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Ingredients
150g/5 oz ready-to-eat dried apricots
2 cardamom pods, cracked
200g/7oz ground almonds
50g/1 oz fine polenta (not instant)
1 tsp baking powder (gluten-free if required)
150g/5 oz caster sugar
6 large free-range eggs
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp rosewater
non-stick cooking spray or sunflower oil for greasing
To decorate
2 tsp rose petal or apricot jam
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp very finely chopped pistachios
Method
Put the dried apricots into a small saucepan, cover them with 250ml/9fl 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 180C/160C 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 teaspoons 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 a teaspoon 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.