ORANGE & ALMOND CAKE

Recipes & food styling Sean Connolly / Photography Jamie Bowering

	2 oranges
	6 eggs
	250g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
	250g almond meal
	1 teaspoon baking powder
	orange syrup
	orange icing
	candied orange peel, to serve
	poppy seeds, to serve
	ORANGE SYRUP
	200ml orange juice
	200g caster sugar
	zest of 1 lemon
	150 ml water
	ORANGE ICING
	30ml orange juice
	240g icing sugar

1.	Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
2.	Wash the oranges and cook whole in boiling water for 2 hours.
3.	Drain, allow to cool to room temperature, then put the whole fruit in a food processor and blitz to a purée. This step can be done ahead of time.
4.	Heat the oven to 140°C.
5.	Grease and line a 22cm springform cake tin, or use a bundt tin.
6.	Put the eggs and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until pale, light and fluffy.
7.	Stir in the orange purée followed by the almond meal and baking powder.
8.	Pour the batter into the prepared tin and dust the top with extra caster sugar.
9.	Bake for 1-1¼ hours, until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
10.	Spoon over the orange syrup as soon as the cake comes out of the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
11.	Once cool, remove the cake from the tin.
12.	Turn the cake over and cover generously with the icing, allowing it to run down the sides a little.
13.	Before the icing sets, sprinkle with candied orange peel and poppy seeds.
14.	You could also serve this cake with crème fraîche or chocolate ganache.
15.	ORANGE SYRUP
16.	Place all the ingredients into a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
17.	Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
18.	Spoon over the cake as soon as it comes from the oven.
19.	ORANGE ICING
20.	Combine the juice and sugar in a bowl and stir until it has a thick pouring consistency.
21.	Spoon generously over the cooled orange and almond cake.