Lonely Fruit

There seems to be a strange trend in this household at the moment, whereby we find single fruits lying around on the dining-room table or in the fridge which need finishing up before their flesh goes all shrivelled and furry-green. I used up a wayward pear in the crumbles last night and 'found a home' for a lonely, zestless orange in today's lunchtime pudding. Perhaps this phrase creates too caring a connotation, for in reality I sliced up the poor thing and lay it on top of an almond sponge. Still, it had to be used up somehow and the sponge did make a lovely desert; so delicious, in fact, that I'll give you the recipe in case you, too, have a solitary citrus fruit to 'give a home'.

Lonely-Orange and Almond Sponge:

4 oz./ 115 g unsalted butter, softened

4 oz./ 115 g caster sugar

2 eggs

3 oz./ 85 g ground almonds

1 oz./ 30 g plain flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 orange, zested then peeled, with the flesh sliced into thin rounds

1 tsp. almond essence (optional)

1 tbsp. flaked almonds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C/ Gas Mark 3.

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well; stir in the almond essence, if using, and orange zest. Fold in the ground almonds, sifted flour and baking powder. Tip the mixture into a greased tin/pie dish (20-25cm in diameter) and lay the orange rounds on top, scattering over the flaked almonds also, if using.

Bake the sponge for 20 minutes; because the orange slices will leak their juice, the sponge will need to be baked for another 10-15 mins covered with tin foil, to stop it from burning. Serve warm, with crème fraîche or cold, with a cup of tea.