One of the joys of experimenting with preserving your own produce is the sense of satisfied abundance when the pantry shelves are stacked high and low with home made and home grown. There are also many burnt pans and jars of rejects – not pretty enough or good enough for sale, but good enough for family!

When I first started making marmalade with honey there were plenty of charred pots and pans & I never seemed to master the simultaneous arts of it setting AND retaining a gorgeous golden glow. It would appear that only sugar can do that!

After a while those many, many reject jars on the pantry shelf started reproaching me for wastefulness and other sins. So I found & edited this glorious recipe that doesn’t care what colour the marmalade is – it just savours the flavour of sun kissed oranges and the goodness of coconut. Healthy, delicious, nutritious and luxurious. Try it and see!

This makes one large round cake or two small ones:

4 large eggs (or 6 small ones)
1 jar marmalade
150g coconut
100g honey
250g butter
250g spelt, wheat or khorosan plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon bicarb

I long ago gave up making cakes in the time honoured complicated traditions. I simply melt the butter in a pan, chuck all the other ingredients in the mixer (except the bicarb) and give a quick whizz until roughly mixed. Add the butter & the bicarb and blend quickly until reasonably smooth. Pour quickly into ready greased cake tins and put in an oven pre-heated to 220 degrees. After 10 minutes turn it down to 200 and then cook for approximately 20 – 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean (my oven is very unreliable and takes forever to cook anything so I guarantee yours will be different!