I was going to post on a product-in-progress today, but decided at the last moment to add a present for you. Don’t get too excited, it’s not in the realm of a pony or pirate lego – it’s just a DIY demo model for the afore mentioned product. Anyhoo, the short of it is that I need a little more material for the post, so it will have to wait until next week. (See how I’m building… suspense?)

In the meantime, I thought it was time for more cake.

This is another oil cake. I love them; they’re pretty much fool proof, take seconds to mix up (no faffing about with creaming butter and sugar here) and result in a cake that is soft and moist yet still robust.

The first bit is easy: pre-heat the oven to 180°c. Whoah, cordon bleu techniques I know. Next lightly whisk eggs together in a large bowl, then whisk in orange juice and oil.

Add sugar and almond meal, sift in flour; stir until all ingredients well combined.

Add the orange zest. Stir through.

This is the hardest bit – split open the cardamon pods (*also known as cardamom but I just can’t bring myself to say it like that – it’s my verbal equivalent of a mullet), separate out the little black seeds then crush or grind them – I used a mortar and pestle – into a rough powder. Stir through the batter.

I usually prep my tins at this point, but if you want to feel super organised you can do it before you make the mix. I used a loaf tin with a piece of baking paper covering the long sides and the base.

Pour mix into prepared tin then bake for 45-50 minutes – it’s cooked if you poke through it with a skewer that comes out clean. If there’s mix adhering to the skewer, leave it in the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Cool for a few minutes in the tin, then turn on to a cooling rack.

Cut, then eat. Or I suppose you could pick the whole thing up and eat it like that… Not that I’m advocating gluttony.

Mmm… more cake…