Collette and Les are having an opening party for their allotment plot. We begin to believe it is an allotment plot but for a time there were rumours that Les was building a miniature Taj Mahal. Les is taking great care with careful brick laying, edging and seed planting. I could picture their plot winning an award at the Chelsea Flower Show. Good luck to them!

I am taking a cake!

– Susan

Caribbean  Cake with Orange Mascarpone Icing

 285g salted butter, softened
285g light brown soft sugar
4 large eggs, separated
Zest 1 orange
170g self-raising flour, sifted
1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder
115g  ground almonds
115g shelled walnuts, chopped, plus a handful for decorating
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
1 430-440g tin of pineapple cubes, drained and coarsely blended

2 bananas, mashed
Pinch of salt

For the icing:

115g mascarpone cheese
225g full fat cream cheese
85g icing sugar, sifted
1-2 tbsp orange juice

Oven at 180°C. Grease and line a 22-23cm square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time and add the orange zest. Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder. Add the ground almonds, walnuts, spices, bananas and pineapple. Mix together well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, and then gently fold them into the cake mix. Scoop the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth over the top. Cook in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes until golden and risen. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and leave for at least an hour.

Mix all the icing ingredients together (using enough orange juice to get the right consistency) and spread generously over the top of the cake.

Finish off with a sprinkling of chopped walnuts. To serve, cut into squares.