This is a cake I remember from the Great British Bake Off and it was a Mary Berry recipe I seem to remember. It was actually a cake McVities used to make at Christmas and is a Madeira cake with chocolate icing and decorated in an "interesting" design!!!
I have used my Madeira Cake recipe and have tried to make the decoration a bit more up to date than the original version but feel free to decorate as you like.
I was asked on my socials to make this recipe and I thought it would be a great alternative to a Christmas cake which not everyone is a fan of. This would be a great bake for Boxing Day too.
I have decorated mine with marzipan oranges but you could decorate with marzipan shapes such as stars or add some Christmas sprinkles. You can decorate as you wish to make it nice and festive.
Start by pre- heating the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan) and grease and line the base and sides of a 8”/ 20cm round tin with baking parchment.
In the bowl of a stand mixer put the butter, sugar, orange zest, eggs, flour, ground almonds and milk then mix until everything is incorporated.
Mix until everything is smooth and there are no visible lumps of butter.
Place the mixture in the prepared tin and level with a small spatula.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
To make the marzipan oranges - knead the marzipan with the food colouring until you have the desired orange colour.
Then divide into 10 balls.
Using a cheese grater on the finest side roll the balls of marzipan to create the texture of the orange.
Place a clove in the top to finish. Repeat with all of the marzipan balls. Set aside for later.
To make the ganache put the cream into a medium sized pan and heat on high until just before boiling point.
Take the pan off the heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted. Leave to cool until it has thickened slightly but not set.
Remove the cake from the tin and place on a plate or cake stand. Spread the ganache in an even coat all over the cooled cake with a small spatula.
Decorate with the marzipan oranges.
Slice to serve.
Tunis Cake
Sarah’s servings: 10
Sarah’s skill: Medium
Baking time: 60 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Cake
235g unsalted butter, softened
235g caster sugar
1 orange, zested
4 large eggs
265g self raising flour
70g ground almonds
3 tbsp milk
Decorations
150g marzipan
8 drops orange food colouring
10 whole cloves
Icing
300ml double cream
400g dark cooking chocolate
METHOD
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan) and grease and line the base and sides of a 8”/ 20cm round tin with baking parchment.
In the bowl of a stand mixer put the butter, sugar, orange zest, eggs, flour, ground almonds and milk.
Mix until smooth and there are no visible lumps of butter.
Place the mixture in the prepared tin and level with a small spatula.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Leave the cake to cool in the tin.
To make the marzipan oranges - knead the marzipan with the food colouring until you have the desired orange colour. Then divide into 10 balls. Using a cheese grater on the finest side roll the balls of marzipan to create the texture of the orange. Place a clove in the top to finish. Repeat with all of the marzipan balls. Set aside for later.
To make the ganache put the cream into a medium sized pan and heat on high until just before boiling point. Take the pan off the heat, add the chocolate and stir until melted.
Leave to cool until it has thickened slightly but not set.
Remove the cake from the tin and place on a plate or cake stand.
Spread the ganache in an even coat all over the cooled cake with a small spatula.
Decorate with the marzipan oranges.
Slice to serve.
Equipment used
SARAH’S EXTRA SLICE
This cake freezes really well so you can bake the cake and decorate at a later date.
You could make the cake more traditional using lemon instead of orange.
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