And You Thought You Loved Carrot Cake

You thought you loved carrot cake, but just wait until you try this Victorian Orange Kumquat Cake! The melding of flavors of oranges, kumquats, walnuts (or pecans), raisins, and rum come together to create the most delightful, moist, and flavorful cake you've ever experienced. When the cake is done, you pour and a sauce made of orange juice, sugar, and rum over the cake and let the flavors bloom for a day or two, and you won't believe the result.Dust with powdered sugar before serving with coffee or good strong English tea.

 

 Victorian Orange Kumquat Cake

This recipe is from Emerill Lagasse. You can visit his site at http://www.emerils.com.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients: 

 

• Peel from 3 large oranges

• 1 jar (10 oz.) La Vigne Kumquat Conserve

• 1-cup raisins

• 1-cup sugar

• 1/2-cup butter

• 2 eggs

• 3/4-cup buttermilk

• 2 cups flour

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

• 1-cup fresh orange juice

• 1/2-cup sugar

• 1 TBSP dark rum

Preparation:

Cake:

Grind together, orange peel, raisins and 3/4 jar Kumquat Conserve. Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs and buttermilk. Sift flour and dry ingredients. Fold flour, dry ingredients and ground fruit into creamed butter and sugar. Pour into well-greased 9" spring form pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until done. Let cake rest in pan for 10 minutes then remove cake from pan.

Orange Syrup:

Combine last three ingredients and heat together until dissolved. Re-insert cake into pan and ladle syrup over cake (one TBSP at a time).

Store cake at room temperature and garnish with remaining 1/4 jar Kumquat Conserve. Cake mellows and is best after a couple of days. Cake can be stored at room temperature for several days.

Kumquat Scones with Candied Ginger and Orange

Making these scones makes me happy because they always come out nicely, their easy to make, and friends always love them. The ginger and the kumquats compliment one another and provide a subtle reminder of the Orient wrapped up in a British scone. Put the kettle on! Time for scones and tea!

Photo by Carl Kravats

Kumquat Scones with Candied Ginger and Orange 

makes 8 scones

Pans and equipment: 
Two jellyroll or half-sheet pans, stacked one on top of the other (this "double panning" will prevent the bottom of the scones from over-browning).  Line the top pan with a sheet of parchment paper.

Ingredients:

¼ cup (1-3/4 ounces) sugar

Generous 1/3 cup (2 ounces) chopped candied ginger

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

Zest of 1 large orange, grated

1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, chopped into ½-inch pieces

½ cup (3 ounces) La Vigne Organic Nagami Kumquat Conserve (to measure: first rinse, pat dry,  remove seeds, and chop each piece into quarters)

¾ cup (6 ounces) cold heavy whipping cream

Ingredients to Finish:

2 to 3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

Turbinado sugar, granulated sugar, or crystallized sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Position an oven rack in the center of the oven.

Place the sugar and candied ginger in the bowl of a food processor and process until the ginger is very finely chopped.  Add the flour, salt, baking powder, orange zest and cold butter pieces and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas.

Transfer the mixture into a bowl (or a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) and stir in the kumquats.  Pour in the cream and mix just until blended - do not beat or the scones will be tough.  Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 2 or 3 times, just to bring the dough together.  Pat into a 7-inch circle, then use a large knife to cut the circle into eight equal wedges.  (At this point the scones can be refrigerated overnight, or frozen, well wrapped, for up to 1 month.)

Place the scones on the prepared sheet pan.  Brush the top of each scone with cream and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until firm to the touch and golden brown.  Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

Here's our organic Kumquat Conserve that we used in the recipe.

Photo by Carl Kravats