When I saw the name "black vinegar cake" in Adam Liaw's Two Asian Kitchens, I was intrigued. On the one hand, I was grossed out at the thought of 60ml of vinegar in a sweet cake; on the other hand, I was curious as to how it would taste. As the cake also contained dried apricots and glace ginger, and was topped with sour cream icing, I was sold - I knew I had to try this cake.
Black vinegar cake is a dense, robust cake, so if light and fluffy is your thing, this cake is not for you. The rising agent used is the chemical reaction between vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. The resulting cake is full of flavour, packed with fruit, and just the thing to hit the spot with a cup of tea:
To make this cake, you will need:
160g cubed butter
400g plain flour
200g sugar
150g chopped dried apricots
50g chopped glace ginger
60ml black vinegar (I substituted balsamic vinegar)
300ml milk
400g plain flour
200g sugar
150g chopped dried apricots
50g chopped glace ginger
60ml black vinegar (I substituted balsamic vinegar)
300ml milk
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Icing
1 teaspoon lemon juice
50g softened unsalted butter
150g sour cream
100g icing sugar (I needed lots more)
50g softened unsalted butter
150g sour cream
100g icing sugar (I needed lots more)
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a 20cm springform pan.
Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips or a pastry cutter. Mix in the sugar, apricots and ginger.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Heat the vinegar and milk together in a medium saucepan until curdled, then add the bicarbonate of soda. The liquid will foam up - pour immediately into the well in the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Scoop the batter into your prepared cake tin and bake for 20 minutes, then turn down the oven to 160 degrees Celsius and bake for another 30 minutes or until cooked through.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before unmoulding onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Your cake looks delicious, but when you stated "I was grossed out" I started laughing out loud in my office. Great post!
ReplyDeleteThat is a lot of vinegar! I have not seen black vinegar here - I wonder what it tastes like. This sounds like a really interesting cake.
ReplyDeleteHmmm--I'm intrigued. I do love fruitcake. And sour cream!
ReplyDeleteI love fruit cakes and adding vinegar (any vinegar works) with baking soda is a technique I have learned when making vegan cakes where no eggs are used. I use red wine vinegar but much less maybe 20 ml if that is about 2 tbsp.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting ingredient, especially as black vinegar is so strong! How did you find it and would you bake it again?
ReplyDeleteWell this certainly looks interesting. I've not seen black vinegar, or a cake quite like this. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Lorraine, I enjoyed the cake - the vinegar was not overpowering and the flavours worked well.
ReplyDeleteAiry fairy cakes are certainly needed in the cake world, but sometimes you want a nice hearty dense beast to sink your teeth into :) Looks to be just the thing!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting this cake with vinegar...but I like the idea of ginger and apricot. Looks very tasty. Hope you are having a great week :-)
ReplyDeletenever seen that much vinegar in a cake but I have made biscuits with balsamic vinegar in them - the apricot and ginger sounds like a nice combination of flavours and am sure the vinegar will help bring them out
ReplyDeleteI love how you try so many interesting recipes. You are daring! I can't quite imagine how this tastes, but balsamic vinegar is fairly sweet and it is good with fruit, so I kind-of get it.
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at vinegar cake recipes recently so found this really interesting
ReplyDeleteA friend made this cake and brought it over. So delicious. I love the flavour of Vinegar and it’s not too sweet -
ReplyDeleteYes, it’s a lovely cake and easy to make.
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