No matter what occasion is being celebrated, a cake is always welcome on the tea trolly. Here are some mouthwatering and easy to prepare recipes for a very special Eid cake.

Zuccotto

This is a delicious Italian cake-pudding and a speciality of Tuscany.

Ingredients

120 cm sponge cake

3 tablespoons orange juice

300 ml cream

1 tablespoon cocoa

2 tablespoons icing sugar

60 g. blanched almonds

60 g. hazelnuts

150 g. dark chocolate.

Method

Take a 4-cup pudding basin and line it with a damp muslin. Spread nuts on a flat tray and bake in an oven for 10-12 minutes at 180°C (35°F) until the almonds are light brown. Turn the nuts onto a clean towel and rub to remove skins from hazelnuts, chop both nuts. Slice the sponge into 3 layers, then slice the layers of cake into long wedges.

Neatly line the pudding bowl with the cake wedges placing an inside slice of cake alternately with a crust of cake, to give a striped effect. Make sure the points of the edges meet in the centre of the bowl filling the gaps with scraps of cake. Brush the orange juice over the cake slices. Melt 50g chocolate over gently simmering water, and roughly chop the rest of the 100 g. chocolate. Cool and whip the cream, and gently fold the chopped nuts and chocolate into cream. Spoon half of this cream mixture into a cake lined bowl spreading evenly over the cake. This will leave a concave cavity.

Mix the melted chocolate gently into the remaining cream mixture, and fill cavity with this mixture. Seal the mixture by covering it with the remaining cake slices. Finally cover with a cling film and leave in refrigerator overnight. When serving turn bowl onto a flat plate, lift off bowl and very carefully peel away the muslin cloth. Sprinkle some icing sugar and cocoa over the zuccotto. You may add strawberries, blue berries, raspberries or chopped fruit to the layer of white cream inside.

Pendys Pania

This is an exotic nutty and spicy dessert cake.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons breadcrumbs

6 tablespoons walnuts, chopped

6 eggs separated

6 tablespoons castor sugar

1 rounded tablespoon cinnamon

100 ml cream

1 tablespoon orange juice (optional)

Method

Heat oven at 180 °C (350°F). Take a 24 cm spring form tin crease it and sprinkle it with one tablespoon breadcrumbs. Beat the egg whites and two tablespoons sugar until soft peaks form. In another bowl beat yolks along with 4 tablespoons of sugar until it becomes creamy and thick.

Gradually stir in the orange juice, walnuts, cinnamon and breadcrumbs, and mix well with the egg yolk mixture. Now stir in two large spoonfuls of egg white and then gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Pour this batter into prepared cake tin and pop into the oven for 35-40 minutes, it should bake to a golden brown, insert a skewer in the centre to check if it is done.

Pour cool syrup over hot cake immediately after removing from oven. Allow it to cool in the tin. Turn it over onto a flat plate and decorate with whipped cream. Sprinkle a little nutmeg or cinnamon on top.

Syrup

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups water

3 1/4 cups sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 strip orange peel

1 strip lemon peel

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves. Allow this syrup to gently simmer for about 10 minutes and then leave it to cool at room temperature.

This recipe was originally published in Dawn’s Tuesday Review on April 6, 1992.

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