If, like me you got carried away and made too much marmalade or still have lots left from last year why not make a marmalade cake.
A friend of mine picked up a flyer from Waterstones Bookshop for me with a recipe from The Great British Bake Off: How to Bake. It is very easy, literally a sponge cake with three generous dollops of marmalade in it.
The recipe recommended a topping of warmed marmalade spread over the cake, covered with an icing sugar and water frosting. But as my children preferred the sound of the orange flower water version from a Nigel Slater sticky marmalade recipe, I did that one instead.
The cake was absolutely delicious - even the children who HATE marmalade were holding plates out for a second slice. Next time I would like to try the Nigel Slater cake to go with the frosting......
List of ingredients: 175g butter, caster sugar, and self-raising flour, 3 large free range eggs, baking powder, 3 tablespoons of Seville orange marmalade, 2 tablespoons of milk. Bake at 180C/350F/gas 4) for 50 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.
For a fleeting few weeks in January, Seville oranges flood the market stalls, just the thing for making marmalade. Blink and you miss them. There is nothing like home-made jams, and marmalade more than any of the others. Shop bought are too sweet and not the same thing at all. What's more, it's actually very easy to make. The trick is not to make too much at any one time. All you need are Seville oranges (1.5kg), a lemon or two, water (3 litres) and sugar 3kg). You will also need a muslin or a jelly bag to put the pips and pith in to release the pectin, the thing that makes marmalade set.
Wash the fruit, cut them in half, squeeze out the juice and remove the pips.
Cut the peel in shreds and put it in a pan with the pips tied up in a muslin bag.
Add the water, lemon juice, and pulp.
Simmer for an hour and a half, remove the muslin bag (squash it against the pan with a spoon to release the pectin first), stir in all the sugar until it dissolves completely. Rapidly boil until setting point is reached. To test this, drop a splodge of marmalade onto a cold saucer (pop one in the freezer for a few minutes before hand. Push it with your finger and if it wrinkles, it is set. Pour into sterilised jars and seal immediately. Cover with a wax disc. We don't bother with them as we eat our marmalade so quickly!
