There is much that I remember about València — the ancient port city of Spain on its Mediterranean coast with its plazas and gardens, its extraordinary architecture and markets — but it’s a cake that I recall most easily. 

It was in the Fitzroy-like neighbourhood of Ruzufa, just south of the city’s historic centre. One Sunday, mid-morning, I sat alone in a café. As the proprietor set my coffee down, he paused. “Something sweet?” he asked. “Sí, por favor,” I said, attempting one of only two Spanish phrases I knew. Clearly my effort was poor. He smiled sympathetically before vanishing behind his counter. Moments later he reappeared with a slice of what looked like a lemon butter cake with a transparent icing drizzled over the top. It was still warm. “It’s a Catalan teacake,” he said, “with anís. Mamá made it this morning.” 

Now, I am a sucker for lemon cake, especially mama’s and freshly baked, but this was more. The moist crumb of a cake made with olive oil is distinct, the mix of lemon and aniseed even more so. This really was, I thought, a moment and a taste to remember. 

That said, the memory vanished for a few years until, just recently, the Kiwi/Melburnian baker Phillippa Grogan brought it back. In the search for something else, I stumbled across her recipe for a Catalan teacake.  She credits it to her ‘bridesmaid’ Marion, a Catalonian by birth. I made it. With one mouthful, I was transported again to that little café in Ruzufa. Taste and memory are so often connected.

Here’s what you need

300g self-raising flour 

200g castor sugar

I tablespoon whole aniseeds

3 whole eggs, lightly whisked

125 ml of milk

250 ml extra virgin olive oil

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

2 egg whites

Here’s what you do

Pre-heat the oven to 160c (with fan) and line the base of a 23cm round cake tin with baking paper. Grease and flour the sides. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, caster sugar and aniseed.

Gradually mix in the eggs, milk, oil, lemon zest and vanilla, stirring with a wooden spoon to create a thick, smooth batter. 

In another bowl whisk the eggs whites until they form stiff and shiny peaks. Add half the egg whites to the batter, gently folding them in until just incorporated. Repeat the process with the remaining whites. 

Spoon the batter into the cake tin and bake in the oven for around 45 minutes. Insert a skewer into the cake and it should come out clean. 

Remove the cake from the oven and let it rest in the tin for a while. Turn it onto a wire rack and let it cool completely.

If you like things a little sweeter, you can make a lemon icing. Combine 125 grams of icing sugar with a teaspoon of softened butter and the juice of a small lemon. Drizzle the icing over the cake before serving. I recommend it!

With coffee in hand and a mouthful of teacake, you can sit back and think of mama, or Ruzufa, or nothing at all. Regardless, you’ll thank me —  muchísimas gracias!