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Ginger Fox Cake - made with Carlin Peas

June 18, 2015

Baking British Carlin Peas Gluten-free Vegetarian

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Made with Hodmedod's Red Fox Carlin Peas, this moist, rich cake was served to great acclaim and devoured with much enthusiasm at our recent Open Day - another superb recipe from Lindsey Dickson of The Eating Tree.

Ginger Fox Cake

The guys at Hodmedod’s and I have been trying to think up a suitable name for this cake, one that would make it sound inviting if spotted on a dessert menu, despite the fact it is made of peas. Red fox Carlin Peas to be precise. (Though Black Badger Carlin Peas, cooked from dry or out of the can and drained, would work just as well.)

Being a lady of a certain age, I have made more chocolate cakes in my life than I can remember. Some recipes have become like old friends whose phone numbers are used so regularly they are indelibly written on my brain. Others only come to the fore for special occasions which will entail a degree of rifling through scribblings and notes to find the recipe and then there are the less memorable ones that have long been forgotten, consigned to the bookshelves never to be hunted out again.

The reader may be forgiven for having a mental image of a pea cake as something rather dry and worthy, and well, tasting of peas. Nothing could be further than the truth with this cake which has quickly become my new favourite in the heady world of chocolate cake.

Made with two of my favourite flavours which blend so well together, the ginger and chocolate combine with the peas to make a moist, rich cake which is not overtly sweet. Easy to make, beautiful to look at and an extremely good keeper, need I go on. It makes a large cake that will cut into 12 servings easily, making it an excellent cake for entertaining. Like most chocolate cakes it is even better the next day so for best results make the cake the day before, wrap in foil overnight and decorate the following day.

Serves: 12

Ingredients for the Cake

200g Good Quality Dark Chocolate or Chocolate Chips
175g Unsalted Butter
3 Tablespoons Syrup from the jar of stem ginger
200g cooked Hodmedod’s Red Fox Peas - or use 200g cooked Black Badger Carlin Peas or one drained can of Carlin Peas
200g Light Muscovado Sugar
4 Eggs, separated
1 1/2 Teaspoons Ground Ginger
4 Pieces of Stem Ginger, chopped (about 80g)
Cocoa powder for cake tin.

Ingredients for Decoration

125g Good Quality Dark Chocolate
20g Unsalted Butter
80ml Double Cream
2 Tablespoons of Syrup from the jar of stem ginger
1-2 Pieces of Stem Ginger, chopped

Method

You will need a 9” spring release cake tin, greased with butter, bottom lined with baking paper and the sides dusted with cocoa powder.

Preheat the oven to 165C (fan) / 325F.

Break up the chocolate and put it in a heatproof bowl with the butter and ginger syrup.
Put bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and stir occasionally until melted.
Put the peas into a processor and process until resembling coarse ground almonds.
Add the sugar, ground ginger, egg yolks and process again until combined.
Turn the mixture out into a large bowl and stir in the chopped ginger.
In a separate clean bowl whisk the four egg whites until stiff.
Stir the melted chocolate and, butter and ginger syrup into the pea, ginger, egg yolk and sugar mix.
Using a metal spoon fold half the whites into the chocolate mixture then fold in the remaining half.
Tip the mixture into the cake tin and cook for 45 - 50 mins until set. Don’t worry if the cake cracks slightly.
Take out of the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before taking off the outer ring.
When the cake is completely cool make the chocolate covering.
Put the chocolate, cream, butter and ginger syrup in a bowl over gently simmering water and stir until melted, smooth and glossy.
Spoon over the top of the cake and spread to the edges with a palette knife.
Leave to set a little before distributing the remaining pieces of ginger on the top.

When cutting, wipe the knife blade between cuts to ensure a beautifully clean cut.

Lindsey Dickson

Author

Lindsey is a traditional cook who cares about the food she eats and shares with her family and friends in Suffolk. A great supporter of home cooking using fresh ingredients and local produce, she shares her recipes and stories about her life with food on her blog The Eating Tree.

3 Responses

Jamie

March 22, 2017

I accidentally put all the eggs in at once rather than folding in the egg whites separately and so I suspect the end result was more dense than intended (and took about an extra 15 mins to cook, despite making half the recipe), but it was nonetheless delicious! I have made a black bean cake before but I prefer this one.

Josiah

July 05, 2015

Good point Kirsten! I’ve changed the recipe…

Kirsten Foster

July 01, 2015

you mention mixing the melted choc with the whipped egg whites but what do you do with the beans/butter/sugar mix? do you add the choc to that then the egg whites to the choc/bean combo?

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