Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull
Natalie Paull’s much-adored little bakery Beatrix Bakes in Melbourne has big queues out the front door on any given day.
Styling: Stephanie Stamatis | Photography: Bec Hudson & Emily Weaving
Beatrix Bakes owner Natalie Paull in her wonderful North Melbourne shop. Photo - Bec Hudson.
Hi Natalie, tell us a little about when your passion for baking was first ignited?
There was this super old ‘how to make a buttercake’ book with pictures that was in the school library where my mum worked. I was seven years old and was drawn to it like a magnet. I followed the pictures, step by step, but the cake I made was simply horrid – heavy, flat as a pancake, iced with lurid blue frosting and adorned with lolly bananas. I obviously had no skills! But I loved it and felt, at that moment, that baking was a thunderbolt of joy and I had to bake more. Maybe forever?
How would you best describe the baking process?
The baking process is definitely more mindful than meditative. Baking is not the time to empty your mind and think of nothing. It’s time to be present with the steps. Feel the temperatures of your ingredients and kitchen. Do you need to chill anything? Is the consistency of a batter right? Maybe beat it a little more? React to the smell of toasting coconut before it scorches and becomes too dark, and listen to the supple slapping sound of a dough in the mixer kneading to perfection. To transcend baking fails, you should have the next baking step ready in your head and be totally in that sweet moment.
Outside Beatrix Bakes in North Melbourne. Photo – Emily Weaving.
Calamity Janes from Natalie Paull’s latest book Beatrix Bakes, “Theses are the bouncy marshmallow, strawberry-hearted chocolate coated pucks of my baking dreams,” shares Natalie Paull. Photo – Emily Weaving.
What do you love most about what you do?
All through my twenties and thirties, I was pretty lost in my career in food. I never really found that niche of a job that made me happy and feel fulfilled. The decision to open Beatrix Bakes in my thirty eighth year has bought me challenges that have shaped me for the better. I love working shoulder to shoulder with my team and laugh every single day (which I never thought I would). I’m so very proud of the achievements made through all the hard work (the Beatrix Bakes book, the early starts and being responsible for so much) and bravery (stopping the use of single use cups last year).
“Every single day, even when it’s been a challenging day, I am totally in love with what I do. And I appreciate the rarity of that feeling. ”
Why do you think the shop has gathered such a cult following?
I started the business because I simply wanted to make nice things for nice folks to eat. I wanted to be very informative and kind in my service and communication with everyone and I never did the hard sell like ‘this is the best cake you’ll ever eat!’. No-one needs that in their life. I believe that resonated with people and the support grew very organically, but with super strength. Like an oak tree! Whenever we got something wrong, we were honest. We support our community and wider community on social and we make changes to make things ‘more good’ – not better or more sales.
What’s the one thing that’s the first to sell out?
We make a black forest cake we call The Notorious BFC. It’s on the cakelist for only two or three weeks a year while the fresh sour cherries are in season (canned ones are okay, but it’s like you wanted a Monte Carlo but got a Milk Arrowroot instead!). We can sell over sixty portions in half an hour and the cake is such a quest to assemble that we just can’t keep up with demand. Customers get excited – calling up after Christmas ‘cos they know it’s almost time for the BFC! I love their love!
Bananingtons, a lamington with a difference from Natalie Paull’s latest book Beatrix Bakes. Photo – Emily Weaving.
Natalie and a team member outside Beatrix Bakes in North Melbourne. Photo – Emily Weaving.
Bananingtons
Makes 12 cakes, 5 cm × 7 cm (2 in x 2¾ in).
Takes About 2½ hours from whisking eggs to the final dip. Make the schmutz while the sponge is cooking. Or make and fill the sponge the day before, freeze, then dunk on the day to eat.
Keeps Best eaten on the day of dunking. Keep extras in the fridge.
I am very inclusive in my love for the entire spectrum of lamingtons – jam filled or unfilled, piped with whipped cream, dipped in raspberry jelly, and any kind of coconut on the outside. Lamington orthodoxies fall into one of two camps: sponge or butter cake – however, I use a sponge laden with brown butter, so it sits on the fence. The Banana schmutz replaces the classic jam filling, and tahini in the glaze gives them a Levantine lilt.
You will have a little more icing and coconut than you need, but the excess will make the dipping and ‘coconutting’ easy. It is sad and difficult to be scraping the last crumby bits of glaze onto the last piece of sponge.
Ingredients
Cooking oil spray
½ × batch Banana schmutz
Brown butter sponge
150 g (5½ oz) unsalted butter 5 g (⅛ oz/½ teaspoon) vanilla paste
180 g (6½ oz) egg white + 120 g (4½ oz) egg yolk (from approx. 6 eggs)
3 g (⅟₁₀ oz/heaped 1/4 teaspoon)
Cream of tartar
180 g (6½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
140 g (5 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
4 g (⅛ oz/heaped ½ teaspoon)
Baking powder
2 g (1/16 oz/1/4 teaspoon) fine sea salt
Toasted coconut and seeds 125 g (4½ oz) coconut flakes 125 g (4½ oz) desiccated (shredded) coconut
50 g (1¾ oz) sesame seeds
COCOA CREAM GLAZE
250 g (9 oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar
50 g (1¾ oz) Dutch (unsweetened) cocoa powder 50 g (1¾ oz) tahini
120 g/ml (4½ oz) cream (35–45% milk fat)
50 g/ml (1¾ oz) cold water 50 g (1¾ oz) unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). Lightly spray a 23 cm (9 in) square, 5 cm (2 in) deep cake tin with cooking oil spray and line the base and sides with baking paper. Smooth the sides so there are no creases in the paper.
To make the brown butter sponge, brown the butter in a small 20 cm (8 in) wide saucepan (see page 63). Stir in the vanilla and remove from the heat. Set aside at room temperature.
Put the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip on speed 8 (under high) for about 3 minutes until the whites change from foamy to white and stiff. Gradually add the sugar, 2 teaspoons at a time over 3 minutes, to make a very shiny and stiff meringue.
Meanwhile, put the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and swizzle together with your fingers. Have a sieve and balloon whisk handy.
As soon as all the sugar has been incorporated, add the yolks and whip for 5 seconds on speed 6 (medium high). Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape (don’t tap) the meringue off the whisk.
We will start working by hand now. Sift half the flour mix over the meringue and fold in with a balloon whisk until well mixed. Repeat with the remaining flour. If the flour has not been well incorporated, the meringue can collapse at the next step and you will have a flat sponge (still delicious though).
Working very quickly now, pour the warm brown butter around the edge of the bowl and fold in with the balloon whisk, using gentle but decisive folding strokes, until the batter is thoroughly mixed with no butter streaks. Switch to a spatula and do a final fold, ensuring that the butter has not pooled in the bottom of the bowl.
Deflation in sponges happens quickly once fat (the butter) is introduced, so move swiftly to get the sponge in the oven.
Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top lightly. Bake for 25–30 minutes until the top is a golden biscuit colour and the sponge is set. Cool in the tin.
Reduce the oven to 130°C (265°F). For the toasted coconut and seeds, put both coconuts and sesame seeds in a baking tray and toast for about 30 minutes until everything is evenly and deeply browned.
Toast slowly. If you toast at a high temperature, the coconut will colour unevenly – some areas will scorch while others will remain untoasted.
Make the cocoa cream glaze. Choose a deep heatproof bowl (about 20 cm/8 in diameter) for the glaze – you want a deep chocolate pond to plunge the cake into. Choose a saucepan that will allow you to nestle the bowl on top, without it touching the water below. Fill the pan with 5 cm (2 in) of water and bring to a simmer on the stovetop.
Combine the icing sugar, cocoa and tahini in the heatproof bowl and set aside. Heat the cream, water and butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stovetop until just boiling. Gradually whisk the hot cream mix into the icing sugar mix until smooth. Place the bowl over the pan of barely simmering water and heat, whisking occasionally, until the glaze feels hot and has an olive oil–ish consistency.
Check the consistency by dipping a finger in the glaze. Does it drip off your finger, exposing it (too thin), sit chunkily on top of your finger (too thick) or envelop your finger perfectly (sweet spot)? The first lamington you dunk will tell you whether you need to adjust the glaze further. The glaze should not be so thick and sticky that it tears the sponge, nor should it be watery and soak into the sponge so quickly that it won’t allow the coconut to adhere to it. In small increments, add more icing sugar to thicken, or hot water to thin it out.
Let’s dunk! Set up a dunking station with your filled sponge rectangles, bowl of glaze, tray of coconut and seeds, a small bowl of cold water (this has great non-stick properties), a wire rack and a resting tray for the completed lamingtons.
PLUNGE three sponges, one at a time, into the glaze.** REST on the wire rack. Use your fingers to lightly BRUSH any excess glaze back into the glaze bowl. RINSE the glaze off your fingers in the cold water, then pick up the drained sponge and place into the coconut mix. SCATTER AND PRESS the coconut onto all sides while the glaze is still damp, then move the completed sponge to the resting tray. Repeat this until you have a tray of beautiful bananingtons. Serve after a 15-minute rest – for you and the cakes!
This is an edited extract from Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull published by Hardie Grant Books $45.00 and is available where all good books are sold.
VISIT BEATRIX BAKES
Tuesday – Sunday, 9am-4pm
Closed Monday
698 Queensberry Street
North Melbourne, Victoria