I so love using seasonal ingredients in cooking and baking. It’s the ultimate way of getting the best flavour out of your ingredients and also very important for sustainability as you are more likely to then be using local produce. I get so inspired by what is in season.
With winter in full swing, citrus fruit season has finally arrived. This is also the time of year I crave cake. Comfort food cravings perhaps? It’s probably because we are drinking more warm drinks and I love a little slice of something on the side for a late morning treat. Around once a year I get a craving for this citrus loaf cake, soaked in syrup to make it super moist. You can use any citrus fruit for this. Lemon drizzle is a perfect example. I just happen to have the most deliciously sweet clementines in the house at the moment.
Clementine Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Freshly squeezed juice
- Zest of 2 – 3 clementines Grated
- 113 Grams Unsalted Butter Softened to room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
Syrup
- Zest of 2 – 3 clementines Thinly sliced or grated
- ½ Cup Water
- ½ Cup Freshly squeezed juice
- 1 Cup Castor Sugar
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a standard size loaf tin
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer or hand mixer, whisk the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Whisk in the eggs, orange zest, orange juice, and vanilla extract
- Sift in the flour and baking powder, then gently fold them in with a rubber spatula until incorporated
- Spoon the batter into the loaf tin and bake for around 50 minutes or until a skewer or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean (make the syrup while the cake is baking)
Syrup
- Add the juice, zest, water, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until syrup slightly thickens (It should still be quite runny though in order to coat and soak the cake)
- As soon as the cake is done and removed from the oven, prick the surface with a thin skewer and pour half the syrup over the top. Allow it to soak in and cool. Remove the cake from the tin and drizzle with remaining syrup
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