In My Kitchen: August 2026

With the end of August, comes the end of Winter.  The past month has given us some wild weather but ended with a few blissfully sunny days that are perfect for hanging the washing on the line and heading out for a bike ride.  It has been a crazy month.  I finished up my previous job and for the first time ever I was sent an exit survey.  I did not mention in my survey how weird it was to have a team meeting in the middle of my farewell lunch!  We had not even finished eating.  I had a week between jobs where we did an overnight road trip to the Goldfields regions of Victoria.  And now I have had about a week in my new job which is going to be busy but interesting with good people!  

There has not been much time for blogging but I will give a round up here (and also in My Monthly Chronicles August 2026 post which will look at getting out and about.  We have had some amazing meals both at home and eating out.  Above is a noodle soup that was excellent and felt a little fancy to have condiments such as chilli oil (for Sylvia), fried shallots (for me) and daikon and carrot pickle (for both of us).

 

You can see a lot of the ingredients here: a mushroom mix of enoki, oyster and king oyster, fried tofu puffs, broken dried soya sticks, Chinese broccoli, wheat noodles and vegan fish balls.  The soup was amazing with the condiments but for one thing: the fish balls were disgusting.  I say that as a vegetarian who has never eaten seafood (other than flake and fish fingers as a kid).  They had a very odd texture and neither of us liked them.  The rest of the soup was slurpilicious!

Sylvia was very keen on making the dailkon and carrot pickle  which was from RecipeTinEats.  We simply added vinegar, sugar and salt to the veggiees.  The hardest part was chopping the carrot and dailkon very thinly, which Sylvia did in the front of the tv.  It was quite stinky but so delicious on all sorts of meals.
 

The main reason we made the daikon and carrot pickle was for a Bahn Mi.  I bought the bread rolls from our local Vietnamese "Crystal Bakery".  We had a tub of vegan pate from Fresh on Young to spread on the rolls.  We stuffed them with braised some tempeh, lettuce leaves, cucumber batons, daikon and carrot pickle and a garnish of parsley leaves from the garden (we don't like coriander).  It was amazing and messy and so so good!

These are the Miso Maple Braised Tempeh that Sylvia made.  The recipe was unlike our usual way of frying tofu or tempeh.  The chunks of tempeh were fried and then cooked in a glaze for about 30 minutes until glossy and sticky.  They had lots of flavour with quite a bit of fresh ginger and were quite saucy!
 

A complicate meal was a vegan roast at home in August.  She bought a Veggie Delites vegan roast and braised it with cranberry sauce glaze.  I am not so keen on them but it worked with all the trimmings.  We made it a weekend when we had lots of time to potter in the kitchen.   The facon wrapped brussels sprouts looked quite impressive.  We roasted potato, carrot, parsnip and pumpkin.  I also made gravy and cauliflower cheese using the same recipes used in my recent Vegan roast dinner pizza.

A simple meal was what The Kitchn called 20 minute Coconut chickpea curry.   It was a good way to use the nice laksa paste we have.  I probably took longer than 20 minutes especially with sides but it excellent served with brussels sprouts, red capsicum, spinach, leftover sticky rice, scalliion pancakes from KFL supermarket, spinach and the last lime from our tree this winter.  

A summer meal: vegetable fritatta from Smith and Deli and slaw we made a home.  I bought the fritatta and a chai flavoured vanilla slice while out on a ride.  I took a plastic box for my purchases.  The vanilla slice came in a cardboard tub that fitted in my box and the fritatta went straight in the box next to it.  I used octopus straps to secure it to the back of my bike and then merrily went on my way.  

I stopped at bike shops - the first because my bike had an odd sound and the second because the first bike shop had not fixed it.  But the minute I arrived at the second bike shop, the sound disappeared and I felt stupid trying to tell  them there had been a weird whirring,  It has not been heard since!  I also stopped to take photos.  At first my purchases seemed to be travelling well but by the time I got home the vanilla slice was such a mess I am not sharing any photos.  It was amazing with fantastic chai spices and the fritatta with lots of pesto on top was also a joy to eat after my long ride!

We had a new winter warmer.  This pot pie from Sweet Simple Vegan was perfect for the wild rainy weather we had in the middle of the month.  It was a gorgeous vegan creamy filling of onion, celery, potatoes, carrots, peas (and I thought I put in a tin of lentils but am not so sure now I look back at the recipe) and broccoli.  The puff pastry was cut into squares and arranged on top of the filling (which was cooked on the stovetop and oven in my cast iron pan).  I really loved this because it was much easier than dealing with a big sheet and I was able to use up some scraps of puff pastry from the freezer.

We also had an old winter warmer: Bean and beer stew with dumplings.  I had made it years ago (2010) and loved it.  When I made it again this August, I wondered why it had taken me so long.  It was great comfort food with lots of beans and fluffy wholemeal dumplings steamed on top.  Must remember this next winter!

While I was quite tired and not up for lots of new ideas, Sylvia found quite a few great new recipes.  This cabbage pasta is a fave new dish with mainly fried cabbage and seasoning in the pasta sauce.  I really like it with a coleslaw mix of veggies we have been making.  Sylvia found the idea online but ended up not following a recipe.  For the sauce she added miso, pasta water, nutritional yeast flakes, soy sauce, sesame oil and maple syrup.

 

I really loved these Creamy gnocchi with Crispy seasoned tofu.  This was another new recipe from Sylvia.  It was her favourite vodka tomato pasta but instead of adding cream, she added a tin of butter beans pureed with the bean water (ie undrained).  I liked it more with the beans but she preferred the sauce with cream.  The mellow creamy sauce went well with well with the crispy tofu which was seasoned with soy sauce, maple syrup, thyme, smoked paprika, onion powder and garlic powder.  So good!
 

We've continued to make rice on Sunday nights so we can have it on Monday nights to make an easy meal.  One night Sylvia wanted to try soaking, marinating and frying some dried soya chunks.  The marinade was great but the soya chunks are not really my sort of thing.  They were fine when mixed with lots of vegetables and rice. 

We even had a salad night with this Roasted cauliflower, pearl couscous and chickpea salad.  It was a warm salad but by the time I got home had cooled down and was delicious at room temperature.  We added in pickled onions, of course!  And had lots of the tofu and avocado dressing leftover.  I think it would be a great vegan dressing for coleslaw but we had it on toast instead.  This was a great salad that just might be back on the menu as the weather warms up.

Continuing the theme of food in our fridge magnets, Kerin brought a lego style magnet kit back from Vietnam to make a sushi magnet.  It was fun to do but the magnet fell apart within a day so is now on the fridge with parts missing!  What a shame because it is a fun idea.

This photos shows a lot of things we bought on our trip to the Vegemite museum in Beaufort, the Creswick market and a smattering of op shops and vintage shops in Beaufort, Creswick and Clunes.  The postcards are of paintings of local buildings by Beaufort high school kids using vegemite and water.  The spiced cider and bread are from the farmers market.  I got a green and white striped jumper in an op shop and Sylvia found a colourful skirt at the same place.  In the top right hand corner is a green glass bowl with a curved handle (like a basket) that she bought in an antique shop in Clunes.  We had a lovely trip that I would love to find time to write about!

Also at the Vegemite museum, I bought a stick of vegemite fudge for E who had looked after Shadow in our absence.  It was very nice - yes I had a taste.  Very smooth and not too intensely vegemite.

The whimsical green card was bought in Clunes at a shop with the wonderful name: Opsessed.  I also bought a pen and magnet at the Clunes Bottle Museum, a magnet saying "My keyboard must be broken.  I keep hitting the escape key but I am still at work".  Is it too soon to take this to a new workplace!  And some camomile, honey and vanilla tea to drink in our hotel room.

Sylvia was delighted by all the coloured glass in the bottle museum and bought this lovely green bottle.  She found some fake grapes - just the sort of thing she loves - in an op shop.

While at the Creswick Market I tasted a warm alcoholic spiced apple cider from Daylesford Cider.  I told the stallholder that I would buy it if it was non alcoholic.  He miraculously produced a non alcoholic version and I bought a six pack of the cans.  The heated taster was really good but we have drunk it cold and fizzy.  It is so wonderful, I wish I had more of it.  We really enjoyed it with our roast dinner!  It would be brilliant chilled in a warm Aussie Christmas.
 

We went to KFL supermarket and bought a vegetarian fish sauce and a plant based tonkotsu ramen kit.  I am curious to see the ramen kit but it is not opened yet.  

At Woolworth's supermarket Sylvia bought brown sugar porridge sachets - because it was winter, gluten free oreos and LCMs (accidentally vegan) marshmallow flavoured cereal because it was novel and on special.  I was pleased to have the oreos when a gluten free friend came over for a cuppa.  They were pretty good!  Sylvia really liked the LCMs cereal for a change but said it was very sweet.  

We had an electrician over for a couple of issues.  One was blue stuff leaking out of power points.  Urgh!  More exciting was having him install the light shade that I bought for Sylvia's bedroom last October when we went to Daylesford.  It is so gorgeous.  I have one installed that is like it but not quite as nice.  The electrician had to change the fittings so we could get the new shades up.  I am really pleased with the change because the light fittings that were removed were a glass bowl that was flush to the ceiling and it was quite awkward to unscrew it to change the light bulb.

At the end of my first week of work - my first full week in the office for years - I was tired and forgot to feed the starter for pizza dough.  Instead we ordered pizza from Shop 225.  When I arrived to pick up - after a text message - the pizzas were ready but they were still doing the dessert so the pizzas were not very warm by the time I arrived home.  The place was really busy and had a cosy vibe.

We had the From Nonna's Garden pizza with pomodoro stracotto (stewed tomato), eggplant, zucchini, onion, basil and parmigiano reggiano.  It came with the thin and crunchy Roman style base and by the time it got home it was really floppy but the flavour was amazing.  The other pizza was called 2807 (why??).  It had a puffy thicker base and was topped with fior di latte, mushroom cream, pork sausage, porcini, parsley, parmiagiano reggiano and "finished with truffle oil".  I was less keen on these because pork sausage and creamy sauce is not really my thing.  I loved the puffy crust!

It was good to finally try Shop 225 pizza which were very good.  This Italian restaurant prides itself on its inclusiveness.  They cater for vegans and celiacs.  Most pizzas can be adapted from both diets.  For dessert we had fried gnocchi with nutella.  The gnocchi was like doughnut balls.  They were tossed in sugar and excellent with the nutella.  I double checked that the nutella was vegan and it was.  We would love to go back and eat in.

Last weekend, I had a great leftover lunch.  The night before we made a great vegan pizza with some leftovers.  It had backed beans, chopped baked potato, mushrooms, olives, dollops of cashew tofu cream and crispy tofu bacon.  On the side was some slaw with a pickled onion brine based vinagrette that worked ok.  Lastly I had a mug of tinned tomato soup; this is my comfort food.

The other dish we had on the weekend that I loved was a Rhubarb and strawberry crumble.  I don't make many desserts but I love to make at least one baked dessert over winter.  It was a weekend of lazy food and a crumble was easy and comforting.  A great way to see out the winter.

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and enjoy her delightful spring greenery hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this event that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.   

In My Kitchen: July 2026

July was a crazy cold month!  It was puffer jacket weather, especially when we were told that the heating at work was out of order until the end of winter.  The month started with school holidays and it just never returned to routine: Sylvia got sick, my bike had a flat tyre and there were lots of changes at work.  We had some good news with the work heating getting fixed earlier plus the pleasure of new armchair and some family history research.  Not much time or energy for new dinner recipes but lots of good food nevertheless.  I will soon write more about our outings in My Monthly Chronicles: July 2026.

Changes in technology drives me batty.  Too many websites are suddenly inaccessible without a login.  I usually just check my GoodReads books without logging in when I am at the shops so I know if I have read a book (I find it hard to keep up with what I have read in a series).  A few weeks ago in an op shop I found I could only see my books by logging in.  So I winged it and bought the book anyway and then got home and found I had read it!  Argh! On the same day I was not impressed to discover that Yahoo suddenly reduced the free emails cap from 1 terrabyte to 15 gigabytes.  It was painful but also liberating to reduce my yahoo emails from 17GB to 12GB.  Now I just need to keep them down and try and delete more photos off my phone!  It is neverending keeping up with technology.

My siblings have recently had quite a bit of travel between them.  My brother Dave was in China and brought us back a brilliant hot pot fridge magnet that you can see above with our foodie fridge magnets.

We didn't make many new meals this month but I enjoyed revisiting a few favourites.  Clockwise from top left:

• Our version of Minestrone is on our weekly meals a lot.  This one included parsnip and fennel
• Samosa pie - this is like an Indian style pot pie and tastes so good - why has it been so long since I made it!  (It had a lot of liquid so I added a spoonful of cornflour.)
• Meera Sodha's Vegan Broccoli, Fennel, Chickpea and Orzo Stew was one of the meals we made again after loving it the previous month.
• And Fried rice with tofu scramble - but a little different to usual with Sylvia making her tofu scramble separately so we could add it at the end of the fried rice instead of cooked in it.  One big advantage of this was the the turmeric only coloured the scramble so it contrasted with the pale rice.
   

I have posted about my Vegan roast dinner pizza using short cuts.  One of the shortcuts was making roast potatoes in the air fryer.  It only works with a small batch with our small air fryer.  I got tired of either wiping up a greasy air fryer tray or using paper inserts so I have purchased a silicone air fryer insert that be easily washed.  I first bought a nicer more expensive one but it did not fit so I gifted it to my mum who loves it.  Ours is cheaper and brighter and does the trick!
 

These frozen samosa pastizzi are a new favourite.  We buy thim in FOY next to the Coburg Woolworths at $11 for 12.  They take between 15-20 minutes in the air fryer at 220 C.  The crispy pastry and spicy vegeie filling are so delicious to pull apart.  It is a challenge to try and wait for the steaming heat to subside.  This is the only pastizzi there that are vegan.  While not that cheap, they are better value at 850g than the vegan samoa packet in the next door supermarket that is $12 for 500g.

A favourite from my childhood is is curried sausages.  I figured out how to do a tray bake of vegetarian baked curried sausages a while back and revisited the recipes when we needed warming food.  Sylvia is starting to really enjoy some curried meals so it was good to see her enjoy it.

I bookmarked a recipe for a one banana banana cake quite some time ago.  As I am now eating a few more of them I put one aside to get old and soft to try this banana bread.  It was a vegan banana bread with a crumble topping.  We loved it.  There is another old banana in the fridge right now so perhaps the universe is telling me I need to make this again!  Well, who dares to say no to the universe!

We are also having more sauerkraut in our kitchen on rice bowls and sandwiches.  The Gaga's gut loving Raw dill pickle kraut is a favourite.

While on Smith street to have lunch at Not so sushi,we had a wander down the street to browse some of the foode shops: Friends of the Earth, Soul Foods, Alimentari and Hinoki.  We mostly resisted temptation but at Hinoki we bought a couple of Daifuku (a strawberry and a green tea) and a packet of frozen edamame.  We use edamame quite a bit and needed some, but I think I was also swayed by the cute red checked packet.

 

I am a fan of these salt and vinegar sweet potato nibbles which are a pleasing light snack.  Sylvia enjoys them because they are vegan unlike a lot of flavoured crisps.  We just can't work out why a flavouring like lime and black pepper needs to have milk in the ingredients.  

We went to the Coburg Farmers Market because it was the last market appearance by the always amazing vegan Better Now Bakes before they open their new shop in Brunswick East.  As usual we were too tempted and came away with so much fantastic baking: the richest best tahini brownie, the piquant pickle chive and dill scone, a fluffy tasty Japanese curry focaccia (with potato, furikake and seaweed?), a pleasing yuzu white choc and coconut cake and a scrumptious and gorgeous apple maple and pecan cake.  We will miss them at the market but can't wait to visit their new shop which is set to open very soon.

We bought some beige food from KFL - soy chunks, potato curry puffs and vegan eggs - that made the vegan ham from the supermarket look colourful!  The curry puffs weren't anywhere near as good as the samosa pastizzi's above but Sylvia loved them.  She has also been enjoying vegan ham and cheese sandwiches.  There are some plans for the soy chunks but we have no idea how to pry apart the frozen vegan fried eggs.

Here are some vegan supermarket purchases: iced matcha latte with oat milk, hearty mushroom and lentil pies, vanilla rice puds, packaged tofu scramble, the tea collection of iced mochi (hojicha, genmaicha and matcha), and a frozen mango sticky rice with coconut milk.  We have had most of these - the pies were really good with a pre-chopped kale slaw pack, the scramble was nice enough in a taco bowl, Sylvia was excited about the sticky rice with mango and the mochi.  There is a wee box of panadol to signal there there was pain too but not enough to stop Sylvia eating good food.

When I asked my sister Fran to surprise me when she had me in my family KK gift giving I knew she would find something interesting.  With the cold weather we finally got to try the Ground Pleasures original hot chocolate powder that she gave us.  It was amazing.  I am pretty fussy with hot chocolate powder but this was so good that we finished it within weeks.  Sylvia gave it a dash of pizazz with her hand held milk frother and a sprinkle of hot chocolate powder on top.  It is not the cheapest and is not in supermarkets but we might need another box before the end of winter.

Life is chaotic and busy so it is wonderful when we can slow down and create collages.  This is one I made in the kitchen in July.  You can see the mess it makes in the background of the hot chocolate photo but even with the cleaning up, it is a relaxing activity.

 

It is a year since we had our house painting.  Two of the outstanding things to do over that time were to buy a new chair for the loungeroom and to find a green teacup for the glass kitchen cabinet.  In July we managed to achieve both.  We have looked at so many photos of chairs on FaceBook market place and found it really hard to find the right one.  This floral chair was not my ideal but it is close enough for jazz!

In June I bought a green teapot and tea cup set that I really love.  More recently Sylvia fell in love with another green teapot set, this time at the Salvos op shop where we bought our chair.  It has not been easy to fit both tea sets into the cabinet but Sylvia was determined and made it work.  I have compared the three iterations of our cabinet above.  In July 2025 I organised a fairly spacious cabinet after quite a few items were sent to the op shop.  The following month Sylvia reorganised with some of the op shop pieces she loved.  Then in July 2026 the cabinet is now full with lots of lovely green.

Finally here is a close up of the cabinet so you can admire some of the detail on the new green sugar bowl with a few sentimental items including a gnome salt and pepper shaker I bought as a child and a green decanter I bought when living in student share houses,

I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by 13th of the month.  Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens and her delightful seasonal hand drawn header.  Thanks to Sherry for continuing to host this event that brings together some wonderful bloggers who share glimpses into their kitchens.  

Coconut and chocolate layer cake -- for blog anniversary (and cake picnic)

When we were planning to go to the cake picnic, I panicked about my cake needing to be a layer cake to fulfill the requirement that it was at least 7cm high.  I am not one for lots of frosting and my experiences with layer cakes have had not always been the most stable creations.  Today marks my 19th blog anniversary and each year I celebrate by sharing a fancy cake.  So today I bring you the story of baking a coconut and chocolate layer cake for the Melbourne Cake Picnic.

The Cake Picnic was a huge and daunting experience.  I don't have many layer cakes in my repertoire and don't feel comfortable making them..  I also wanted some decoration, but this is as challenging for me as creating layer cakes.  To add more complications, my daughter Sylvia, who had also booked to take a cake to the Cake Picnic, was in hospital on a drip for acute tonsillitis two days before the picnic.  I had also agreed to take a vegan cake in solidarity with Sylvia has become vegan at the start of the year.

The practice cake

When I looked at previous of my cake recipes that I have loved, not many are layer cakes.  After considering a number of previous looked at quite a few possible cakes but ended up with one that I loved.  Like most of my cakes, it did not meet the minimum 7cm high required for entry to the Cake Picnic.  It had been previously shared with friends who were impressed.  This time it had to be a layer cake!  Gulp!

One of the best parts of my chosen Coconut and chocolate chunk cake was that it was not over sweet, it had bits in it and had a simple but wonderful roasted coconut and melty chocolate topping with a light drizzle of icing.  Plus it was vegan!  These were not the ingredients for a fancy Cake Picnic layer cake.  

I made a practice cake the weekend before the cake picnic.  It looked impressive without the icing but a complete mess once the icing was added.  

The beautiful and unusual topping is one of my favourite parts of the recipe but sadly did not make it into the final layer cake.  I have thought about whether it was a mistake to lose it and am still not sure.  When I made my practice cake, the roasted coconut seemed difficult to slice through cleanly.  It was not the only problem.  The drizzle split and looked like curdled milk.  The buttercream frosting was soft and oozy.    In retrospect I also blame my impatience.  We cooled the cakes just long enough to layer and ice them and then sampled the result.

 A layer cake is not made to be eaten fresh, which is how we sampled it.  A layer cake should have time to compose itself, to cool before being iced and then to allow the icing (or frosting) to firm up before it is presented and sliced as a showstopper!  I am not a showstopper sort of person!  Perhaps this is why I love cakes less than 7cm high that can be sliced up warm from the oven without the collapsing mess of a fresh layer cake.

Another reason I don't make layer cakes often is that they are made to be shared at an event.   I was fine to take a large cake to a cake picnic but found it challenging to make a large cake at home for practice.  It felt wasteful and greedy.  And because it collapsed, it did not look great for slicing or storing.  I ended up having some at home for us and Sylvia shared some with E.  Most of it I packed into a large box and took into work including a lot of crumbs.  My colleagues were very grateful and ate most of it over a week.  I came back at the end of that week to find a couple fo  crumbly slices left in the cake box that some kind soul had put in the fridge.  It still tasted wonderful.  Yes, I finished it off!

Considering how to refine the recipe 

I was so unhappy about the presentation of my cake that I considered making something else.  However firstly it tasted amazing, and secondly I didn't have time or the stomach for another practice.  Instead of finding another recipe, I spent a lot of time thinking how to improve this one.  How to make it slice neatly.  How to make stable frosting!  How to make the frosting less tooth-achingly sweet!  How to decorate it!

One of the issues I found really difficult was how soft the frosting was.  Vegan butter (I used Nuttalex) is softer than dairy.  I needed some ballast so the frosting would hold up the top layer.  I read online and found useful advice at Life, Love and Sugar.  She has some great tutorials on frosting cakes and recommended using vegetable shortening.  Can't stop 

Cakers Paradise had a good post on How to use Vegetable Shortening with an Australia perspective.  They describe the buttercream with shortening as more stable and less likely to slide off the cake.  That really appealed to me as a baker who has had the top slide off layer cakes in the past!  It was in this article that I found that Solite is the Australian version of Crisco in America.  Can't stop Baking also has useful advice on shortening in Australia and describes it as giving the icing a velvety soft 

I searched online to find where to buy Solite locally.  It is available at cake stores (not supermarkets) but often in bulk.  I found a 500g tub for $7.95 at My Dream Cake Decorating Supplier SuperStore in Sunshine.  I only used 95g but it is shelf stable and I am told it can be used in pastry and cake recipes.  I was also pleased to get cake boards and cake boxes fairly cheaply there.  It is the first time I have ever used a cake box and it is so long since I bought cake boards that I can't remember where it was.  They were really useful for the cake picnic so this shopping trip reduced my stress levels.

One of the attractions of the coconut and chocolate topping was that it meant very little need for fancy decoration.  However when it did not quite work I had to think more about decoration.  This is not my forte.  The cake has some orange zest in it so I decided to use some dried orange slices.  (Ironically I never used enough orange to add much to the flavour.)

I was gobsmacked that Woolworths supermarket sold a large 125g jar of dried orange slices for $24.  I looked elsewhere.  Our local Al Alamy Middle Eastern grocer had a 150g tub of dried orange slices for about $5-8.  I can't remember the exact price but I do remember laughing with the guy who sold it to me about how ridiculously expensive they were in Woollies.  Like the Solite I have not used the rest of them since despite good intentions! 

Baking the second and final cake

I had planned to make cakes on Friday, the day before the cake picnic.  Sylvia would make her own.  Our plans were thrown out after we unexpectedly spent hours on the Thursday afternoon prior as she was hooked up to a drip in the Emergency Department for acute tonsillitis.  The doctor cleared her to go out on Saturday but her energy levels were still low.  So I baked the four cakes for our two layer cakes on Friday but Sylvia helped with decoration.  That's her thing!

I adjusted the recipe slightly to use desiccated coconut instead of the larger shreds and I cut the chocolate chunks a tad smaller.  I am not sure it made  a huge difference to slicing but I missed the larger bits.  Maybe I would not do that next time.  You can see in the picture above just how much chocolate is added to the cake.  I think this is one of the reasons I love it so much.  It is so satisfying to bite into a chunk of dark chocolate that counters the sweetness of the cake batter.

I really love cakes fresh out of the oven.  This is not why I kept a small amount of the mixture aside to bake a mini cake.  It was my worries about the texture and flavour not being quite right.  I hate taking a cake to a gathering that I have not had a chance to test taste.  It makes me nervous.  Having a taste of this cake prior to the picnic reassured me.

Frosting the cake

The icing that I made was excellent.  I decided to add some cocoa and salt after the practice icing was far too sweet, especially for a cake that was not overly sweet.  This worked well to give it flavour rather than just sweetness.  I also was pleased that the frosting recipe at Life, Love and Sugar directed to just add the icing sugar in two lots.  Other recipes have said to add the icing gradually in a constant cloud of sweet dust because I have been told that too much will crush out the air that was beaten into the butter.

Just look at how that icing holds its shape!  I piped the icing onto the bottom cake in (wonky) circles so that I could spread it out evenly.  (I also trimmed the top of this cake to make sure that the top cake sat neatly on the bottom.)  We have a cake decorating turntable (that gets very little use) that helped with even piping around the cake.  One of us would pipe and the other would gradually rotate the cake.

My decorations and Sylvia's matcha layer cake

When it comes to cake decorating ideas, I go blank.  Just like I have the best ideas about what to say when it is too late, I also get much better ideas after I finish decorating a cake.  I wish we hadn't been so unexpectedly busy in the run up to the cake picnic so I had time to practice the decoration.  If I had my time over, I would do this differently.  I would focus more on chocolate and coconut but this wasn't too bad for a time-stretched amateur such as me.  

The halves of dried orange slices sat in blob of frosting.  I finely chopped dark chocolate for the centre.  In mind I had planned gorgeous chocolate curls but did not have the energy or time.  Sylvia used a fine pair of tweezers to arrange the gold stars on the spaces and I sprayed some gold dust over it. 

 

Sylvia is very creative when it comes to decoration.  After I baked her Matcha layer cake we were disappointed that the matcha was too old to make it a lovely green like the first version of this cake about a year ago.  You can see the cake turntable in the top left of the above photo collage.  (I had suggested she make a practice cake but she told me she did not need to!)  Top right is her jam dam!  I don't know how she knew to make the dam for the apricot jam as we have never done it before but she did it with style.  After the first layer she added some matcha to the frosting which made it a lovely pale green.

On top of the cake, she had a lake of apricot jam surrounded by swirly icing (bottom left photo above).  She then added halved dried orange slices, gold sprinkles, gold spray and arranged gold stars one by one.  I was in admiration of her patience.  If we had thought of it earlier, all the frosting would have been green but she added gold stars to the edge of the middle layer of frosting to mirror the gold on top.  Above in the bottom right photo you can see the final version that was finished at 11.30pm on the Friday!

The Cake Picnic 

We stored our cakes in cake boxes in the fridge overnight and took them along to the cake picnic the next day.  Here is my cake in the marque with other cakes in the background.  I felt good about my offering even if it wasn't as jaw dropping as some of the cakes.  At the end about three quarters of my cake was eaten and I took the rest home to store in the freezer (it was too messy to share).  Occasionally I have a chunk.  A lot of it is still frozen waiting for a moment that demands cake!

You can read more on my blog about my experience at the Melbourne Cake Picnic 2026.

Here is a slice of my cake on my messy platter of cake picnic slices.  In the rush to select the best of the 1600 cakes at the cake picnic we were guided by our eyes rather than flavour.  While my cake was not the prettiest, it was one of my favourite cakes there.  It is great to try other people's cakes but I know what I like and baked for my preferences!  

Reflections on 19 years of blogging and how it helped make this cake 

As it is the 19th anniversary of my blog, I will close with reflections about how much I have learnt from the blog.  It is one thing to bake a lot.  It is another to constantly be photographing, recording and reflecting on recipes, and to have all this to look back over when I want to bake a cake or cook a meal.  Without my index of all that I have made, choosing this cake would have been far harder.  It was stressful making it but so much less than it would be without my blog as an important aid in baking, and learning about developing recipes.  Crucial to this is the support and inspiration of the online community.  

I have learnt so much and made such amazing creations over the 19 years since I thought I might like to start a blog.  At the start I didn't know what I was doing.  It was sometimes a bit of a car crash.  (It sometimes still is!)  Who could have known how much it would have nourished my love of food, photography and writing; fed my curiosity; and more than satisfied my desire for an amzing meal.  Today as I look back over those years, it has made my life a lot richer and exciting.  I thank you,  dear readers, for joining me along the journey!

More layer cakes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

• Butterscotch layer cake 
• Carrot cake (with cream cheese frosting and fondant carrots)   
• Floating Malteser cake with fudgy buttercream frosting 
• Ginger Fluff Sponge (gf) 
• Matcha layer cake with strawberry and cream 
• Vegan chocolate (layer) cake (v)   
• Vegan Victoria sponge cake (v)
• Zucchini layer cake with cream cheese frosting (gf, v) 

Coconut and chocolate layer cake
Adapted from Green Gourmet Giraffe 

Dry ingredients:
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
2 cups shredded or desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups raw sugar 
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:
240g vegan butter, melted
2 cup coconut milk
1 cup applesauce
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

300g dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Icing (see below recipe) 
Additional decorations such as chocolate flakes, coconut flakes, oranges and stars as desired. 

Baking the cake 

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease and line 2 x 20cm round cake tins.

Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Mix wet ingredients in a small mixing bowl or large jug.  Pour the wet into the dry and mix until just combined.  Mix in the 300g dark chocolate chunks.

Scrape mixture into prepared cake tins.  To get even cakes, weigh the mixture (mine was about 11000g for each cake.)

Bake for about 40-45 minutes (or 60 minutes if your oven is a bit slow like mine).  Test the cakes with a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (try to avoid the melted chocolate if possible but even if you don't you should see if the mixture clings to the skewer).  if cakes are getting too dark before it is cooked, cover with some foil.   Cool baked cakes in the tin for at least 15 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Frosting and assembling the cake 

I left my cakes to cool for 4-5 hours but overnight is fine.  Before frosting, check if cakes are level for layering by sitting them atop each other without frosting.  Now trim top of one cake to make sure it is flat enough tso the second cake sits neatly on top..  I did not trim the top cake.  

Place the bottom cake onto a cake board (or plate).  Pipe the icing in an even swirl onto the cake using a thick nozzle.  Use a spatula to spread the icing neatly and place the second cake on top gently.  Spread icing on top of the second cake.  At this stage you can finish or you can decorate the cake.  

I piped blobs of frosting around the edge and press half rounds of dried oranges into these and put thinly sliced flakes of chocolate in the middle and use a pair of tweezers to place gold stars onto the icing.  If I did it again I would like wedges or lines of alternating chocolate and coconut with lines of frosting between to make it look neater.  There are so many options.

NOTES:

If you look at the recipe I used as a base, you can see it has chocolate and coconut baked on top, which I really liked but did not do this here due to concerns about neat slicing.

Icing sugar and icing are Australian terms - Americans will be more familiar with powdered sugar and frosting! 

I have not specified an amount of buttercream because it depends how much decoration you want to do.  I prefer minimal icing and used much less than half the recipe below but it keeps in the fridge for ages. 

I used Whittakers Dark Ghana chocolate which is vegan.  I worked out that 50g of their chocolate is about 9 squares of chocolate.  When I chopped the chocolate into chunks my notes say that I chopped each square into about 3-4 pieces.

Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Icing (Frosting)
Adapted from Life, Love and Sugar

115g vegan butter
95 g shortening
460g icing sugar
15g cocoa
2 tbsp coconut cream (or milk)
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt

Beat butter and shortening together until soft and creamy.  Beat in half icing sugar until well mixed and repeat with second half of icing sugar and cocoa.  Beat in coconut cream, vanilla and salt.  (If needed you can adjust thickness as desired by either adding more liquid to make it softer or more icing sugar to make it thicker.)  Use straightaway or store in the fridge if not using that day and bring it back to room temperature just before you are ready to use it.  Leftovers can be stored in the fridge or freezer.

On the stereo:
Forever is a feeling: the Archives - Lucy Dacus