Mandarin almond cake

It's been awhile but I've been baking up a storm especially as every event definitely needs cake. When Pepe requested a cake to take to his work's for morning tea, I knew what to do with the recently picked mandarins from Fords Farm.

And surprise surprise it was a winner, picking up a prize for the delicious cake as well as many requests for the recipe.

So with that in mind, here's the recipe.

Mandarin almond cake

Ingredients

4 mandarins

250g caster sugar

6 eggs

250g almond meal

1 tsp baking powder

Icing sugar to serve

Method

1.       Place mandarins in a small pot and bring to boil. 

2.       Boil for 1 hour until soft. (Make sure you check that there is water in the pot or else you'll end up with a burnt mess.) Drain and blitz into a puree and allow to cool.

3.       Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celcius.

4.       Grease and line a 22cm spring form cake tin with baking paper

5.       Use a mixer to beat eggs and caster sugar until well combined for 5 minutes. (It'll look frothy but makes for a light tasting cake)

6.       Stir in the mandarin puree, almond meal and baking powder.

7.       Pour batter into the cake tin and bake for 1 hour until top is golden.

8.       Allow to cool in the tin and dust with icing sugar.

Serve warm, cold and even the next day if there is any slices left.

Mandarin jam glazed ham

Having always wanted to try to make glazed ham for Christmas, it was finally my chance. I had visions of marmalade, whisky and mustard flavours studded with cloves.

Researching recipes that had instructions to soak the ham with water, or add cider or guiness in the basting mix, wasn't really what I had in mind.

Pre-ordering my 6kg Kurabuta honey smoked leg ham from the local butcher meant that I didn't have to pick it up til the day before. As I recently re-sorted my spice stocks, I knew what I had in the pantry.

My glaze was going to consist of a jar of my homemade mandarin marmalade, a good dose of brown sugar for caramelisation dosed with ginger and mustard. Fingers crossed, I hoped that the glaze would work out. The baking smells of ham, marmalade and cloves are irresistible. Watching the fat rendering, separating into the diamond shapes highlighting the clove centres, this was going to be one good looking ham.

With time up my sleeve, I covered the bone part of my ham with a white napkin wrapped in a green ribbon and a bouquet garni of freshly picked rosemary and thyme to finish the dish.

Not only did it look good but it tasted amazing. Can't wait to have another go at this at the end of the year.

Based on weight of 6kg, 18-22 serves

Ingredients

250g (1 cup) mandarin marmalade
5 tbs brown sugar
1.5 tbs mustard powder
1 tbs ginger powder
6kg Kurobuta easy carve smoked leg ham (bone is removed for easy carving)
cloves to decorate

Method      

Prep the ham
1. Use a small sharp knife to cut around the rind, about 5cm from the end where the bone is.

2. Run a knife under the rind, around the edge of the ham.

3. Gently lift rind off in one piece by running your fingers between the rind and the fat.

4. Score the fat, (in our case there wasn't that much fat, so it was a 0.5cm deep), in a diamond pattern, taking care not to cut into the meat.

5. Place a single clove at the centre of the diamond pattern (this will also help the fat lifting away from the ham)

6. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).

 

7. Place the marmalade, mustard, sugar, ginger in a bowl and whisk to combine.

 

8. Baste the ham every 10 minutes for 35-40mins or until the ham is golden and caramelised.

 

Handy Hints

Freeze left over ham and ham bone for soups. Label, date and freeze for up to one month. When ready to use thaw in fridge overnight.

Leftover ham is fantastic for breakfast or supper. My sourdough bread was perfect for the job with pickled onions, avocado. 

  

Guide to ham weights

3kg - 10-14 serves

4kg - 12-16 serves

5kg - 15-20 serves

6kg - 18-22 serves

7kg - 20-25 serves

8kg - 23-27 serves

Mandarin marmalade

It's coming into mandarin picking season and I love how sweet and juicy this fruit is. When using this fruit to make marmalade, I tend to use less sugar, to let the sweetness of the mandarin do the talking.

A foodie friend had gifted me a box of mandarins from her farm on the provision that I provide a jar of my homemade mandarin marmalade. When she tasted it, she told me that I had missed my calling, such a compliment and wanted a copy of the recipe. I am a fan of marmalade, especially the citrus variety. I think that the slight bitterness from the rind and sweet flesh of the citrus is what makes it.  I find making marmalade theraputic and great little gifts to give to friends and family.

Marmalade is very easy to make as long as you get the ratio of citrus and sugar right. Or it is really up to you if you like a runny or thick marmalade. This is my trusty recipe that uses every single part of the mandarin including the pips and the pith (the white bit).

Why do I keep the pips and pith you ask, this is where the naturally occurring soluble, gum-like substance known as pectin is and pectin is what you need for the marmalade to set.

The degree to which a preserve sets is dependent upon the ratio between the fruit pectin, acid and sugar. And the levels of pectin and acid varies considerably between different types of fruits.

Getting slightly scientific on you, oranges and mandarins have high levels of pectin and medium acid levels, hence you're able to reduce the sugar content.

If you have friends that love to take all the pith off their mandarins, I recommend that you call them to come over right away to help you with your preparation. Removing the seeds and pith takes a awhile, so settle in with some tunes or get the kids to help. Don't you worry if you miss a couple of seeds, you'll find that these will just float to the surface so they can be easily scooped out.


Makes 5 x 375mL, 2 x 200mL jars full

Ingredients

20 mandarins (2.5kg)
1kg sugar (I tend to start from 0.75kg and taste til I'm happy with the sweetness but no more than 1.5kg)
6 cups of water
Juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. Peel mandarins and place segments into a large bowl. Keep the peel from at least 10 mandarins

2. Cut the peel into thin strips, (thinner is better, unless you like chunks of peel) and set aside. I tend to place 3 layers of peel of the same size and use a sharp knife to slice these at the same time.

3. Remove as much of the pith as possible and set aside in another bowl.

4. Cut a thin strip from the top of the mandarins with a knife for easier removal of the seeds. Place the seeds into the bowl with the pith.

5. Using a muslin cloth wrap the seeds and pith together and tie tightly with piece of cotton twine (used for cooking).

6. Add mandarins, peel, the parcel of pith and seeds, lemon juice, sugar, water into a large pot (something that is going to hold 2.5L at least).

7. Make sure you have a long wooden spoon as this will give you some distance from the bubbling sweetness and stir constantly over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.

8. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat down to medium and let it bubble away for about 1.5 hours, stir occasionally until setting point is reached.

How to test your setting point?
Put a plate in the freezer and chill it. Take it out when ready to test, add a dollop of marmalade onto plate. Let it stand for a 30 seconds. Then draw a line through the jam with your finger, if the line disappears, its means the jam is still runny, so keep boiling the mixture for another 5-10 minutes and test again. When the you draw a line through the jam and the line remains, your marmalade is ready for bottling.

9. Once ready, remove the parcel and discard the pith and seeds.

10. Pour the marmalade into hot sterilised jars.

11. Seal when the jars are cool enough to handle which is about 10mins later.

How to sterilise jars?
This is when the baby bottle steriliser comes in handy. Or if you don't have this preheat oven to 160C. Wash jar with soapy water, rinse and shake well, place the jars on a baking tray and put in the oven. Leave jars for at least 20 minutes. If you time it well, you'll just need to take the jars out of the oven when your marmalade is ready. Seal the jar when is cool enough to handle.

Handy hints

You can mix up the marmalade by adding Cointreau, whisky, brandy for an adults only version of mandarin marmalade.