Welcome to the inaugural Kialla eBake.
You can follow along to bake a chocolate fruit cake with Gillian of Gillian Bell cake.
You’ll find the recipe underneath the videos.
This is a record of the livestream that happened on Sunday 8th of December at 4.30pm Qld time, 5.30pm ESDT, 5pm in SA, 4pm in NT, 2.30pm in WA, 7.30pm in NZ, 3.30pm JST, 2.30pm MYT, and 6.30am GMT.
I’ve edited our event into 3 videos, and removed most of the tech issues.
The sound drops out in places so I’ve added notes to help you with baking, and hearing what is being said.
We do lose our hangout about 40mins in, but I don’t think you miss much – we pick it up where we left off.
Part 1 is all about how to bake the cake:
In part 2 we discuss the future of farming and food in Australia with our guests Tania from My Kitchen Stories, and Sam from AgChatOz. While our other guests Matt from Organic Dairy Farmers Australia, Andrew of Murray River Organics, and Quentin & Rob from Kialla Pure Foods, do battle with their regional internet connections…
We also select the winners of our prizes: the Kialla Hamper and the Media Junky social rescue course.
In part 3 Gillian shows you how to decorate the cake with frosted fruit.
And we talk wheat varieties and flour milling with Quentin & Rob.
Here’s Gillian’s Chocolate Fruit Cake Recipe
Ingredients
200g butter (vegan: use an alternative like coconut oil)
200g soft brown muscovado sugar or organic rapadura
200ml organic eggs (approx 4 large eggs) (vegan: use equivalent quantity of egg replacement)
200gms Kialla’s Organic Unbleached Soft Cake Flour
40gms organic dutched cocoa powder (we recommend Organic Times Dutched Cocoa Powder)
600gm organic mixed dried fruits (I’m using raisins, sultanas and prunes), but you can use your favourite medley. You can also add more or less fruit – it’s a personal choice.
2 level tsp baking powder
70gm organic almond meal
1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
3 tsp black treacle
200ml alcohol (optional) or fruit juice
125gm organic apple sauce or 1 medium sized freshly grated apple
zest of 2 large organic oranges and one lemon
Method
The day before, cut up your dried fruits with some kitchen scissors until they are all about the size of a sultana. Put the fruit in a bowl with the juice or alcohol and toss to coat the fruit. Leave covered (stirring from time to time so the fruit soaks evenly).
Prepare a 20cm/8” round/square cake tin (not a sandwich tin- you’ll need something deeper). Cut out 4 circles/squares of baking paper/parchment and a collar of paper to line the sides of the tin. Make the collar at least 2cm higher than the edge of the tin. Also find some brown paper or thin cardboard which we’ll use to line the outside of our tins. Line the tin with 2 paper circles and the paper collar for the sides. Use a little butter or oil to help stick the paper to the sides of the tin.
On the day,
1. zest the oranges and lemons and grate the fresh apple if you are using it.
Strain off any excess juice or alcohol from the fruits. Keep this aside to brush on your cake when it comes out of the oven.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, spices, baking powder and cocoa.
Do this a few times to make sure they are evenly distributed and there are no lumps.
3. Cream the softened butter, sugar and treacle together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or spatula. (For those using oil, you won’t be able to achieve a creaming effect. Just beat your ingredients so they are thoroughly combined)
4. Fold in the room temperature eggs, one at a time until all combined.
5. Add the sifted almond meal and fold in.
6. Fold in the sifted flour mix. You want to do this gently but thoroughly only until you can’t see any flour.
7. Loosen mix with some of the apple sauce. Then add the drained fruits & grated apple or fruits & remainder of apple sauce. Fold to combine.
8. Put mix in prepare tin. Cover top of cake with 2 paper circles. Wrap the outside of the tin in the cardboard or brown paper making sure it is higher than your tin (I’ll show you how to do this when we are baking)
9. Place in middle of the oven to bake for at least 1 ½ hours. We’ll chat about what to look for to know if your cake is ready when we are baking. Bake at approx 140˚c – follow Gillian’s tips in the video for best results.
10. Allow the cake to cool in tin. Decorate with dried fruits and nuts or frosted fresh fruits. I’ll show you how to do this during the ebake.
Thanks to our sponsors:
To Amy Melksham for designing the Bake-along logo, to Kijaro for styling & photographing the cake, and to Organic Times for the organic cocoa powder (included in the Kialla Hamper)
Our Invited guests, their background and expertise.
Tania Cusack of My Kitchen Stories http://www.mykitchenstories.com.au/
After completing Culinary School in Sydney, Tania travelled the world working as a Chef in restaurants, doing catering and cooking on the road for a travel company in Europe and the US. Once back at home, the birth of her son meant a change, and during his small years, she enjoyed jobs in wholesale food buying Australian Artisan food products, testing and recipe writing as sales and educational tools as well as catering and making cakes. Tania is passionate about supporting artisan producers, farmers markets and ethically sourced ingredients where ever she can. Her blog My Kitchen Stories features lots of baking along with stories about travel and food.
Sam Livingstone from AgChatOZ AgChatOz.org.au
Sam was born in country Qld and currently lives in Canberra where he is both a web designer and a cattle producer. His life online is firmly focused on agriculture, and he hopes to one day leave the city for a quiet life on the farm. Sam is one of the founders of AgChatOZ a digital online community which aims to connect rural and urban Australia, using tech savvy and social media to overcome the isolation many Australians on the land can feel. AgChatOZ provides a medium to share inspiring and engaging stories about farming and rural communities with people in the city.
Wheat farmer & mill manager: Rob Wilson & Quentin Kennedy of Kialla Pure Foods
Rob has been on the land all his life, growing up on a sheep & grain property in Qld. He has been share-faming certified organic wheat for almost 10 years, during which time he started working with Kialla as the grain buyer. In this role he liaises with the other organic farmers, so he enjoys the fact it’s not an ‘office job’ but instead involves visiting farms, talking and planning with the farmers.
Quentin owns and manages Kialla Pure Foods. Having grown up on a sheep & cattle station, he can relate to the trials and joys of life on the land. As a mill manager and a director at Australian Organics, he has insight into the whole organic food chain. He strongly believes that organic farming is the way to way to create a sustainable future for everyone.
Dried fruit farmer: Andrew Nemtsas from Murray River Organics http://www.murrayriverorganics.com.au/
Andrew’s family has had vineyards near the Murray River since the 1970s and they continue to produce some of Australia’s finest organic dried fruits including sultanas, currants, and sun muscats. Up until now their produce has been wholesaled through organic distributers, however it will soon be available on retail shelves across the country.
Murray River Organics believe in sustainable farming and in producing food that cares for the environment in a way that future generations would want us to.
Dairy farmer: Matt Mahony from Organic Dairy Farmers http://organicdairyfarmers.com.au
Organic Dairy Farmers is a true co-operative of 23 dairy farmers from Victoria who produce about 75% of the organic milk in Australia. They were established 11years ago and have just opened the first organic butter factory in Camperdown, Vic from where they supply Australian-made organic butter. They also produce specialty cheeses, created in joint venture with a French Cheesemaker. Their new Mousseron cheese has just been released Australia-wide and is garnering rave reviews.
Dr Kristen Lyons, senior lecturer in the school of social science at the University of Qld http://socialscience.uq.edu.au/kristen-lyon
Kristen has a long standing research and advocacy background in issues related to food politics, including social and environmental questions around organic agriculture, genetic engineering and more recently international investment and land grabbing.
Kristen is passionate about food, not just the eating, but also thinking and talking about it’s politics and history, and acting in ways that might assist to bring about a sustainable food future.
Sarah Coates from The Sugar Hit http://www.thesugarhit.com/
Sarah Coates is the irrepressible blogger at The Sugar Hit, where she serves up lashings of retro, vintage and old school sweet and spicy dishes on a daily basis. She’s been cooking since she could sit up and hack away at potatoes. She created her blog as a resource for ‘the young, the broke, the hungry, and anyone wanting to live a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget’. As she puts it: “The Sugar Hit works on a ‘no calorie wastage’ policy. If it’s on the site, you can rest assured it’s well worth the potential extra time at the gym.”
(Unfortunately Dr Kristen Lyons & Sarah Coates were unable to attend).
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