Since I didn't have fresh kumquats on hand, I decided to replace the fresh kumquats called for in the recipe with the dried kumquats I had. What I ended up with was something quite...different from what I had in mind. The fruits didn't really softened after cooking in sugar, so when I blended it in the blended, I added some bottled Korean yuzu (it's sorta like a citrus marmalade in a jar, available in most Asian marts) and blended everything to get a brown citrus marmalade (leaving small tiny chunks).
And I replaced the fresh kumquats topping with fresh blackberries instead. The taste of the tea cakes were quite pleasant, as there were mini chunks of dried kumquats/yuzu, it was like having small bursts of bitter sweet citrus chunks mixed in. A pity I was away from the oven too long, so my mini ones got slightly darker than expected. Whoops. Nothing a little dusting of powdered sugar can't do cover those dark tops! Phews.
Kumquats and Almond Tea Cakes (adapted from Hidemi Sugino)
70g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
113g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g powdered sugar
3 large eggs
100g ground almonds
1/2 cup reserved kumquat compote (recipe here, I mixed Korean yuzu tea with a dried kumquats compote and blended it all together to get a marmalade sort of texture)
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Butter the insides of cake tins (your preference) and place on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 175C.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and powdered sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and ground almonds and mix another 30 seconds. Fold in the kumquat compote with a spatula. Divide in baking tins, top with blackberries and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown (the larger the tins the more baking time will be needed - I made mini ones that took 18 minutes, and huge cupcakes that took close to 40 minutes.)
Cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve.
