Orange marmalade cake

I don't like marmalade by itself, it has a bitterness that I am not a fan of. Nor am I a fan of wishy washy cakes. Adding marmalade to an orange cake results in a couple of fantastic things. The marmalade adds a fantastic depth of orangey flavour without any trace of bitterness.

I was a smidgen worried when I put this cake in the oven, as after the addition of marmalade my cake batter appeared to curdle. I need not have worried though. The texture of this cake is a delight, open and very soft. I have already mentioned that the flavour is fantastically deep too.

The icing in the top is not 100% necessary if you do not wish, but it does add another orangey hit.

Orange marmalade cake (from Nigel Slater)

makes 1 loaf

175g butter
175g golden caster sugar
1 orange
3 eggs
75g orange marmalade (fine shred or shred-less)
175g self raising flour
75g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C FAN and grease a 950g loaf tin.  Line the greased tin along its length and short sides with a strip of greaseproof paper, this will make removing the cake easy.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then add the zest of the orange. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the marmalade until well incorporated.

Add the flour to the bowl and fold in gently with a metal spoon. Finally fold in the juice of half the orange.

Tip the cake mix into your prepared tin and level the top. Bake in the preheated oven for ~40 minutes.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing simply mix the icing sugar with some of the remaining orange juice. Add just a little juice at a time until it is a thick drizzling consistency. Drizzle on the cake and you are done!