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St Lucia Saffron Cake

I adore saffron. Sometime back I decided to play around and add saffron to a cake and came up with this recipe. 

 As it turns out, just today I read that saffron is used to make a traditional Christmas cake in Sweden for St Lucia Day, which is celebrated on 13th December. Legend has it that Lucia as a young girl, about to be a bride, gave her entire dowry to the poor of her village and admitted that she had become a Christian. She was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake on December 13th, 304 A.D. (She is also the patron saint for Italian fisherman, and is said to guide them through a storm). 

 I've read that in all the Scandanavian countries, on St Lucia Day, breakfast is served at dawn, and is celebrated with saffron buns and gingerbread. My homage to St Lucia is this cake. Why not try serving it dusted with icing sugar to represent the white gown usually associated with the Italian medieval saint.

And, in Australian summer of December 13th, seasonal fresh berries can provide the red sash that usually adorns the gown. 

St Lucia Saffron Cake 

generous pinch of saffron threads 
3/4 cup milk 
4oz (125g) butter 
3 eggs 
1 cup castor sugar 
1 1/2 cups self raising flour 
pinch of salt 

Place saffron in milk, and bring to scalding but do not boil. Remove from heat and allow to infuse. 

Add cubed butter to the milk; heat slowly until the butter has melted and remove from heat. (Do not boil.) Bring back to room temperature. 

Grease 8" (20cm) square pan and line base with baking paper. In a large bowl, whisk whole eggs and gradually add the castor sugar, making sure the sugar dissolves between each addition. Alternatively add sifted flour, and butter mixture, (1/4 each time) to the eggs and sugar base. Whisk until light. 

Pour into prepared tin. Bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes. Allow to stand a few minutes, before turning out to cool. 

Serve when cold, dredged with sifted icing sugar, and adorned with fresh red berries (or macerated red fruits).

The photo is a later addition to this post ~ I never got around to taking a photo myself ~ and with kind permission I've used this shot that twitter food friend @daz77 Darren Smith took of his cake that he made with this recipe, and that he shared on twitter ~ another wonderful way that we share food
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Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 7, 2009 at 1:17 AM

    Sounds just lovely, I adore anything saffron!

    ReplyDelete
  2. carmelitaDecember 13, 2009 at 7:05 PM

    Lovely recipe, might even make it, though I try to stay off sweets while waiting for Christmas day Panettone!

    Btw, Italian way to line tins with baking paper is to dampen the paper, squeeze out, then push into place, nice and easy!

    ReplyDelete

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