So I’ve now gotten to the second cake on ‘the list’ which is a fig, orange and walnut loaf.
I made the sweet spice mix first:
Ingredients
10 cardamon pods
6 cloves
1/2 nutmeg
1 tsp whole fennel seeds
2 tsp whole mahleb seeds
3 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 190OC/170OC fan/gas mark 5
Roast the cardamon pods, cloves and nutmeg on a baking tray for 5 minutes, then add the fennel and malheb seeds and roast for another 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before grinding and then mixing with the ginger and cinnamon
Store any that you don’t use straight away in a jar or other airtight container. This will keep for up to 6 months, but I always think you should try to use within 2 months to get the flavour at its best.
Reference: The Baking Book, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, page 48
I had never understood why I had to roast the spiced first, however I understand that this aids the process of Sanitation, releasing essential oils bring out their full flavour and aroma, and driving out excess moisture this makes the seeds crispier and makes for a smoother grind.
However like most of these recipes I had to make do with what I had in the house. I did not have mahleb seeds but I did have some mahlab powder from summer 2020. Mahleb is a spice made from the seeds of St Lucy’s cherry. It has a floral and almondy flavour with a hint of vanilla – subtle and fruity when cooked.At first I thought it would be fine but it smelt so bad that I decided that the whole package had to go into the bin, so I made the mix without mahleb. I used my underused coffee grinder to grind the cardamon pods, cloves and fennel seeds into a powder.
Then for the main event, I did not have any home made candied orange peel. I cheated a little and bought a pot of orange 🍊 and lemon 🍋 peel from Sainsbury’s. I reduced the sugar in it too. 100 g of honey, 50 g caster sugar and 50 g of light muscavado sugar
It is delicious – a little more chewy than expected and flat, I realised I used plain flour instead of self-raising flour 😩 . Anyway I will be making this again. I’ll search for the mahleb seeds. And add the right flour next time!
Ingredients
120g/ml whole milk
120g honey
40g unsalted butter
75g caster sugar
75 light brown soft sugar
230g self-raising flour
4 tsp of sweet spice mix
1/2 tsp table salt
75g walnuts, roughly chopped
75g dried figs, each cut in 4 pieces
75g candied orange peel cut in strips
1 egg
30g demerara sugar to sprinkle
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180oC/160oC fan/gas mark 4
Butter a 1 kg (2 lb) loaf tin and line with a sheet of baking parchment to cover the base and long sides, allowing a little overhang so that this can be used to help lift the loaf out later.
Warm the milk, honey, butter, caster sugar and light brown sugar together in a large saucepan until the sugars have dissolved and the mixture is just starting to boil.
Remove from the heat and stir in the flour, spice and salt. Mix in the walnuts, quartered figs and candied orange peel, then add the egg and combine thoroughly before transferring the batter to the lined tin. Smooth the top and sprinkle with the demerara sugar.
Bake in the centre of the oven for about 30 minutes, then turn the tin around for an even bake and leave for another 30 minutes. At this stage it should still be still be a little soft to touch, but stable and with a lovely thick crust. You can’t really test this cake with a toothpick as it contains so much fruit, but if you push down a little with the tip of your finger in the centre and it doesn’t sink, remove from the oven. If you feel there is still quite a bit of softness there, bake for another 10 minutest but do take it out after that. Allow to cool in the tin.
It keeps well for a couple of weeks in an airtight container and, once you think it is losing its lustre, simple toast it.
Reference: The Baking Book, Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, page 127
