If you don’t have a large orange, gather about 11 ounces or 308 grams’ worth of tangerines and use their juice and rind instead.
This cake has three elements: a fig-jam batter, a ‘walnut swirl’ in the middle, and an orange ‘soak’. I list each element’s ingredients first, and below that, I tell you what to do with them. I think the various flavours (including rum, cocoa powder, cinnamon and orange zest) work beautifully together. I mention sea salt: my preferred salt for baking is a medium-fine ‘finishing’ sea salt, such as fleur de sel.
You will need three large eggs, a large orange, Greek yoghurt, walnuts, light brown sugar and honey, rum, and fig jam. I recommend a jar of Dalmatia fig spread. You will be using 10 tablespoons of jam in total, and that very conveniently equals one Dalmatia jar.
If you like, reserve some walnut pieces to press into the top of the cake (at about the 45-minute mark, to prevent their sinking or burning).
Equipment: One 9” x 5” buttered load pan.
For the batter:
3 large eggs, with the white of one egg reserved for the walnut swirl
2 Tbs honey
8½ oz all-purpose flour
4 oz or ½ cup butter (one-half of a Kerrygold block), softened
1 cup Greek yoghurt
5.6 oz or 8 Tbs fig jam
2 tsps orange zest
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
For the swirl:
1 cup toasted coarsely ground walnuts — not a flour or meal
1 egg white
2 Tbs fig jam
1 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs rum
1 tsp cocoa powder
¼ tsp sea salt
For the soak:
Juice of one large orange (about ½ cup)
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 Tbs butter
2 tsps rum
To make the batter:
First, in a large mixing bowl cream the butter with the sugar a bit at a time, then add the fig jam.
In a separate bowl, combine the other dry ingredients with the flour, and then gradually add half the flour mixture to the sugar-butter. Fold in the yoghurt, and add the rest of the flour mixture.
To make the swirl:
Toast the walnut pieces, either in a pan on medium heat or on a baking sheet at 350°F / 177°C for about 8 minutes (if you’re in a rush, put the sheet under the broiler (or grill, in the UK) for about 4 minutes — but watch them!). As soon as they are fragrant and slightly darkened, remove them from the heat. Coarsely grind — you don’t want a fine meal for this recipe.
Whisk the egg white into the ground walnuts, adding and mixing well the jam, sugar, rum, cocoa powder, and salt.
Pre-heat oven to 350°F / 177°C.
Spoon half the batter into the baking pan. Spoon the walnut swirl in an even layer onto the batter. Over the swirl, layer the rest of the batter. Bake the cake on the middle rack for 1 - 1 ¼ hours until set: a skewer should come out clean. When the cake is firming, about 15-20 minutes before it’s done, add some walnut pieces to the top, if desired. Once removed from oven, leave the cake in the pan, poke holes into the cake with the skewer, and pour over the soak. Let sit for an hour.