I’d be interested in finding more out about the background of this cake – I’ve found several references to kéké, a vanilla and rum cake, but there’s not much on it’s origin. It seems like it’s probably originally an European import – maybe French, maybe German, but now very much a Togolese recipe.

Essentially, it’s a straightforward and simple, but rich, vanilla cake – but what really seals the deal is that you use vanilla bean instead of extract, and you alternate whipping ingredients by machine and by hand to get the right texture. I used this recipe in French from Une cuisine pour Voozenoo.

I had to bump the temp up to 315F (the recipe calls for 150C/305F) and add an extra 15 minutes (I’m not sure if that’s my oven running cold or what). It’s very much like a pound cake, and the vanilla bean really sells this – it’s such a lovely flavour. I may cut down on the eggs next time, however.