Hi!
How are you? I’m actually delighted you’re here.
In the spirit of starting with a cake recipe, I will keep it short and sweet: I’ve started writing my own recipes and I want to share them with you. I hope you cook them, and I hope you show me. Starting today, I will be dropping a new recipe into your inbox once a week; there will be sweet and savoury, lots of fruit and vegetables, and what I think you should listen to while cooking it.
If you like my food/my writing/the general vibe, why not share it?
Blood Orange & Spelt Yoghurt Cake
I made this because I had a few blood oranges that were on their way out, and settled on a yoghurt cake as I didn’t have enough butter to make a Victoria sponge style batter. Using oil gives the cake a really soft and moist crumb (think carrot cake), and the yoghurt kind of offsets the sweetness of the sugar (not sure if this is actual science, but let’s go with it). Wholegrain spelt has a natural sweetness and depth of flavour/texture that make this an exemplary all day cake - ie, you could eat this for breakfast and it wouldn’t have the candy-like confectionary vibe of cakes made with white flour. A few tips:
no need for an electric whisk, to the point where a wooden spoon or even a fork will do if you don’t have a regular whisk
check your tin for leaks before putting it in the oven - mine peed a little orange juice, so I placed the tin on a baking sheet to avoid having to scrape burnt caramel off the bottom of the oven
the best knife for cutting the oranges and removing the pith is a small serrated one (a ‘fruit knife’, incidentally one of my top three knives)
This cake pairs well with the silky smooth tones of Dusty Springfield:
2tbsp butter, plus more to grease the tin
3 blood oranges
70g + 250g soft light muscovado sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
125g full fat greek yoghurt
130g neutral oil, such as vegetable oil
225g wholegrain spelt flour
3 level tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/GM 4.
Generously butter an 8in cake tin and set aside.
Zest 2 of the oranges into a large mixing bowl, then slice off the tops and bottoms of all three and place on a flat surface. Slice away the pith from top to bottom, following the natural curve of the fruit, and discard. Cut the oranges into slices approx. half a cm wide, and set aside in a bowl with any juices.
Put the 70g sugar into a small pan and set over medium heat. Allow the sugar to dissolve and caramelise, swirling the pan every now and then so it does so evenly. Do not stir! It will crystallise. Once it has all dissolved and you can smell the caramel, add the 2tbsp butter and stir thoroughly to combine. Remove from the heat.
Working quickly, pour into the prepared cake tin and spread with a spoon. The caramel will begin to cool and set as soon as it hits the tin, so get it as far as you can in the first few moments. Equally - don’t stress too much. It will melt and spread once in the oven. Arrange the orange slices on top.
Crack the eggs into the bowl with the zest, and add the 250g sugar. Whisk together until well combined.
Add the yoghurt and eggs, and whisk again until you have a homogenous mix.
Finally, add the flour, baking powder and salt, and whisk until smooth and lump free.
Pour into the prepared tin, smooth the top with a spoon or spatula and bake for 40min. It should be a rich golden colour and a skewer should come out clean when inserted into the middle.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 or so minutes, then invert onto a plate to reveal (hopefully) a moist, sticky, caramelly orange mosaic. I like to eat it with creme fraiche.
This cake will keep well in an airtight container for a couple of days, if you don’t eat it for and after every meal. Feel free to switch up the citrus - oranges or tangerines would be nice too, and please please please get in touch if you decide to use just lemons.
Next week will be savoury, and a testament to the fact that store-bought is, as ever, fine.
See you soon!
Mia
PS: Round of applause to my friend Sam for my wonderful banner, which he put together perfectly despite my vague brief of ‘pink and groovy’.
This sounds so good! Do you have any tips for adjusting this to be gluten free?
❤️ looks good ! can I use regular orange oranges ?