BAKING FROM THE HEART
Poh Ling Yeow’s recipes are sure to sweeten up your Valentine’s Day
“There’s something to be said about cooking from the heart and cooking with a certain intent,” says Poh Ling Yeow. “And it’s not always to be clever. It’s really cooking to nurture someone or touch some kind of feeling as well.”
For Valentine’s Day, sweet treats from her latest cookbook, Poh Bakes 100 Greats (Murdoch Books, 2019), offer the perfect opportunity to convey this sentiment. Yeow ’s orange yogurt hearts with violet glaze and raspberries, and Persian love cake — both of which use the speedy muffin method (simply mixing dry ingredients with wet ingredients) — are suitable for a wide range of skill levels, including junior bakers.
Yeow is one of Australia’s bestloved cooking stars, and her culinary career began a decade ago as a MasterChef finalist. She’s a painter, author and co-owner of Jamface, a café and bakery in Adelaide. The recipes in the book — “a wonderful mash-up of French and Australiana” — showcase her “minimum effort, maximum flavour” approach.
“The main thing is to get baking. People that have always been a little afraid of baking to maybe face their fears and just be inspired to have a go,” she says.
“And also have that mentality of knowing it’s something they can’t harness overnight. It’s something they have to learn to love and keep working on, like all good things in life.”
Recipes excerpted from Poh Bakes 100 Greats by Poh Ling Yeow (Murdoch Books).
ORANGE YOGURT HEARTS WITH VIOLET GLAZE & RASPBERRIES
Makes: 12 mini cakes
2 cups (300 g) all-purpose flour ■
1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1 1/4 cups (250 g) superfine sugar
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt
2/3 cup (160 g) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (250 g) Greek-style yogurt 4 large eggs, lightly whisked Finely grated zest of 1 orange
Violet glaze:
3 cups (350 g) icing sugar
■ 4tbsp(60mL) warmwater 2 drops pink or red food colouring
1 or 2 drops violet extract (optional, see note)
Bits & pieces:
1 punnet fresh raspberries,
■ sliced in half
1 quantity vanilla sour cream or yogurt mascarpone cream (recipes follow)
Finely grated orange zest (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 325 F (170 C) if using convection (350 F/ 177 C for conventional). Grease and flour a 12-hole mini cake pan.
2. Briefly whisk the flour, baking soda, sugar and salt in a medium mixing bowl to combine. Add the butter, yogurt, eggs and zest, then whisk until smooth. Carefully fill the moulds three-quarters of the way and bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown. As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, tip the tray upside down onto a wire rack and shake out the cakes. If you leave them too long, the sugars settle and you’ll have trouble unmoulding them without leaving bits behind. Allow to cool completely before icing.
3. To make the glaze, combine the icing sugar, water, food colouring and violet extract in a small bowl, and whisk until smooth.
4. Add more water if you prefer a runnier, translucent consistency like I do. Transfer to a piping bag and snip a 1/16 inch (2 mm) hole off the tip. Slowly run the glaze in concentric circles working from the centre of each cake outward, so you can control the drizzle effect running down the sides. Top with a few raspberries.
5. Serve with your choice of dolloping cream and, if you’d like to bolster the orange flavour, finely grate a smidgen of orange zest over the top. (You can keep any un-iced cakes in an airtight container for up to 5 days.)
VANILLA SOUR CREAM
Makes: about 1 1/4 cups (310 mL) 1 1/4 cups (310 mL) sour cream ■
1/4 cup (30 g) icing sugar, sifted 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence
1. Combine the sour cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl, and stir with a spoon to combine.
YOGURT MASCARPONE CREAM
Makes: about 2 cups (500 mL)
1 cup (250 g) mascarpone
■ cheese
1 cup (250 g) Greek-style yogurt 1/2 cup (50 g) icing sugar
1 to 2 tsp (5 to 10 mL) vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1. Combine all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. This will keep perfectly for up to 2 weeks in the fridge, seeing as both the cheese and the yogurt are cultured forms of dairy.
Note: Violet extract is available online or at specialty shops.
Serves: 12 Crumb base:
3 cups (300 g) almond flour 1 cup (185 g) superfine sugar 1 cup (220 g) firmly packed soft brown sugar Generous 1/2 cup (120 g) unsalted butter, melted
Cake batter:
2 eggs, lightly beaten Scant 1 cup (250 g) natural or Greek-style yogurt
1/8 tsp (0.5 mL) salt
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cardamom 2 tsp (10 mL) rosewater 25 saffron threads
4 tbsp (60 mL) flaked almonds 4 tbsp (60 mL) pistachios, roughly chopped
To decorate (optional):
Unsprayed edible rose petals
To serve:
2 cups (500 g) Greek-style yogurt
Preheat the oven to 325 F (170 C) if using convection (350 F/ 177 C for conventional). Grease the ring of a 9 1/2-inch (24 cm) springform pan, then line with strips of baking paper. Turn the base upside down, so it no longer has a lip. Place a piece of baking paper over it, then clamp the ring around it to secure.
2. To make the crumb base, combine the almond flour, superfine sugar, brown sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl, and mix until you have an even, sandy consistency. Divide the mixture in two and tip half into the prepared pan. Using the back of a spoon or a spatula, press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. 3. To make the cake batter, add the eggs, yogurt, salt, cardamom, rosewater and saffron to the remaining crumb mixture and whisk until there are no lumps. Pour over the crumb base and sprinkle the flaked almonds and pistachios over the top.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes until golden and fully risen — you will know because the top will probably crack a little. If the top is colouring too quickly, cover with foil, then bake for a further 20 minutes. The centre of the cake should spring back when pressed gently. Cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting to serve. 5. Lovely decoration ideas are edible rose petals, sliced fresh figs and a very light dusting of icing sugar. Serve with a dollop of Greek-style yogurt.