Marmalade and Ginger Spice Traybake
The season of spices and candied fruit is upon us and I am welcoming it with open arms! I'm not usually one to start this festive mood until mid- December (mainly because I am a December baby) but I am really feeling it this year and I need something to get excited for. So, I'm kicking off with the classic combination of orange and ginger with a little added extra spice.
This traybake is really a lovely winter treat with warming spices and orange to cut through the richness in perfect harmony. After working in commercial kitchens, I always associate the smell of oranges with Christmas and with the added spices baking this cake is sure to make your house smell festive.
Health Fact: Oranges are well known for having a high vitamin C content. As well as this, oranges are also a good source of potassium. Both of these helps to improve your immune system and can reduce your risk of heart disease.
Egg Free: this is a really great egg free recipe. The marmalade acts as the binder so there's no need for eggs. This traybake is still beautifully soft and fluffy without them.
Making the Cake: this is a really simple 'mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients' kind of recipe. Although, I have added a little step of heating the marmalade with the oil. This is just to make sure that the marmalade is smooth before adding it to the mixture. A lumpy batter is not a happy batter. Also, don't worry if your batter isn't the same texture as the one in the video, this depends on how much you have heated the oil and marmalade. No matter how much you have heated it, the cake will still be fine.
Sour Cream: sour cream really brings another dimension of flavour to this cake that I love. I made my own sour cream for this recipe but that is only because I had some cream that was close to going off. Instead of throwing it away I decided to turn it into sour cream and then use it for baking. If you want to do the same, here are the instructions:
Thoroughly mix together 300ml double cream with 2tsp lemon juice and 80ml semi skimmed milk. Place in an airtight container and leave it on the counter overnight. This can be kept in the fridge for a week.
Marmalade: I prefer to use smooth marmalade for this recipe but you can use the chunky stuff if you prefer having more texture to your cake.
Buttercream: the secret to a great buttercream is an electric or stand mixer. These really help the buttercream to become light and fluffy. It's hard to do this by hand but not impossible, you will just have crazy biceps afterwards.
Marmalade and Ginger Spice Traybake
Prep time
10-15 minutes
Cook time
35-40 minutes
Serves
12
For the Cake
280g Self-raising flour
240g Caster sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
80ml Sunflower oil
80g Marmalade
1 tsp Vanilla
2 tbsp Sour cream
270ml Semi-skimmed milk
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan. Grease and line a deep 9x7 inch dish
Mix the dry ingredients together and then set aside.
Warm the oil and marmalade in the microwave. Whisk them together after every 20 second interval until it is smooth.
Add the oil, marmalade, sour cream, milk and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth and fully combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 35-40 minutes until it springs back when gently pressed. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
For the Buttercream
100g Salted butter, softened
150g Icing sugar
Zest of 1 orange
While the cake is cooling, make the buttercream.
Beat the butter and orange zest for around 1 minute until it is smooth. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating after every addition.
once all the icing sugar has been added, beat the frosting for a further 2 minutes on high speed.
Evenly spread the buttercream over the cooled cake and then decorate with orange zest or candied orange. Cut into 12 equal pieces and enjoy!
