Little blood orange and date cakes

Finely grate the zest from 3 blood oranges and set aside for later. Peel the oranges, removing all the white pith. Cut each orange into 1cm-thick slices and put a slice in the base of each mould. Remove the stones and roughly chop 6 dates and then finely chop 3 balls stem ginger.

Put the softened 220g butter and 150g light muscovado sugar into the bowl of a mixer and cream until light and fluffy (this will take about 5 minutes). You can also do this with a hand mixer or by hand. Then, crack in 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing in each only fully before adding the next so the mix doesn’t split.

Mix together the 220g flour and 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder and whisk together to remove any lumps. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients at a time, gently mixing between each addition. Stir in the chopped dates, stem ginger, orange zest, breaking up any big clumps of dates. Finally, fold in the 100ml of milk. You should have a thick spoonable cake batter.

Spoon the batter evenly between the holes of the muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes, until risen, golden and a metal skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

While they are still warm, prick a couple of holes in each cake with a metal skewer and pour a teaspoon of ginger syrup over the bottom of each cake (you can skip this bit if you have used fresh ginger). Leave for 2-3 minutes to soak. Run a small palette knife around the edge of each cake to loosen the warm sponges from the tin, then carefully put a cooling rack on top of the sponges. Flip the tin upside down confidently, then slowly lift the muffin tin until the cakes have been released.

These cakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days and in the fridge for 4 though the crumb will be denser if you store in the fridge. I’ve never frozen them but I don’t see why you couldn’t. If I froze them I’d heat them in the oven for 5-6 mins at 180 once defrosted and serve warm.