I remember my paternal grandmother, Nanny Meekin baking this when I was very young. I loved Florence Cake – but she occasionally added almond essence to the cake and that was such a disappointment – I’ve never acquired a taste for almond flavouring though I have no problem with almonds themselves. Sadly, this Florence Cake recipe is not Nanny’s actual recipe as she died when I was 18 and didn’t have her recipes recorded but this is my version of it – minus the almond essence, of course – though you could always add some if you like it!
I believe, having researched online that Florence Cake is unique to Northern Ireland, so if you’ve never heard of this it is a Madeira-style cake covered in glace icing with a glace cherry on top in a pastry case spread with raspberry jam. Ben, my youngest says it’s like Cherry Bakewell without the almond flavouring!
Nanny always baked her Florence Cake in a round tin, with the pastry lining the sides and base of the tin – I wanted this to be a quick version so I used a rectangular traybake tin. I find that the family are more inclined to eat stuff that’s cut and ready to go – if I set a whole cake down it would be far too much trouble to cut a slice when you fancied a bit!
Traditionally, pastry should be made from cold ingredients and chilled before using but I made a shortbread base which is softer and can be easily spread in the base of the tin – I didn’t bother spreading it up the sides as I would be cutting them off anyway. This can be baked immediately and should stay flat.
The jam is entirely a matter of personal choice, I love raspberry jam and it is the traditional one to use but you can choose any jam you like!
Likewise for the flavour of the cake, I think you can’t beat a plain Madeira style but you could add flavouring if you prefer – vanilla or almond extract or even some lemon oil. Certainly if I was making this gluten or dairy free I would add some flavouring but when you use quality ingredients you don’t need anything else.
Florence Cake Slice
Equipment
- 1 rectangular traybake tin, approx 18cm x 28cm or a 9" square tin
Ingredients
Base
- 115 g butter
- 60 g caster sugar
- 170 g plain flour
- 150 g raspberry jam a good quality conserve works well
Cake
- 170 g butter
- 170 g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 225 g self raising flour
To finish
- 250 g icing sugar
- 12 glace cherries
Instructions
To make the base
- Preheat the oven to 160C (fan).
- Soften the butter and cream with the sugar until soft, light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix well then press the mixture evenly into the traybake tin. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool while you prepare the cake mix.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 140C (fan).
To make the cake
- Soften the butter and cream together with the caster sugar. Crack the eggs and weigh, you need the same weight of eggs as butter and sugar (170g) so if you have less than this add some water or milk to make up to the correct weight. Add the eggs and flour to the creamed butter and sugar and beat until smooth.
- Check that the base has cooled enough so that it can be gently touched without leaving a mark and spread the raspberry jam evenly over it. Carefully spoon the cake mix over the jam and spread evenly then bake until the cake springs back when gently pressed in the centre. This will take about 1 hour 10 minutes.
Icing
- Set aside to cool and make the icing. Weigh the icing sugar into a bowl and add water to make a paste-like consistency – it should spread easily but not run off the cake. You will need 40 -50 ml water but add it gradually so you don't end up adding too much and the icing be too runny.
- Spread the icing over the cake, you can do this when the cake is slightly warm then chop the glace cherries in half and arrange over the icing. I arrange them in a 4 x 6 formation as this is how the cake will be cut – ideally each piece will have a glace cherry in the centre, but so long as it's there somewhere it will be fine. The cake needs to cool completely until the icing sets before cutting into squares.