A Treasury of New Zealand Baking, edited by Lauraine Jacobs, is a collection of more than 100 recipes from food writers and chefs around the country published in aid of the Breast Cancer Foundation.
It includes a wealth of baking wisdom from Tui Flower to help new bakers and to remind more experienced ones of useful tips.
My grandmother used to make this cake - without the help of a food processor My mother won prizes with the recipe in local cake competitions.
I baked it for my family and passed the recipe on to my daughter, who now makes it for her daughter. This popular cake has definitely stood the taste test of time.
Recipe makes a 23cm ring cake or 20cm round cake.
1 whole orange, pips removed
1 cup pitted dates
½ cup shelled walnuts
125g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
6 Tbsp milk powder
2 cups standard flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup water
Preheat the oven to 180degC. Lightly grease the base of a 23 cm ring tin or 20 cm round cake tin and line with baking paper.
Chop the orange, including the skin, then whizz quickly in a food processor. Add the dates and walnuts, processing until coarsely chopped. (Alternatively, chop them finely with a sharp knife.)
Place the mixture in a bowl. Place the butter, sugar and egg in the food processor and mix until smooth.
Sift the milk powder, flour and baking soda together.
Combine the butter mixture with the fruit mixture, water and the dry ingredients. Pour into the prepared tin.
Bake for 40-45min, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Leave to stand for 10min, then remove from the tin. When cold, the cake can be sprinkled with icing sugar.
This moist cake can be kept in the fridge or frozen.
Variations. -
Instead of dusting the cake with icing sugar, you can spread orange icing or cream-cheese icing on it.
Orange icing: Julienne the rind and squeeze the juice of 1 orange. Place 2 cups icing sugar, sifted, in a bowl and add 2 tbsp melted butter and just enough juice to make a smooth icing. Spread the icing over the cold cake and garnish with the orange rind.
- Jan Bilton
Rhubarb cake
Requested by many family members and friends, this recipe is simple to prepare and produces a cake with a sugar-spice topping. The rhubarb keeps the cake moist, and it is delicious warm or cold with a cup of coffee or tea.
Recipe makes a 20-23cm cake ; cuts into 12-16 pieces. -
Cake
600g rhubarb stalks (about 4 cups once sliced)
60g butter, softened
1 cup (260g) brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
350g standard flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup natural yoghurt
Topping
25g butter, melted
½ cup white or fine-grained organic raw sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
To serve
icing sugar
thick yoghurt or sour cream (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180degC with a rack in the middle position. Cut a piece of baking paper to fit a 20cm-22cm cake tin or a 23cm diameter round pan (the approximate equivalent). Grease the sides of the pan and the baking paper.
Slice thin rhubarb stalks into 1cm pieces. Thick stalks should be split in half lengthwise and then sliced into 1cm pieces.
Beat the softened butter and brown sugar until well-mixed. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and add the vanilla. Keep beating until mixture is light coloured and creamy.
Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Fold into the creamed mixture with the yoghurt and rhubarb. The batter should be stiff.
Spoon into the prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Mix the topping ingredients together with a fork and sprinkle evenly over the surface.
Bake for 50-60min. The top should be golden brown and firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5min on a wire rack. Use a knife to loosen the sides then carefully invert on to the rack and leave to cool.
Serve warm or cold, with a dusting of icing sugar. For dessert, you can add dollops of thick yoghurt or sour cream on the side.
This cake stays fresh for many days. If keeping for more than a day, store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Mary Browne
Recipes from A Treasury of New Zealand Baking, edited by Lauraine Jacobs with photographs by Aaron McLean, published by Random House, $55.
