Horchata de chufa, tigernut cake and Saint John's Night

Horchata de chufa or tigernut milk is a staple drink consumed during the scorching Spanish summer throughout the country. Tigernut milk can be made at home by processing the tigernuts in a food processor, then passing the thick slurry that's obtained through a muslin or cheese cloth and pressing the solid residue to extract as much liquid as possible. I recently made horchata for the first time... What an enriching experience, to crush the poor little tigernuts, sieve this tigernut puree and watch the tigernut milk flow through the cloth... It almost made me cry. That's what I call going back to one's primal roots. Well, not exactly to my roots, as I've never even been close to my primal roots, since I was born and raised in the city. However, I adore this kind of traditional skills, essential to survive without supermarkets and horchata street stalls (but not without my Thermomix... ahem). The thing is that the making of horchata leaves you with a reasonable amount of deliciously smelling residue. It was a pity to throw it away, therefore I looked for some interesting recipe to put it to good use, and I found a cake. Being that tigernuts eaten as a snack and horchata are as popular in the South-East coast of Spain as the celebration of Saint John's Night, I thought the cake arrived timely...


If you happen to find some plump and healthy tigernuts, here goes the recipe for horchata, as simple as it can get (this store carries all things tigernut you need for the cake, tigernut oil and flour included):

Horchata de chufa or tigernut milk (from this blog)

• 250g dried tigernuts
• 1 liter water
• 100g sugar (you can use other sweetener if you like, I use agave syrup)
  

1. First soak the tigernuts overnight in water. That's essential. I leave them in the refrigerator. The wrinkly little guys will get plumpy.
   
2. The next day, drain the tigernuts, which will be hydrated by now, and put them in the bowl of a food processor. Add 700 ml of water and puree thoroughly. I puree mine for as long as 2 minutes.
   
3. Lay a cheese cloth or something similar on a sieve or funnel placed on a container to collect the juice. Pour the tigernut puree, tie together the ends of the cheese cloth and press the mixture by wringing the cloth. Wring until there's no more liquid coming out.
4. Add the sugar and the rest of the water to the milk, stir to dissolve. You can choose to add this same amount of water in the form of icecubes instead, if you intend to drink the horchata immediately. Otherwise, put the container in the fridge and chill thoroughly.

And then you can enjoy the horchata, which is really delicious, or make the tigernut cake:

Bizcocho de chufas or tigernut cake

• 200g sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 150g tigernut oil (substitute by sunflower oil)
  
• 250g horchata
• 20g baking powder
  
• 350g all-purpose flour
  
• 50g tigernut flour
• Powdered sugar for sprinkling (optional)
  

You need to dry the horchata solid residue in the oven in order to use it in the cake. Half a day at 50ºC... not very energy-saving. Although interesting as an experiment.

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Cream the eggs with the sugar till pale. Add the horchata and the oil, mix lightly.
   
3. Sieve both flours with the baking powder, add to the liquid and mix carefully to avoid any lumps.
   
4. Line a rectangular cake pan with parchment paper. Brush the paper with oil. Pour the cake batter and bake for 30 minutes. Be careful not to overbake the edges.

The cake is moist and fluffy, only with a slight horchata undertone. It looks and tastes really very similar to the bicas. It has a crunchy feel due to the high amount of fiber in the tigernuts. I loved it, though maybe it's not suitable for everyone because of the whole-flour feel it has. I will make it again, no doubt. It's different, original and very nourishing.