Toasted White Sesame and Candied Kumquat Loaf Cake

Hello and welcome to my first newsletter and first recipe here on Substack! Thank you so much for stopping by. Grab a seat if you are interested in recipes that make the most of our increasingly eclectic pantries, that show you how to make the most of unusual ingredients or use common ingredients in new ways and musings on all things food, cooking and baking - and make sure you hit that subscribe button if you don’t want to miss any future posts! Now let’s get right into it.

I have a draft post in my Google drive with the working title “boring loaf cakes no more!” Don’t get me wrong - loaf cakes are great. They are easy to prepare, even the most basic kitchen typically has at least one loaf pan, they travel well (hence the French tradition of “gateaux de voyage”) and don’t require a long list of fancy ingredients. And yet, loaf cakes can be an absolute snoozefest.

While there is nothing wrong with rather plain classics like a Madeira cake or a Marble Cake, there is so much more fun to b…