Sweet Woodruff and Marzipan Cake is a modern British recipe for a classic summertime cake of a sponge cake batter containing dried sweet woodruff leaves that has a circle of white marzipan baked in its centre where the cake is decorated with ricotta icing. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Sweet Woodruff and Marzipan Cake.
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It's late June and this yea the sweet woodruff flowers are emerging already. They'll be open in a week or so, as a result it's time to dust off my sweet woodruff recipes. I also have a new springform cake tin that will work in my air-fryer, so this is an ideal recipe for the time of year. When using sweet woodruff leaves, make sure to pinch them off the stalks and discard the stalks as they can be bitter.
Ingredients:
a large handful of sweet woodruff leaves
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
2-3 tablespoons milk
200g white marzipan
For the icing:
150g ricotta
40g icing sugar, sieved
Method:
Spread the sweet woodruff leaves on a baking tray and put them in a low oven (100–120°C) for 5 to 10 minutes. Keep checking them during this time. After around 5 minutes, the fragrance will fill the room. Check the leaves and toss them on the tray a little to ensure the bottom layer is as dry as the top. Once they are all crisp to the touch, but not darkening too much, remove and cool.
Increase the oven to 170°C and line a 20cm x 10cm springform round tin with baking paper. The quick method is to whizz the butter, sugar, vanilla, eggs and flour in a food processor until lights and smooth. Then add the dried sweet woodruff and pulse until fully broken up and incorporated into the batter. Add some of the milk until the batter has a good, dropping consistency.
Next roll out the marzipan into a 20cm circle, using some icing sugar to make sure it doesn't stick to the rolling pin or the table.
Spread half of the batter into the base of the cake tin. Lower in the round of marzipan and then spread the rest of the batter on top. Bake for around 40-45 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Cool on a wire tray.
To finish, beat the icing sugar into the ricotta and spread on the cake. You can use a few leaves of sweet woodruff for decoration.
