I recently received a surprise in the post. A sweet and lovely new recipe book called Love, Aimee X, which features 50 creative baking recipes by Aimee of blog Twigg Studios. I have been following Aimee on Instagram for some time and I'm a huge fan of her beautiful posts and baking recipes like this Chocolate & Matcha Mille Feuille she kindly contributed to the blog.

After browsing through her book, I was inspired to make this orange and rosewater tea cake that I adapted from one the recipes in the book. With hints of orange blossom and rose water, one bite and it will transport you to an exotic location. It pairs perfectly with a cup of mint tea.

Congratulations Aimee, this book is well deserved.







FOR THE CAKE

200g plain flour
110g granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
60g butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 large egg
60ml natural yoghurt
Juice 1 orange
3 tsp rosewater
Zest 1 orange

FOR THE GLAZE

1 tsp orange blossom
2 tbsp water
125g icing sugar


METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Line and grease a 20cm springform cake tin.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and butter using an electric mixer until it resembles coarse crumb mixture. Add the egg, natural yoghurt, orange blossom, rosewater and orange zest and beat until combined. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for 35-40mins or until cooked. Allow to cool for 5 mins before removing from the cake tin and cooling completely on a wire rack.

To make the glaze, combine the orange blossom, icing sugar and water. Add more water if the mixture is too thick but you also don't want the glaze to be too runny. Drizzle the glaze over the cake and garnish with pistachio nuts.