full recipe – ode to john olsen cake

John Olsen was inspired by many of the great poets and their philosophies on the human condition, especially its metaphoric link to the wilderness. Through the medium of paint, he portrayed both the textures of the Australian landscape and his own nature in every brush stroke.

His call to explore under every rock and in every crevice to uncover what makes us unique as artists is an eternal driving force for me. Meeting in a meadow with cake is what I imagined when I looked into Olsen’s Coopers Creek in Flood (1975 – 76), dated 1981, with its palette of pistachio and rhubarb. It gave me the feeling of cake painted onto a canvas.

INGREDIENTS

Baked Rhubarb
1 bunch rhubarb (minimum six to nine stalks)
150g caster sugar
1 small piece fresh ginger
1 peeled and thinly sliced orange, juiced and zested

Ginger Custard
200g double cream
250g pure cream
1 large piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp vanilla paste
5 egg yolks
60g caster sugar

Pistachio Sponge
50g unsalted butter, plus 50g – 70g for greasing
40g pistachio paste
6 eggs
70g caster sugar
55g cake flour or combine
100g – 140g plain flour with 50g – 60g cornflour
100g pistachios, shelled and finely ground

To Assemble 
150g pure cream
150g double cream
80g pistachios, shelled and roughly chopped

METHOD:

BAKED RHUBARB 1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Wash the rhubarb to remove any soil and trim off the ends and leaves using a sharp cook’s knife.

2. Slice the stalks lengthways down the centre, so that they are no thicker than 1cm. If the stalks are really thick you may need to slice them into three pieces lengthways to achieve the correct thickness.

3. Cut each length into 7cm batons then toss with the sugar, ginger, and orange juice and zest. Arrange the rhubarb in a deep baking dish, all in a row and in the same direction like matchsticks, and place in the oven for 20 minutes.

4. Check the fruit and you will see the sugar has melted and the rhubarb is halfimmersed in the liquid. Give the dish a shake so the fruit rolls over and the other side can be cooked, then return to the oven for a further 15 – 20 minutes or until soft and tender.

5. You need the fruit to be soft enough so that when it goes into the layers of the cake you can cut through it with a knife.

4. Remove the rhubarb from the oven and cool completely in the baking dish.

GINGER CUSTARD 1. Combine the creams, ginger, cardamom and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring everything almost to the boil, then turn off the heat and allow the flavours to infuse for 30 minutes.

2. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together using a hand whisk until pale and fluffy. Set them beside the stove with a sieve sitting over the top of the bowl. Place a shallow tray beside the stove ready to pour the custard into.

3. Return the cream almost to the boil and pour the hot liquid through the sieve directly onto the yolks. Use a spatula to press the ingredients through the sieve to extract every last possible drop of cream into the eggs and discard the ginger.

4. Whisk the cream and yolks together and return to the saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly and gently using a heatproof spatula, for 1 – 2 minutes or until
the custard thickens.

5. Test it’s ready by running your finger through the custard on the spatula. If the custard doesn’t run back together, it’s done.

6. Remove it from the heat and pour into the shallow tray, then cover the surface directly with plastic film to prevent a skin from forming and pop in the fridge to cool and set for three hours.

PISTACHIO SPONGE 1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Lightly grease 3 x 20 cm | 3 x 25 cm cake tins with butter and pop in a base liner of baking paper to make removing the cakes easier. No need to flour the tins.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan on the stove, turning off the heat before it starts to boil. Add the pistachio paste and whisk through the butter thoroughly then set aside.

3. Choose a heatproof bowl (preferably the bowl from an electric mixer) and crack
the eggs into the bowl. Add the sugar and roughly whisk together using a hand whisk.

4. Place the eggs and sugar over a saucepan of barely simmering water, ensuring the bowl isn’t touching the water, and whisk every now and then so they don’t sit idle and scramble. It’s not necessary to engage any fierce whisking action here as the electric mixer or electric beaters will do that later, you just need to keep the eggs and sugar moving as they are warming.

5. Once the mixture is slightly hot to the touch (50°C on a thermometer), remove it from the heat and place the bowl onto an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for 5 – 7 minutes or until completely cool.

6. Meanwhile, sift the flour twice to aerate and wake up the flour and have the finely ground pistachios at hand.

7. By now the eggs will be cool and have tripled in volume, so remove the bowl from the mixer. Sift half the flour onto the surface of the eggs and gently fold it through using a spatula or metal spoon. Repeat with the remaining flour.

8. Once all the flour is combined, gently fold through the pistachios. Remove three tablespoons of the sponge mixture and fold it through the melted butter to lighten the liquid. Now fold this back through the sponge – this process will cause less deflation in the finished sponge.

9. Divide the sponge batter equally between the prepared cake tins and gently smooth the tops using an offset palette knife or a spoon. Bake the cakes for 20 minutes to 25 minutes. The sponges are ready when the middle bounces back slightly when pressed with your finger.

10. Remove the sponges from the oven and allow to set in their tins for two minutes only. Remove them by tilting the tins at a 45-degree angle and slipping them out onto a cooling rack using your deft fingertips. Cool the sponges completely before assembling the cake.

TO ASSEMBLE 1. Remove the ginger custard from the fridge and place in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment along with the creams. Whip together until thick and fluffy. Don’t walk away from the mixer at this stage as double cream can whip very quickly and curdle.

2. Place one of the sponges onto a cake platter and spoon one-third of the ginger cream on top, spreading it evenly to the edge of the cake using an offset palette knife. Cover the custard with half the baked rhubarb, being mindful not to add too much of the syrup at this stage, then top with the second sponge and repeat the layering of ginger cream and rhubarb. Place the third sponge on top and take a moment to jig all the layers together so the cake looks straight. Ripple
a little of the rhubarb poaching syrup through the final third of the ginger cream then spoon it all over the top of the cake. Push the cream gently over the edges of the cake using a large palette knife and rotate the cake as you go to cover the sides. Try to move the cream only in one direction, so you don’t sweep crumbs back into the icing. Smooth over the top, drizzle with a little more rhubarb syrup, if you like, and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios.