Mandarin Almond Syrup Cake

Just for a change...








When I was baking for cafes, I made dozens and dozens of Orange Almond Syrup Cakes each week. They just seem to be the ubiquitous gluten-free-go-to at every cafe around.

They are very good cakes, amazingly moist with the flavour deepening over time and great keepers, no problem lasting at least a week without issues, but I'm ready for change.

I've had my eye on this cookbook, Indulge, by Rowie  Dillon for a while now. I'd heard good things from other reviews and as I'd tried her successful range of baked goods, I knew it would hold lots of gluten free treasures. I was right.

This recipe caught my eye straight away- I had made my own similar cakes for so long that I had a reference point to go to, mine were also gluten and dairy free, but this one had tofu, not something I've used in a cake before. Time to try something new!

I admit I've changed out the oranges for mandarins, not that I have anything against oranges, I just wanted a break from the usual.

Mandarin Almond Syrup Cake

2 Mandarins
400gr Almond Meal
200gr Tofu- The recipe called for silken, I only had firm but it still worked out OK
250gr Palm Sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp Cardamom
1 tsp gfree Baking Powder

Place the mandarins in a pot full of water, then boil for an hour.

Drain. Puree until smooth.

Blitz the palm sugar, tofu, mandarins and olive oil until nice and smooth.

I usually use Rice Bran oil for everything from frying to baking, I just think it's handy, a very high smoke point and extremely mild flavour. I was halfway through making this cake when I realised I was out! Oh no! I rummaged through my stash.... garlic oil, chilli oil, lemon myrtle, smoked, truffle.... then thank goodness- Homeleigh Grove Blood Orange! Close enough, yummy and very local. Win win!

Sift the almond meal, spice and powder. Then add the blitzed ingredients stirring until smooth.

Put mixture into a greased and lined 22cm cake tin and bake at 180* for an hour and 10 minutes.

Serve with mandarin syrup.

Mandarin Syrup

500ml mandarin juice
250gm palm sugar

Place sugar and juice in saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.

Bring to the boil, and cook down for 15 minutes until thickened and syrupy.

Pour over cake.

This is a lovely cake indeed.

Moist but still fairly delicate, and the flavour is certainly better the next day. The only thing that needs changing is when to pour the syrup. I would prefer to leave it off and just pour some over each slice as required. I found the syrup absolutely delicious, but a bit sweet for me and the cake tended to break up a bit as the syrup soaked in. That minor difficulty aside, I'll certainly be making this recipe again, but maybe playing around with it just a little more.


So Dear Readers, which is your favourite citrus fruit, and would you put it in a cake?

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Jammy Sponge Roll

A lovely old fashioned favourite today Dear Readers, Jammy Sponge Roll.









One of the most basic cakes and one every chef should have in her bag of tricks. What lovely basic ingredients too- flour, eggs and sugar. Can't get much simpler than that!

Here in Australia, we have the Country Women's Association, AKA the CWA. The cuddly grandma baking mafia of Rural Australia. These lovely ladies rule the regional shows/fairs with rods of iron, laying down very strict guidelines for all the baking categories and taking out every prize on offer. They also fundraise non-stop for their local communities with cake stalls and such, and no one can get a better basic cake than from them. The fluffiest lamingtons, the airiest sponges, and the scones.....
My Mum was the President of her local CWA, and she is not a confident baker at all, I'm sure that there must be some kind of initiation involving secret handshakes and the passing on of age-old recipes or fairy dust, because she even managed to impress Lady Flo with her rendition of the famous Queensland Pumpkin Scones.

I'm sure that my little Jam Roll would never pass muster in any country hall or fund-raiser or win any show prizes, but luckily for me my family is not that fussy! And when it comes to gluten and dairy InTolerances I hope that even the CWA can makes some concessions.


Fluffy Sponge Roll

4 eggs
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup cornflour
1 tsp gfree baking powder
pinch of salt

First of all, pre heat your oven to 180* and line a 26x32cm swiss roll tray with baking paper.

Whisk the eggs and sugar until they're really nice and fluffy and leave a 'ribbon'- or when the mix dribbles off the whisk and leaves a high trail that takes a second or so to soak back down.

Sift the combined cornflour, baking powder and salt over the eggs, and gently fold them through.

Tip this mix into the baking tray and spread it gently and evenly.

Bake for about 20 mins and it's nice and golden and risen beautifully.

Now it's time to get a wriggle on, we want to do the next few steps before the cake cools down to much or it will develop unpleasant looking cracks in the top- a bit like an older lady who's really spackled on her foundation and powder, then smiled.

Take it from the oven, sprinkle the top with castor sugar and lay a clean tea towel over the top of the cake. Place your cooling rack against it and flip the whole thing upside down.

Peel the baking paper from the cake, exposing it's vunerable pale underbelly.

Roll the whole cake up - gently- in the tea towel, starting from one of the long sides, like a spiral or a really lanky snail. Place the seam side down and leave on the cooling rack to cool completely.

Unroll your cake and spread your jam of choice, lemon or passionfruit curd is fabulous too, fairly thickly over it leaving a 1-2cm clean edge at the end to stop all the yummy jam oozing out once you re-roll it. This is MUCH easier to do if you warm the jam a little in the microwave, otherwise you could risk ripping the sponge and angering any CWA ladies in the vicinity.

Roll your cakey up again and let it settle a bit. We want the jam to glue it all together and soak in a wee bit.
If you're not dairy InTolerant, you could even top the jam with some whipped cream, but alas, not for me, but the jam is still delicious.

Sprinkle the whole cake liberally with icing sugar (Maybe this is where the secret fairy-dust is added?)












Cut into nice thick slices and sink your teeth through the fluffy sponginess that gives this cake it's name.... yummmm......

So my Dear Readers, hve you ever bought a cake from the CWA or a local cake stall, and was it as good as you hoped it would be?