Almond and honey cake
A perfect almond and honey cake to celebrate blossom season for 2021.
Poh
Masterchef Australian host & global Almonds ambassador
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ cup polenta
- 1 cup milk
- 1 2/3 cups plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½ cup almond meal
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- 150g butter, softened
- ½ cup caster sugar
- finely grated zest of 1 orange
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1/3 cup Beechworth Almond Blossom Honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- ¼ cup finely chopped blanched almonds
Almond Honey Syrup
- ¼ cup water
- Juice of 2 oranges
- 1/3 cup Beechworth Almond Blossom Honey
- 4 cardamom pods, bruised with the back of a knife
- ¼ tsp almond essence
Garnish
- zest of 1 orange, zested into fine long strips using a mandoline or zester
- ¼ cup toasted flaked almonds
Method
- Preheat oven to 180C or 160C fan forced. Grease and flour a 23cm bundt pan or ring tin.
- Place the milk in a small bowl and microwave until just warm, about 30 seconds.
- Add the polenta to the warm milk. Stir and set aside until needed.
- Place the flour, baking powder, bicarb soda, almond meal and cardamom into a bowl and stir well with a spoon or whisk to combine the ingredients thoroughly. Set aside until needed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer place the butter, caster sugar and zest. Beat until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolks and the honey and beat to combine.
- Using a spatula, mix in the milk and polenta mixture until well combined.
- Fold in the flour mixture until just combined. Add the chopped nuts and fold in to combine.
- Using a clean bowl and whisk, place the egg whites and the salt in the bowl. Whisk until firm peaks form.
- Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture, 1/3 at a time, folding gently to combine and ensuring no white lumps or streaks of egg white.
- Gently spoon the cake batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake until a skewer comes out clean, about 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, to make the Syrup, place all the syrup ingredients in to a small saucepan over medium to high heat. Stir to combine the ingredients and bring the mixture to the boil.
- Continue to boil until the syrup in reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, strain through a fine strainer and set aside until needed.
- Stand the baked cake in the tin for about 10m minutes before turning out on to a wire rack. Whilst still warm, spoon over the syrup to cover the cake. Sprinkle the fine strips of zest and the flaked almonds over the top to crown your cake.
Latest recipes
