Fiona McIntosh's Blog

This serves x 12

Do not be tempted to substitute turkish apricots for the dried South Australian apricots – I use Angas Park but there are other suppliers and probably around the country but they MUST be the dried, tangy sort not the plump super sweet sort or you’re flavours will fail in this recipe.  You need the tartness of the South Australian dried apricot for it to work.  I gather Californian apricots have the same quality but why buy international when you can buy home grown?

For the cream I used heavy cream and I would urge you not to try and make your whipped mascarpone and cream until you’re ready to serve. It comes together in moments.  So just have everything ready to go (I made the compote two days previous and the meringues the night before).  Excuse yourself from the table, take out the mascarpone and cream from the fridge, put them in your bowl, whip for barely 30 secs and it will come together. DO NOT OVERBEAT, go gently or your mascarpone will clot. You can rescue it with cream but don’t put yourself in that situation.

Assemble on the spot and bring to the table and soak up all the adoration you will earn.

Ingredients

For the almond meringue

500g almond meal

3 cups icing sugar

9 large egg whites

½ teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons caster sugar

For apricot compote

250g dried Barossa apricots finely chopped 

2 cups water

4 heaped tablespoons apricot jam

For mascarpone cream

500g mascarpone

280ml cup chilled heavy cream

1/4 cup Amaretto

Almond Decoration

Flaked almonds pre-toasted.

METHOD

Make your apricot compote two days out by simmering dried apricots in water, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until apricots are very soft and most of liquid is evaporated, about 15 minutes. Stir in the apricots jam, then cool completely. I stored mine in a glass covered dish and left it on the kitchen counter – I didn’t want it going hard in the fridge.

Make your meringue layers the day before:

Trace 3 (10-inch) circles on parchment paper

Turn them over and place on large baking sheets.  You will have to cook separately, unless you want to turn on two ovens.

Mix almonds with icing sugar

Beat egg whites with salt in a large bowl at medium speed until they just hold soft peaks. Add caster sugar a tablespoon at a time, as you’ve been taught since childhood for making pavlova!  Then whisk on high until your meringue has stiff, glossy peaks.

Very gently, as if making macarons, fold whites into almond mixture until completely blended.

Divide the batter onto your three circles, smoothing into rounds.L

Leave them uncovered, at room temperature until tops are no longer sticky and a light crust forms, about 30 minutes. This is the exact process for macarons and I forgot to do this and suffered for it.  You won’t because you’re paying attention.

Pre-heat oven to 160.

Bake layers, switching position of baking sheets halfway through cooking, until they edges are crisp and they’re turning golden.  Mine took much longer but start checking from 25-30 mins.

Turn off oven and leave them for oven 15 minutes.

Cool completely on baking sheets on racks….completely!

I covered each layer in baking paper on the rack and then cling filmed the rack to leave them overnight, airtight.

WHEN YOU’RE READY TO SERVE:

Make mascarpone cream

Gently beat together mascarpone, heavy cream, and Amaretto  at medium speed until thick and smooth.  Mine came together in half a minute but you take your time and get it floppy and delicious.

Put your least favourite layer on the bottom and spread half of the apricot compote.  Now spread one third of the cream over it.

Add your next layer – the slightly cracking one as mine was – and repeat the decorating process.

Add your best layer and top with the rest of the cream and sprinkle with your toasted almonds.

Walk triumphantly to the table and just nod.  You are going to be adored

I have already posted this as a pudding, served warm.  But this is the version for a cake. This is another of Bel Jeffrey’s flawless recipes.  I don’t ever tinker this one because it’s bang on.  You will need a 25cm springform pan – yes, a large production.

When cooking, all oven are different, so if yours is fierce and you feel the top is baking fast – you don’t want those almonds to scorch – just put a piece of foil over the top around 45 mins into the bake. Be quick, don’t let the hot air escape too much and DON’T slam the door shut in your haste either.

Rhubarb and Sour Cream Cake with Almond Topping

280g plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

Good pinch of salt

60g unsalted butter at room temperature

320g light brown sugar

1 X-large free range egg

Vanilla extract – be generous, at least two teaspoons

1 heaped cup of full fat sour cream.  Don’t be tempted to sling the whole pot in. I know it’s annoying to use 260mls of 300 but cake will get too moist.

4 cups rhubarb – it’s about seven to eight medium sticks. Chop the rhubarb to around thumbnail size.

Flaked almonds – get a new packet so they’re fresh. You’ll need at least half a cup – I use at least three quarters of a cup and load it up.

1/3 cup raw sugar to sprinkle over the almonds. I use demerara just to be contrary

Preheat oven to 180 convection and butter/ line a 10-inch springform pan – I do bottom and sides

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter and brown sugar – there’s not a lot of butter so it’s going to clump. Resembling wet sand is what you’re after.

Add the egg and beat until the mixture is well combined.

Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat to combine.  Do not drink the batter at this stage – it tastes like caramel and is very tempting.

Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined.  Do NOT overmix.

Fold in rhubarb.

Spread the mixture into prepared pan

Sprinkle top of the cake with flaked almonds followed by the extra sugar.

Bake for 70 minutes. If it’s browning but a skewer isn’t coming out clean, put a loose sheet of foil on top to protect while it continues to cook. I have baked up to 90 mins.  Start checking from about an hour though, depending on your oven.

The sugar does not need to melt. The almonds simply need to look toasted.

Dust with icing sugar for your final flourish.  Do not share.  Eat it all yourself with ice cream or custard, or both…and even pure cream poured with abandon.

Belinda Jeffery’s Orange Cake

This is a flawless cake and if you follow the instructions to the letter, you too will understand why I believe it is perfect.  I’m not even a lover of the flavour of orange but it is very easy to just keep taking slices from this cake. Belinda includes an option for dried cranberries.  I have never bothered.  If you want to you’ll need 80g and hold back one tblsp of the flour and flour them before you add them to the mix so they don’t all sink to the bottom. I bake it in a simple bundt – one you can find in any good bakeware store and not too exxy. It lends itself perfectly to the size of the cake and for easy slicing, for prettiness and for glazing.

But you must prepare the bundt tin properly.  I honestly do spend as much time preparing a bundt as I do preparing the batter to go in it.  It is worth the time and effort of carefully buttering and flouring.

The texture is velvety and it possesses a rich and buttery orange flavour.  Belinda used orange concentrate when she wrote the recipe.  It’s not available that I can find so I stick with fresh orange juice.  Don’t use supermarket juice.  Squeeze fresh oranges and get the flavour fully fresh and authentic.

*I have adjusted Bel’s recipe by adding a couple more tablespoons of orange juice but you can stick with her original of two and half tablespoons if you prefer.

Ingredients

3 cups plain flour

Half teaspoon salt

Half teaspoon bicarb soda

3 large eggs

440g caster sugar

250g unsalted butter at room temp and cut into chunks

250ml buttermilk

Grate the zest of three oranges

4 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange *

Icing sugar to dust

Orange Glaze

Do make this glaze – it preserves the cake and adds a beautiful crackle to the outside

1 cup icing sugar mixture, sifted

60ml orange juice, freshly squeezed

30g unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius

Prepare your tin with care you need approx. 26cm wide

Put the flour, salt and bicarb into a processor and whiz to. Mix.

Add the eggs and sugar into the processor and whiz them for a minute

While whizzing now add chunks of butter and process for another minute until thick and creamy

Add the buttermilk, orange zest and orange juice and whiz for 10 seconds

Add the flour mixture and blend with on/off pulse until JUST COMBINED. You do not want to overmix this.

Stir in the cranberries if using with a rubber spatula for barely seconds

Spoon the batter evenly into the bundt tin. Even out

Bake for about 70 mins or until a fine skewer comes out clean.

Cool in the tin, on a rack for 15 mins during which make the orange glaze by whisking all the ingredients together.

Loosen around the edge of the cake.  Now please take your time. It’s still warm and you don’t want only half to come out.  Ease it away from all the edges inside and outside. Invert and out it should come with some firm tapping.  I have not failed to get this out in one cake without bits clinging and I know that’s because I obsessively prepare the tin beforehand.

Now with a pastry brush, brush the glaze all over the cake repeatedly, leaving not a millimetre unglazed until all the icing has soaked in or formed a sugar layer.  Include the central hollow.

Leave the cake to cool completely.

Next day or once fully cooled, you can dust with icing sugar or make a simple orange icing but honestly, neither are necessary.

Watch it disappear.

There will be several Fiona McIntosh titles released over the course of 2025.

Her long awaited sequel to the popular novel, The Champagne War, will be released late in the year for readers who enjoy historical fiction.  It will travel readers from Scotland to London, to Tasmania, and back to Epernay in France.

Blood Pact, her latest crime was released in January to much delight for Jack Hawksworth fans and new readers to her work around the world, as the crime series debuts in UK and US.

Coming up in March 2025 is the publication of Fiona’s first picture book.

Harry and Gran Bake a Cake is anticipated to start a new series of books for very young readers. Colourful, amusing and poignant, Harry and Gran Bake a Cake is paired with the fabulous and funny illustrations from Sara Acton.  Grandmothers especially around the country are going to enjoy sharing this book with their beloved youngsters.

With fantasy stories catching fire again, it feels appropriate to answer the call for Fiona’s numerous fantasy titles to be re-released for a new generation. Her fantasy trilogies won many hearts around the globe and were translated into a dozen languages.  Penguin Random House will begin by releasing her most popular trilogy, The Quickening, starting with Myrren’s Gift in print, audio and e-book from March 2025.

The Det Jack Hawksworth series of six books have been acquired by No Exit Press – an imprint of Bedford Square Publishers in London – for release across UK and US.

The first trio of novels – Bye Bye Baby, Beautiful Death and Mirror Man were released in January 2025.  The second trio – Dead Tide, Foul Play and Blood Pact will be out by mid year.

The series of Hawksworth books have been optioned for the small screen. More details to follow.

The latest of the Det. Jack Hawksworth crime series release in ANZ in January 2025. For its first four weeks of release it not only arrived straight into the National Top 10 across all books but was the #2 in Australian fiction.

It held the #1 spot for Australian crime fiction for its first four weeks of release.

Released into the congested Christmas market for 2025, The Fallen Woman went straight into the National Top 10.

It has consistently been praised as a favourite – if not THE favourite – of McIntosh’s recent historical novels.

It is Fiona’s 44th title.

280g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
Good pinch of salt
60g unsalted butter at room temperature
320g light brown sugar
1 X-large free range egg
Vanilla extract – be generous, two teaspoons
1 heaped cup of full fat sour cream,
4 cups rhubarb – it’s about seven to eight medium sticks
Flaked almonds – get a new packet so they’re fresh. You’ll need at least half a cup – I use at least three quarters of a cup and load it up.
1/3 cup raw sugar

Preheat oven to 180 convection and line a 10-inch springform pan – I do the whole pan.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt. Set aside.

Beat the butter and brown sugar – there’s not a lot of butter so it’s going to clump and not cream. Resembling wet sand is what you’re after.

Add the egg and beat until the mixture is well combined.

Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat to combine. Do not drink the batter at this stage – it tastes like caramel and is very tempting.

Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined. Do NOT overmix.

Fold in rhubarb.

Spread the mixture into prepared pan

Sprinkle top of the cake with flaked almonds mixed with the extra sugar – be generous with the almonds

Bake for 60-70 minutes. If it’s browning but a skewer isn’t coming out clean, put a loose sheet of foil on top to protect while it continues to cook. I have baked up to 80 mins. Start checking from about 55mins though, depending on your oven.

The sugar does not need to melt. The almonds simply need to look toasted.

Dust with icing sugar for your final flourish. Do not share. Eat it all yourself with ice cream or custard, or both…and even pure cream poured with abandon.

This really is a recipe to file away and bring out when you want to impress with a dessert.

Now you can use frozen raspberries but I didn’t and I think it’s all the better for the fresh fruit.  And you can use bought jam but why when a quick raspberry jam can be whipped up in minutes with frozen raspberries and sugar with a hit of lemon and bingo.  You have much better tasting jam than which comes out of the jar and with no preservatives or forced gelling, etc.

You will need a deepish tart tin – essentially one that will allow for about 3.5cms.  Mine is a Baker’s Secret with a removable base that has lots of holes in it.

Oven to 180.

150g soft unsalted butter
90g caster sugar
2 x extra large free range eggs beaten
240g plain flour
80g ground almonds

200g soft unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
2 tblsp plain flour
4 extra large eggs
5 tablespoons raspberry jam (home made or store bought)
Two punnets fresh raspberries

For the pastry, beat your butter with the sugar with a pinch of salt and then add the almonds and flour, then eggs to bring it together and ensure no lumps.  Turn into a disc, cover in wrap and chill.

After one hour, roll it out to fit the tart. Back into the fridge while you make the filling.

Beat butter until light and fluffy.
Add the sugar until pale and well blended.
(At this point I swapped my paddle for the whisk but you don’t have to)
Add ground almonds
Add the flour
Add the eggs one at a time
I put in a very big splash of bush whisky that I bought in Tasmania but you don’t have to add any alcohol, although this French recipe suggested using dark rum, I threw in a slosh or two of my new bush whisky.

Get out the tart tin and begin by spooning in and smoothing a thick but single layer of the raspberry jam.

Then add the almond paste mixture.

Push in as many raspberries as you want – I used loads but I had several punnets in my fridge. You may want to hold a few back for plating up of course.

Bake at 180 for about 45 mins in the middle shelf.  You want it golden and cooked all the way through so test and if you’re concerned, cover loosely with foil and keep baking until you’re happy it’s cooked through.

Leave it to cool.  Serve warm with single pouring cream and a few raspberries or ice cream.

I’ve given you the image below to show you how it looked before I baked it. The frangipane will rise around the raspberries.  I dusted with icing sugar.  It is DIVINE!

An enthralling case for Det. Supt. Jack Hawksworth of a complex blackmail of one of English football’s superstars on the eve of his team pulling off the near impossible, the arrival of baby twins and threatening his impending marriage as well as a massive sponsorship deal. All the available evidence suggests he’s guilty, except Luca Bruni hotly denies the sordid claims and is prepared to risk exposure to the media and dark web if he brings in the police. He defies his blackmailers and Operation Stonecrop gets underway revealing some surprises, terrible secrets and innocents being dragged into the fray.

Releasing January 2024.