Moroccan Pound Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 350° F (180° C). Grease and flour a tube pan. If using fresh oranges, zest and juice them.
• With an electric mixer or by hand, beat together the eggs and sugar until thick. Gradually beat in the oil.
• Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt, and then the orange juice. Beat until smooth, and then mix in the zest and vanilla.
• Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake tests done.
• Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 7 to 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling.
• Here's the orginal MOROCCAN MEASUREMENTS:.
• 4 eggs.
• 1 soup bowl of sugar.
• 1 tea glass of vegetable oil.
• 1 soup bowl of flour.
• 2 sachets of baking powder.
• pinch of salt.
• 1 tea glass of fresh orange juice.
• zest from 1 or 2 oranges.
• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar.

Steps:

• Put the whole oranges in a pan, cover with water and boil, covered, for 1 hr until a knife easily pierces them. If the oranges won't stay under the water, place a small saucepan lid directly on top to keep them submerged. Remove the oranges from the water and cool, then quarter and remove any seeds and obvious pith where the stalk was. Blitz the oranges to a rough purée with a hand blender or in a food processor and put in a large bowl.
• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and line the base and sides of a 21cm loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment. Beat the cardamom, xylitol and eggs into the orange purée, then mix the ground almonds with the polenta, flour and baking powder, and fold in until well blended. Scrape the mixture into the tin, level the top and bake for 40 mins.
• After 40 minutes, scatter over the almonds, quickly return to the oven and bake 20-25 mins more until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the tin and leave to cool. Serve sliced as a cake, or with Greek yogurt or cream as a dessert.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Generously grease 3 (8-1/4-inch) pie pans or molds; Cut 3 rounds of waxed paper to line the bottom of each mold and generously grease the waxed paper.
• To prepare the meringue, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites with the salt and cream of tartar; Slowly add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form; Divide the egg whites among the three molds and smooth the tops with a spatula; Place in the oven and immediately decrease the heat to 275°F (135°C); Bake until the meringue is hard but not brown, about 1 hour; (At this point, you can turn off the oven and let the meringues stand for a few hours or overnight).
• To prepare the ganache, reserve 12 hazelnuts for garnish; In a food processor, grind the remaining nuts with 1 tablespoon of the sugar until you have a fine meal.
• Combine the chocolate, coffee, brandy, and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a heatproof bowl; In a large, heavy skillet, bring water to a simmer over medium-high heat; Remove the skillet from the heat; Place the bowl filled with the chocolate mixture in the skillet and stir gently until the chocolate melts; Set aside and allow to cool slightly.
• Pour the cream into a large chilled bowl and whip with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form; Gently fold the melted chocolate into the whipped cream, and then fold in half of the ground nuts.
• To assemble the cake, carefully peel the paper from the bottom of each meringue; Set one round on a serving platter; With a spatula, spread one third of the ganache over the top; Cover with a second round, and repeat the procedure; Top with the third round, and spread with the remaining ganache, spreading it over and around the sides of the cake; Sprinkle with the remaining ground hazelnuts and garnish with the whole nuts; Refrigerate for 2 to 6 hours before serving.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Cream margarine and sugar until light.
• Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each.
• Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk, beating until smooth.
• Add vanilla, raisins and nuts. Pour 3/4 of batter into a 10-inch tube pan lined on bottom with waxed paper.
• Mix remaining batter with cocoa and cinnamon and spoon onto batter in pan. Run a knife through batter to marbleize.
• Bake at 350° about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Let stand in pan 5 minutes, then turn out on rack; peel off paper. Cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Steps:

• Mix all but flour and oil together in a large bowl.
• Form 16 patties using 1/4 cup of the mix to about 1/3 inch thick. Use floured hands if necessary.
• Coat each patty with the flour, hitting to knock off any excess of flour.
• Shallow fry in vegetable oil on medium to medium high heat until deep golden brown.
• If you need to, you can refrigerate the floured patties to cook off an hour or so later or for ease in handling if you have difficulty. I have not found the need to do either.
• These are a simple cake and not meant to be fancy; just really tasty. You can also replace the scallions with onions if you have no scallions. In Morocco and The Maghreb, we use what we have and don't worry about what we don't have. Fresh garlic is the best alternative you can use though as we don't have dried powdered here.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 150ºC. Beat the butter, sugar and mint until they begin to change colour. Add small quantities of the egg, coconut and flour, beating well between each addition to prevent the mixture from curdling. Repeat until you have used these ingredients up.
• Line a lightly greased spring-release cake-tin with baking paper. Pour the batter inches Bake for 1-11/2 hours (you can make the mint syrup during this time). Check the cake is baked by inserting a skewer in the centre. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready. Remove from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes.
• For the mint syrup.
• Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to ensure the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 30- 45 minutes. Strain through a sieve and discard the mint leaves. Use the syrup as directed.
• To assemble.
• Preheat the oven to 170ºC. With the cake still in the tin, prick 60-70 holes in the top. Pour the mint syrup evenly over the cake, allowing it to soak inches.
• Place the butter, honey and almonds in a saucepan and melt them together, stirring until all are well combined. Do not allow to boil. Remove from the heat and immediately spread this topping on the cake.
• Place the cake back in the oven and bake the topping to a light amber colour (about 15 minutes). Remove and allow to cool in the tin for 20-30 minutes. Take the cake out of the tin carefully and while it is still warm, gently remove the baking paper. Dust the cake with icing sugar before serving.