Moorish cake:
This is Nigella’s version of a “fancy cake” – a simple almond sponge, with orange syrup, poured over the cake whilst it is cooling, and the remainder passed around on serving. I am excited about this cake for two reasons. Primarily, it is the last in the “almond” section in HTE, and whilst I could go on cooking with, and eating almonds, for the rest of my entire baking-life, I think my OH would welcome a change! It will be interesting to reflect back on this almond section to determine which – of the almond and orange-blossom cake, bakewell tart with fresh raspberries and Moorish cake – I have enjoyed the most. Secondly, Nigella notes that, if made with blood oranges, the syrup becomes wonderfully scarlet. I have subsequently found that February is the best time to purchase these oranges, and resolved to make this garish syrup. I have been subsequently fighting a loosing battle this week – receiving apologetic e-mails from Tescos and Waitrose. However, yesterday (17th February), I found blood oranges in Sainsbury’s and am now very eager to make this syrup, if only for the exciting visual element! I do have one small admission, however – this is a variation on the “Fancy” cake from HTE, which Nigella recommends baking in a brioche mould; thus maximising the “fancy” element of an otherwise simple cake. I do not actually have a brioche mould, and do not intend on purchasing one for a maximum of 2 cakes. However, I do have a savarin cake mould, which a.) has the same capacity as a brioche mould, b.) is one of those wonderfully innovative non-stick and flexible, “rubbery”-type moulds, and is c.) is, in my humble opinion, equally as fancy as a brioche mould. In fact, more so! This was bought as a present for me by my lovely mum, and thus I am determined to get use out of it, having only ever baked the easy almond ring from “How to be a Domestic Goddess.” Thus, I am going to use my savarin mould, in the hope that it evokes just as much “fancy appeal.”
Ingredients: All the ingredients can be easily purchased from any supermarket. If one is happy to use “normal” oranges, then the ingredients really can be bought on one supermarket trip. I have already mentioned my blood orange quest, which was no mean-feat. Therefore, I would advise anyone with a similar penchant for visually beautiful food to a.) Act now! Blood-oranges have a very short season, and February is the best time to purchase them, and b.) Don’t count on finding them in the first supermarket you come to. I did find mine in Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose do have them, although not in my local branch. So, do your homework before setting out, optimistically! As an aside, the recipe calls for a cinnamon stick, to boil up with the syrup. Cinnamon sticks are available in every supermarket now, and probably every corner shop, but it reminds me of about 6 years ago, when these things were not so accessible, and an occasion involving me rushing around town, at 15:00 on a Sunday, desperately trying to find a cinnamon stick to use in a recipe. Needless to say, I didn’t find any – but did receive some strange looks! The next time I set my eyes on any was when my friend bought some back from me from Dubai – which were 10X as long as the ones we have here, and about 100X more cinnamon-tasting. How times have changed!
Price: The blood-oranges, sugar, cinnamon sticks, lemons, eggs, sugar and ground almonds totalled £12.24. This seems very expensive for one cake, but over £6.00 of this was the cost of the blood-oranges. Should one wish to spend less on the cake, one could easily substitute normal oranges.
Method: The method is extremely, extremely easy, and simply involves making a syrup – which only means boiling up some sugar, the juice of 10 blood-oranges and a cinnamon stick, and letting the mixture reduce – and then making the cake – which simply involves creaming some eggs and sugar, stirring in some ground almonds and orange zest and then leavening the mixture with egg whites. I used my electric whisk for the whole process, and therefore cannot deny that the method, sans whisk, would be very strenuous on the arms, but not impossible. To make things even easier, I actually made the syrup on Friday night, left it in the fridge, and then made the cake proper on Saturday. The syrup is then spooned over the cooling cake, with more handed round on serving. I tended to drizzle a tbs. of the syrup over every slice.
Result: Wonderful! The cake itself was damp and moist; the perfect almond sponge. The syrup drizzled over, turned it into a different cake entirely. Nigella says to use the juice of 1-2 lemons in the syrup. This may seem a little sharp, but was completely understandable upon taste. The sharp, orange-y, cinnamon-y syrup complimented the sweet and moist sponge perfectly. It really is a fantastic combination. So much so, that I wouldn’t want, now, to eat a slice of cake without more syrup, aside from that soaked into the cake, drizzled over!
Furthermore, the savarin mould worked wonderfully. It did look as fancy as I had hoped, and what is more, was easy to cut into “segments.”
Other person’s perspective: This cake was eaten by my OH and I on Saturday night, and also my OH’s mum and dad on Sunday morning. As it has the added advantage of being gluten-free, I am also saving some to feed to my parents on Monday. I had to literally prize my OH away from the cake, to make sure that there was some left for everybody else, and in the end we settled on him eating 2 slices, and then no more until Monday. This deal lasted one evening, as he had another slice today with his parents! He commented that the cake was, indeed, Moorish and one of the best cakes he has ever eaten. However, he commented that the syrup should be sweeter. A point, I have to say, that I would agree on if the syrup was eaten on its own, but that the sharpness is a necessary compliment to the cake.
Future changes: There really is not a great deal that one could do to improve this. I disagree with my OH about the syrup, so would not change that one bit. I may try to pour over some more syrup whilst the cake is cooling, to maximise that sticky-orange-y glaze which worked so well, but other than that, this cake is perfection on a plate!
Rating: 5/5! This really is a perfect cake, sweet, moist, damp. The inclusion of the syrup makes it something else altogether, and pays dividends for minimal effort. A must for anyone to make.
Almond section: Now that I have finished the almond section, reflecting back, all the cakes were wonderful in their own right. However, if anyone reading this has the wherewithal to make just one, I would advise the almond and orange blossom cake. This cake is truly wonderful, and what sets it apart from the others is that it is much simpler, uses a few quality ingredients, and is damp, moist and particularly nice.
