I needed to buy a nice, not too expensive, red wine for easter so I phoned Lene from Kraftbyraa. She suggested Vesevus Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio 2008. I didn't just get a wine suggestion though, I got a whole story! Story has it that when Lucifer was thrown out of heaven he landed on earth creating what is now called the bay of Naples. He had nicked a piece of heaven as he left and, you guessed it, that is now Naples!! Christ wept as he realised his loss and where his tears fell to earth the first grapevines grew. Lacryma Christi means Christ's tears and is one the oldest wines from Italys Campania region.
Did I mention that it was DELICIOUS!!
All day before dinner I had been thinking that I wanted to make an orange cake. But I wanted a really compact and juicy orange cake. So after googling for a good while I found a perfect recipe on a this food blog
I think this is one of the greatest cakes I've eaten for ages and ages and unfortunately for my waistline I just want to make it again straight away.
Here's the recipe
For the cake -
2 large oranges
115g butter
340g sugar
2 eggs
190g flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
50 grams shredded coconut
Put the oranges in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Pour off the water and repeat twice more. When the oranges have been boiled three times remove any pips and then mince the oranges, peel and all, in a food processor (if you haven't got one you can use a hand blender and if you haven't got a hand blender you can chop and chop and chop..)
Mix the butter, eggs and sugar well and then add the orange pulp and mix in. Blend in the flour and coconut. Put in a greased 22cm cake tin and bake for 45min at 180° or until a tester comes out clean.
While the cake is in the oven make the syrup -
Mix these things in a small saucepan.
Zest of one orange
160ml orange juice
80ml water
225gm sugar
Bring everything to the boil and let boil for 3-4 minutes.
When the cake is finished leave to cool slightly on a rack ,transfer to a deep cake dish and pour the syrup over it. Decorate with orange slices, zest or whatever you want! EAT AND ENJOY, but preferably while still warm.
P.S for all the coconut haters out there, you can't taste coconut at all really, I think it just makes the consistency great and helps keep the cake juicy.
