as i was browsing through my chinese cookbook collection, i came across this cake recipe which i found very enticing. a weekend cake, or gateau de voyage is a traditional french pound cake thats rich and buttery. i don't fancy butter/pound cakes much coz i find they use wayyyyy too much butter and take wayyyyy to long to bake. plus they're just too rustic for my liking. but perhaps its the lovely combination of spices, rum, nuts and candied peel in this one that makes me wanna go ahead... and there's just something really christmassy about it too.

this is another cake i like and i'm glad it turned out nicely. despite it being a butter cake of sorts, its surprisingly light on the palate! i was expecting it to be really greasy but it wasn't. the crumbs were fine and texture is inbetween a banana bread and christmas fruitcake. definitely a keeper tho' i would be more generous with the spices, nuts & peel nx time. i glazed the top of the cake with a commercial fondant glaze but you can also do it with an icing sugar/water mixture. since the cake isn't too sweet to begin with, the glaze is a nice complement.

my precious stash of homemade candied orange peel, made using pierre herme's recipe. not sure if you can see the specks of vanilla bean but this is good stuff coz lotsa spices go into them and the aroma is unsurpassed. after making these i realize the storebought variety is crap, especially the ones found along the baking isle in supermarkets and in baking supplies store.

recipe source for anise orange cake : 精致蛋糕慕斯 by 上优文化

*recipe removed due to copyright restrictions.