My neighbour's kitchen: Four-quarters cake (quatre quarts)

My mum is Italian, but was born in British Guiana [now the independent nation of Guyana]. My dad was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mum met my dad in Paris and they are still there 40 years later.

The French talk about food all the time. Even though I have been living in Australia for about four years, I am first-generation French, and French food is what I like to eat.

Quatre quarts is the ultimate cake from my childhood. I like to cook it because it’s very forgiving. I am a bit superstitious with it because I once used electric beaters to make it and it didn’t work, so now I only ever mix it by hand. In France, it is traditionally eaten after school for tea. It’s one of those cakes you make if your brain is going into a meltdown and you need to produce something quickly.

I make it a lot with my children [Iona, 3, and Aidan, 6] as it’s so easy. Quatre quarts means ‘four-quarters’ because you use four ingredients in equal amounts. It is moist, soft and buttery, and you can make it fancy by adding a splash of liquor, like rum or cognac.

 

Interview by Carla Grossetti. Photography by Katie Kaars.

 

Recipe

Four-quarters cake (quatre quarts)