This is an absolutely beautiful cake, both in taste and appearance. Ever since I refined the recipe I've made at least one every week! Its perfect for anyone with a gluten intolerance as it is made with ground almonds, and it's the lovely almonds, combined with a beautiful honeyed orange syrup that gives the cake its lip-smacking moistness. Delicious with a cup of tea, but also perfect as a pud served with a little sweetened mascarpone, this lovely cake is as pretty as a picture. Buy double the ingredients, because I can guarantee that once you've made this one, you'll want (or be asked) to make another one straight away.
(Top tip - if you have a Middle Eastern store near you, get the rose petals from there (as opposed to your local supermarket) as they are often a fraction of the cost.)
Ingredients
Cake
280g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
200g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar
1/2 - 3/4 zest of a large large navel orange
1/2 tsp rosewater
6 cardamon pods, seeds crushed
4 eggs
Pinch of sea salt
Honey and orange syrup
1 tbsp orange zest (use the remaining zest from the navel orange)
50 runny honey
Juice of 1 large navel orange
Toppings
3 tbsp pistachios, roughly chopped
2 tbsp rose petals
Directions
Cake
Preheat the oven to 140 degrees C.
Grease and line a 20cm round tin.
Mix the butter and sugar until light and creamy (use a food mixer if you have one).
Add the orange zest, rose water and crushed cardamon seeds and mix to combine.
Add the eggs, one at time, mixing well in between.
Fold in the ground almonds and the baking powder and pour into the greased and lined tin.
Place in the oven for 50-60 minutes (or until an inserted skewer comes out clean).
Pierce repeatedly with a skewer once removed.
Honey and orange syrup
Place the orange juice, orange zest and honey into a small saucepan.
Place onto a low heat until the honey dissolves.
Remove from the heat.
Toppings
Sprinkle the chopped pistachios over the cooked cake.
Spoon the honey and orange syrup evenly over the top of the pistachios (this will keep the pistachios in their places and will also be greedily absorbed by the sponge and make it beautifully moist).
Finally sprinkle over the rose petals.
Perfect! x
Delicious straight away, but if you can leave it overnight for the syrup to sink in and work its magic, it tastes even better the next day.
