Samantha Walker refers to the dragon in her garden and witch in her kitchen, then gives her infectious giggle. Sam and her husband Laurie moved into their house in Braddon 26 years ago. It was built in 1925 and was single storey with only two bedrooms. Since then, another storey has been built on top.
Sam emigrated from England but Laurie was born and grew up in Canberra. She has always been interested in food, cooking and gardening which led into her business, Amore Cakes. It all started when the youngest of their four children was about to start school. Laurie converted an old garage into a commercial kitchen and, at night, when the cooking takes place, Samantha hears a fruit bat flapping into the garden to eat the ripening figs on the top of an old, huge tree. She said it sounds like a dragon.
Samantha Walker in her family kitchen with her Blackberry, lemon curd and almond cake.
Photo: karleen minneyThe back garden has a sunny al fresco eating area, plenty of shade planted by the Walkers after the marriage which they call 'the wedding tree', and a chook pen with five chickens and one duck called Geraldine. They provide eggs for the cakes although with 36 egg yolks included in Sam's homemade lemon curd recipe, the egg supply has to be supplemented.
A vast sprawling blackberry hedge divides the back section of the garden. Sam planted the thornless cultivated bare rooted canes 12 years ago. It provides a bumper crop and this season she has made blackberry ice cream, blackberry fool and blackberry gin. The berries are huge and 10kgs are used for each batch of blackberry jam so Sam says she feels like a witch stirring a cauldron when making it.
Samantha Walker picking figs from her huge fig tree in the chook pen.
Photo: karleen minneyAs well as blackberries there are raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, red currants and blackcurrants and a large elderflower bush from which the flowers are used for cordial. Sam is particularly keen on perennials like her patch of asparagus and large rhubarb plants. There are potatoes, zucchini, cucumbers and chillies, self-sown beans soaring up a pole, and a variety of tomato plants. There was a good crop of garlic this year so that is about to be planted again however the quince tree is fairly unproductive, something has eaten all the plums and there are stink bugs on the lemon tree.
Sam cooks seasonally, including her cakes, so enjoys using home grown produce but extra supplies are purchased at the Canberra Region Farmers Market where she formerly had a stall for 13 years. Readers will remember her whisky sultana cake (Laurie Walker's favourite), Autumn spice cake and rose muffins. Some of these, and other sweet treats are now supplied direct to cafes around Canberra. Sam also self-published three little cookbooks which sold out at the markets.
Sam likes cooking with herbs, she grows basil, mint, chives, rosemary, oregano, tarragon, parsley, creeping thyme, lemon verbena and fennel. She also has an interest in fermenting food so any excess produce goes towards her fermenting experiments. However her family seems more interested in her cakes than her ferments. She has generously shared her recipe for a just-baked cake.
Blackberry, lemon curd and almond cake
(makes a 23x33cm tray)
250g soft butter
6 large eggs at room temperature
300g sour cream
1.25 cups SR flour
1.25 cups plain flour
1.25 cups almond meal
three-quarters cup fresh or frozen blackberries
half cup lemon curd
one-third cup blackberry jam
half cup flaked almonds
Lemon syrup (optional):
quarter cup caster sugar
quarter cup lemon juice
2 tbsp water
Preheat the oven to 140 degrees C. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar for two minutes. or until light in texture and colour. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating and scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Add the sour cream, flours and almond meal. Beat until smooth. Spoon the mixture into a 22cmx33cm baking tin, lined with non-stick baking paper. Make dimples into the surface of the cake mixture and insert teaspoonfuls of the lemon curd, continuing until the curd is all used up. Repeat in the same way with the blackberry jam. Use a knife to gently swirl everything around so that the lemon curd and blackberry jam are evenly spread throughout the tray but not over mixed. Push the blackberries into the cake mixture and scatter with the flaked almonds.
Bake for about 1.5 hours or until cooked in the middle. When it is cooked it will be firm to the touch and a knife inserted into the centre will come out cleanly. (All ovens are different so if the cake is not cooked after 1.5 hours, return it to the oven until cooked through.)
Optional: if you like your cake moist and tangy, pour the lemon syrup over the warm cake. Make by pouring lemon juice, sugar and water into a small bowl and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Decorate the cake with extra blackberries and toasted almonds. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
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