Two weekends ago I made my first batch of marmalade. And what do you do once you've made a big batch of jam or marmalade? Use it in a cake, of course!
The resulting marmalade cake (with a handful of chopped dried apricots) had a lovely tart, citrus flavour from the Seville orange and marmalade. However the texture was a bit dense. I don't think my mixing was at fault, it was more likely due to the amount of liquid in the cake batter (orange juice, apricots and the marmalade which was slightly underset.) I left the cake in the oven a bit longer than stated as the centre was still liquid when I inserted a skewer into the middle. By the time the centre finally cooked I think the rest of the cake dried out a bit despite covering the top with greaseproof paper for the last 15 minutes.
Not a failure of a cake by any means, but mildly disappointing due to the bake. I have plenty of marmalade though so I can easily try again.
Apricot and orange marmalade cake
Recipe very mildly adapted from Vintage Cakes by Jane Brocket
175g baking margarine/ softened butter
175g light soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
Grated zest of 1 orange (plus the juice from half the orange). I used a Seville orange, the same as I used for my marmalade.
75g chopped dried apricots
2 rounded tablespoons of orange marmalade
200g self raising flour
Icing:
150g icing sugar
Juice of 1 orange. Orange zest for decoration.
Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160 Fan/ gas mark 4 and grease and line a 20cm round deep cake tin with greaseproof paper.
Mix together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the orange zest, juice and marmalade and mix. Add the flour and mix gently until everything is fully combined. Finally stir in the chopped dried apricots.
Pour the cake batter into the tin then bake in the centre of the oven for approx. 1 hour, checking on it after about 45 minutes. You may need to add a layer of greaseproof paper as a "hat" on top of the cake to stop the top from burning but allow the centre of the cake to continue cooking. The cake is ready when a skewer or knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack before icing. Turn out of the tin after 5-10 minutes.
For the icing, mix together the icing with enough orange juice to create a thick, smooth, pouring consistency. Spread over the cooled cake. For extra flourish grate orange zest to sprinkle on top.
