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Nigella's Apricot almond cake with rosewater and cardamom

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.