Almond, Olive Oil and Orange Blossom Cake
A fragrant, gluten-free crumb soaked in citrus and honey
Contents
Almond, Olive Oil and Orange Blossom Cake
Ingredients
- 200g ground almonds
- 75g fine polenta or semolina
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- 0.25 tsp fine salt
- 200g caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 150ml good extra-virgin olive oil
- Finely grated zest of 2 oranges
- Juice of 1 orange
- 1 tsp orange blossom water
- For the syrup: juice of 1 orange, 3 tbsp honey, 1 tsp orange blossom water
- 2 tbsp flaked almonds, lightly toasted
Method
- Heat the oven to 160C fan and line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.
- Stir together the ground almonds, polenta, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- Whisk the sugar and eggs until thick and pale, then whisk in the olive oil in a steady stream.
- Whisk in the orange zest, juice and orange blossom water, then fold in the dry ingredients until smooth.
- Pour into the tin and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden and a skewer comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- Warm the orange juice, honey and orange blossom water for the syrup until the honey dissolves.
- Prick the hot cake all over and spoon the warm syrup slowly over the top.
- Leave the cake in its tin to cool completely so the syrup soaks right through.
- Scatter with toasted flaked almonds and serve in slim wedges with thick yoghurt or crème fraîche.
This is the cake I reach for when I want something that feels grown-up and a little exotic but takes barely twenty minutes to throw together. There is no creaming of butter, no careful folding; you simply whisk everything in a bowl and pour it into a tin. What comes out is a dense, golden, almost marzipan-soft cake, scented with orange and made luxurious by a generous slug of good olive oil. The clever twist is orange blossom water, a single floral whisper that lifts the whole thing from a pleasant almond cake into something that tastes of a sun-baked Mediterranean afternoon. It happens to be gluten-free, but nobody who eats it ever seems to notice or care.
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