Marrow and Orange Cake with Cashew Cream is a modern British recipe for a classic vegan seasonal (Autumnal) cake of a marrow, orange and almond cake served with a cashew nut cream icing. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Marrow and Orange Cake with Cashew Cream.
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I signed up to one of those box deliveries of mis-shaped vegetables. This week’s box was dominated by a marrow. I haven’t cooked a marrow for ages and didn’t really know what to do with it. I’d seen and read recipes for barbecuing and grilling and my grandmother was a fan of marrow chutneys --- but never really tried them. There were no accompanying leaves, so many of my African recipes were out. After a bit of a head scratch, I decided to try adapting a recipe for a carrot and orange cake and to please my wife, made a cashew nut butter to decorate. After all courgettes (zucchini) are used in cakes aren’t they?
I used spelt flour (I was lucky to have some left over) as its natural nuttiness should enhance the flavour of the marrow. Emmer wheat or einkorn would also work just as well. You can, of course, use whole-grain (whole-wheat) flour as well. If you don’t have oat flour just whizz porridge oats in a blender or coffee grinder.
Though it was not my intent when I tried it, the recipe just happened to also turn out vegan.
Ingredients:
For the Cashew Cream Icing:
250g (1 2/3 cups) cashew nuts
1 tbsp orange blossom water
¼ tsp sea salt
4 tbsp unrefined sugar
For the Cake:
125ml (1/2 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
175g (7/8 cup) unrefined sugar
Finely-grated zest of ½ orange
Juice of ½ orange
2 tbsp ground psyllium husks
4 tbsp toasted oat flour
150g (1 1/8 cups) rye flour
200g (1 ¼ cups) wholemeal (whole-wheat) flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp sea salt
100g (1/2 cup) ground almonds
300g (2 4/5 cups) marrow, grated (leave the skin on)
300ml (1 ¼ cups) nut or grain milk (I used home-made oat milk)
2 tsp cider vinegar
Orange zest, to garnish
Strips of grated marrow skin, to garnish
Method:
Start first with the cashew cream. Soak the cashew nuts for 4-8 hours in plenty of cold water. Drain the nuts and blitz in a high-power blender with the orange blossom water, salt and sugar until you reach a thick double cream consistency. If too thick add a little orange juice, if too thin add more cashew nuts.
For the cake: combine the olive oil, sugar and orange zest in a bowl and whisk together. In a smaller bowl mix the ground psyllium husks with the orange zest and set aside for 30 minutes to thicken (this is your egg substitute). Now whisk this mixture into the oil until emulsified.
Sift together the flours, oat flour, bicarb, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt then mix in the ground almonds and the marrow. Stir this flour mix into the oil before stirring in the oat milk and vinegar. Stir well to combine, then transfer the batter to a greased and lined 20cm (8 in) diameter springform cake tin. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 200°C (180°C fan/390°F/Gas mark 6) and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden and cooked through.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin then turn out onto a serving dish. Use a palette knife to decorate the cake with the cashew cream. Sprinkle finely-grated orange zest and strips of marrow peel over the top to garnish. Slice into wedges and serve.
