ladysmith cake

early in my blog life last year i came across a website by the name of 'ladies, a plate' to which i subscribed..i discovered that the new zealand author, alexa johnston, had also written and published three cookery books called 'ladies, a plate: traditional home baking', 'a second helping: more from ladies a plate' and 'what's for pudding?'..i had aspirations to own one of them on the basis that i have a strong interest in old fashioned recipes of the type in these books but i decided not to order any of them because i like to peruse books before i purchase..

when i was in new zealand recently i remembered the books and so i went in search of them..in the end i decided to buy 'a second helping' rather than 'ladies, a plate' because i was familiar with most of the recipes in the latter book..

it's taken me longer than i planned to make a recipe from the book because i still have a persistent cold that i got in new zealand..anyway today i baked the 'ladysmith cake' which is apparently a new zealand invention that celebrates the lifting of the four-month siege, during the boer war, of the south african town of ladysmith in february 1900.. it's just one of the many interesting and different looking cakes in the book..

ladysmith cake
from 'a second helping: more from ladies, a plate'
alexa johnston

ingredients

185 gms butter

185 gms sugar (i used castor sugar)

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

185 gms plain flour

1 tablespoon (tbs) cornflour

1 teaspoon (tsp) baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice*

4 tbs jam**

50 gms walnuts

method

~preheat oven to 180 deg c

~grease and line an 18 cm square cake tin

~sift flour, cornflour and baking powder

~cream butter and sugar

~beat in vanilla and add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition

~gently fold in dry ingredients 

~divide mixture in two and add spices to one half

~spoon this mix evenly into prepared tin

~spoon jam evenly over the spicy cake mixture 

~top with the remaining cake mixture and sprinkle with walnuts

~bake for 50-60 minutes or until cooked

~cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes and then remove the cake to a cake rack to cool

notes:

* cocoa can be used instead of mixed spice

** raspberry, strawberry or blackcurrant (i used homemade strawberry jam)

this is a lovely cake with interesting flavours and textures..it's moist and light with a subtle spicy flavour..the addition of the jam is welcome because the cake itself is not overly sweet and the toasted walnuts add a nice crunchy contrast..i think it's a great cake for afternoon tea and i can see myself making it often in the future..the only thing i would do differently next time is to add a little more jam..


happy mother's day to all those celebrating tomorrow..x