coffee fruit 'n nut cake

My mothers were good cooks in a hearty, early vegetarianism way. We had solid staples: curry, vege shepherds pie, pizza, pasta with tomato sauce, soup, nutroast... In the 90s we discovered the stir fry and by my late teens they were getting all fancy like and making cajun tofu with mango salsa 'n shit.

But an area where they were particularly skilled (in my opinion) was the hearty cake. Before they had moved to Haberfield and been inspired to make italian ricotta cake (or found ethics and hit on the vegan cupcakes), they made Barm Brack: a super hearty fruit cake with just fruit, tea, sugar, eggs and flower in it. I loved it and never understood why Louise ruined the formula each Christmas by adding alcohol, peel, spices and icing.

I've been meaning to make Barm Brack for years and finally hit up Teresa for the recip yesterday. But I couldn't bring myself not to get inventive so my altered recipe is below. To make the original, ditch the nuts and spices and swap the coffee for tea! Nice and English.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups dried fruit (I used raisins, currants, turkish apricots and chopped figs)
1 cup brown sugar
1.75 cups coffee (I used cafetiere coffee, not too strong)
1 egg
1.25 cups self-raising flour
1 cup chopped nuts (I use almonds and hazelnuts)
1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

DAY 1
1. Make coffee and then let it cool.
2. Pour coffee over fruit, stir in sugar and leave to soak overnight.
Incidentally I forgot to let the coffee cool and I forgot to add the sugar til the next day, but it worked just fine all the same.

DAY 2
preheat oven to 175 celcius
3. Beat the egg and stir into mixture.
4. Sift flour and stir in.
5. Beat well - by hand is sufficient.
6. Add nuts and spices.
7. Pour into pre-greased loaf tin and place in oven.
8. Bake for 1hr 45 mins or until cooked - keep an eye on it. When you can insert a knife and it comes out clean it's done.

The results are divine. Divine I say!

Great warm with butter!

Next time I'm adding chocolate chips!!!!!

...

Middle Eastern Orange Cake

Gluten Free! But not vegan...sorry

This is an absolute steal, not mine at all. But it is SUCH a good cake and someone (Hi Audrey!) emailed me, asking if I knew anything wheat free, so it seemed an opportune time to post. I have a similar recipe at home using pistachios but haven't had the time to try it out. Will do though!

NB: don't do as my mum did the other day and leave the oranges on the stove while you go out for a glass of wine. Charred oranges - no fun!

This is AWESOME served with chocolate gelato...mmm...


Claudia Roden's Middle Eastern Orange Cake

From Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion

2 large oranges, washed
6 eggs, beaten
250g ground almonds
250g sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder

Boil oranges, barely covered with water, in a covered saucepan for 2 hours. Allow to cool, then cut open, remove pips and chop roughly, including the rind.

Preheat oven to 190°C and butter and flour a 24cm springform tin. Blend oranges and eggs thoroughly in a food processor. Mix ground almonds, sugar and baking powder in a bowl, then add orange mixture and whisk to combine. Pour batter into prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour. If cake is still very wet, cook a little longer. Cool in tin before gently turning out.