Quince and almond cake - Still in love with quince

Winter and quince. This will be the combination that I will long for once these colder months pass by. I will miss the lovely decorative yellow skin fruits in my fruit bowl. I will miss the perfume of poached quinces lingering in my kitchen. I will miss the deep red color of the slowly-poached fruits. I will miss the warm bowl of quinces and their sweet spiced syrup, with a dollop of yohgurt almost every night.

So many poached quinces, and I have not got around to re-do that stuffed quince recipe from Claudia Roden. I tend to remember that recipe after I poach the whole lot of quinces already. Ah. Never mind, poached quinces are B's and my favourites.

My sister, on the other hand, doesn't appreciate quinces that much. Perhaps when she grows older, she will appreciate fruits and vegetables a bit more. Like I did with most fruits and vegs.

In cakes, she seems to be okay though. It is indeed a very nice and simple tea cake. The base is nutty and buttery, which goes well with poached fruits. I normally make this cake with poached (or canned) pear halves. With quinces, it tastes even better. And the deep red color makes the cake so pretty, almost like a flower petal imprint.

Quince and Almond Cake

Based on a recipe by the AWW

Poached quinces

Two quinces
1 cinammon
1 clove
Sugar syrup (equal amount of sugar and water)

The cake
185 butter, softened
110g castor sugar
3 eggs
185g almond meal
1/4 cup plain flour
2 tsp vanilla paste

Method

Wash and peel the quince. Quarter the fruit and put in a heavy-based saucepan. Add in enough sugar syrup to cover the fruits. Don't throw away the skin. I put the skin in a small muslin bag and poach along with the fruit for fragrance. Anyway, add in cinammon and cloves. Boil the whole mixture, then simmer very slowly for 4 hours or until the quince has that rich red color. Cool

For the cake

Preheat oven to 165C. Grease 22cm springform tin, line base and side with baking paper.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, one at a time, beating until combined between each addition. Stir in vanilla, almond meal and flour.

Spread the mixture into prepared pan, top with the quince pieces. Bake for around 50mins or until cooked through. Stand the cake for 5 mins. Remove from the pan and cool.

Syrup: After removing the quinces from the poaching syrup, continue to boil until the syrup thickens lightly. Serve this with the cake. Yum!