Spice Scented Holiday Cake | Recipe
November 22, 2020
Now that the weather is finally cooling down in Portugal, and the holidays right around the corner, all I think about is baking and feeling the scent of warm spices wafting through my apartment. And so, I thought I'd share one of my favourite inventions, my Spice Scented Holiday Cake.
I first baked this cake two years ago as a birthday cake for my mum, a considerable step away from her yearly pavlova, and I was immediately in love. At its' base is our most baked cake in the family, the water cake, which is an excellent blank canvas for whatever flavours you'd like to add, or a wonderful cake all on its own. My mum absolutely loves my Gingerbread Cookies so I thought I would bake the cake we both love and know so well, with a bit of a gingerbread scent to it.
This is a very light and airy cake with no fat or raising elements besides the ones present in the flour and the eggs, the yolks and the whites whipped separately so they can both rise and, in turn, lift the cake itself. I've only baked half the recipe as this cake grows so much and we're only two tiny people having this cake, so do keep that in mind if you're baking the whole recipe, use a big baking tin, the one we usually use is about 30 cm wide and almost 10 cm tall so it is a pretty huge one.
I've decided to call this a "spice-scented" cake as the spices aren't at all overwhelming and you can't immediately put your finger on what kind of deliciousness you're tasting, but afterwards you're left with an amazing and warm flavour in your mouth that you just know couldn't come from anything else other than these spices.
For this cake you will need:
- 4 eggs
- 3 cups of sugar
- 3 cups of flour
- 1 cup of water
- Zest of 1 lemon
This is the basic recipe but for my mum, and honouring the season of spices, instead of lemon I used
- 2 to 3 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 175ºC. Line and prep your baking tin, because this cake has some colour I wouldn't flour the tin, instead I greased it with butter and just before adding the batter, I coated the tin with a fine layer of unsweetened cocoa powder.
- In a very clean bowl whip your egg whites until they form soft peaks, make sure to do this right as this is what will make your cake rise.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, adding the water slowly. When everything is smoother add the flour and spices. At this point, you can taste your batter to make sure you can feel all the spices and add more to taste if needed.
- Carefully add the egg whites to the spice-scented batter and fold it gently, making sure not to whip it or over mix it.
- Place the batter in the prepared tin and let it bake in the oven for around 40 minutes. This will obviously change from oven to oven, but what you're looking for is a soft and fluffy cake on the inside and a fine crispy layer on top. Let it cool for a while in its tin and then move it to a plate to cool completely, decorate it at will although I usually just dust some icing sugar on top to make any mistake look presentable.
I hope you'll enjoy this simple and easy recipe and maybe use it this season for any last-minute party you may have to bake for.
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