Orange cake with marmalade and orange flower cream

There are several very similar recipes for this cake - Nigella has one, Claudia Roden has one and I'm sure there are many more. This one comes from Diana Henry in her lovely book 'Crazy Water Pickled Lemons.'
I love Moroccan food and there are some great recipes in this book.

A good tip I've learnt from a cyber friend is that instead of boiling the orange for an hour as stipulated in the recipe, you can cook it in the microwave and speed up the whole process. You prick the skin of the orange and microwave it on high for about 8 minutes, turning the orange around after a few minutes, just as you would a potato. Saves a lot of time and energy.

cake:
1 orange
3 eggs
250g caster sugar
55g plain flour
1tsp baking powder
200g ground almonds
icing sugar for dusting

for the cream:
55g fine-shred orange marmalade
125g  mascarpone cheese
30ml (2 tbsp) Greek yoghurt
icing sugar to taste
5ml (1 tsp) orange flower water


Preheat oven to 180˚C (350˚F) Gas Mark 4
Grease a 20cm (8in) spring-form tin and line with greaseproof paper.
Put the orange in a saucepan, cover with water and simmer for an hour. Cut the orange in half, remove the pips, and purée the rest of the fruit in a food processor. Beat the eggs and sugar together until they’re pale and thick. Fold in the flour, baking powder, almonds and orange purée. Pour into the tin and bake for about an hour. Cool on a wire rack.
To make the cream, melt the marmalade in a small pan. Let it cool slightly, but don’t let it set, then mix it with the mascarpone and yoghurt. Add icing sugar to taste and the orange flower water.

Sift icing sugar over the cake and serve with the marmalade cream.

This is the cake without the marmalade cream.  I love the texture of it - light, moist and full of orange flavour. The marmalade cream is great, but I prefer to just eat the cake just as it is - unadorned and simple.

Hazelnut loaf cake

 Yet another loaf cake to add to my collection! This is basically a pound cake or Sandkuchen with the addition of ground hazelnuts.



250g unsalted butter at room temperature
250g caster sugar
4 large eggs
250g plain flour
2 tspns baking powder
100g ground hazelnuts


Preheat oven to 180°C/ gas 4
Grease a 900g loaf tin.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 5 with a hand-held.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
 Gradually add the sieved flour and baking powder, a third at a time, until each third is well incorporated. Finally add the ground hazelnuts and mix them in well.
 Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for about 60 minutes until it is well risen and firm to the touch. If it starts to brown too much cover the top with foil. When it's cooked, cool on a wire rack.

You can ring the changes by adding two chopped apples instead for an apple cake, 150g chopped dried apricots for an apricot cake, or two grated carrots and cinnamon for a carrot cake ... the possibilities are endless! So a nice basic recipe to have in your keeper collection for any eventuality.

Honey and spelt cakes

I've decided to join in the 'Alphabakes' challenge this month. This is a monthly baking challenge hosted alternatively by Caroline of Caroline Makes and Ros from The More than occasional Baker. The letter chosen by Caroline at random for May is H, so I'm entering these honey cakes from a previous post. There's hazelnuts in the recipe too, so a double dose of H!

175g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g spelt flour
pinch of salt
1 tspn baking powder
25g cornflour
3 tbspn milk
10 tbspn honey, warmed
25g hazelnuts or pistachios, chopped





Preheat oven 180C/gas4

Grease 10 - 12 small rectangular tins, a 12 hole 'financier' tin [I bought mine in France] or a 12 hole muffin tin.

Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the eggs slowly, beating between each addition.
Fold in the spelt flour, the salt and the cornflour. Add the milk and mix till smooth.
Divide into the tins and bake for 20 mins, till golden and firm. Cool on a wire rack.
When cool, drizzle each cake with a tbspn of warm honey and sprinkle with the hazelnuts.

You can make a loaf cake in a 900g tin instead of small cakes. The spelt give the cakes a slight nutty taste which goes well with the nuts in the topping. There are so many types of honey to choose from; I used a heather honey from my local farm shop. I'll certainly make this recipe again, but as a large cake. Another quick and easy cake to make.

Rose custard tarts

I've always wanted to make these little tarts, and as this month's 'Tea Time Treats' challenge is Floral flavours and Flowers, now's my chance. I've used strawberries in my tarts, but you could use any fruit you fancied - cherries, raspberries, kiwis.
.

The recipe makes 8 small tarts.
You need 8 11cm loose based fluted tartlet tins.

Heat oven to 200C/gas 6

pastry:
115g flour
85g butter cut into pieces
55g ground almonds
55g caster sugar
1 beaten egg

filling:
2 eggs + 2 yolks
2 tbspn rose water
1 tbspn flour
175ml milk
300ml single cream
225g strawberries, halved

Rub the butter into the flour and stir in the ground almonds, sugar and egg. Mix to a firm dough using a fork.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface till it's smooth.
Roll the pastry out thinly and line the tartlet tins.
Bake blind for 10-15 mins till light brown on the edges.
Take out of the oven and reduce the temperature to 180C/gas 4
Put the eggs, yolks, rose water and flour in a bowl and whisk till smooth. Add the milk and cream and whisk in.
Pour into the pastry cases and dot with the strawberries.

Put the tartlets back in the cooler oven till the custard has set - about 45 mins.

I think 2 tbspn rosewater is too much; I'm still not sure if I like the flavour or not. Imho, it overwhelms the custard. The custard has a lovely smooth texture, so think I'll make these again using a flavour other than rosewater.

Tea Time Treats is a monthly challenge hosted alternately by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked. This month it's Karen's turn, and as I've already said, she's chosen 'Floral flavours and Flowers' as the theme.

Coffee and almond pavlova

We have friends coming, so I decided to make a pavlova. If I made a coffee and almond one, it would fit the brief for this month's 'We Should Cocoa' challenge, as it has almonds in it [and some chocolate on the top]. I've made it once before and it was very popular, so hope it's a success this time too. It's a bit fiddly - especially toasting the ground almonds, but it's worth it.
It's a meringue base topped with coffee and toasted almond cream. I like meringues that are crisp on the outside and gooey in the middle.

300g caster sugar [plus a bit more for sprinkling on the baking tray]
90g ground almonds
1 tspn cream of tartar
1 tbspn cornflour.
4 egg whites
pinch od salt
1/2 tspn almond essence
1 tspn white wine vinegar
Filling:
2 tbspn strong instant coffee
90ml hot water
25g blanched almonds
300ml double cream
25g plain chocolate

Preheat oven 150C/gas 2
Cover a baking tray with parchment and mark a 25cm circle. Scatter a little caster sugar on the paper. This stops the pavlova sticking to the paper.
Spread the ground almonds out on a piece of foil and toast under a medium grill till golden, then leave to cool.
Mix the sugar, cream of tartar and cornflour together in a little bowl.
Whisk the egg whites with the salt till stiff - the bowl above your head stiffness! Add the almond essence and whixk again. Gradually add the sugar mixture till combined. Quickly fold in the vinegar and the cold toasted almonds with a WIRE whisk - don't use an electric one or the oil in the almonds will make the meringue collapse.
Pile the meringue on the baking tray, spreading it into the circle and fork up the edges into little peaks.
Bake for 2 hours till crisp and pale golden. Turn off the oven and leave the meringue to stand for about 10 mins, carefully lift onto a wire rack then leave till cold.

Add the water to the coffee granules and leave to go cold. Toast the almonds under the grill for 3-4 mins till golden, leave to cool then chop roughly. Whip the cream till thick and add the coffee [you need about 3-4 tbspns]; carry on whisking till there are soft peaks, then fold in the chopped toasted almonds.

Peel the paper off the meringue and put it on your serving plate. Spoon the coffee filling on top artistically!
Melt the chocolate and spoon into a piping bag, then drizzle over the top. I added some leftover toasted almonds as well. Let the chocolate set before serving.
I don't add any sugar to the cream as I think the meringue is sweet, but if you want, you can add a little sugar.

This month's 'We Should Cocoa' challenge is guest hosted by Laura of How to Cook Great Food. This is a monthly challenge hosted alternately by Choclette of Chocolate Log and Chele of Chocolate Teapot. Laura has chosen Almonds as the added ingredient.

Little cappuccino cakes

I love to drink cappuccino, and these little cakes are my cake version. They're a Victoria sponge mixture really, so are very easy to make using the all-in-one method.

3 tspn instant coffee
2 tspn boiling water
175g soft butter or margarine
175g muscovado sugar
175g sr flour
1/2 tspn baking powder
3 eggs

To decorate
300ml thick creme fraiche [or double cream if you want to be more decadent]
75g pieces of dark chocolate

Preheat oven 180C/gas4
Grease a 12-hole muffin tin.

Dissolve the coffee in the water.
Beat the rest of the ingredients together in a mixer till it's smooth and add the coffee.
Put the mixture into the muffin tin and smooth the tops.
Bake for about 12-14 mins till well risen.
Cool on a wire rack.

Whip the creme fraiche till it has little peaks.
Cut the cakes in half and fill with some of the creme.
Decorate the top with a little more creme and add some chocolate pieces to decorate.

I like these cakes because they're not too sweet. The tartness of the creme fraiche goes well with the coffee flavour. I found a box of chocolate pieces in a very nice local shop, and was a bit sceptical about how it would taste as it wasn't a well-known name, but it's got a great flavour. A nice treat with your afternoon cuppa. I'm not sure if a low-fat version of creme fraiche would work, as I don't know if it can be whipped. Must buy some and try. If you want a sweeter cream, you can add a little icing sugar to it.