The only minor niggle I had with the recipe is that I needed a square baking dish, rather than the rectangular pyrex one I used, as my cake was rather volcanic looking when baked! Oh to have a kitchen like Nigella and every pan in every size.... Why do I seem to have a cupboard full of random dishes, pans and tins, and not one remotely the size or shape ever needed? Please tell me I am not the only one who has this trouble?
Anyway, this cake is a good way of using up a lot of marmalade; I had seemingly acquired several various jars and in the end opted for a jar of Fairtrade organic orange marmalade, from Traidcraft which was perfect for the job, fruity, not too sharp but still with a lovely tang to it, I can highly recommend it.
The recipe is from Nigella Lawson's recent ‘Kitchen’ book.
Makes 1 lovely cake
Requires 1 x 24cm square pyrex or similar ovenproof dish
Easy. Even easier if you have a food processor!
250g soft unsalted butter, plus a little extra to grease the pan with
75g caster sugar
75g light brown muscavado (from memory I was running low and mixed this with some soft brown sugar..)
150g + 75g marmalade
225g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (aka realise you have run out mid mixing and kind neighbour loans you again!)
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
Zest and juice of 1 orange - reserve ½ juice for the glaze
Oven 180/ gas 4/ fan about 160
Grease the dish with a little butter
Place the 75g of marmalade and ½ the orange juice in a small saucepan, reserve for later to make the glaze with.
Place all the remaining ingredients into a food processor, blend to a nice thick, creamy batter and decant into your baking dish, smoothing the surface.
If you are not using a food processor, cream the butter and sugars together, beat in the marmalade, then the dry ingredients, then the eggs and finally the juice and zest.
Bake for approximately 40 minutes, though do check after 30 minutes. The cake should be risen, and golden, check with a cake tester, as per Nigella, or a cocktail stick, as per me as I don't own one. It should come away relatively clean looking, though the marmalade does make for a sticky batter so bear this in mind.
Heat the reserved glaze mixture until melted and spoon evenly over the still hot cake, allow to cool slightly before eating.
Serve with lashings of custard or cream. Both are good. Hard to choose a winner on testing!
Looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteThis looks good - especially since I've got plenty of marmalade at the moment. I've never got the right size of pan either and, even when I have, I can never find it. Welcome back, by the way - sorry, that's a bit belated.
ReplyDeleteI have a jar of homemade marmalade that I was wondering what to do with......
ReplyDeleteLooks great - and perfect for marmalade making time of year!
ReplyDeleteI've given up trying to have the correct sized tins, I just try and convert the recipe I'm looking at to the size of tin that seems the closest either by scaling the recipe or by working out the surface area of the tin specified vs the tin I see before me!
I was given a jar of msrmalade, so I must try this. Is it good eaten on it's own and cold or is it better with cream?
ReplyDeleteJanice - it really was, definitely a keeper!
ReplyDeletePhil - is very good for disposing of marmalade in bulk! I think I might try splitting the mix over two dishes instead next time, see if works better
Beth - am sure will be excellent with home made marmalade!
C - Glad to be of service! Also glad its not just me who struggles, just too many variations out there!
Jacqueline - have emailed you anyway but if eating cold, then just skip the cream part. Though it does survive well with a quick blast in the microwave if you fancy having some cream :)