Caramelised Quince and Almond Cake

Quinces are plentiful in the middle of Sydney winter. I can’t resist them. The kitchen is a lovely place as the scent permeates the house and the bright yellow of the fruit is beautiful to behold. I’ve been picking up a couple each week with my other fruit and veggie supplies.

Baked quinces, quince crumble or this Quince and Almond Cake are yummy ways to eat the delicious fruit! I poached the quinces first in a caramelised syrup to intensify the “quince” flavour.

Thank you to photographer and friend Nick for his title photograph.

Caramelised Quinces

Ingredients
60g butter
2 quinces
120g caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Method
Preheat oven to 150 degrees C. Peel the quinces, halve lengthways and remove cores. Cut in quarters.

Melt butter in a baking dish. Roll the quinces in the melted butter. Scatter over sugar and  squeeze the lemon juice over the quince pieces.

Cover tightly with a doubled sheet of foil. Bake the quinces for 2-3 hours, basting every half hour or so, until the quinces are soft, ruby red and the pan juices are syrupy. Remove from the dish to cool, reserving some segments for decoration.

Cake

Ingredients
150g butter
150g sugar
3 free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond essence
100g ground almonds
1 tablespoon plain flour +
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Method
Preheat oven to 170 deg C.

Combine butter and sugar in a food processor, with vanilla extract and almond essence.
Add eggs one at a time. Mix well.
Fold in ground almonds, plain flour, baking powder and salt. Add a little more flour if the mixture looks too wet.

Put mixture into a greased flan dish, or spring form tin lined with baking paper. It’s important to line the tin as the mixture can sometimes leak.
Place quince segments on the top of the batter. Don’t worry – the fruit will sink during cooking, that’s the effect you want. Scatter flaked almonds on top of the mixture.

Bake in 170 deg C oven for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the cake.

Spoon some quince syrup over the cake and decorate the cake with the reserved segments.  Serve warm or cold with double cream.

I’m sharing this recipe with the “Simple and in Season” initiative:

Simple and in season July – now open

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