Rosie Makes: Clementine Upside-Down Drizzle Loaf

Yesterday’s newsletter was all about in-season ingredients for this period of deep Winter leading up to Imbolc – and citrus is the star of the show at this time of year. I had a few leftover clementines languishing in the fruit bowl after Christmas and a craving for cake, so came up with this clementine upside-down drizzle loaf: a cross between an upside-down cake and a drizzle loaf with a moist, almond sponge topped with clementine halves and a zesty, sugary drizzle. To make the cake, you will need:

120g butter
120g caster sugar
80g self-raising flour
40g ground almonds
2 eggs
4 small clementines, zested then peeled and halved

(Drizzle ingredients below).

Preheat the oven to 160C. Cream the butter and sugar until light and very fluffy – approximately five minutes. Meanwhile, grease and line a loaf tin and arrange the clementine halves on the base of the tin.

Add the clementine zest to the mixture then add the eggs one at a time with a little flour. Fold in the rest of the flour and the ground almonds. Scoop the batter into the tin on top of the clementine halves so they are completely covered. Bake for 50 minutes, until the top is golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before turning the cake out onto a wire rack.

For the drizzle, zest three more small clementines and add the zest and their juice along with the juice of half a lemon to 100g caster sugar (there will be about 50 ml of juice). Pour over the top of the loaf while it is still warm in stages, allowing it time to soak through between additions. Allow to set, then serve in generous slices.

Recipe by me.