Tea Cake with a Sticky Tangelo Syrup
By Peter G • Aug 20th, 2008 • Category: Recipes
Aaaah! I gave in! After eating enough tangelos to last me a life time, I still had many leftover. There they were, on the counter, staring at me in their big brown bowl. I tend not to bake very much as I usually prefer savoury dishes over sweet ones. I didn’t want to complicate things very much and I honestly thought about making a jam or a marmalade with the tangelos, but I just couldn’t muster the energy to sterilise jars etc… So I cheated by making a good ol’ fashioned tea cake and drizzling it with a warm sticky syrup. This was a great afternoon tea treat and could quite easily be served as a dessert.
Oh my! The syrup was addictive! I had a fair bit leftover (are we spotting a trend?) and I mixed it with a sparkling mineral water. Nice and refreshing. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the weather was warmer…not long to go now!
RECIPE FOR THE TANGELO SYRUP
- Juice and zest of two tangelos
- 200 ml of water
- 1 and 1/4 cups of caster sugar
Place all the ingredients in a sauce pan over a medium heat. Allow them to come to a boil and then turn up your temperature really high. Be careful as the syrup may start to splatter everywhere. Stir it constantly and look for the syrup to reduce by about half. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool slightly. It should thicken and settle once it has been removed from the heat.
RECIPE FOR TEA CAKE
The tea cake recipe is an old recipe I had lying around from my high school years. (Hilarious isn’t it?) It was something I learned in Home Economics class and it never fails. The ingredients are easy and you most probably have them in your pantry. The good thing is, is that you can vary the toppings. A good old Australian tea cake has melted butter brushed over it and dusted with a cinnamon sugar…but I digress.
- 125 gr of softened butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp of good quality vanilla exract
- 3/4 cup of self raising flour
- 3/4 cup of caster sugar
- 1/2 cup of milk
- Preheat your oven to 180 deg C
- Using a mix master or a hand mixer beat the butter and sugar until the mixture becomes pale
- Add the vanilla
- Add the milk
- Add the eggs one by one making sure they blend well.
- Slowly incorporate the flour and beat it all up for about 5 mins
- Pour the mixture into a 18-20cm pre geased round cake tin or a ring tin.
- Cook for about 40-45 mins or until the cake has risen and is golden brown.
- Allow the cake to cool and then turn it out wire rack. Aloow it to rest for another 5 mins.
- Pour the warm sticky tangelo syrup over the cake aloowing it to seep through the warm cake.
- Serve with a cuppa or if you’re serving it as dessert add some thick cream on the side!
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Peter G is a passionate foodie of Greek descent living in Australia. You'll usually find him cooking up a storm in the kitchen and photographing all his exploits.
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They thought you how to bake in High school! I wish I had gone to that high school! :-p The syrup and the cake sound like a perfect marriage.
Wow, Peter, this looks lovely.
The cake seems like a perfect afternoon treat!
For a citrus lover like me, this cake is pure perfection, Peter!
This all looks delicious, Peter. Also, I’d think that syrup would be a great simple syrup for rum or vodka cocktails.
Very nice Peter! I love the look of this tea cake!
I’m really over with citrus at the moment, heaps of limes, lemons, oranges, tangelos, you name it. Gosh, I don’t know what to do with them all while time is so limited these days. Indonesian dish has got to use limes a lot so that’s a help. Otherwise, I should just squeeze them into ice trays and freeze them to be used next time the season’s over and limes become so unreasonably expensive. Now, reading your recipe, I can do more things with tangelos hehehe… Thanks, P. You give us a great idea to use up these kind of citrus.
Oh geez, Peter. You are really tempting me with this one…
I just love tangelos. And tea cake. And butter
mmm tantalizing with tangelos? it looks delicious! i can just imagine the aroma of this filling the air when you made it…of course i can’t get over the color first!
Looks fantastic Peter! I love cakes drizzled with citrus syrups:-)
I love how simple the cake recipe is. It looks beautiful with the syrup and zest on it.
i’m loving this syrup! the cake looks awesome but i’m intrigued by the syrup..reckon i can use it as a drinks syrup for things like cocktails or have it with iced tea and Pimm’s?? man! this is good.
Peter, I love tea cakes. Did you know that about me? I’m a mystery, I know. Well, I used to sell (eat) lemon tea cakes at the coffee shop I worked at in college. They have bits of candied lemon rind, poppy seeds, and icing on top, and were the size of a muffin. Just lovely.
Tangelos, though. Now that’s a toe-curl.
Still the elusive tangelos…at least at the moment:D
Nice , I love moisten cakes, and once that I hadn´t tangelo here. My only options are lemon or orange syrup. Great pic
This looks great for my morning tea. I do not have tangelos, but could I replace it with another citrus. This is a must try.
Peter, so i know i’m invited for coffee, am i invited for tea too ?? I can help you polish off that cake over a cup of nice green tea even earl will do
Oooh, I like it when you post sweets. Looks delicious!
I wonder if you mail me a few tangelos!
I thank goodness you cheated. Cause that sticky syrup sauce is head and shoulders above jam. I love the way it has soaked into the cake, making it moist and sweet. I’m swooning, here, Peter.