Tunis Cake
I don't know where Tunis Cake comes from. I suppose it's entirely possible it comes from Tunisia. Google has only told me the recipe, and that lots of people are looking for the recipe or somewhere to buy one (this is a mistake - bought ones are never as good) and, randomly, that it was very popular in the sixties.
Our family has made one every Christmas. It is the BEST CAKE EVER. Madeira lemony vaguely almondy cake with vast, vast amounts of chocolate on top (which is why you don't get them from a shop, they never do the chocoalte right. This year I made my own, with the help of my mother's recipe and anotherusedpage and foreverdirt. It turned out quite well.
For the cake
175g/6oz butter
175g/6oz caster sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
3 eggs
225g/8oz plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
80g/3oz ground almonds
1-2 tbsp milk
For the topping
6-800g chocolate - I use a mixture of ordinary plain and milk from Sainsbury’s (not cooking chocolate, which spoils the flavour). I usually include 50-100g Galaxy milk chocolate which makes it nice and soft to cut.
A small amount of butter icing (half butter to icing sugar - about 50g butter and 100g sugar) mixed up with lemon juice and a little hot water to the right consistency.
Method
Cream the softened butter, sugar and lemon rind until smooth and well blended. Beat in the eggs. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder. Fold in the ground almonds and add a little milk if needed to make it a soft consistency. Mix well but with a light hand.
Line the base and sides of a cake tin about 8-9” diameter, 2-3” deep. Spread the cake mixture in the tin and hollow the centre.
Bake 1-1 ½ hours at gas mark 3 until a skewer comes out clean from the centre. Leave in the tin to cool. It always rises a lot in the middle, so I usually slice a bit off the top before icing it.
Melt the chocolate and pour it slowly over the cake. Tap the tin gently to settle the chocolate and leave to cool. Take it out of the tin and decorate the top with a little butter icing - snowflake shapes or stars are easy! - then tie a ribbon round the sides.
The result (in our house, where we had only a small cake tin kindly donated by a Kat and no ribbon):
And completing the trio of Thisland Seasonal Wonders (with the TREE:
Our family has made one every Christmas. It is the BEST CAKE EVER. Madeira lemony vaguely almondy cake with vast, vast amounts of chocolate on top (which is why you don't get them from a shop, they never do the chocoalte right. This year I made my own, with the help of my mother's recipe and anotherusedpage and foreverdirt. It turned out quite well.
For the cake
175g/6oz butter
175g/6oz caster sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
3 eggs
225g/8oz plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
80g/3oz ground almonds
1-2 tbsp milk
For the topping
6-800g chocolate - I use a mixture of ordinary plain and milk from Sainsbury’s (not cooking chocolate, which spoils the flavour). I usually include 50-100g Galaxy milk chocolate which makes it nice and soft to cut.
A small amount of butter icing (half butter to icing sugar - about 50g butter and 100g sugar) mixed up with lemon juice and a little hot water to the right consistency.
Method
Cream the softened butter, sugar and lemon rind until smooth and well blended. Beat in the eggs. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder. Fold in the ground almonds and add a little milk if needed to make it a soft consistency. Mix well but with a light hand.
Line the base and sides of a cake tin about 8-9” diameter, 2-3” deep. Spread the cake mixture in the tin and hollow the centre.
Bake 1-1 ½ hours at gas mark 3 until a skewer comes out clean from the centre. Leave in the tin to cool. It always rises a lot in the middle, so I usually slice a bit off the top before icing it.
Melt the chocolate and pour it slowly over the cake. Tap the tin gently to settle the chocolate and leave to cool. Take it out of the tin and decorate the top with a little butter icing - snowflake shapes or stars are easy! - then tie a ribbon round the sides.
The result (in our house, where we had only a small cake tin kindly donated by a Kat and no ribbon):
And completing the trio of Thisland Seasonal Wonders (with the TREE: