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Probably England’s most traditional cake where versions morph into Christmas pudding and wedding cakes.
My King Charles’ Coronation Celebration Cake (🙈 alliteration unintended) is fruit-rich and moist with a honey glaze to give a surface twinkle.
Ingredients:
525g mixed dried fruit & peel
300ml tea
225g plain flour
150g unsalted butter (room temp)
150g dark muscovado sugar
110g ground almonds
100g glace cherries (roughly chopped)
4 eggs
1 tbsp treacle
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground nutmeg
Runny honey & flaked almonds to decorate
Method:
The evening before;
Mix 300ml boiling water with 1 teabag and allow to cool. Place the mixed dried fruit and peel in a large bowl and then add cooled tea.
Cover and soak overnight.
The following day;
Preheat oven to 150c fan. Grease and line a 23cm springform cake tin.
Beat the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each. Add the flour, almonds, treacle, baking powder, vanilla, mixed spice & nutmeg and beat in until all just incorporated.
Drain the mixed fruit and keep the liquid to one side. Add the dried fruits and cherries to the batter and fold in until all mixed, then pour into the prepared tin.
Place in the oven and bake for appx 2 hours, until firm to touch and dark brown on top. Remove from the oven, poke some holes all over and drizzle in the tea. Allow to cool fully on a wire rack.
Mix some honey and a dash of vanilla extract, spread over the top of the cake and sprinkle with flaked almonds.
Decorate as desired.
Enjoy.
Gaby Van Clarke
None of us know what’s going to take us out. Life’s full of surprises. But we do know that the body starts to degenerate from about age 30 (more cells destroyed than created, barring excess weight gain) and also, crucially, that we can affect the speed of that ageing process.
Introduced by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century, and adapted over time to suit Japanese tastes, this light bouncy sponge is considered a traditional Japanese speciality. More delicate and airy than a regular sponge cake, castella ( カステラ, kasutera) is famous for a fine and moist crumb.
