Serves 8
Cooking time: 1 hour
Oven: Preheat oven to 180C (350F Gas mark 4)
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups (185g/6 oz) Self-raising flour
1/3 cup (60g/2 oz) ground almonds
1/4 cup (40g/1 1/4 oz) poppy seeds
185g (6 oz) butter
2/3 cup (160g/5 1/2 oz) caster sugar
1/4 cup (80g/3/4 oz) orange or apricot jam
2-3 tsp finely grated orange rind
1/3 cup (80ml/2 3/4 fl oz) orange juice
3 eggs
ICING
100g (3 1/2 oz) butter
100g (3 1/2 oz) cream cheese
1 cup (125g/4 oz) icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tsp lemon juice or vanilla essence
Pre-heat the oven to moderate. Grease a deep 20cm (8 in) round cake tin and line the base and side with baking paper. Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the almonds and poppy seeds. Make a well in the centre.
Put the butter, sugar, jam, orange rind and juice in a pan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Gradually pour into the well in the dry ingredients, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add the eggs and whisk until combined.
Pour into the tin nad bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Leave in the tin for at least 15 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool.
To make the icing, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the icing sugar and lemon juice or vanilla gradually, and beat until thick and creamy. Spread the icing over the cooled cake.
I hope it tastes as good as it looks in the book.
Mot