Tennis Cake
A rich and dense historical fruit cake, known as Tennis Cake, featuring a buttery crumb loaded with black raisins, almonds, and candied citrus peel. This traditional Parsi celebration cake is baked to golden perfection and classically finished with a double layer of almond marzipan and white royal icing. The combination of the moist, fruit-studded cake with the sweet, nutty topping creates an elegant dessert perfect for tea time or special occasions.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour (Originally '15 Tolas Mill's No. 1 Wheat Flour'. Converted to approx 175g.)
- 1 cup Butter (Originally '0.5 Seer' (approx 230g). Softened.)
- 1 cup Powdered sugar (Originally '0.5 Seer' (approx 230g).)
- 1 1/2 cups Black raisins or currants (Originally '0.5 Seer large black raisins' (approx 230g).)
- 1/3 cup Candied orange or citron peel (Originally '5 Tolas orange or malunga marmalade pieces'. Finely chopped.)
- 1/4 cup Almonds (Originally '2.5 Tolas almond seeds'. Blanched and chopped.)
- 4 whole Eggs (Fresh.)
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder (Heaping teaspoon.)
- 1 tablespoon Butter (for greasing) (Estimated for greasing the mold.)
- 1 cup Almond paste or Marzipan (For the first icing layer. Quantity estimated based on instructions.)
- 1 cup Royal Icing (Sugar Icing) (For the top icing layer. Quantity estimated based on instructions.)
Instructions
- 1Remove seeds from the raisins, wash them thoroughly, and dry them completely. Peel the almonds (blanch if necessary) and chop or slice them finely.
- 2In a tin-lined vessel or large mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients one by one: cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then fold in the flour, baking powder, prepared raisins, chopped almonds, and candied peel until well combined.
- 3Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Take a round cake tin (mold), grease it well with butter, and line it with thick white paper that has also been greased with sufficient butter. Fill the mold three-quarters full with the cake mixture. Bake in the moderate oven until cooked through and golden brown.
- 4Once baked, remove from the oven. Use a hot knife to cleanly cut off the risen dome of the cake to make the top perfectly flat. Spread a layer of almond icing (marzipan) over the top and place in a cool oven (turned off but warm) for 10 minutes to set. Finally, spread a layer of sugar icing (royal icing) over the almond layer and return to the cool oven to dry and set.