Orange & Almond Cake

This cake tastes of the sun and to me, it evokes all the wonderful scents carried by the gentle breeze of Sicily or perhaps Greece, on a bright Summer day. This is why it inspired me to serve it with Greek yoghurt, topped with toasted walnuts and a drizzle of honey. The recipe is by one of my favourite chefs, Michel Roux Jr, but I added a few twists to make it my own - the sweet and tangy orange drizzle topping being one of them!


INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

• 50 gr plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 225 gr caster sugar
• 250 gr ground almonds
• 250 gr unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 tbs grated orange zest
• 4 free range eggs
• 80 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice

For the drizzle:

• 100 gr icing sugar
• 5 tbs of freshly squeezed orange juice

Place a disc of baking paper at the bottom of a 20 cm cake tin (see here) and pre-heat the oven at 180°C. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl, then add the ground almonds.

In a separate bowl using an electric whisker, cream the butter and the sugar together, then beat in the eggs one by one and the squeezed orange juice and the orange zest. A little at the time, fold in the dry ingredients.

Pour the mixture in the tin and let it bake for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. While the cake is cooking, gently melt the icing sugar and orange juice into a small saucepan until you have a syrup. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, pierce it all over with a skewer and pour the syrup on top. Leave it in its tin to cool completely, then gently take it out and place it on a platter.

Serve it with a dollop of crème fraîche, a scoop of ice-cream or just like I did, with greek yoghurt, walnuts and honey.