How my Mother's day rolls- we try to keep it pretty simple. I don’t like spending too much time cooking on Mother’s Day but I love spending it with Mum, Frankie and the family. Breakfast: Always there is pikelets and now Frankie makes these for me in bed. It’s an old recipe but one we have used many, many times. You can find it here. Lunch is always with my Mum and Dad, Ros and Frank. They continue to run our century old family orchard and I’m in complete awe to their resilience, tenacity, and innovation.

Starters with a cheese and dried fruit platter. Here are some beautiful pairings for you:

• I have picked the cheese Mum especially likes Barossa Cheese La Petite Princesse paired with our black genoa figs (or the sticky quince figs).
• Vine ripened shiraz, apricots and peaches paired with Section 28 Mont Priscilla.
• I can’t go past a great cheddar like the Long Paddock Granite Cheddar or Maffra Cheddar.
• I love Barossa Cheese La Dame and Wanera with the Smyrna sun dried quince or a Prom Cheese Venus blue.
• A shoutout to Penny from Penny’s Cheese Shop because she has matched our White Smyrna figs with the classic Wensleydale mild cheese.
• Cressida from Pecora Dairy picked their award winning Yarrawa with our Riverland Duchess Pears.
• And I love Milawa Cheese, all of them. The King River Gold pairs beautifully with our black genoa figs and the Savour blue with the Smyrna quince.
• Crackers can be divisive, but I do love Tucker’s Caramelised Onion crackers. If you are looking for gluten free crackers I need to give a massive plug for Oliver Lane Gluten Free classic crispbreads. They are so, so good.

Now the trick is not to eat too much of the platter before the main dish for lunch...or graze all afternoon and then no dinner is required. I am planning Roast Chicken with white Smyrna figs. Chef Jason Roberts created the most beautiful recipe and reel on how to make this one. You can find it here. We are a family very big on roast vegies and a special garden pea salad. This is a favourite recipe (with or without the mullet) - Pea and fennel salad .

Dessert is the fabulous Tilly Pamment A Plain cake. A beautiful tea match for cake is our Fig leaf and Rose tea or you could perk it up with our Sticky Quince Fizz (non-alcoholic or mixed with your favourite brew). The recipe (if you can call it this, its so simple) is here.

Enjoy and hope your Sunday is beautiful in all its forms.

This cake recipe is from the the very brilliant Tilly Pamment and her amazing Book The Plain cake Appreciation Society. (Text from The Plain Cake Appreciation Society by Tilly Pamment, photography by Tilly Pamment. Murdoch Books RRP $39.99).

A Plain Cake with Passionfruit Buttercream p.16

As a cake baker and recipe writer, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to: I think this is my favourite cake. A comfortingly simple butter cake, with just the right ratio of cake to sunny passionfruit buttercream. This is the cake I make first when I’ve been away from home, and the one I crave with a big cup of tea when my mum is not around for a hug.

MAKES ONE 20 CM (8 INCH) CAKE

185 g (6½ oz) unsalted butter, softened

185 g (6½ oz) golden caster (superfine) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

3 eggs

225 g (8 oz) self-raising flour

pinch of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

pinch of salt

125 ml (4 fl oz) buttermilk, at room temperature

PASSIONFRUIT BUTTERCREAM

125 g (4½ oz) unsalted butter, softened

240 g (8½ oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar

2 tablespoons passionfruit pulp, plus extra to decorate

Preheat the oven to 160°C (315°F) fan-forced and grease a deep 20 cm (8 inch) round tin thoroughly with butter. Line the base and side of the tin with baking paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, caster sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl and whisk together. Add half to the creamed butter mixture, stirring gently, before adding half the buttermilk. Once incorporated, follow with the remaining flour, then the remaining buttermilk, stirring gently until the batter is smooth. Spoon the batter into the tin, smoothing the top with a spatula and tapping the tin gently on the bench a few times to remove any air bubbles. Bake in the oven for 45–50 minutes or until golden, risen and cooked through. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cake is cool, make the passionfruit buttercream. Mix the butter and half the icing sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar and passionfruit pulp and beat until light and fluffy. Spoon the buttercream onto the cooled cake, smoothing it out to evenly cover the surface, and top with a little extra passionfruit pulp, if you like.

Serve at room temperature in thick slices, with a large pot of tea and a good friend. Any left-over cake will keep happily in an airtight container in the fridge for 2–3 days; just return to room temperature before serving.

SUE's note: I did change the buttercream flavour to a lemon because this is Mum’s favourite. I topped with roasted quince/shaved coconut (as featured in the photo).

I first made this spritzer for a reel online which you can watch here. This refreshing spritzer is a simple yet elegant drink perfect for a relaxing afternoon.

Here's how to recreate it:

Ingredients

- Sticky quince syrup (about 1-2 tablespoons)

- Ginger ale (about 250 ml depending on your glass size)

- Fresh mint leaves (4-6 leaves)

- Ice cubes (optional, not shown in video but perfect for Summer)

Method

1. Fill a glass with ginger ale (about 3/4 full). You can go for a tall glass like shown in the video or more of a cocktail shape depending on your preference.

2. Pour in the sticky quince syrup

3. Watch as it naturally effervesces and creates a beautiful reaction

4. Add fresh mint leaves to the glass

5. Gently stir to combine all flavours

6. Enjoy as a refreshing afternoon spritzer!

Variations

As mentioned in the video, you can customize this drink in several ways:

- Substitute ginger ale with soda water for a less sweet version

- Add your preferred alcohol to make it into a cocktail

- Adjust the amount of quince syrup to taste

Notes

The sticky quince syrup adds both sweetness and a unique fruity flavour that pairs wonderfully with the spiciness of ginger ale. The mint provides a fresh aromatic finish that elevates this simple drink into something special.

This spritzer requires no special equipment - just a glass and something to stir with!

Image from Mother's Day Binny Wear campaign.

Easter Baking Inspirations - Recommended Recipes (updated 12 April 2025)

To complement our Easter Baker's Bundles, we've gathered a collection of must-try recipes for making hot cross buns, each bringing a unique twist to this timeless Easter classic:  

• My latest success is with Julia Busuttil Nishimura Shokupan Hot Cross Buns. The combination of the diced fruit mix with the candied citrus peel works perfectly with this soft dough. I didn't add sultanas but you can always add these also. You can find the recipe here.Lor
• Helen Goh is one of my favourite bakers ad I love her cookbook Sweet. This new recipe also using the tangzhong (cooked flour paste) has just been posted by GoodFoodAu (paywall).
• The original tangzhong method (well when I first saw it) comes from Lorraine Elliott (Not Quite Nigella) and Lorraine has an array of varieties. Check out the 2025 biscoff edition.
• Tilly’s fruity Hot Cross Buns: I simply replaced the fruit in this recipe with our spectacular diced fruit mix and candied citrus peel. A beautifully soft fragrant bun. Special. Check it out.
  
• Flour and Stone - Nadine Ingram's Hot Cross Buns: A masterpiece of flavor and texture. Read More And a recent twist on this recipe here from Gourmet Traveller.
• Delicious Magazine - Helena Moursellas's Fig and Walnut Hot Cross Buns with cinnamon butter. I did add some caramel chocolate and I love the crunch in this recipe. Read More
• Amy Minichiello's Traditional Take with a quince twist: Dive into the nostalgia of Easter with this recipe with a twist of sun dried quince. Explore
• Kath's Hot Cross Loaf: For those who love a loaf with the Easter flavours. Discover
• More on the loaf idea. This isn’t a recipe I have tried yet but I love Michael James Bakes on Instagram (from the amazing Tivoli Road Bakery). Here is his latest recipe
• Emelia Jackson's Hot Cross Buns - Three Ways: Get creative with these variations. Learn How
• The Clever Carrot's Best Sourdough Hot Cross Buns: Elevate your bakes with a sourdough twist. Check It Out
• Breadspot20's Insightful Recipe and History: Not just a recipe, but a journey through the origins of hot cross buns. Dive Deeper

If dicing and blending dried fruit seems an impossible task for you our one-of-a-kind dried fruit mix will save you a load of time. Our Spectacular Diced Fruit Mix includes our semi sun-dried figs, apricots, peaches, pears, citrus and candied lemon (in quince sugar syrup) all from our orchard and other families we work with from across the Riverland.

UPDATED RECIPES 4 March 2025 using our Spectacular Dice Dried Fruit Mix. I hope you love them all : 

• No bake CHOCOLATE FRUIT AND NUT ENERGY BARS: Frankie is anaphylactic for peanuts and so many store bought bars are either full of peanuts and/or way too many rolled oats. I wanted to try make something simple with our Spectacular diced fruit and Sticky Quince Syrup.
• Belinda Jeffery's Last Minute Christmas cake doesn't have to be last minute at all and is a truly wonderful fruit cake or it can be used as a pudding. The recipe is a big one - making 4 x 1kg cakes. So I generally half the recipe (and make 2 cakes) and use the 500g bake of diced fruit mix and 100g of the citrus peel (you can use less if you want less of the citrus flavour). I also included one tablespoon of Sticky Quince syrup to the fruit mix. Here is a reel of me making the cakes.
• I made Sophie Hansen's baked porridge recipe, changing is up a bit by including apple (2 cups), rhubarb (1 cup), our diced fruit mix ( 3/4 cup) and a dash of sticky quince syrup. Here's is Sophie's recipe to have a go. 
• Eccles Cakes from Darren Purchese, expert guest on Masterchef and a judge on The Great Australian Bake Off. You can see my reel here where I used our diced fruit mix, these cakes were a total dessert pleaser, especially with the kids.
• the Ultimate Rhubarb Fruit Crumble Oh my goodness the tang… sharpness.. texture… sweetness and spice was pretty perfect. You can check out my reel here to see how I assembled the crumble layers and my rather loud excitement upon serving.
• Our Fig and Orange mincemeat  which might be a Christmas favourite but try folding the fruit mince through vanilla ice-cream, it's a winner all year round.
• The popular Mrs T's very lovely boiled fruitcake recipe.
• My take on Emiko Davies Italian bread pudding (pinza di pane) and also her sensational Pan Del Doge Di Zaira (Zaira's Fruit Cake) (please note that on the HUnter and Folk page they have forgotten to list 100g of granulated sugar in the ingredients list). In both recipes I replaced the fruit listed with the equivalent weight of our diced fruit mix. Stunning.
• Dried fruit and orange scrolls
• A crowd favourite Chocolate Fruit and Almond Protein balls
• I haven't personally made this recipe yet (Healthy homemade muesli bar slice recipe) but a lovely subscribers sent it to me saying she replaced the dried fruit quantities with our spectacular dice fruit mix.