Mandarin syrup cake

You can't beat fruit in season and I've just been given 2kg of juicy, home-grown mandarins (aka clementines, satsuma or mikan)… thanks Pop! I’m in the mood for a bit of baking, so I'll use up six or so in a mandarin syrup-soaked cake. Yum.

Rather than an Italian-style syrup cake with almond meal (which I'll use once and leave to go stale in the cupboard...) here's a butter cake amped up with manda juice and zest to bring out the natural sweetness of the fruit (go Iron Chef!) – Pru
Mandarin syrup cake
150 grams (5 ounces) butter, softened
3/4 cup* sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 teaspoons finely grated mandarin zest
1 1/2 cups standard plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons mandarin juice
1/2 cup milk, approx
Syrup
1/2 cup mandarin juice
1 teaspoon finely grated mandarin zest
3 tablespoons sugar

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, then add eggs one at a time and beat them in. Add the zest. Sprinkle the flour and baking powder (I never sift it) over the creamed mixture and fold in. Add the juice and enough milk to make the batter soft enough to spoon into a greased, deep 20cm (8 inch) round cake tin. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 35-40 minutes until light brown on top.

While the cake is cooking, gently heat the Syrup ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. After you take the cake out of the oven, spoon over the hot syrup. Leave cake in the tin to cool before cutting.

P.S. To get every last bit of mandarin zest, take a piece of plastic wrap and press it over the fine side of your grater. Grate the mandarin skin (avoid the bitter white pith), carefully lift off the plastic and scrape off the fine zest with the blade of a knife.

* I’ve used a standard Australian 250ml cup; if you’re in the US, use your usual cup measure and vary the amount of milk you add at the end to get the right consistency.