At the heart of all good food is the successful combination of the elementary tastes: sour, salt, savory, bitter, and sweet. But why does a squeeze of lemon make grilled fish taste so sweet, and a grating of Parmesan cheese make minestrone soup seem intensely savory? Once you understand how and why basic combinations work, you will instinctively begin to create delicious meals.
Infusing Kashmiri chilies into a sticky orange and almond cake might seem odd, but they add an intriguing, indefinable tingle as one eats, which highlights the sweet, sour and mildly bitter nature of the cake. Definitely an adult cake, especially as the vodka adds a further kick.
Servings: 6
3/4 cup softened butter, plus extra for greasing
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 oranges
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup self-rising flour, sifted
1/3 cup dessert wine
3/4 cup ground almonds
1 lemon
2 heaped tablespoons granulated sugar
2 dried Kashmiri chilies
3 tablespoons vodka
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch sprngform cake pan. Beat the butter and 2/3 cup sugar until pale and fluffy. Finely grate the zest of 1 orange, add to the sweetened butter then gradually beat in the egg yolks, followed by 2 tablespoons of flour and the dessert wine. Lightly fold in half the almonds, followed by half the remaining flour. Next fold in the remaining almonds and the last of the flour.
Immediately whisk the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until they form firm peaks. Quickly fold them into the cake batter, then spoon the mixture into the cake pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Turn out and place on a cooling rack over a deep-rimmed plate.
While the cake is baking, use a potato peeler to finely pare the lemon and remaining 1/2 orange. Place all the peel, the granulated sugar, dried chilies and 1/2 cup of water in a small non-corrosive saucepan. Dissolve the sugar over a low heat, then simmer gently for 10 minutes. Cover; remove from the heat and leave to infuse. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice from the 1 1/2 oranges and 1/2 the lemon.
As soon as the cake is turned out of its pan, return the syrup to the heat and bring up to the boil. Add the fruit juice and vodka and strain into a jug. Prick the warm cake with a fork and drip-feed the syrup into the cake in small batches. Make sure it is evenly fed and use all the syrup it's surprising how much a cake will absorb, Serve once cold.
