Quick quince cake with vanilla bean labneh

When cooked, quinces transform from tough and tart to tender and sweet – but this takes time, so here are a couple of short cuts.

It’s a winner: quince cake. Picture: Guy Bailey

Quinces are one of nature’s magic tricks – now it’s yellow, now it’s pink! Magic, too, is their fragrant floral bouquet, a heady mix of its cousins apple and pear, with a little citrus zest thrown in… and that’s before you bake them. When cooked, quinces transform from tough and tart to tender and sweet – but this takes time, so here are a couple of short cuts. Grating in a fresh quince offers the moisture and zip needed to balance a dense cake without having to wait hours for it to cook, while the quince paste, which usually graces your cheese board, will give you sweetness and pops of ruby colour in no time.

QUICK QUINCE CAKE WITH VANILLA BEAN LABNEH

1 cup olive oil (plus extra for greasing)

1 cup Greek yoghurt

¾ cup caster sugar

1 orange, zest and juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 small quince, defuzzed and grated (to make approx. 1 cup)

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup almond meal

¼ teaspoon salt

100g quince paste, warmed to soften

Icing sugar for dusting

For the labneh

500g Greek/natural yoghurt

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste/extract

To make the labneh, strain yoghurt through a cheesecloth or clean Chux cloth for 1 hour; stir through vanilla bean paste before serving. Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan). Grease and line a 22cm springform cake tin. Whisk olive oil, yoghurt, sugar, orange zest and juice with vanilla, then add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times with a flexible spatula to ensure everything is well acquainted. Fold in the grated quince.

Sift over the flour, stir in almond meal and salt and use a flexible spatula to fold the batter together until just incorporated. Pour into the prepared tin, smooth off the top, then roughly swirl scant teaspoons of the quince paste into the top.

Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Reduce oven to 180C (160C fan) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is richly tanned and a skewer comes out mostly clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out. Serve dusted with icing sugar and have warm or cold with a dollop of vanilla bean labneh or double cream. Serves 8-10

Top tips

If quinces aren’t available, use freshly grated apple or pear in the batter, swirling stewed apples or pears through the top

If you’ve forgotten to strain your yoghurt just serve it as is, with or without vanilla bean extract stirred through

Extra fresh quinces on hand? Poaching takes about four hours on moderate heat, but you can halve this time in a pressure cooker. Peel, core and quarter the fruit, add liquid to cover, sugar to taste (less is more) and spices like bay, cinnamon, star anise and vanilla