When I was a little girl, I had no idea that the “Farm,” where I spent so many wonderful sunny Sundays was actually Glenfield Farm, a historic, heritage-listed homestead.

The old farmhouse was a classic Colonial Georgian building with stone verandas, English brickwork and mortar made from crushed oyster shells. It had a huge parlor, an old-fashioned stone kitchen, a cellar and a gabled attic, where I spent rainy afternoons. It was built by Australian convicts barely three decades after the First Fleet arrived from Britain in 1788.

By the early ’70s of my childhood, Jim Leacock, the owner of Glenfield Farm, was a kindly widower. He had an incredible history, which I was too young to appreciate. After serving in the Boer War, Jim brought dairy farming to the Liverpool district. In 1909, he created the Hygienic Dairies and was the first to supply Sydney with bottled milk. After serving at Gallipoli in Turkey and on the battlefields of France and Belgium in World War I, he returned to dairy farming in Australia. He purchased Glenfield Farm in 1920 and married in 1924. Soon after, he divided the house to create a residence for his mother and sister.

Witnessing the horrors of war made Jim into an ardent pacifist and a political idealist. He lobbied against Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War and he fought for Aboriginal rights. He embraced organic farming, co-operative farming and communal living.

My mother’s cousins, Ruth and Lawrence lived on one side of the farmhouse with their four children. Ruth, the daughter of my great-uncle Reuben had made aliyah from El Azair, Iraq. In the early years of the Israeli state, teens who immigrated alone were sent to kibbutzim. When Lawrence, the son of my great aunt Naima, arrived for a visit to Israel in the early ’60s, she was still living on the kibbutz, divorced with a one-year-old daughter, Tal. They fell in love, married and moved to Australia, where they soon had three sons. Lawrence was a talented artist who painted beautiful landscapes, as well as an accomplished violinist. Ruth and Lawrence were also believers in a communist-style idyll. Jim invited them to live in his mother’s old residence, where they helped to cook and care for him.

When my parents moved to Sydney, the two families became very close. My brother Rafi and I looked forward to Sundays spent at the Farm. Tal was like a sweet older sister to me. Their eldest son Joseph was the same age as my brother Rafi. Danny and I were the same age and he was my first “boyfriend.” Albert was the cute three-year-old baby. We were a little troop that had free rein to explore all that the farm had to offer.

Glenfield Farm was spectacular. There were panoramic views of rolling green fields dotted with trees. Off in the distance, the tracks of the main Southern Railway formed the eastern border of the Farm. It was always exciting to hear the whistle of the trains and the clacking of the wheels on the track as the trains would roll by. The grass tennis court sat behind a thicket of tall bamboo. It was a thrill to watch the Australian couples, dressed in crisp tennis whites, stop by to play a doubles match.

There were stables and a two-story coach house, where the friendly Maori farm workers lived in a long communal dorm.

We children loved hanging out at the old stone dairy to watch the milking of the cows. The Maori men would squeeze their big hands over the long pink udders of the cows, expertly sending squirts of milk into metal buckets. The pinging sounds of the milk on the buckets was underscored by the low, gentle mooing of the cows. After milking the cows, we kids were sent back to the farmhouse with the proverbial pail of milk. (I thought it so strange that the milk was warm. As a city kid, I was used to cold milk from the fridge.)

One of my core memories is celebrating my fifth birthday at the farm. In the old stone kitchen, Ruth and my mother baked a vanilla cake, made a butter icing and decorated the cake with a hard sugar kitty cat candy. I remember the feeling of joy, of feeling celebrated.

My birthday is in late March, so depending on the Jewish calendar, my birthday will sometimes fall during Passover. Over the years, this has meant that I’ve had my fair share of gluten-free birthday cakes. This week Rachel and I share two wonderful Passover (and all year round) cake recipes. An easy, no fuss, one bowl flourless chocolate cake. And a wonderful fruit and cream topped pistachio pavlova.

I wouldn’t trade the cakes and the memories for anything.

—Sharon

For our birthdays, my mother always baked a very fancy cake. It was comprised of layers of white sponge, filled with an orange marmalade, an almond marzipan and chocolate, then covered with a thick layer of fluffy sweet meringue.

Yes, this is quite a sophisticated cake for a child’s birthday. But for almost any Moroccan Jew, who has spent any time in Morocco, this is the cake they will remember. It’s my absolute favorite cake and I don’t think there is another that can compare with it. But we will share this recipe another time. Right now, we are focused on Passover baking.

My second favorite cake in the world would have to be a flourless chocolate torte. It’s probably because my mother ate a few squares of chocolate almost every day of her life. She loved good quality sweets and preferred dessert over dinner. (I must admit I feel the same way!) When my kids were little, I started out buying their birthday cakes. They looked pretty but tasted awful. I really disliked them because they were filled with hydrogenated shortening. I hated feeding my kids and their little friends these unhealthy cakes. So, I started baking my own creations.

I would plan a party theme and then decorate the cake. For a reptile party, I decorated with marbled candy mountains and rocks and lots of mini plastic snakes slithering around. For Rebekah’s princess party, I decorated the cake with shiny plastic jewels and candy rings and necklaces. The kids were always excited to see the cakes. And I could rest easy knowing that the cake was baked with clean ingredients, with no margarine or food coloring.

What fun we had creating special memories!

I still very rarely buy cakes when I host, especially at Passover. If I do, it will be from one of the community home bakers who I know use good quality ingredients, like our friends @Mickeybakes, @fashionbistro, @breakingbreadwithnic or @jackieskitchen.

Back to that chocolate cake, this recipe is a winner — just rich and gooey.

With so many holiday meals to cater, my sincere advice is to bake a few of these chocolate flourless cakes (and our flourless almond cake, which you can find on The Jewish Journal website or our Instagram @sephardicspicegirls). These cakes freeze beautifully. Before serving, you can make a quick ganache or simply decorate with a sprinkling of cocoa powder, powdered sugar or fruits.

To many more sweet memories!

—Rachel

Easy Flourless Chocolate Cake

Sharon and I have been baking flourless chocolate cake for many years. Sometimes, I hesitate to make one because the recipe calls for separating the eggs. For some reason, it annoys me to dirty two bowls. One day, I decided I was just going to throw everything into a bowl and take a chance. Sure enough, it was wonderful. This cake is dense, chocolatey and dreamy.

8oz best quality semisweet chocolate
½ cup butter or coconut oil, melted
¾ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
4 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
¼ cup cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Line the bottom of an 8-inch spring form cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides.

Place chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1 minute. Stir, then heat for an additional 30 seconds, until chocolate chips are completely melted.

Add the sugar and salt and beat to combine.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk to combine.

Add vanilla and whisk, then add cocoa powder Pour into the cake pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cake should be slightly soft in the middle.

Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edges. Remove the springform pan and carefully remove the cake.

Invert the cake onto a plate. Decorate with ganache or powdered sugar and berries.

Ganache:

1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl for one minute and stir. If chocolate is not completely smooth, heat for another 30 seconds.

Remove from the microwave and add vanilla, then stir until smooth.

When cake has completely cooled, pour the warm ganache over the cake.

Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes for ganache to harden.

Pistachio Pavlova

6 egg whites, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
4 tsp potato starch
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup crushed pistachios

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites at a low speed. When the whites become full and foamy, add the sugar gradually. When all the sugar has been added, add the salt and vanilla.

Slowly increase the mixer speed and beat until egg whites are thick and glossy and form stiff peaks.

Use a spatula to gently fold in the potato starch, vinegar and pistachios.

Take spoonfuls of the mixture and form a ring of meringue on a parchment lined ovenproof dish or baking sheet. Add meringue to fill in the center.
Lower the heat to 220°F and bake pavlova for 3 hours. Turn off the oven and leave to dry for 6 hours.

Decoration:

2 cups heavy cream, whipped

Pint of strawberries, quartered

1 orange, chopped

1 small mango, chopped

1 small apple, chopped

6 canned lychee, chopped (optional)

Sprigs of fresh mint

In a small bowl, mix the orange, mango, apple and lychee to make a fruit salad.

Top the center of pavlova with whipped cream.

Arrange the strawberries in a ring and top with fruit salad.

Garnish with mint.

Serve decorated Pavlova within two to three hours..

NOTE:

Make sure bowl and mixer are clean and dry.

Separate the eggs when they are cold, to help prevent the yolks from breaking. Egg whites must be completely clear of yolk.

Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been friends since high school. The Sephardic Spice Girls project has grown from their collaboration on events for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem. Follow them
on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food. Website sephardicspicegirls.com/full-recipes.