Naartjie Citrus Cake with Vanilla Icing

“Naartjie citrus cake with vanilla-bean icing paired with TWG Red of Africa Tea!”

— Jackie Cameron

Naartjie Citrus Cake

Yields: one cake of 22cm

Ingredients:

360gr White Sugar
4 whole Eggs
8 (45ml) Naarjie Zest (zest is the outer coloured and perfumed rind/skin of the naartjie that have been removed by using a zester, then finely chopped or removed by grating the fruits outer skin, being careful not to get any white parts as the is bitter)
125gr Unsalted Butter, melted
275gr Cake Flour
10gr Fine Salt
12gr Baking Powder
250ml Full Cream Milk

Method:

Pre – heat the oven 180⁰C. Line and grease the cake tin.
In a mixing machine whisk the sugar, eggs and zest until light and fluffy.
Add the melted butter.
Sieve the dry ingredients and add to the above mixture alternatively with the milk.
Place the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 40 minutes or until cooked.

Ingredients:
300ml freshly squeezed Naartjie Juice
30gr Unsalted Butter
250gr White Sugar

Method:

While the cake is cooking make the syrup by placing all the ingredients into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously.
Once the cake is cooked take a skewer and prick the cake over the entire surface of the cake. Make sure the syrup is hot and pour over the cake. The trick is to make certain that all the syrup goes into the cake.

Ingredients

Method

Using a serrated knife cut the oranges in half, with skin on and everything, the slice as thinly as possible.
Place the slices onto greaseproof baking paper onto an oven tray. Place in the oven at 75⁰C until the slices are completely dried out. This takes a couple of hours. It is better to do this at a low temperature for longer - as the slices can burn very quickly if the oven is too hot.
When done, place the slices into a food processor and blend to form a fine powder. Sift this powder to remove any larger pieces of skin that did not blend enough. Set aside for later use.

Ingredients:

Method:

Whisk the butter and slowly start adding the icing sugar, to ensure all butter lumps are worked through the icing sugar. Continue slowly adding the rest of the icing sugar, alternatively with the milk to the butter mixture.
Fold in the whipped cream and the candied orange (citrus) peel.
When the cake is completely cooled, pour the icing over the top of the cake, spread out evenly and allow the icing to slightly run down the sides.
Sprinkle the Orange Powder over the top of the cake and serve.