This delicious cake with quince and honey will bring some sunshine to any winter's day.  Serve with a delicious glass of La Motte Straw Wine.

Poached Quinces

In season, poach some fresh quince, otherwise use preserved quince and skip this step altogether. Just keep the liquid!

1 Lemon

100 g Honey

200 g White Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Paste or Essence

5 Black Peppercorns

3 Large Quinces (900g Total)

To prepare the quince:

Peel strips of lemon zest into a pot using a peeler, adding a little squeeze of the juice. Stir in the honey, sugar, vanilla and peppercorns, pour in 500ml of water and bring to the boil, stirring well, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer.

Peel, halve and core the quinces. Cut each half into quarter wedges, then place into the pot. Poach for 25-35 minutes or until just tender – (the cooking time will depend on how ripe the quinces are.)

Drain the poaching liquid into a smaller pot and leave the quince to one side, picking out and discarding the peppercorns and lemon peel.

Reduce the poaching liquid over a medium high heat until you have about 450ml of syrup. Add another squeeze of lemon juice, to taste, then set aside to cool completely.

Quince Cake

175 g Butter, (at room temperature)

250 g Cake Flour

150 g Castor sugar

2 ½ tsp Baking Powder

3 Large Eggs

½  Teaspoon Salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 ºC. Grease and line your desired dish / cake tin and set aside.

Place the flour into the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment and add the sugar, salt, baking powder, butter (room temperature) and 225 ml of the cooled syrup (or preserve syrup). Lightly whisk the eggs, then add to the mixture and beat until pale, creamy and well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to ensure there are no lumps. Roughly fold half of the quince through the batter. Spoon the mixture into the tin and smooth with a spatula, then arrange the remaining quince slices on top.

Bake the cake for 1 hour, checking after 40 minutes. (cover with a sheet of tin foil if it’s colouring too much on top.) Once the cake is baked through, pour over the remaining 225ml of syrup and return to bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin, on a wire rack, for at least 30 minutes.

Vanilla Crème Fraîche

250 g Crème fraîche

250 ml Whipping Cream

2 tsp Vanilla Essence or Extract

Icing Sugar to taste

Method

Place the crème fraîche, vanilla, cream and icing sugar to taste into the bowl of a stand mixer (or whip together by hand) and whip until stiff peaks form.

Serve the cake warm with a dollop of vanilla crème fraiche on top, a little honey drizzled over, chopped roasted hazelnuts - and most importantly, a glass of La Motte Straw Wine!