A Moonlighting Baker's Vanilla Cake With Ricotta Icing And Roasted Peaches

January was all about healthy salad recipes to help get you into the swing of wholesome dinners and yummy leftover lunches. But this month, we’re pivoting to the other end of the spectrum. Enter Charlotte Ree, baking queen!

Based in Sydney, Charlotte is rather an unconventional ‘slashie’. Spending her days as the Media and Communications Manager for a major publishing house, she’s managed campaigns for the likes of some of Australia’s most popular foodies including Hetty McKinnon, Julia Busuttil Nishimura and Karen Martini (to name a few). An avid baker and recipe developer herself, Charlotte has been making her own epic baking creations on the side, channelling her passion into Bakeree, an eBook released in November 2017. Two years later and this moonlighting foodie will be releasing her first print book, Just Desserts, with Pan Macmillan imprint Plum in November!

Before she hits the big time, we asked Charlotte to create a month’s worth of mouth-watering baked goods that will make you everyone’s favourite dinner party guest.

Written

Charlotte Ree

(first image) Small Cheese Platter ($90) in Blossom, Salad Plate ($37) in Milk and Mixing Bowl ($158) in Milk, from Mud Australia. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Lucy Feagins. Styling Assistant – Ashley Simonetto.

French linen Tea Towel in Watermelon, from I Love Linen. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Lucy Feagins. Styling Assistant – Ashley Simonetto.

Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Lucy Feagins. Styling Assistant – Ashley Simonetto.

Small Cheese Platter ($90) in Blossom and Salad Plate ($37) in Milk, from Mud Australia. Photo – Eve Wilson. Styling – Lucy Feagins. Styling Assistant – Ashley Simonetto.

Writer

Charlotte Ree

5th of February 2019

I am a no-fuss baker. My recipes are easy and user-friendly, made to taste amazing more than just look pretty. You won’t need any bits of extravagant equipment but I always swear by baking with a stand mixer (it saves you so much time) and a set of digital kitchen scales as they are so much more accurate and, there’s nothing more important than being precise with measurements when baking.

This is a simple cake and so you want to ensure you are baking with good quality ingredients to allow the flavours to shine. Buy the best quality ricotta, eggs and peaches you can get your hands on.

The peaches, in particular, are the hero of this dish. They make my mouth water and when roasted, their fragrance is all consuming.

Ingredients

185g self-raising flour
170g caster sugar
125g butter, at room temperature + extra to grease tin
2 eggs, at room temperature
80ml milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Roasted Peach

5 peaches, halved
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped onto fruit
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp honey

Icing

250ml pouring cream, at room temperature
250ml ricotta, at room temperature
100g icing sugar, sifted

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin with softened butter and line the base with baking paper.

Place all cake ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat on a low speed until combined (about 30 seconds). Increase the speed to high and beat for 2-3 minutes until thick and pale. Spoon the mixture into your prepared tin.

Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Leave to cool.

Arrange the peaches, vanilla bean, water and honey on a baking tray. Bake in the oven at 180°C for 30 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Once the cake and peaches have cooled, prepare your icing. Beat the ricotta, cream and icing sugar until thickened and combined.

Spread your icing over the top of the cake. Just before serving, arrange the roasted peaches over the icing, drizzling any additional syrup over the top.