It was my niece’s birthday recently but with us all in lock down we were, of course, unable to be with her. But, that did not stop cake in our family, oh no. It merely increased it. We held a remote family bake off with the theme of ‘fruit’ chosen by the birthday girl. We shared pictures of ourselves with whisks and spatulas held aloft and aprons donned as the start time approached and then many, many more as the baking continued. In all, seven bakes were made – one even all the way in New Zealand. The thing we all came to realise though, almost a week later, was that not being able to share our cakes with each other, we had to eat them all by ourselves. Oh well.
Here was my contribution which only seemed fitting to be named after the birthday girl.
Molly’s Muffin Loaf: An orange, blueberry and cinnamon muffin cake with orange glaze – gluten free
Ingredients:
170g (6oz) gluten free plain flour
50g (2oz) gluten free oatmeal
170g (6oz) butter
170g (6oz) soft brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tbs flaxseed
1 ½ tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Zest of 2 large oranges
Small punnet of blueberries
Method:
Cream the butter and sugar together
Beat in the eggs, one at a time
Fold in the dry ingredients and then the orange zest and the blueberries (I like to slightly crush the blueberries to make sure some of the juice mixes with the cake.)
Bake in a oven pre-heated to 160°C (fan) for 45 minutes, or until knife comes out clean
While the cake is baking, simmer the juice from the oranges with some brown sugar until it is thicker. Remove cake from oven and prick all over with a fork then spoon the glaze over. Leave in tin for ten minutes to really soak in.