Title: Nigella's Apricot Almond Cake With Rosewater And Cardamom
Categories: Cakes
Yield: 1 Cake
5 oz Ready-to-eat dried apricots
-(150 g)
2 Cardamom pods; cracked
7 oz Ground almonds (200 g)
1 oz Fine polenta (not instant)
-(50 g)
1 ts Baking powder (gluten-free
-if required)
5 oz Caster sugar (150 g)
6 lg Free-range eggs
2 ts Lemon juice
1 ts Rosewater
Non-stick cooking spray or
-sunflower oil; for greasing
MMMMM------------------------TO DECORATE-----------------------------
2 ts Rose petal or apricot jam
1 ts Lemon juice
2 ts Pistachios; very finely
-chopped
Put the dried apricots into a small saucepan, cover them with 250 ml
/ 9 fl oz cold water, and drop in the cracked cardamom pods with
their fragrant seeds. Put on the heat, then bring to the boil and let
it bubble for 10 minutes don't stray too far away from the pan, as by
the end of the 10 minutes the pan will be just about out of water and
you want to make sure it doesn t actually run dry as the apricots
will absorb more water as they cool. Take the pan off the heat, place
on a cold, heatproof surface and let the apricots cool.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas 4. Grease the sides of the
springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.
Remove 5 of the dried apricots and tear each in half, then set aside.
Discard the cardamom husks, leaving the seeds in the pan.
Pour and scrape out the sticky contents of the pan into the bowl of a
food processor. Add the ground almonds, polenta, baking powder,
caster sugar and eggs, and give a good long blitz to combine.
Open the top of the processor, scrape down the batter, add 2 ts of
lemon juice and the rosewater, and blitz again. Scrape into the
prepared tin and smooth with a spatula. Arrange the apricot halves
around the circumference of the tin.
Bake for 40 minutes, though if the cake is browning up a lot before
it's actually ready, you may want to cover loosely with foil at the
30-minute mark. When it's ready, the cake will be coming away from
the edges of the tin, the top will feel firm, and a cake tester will
come out with just one or two damp crumbs on it.
Remove the cake to a wire rack. If you're using apricot jam to
decorate, you may want to warm it a little first so that it s easier
to spread; rose petal jam is so lusciously soft-set, it shouldn t
need any help. Stir 1 ts of lemon juice into the jam and brush over
the top of the cake, then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and
leave the cake to cool in its tin before removing to a plate.
