Città at home: Nadia Lim shares three beautiful Easter recipes

Easter celebrations will be a little different this year. To keep it special, Nadia Lim has shared three recipes from her latest Vegful cookbook. Treat yourself to Nadia’s beetroot chocolate & orange cake, rhubarb & apple pie, and kūmara focaccia. Happy baking!

Beetroot, chocolate & orange cake

This light, almost sponge-like cake is one that is great as a morning or afternoon tea-type cake by itself (as it’s not overly sweet or rich), or you can make it more decadent and special with the chocolate ganache and fresh berries. This recipe makes a smaller cake, enough to serve 8-10 nicely.

Serves 8-10
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

350-400g beetroot, peeled and chopped
¼ cup coconut oil or melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract
1 cup (100g) ground almonds
1¼ cup (100g) desiccated coconut
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
3½ tablespoons dark cocoa or cacao powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 free-range eggs
1 punnet fresh berries, to garnish

Chocolate ganache
85g dark chocolate, chopped
1/3 cream or coconut cream

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Lightly grease and line the base and sides of a 20-21cm cake tin with baking paper.

2. Boil beetroot for 10-15 minutes until tender.

3. Drain beetroot well and place in a food processor or blender along with coconut oil/butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Blend until smooth.

4. If using the food processor, add ground almonds, coconuts, orange zest, cocoa, baking powder and eggs, and continue blending until mixture is smooth and well combined. Otherwise, pour mixture into a large bowl, add other ingredients and whisk until smooth and well combined.

5. Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour or until cake is just set. Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from tin and transferring to a cake rack, then allow to cool completely before icing.

6. To make ganache, place chocolate and cream/coconut cream in a heatproof bowl and melt together in the microwave in 30-seconds bursts, then stir until smooth and glossy. Alternatively, place bowl above a small pot of barely simmering water and stir gently every now and again until melted. Allow ganache to cool slightly before using.

7. Spread ganache over the top of the cake and a little down the sides and top with fresh berries.

Rhubarb & apple pie

This rhubarb and apple pie is a hit with everyone, every time. It often comes out for dessert after a family Sunday dinner. It’s easy to make and all you need to serve it with is some vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream or custard.

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 35-45 minutes

1½ tablespoons butter or coconut oil
4-5 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
4-5 large stalks rhubarb, diced 2cm
Zest and juice of ½ orange
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup caster sugar
2 square sheets or 400-500g sweet shortcrust pastry divided into 2 portions
1 free-range egg
2 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat over to 190°C.

2. Melt butter/coconut oil in a medium to large pot over medium heat. Add apple and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring, until starting to soften, then add rhubarb, orange zest and juice and cinnamon. Continue cooking for a further 4-5 minutes until rhubarb is starting to soften. Stir in sugar until it has dissolved. Set aside to cool until you are ready to assemble the pie.

3. Roll out one sheet (or portion) of pastry on a clean, dry, flat surface to about 2-3mm thickness. Line a pie dish (about 25cm in diameter) with the pastry. Don’t worry if it tears in places—shortcrust pastry is very forgiving, just squish and patch it back together. You may need to use some of the other sheet of pastry and bits of off-cuts to line the whole tin. Trim around the edges to create a neat flat edge. Whisk egg with milk in a small bowl. Prick pastry with a fork in a few places and brush with a little egg wash. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove pie base from over and set aside to cool.

4. Fill pie base with cooled apple and rhubarb filling. Cut the remaining pastry into 1cm-thick strips and arrange on top of fitting in a lattice.

5. Brush pastry lattice lightly with egg wash. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until pastry is crisp and golden. Serve warm with custard, ice cream or cream.

Kūmara focaccia with grapes

I reckon everyone needs to experience how satisfying it is to make your own focaccia bread. I feel like an Italian kitchen goddess whenever I make it, squishing my fingertips into the soft dough and dousing it with olive oil! There’s nothing quite like it fresh out of the oven, then plonked on a table to pull apart and generously dip into extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic or cut into thick slabs to have with salad or soup.

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 25 minutes (+1 hour 45 minutes to rise)
Cook time: 30 minutes

300g kūmara (red, orange or gold), peeled and chopped
250ml warm (not hot) water
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon active dried yeast
2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
450g high-grade flour 

Topping
1 cup grapes, cut in half
Leaves from 1-2 sprigs rosemary
1 tablespoon flaky sea salt or rock salt

1. Cook kūmara in boiling salted water until soft. Drain and mash well.

2. While kūmara is cooking, combine warm water and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top and stir gently. Set aside for about 10 minutes until frothy.

3. Whisk in mashed kūmara, salt and 3 tablespoons of the olive oil. Shift in flour. Mix until ingredients are just combined.

4. Tip dough out onto a clean, dry surface. Bring together with your hands and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding a little flour as needed. The dough should be soft; if it’s really sticky, add a little more flour.

5. Drizzle the inside of the bowl the dough was in with olive oil. Fold edges of the dough underneath to create a smooth, rounded top, then place in the oiled bowl. Drizzle and rub dough with a little more olive oil to prevent a crust forming on top. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour until it has risen to be double in size.

6. Drizzle a baking tray with olive oil. Slide dough onto oiled tray. Use your fingertips to make indentations in the dough while gently stretching and flattening it into an oval shape about 1.5cm thick. Drizzle with more olive oil, cover with the tea towel and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes to rise again.

7. Preheat oven to 220°C. Once dough has risen, press your fingertips into the dough to make more indentations. Dot with grapes and sprinkle with rosemary and sea/rock salt. Drizzle with remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and puffed around the edges. Eat warm, fresh out of the oven.