Favourite Bakes – Pippa Goldfinger

Frome recently got itself a new WI, the sort that has a Facebook page and an average member age that is about half of the usual 70. I went along to a meeting to see if I’d be interested and somehow found myself on the committee.  As part of my duties I volunteered to interview our new mayor, Pippa Goldfinger, for the WI blog: http://fromewi.blogspot.co.uk/ . She’s a friend and lives next door but one, so it wasn’t exactly a chore. The questions asked by our members were mostly political but we are the WI after all, so I had to ask her about her favourite cake. Her answer was a Tarte De Naraja, a Spanish Almond and Orange Cake. I’d never heard of it before but it sounded good and it got me thinking. What are other people’s favourite cakes? I put this question to my twitter and facebook followers and got some great answers. I am going to choose a few to include on the blog over the next few weeks and am starting of course with the Tarte De Naranja. Expect to also see Coffee and Walnut Cake and Banana Cupcakes with Peanut butter frosting in the near future. If you want to see your favourite on the blog, please email me with your cake (and recipe if it’s a really specific one!) info@teancake.co.uk

This cake is another easy one. It has very few ingredients and is gluten free and so makes even more people happy! You could even call it healthy. Almonds are VERY good for you and it contains one of you five a day.

Ingredients

For the cake:

Four eggs, separated

5 ½ oz ground almonds

5 ½ oz caster sugar

Zest of two oranges

For the syrup:

Four oranges, juiced

½ lemon, juiced

½ cinnamon stick

Caster sugar - to taste

You will also need a springform tin, lined with a circle of greaseproof paper.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4
• Put one tablespoon of the sugar in with the egg whites and tip the rest in with the yolks. Beat the yolks and sugar until pale.
• Add the almonds and zest, mix together
• Beat the egg whites (with the sugar in) until stiff, then fold into the cake mixture very gently, keeping as much air as possible
• Gently pour into the tin and bake on middle shelf of the oven for about an hour (give another ten minutes if your oven isn’t too powerful). The cake is ready when it is golden and feels firm
• Whilst the cake is baking make your syrup. Tip all ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about five minutes and pour into a jug. Leave to cool and then put in the fridge.
• When the cake is done, leave on the side in the tin until totally cooled. Take out of the tin and place onto serving plate, pierce with a skewer several times then pour over as much of the syrup as you like (you can save some for serving with). Don’t pour all on at once, do it a little at a time.
• Mayor Goldfinger likes to eat hers with crème fraiche.