Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Preheat the oven to 180c(fan 160) 350F/gas mark 4.
Grease and line six mini loaf tins.
Ingredients:
- 200ml sunflower oil
- 175g ground almond
- 200g Billington’s light Muscovado sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 orange
- 50g dry cranberries
- 50g Billington’s glace cherries
- 2 tbsp Amaretto liquor
For the decorations:
- 100g of sieved apricot preserve
- 1 orange zest cut in fine strips
- 50g Billington’s golden caster sugar
- 50ml water
- 25g Billington’s golden granulated sugar
- 24-carat Gold leaves (available from Harvey Nichols)
Method:
The night before:
On the day:
Recipe and photo credit by- Baking Mad
- Chop the cherries in quarter and soak overnight in the Amaretto.
- Combine the ground almond, Billington’s light Muscovado sugar, cinnamon and baking powder in a mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly.
- Break in the eggs, add the oil and mix gently together.
- Using a fine grater, grate the zest from the lemon and the orange then add the cranberries and soaked glace cherries.
- Turn the cake mixture into the tins - filling them 3/4 high.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or when the knife comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- In a small saucepan take the Billington’s golden caster sugar and water to the boil then reduce the heat to get a slight simmer and plunge the fine orange strips.
- Leave to simmer for 10 minutes then switch off the heat and leave the orange strips to cool down in the syrup.
- Heat the apricot preserve and use to brush the top and side of the cool mini loaves.
- Take the confit orange strips and roll them into the golden granulated sugar.
- Then arrange them on top of the loaves and decorate with the gold leaves.
Recipe and photo credit by- Baking Mad
