Easy cumquat (or any other citrus) cake

The Two Cheeky Monkeys family were recently given a LARGE lot of homegrown cumquats when we visited friends (all the kids had fun picking them off the tree).  Faced with a large bowl of slightly squashed cumquats which had to be used up quickly (this is what happens when you let small people pick fruit unsupervised, LOL), I decided to bake a simple cumquat cake (or two).

This recipe is very basic, requiring only a food processor to prepare the cake batter.  It is a recipe I adapted from an orange cake recipe and you can pretty much substitute any citrus fruit you happen to have on hand.

Ingredients

- 200-250g fresh cumquats (or equivalent to a medium-large orange)

- 3 eggs

- 8oz/230g butter or margerine (if using butter, leave it at room temperature to soften)

- 2 cups self-raising flour

- 1 1/2 cups caster sugar

- 2-3 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C (340F).  Line a large cake tin with baking paper.

2. Wash the cumquats and de-seed and de-stem if necessary.  Then blend them in a large food processor until pulpy.

3. Add all the other ingredients to the food processor and blend together until mixed through evenly.

4. Pour cake batter into prepared cake tin and bake for about an hour, or until cooked through and golden.  Remove cake from tin and leave on a baking rack to cool to room temperature.

5. Serve your cumquat cake as is, or dusted with a little icing sugar to further cut through the bitter/sour cumquat flavours.  To be super decadent, you could serve this cake with a dollop of cream on the side!

Alternatives

1. As I mentioned, you can pretty much make this cake with any citrus fruit you have on hand (I have successfully baked this cake with oranges, lemons and cumquats).  If you are using sweet citrus, such as oranges or mandarins, cut back the sugar to one cup so you don't end up with an overly sweet cake.

2. If you don't have a food processor or only have a mini one, you can blend up the fruit in a blender or in your mini processor.  Remove some of the fruit pulp to a large mixing bowl, then add the softened butter and blend with the remaining pulp.  Whisk the eggs and remaining ingredients together by hand with the fruit pulp and butter mix, then bake as instructed.