Tunis cake
An orange and chocolate cake that deserves a comeback
I love a recipe shrouded in mystery. Mystery might be too strong a word, though why Tunis cake is making a comeback right now really is obscure – it last had a moment thanks to Mary Berry and The Great British Bake Off ‘Christmas Masterclass’ episode, first aired on BBC Two on 17 December 2013. As with so many recipes, this feels like a ‘here we go again’ moment, though several smaller bakeries have never stopped producing it for Christmas. It’s a lovely cake, and I think it deserves another spotlight – all year round.
No one seems clear on where Tunis cake began life – was it at Macfarlane Lang in the 1930s before they merged with McVitie & Price? Or was it the invention of Elizabeth Ewing, wife of a McVitie baker? (That version says the baker was stationed in Tunisia during WWII and brought the idea home.) Anyway, McVitie’s made several versions, the most recent dating back to 1973. It was also produced by M&S and Tesco, as well as independent bakeries. Do you remember any of them? Please do tell.
Toppings and flavours
The original cake noted down (Elizabeth Ewing) is a sponge, while the Madeira-style cake came later. I prefer the addition of almonds. Tunis cake started as orange-flavoured; Mary Berry went with lemon, but I think orange works better. The original topping was a harder chocolate shell that was softened a little with butter and water; Mary Berry uses a ganache, which I think is easier to cut and nicer to eat. (Though in this hot weather, nothing sets particularly well; if you make this at Christmas, you shouldn’t have that problem.) The traditional decoration for this cake is marzipan fruits; apples, oranges, pears, peaches, strawberries and bananas have all figured, which seems entirely random – perhaps a use of leftovers?! Latterly, some vivid pink and yellow piped icing has joined the assembly. It’s rather jolly, so I’ve used the icing and ditched the fruit. If you fancy the fruit and want to make your own, Sarah Samuels makes some rather dinky oranges, showing an excellent use of the zesting side of the grater to make the peel effect.
My notes
You can use the zest of 2 oranges or some orange oil if you’d like a more pronounced citrus flavour. The zest of 1 orange, as I’ve used in this recipe, has quite mild flavour.
I used very dark milk chocolate for this, so it looks like dark chocolate. Use what you like.
You could quadruple the ganache amounts and ice the whole cake.
Oh my goodness, the nostalgia! My grandmother used to buy a Tunis cake each year from M&S as a birthday cake for my mother and me (our birthdays were on consecutive days in early January) as a kind of post-Christmas break with fruit cake. It’s a tradition that lasted until my grandmother and then my mother died but I still think of those birthdays with great fondness. You’ve inspired me to try and find/make one for my next birthday!
I remember the GBBO revival of Tunis Cake - my stepdad was delighted as he had many happy memories of having Tunis Cake at Christmas. I seem to remember we bought a Sainsburys one for him, but I was a bit unimpressed at how plan it was under those gaudy toppings.