CHAPTER SIX

Memories of the exotic.

Mrs Marsh's Sicilian Orange Cake.

Turning into....

Annabel's Sicilian Orange Cupcakes.

I have decided to turn one of my Nan's recipes she adores, into cupcakes. I think it is an interesting change and also updates the recipe. My Nan took this recipe from Rick Stein in his Mediterranean works and adventures. It always reminds me of afternoon tea with my Nan and my great aunties. Nan would usually always 'knock up' one of these or one of her famous Banana breads (stay tuned for this recipe!!). I love the smell of this original recipe as it is very fresh and reminds me of holidays to Spain I have been on with my Nan. We both share a love for the food in the 'med' and every time she makes this cake everyone at home always has an extra piece.

One of Nan's pictures of me in Spain.

I think to modernize an old recipe is an interesting challenge as you have to master the many problems and face the challenges that arise, whether it be measurements with a recipe or getting the recipe wrong! I had only a few troubles with this challenge, as it was the fluid measurements I had to alter. Although when I was cooking it, I listened to the flamenco music of Cadiz and danced around the kitchen whilst my house mates waited patiently for cupcakes.

Ingredients:

250g of lightly salted butter at room temp.

250g caster sugar

250g of Self-Raising Flour.

4 medium eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons of finely grated orange zest. 

85ml of Fresh Orange Juice.

Oven at 170 degrees centigrade.

You will need two trays of cupcake tins as this makes 24 cupcakes.

Line them with cupcake cases and pre-heat oven!

How to:

Beat the butter and sugar for 4-5 mins

until very pale

Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. ( add pinches of flour to stop it curdling)

 Beat in the orange zest.(Add in a little Vanilla extract)

Add the flour in all at once and then slowly mix in the orange juice.

Add the mixture equally into the cupcake cases (don't overfill them)

Put onto the middle rack in the oven and cook for 45-50 minutes.

For the topping:
Sift 125g of icing sugar.
Stir in orange juice until you have spreadable consistency.
Then cut up the orange you used for the zest and decorate with the flesh. 












I decided to use this recipe as on our course we have been discussing the idea of the 'exotic' food and rationing of the wartime that Britain experienced. I have been discussing with my Nan that in this era the people began to enjoy the cookery books and read as them as a form of a novel or literature. I have managed to record my Nan discussing her earliest memory of fruits and vegetables and the 'exotic' produce she experienced when she was young.

(Please excuse our strong 'Bristolian' accents and my lack of video skills!!)

 

The book on the course that really interested me was Elizabeth David's A Book of Mediterranean Food. The idea of 'taking a recipe' from somewhere or from someone is very relevant with this text. After marrying her lover she sailed around in a boat in the Greek islands. She was born into an upper class family, yet she rebelled against all the social norms. She was almost trapped there after the Germans invaded in the wartime-1940. However she experienced all these new and exotic foods that were different to 'traditional British cooking', and after studying in France as well she was used to the culinary delights and gastronomy. However it was when she came back to Britain after her adventures and introduced in her works that cooking with a bit of garlic wasn't ever going to hurt anyone! My Nan is very similar to David as when she was learning to cook she was very excited to cook with new and interesting ingredients... although she doesn't like too much garlic!

With the notion of home cooking it is very important to have recipes that have been passed down or tweaked along the line of being in the hands of friends, families and acquaintances. I feel that David really pushes the essence of cooking with lots of fresh and exotic ingredients, do not be afraid to change things up in the kitchen! David in her book A Book of Mediterranean Food she has a chapter dedicated to the desserts of the 'med', called "A Few Sweets". She has a lot of orange themed recipes below...

Here is an interesting article on David and her life...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3323687/You-can-smell-the-sea-or-touch-the-olive-branch....html

Therefore with this post I wanted to stress the idea of cooking with new ingredients and how to twist the 'old handed down' recipes. The exoticism of the recipes when they were first put out have always interested me and also in my Nan's video how she was being introduced to the fruits and veg that were coming back after the war era. What also was interesting was how she talked about her rationing books, she was very lucky as she had a larger family so they managed to get more produce.

Stay tuned...