was an adult by the time she tried her first jelly cake. She was in lentil country in South Australia doing an appearance, and after her demonstration there was a little get-together. Several sweets were served, but when it came to the jelly cakes, “I was immediately enamoured”, says Yeow. The dessert and its "fake raspberry perfume of lollies" had won her over.
"I just love that flavour. It just fires up receptors in your brain that are undeniably about childhood and simpler times when a lolly would bring you a huge amount of joy,” she says.
“You bite inside it and it's just this beautiful fluffy sponge cake. And then, the coconut on the outside, the fluffy coconut. There's something about all of it that makes it a really charming little bite.”
These days, at Yeow’s Jamface cake stand at , jelly cakes – in raspberry, raspberry lychee, strawberry, and pandan flavours – have been a regular fixture ever since she figured out what Jamface means to people.
“It’s all about comfort and also things that bring people childish glee,” Yeow says. “Pink meringues do the same things as well. The number of older men that would come and buy my rosewater meringue used to crack me up. But yes, it’s very much about nostalgia and things that granny used to make.”
Granny’s not the only one making jelly cakes though, especially now that the recipe’s in Yeow’s latest book, .
For first-timers, Yeow has two hot tips for nailing the dessert.
“It’s not that it’s hard, but it’s a little bit fiddly,” says Yeow.
The first trick is to not overset the jelly. Make sure it’s only half set, and make sure that you whisk it really well so that when you dip the sponge cake cubes into the jelly, you don’t get big chunks of jelly stuck to the cake.
If your jelly is overset and you’ve got big chunks of jelly on the side, you’ll find that you won’t be able to dip it in the coconut without having big red, wet spots everywhere.
The second tip: make sure you shake off any excess jelly. Use a tray rather than a bowl, that way you can fit as many cubes of sponge cake on it as possible. Dip as many pieces of cake in jelly first, then sit it on the tray of coconut and dip in as much coconut as possible.
Dipping in the jelly and the coconut can be a tricky affair. But if you're systematic and do all the jelly first, then the coconut, you'll make less of a mess.
I just love that flavour. It just fires up receptors in your brain that are undeniably about childhood and simpler times when a lolly would bring you a huge amount of joy.
This kind of philosophical outlook is one of the lovely things about What I Cook When Nobody’s Watching, which is definitely Yeow’s most personal book so far, especially when she reflects on how she – and the way she cooks – has changed since her initial appearance on MasterChef, during the show's first season in 2009.
“I wanted to include lots of personal stories because it’s about sharing that sort of imperfection of life. The flaws, uncertainties… it’s all good. I just want people to know that, to just be,” says Yeow.
The last few years have been a time of reflection and change for the cookbook author.
“I busted into the food scene through MasterChef, and without the show being well-known at the time, I felt like there was such a weight on me to prove that I was a chef. So, for a few years there, I was all about making my food as complicated as I could, to sort of justify that status.”
“And now, I couldn't be running further away from that. For me, now, it's all about how 'make-able' it is at home for someone who has no skill. I'm all about trying to cut down on techniques so that people just find it not daunting.”
“I'm time poor, and I really need those recipes as well. It's how I cook. And I realised, why am I projecting this image that is not even honest? I need to become more and more honest with the way I design my recipes.”
Poh Ling Yeow on her TV show with ex-MasterChef contestant Adam Liaw, Adam & Poh's Malaysia in Australia. Source: Adam & Poh's Malaysia in Australia
One thing that hasn’t changed, though: her belief that the perfect thing to go with sweets is a good strong black cup of tea. “I love how the tannins kind of cleanse the palate and then you can go back for more cake.”
Raspberry jelly cakes
Makes 24
In the introduction to this recipe in What I Cook When Nobody’s Watching, Poh Ling Yeow recalls growing up around a lot of baked goods as a kid, "but these weren't in Mum's repertoire". The cookbook author was well into her thirties when she first tasted this style of cake, and everything about sinking her teeth into the pink raspberry jelly, light sponge and snowy-looking coconut instantly evoked a child-like delight. At her Jamface store, she splits the cakes, then sandwiches them with raspberry-flavoured cream, even though it's not traditional. "You can make all the elements a day ahead but, to exploit the cake at its peak fluffiest, allow it to come to room temp before filling and serving," she says.
Ingredients
- 1 packet raspberry jelly crystals
- 7 large eggs
- ⅔ cup caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence or raspberry flavouring
- Pinch of salt
- ⅓ cup wheaten cornflour
- ⅓ cup self-raising flour
- 3 cups desiccated coconut
Raspberry cream
- 600 ml thickened cream
- ¼ cup caster sugar
- 1 tsp raspberry flavouring
Method
- Place the jelly crystals and 300 ml boiling water boiling water in a medium bowl and stir to dissolve. Stir in 300 ml cool water. Chill in the fridge for about 3 hours until set.
- To make the raspberry cream, combine the cream, sugar and raspberry flavouring in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and whisk on the highest speed until stiff peaks form. Cover and chill until needed.
- Preheat to 190˚C in a conventional oven (170˚C in a fan-forced oven). Line the base and sides of a 30 x 22 cm brownie tin with a single sheet of baking paper.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla or raspberry flavouring and salt, then whisk on the highest speed until the mixture triples in volume.
- Combine all the flours in a sieve and sift one-third of it over the egg and sugar mixture. Fold very gently until combined. Repeat until all the flours are used, then pour into the prepared tin.
- Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter so the middle of the rectangle dips in a little, and the edges are mounded a tad higher - this helps the cake to bake with a more even surface.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Lift the cake out of the tin and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before removing the baking paper.
- Using a serrated knife, slice the rectangle of sponge into 6 x 4 cm cubes.
- Whisk the set jelly well, so it is almost smooth.
- Cover a baking tray with the coconut, then shake to level.
- Dip the pieces of sponge into the jelly, making sure all the sides are well covered, then shake the excess off before gently patting on the coconut. Repeat until all the pieces of sponge are coated with jelly and coconut.
- Slice the cakes in half and fill with the raspberry cream. Piping is much tidier, but using a teaspoon is perfectly fine. Serve at room temperature.
'The Mostest' is an SBS Food column that sees comedian and food enthusiast Jennifer Wong be your guide. Read as she goes searching to uncover who we are as cooks, who we are as eaters and what we enjoy most. Expect history, incredible tips, must-make recipes and anecdotes all surrounded by food. Love the story? Follow the author here: Twitter , Facebook , Instagram .
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