I’ve been reflecting on the comment I made in the post on the Stuffed Monkey about how I don’t like the taste of orange peel and, to be honest, I feel it made me sound like a big baby. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I actually don’t like the taste of dried orange peel but….and it’s a big but…(not a big butt, I’m no Sir Mix A Lot) I thought that in the general spirit of pushing myself out of my comfort zone that is this blog, I should try things before dismissing them. And my last recollection of dried orange peel comes from Hot Cross Buns from back in the days when I was kissing tv screens. Which is all a very long way of saying that I made Yotam Ottolenghi’s Semolina, Coconut and Marmalade Cake.
And it was delicious.
Who knew marmalade was actually quite nice? I bought one that was full of peel too! They don’t call me a dare devil for nothing! Yes, you’ll lfind me and my newly found tolerance for slightly bitter jam living right over there on the edge!
The recipe for this cake came from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Jerusalem. The recipe can be found here:
Semolina, Coconut and Marmalade Cake
I should mention here that this is a syrup cake. Which means that once the cake is baked you add some sort of syrup to it. In this case it is an orange blossom water flavoured syrup. HHowever,one thing that was very different in this cakes to other syrup cakes I have made is the technique off applying the syrup. In previous recipes that I have made you usually stab the cake all over with a skewer and pour the syrup over. In the Ottolenghi version you kind of paint the syrup into the cake.
This seemed daunting at first. There was a lot of syrup. And initially ,I thought it was going to take forever. And you know, I have things to do! In the end ,the slow painting of syrup onto cake became quite meditative.
This is a good cake to make if you need time to ponder an issue…like does God exist? Should I buy those shoes? And what exactly is semolina anyway?
So, fear of marmalade conquered. I have a bit left in the jar, maybe in the not too distant future, I will tackle my dislike of bourbon enough to make these babies!
Bourbon and Marmalade Glazed Drumsticks
Although, come to think of it, I’m not that fond of drumsticks either.
In the meantime though, I feel like I have earned the title Lady Marmalade. Except that song was about a hooker so I may have to rethink that title!
Have a great week!
