This ageless middle eastern recipe first came to western prominence in ‘A Book of Middle Eastern Food’ by the inimitable Claudia Roden. It was published pre food processor in 1968 when you had to rub the cooked oranges through a sieve - which still works perfectly well.

Google pulled up 1,240,000 results for this cake in 22 seconds. The cake recipe is as sound as it is common and I’ve cooked it for 25 years. My version includes polenta (which is a Sicilian variation) and adds a kick with the syrup and Chartreuse chaser. Any citrus fruit is suitable, but obviously make sure to maintain a similar weight. Two mandarins will - a dry cake make. Likewise the sherbet can be made of any citrus, orange goes very well with the cake but I find the mandarin more floral and prefer it. Serve each slice with a great pile of sherbet on top like a sand dune of icing.

The Cake

2 small oranges
butter for greasing
flour for dusting
5 large eggs 55–60 g
170 g caster (superfine) sugar
170 g ground almonds
50 g polenta
1 teaspoon baking powder (make sure it is fresh!)
SYRUP
1 vanilla bean
230 g caster (superfine) sugar
4 cardamom pods
2 star anise
50 ml Chartreuse

To make the syrup, split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into a small saucepan over medium–low heat – throw in the pod as well.
Add the sugar, 1 cup of water and the remaining spices.
Bring to a gentle simmer, cook for 5 minutes then remove the pan from the heat. Add the Chartreuse and allow to infuse for 30 minutes.
Strain into a clean container.
Put the oranges, unpeeled, in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil over medium–high heat. Reduce the heat to medium–low, cover and simmer for 11⁄4 hours until the oranges are very soft.
Drain and cool for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190°C
Butter a 24 cm springform cake tin and line the base with a disc of baking paper. Butter the tin again, including the paper, and lightly dust with flour – shake out any excess.
Coarsely chop the boiled oranges, removing any pips, then transfer them to a food processor and purée.
Whisk together the eggs and sugar for 2 minutes.
Stir in the ground almonds and polenta and sift in the baking powder.
Add the puréed oranges and mix well.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 40–45 minutes until light golden and just firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Transfer the cake to a serving plate and use a skewer to prick it all over.
Spoon over some of the syrup and allow it to soak in before adding more. Continue until all the syrup has been used.

The sherbet

Before the internet, kids had fireworks night, a long walk home from school and sherbet. The liquorice straw in the sherbet gave out with the first suck but continued to give good service as a dipping stick. It wasn’t a sharing thing. We also had Wizz Fizz with tiny plastic spoons and a little plastic ring that would only fit a monkey. The sherbet can be given an AO rating by simply using the skin of a grapefruit instead. Kids and the dull of mind do not like bitter. Also amazing with chocolate or vanilla ice cream.

Mandarin Sherbet - Image Petrina Tinslay - Style Geraldine Munoz

4 mandarins
95 g icing (confectioners’) sugar
3 g citric acid
3 g tartaric acid

Peel the mandarins and eat the flesh
Put the peel on a baking tray and cook overnight in a 55–60°C oven to dry until crisp.
Different peels will vary in drying time. You are looking for crisp
Put the dry mandarin peel in a spice grinder with the tartaric and citric acids and blend to a very fine powder.
Add it to the icing sugar in a bowl and combine.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.
Store in an airtight container until required.

Orange and Polenta Cake with Mandarin Sherbet