This weekend sees the results of the annual Dalemain Marmalade Awards. I did enter with my third attempt. Seville orange Campari & ginger marmalade. My first two attempts were a lemon & rose petal and a Seville orange & lavender. The latter being the star of my orange & lavender marmalade cake.
I have absolutely no idea how I did but I do know that Karen & Sue have received some high praise indeed. Well done you two! Marmalade making is certainly more of a challenge than jam making but I most certainly have caught the bug.
For me, Vivien Lloyd’s technique worked wonders. I followed her precise instructions HERE, passed on to Karen (Lavender & Lovage) who attended one of her Marmalade making days along with Sue (Not just any old baking spot) and Charlotte (Charlotte’s Kitchen Diary).
Marmalade making is a two day process, but setting aside a weekend in the dark days of January or February is no more of a chore to me than the weekend of Stir-up Sunday in November. It just becomes a tradition and one which provides you with jars of a bittersweet preserve, packed full of the most memorable fragrance and taste which you can tailor to suit your tastes.
Having cooked up three different marmalades in my first year, you can imagine I am in need of using it up outside of toast. Particularly as it is in no way a flavour that children warm to. Bittersweet takes time to appreciate. I think it just tastes wrong to kids in the way that chicory does.
There happens to be a cake that uses up exactly a little jar (225g) of my orange and lavender marmalade which I discovered on THIS website, all about kitchen garden preserves.
This is a perfect cake to bake for Mother’s Day. Light, fragrant, simple and packed full of marmalade,a whole (little) jar. Well, it uses three quarters of the jar in the sponge mix and the remaining quarter in the icing.
As per usual with my experimental cakes, my 6yo daughter loved it. She has exemplary tastes in all things sweet. The 8yo refused it first time round but accepted a small piece eventually declaring the cake to be very good while her younger sister ate her second slice. The 5yo boy did not succumb. No chocolate you see.
I am a mother and I love it. I hope your mothers love it too.
What a beautiful cake! I love the use of lavender with the bittersweet of the oranges and at last I can use some of the culinary lavender I bought home from France last year. Will definitely be baking this for my mum next week – thank you!
Thanks for mentioning me Laura, very kind of you and this cakes looks delicious. I love the sound of your marmalades too, you have some great flavour combinations there. Lovely!
BRILLIANT post Laura and anything with lavender in it has my name all over it! I LOVE lavender in all forms of cooking!
I am sure your marmalade was a huge success at the awards and tastes wonderful too……..
I was very surprised to hear that I had been awarded a silver and a bronze, and my worst entry got a merit – so not bad for my first time!
LOVELY post and super photos too.
Karen
I’ve never made my own marmalade before and all your entries sound delicious. This cake looks amazing – I can just imagine the combination of marmalade and lavender! Perfect for spring
Very lovely looking cake. I like the idea of lavender in it.
Oh this looks so good! My Mum loves marmalade so I might just have to give this a try for the weekend.
Well done on the marmalade. I would love to try making it, but it is only me that eats it in our family!
Great cake here Laura and I can imagine the lavender must give a lovely twist to the orange flavour. I do love orange in cakes, as you know I made an orangey cake recently and it went down well!
I would love to bake my Mum something delicious for Mothers Day but she doesn’t have a very sweet tooth! Thinking maybe a loaf of some sort – then I can make this cake for myself
This is such a bright, pretty cake! I’ve never tried making my own marmalade and didn’t realise the different flavours that were possible – your varieties sound delicious and I am definitely tempted to give making marmalade a go.
This cake, with its lavender nose, just has Mothering Sunday written all over it. The lavender in marmalade is an intriguing combination that I’m sure works so well in cake. I do a couple of marmalade cakes – a carrot and Seville orange and a lime marmalade and parsnip, and now another one to try! I have probably missed the boat with fresh Seville for this year but this really sounds a super cake so I must bookmark for next year! Thanks for sharing this and recommending Vivien’s method.
Your cake sounds delectable and I’m going to make some shortly, though with my own ‘cooking’ marmalade and Lavender sugar.
I really admire you entering the marmalade competition and I’m sure you’ve done we’ll, one day, when I get the perfect set, I will enter:-)
See you soon
Jude x
Both your marmalade and the cake look wonderful – I would like to say I’m going to make it for my Mum. But I think I may be the Mum who’ll enjoy it first!
Katharine- thanks, I bet your French lavender would be lovely in this cake
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Sue- Thanks and well done on your success at the marmalade awards!
Karen- Ah, thanks Karen and also well done on your marmalade results. I know you must like lavender given your name!
Ros- Yes you are right, this is a perfect cake for Spring!
Chris- thanks, I think you should try it!
Caroline-I am sure your mum would love it
Nazima- I am amazed your husband doesn’t like marmalade. I will have to give you some of mine to try!
Little loaf- Your lucky mum not to have a sweet tooth. You could make this in a loaf and maybe reduce the sugar??
Lucy-there are so many great flavours of marmalade to try. Why not have a go!
Kellie- your marmalade cakes sound delicious and I would recommend Vivien’s technique for next year
Jude- Thanks, sadly I have no idea how I did. I will keep trying until I get something. That may take some years!
Andrea- Yes, I know! Maybe you need to make 2 and keep one back for you!
Looks delicious! Glad you had a lovely Mother’s Day! Lydia x
All of your marmalade sounds wonderful. I remember disliking it as a child, but luckily I grew into it. I made a marmalade cake for my mother on Sunday, took it over when I went to see her, only to find she was on a fast day – neither of us got to try it! Yours looks so pretty and the flavours sound interesting and delicious.
Lovely cake and great marmalade Laura, I tried to make jam last year (first time for me) and I had mix results: very good stuff and no edible jars…(something went wrong, I guess). I’ve never baked a cake with jam inside, but this must be super (made with homemade marmalade!!). My 7 years old boy LOVES jam/marmalade, even bitter stuff, my 4 years old boy would not eat a single piece ….NO CHOCOLATE (like your little one).
I’ve never made marmalade, it is something I want to try! The cake looks delicious!
Marmalade is not the easiest thing to make, but very satisfying even it does come together well. My first attempt was not that good but still fine for using in cakes!
Wow, this looks so yummy. I love the colour contrast of the crust and the moist crumb. Mmm.. I can feel a midnight snack attack coming my way!