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Seville Marmalade Cake

This week, Katherine and I took a long overdue holiday. We have spent the last five days amongst some of the most incredible scenery North Wales has to offer. If you like walking over snowy mountains, this place is for you. Not only is the landscape incredibly dramatic, but it is peppered with historic monuments, burial grounds, wells and even a bunker which I presume dates back to the Second World War. The sparsely populated county of Gwynedd, North Wales, is truly inspiring – we shall be returning, car under foot, to visit the fabled ‘Roman Steps’.

During our trip to one of the most beautiful areas Wales  has to offer, we celebrated Katherine’s birthday. As one might expect, Katherine had requested that I make her a cake to mark this special occasion, and I dutifully consented to her demands. After all, any man worth his salt fulfils the desires of his woman, otherwise a jolly painful earache may ensue. This is the reason why my version of the good old marmalade cake came into being. It is essentially a basic sponge mix with added marmalade, both inside and out. However, because it is baked in a slightly different manner the consistency of the cake comes out a little heavier, which is perfect for a treat such as this.

Good quality marmalade is a must for this cake. Let’s face it, marmalade isn’t an expensive commodity but it can taste pretty awful if bought on the cheap. Remember, this blog isn’t about making good food taste a little dodgy by skimping on the main ingredient. It’s about reducing the cost of a meal without removing any of the flavour that defines it. Seville oranges make a good, sharp marmalade and therefore contrast wonderfully with the sugar in the cake. Even so, a little drizzle of icing to finish is advisable.

Seville Marmalade Cake

Makes 1 large cake

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, weighed

• Butter, golden caster sugar and self-raising flour in equal measure – in order to get exact amounts weigh the eggs and use the same weight of these ingredients; this should be roughly 7 ounces or 200g.

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 3-4 tbsp milk, depending on consistency

• 3 generous tbsp Seville marmalade, plus extra to glaze

• A little icing sugar mixed with water to drizzle over the top

Method:

1. Grease and line a 20cm springform pan, heat the oven to 180C. Cream together the sugar and the butter, with a hand whisk, until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the eggs one by one. This requires thorough mixing between each egg. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently until just mixed. Fold in the marmalade and stir in a little milk if necessary. The batter should flow, but not too freely. Bake for around 50 minutes, or until the cake makes no sound when listened to.

3. Allow to rest before turning onto a wire rack. Glaze with warmed marmalade before the cake is completely cool. When cool, drizzle it with the icing. To make the icing simply dissolve 30g of icing sugar in a little water.

Cost: Though this cake includes an ingredient which is more expensive than those which generally find themselves in a sponge cake, its price is reduced by its simplicity. As such, this price of this cake comes in at around £2.30. This is an absolute bargain since the cake is extremely filling and would probably produce 12-16 slices.

120 replies on “Seville Marmalade Cake”

Very seasonal! I’ve got a bag of seville oranges, and i’ll be having a go at making marmalade for the first time, they’re only usually available for a couple of months and provide a zingy start to the year.
Cheers
Marcus

A beautiful cake (and beautiful photos of Wales – my grandfather was from North Wales but haven´t been there in years). I have used up all my marmalade made last year but will be making more soon, so this cake will definitely be made in the next few weeks. Thank you!

Wow! I can’t wait to try this cake. Thanks so much for sharing with us, and not to mention the wonderful pics of Wales. Haven’t been there since I was a little girl still living in England.

Your girlfriend is fortunate to have you around, making cakes for her and all the other cooking you do, keep it up 😉 I love the scenery! It is my dream to visit all of Europe one day, unfortunately I don’t see that happening any time in the near future. The cake looks delicious!!

Beautiful photos of Wales. Cake looks fabulous. I am printing it to try some time! By the way, I wouldn’t dream of asking my husband to bake a cake. I’d be afraid of what he’d produce. Most he’s baked are brownies out of a box. He does, on occasion, make me a nice, basic breakfast. Can do a pretty good meatloaf too. He thinks he makes meatballs too, but they’re really meatloaf rolled up as meatballs!

That sounds incredible to me. I am going to have to go on a search for a decent marmalade now. Not sure if a US store will have anything good so might have to drive a couple ours to a British import store in the city.

This looks incredible! I just recently discovered the joys of a really good orange marmalade, I especially love it on peanut butter bread. We had a jar of not good marmalade in our fridge for about 2 years that no one would touch, now I buy more of the good stuff almost every week. I would love to try a cake with it, simply genius!

Gorgeous pictures! I just ventured into making my own marmalade this week which turned out awesome! I agree – I’ve had some marmalade that tasted terrible! Cake looks delicious!

This cake looks lovely, and I will put it on my list of recipes to try. I can just imagine how good a slice of it would be with a cup of tea, while curled up in the cozy armchair by the window. On another note, this is the second time I’ve noticed that your tips for knowing when a cake is done baking include “until the cake makes no sound when listened to.” I had never heard of this before (no pun intended), let alone tried this. So, the next time I make a cake I’m definitely going to keep an ear out!

What a gorgeous seasonal recipe. I’m not a fan of marmalade on toast, but baked into a cake it’s absolutely delicious. Perfect wintry birthday treat.

This looks so delicious I’d love a slice right now! The North Wales countryside is stunning! One day I’d love to tour your beautiful country. Until then, I’ll enjoy it through your pictures 🙂

I’m really getting into marmalade lately– I love it in icings or fillings for cakes, so I’m excited about this recipe. And the pictures of your outing go so well with the recipe–if I had gone gallivanting about like that (amidst that beautiful scenery! My goodness!) I would totally want a slice of that when I got home. Lovely post.

I’m not such a fan of it on toast, but everywhere else it is good. It was very useful following our 11-12 mile hike around the mountain ‘Moelfre’ (It’s technically not a mountain, but a rather massive hill – it goes straight up to 2000 feet from sea level)

This cake looks divine. I’m going to try and veganize it (no small feat when the original recipe calls for 3 eggs). If I’m successful, may I post it on my blog (with thanks and a link to the original of course)? 🙂

Belated birthday greetings to Katherine! Sounds like you two had a wonderful time, with the photos to prove it!

Quick question… I’m intrigued by your cooking term, “… or until the cake makes no sound when listened to.” (You’ve used it before; I just didn’t think to ask until now.) Do you thump on it? Stand in front of the oven with one ear to the door? Please clarify how this is achieved! Thanking you in advance.

I love it when food employs all of the senses! Hadn’t tried “listening” before, but I will. Generally, my nose tips me off first (I seldom use a timer), but the idea of listening to a cake intrigues me. Thank you!!

Yeh I am not the only person who bakes on holiday – feel more normal now! Thanks – it looks great what a lucky girl Katherine is. I think I would faint if my husband made me a cake.

Again an absolutely amazing post frugal it is an absolutely amazing cake the idea of having a plain sponge with an amazing golden crust and then a fantastic sweet glazy marmalade ontop. Truly inspirational recipe, keep up the good work! Fantastic!

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