Madhouse recipe : Clementine Cake

After the success of our Halloween Spider Cupcakes, we were delighted when Rachel's sent us some more vouchers for their tasty yogurts, crème fraîche and butter and invited us to try out one of their winter recipes. I don't know about you but certain smells immediately make me feel Christmassy, whatever time of year it is - cinnamon is one and satsumas are another, so I was instantly attracted to a recipe for Clementine Cake. Even better, I already had everything I needed in the kitchen - bonus !

Clementine Cake

Ingredients :

175g Rachel’s Unsalted butter, room temperature

175g caster sugar

3 eggs

250g self raising flour

100g Rachel’s Greek Style Natural Low Fat yogurt

3 clementines – zest and juice of one

100g apricot jam

Warmed Rachel’s Luxury Crème Fraiche to serve

Preparation time: 50 mins

Serves: 4 (I'd actually say serves 8)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Prepare and grease one loaf tin.

Cream the Rachel’s Unsalted butter and sugar together in a bowl (using an electric mixer if available) until pale and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a spoonful of flour with each egg to stop curdling.

Add the remaining flour, then fold in the Rachel’s Greek Style Natural Low Fat yogurt and the zest and juice of one clementine.

I never realised how much juice you could get out of one small clementine ! I just peeled it then crushed it in my hands, there's no need for a juicer.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and level the top.

With the remaining 2 clementines, cut the bottom and top of the skin off and discard. Following the contour of the orange with a knife, cut away the skin and discard. Remove any white pith but be careful not to remove any flesh. (I just peeled them and then sliced them.)

Slice each fruit horizontally into thin slices, place these over the top of the cake batter.

Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for approximately 30 minutes until risen and golden brown, and the clementines are beautifully caramelised. Test the cake with a skewer to check the cake is cooked, if the skewer comes out clean then the cake is ready. (After half an hour, mine was still totally molten and flat, so I left it for longer and checked every five minutes - it needed over an hour to be cooked through, risen and golden on top.)

Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly. Brush over with apricot jam and leave to cool completely.

Serve wedges of cake with a dollop of Rachel’s Luxury Crème Fraîche.

It's quite a bland cake so I think it would be lovely with a clementine syrup poured over it, along with the crème fraiche. I'd also add a spoonful of cinnamon into the batter next time to perk it up a bit. It still disappeared in record time though !

for more recipe inspiration : http://www.rachelsorganic.co.uk/recipes/

Disclosure : I received some vouchers from Rachel's to try one of their recipes.