Snow-topped Spice Cake

This is almost like a gingerbread, but much more airy and the spices more subtle. The batter smelt heavenly! Joanne and Aunty Lina insisted on adding more orange zest than the recipe required, I'm personally not a fan of orange-flavoured desserts, but it was two against one... In the end, everyone loved this cake so I guess it was a good thing. We decorated our cake with orange segments coated lightly in a spice syrup.

Snow-topped spice cake
from Feast by Nigella Lawson

4 large eggs, separated, plus 2 extra large egg whites
125 ml vegetable oil
125 ml water
2 tablespoons runny honey
200 g dark muscovado sugar
75 g ground almonds
150 g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon all-spice powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
zest of 1/2 an orange
100 g castor sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

Whisk together the yolks and oil, then add the water, honey and dark muscovado sugar. Add the almonds, flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, spices and zest, folding in gently.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and then gradually add the caster sugar. Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture, and pour into a 25-cm well-buttered Bundt tin.

Cook for 45 minutes, or until the cake is springy on top and beginning to shrink away from the edges. Let the cake cool in its tin on a rack for 25 minutes before turning it out.

When it's completely cold, spread the top of the cake with royal icing. To make royal icing, beat one egg white until just frothy, then gradually add icing sugar, beating continuously until a thick icing is formed. Blend in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Usually, for 1 egg white, 1.5 to 2 cups of icing sugar are needed.