These are more like lovely little almond cakes than donuts, but they work really well in the ring shape. If rosewater is not your thing, leave it out and add a little more vanilla extract. Rosewater can vary in strength, so add it to taste, with some caution.
You will need at least five mandarins for this recipe – make sure you keep two of them whole, for slicing. This cake is beautifully moist with slightly savoury, grassy notes from the olive oil and bay leaves, and freshness from the mandarin.
It’s hard to beat a great carrot cake with lemony cream cheese frosting. The ‘naked’ method used here is quick and easy, with spectacular results. Decorate the cake with edible flowers from the garden, if you have them.
Peach jam is often overly sweet, so to counteract this I like to add soft herbs to balance the sweetness.
In the 1980s, my brother Godfrey used to make sponges using this recipe, which came from the local public health nurse, Ailsa Gathergood. Godfrey, then a sheep farmer, busy entrepreneur and father of five, reckoned the secret was to ‘beat the s--t out of it’. Use electric beaters, even if you have forearms honed by wrangling sheep and small kids.
