Tangerine and ginger cake

Just after New Year I was in the mood for making a cake, but wasn’t sure I had a suitable combination of ingredients. I had a bowlful of bananas, grapefruit, oranges and tangerines. Of those, oranges sounded most promising. I was after a change from lemon drizzle and banana cake - my staples.

I soon found Dan Lepard's tempting orange cake recipe on The Guardian website, but didn't have enough oranges alone. Never mind, double cream aside I had all the other ingredients, including fresh ginger and cinnamon. And tangerines could easily make up the orange quotient. I'd make a store cupboard cake based on what I had left from Christmas. Much nicer than turkey risotto or Brussels sprouts fritters.

Aside from the six tangerines I used to compensate for the three missing oranges (from the total of five), I largely stuck to Dan's ingredient list. I omitted the walnuts, however. 

I discovered that getting the rind off six tiny tangerines takes a fair while. It’s not really worth measuring the amount of liquid the oranges and tangerines produces either. I had just the right amount (150ml) if I used three tangerines and two large oranges, but the additional juice from the other three tangerines would have made for a slightly moister, more tangy taste. I’d probably add a bit more ginger too.

Boiling the orange and caster sugar and then melting in small chunks of unsalted butter made a nice change from lots of whipping and whisking. The only time I had to whisk was when adding the eggs to the cooled down liquid. I then transferred the lot to a large mixing bowl to add the flour (Dan seems to have mixed everything together in the pan).

Since I was making a round cake rather than a deeper loaf, cooking took 40 minutes rather than the expected 50 mins. The aroma when it came out the oven was great, but the cake needs a good 30 minutes to cool. 

The first slice confirmed my thoughts about whether I should have added the extra juice. Next time I’ll include a little more in the cake mix and then drizzle over the remainder when the cake is on the cooling rack but still warm. (On this occasion I made the cake just before going out for the evening with my friend Vicky, so I wasn’t able to pour over the extra juice).

The texture and taste of this cake was pleasing though. It was light and rose well in the oven. I added a buttercream icing filling. Its sweetness complimented the slightly tart and zingy orange flavour very well. I'll make this tangerine and ginger cake again and probably tinker some more. 

Ingredients for my version (Dan's recipe is here)

5 oranges or 10 tangerines or clementines (feel free to mix and match your orange citrus fruit)

3cm fresh stem ginger, grated

225g caster sugar

100g unsalted butter

325g self-raising flour

3 eggs

75ml double cream

Buttercream icing

8oz icing sugar

4oz softened butter

50ml milk