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This cake is sure to make the Paddington Bears happy.. Why just the Bears? Are the bears the only ones who like Marmalade ?? All the kids and families who had it last evening at our pre Diwali celebration enjoyed it too!!!!
Last week, this yumm orange marmalade from Roberstons was sent to me and I was challenged too.. to see how can I exercise its flavors out the best.

Robertson’s Golden Shred welcomes The World’s favourite marmalade eating bear – Paddington. In the book, ‘Paddington and the Marmalade Maze’, Paddington used the Marmalade chunks to help him retrace his steps in order to make a swift exit from Hampton court maze. Some fun facts about Marmalade Did you know a typical jar of marmalade is made up of four Spanish Seville Oranges?? Did you know, 64000 tonnes of marmalade is consumed globally?? Marmalade was the breakfast spread of choice for Sherlock Holmes, he eats it with prawn on toast, calling it his brain food.

 So I had to kindle my little head hard and then I came up with this marmalade cake . Light, moist , little crumbly and good to go with an afternoon tea or an after dinner delight. Its an upgraded flavored Victoria pan cake. I have posted the recipe for Victoria loaf cake earlier. Find the link here.

For the first time, I felt the deep pressure of completing assignments.I felt it all the more, because we were having a Diwali Celebration on Saturday evening and I wanted to carry it along for dessert. It doesnt stop with baking this delectable cake , but its depiction time too.. My pictures on the blog are an attempt of outright representation of  the food thats cooked or the goodies that are baked. Apart from baking it, potraying it right is vital to me. So before the confectionary was all gone , I had to click them all :)



Anyways, The very kind host at whose house this party was held, spoils you with her delicious non stop food any time you visit here. This time she was making piping hot mendu vada's pouring it in a kadai with a spoon like the bhaji's with two variety of chutneys and then a spread of ready main course that we all had over a hearty whimpsical conversation. Knowing this lovely friend, I had to carry something along to treat the the lovely hosts and the rest of my friends... They are in particular, like a family away from home. A good critic starting from aged 4 to 45.. What better time can it be to get the cake gnawed and get their ruminations !!!




It didnt stop here, we have a new chef friend who visited us over the weekend. I did mention about this cake to him that I was blogging and he instantly asked me for the proportions.. and sampled from the left over 3 pieces.


Aaah !! My heart was callously pumping, knowing a judgement coming from a chef! And the pundit said.. .. Nom Nom.. nice.. its mildly flavored , perfect for tea. Sigh! of relief.. He gave me 2 new suggestions for variating this victoria loaf cake. So watch out this space, again my dear reader friends, I will be back in the coming months with the newly learnt basics.

ORANGE MARMALADE CAKE  Prep Time: 15 Min  Baking Time: 30-35 Min Yields 1 Cake in 20 cm pan and 3 Muffin Cup Cakes  INGREDIENTS: 175 g Self Raising Flour 175 g Unsalted butter, softened 175 g Caster Sugar 3 Large Eggs ½ tsp Baking Powder 3 Tbsp. Marmalade 3 Tbsp. Whole Milk For Glaze Icing 3 Tbsp. Orange Marmalade ½ Cup Icing Sugar 2 Tbsp. Warm Water DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 180°C fan, gas mark 4. Lay a Baking sheet inside a 20 cm Circular Baking Pan. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using a whisk/hand blender until it’s light and fluffy. Add in eggs one by one, beating well, followed by the addition of Marmalade until it’s all smooth. Fold in Flour and Baking powder into the wet mixture above, until well combined. Incorporate the milk and mix with the spoon well.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake pan and smoothen the top using the back of the spoon. Bake for roughly 30-35 minutes. At about 25 minutes, I did check if my cake was ready . Using a skewer to insert into the centre of the cake and check it if it comes out neat. Tiny crumbly bits of cake was still sticking to the skewer. So I decided to give away another 5 minutes and It was all done.  You can tell when the cake is cooked because they should shrink slightly away from the sides of the tins and the tops will feel springy to the touch.  Loosen the edges and gently turn out of the pan. For Glaze Icing  Warm the marmalade in the pan with constant stirring, until smooth. Spread it smooth on the cake when it’s still warm.  Sift the icing sugar in a bowl and add the warm water to create a suitable flowing consistency. The icing consistency needs to be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. If it's too thin add a little more sieved icing sugar, if it's too thick add a few more drops of water. Remember to do it little by little. I did stir in remaining 1 tbsp. of Marmalade to give it a light fragrant icing. Spoon the icing into a ziplock bag, seal tight. Snip one edge into the desired size and drizzle lines over the cake.  NOTES:  With the remaining cake batter, I poured them in Muffin liners and baked them for approximately 20 minutes. The batter yielded one 20cm Cake and 3 Muffins.

I am sending this delectable afternoon tea cake to The Great Denby Cake Off competition.

With many thanks to Roberston's and Havas for sending across the jar of Marmalade.