minutes on the stovetop.
Quick feijoa jam
I’m all about using the whole fruit or vegetable where possible these days, as food waste sucks. This jam is great as it uses the whole feijoa, skin and all, which actually gives it a nice subtle texture once blitzed. Because it uses brown sugar and the whole fruit, you need to boil this for less time than an ordinary jam. Make sure you stir it regularly, as the brown sugar is more likely to caramelise and burn than a regular jam. If limes are unavailable, use the zest and juice of 1 lemon.
Hands-on Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes (plus cooling time)
makes one medium jar (about 400g)
Cost Estimate: $4 (or cheaper if you can find free feijoas)
Ingredients
400g feijoas, ends trimmed
200g caster sugar
200g soft brown sugar
finely grated zest and juice of 1 large or 2 small limes
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
Method
Place the whole feijoas (skin and all) into a food processor and blitz to form a slightly chunky purée. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Add the sugars, lime zest, lime juice and ginger, stirring to combine. Place over medium heat and warm for a couple of minutes to dissolve the sugar. Increase the heat to high, bring to the boil and cook vigorously for about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until a jam-like consistency is reached and the jam is starting to catch a little on the bottom. The jam will thicken further as it cools. Pour into a wide shallow bowl and set aside to cool completely.
Now having made the above jam, I found myself sitting at the table, peering out the window without purpose, and having the overwhelming feeling that I wanted a slice of cake. Does anyone else get this feeling? It seems to be at minimum a weekly occurrence for me. So with feijoa jam in hand, I needed to figure out a bake that could utilise the jam but be mellow enough to let the flavours of the jam shine. In comes brain sparks to finally crack my Victoria sponge virginity and we were away laughing. The highlight being that I was then able to share the sponge the following day with my whānau, and have them sit there and scratch their heads to figure out what kind of fruit was in the jam. The disappointment on my Dad’s face when he realised there was no cake left after his first slice speaks volumes to how delicious this simple cake is ~ scroll down for the recipe below.
I’ve also got a few useful links to articles to share with you today, from how to best store fruits/vegetables, to some NZ social enterprises doing good things with kai in our community. I hope you’re all keeping warm and doing better than myself to avoid the seasonal ills. Until next week…
Enjoy,
Alby xx
Muscovado Victoria sponge with quick feijoa jam and yoghurt cream
This might sound surprising, but before last week I had never made a Victoria sponge, or ‘Vicky’s Sponge’, as it’s charmingly termed by the Brits. Back in January I was planning a wedding cake for friends and when I asked what sort of flavours they were into, the Irish half replied, “I just love a Vicky’s Sponge”, and it’s been on my mind to make one ever since. It’s the classic quintessential British bake, easily remembered by its equal ratios of butter, sugar and flour. Inspired by the Brown sugar Victoria sponge recipe in Claire Ptak’s latest cookbook, Love is a Pink Cake, my version goes even further down the caramel route, using muscovado sugar in the sponge, which is then paired with a brown sugar quick feijoa jam that goes particularly well with the flavours of the dark golden sponge. Another trick here is my yoghurt cream, which brings some welcome acidity to the cream in the form of Greek yoghurt, the perfect balance to the sponge and jam.
Hands-on Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (plus cooling time)
makes one two-layer 20cm cake, serves 10-12
Cost Estimate: $14
Ingredients
Sponge
250g butter, softened to room temperature
250g muscovado sugar (or use 250g soft brown sugar if you can’t find muscovado)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla paste
250g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
⅓ tsp sea salt
For assembly
125ml cream
100g natural unsweetened Greek yoghurt
Quick feijoa jam (see recipe in newsletter above)
icing sugar, for dusting
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C fan-forced (or 170°C conventional). Grease and line two 20cm round cake tins with baking paper.
First make the quick feijoa jam (see recipe in newsletter above), so that it has time to cool before assembly .
For the sponge, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until pale, light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until well incorporated and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Add the vanilla paste and beat into the mixture. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix gently on low speed until just incorporated. Spoon the sponge batter equally into the two cake tins and gently spread out with the back of a spoon or small cranked palette knife to cover the base of each tin evenly with a smoothed top. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the sponges spring back nicely when lightly touched and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven, leave to cool in the tins for 15 minutes, then remove from the tins and leave to cool completely.
For the yoghurt cream, in a medium bowl beat the cream until soft peaks are reached. Add the yoghurt to the cream and using a hand whisk, whisk together until soft, almost stiff peaks are reached again.
To serve, place one sponge upside down on a serving platter or cake stand. Spread a decent layer of cooled jam (about 200g) evenly over the surface of the sponge (you will have plenty of jam left over). Spoon the yoghurt cream on top of the jam, spreading gently to cover. Top with the second sponge, top side facing upwards, and dust generously with icing sugar. Eat immediately or chill until ready to serve. This is best eaten on the day of making, but will keep fine for a few days ~ the sponge will just lose some of its freshness.
Alby’s Advice:
You can easily swap out the feijoa jam for any seasonal jam ~ raspberry or strawberry would be a more classic combo, or you could even try a thick lemon curd.
Muscovado sugar is found at some supermarkets (New World often has it) and most specialty or organic food stores. It’s darker than soft brown sugar with a strong molasses flavour. If you can’t find it, soft brown sugar will do fine.
Best of the season this fortnight (NZ):
Early mandarins
Early leeks
Mid season apples & pears
Late figs
Brassicas
Beetroot
Celery
Hardy greens - cavolo nero, silver beet, kale
Feijoas
Gold kiwifruit
Brain Food:
a New Zealand food waste social enterprise worth knowing about
always wondered the best way to store that avocado half? or half a red onion? useful tips on how to best store common foods to prevent them going off
I recently worked on a policy proposal for an NZ political party, the policy being the development and implementation of a unified national food strategy. As part of this, I read a recent UK government-commissioned independent review with recommendations on a national food strategy for the UK. Some great ideas that could also be implemented in the NZ space.
A beautiful new cookbook from one of NZ’s best
Further evidence incentivising a move to more sustainable food systems
A recent winner at the Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards, part organic vege farm, part mental health rehabilitation service
