Kumquats confuse me.
They're inside-out-fruits essentially, with their deceitful, sweet skin which easily yields to the pressure of your molars, only to expose the sour evilness that lurks within. And things that confuse me scare me, so I pretend that I didn't see them whenever I pass by them at the market.
It also doesn't help that my high school government class teacher, Mr. Larsen, called students kumquats when they didn't answer an answer correctly. You kumquat, he would say, and would offer you one if he knew that you actually tried - he always had a ziplock full on hand. He would tell you to roll the little sour bombs with your fingers before popping them into your mouth, and then watch your reaction as you take that chomp. I know that he had a good laugh with me.
But this year, I decided that I wanted to give those sour bombs another last chance (they were also on sale at the Korean market). As I picked up the little pack, I thought to myself, well I usually love citrus fruits (minus grapefruits) - I need to conquer this one as well.
And conquering requires planning!
With the little pack of kumquats, I did what I usually do with unusual fruits - make preserves. I made kinkan-cha (kumquat tea) with them, a play on yujacha (Korean citron tea). It's like a hybrid between candied kumquats and marmalade, and a dollop mixed with hot water really soothes your throat. It sure did help me last week when I caught a throat cold at work.
But preserves alone, well, that's more like an annex, but not really a conquer.
So I took the kumquat tea and made cake with it, based on a recipe that I found in Gourmet magazine last month. The original recipe is from a Jewish-Palestinian bakery in Ottolenghi (where the heck is Ottolenghi anyway?), and the components just called to me - crumbly cornbread texture, bitter rinds of oranges, marmalade, caramel - everything about it screams party in your mouth. Since kumquats have sweet rinds, it wasn't very bitter, but it still was tart! sweet! mellow! all at the same time. Quite exciting, yes? I hope that you'll like it as much as I did. I ate 2 slices the night I baked it, and I never eat that much cake EVER.
Kumquat Polenta Cake - makes about 10 slices
adapted from Gourmet Magazine's Orange Polenta Cake, February 2009 issue
To make the kumquat tea:
kumquats
ginger
sugar
honey
Slice kumquats, and remove seeds. Put slices into a small heavy saucepan and just barely cover with water. Add a slice of ginger or two, and bring to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes, and then remove from heat.
Measure how much kumquat slush you have. Remove the slush into the pot, and add sugar, 3/4 of the slush volume (for instance, if you have a cup of kumquat slush, you add 3/4 cup of sugar). Boil for another 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat, and mix in some honey (about 1/4 cup). Preserve in a jar and refrigerate.
To make the bottom of the cake:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp salted butter
1 cup kumquats, sliced and seeds removed.
Lightly butter a 9-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper (bottom and sides).
Bring sugar and water to a boil and then caramelize. Once it turns into a nice dark amber color, remove from heat and mix in butter. Dump into the pan and tilt it around to ensure that the bottom is evenly coated. Then line with kumquat slices, and don't mind about overlapping.
Bring sugar and water to a boil and then caramelize. Once it turns into a nice dark amber color, remove from heat and mix in butter. Dump into the pan and tilt it around to ensure that the bottom is evenly coated. Then line with kumquat slices, and don't mind about overlapping.
Then, the cake:
1 1/2 sticks salted butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp kumquat tea (see above) + some for glaze
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups almond flour
2/3 cup instant polenta (dry)
Preheat your overn to 350 F.
Warm butter to room temperature. Beat in a bowl until fluffed with a rubber spatula. Beat in sugar 1/3 cup at a time, then 1 egg at a time. Mix in kumquat tea.
Sift into the bowl: flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the almond flour and instant polenta and mix until just combined. Then take this batter and pour over the caramel-kumquat layer evenly.
Bake on the lower rack for 50 minutes, or until golden and poofy. Jab in a toothpick in the middle, and when it comes out clean, its done!
Let the cake cool before you flip it over onto a cake plate. Brush some kumquat tea over it (about 2 tbsp) before eating.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello ila,
Thanks for stopping by KyotoFoodie! I love kumquats too. I have not had kinkan-cha, but do love yuji-cha. Try those in the summer in chilled sparkling water or soda water on ice.
Kumquat polenta cake makes me long for home! I love baked food! Looks wonderful!
Peko
I love kumquats and that cake looks great! I need to get more of them.
I use to hate kumquats, but my uncle told us the secret to eating it without it being so bitter.
You need to apply pressure to the kumquat until all the essential oils are pressed out of the rind, then eat it.
If you’re lucky, you’ll end up with a sweet one and not a sour one. And the bitterness goes away from the squeezing away of oil.
Basically just take hold of a whole kumquat and gently press around it till it’s no longer oily, then eat. Try it!
i love kinkan!
that cakes looks good~
my mom makes kinkan jam and puts it in cheesecake
peko>> thank you for visiting! if you've made yuzucha before, then just take the same steps of with kinkan to make kinkancha. it's good for your throat~
anna>> hurry, their season is fleeting!
anon>> i tried your method today. still hit some sour ones, but i'm just blaming the kumquats for today. i'll try it with fresh ones next time! thanks!
fumi>> umaso~~~ unfortunately don doesn't like kinkan so i'm limited to tea and toast :-[
i just love this blog! it’s a very entertaining read and the recipes are awsome! it’s just too bad that in my country (romania) we don’t have asian markets, that means that most asian ingredients are pretty hard (if not impossible) to find.
i made this kumquat cake last night and all my friends went nuts. they were virtualy fighting over it. the kinkan-cha makes great ice-cream topping too.
P.S. i love the tiny smiley face in the bottom-right corner of the page, it makes me smile every time i re-discover it