Oh my goodness, these little sweet treats are so delicious, especially with coffee or a cup of Earl Grey tea. This recipe is adapted from Bertoni’s – arguably the most popular coffee stop in Balmain.  Last weekend I spotted a local Balmain dad sipping his Bertoni coffee in Strathfield – a 20-30 minute drive from Balmain. That’s true devotion! Bertoni’s is authentically Italian and their cookbook has some fabulous recipes as well as a history of the Bertoni family and their love of good food.

I’m finally relaxing after 24 hours of baking pita bread pizzas, chicken nibbles, iced cup-cakes, choc-chip cookies, citrus slice and of course, birthday cake. This was no ordinary cake, it was a Pinata cake and totally not healthy. Oh well, it was my son’s 8th birthday and I don’t think he and his 12 friends would have appreciated carrot sticks and egg sandwiches!

Back to the Pinata cake: it’s a basic round cake with a hollow cut in the centre. You ice the whole thing with decadent chocolate butter icing and pile up rainbow choc-chips and gold chocolate coins in the centre. Then you melt a pack of chocolate melts and swirl the chocolate around a metal basin until it sets. I left it in the freezer overnight then this morning placed it over the cake, loosening the chocolate shell from the basin with my hair blow-dryer. Then I melted even more chocolate to stick M&M’s all over the shell. If you want the full recipe, it’s in the Australian Women’s Weekly ‘kids’ birthday cakes’ recipe book.

What more could a bunch of hyped 8-year-old boys want than a cake filled with chocolate and lollies that you get to smash open!

Oh, I did have one token to healthy eating: a basket of mandarins. They looked great on the table and I think someone even ate one!

I love to have a sweet treat in the pantry and to pop into the school lunch-box but I also want it to have some nutritional value. This week I’ve been into nut cakes – carrot cake with lots of walnuts and this moist orange almond cake. Nuts are rich in protein and healthy unsaturated fat – great for good health!

This cake is easy to make – but you do need a food processor. It’s very high in protein from all the eggs and almonds, and it’s gluten free. (Some baking powders are not gluten free so check the pack if you are making this cake for someone who can’t have gluten. If you dust the cake with icing sugar, as in the photo, check it is gluten free too.)

• 2 oranges
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 250 grams sugar
• 280 grams ground almonds (I use 4 x 70g packs)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Boil oranges in a little water for 1-2 hours. (Yesterday I rushed out to do school pick-up and came back to burnt oranges and a black pot! But it still tastes yummy and looks good, don’t you think?)

Chop oranges roughly and let them cool down a bit. Then blend well in food processor with all the other ingredients. Line a large pan with greaseproof paper. Make sure the pan is large enough so the cake isn’t too thick or it will take too long to cook. Bake at 180C/350F for 1 hour – or perhaps a bit longer.

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