Orange & Almond Cake
 | Alessandra DeSimone's Kitchen |
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| Ingredients | 1 orange 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs, beaten 1 cup semolina |
3 1/2 oz. (1 cup) ground almonds 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 4 oranges, peeled and sliced 2/3 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped powdered sugar, to decorate |
| Syrup | 1 1/4 cups orange juice 1/2 cup granulated sugar |
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| Preparation |
Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and base line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Grate the rind from the orange and squeeze the juice from one half. In a bowl, beat together the butter, orange rind and granulated sugar until light and creamy.Gradually beat in the eggs. Mix together the semolina, ground almonds and baking powder and fold into the creamed mixture with the reserved orange juice. Spoon the mixture into prepared pan and bake 30 to 40 minutes until well risen and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan a few minutes. Meanwhile, make the syrup. Put the orange juice and sugar in a saucepan; heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and simmer 4 minutes until syrupy. Turn the cake out onto a deep serving dish. Using a skewer, make holes in the warm cake. Spoon three-quarters of the syrup over and leave 30 minutes. Place the sliced oranges and dates in the remaining syrup and let cool. Dust the cake with powdered sugar and cut into slices. Serve with the fruit in syrup. | |