Back in Business with Sticky Citrus Sponge Cake!

served with fresh strawberries and cream

 Is this too good to be true? Is this post actually going to materialize complete with photos? Here is the recipe that I have been trying to put up all week! You will love it and the family will love you for it.

What a cake this is! It can be a pudding too. If it was served warm, it would remind me of treacle stodge as we used to call it at school. Needless to say, it was our favourite pud. Make it now with the last of the season’s oranges: it makes a good-sized cake, moist, sticky on top, very flavoursome indeed and not at all stodgy.

Last week I enjoyed it not once but twice! The first time I made it for a ladies’ lunch and the second time my dear friend Leyla offered it as a dinner party dessert. We had both been seduced by the cover picture of the latest BBC Good Food magazine and quite separately decided to make it for our guests. Here it is:

Ingredients for  Sticky Citrus Sponge Cake

Cuts into 10

4 medium oranges*

6tbsp golden syrup, plus extra to serve, optional

200g/7oz butter, at room temperature plus extra for greasing

200g/7oz soft brown sugar

200g/7ozself-raising flour**

1 tsp baking powder

100g/4oz ground almonds

4 large eggs

Method

·         Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Finely grate the zest from 2 oranges into a large bowl. Cut the peel and pith from all the oranges with a serrated knife, and slice quite thickly.

·         Drizzle the golden syrup evenly over the base of a greased 23cm round cake tin. There is no need to line the tin and it shouldn’t have a loose bottom otherwise the syrup will bubble through. Arrange the best orange slices on top of the syrup and finely chop any that don’t fit.

·         Put all the remaining ingredients in the bowl with the zest and chopped orange. Beat with an electric hand mixer until smooth. Spoon on top of the oranges, spread lightly and make a deep hollow in the centre of the mix with the back of a spoon – this will ensure that the cake rises evenly.

·         Bake for 45-50 mins until firm when pressed. Allow to settle for 5 mins before turning out. Drizzle with golden syrup if you like (I didn’t) and serve with custard or ice cream. I served with strawberries and cream.

Tips

1.       *I used only 2 oranges here – they were obviously not using Turkish oranges in the original recipe!

2.       **I make my  own self-raising flour here by adding ½ tsp BP to 2oz/50g plain flour and sifting together. Works perfectly!

3.       I have the greatest joy in announcing that Golden Syrup so beloved by us Brits is actually available at certain supermarkets here in Istanbul. A bit pricey perhaps as I saw on my recent trip to London that it costs £1 there which seems given away in comparison. But at least we can get it.

4.       And finally re ground almonds which I have mentioned before as being hard to find at least on a consistent basis, a friend has just told me that they are available at Metro. The only trouble is the amount as it comes in industrial quantities. But that is not an insurmountable obstacle ...

and here it is: sticky citrus sponge cake

 Afiyet olsun!

Rich Fudgy Chocolate Brownie Cake

Shall we roll out the year on a glorious wave of chocolate? Shall we? Why not? Here is the last post and final recipe of 2010 and it is for Rich Fudgy Chocolate Brownie Cake - whatever that conjures up for you, it is.



Here's the story: I was flipping through a magazine supplement from Woman & Home: Fabulous Christmas Food when my eye was caught by a dramatic photo of the perfect chocolate cake decorated with glistening glace cherries taken side view with a hint of icing oozing from between the layers: the voluptuous silhouette of the shiny red cherries atop the dark, moist cake proved irresistible. A glance at the ingredients which included 5 eggs for a start, 60% dark chocolate and lots of it too, soon convinced me that this cake aspired towards higher things than the regular tea table. With my nearest and dearest coming for the holiday, I wanted something luscious and I had a hunch that this was it.

                                                                                 

Turks - apart from our very own dear ones - don't celebrate Christmas but they do love New Year's Eve or Yıl Başı as it's called. Celebrating the 31st December has gone from strength to strength over the years that I have lived here. It is like Christmas all over again. Turkeys are roasted, trees are decorated, presents are exchanged, and the whole thing with such joy, it's as if it was always celebrated thus. It was always celebrated but in a much simpler way: my husband remembers his favourite childhood Yıl Başı treats were muz or bananas, and sosis/sausages. Hardly extravagant but symptomatic of those times when levels of income were much lower. This cake is a leap the other way: make it and it will be the star of your New Year's sofra.

Ingredients

Serves 10-12
you will need 2 x 23cm/ 9'' shallow sandwich tins

275g/9 1/2 oz 60% dark chocolate (I used 70% Lindt)

225g/8oz unsalted butter

400g/14oz caster sugar ( I use regular granulated sugar here in Turkey as it is quite fine)

5 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

200g/7oz plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

glace cherries to decorate

for the mascarpone filling:

125g/4 1/2 oz mascarpone, brought up to room temperature

60g/2 1/2 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled

1-2 tbsp icing sugar, to taste

for the fondant icing:
175g/ 6oz icing sugar
3 tbsp water
25g/ 1oz cocoa powder
25g/1oz granulated sugar

Method

• Heat oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Melt the chocolate and butter in a large saucepan over low heat and allow to cool for a few mins before stirring in the sugar. Add eggs and vanilla a little at a time, stirring well with each addition.

•  Don't worry if it splits, it will come back together when you add the flour. Fold in the flour in batches and stir in the salt. Divide between the 2 tins and cook for 20-25 mins, till a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs.


                 

 



after baking


• Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for a few mins before tipping on to a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.

• Meanwhile, make the mascarpone filling. Mix the mascarpone and chocolate together and add icing sugar to taste. When the cakes are cool, place one upside down on a plate and spread the top with the mascarpone filling. Top with the other cake, this time the right way up, and then make the icing.

• Sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Put the water, cocoa powder and granulated sugar into a saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and draw off the heat. Pour on to the icing sugar and using a wooden spoon, beat to a smooth, soft consistency. Use while warm - this fondant icing sets very quickly.
• Decorate with the glace cherries and/or other cake decorations.

cuts like a dream

Tips

1. This cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
2. Un-iced cakes, well-wrapped, will freeze for up to a month.
3. I preferred this icing to the one given in the original recipe which required a tin of condensed milk. Given that we don't get it here, and also that it is full of calories, I took the decision to have a fondant icing so that is not Woman & Home.
4. To my joy, we can now find mascarpone at any major supermarket here in Istanbul. It gives me a real thrill to be able to get the ingredient specified after so many years of making do.
5. I was very pleased with this recipe and so was the family.  Definitely one for high days and holidays.You can find glace cherries and in fact any other type of glace fruit from certain bakery shops. It is worth going in and asking if you see that the cakes on display contain them. Not as difficult to find as you might think.

 the very last crumbs

We're going to Assos, our beautiful Aegean village for Yıl Başı unless the weather turns icy.

Wherever you are, a very Happy New Year to you all and thank you so much for the encouragement and support you have shown me over the last few months with your emails and Facebook messages! I appreciate it enormously.