Join us behind the scenes as we step into Marnie's kitchen and discover her passion for baking. A family tradition, Marnie grew up experiencing the baking talents of her mother and grandmothers' and their delicious homemade treats.
Ingredients were sourced from their farmland and local suppliers, an ethos Marnie continues to practice today, "we buy all our milk in glass bottles, which we then return and fill again. I buy flour in bulk. I never buy butter in plastic, I buy it in paper or foil-wrapped blocks. Sugar is hard; I haven’t found anywhere in Melbourne that sells caster sugar in bulk. We compost, we have a worm farm, and we grow a lot of our own fruit." 
On shoot day, Marnie chose one of her tried and tested recipes, the delicious Fig and Almond Tarts using figs from the family's garden tree. A constant source of inspiration the recipe is from everybody's favourite Yotam Ottolenghi from his cookbook Sweet.
We were lucky enough to sample these sweet treats and can confirm they are delicious - served warm and with a cup of tea in hand!
INGREDIENTS
-
200g unsalted butter
-
200g caster sugar, plus 1 tsp extra
-
3 large free-range eggs
-
180g ground almonds
-
100g plain flour
-
½ tsp salt
-
Scraped seeds of ½ vanilla pod or ½ tsp vanilla paste
-
1 tsp ground star anise
-
100g Greek yoghurt
-
12 figs
-
For the extra figs:
-
3 tbsp caster sugar
-
6 tbsp red wine
-
6 ripe figs, quartered
- Greek yogurt
SERVES EIGHT TO TEN
- Serve this on its own, with a cup of tea, but do also make a fully-fledged dessert dish with the figgy accompaniment - it doesn't take much extra effort.
-
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Line the bottom and sides of a 24cm loose-based cake tin with baking parchment. Put the butter and sugar in an electric mixer bowl, and use a beater to work them well until they turn light and pale. Beat the eggs lightly, then, with the machine on medium speed, add them gradually to the bowl, just a dribble at a time, adding more only once the previous addition is fully incorporated. Once all the egg is in, mix together the almonds, flour, salt, vanilla and anise, and fold into the batter. Mix until the batter is smooth, then fold in the yogurt.
-
Pour the batter into the lined tin and level roughly with a palette knife or a spoon. Cut each fig vertically into four long wedges, and arrange in circles on top of the cake, just slightly immersed in the batter. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 170C/340F/gas mark 3 and continue baking until it sets - about 40-45 minutes longer. Check this by inserting a skewer in the cake: it's done if it comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool down before taking it out of the tin and sprinkling with a teaspoon of caster sugar.
- You can eat the cake just as it is, but the addition of warm, syrupy figs turns it into something very special. Once the cake is cool enough, divide it into portions. Put three tablespoons of caster sugar in a medium saucepan and put on a high heat until the sugar starts to caramelise. Remove from the heat, carefully add the wine - it will spit a bit - then return to the heat and let the caramel dissolve in the wine. Add the fig quarters and quickly toss them around just to warm them up. Spoon a generous dollop of Greek yogurt over each slice of cake, plus a few warm figs and their juice.
Marnie wears one of her favourite aprons from her friends @cargocrew along with the ELK Bries Cotton top, Black Ilona pants, Almby Ring and Casia Platform shoes.
Learn more about Cargo Crew and discover their unique and original Modern Uniform designs here.
