Cumquat Marmalade Tea Cake

In my garden I had an ever fruiting cumquat tree. Upon deciding to move, I thought I should finally get around to making cumquat marmalade while I had the chance. I moved last weekend, so this recipe came from 1/2 a jar of marmalade I had left and couldn't bare to throw out, and the odds and ends of my pantry. The cake turned out to be delicious! Perfect with tea. Cumquat marmalade and mandarin juice can easily be swapped for any citrus fruit, but if you can get your hands on cumquat marmalade I highly recommend it.

Cumquat Marmalade from Stephanie Alexander's The Cooks Companion.

Ingredients

3 cups wholemeal flour (plain would be fine too, but the coarser texture of the wholemeal worked really well)
2 Tbsp cornflour

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Zest of 1 lemon

2 cups mandarin juice

2/3 cups vegetable oil 

2/3 cup maple syrup

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

for the glaze

1/2 cup cumquat marmalade

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 tsp water

Line two round 9" cake tins, and preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and lemon zest. In a separate bowl whisk together the juice, oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the dry and whisk thoroughly.

Pour half the batter into one of the lined cake tins. This will be the cake at the bottom of your layer cake. To the remaining mixture, stir through the apple cider vinegar. Quickly pour the batter into the second cake tin, and bake both cakes for around 30 minutes.

When the cakes have been removed from the oven, cool slightly. Glaze the cakes while they are still warm, but not too hot.

To make the glaze, heat the marmalade, vanilla and water in a saucepan until the marmalade just starts to bubble. Place the bottom cake layer on a plate, and pierce a few times with a toothpick or a small knife. Pour a bit less than half the glaze on the bottom layer cake. Place the second cake on top of the first, and pour the remaining glaze over the top.

Blueberry & Maple Nut Toasted Muesli

Ingredients
3 cups oats
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup soy milk
1 Tbsp non dairy butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 pitted dates
1/2 cup dried apple, roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried blueberry
2 dates, pitted and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Roughly chop the nuts. On two lined baking trays evenly spread the oats and the nuts, and sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.
In a saucepan over a high heat combine the maple syrup, sugar, oil, milk, butter, vanilla and 4 dates. When the mixture starts to bubble, and the liquids combine, turn the heat down. Heat, stirring constantly, incorporating the dates into the syrup. When the syrup is smooth, pour over each tray, and toss the oats until they are all coated in the mixture.
Place in the oven and bake, tossing the oats every ten minutes so that the muesli cooks evenly. Remove from the oven after about half an hour, when the oats are golden in colour. Allow to cool on the baking trays.
When the oats have cooled, stir through the apple, blueberry and remaining dates. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cupcakes

I can't seem to stick to a recipe at all. These are my take on Hazelnut cupcakes, loosely based on the recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour

1 cup hazelnut meal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

60g dark chocolate, grated or finely chopped

2/3 cup soy or almond milk (hazelnut would be better, but it's $10/L damn it)

2 Tbsp flax meal

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup hazelnut oil (or any vegetable oil)

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 Tbsp vanilla extract 

for the icing

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1 cup icing sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder 

40g dark chocolate

2 Tbsp soy or almond milk

In a medium sized bowl mix together the milk with the flax meal and the apple cider vinegar, and leave aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, hazelnut meal baking powder and soda, salt, brown sugar and grated chocolate.

To the milk mixture add the oil, maple syrup and vanilla, and mix well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Fill lined cupcake tins 3/4 way full, and bake for 20-25 minutes at 180 degrees.

To make the icing, sift together the icing sugar and cocoa powder. Roast the hazelnuts for around 10 minutes (I popped them into the oven with the cupcakes for the last 10 minutes of baking). Let them cool and using a tea towel, rub to remove the skins. Alternatively, a much easier option is to buy roasted hazelnuts! But raw was what I had. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and add to the icing sugar. Heat the milk in the microwave until it is warm enough to melt the chocolate (10-20 seconds, depending on how good your microwave is), and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts. Add to the icing sugar mix and stir until combined. Ice the cooled cupcakes.