Calamondin & Pomegranate Valentine’s Day Heart Cake
They say that music is the food of love, but we think cakes are even better, especially when they look as good as this!
The team challenged Head Gardener Ned to create a Valentines day cake recipe inspired by some of their favourite Glut products, and we think he’s met the brief perfectly. His heart-shaped cake uses whole Calamondin oranges in a gluten and dairy-free sponge, and is finished with a colourful, crunchy topping of pistachio nuts and pomegranate seeds. Happy baking!
Ingredients
Cake
- 6 Calamondin oranges, halved and pips removed
- 250ml olive oil
- 200g Soft light brown sugar
- 50g pomegranate molasses
- 5 eggs, lightly beaten
- 300g ground almonds
- 220g polenta
- 2 tsp baking powder
Topping
- 200g icing sugar
- Juice of half a lemon
- 75g chopped pistachios
- Pomegranate seeds
Method
- Grease and line a 20cm cake tin, or a heart-shaped tin of similar size. Place the orange halves into a medium saucepan and add 500ml water. Cover with a lid, bring to the boil, and simmer for 40-50 minutes until the oranges are soft.
- Drain the oranges, reserving 80ml of the cooking liquid, then tip them into a food processor. Add all the remaining cake ingredients and blitz until well combined. If the mixture is very stiff, add enough cooking liquid until you have a soft, dropping consistency.
- Pour the cake mixture into a lined baking tin and bake at 180°C fan oven or gas mark 6 for 60-70 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. If it looks as though the top is starting to burn, cover with a loose layer of foil and check every ten minutes or so until the cake is cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin before turning out.
- Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice until free of lumps, then pour over the cake and scatter with pistachios and pomegranate seeds.
