Anise & Orange Weekend Cake

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

ingredients (makes two small loaf tins) :

165g unsalted butter, room temp

115g icing sugar

165g eggs (abt 3 no.s)

165g cake flour

3g double-acting baking powder

3g ground anise (i used allspice)

3g ground cinnamon

10g pistachios

25g homemade candied orange peel (recipe below)

25g walnuts

50g honey

25ml rum

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of fleur de sel

directions :

1. sift together cake flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon and ground anise/all spice and set aside.

2. whisk butter briefly, sift in icing sugar and whisk until pale and fluffy, scraping down the bowl at intervals if necessary. add in eggs one at a time and whisk until combined between each addition then whisk in honey, flour mixture & fleur de sel. fold in nuts, candied peel then add in vanilla extract, rum and mix well.

3. grease and line baking tins then pour mixture into tins until 3/4 full. bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 35-40 mins until cooked or skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.



recipe source for candied orange peel : chocolate desserts by pierre herme

ingredients :

5 oranges

4 cups water

470g sugar

60ml lemon juice

10 black peppercorns, bruised

1 pc star anise

1 vanilla bean pod, seeds scraped

directions :

1. put a large pot of water to boil. cut off a thin slice from top and bottom of each orange then cut off wide bands of peel of about 2.5cm across, making certain that as you cut you include a sliver of fruit as well. toss the slices of peels into the boiling water and boil for 2 mins. remove the peel from the water with a slotted spoon and rinse under cold running water for 2 mins then repeat the boiling process twice. set peel aside for a moment.

2. put all remaining ingredients and water used to boil the peels earlier in a large casserole and bring them to boil. add the peel, cover pot and simmer for about 1.5 hrs while stirring occassionally. the peel should be soft and completely candied. remove the pot from heat and allow the peels to macerate overnight.

3. the next day pour the peel and syrup into a canning jar and store in the fridge.