For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired up with K&K Test Kitchen. One of my favorite things about the site is the design since the colors are so well coordinated and it is appealing to the eye. I am a web designer by day, so thats one of the first things I noticed.

This was another month where it was hard to choose just what recipe to make. I changed up my tactic this time and asked my fiancé to pick a recipe after I whittled it down to Healthy Spinach Dip, Artichoke Dip, Pistachio Marmalade Cake, or Cashew Chicken. Even though he picked spinach dip, I ended up making the cake. Next time I swear I’ll let him really choose!

I figured this would be a great opportunity to use some of my various jams in the refrigerator, as well as my cute gingham mini bundt cake liners from World Market.  I did adapt this recipe to use what I had on hand, and it turned out no worse for it.

I had a lovely Japanese Quince jam gifted to me by my friend Stephanie that was just itching to be used in this. I have a problem when I get things that tast good. I actually don’t eat them. They’re so precious to me I always save them for later, but then they end up getting thrown away! I wasn’t going to let that happen to this jam, so I whipped 2 mini cakes up and sent her one as part of a care package.

You can substitute the cider for any juice (orange juice is the original). I also substituted the cornmeal with almond meal, and replaced the orange marmalade with quince jam. I also mixed the pistachios with some chai sugar I picked up at Mitsuwa on a recent trip to New York to echo the cardamom in the mix.

The texture of the cake was a bit crumbly and the bottom was a little overdone (the middle wouldn’t cook all the way). I don’t think this is due to the substitutions since this same issue was noted on K&K Test Kitchen. In the future, I would recommend bumping the cooking temperature to 325 so that none of it overcooks.

Since the cake itself that was not adjacent to the topping was a bit bland, I would definitely add more jam next time so that the flavor is more pronounced.

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Marmalade & Pistachio Tea Cake Recipe

By nicole Published: October 28, 2013

• Yield: 2 mini cakes or 1 8x8 cake (8-10 Servings)
• Prep: 10 mins
• Cook: 35 mins
• Ready In: 45 mins

This cake, adapted from K&K Test Kitchen is great along a cup of tea at any time of the day, including breakfast. It is further adapted from Big Girls Small Kitchen on the Kitchn. It is a mixture of French, American, and Indian flavors.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup almond meal
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• ½ cup apple cider or other juice that complements marmalade
• ½ cup vegetable oil or other neutral oil
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup quince jam or other jam/marmalade/preserves
• 4 tablespoons pistachios unsalted, shelled, chopped
• chai flavored sugar optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment and grease it lightly.
2. In a small mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt.
3. In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs, marmalade, and sugar until combined and thickened. Gently whisk in the juice.
4. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients, and fold to combine–it’s fine to leave a few lumps. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle chopped pistachios on top. (Note: mix flavored sugar with chopped pistachios prior to sprinkling, if you want)
5. Bake for about 35 minutes, until the cake is dark gold and risen, and springs back when you put slight pressure on the top. Test with a toothpick in the center of the loaf; if it comes out dry, it’s done.
6. Serve warm if possible, or within a few hours of baking.

• Cuisine: Hapa