Quince Spelt Cake – Be still, my heart

 

And its chilly again. Not that I mind really! I love Summer as much as the next girl but there is a certain loveliness that comes with fresh morning air, snuggly cardigans and berets. Not to mention being able to have the oven on without dissolving into a puddle of sweat as the ambient temperature is almost equal to the oven temperature.

I’ve been particularly looking forward to Winter baking in my new apartment as the kitchen is much easier to use (albeit much much smaller) and I finally have an oven that isn’t set to a timer. Casa KB was fabulous but having an oven that turned itself off ever two hours was a giant pain in the butt. It made it particularly difficult when it came to poaching quinces (my most favourite thing to do in Winter!) as I would have to keep getting up to check that the damn oven hadn’t turned itself off.

My love of quinces is well documented and normally I would head straight to make the Stephanie Alexander Quince Cake .

But this year I thought i’d try something a little different. After seeing this recipe for a Plum Spelt Cake by Nigel Slater posted by Heidi from Apples Under My Bed I thought it would be perfect with quinces instead.

I was right.

Clearly.

Its a very simple recipe but I had never tried spelt flour before. I was struck by the nutty, almost caramel flavour of the cake and the moist crumb it produced. It seemed to hold the moisture better than the regular butter cake and rose brilliantly to hug the quinces. I think that this might just be my new go-to cake recipe and already i’m dreaming of how it would taste with apples and cinnamon (and perhaps, whisky caramel?) stay tuned!

I had decided that most of these cakes were going to be gifted so I thought it would be easier to make some little loaf cakes and a mini round cake. Even the batter looks more caramel coloured than the regular butter cake mix.

Look at these ruby beauties baking in the oven!

They ended up being the perfect size for a little gift or just to eat on your own
as I perhaps did with one. Or two.

But there you have it. Quince spelt cake.

Simple.

Delicious.

Tell me lovelies, what are your favourite things about Winter?

Quince Spelt Cake – Adapted from this recipe by Nigel Slater

Ingredients

150g butter
150g golden caster sugar (you can use regular sugar but if you go for the golden, you wont regret it!)
3 large eggs
110g spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
75g ground almonds
400g poached quinces (see this recipe for poaching instructions)
an extra tbsp of sugar for dusting at the end

 

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar until light, fluffy and almost white
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition
3. Fold in the flour, baking powder and almonds but don’t over mix
4. Spoon the batter into either one tin roughly 22cm wide or a number of smaller tins (if you’re opting for smaller cakes, make sure that you check half way through the cooking time as they will bake much more quickly)
5. Layer quince pieces over the top of the batter. Don’t worry about pressing them in as the batter will rise to almost cover them
6. Sprinkle the extra sugar over the tops of your cake and bake for 45 mins at 180 degrees celsius.
7. Devour.