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April usually brings warm weather but so far all we got is cold, windy and even a few sprinkles here and there. But today it is a different story. It is a glorious day with a blue sky and the sun is shining. It is a such a warm and beautiful day, in the mid 80's and we are invited to Doan's and Tuan's for an outdoor BBQ. Needless to say it was a prefect timing to have a BBQ. There is something is the air when the sun comes out.. Every one seems to be happy!

Anyway, I am baking a Rum soaked Génoise with Candied Kumquats to bring to the party.

Once a year, when Kumquats are in season, and when it is time to harvest them, my friends Hanh/Huy always save at least a few pounds for me. I love Kumquats, but there is no way I can eat them all so I get creative and try to come up with ideas to used them for dessert. This year it is going to be a candied Kumquat cake.

A hand full of sliced almonds are added to the candied Kumquats for a nice crunch.

For the cake

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

5 large eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled

For the candied kumquats

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 cups kumquats ( 3/4 lb without leaves) halved lengthwise and seeds discarded)-Remember to leave 1 kumquat whole for the

For the syrup

1/2 cup rum

For the rum syrup

6 tablespoons sugar

zest of 1 kumquat, removed with a vegetable peel

2 tablespoons sliced blanched almonds toasted

First the sugar and eggs are beaten until the volume has triple in size.

Beat about 7 to 8 minutes in as standing mixer or 14 to 16 minutes with a handheld mixer

Next , add the the flour 1/3 at the time. Folding and gently with a rubber spatula after each addition. Stir together butter and about 3/4 cup batter in a small bowl until combined, then fold butter mixture into batter gently but throughly.

Put a piece of parchement or wax paper in your mold and pour the cake batter and bake. Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

The cake is then baked in the oven for 35 minutes.

Once it is cooled the cake is called a Génoise which is sponge cake. It is a basic building block of much French patisserie and is used for making several different types of cake.

Beautiful Kumquats... I used over 3 cups of kumquats and I still have a lots of leftovers.

The Kumquats are halved and the pits are removed.

Next, the kumquats are boiled in sugar and water for 20 minutes. The kumquats will then be candied and so yummy to eat.

I am soaking the Génoise with some of the kumquats syrup and rum.

The candied kumquats are mounted on top of the Génoise.