Name: M’hanncha (The ‘Serpent’ Cake)
Yield: Serves 6–8
Cuisine: Moroccan
Ingredients: 1–2 tablespoons each water and orange-flower water; 100 g/¼ lb icing (1 cup confectioners’) sugar; 225 g/½ lb (2 cups) ground almonds; icing (confectioners’) sugar; powdered cinnamon; 1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water; 6 x 25 cm/10 inch warkha pastry leaves; softened butter; ½ teaspoon each vanilla and almond essences (extracts); 4–6 tablespoons melted butter, cooled; finely grated zest of ½ orange (optional)

Preparation info

Serves
6–8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Taste of Morocco

By Robert Carrier

Published 1987

About

Ingredients

6 x 25 cm/10 inch warkha pastry leaves
softened butter
1

Method

To make almond paste filling, combine ground almonds with sugar, water, orange-flower water and cooled melted butter. Add vanilla and almond essences (extracts) and, if desired, the finely grated zest of ½ orange. Mix well and knead until smooth. Chill.
Separate chilled almond paste into twelve even-sized segments. Roll each segment into a ‘sausage’ shape