Dreaming of Marrakesh – Almond and bitter orange Upside-down Cake

Our bake-off entry for a Zoom get-together. The theme was ‘memorable travels’ – we have not actually been to Marrakesh together, but maybe one day… However, this adaption of a Diana Henry apricot and almond cake seemed to evoke the tastes and smells of the Medina and almost transports you to “far orf lands” – as the Queen once uttered in her Christmas address. Quite an achievement on a chilly January afternoon. Not as tricky to make as the length of the instructions and ingredient list might suggest.

• 125g caster sugar
• 50g butter, soft
• 3 oranges, peeled, pipped and sliced into 5mm circles – Bitter orange is apparently the Moroccan name for Seville oranges, although as the picture reveals below, I’d recommend also using other oranges, as the bitter ones are a bugger to slice, being all pith and seeds. A mix of different types is pretty.
• 2 star anise

• 150g butter, soft
• 150g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 balls of stem ginger, chopped into teeny dice
• 100g flour – I used 50g plain flour and 50g spelt flour, but all plain is fine
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 125ml milk
• 1-2 drops almond essence – I overdid it, regrettably
• 2-3 drops orange essence – obviously optional, like the almond essence, but a fine addition if you have it

Butter a 20-23cm cake tin – a springform one would make life easier, and/or putting a disc of baking parchment in the bottom. Heat the oven to 180°C.

Make the caramel, by combining 125g sugar with 75ml water – 75g if weighing – and heating over a moderate heat in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Let bubble for ten minutes or so. Resist the temptation to stir it, as you’ll just get a solid clump on the spoon. Eventually, after nothing has happened for ages, the liquid will start to thicken, turn gold and smell like toffee. Let it get pretty dark, but not burn – I know this isn’t the most helpful instruction, but I find I’m more prone to undercook caramel than overcook it. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the 50g butter, wearing oven gloves in case it bubbles violently. Once you have a gooey caramel, pour into the bottom of the cake tin, spreading with a spatula to cover fairly evenly.

There’s a risk – if the temperature transition is too abrupt – that the caramel separates. Stirring vigorously helps prevent this, or if the caramel does start to solidify (with a layer of molten butter floating on top), you can add a spoon of hot water to try to rescue it. No worries if it does split – ours did, although I chose not to photograph it – as you can still work quickly before the caramel completely solidifies, to spread it over the base of the tin. It will all melt again once the cake is in the oven.

Whilst the caramel is cooking, prepare the oranges. First, zest the most fragrant orange and set the zest aside for later. Peel and slice them all into 5mm circles and arrange in a tight fitting mosaic over the caramel, together with the two star anise in a couple of gaps.

Next – or simultaneously, if you are creating the cake with a loved one – make the cake batter. Cream the remaining butter and sugar together, also like the caramel, taking longer than you think is needed: till they are fluffy, white and have increased in volume. Its much easier in a food mixer than by hand.

Then at slow speed, regularly wiping down the sides of the bowl, add the eggs into the mixture, one at a time. Stir in the reserved zest, the meagre drops of essence – if you are using them – and the diced ginger. Mix the flour(s), almonds, the ground spices and baking powder together. Now at the lowest mixer speed, or by hand, add the flour mixture and milk, about a third of each at a time. The goal is to just incorporate them both, but with as little stirring as possible, to keep the mixture light. Over-stirring would activate the gluten in the plain flour – good for bread, not so good for a cake. Once there are no more dry ingredients visible, stop stirring.

Spread the batter over the caramel and orange layers in the cake tin and bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven. If the top is too brown after 40 or so minutes, cover with some foil. After the elapsed time, test with a skewer – nothing sticking to it should mean it is done. You could require a few minutes more if your tin is 20cm, rather than 23cm. Ours was large, but still a little under-done when it came out after three quarters of an hour. Run a knife around the rim, and wielding your oven gloves again, invert the tin over a large plate revealing the gooey patterned top and sprinkle a few pomegranate seeds over, with an exultant “ta-da!”