After spending two weeks in Hobart, I return feeling somewhat re-energised. It’s all about a change of pace, experiencing great generosity, taking the M and E out of Team, and just eating well. Really well. Followed up with a run in 2’C weather with the wind whipping at your ears and legs. Turns out, it doesn’t take a lot to make things a little bit better.

So now I’m ready to get back into a commercial kitchen. Trouble is, I don’t know which kitchen.

I started baking with ricotta when I got back, having been inspired by the great ricotta and prune pastries at Pigeon Hole. This chocolate ricotta cake is one of several happy experiments. Remind me to also tell you soon about ricotta buttercream and ice-cream!

The chocolate ricotta cake is based on Tartine’s devils food cake recipe. The fudge frosting is like this but omit some of the caster sugar and increase the cocoa powder plus a pinch of salt. The beer caramel is adapted from here. Assembled cake then goes into mouth. No other instructions necessary.

It truly doesn’t take a whole lot of time or effort to make a dessert. A few minutes spent fiddling with a set of scales, then a batter comes together (mix wet with dry) and into the oven it goes. Meanwhile much more time than this is required trying to decide which album to play on Spotify.

In the past month during which I didn’t manage to post a single item of baked deliciousness, I visited Seoul for the first time ever, met some lovely people, got back, changed the dessert menu at work, congratulated a friend on the birth of her son, bought a ticket to Tasmania, gave my notice at work and then got the wind knocked out of me when I heard that a friend had passed away. All this in one month.

This is my dessert of the month. A slice of tart, sticky with golden syrup, oatmeal and almonds, served with a scoop of the easiest ice-cream you’ll ever churn at home. Life is a lot like dessert. Sweet, messy, pleasurable and often only half enjoyed in the moment with a mixture of guilt and regret. If you are baking phobic, start by making this ice-cream. The splendid cakes and puddings that go so well with it will eventually follow.

In memory of a fellow baker and blogger, I dedicate this post to Barbara. x

Philadelphia-style ice-cream :
(makes enough servings for 1 tart)

250g cold pouring cream (35% fat)
120g cold skim milk
60g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla paste/extract
1 tablespoon rum

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Churn in your ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Serve straight away or store well covered for a few hours in the freezer.