Apricot Almond Cake with Rosewater and Cardamom is just wonderful. The original recipe is by Nigella Lawson, though I have made a couple of very minor changes.
Jump to RecipeIt is not only very tasty, but is very easy to make too. Just one word of warning though. Rosewater is a very distinct flavour and, if you use too much it can overpower the cake. So, although the recipe calls for 5ml(1 tsp) you can use less if you wish and you will still have a fragance in your cake.
I like this Nigella recipe so much but I make two very minor changes. Firstly I use 7 medium eggs(large in USA) rather than 6 large eggs(XL in USA). Out of the shell the egg weight was 330 grams(about 11 1/2 oz). The second change is that I use a little salt, to draw accentuate all the lovely flavours.
The finishing touch to the cake is some apricot jam brushed over the top and then some pistachios sprinkled as well.
Ingredients For Apricot Almond Cake
Apricots – Soft dried apricots, also known as ‘ready to eat’ apricots.
Cardamom Pods – Cracked. These add that lovely earthy flavour you get with cardamom.
Ground Almonds – You can grind your own, but shop bought tend to be a finer texture.
Polenta – Fine polenta or fine cornmeal gives a nice texture to the cake.
Baking Powder – A raising agent.
Sugar – I use caster sugar but granulated will also work.
Eggs – Medium eggs in UK/Europe or large eggs in North America.
Lemon Juice – For just a little acidity.
Rosewater – Gives a floral accent to the cake, but do not use too much.
Water – To heat and soak the apricots, infusing them with cardamom, and creating a syrup.
Salt – To draw out all the flavours.
Apricot Jam – Warmed, for brushing the top of the cake.
PIstachios – Quite finely chopped, to sprinkle on top of the cake.
Process For Apricot Almond Cake
The process is really quite simple. Put the water, apricots, cardamom pods along with their seeds in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Let it bubble away for 10 minutes. Let it cool down.
Then take 5 of the apricots and halve them to create 10 flat halves. Discard the cardamom pods, but retain the seeds. Empty the saucepan, including remaining syrup, into a food processor.
Mix the polenta and baking powder into the almonds and then add into the processor. Add the sugar and eggs as well and blitz everything for a couple of minutes. Pour in the lemon juice and rosewater and blitz again, briefly.
Pour the mixture into a greased and floured 8 inch springform cake tin. Level it off and place the 10 halves of apricot around the edge.
Bake the cake in a preheated oven(180C/160C Fan/350F) for about 40 minutes. A skewer poked into the centre should come out clean.
Turn the cake out onto a wired rack and then brush warm apricot jam over the top. Sprinkle the pistachios onto the jam. Leave the cake to cool completely.
My Cake
I let my cake bake for 40 minutes and then did the skewer test. The skewer came out clean. So I put the cake onto a wire rack. Then I brushed warm apricot jam all over the top and put the pistachios on too.
I left the cake to cool completely and was then able to enjoy a slice. The texture, so soft and springy was perfect. The floral notes from the rosewater with the earthy hint of cardamom was a complement to the texture. Altogether, such a lovely cake.
Another very good cake recipe is French Apple Cake.
Ultimate Apricot Almond Cake with Rosewater and Cardamom
8
servings20
minutes40
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
150 grams soft dried apricots(1 cup)
2 cardamom pods, cracked(with seeds)
200 grams ground almonds(2 cups)
50 grams fine cornmeal/polenta(5 tbsp)
4 grams baking powder(1 tsp)
150 grams caster sugar(3/4 cup)
7 medium eggs(large in USA) 330g out of shell
10 ml lemon juice(2 tsp)
5 ml rose water(1 tsp), or less if you wish
240 ml water
3 grams salt(1/2 teaspoon)
20 grams apricot jam, warmed(1 tbsp)
8 grams pistachios, finely chopped(1 tbsp_
Directions
- Place the water, apricots and cardamom pods and seeds into a saucepan.
- Bring them to a boil and let it bubble away for 10 minutes, ensuring that it doesn’t boil dry.
- Take off the heat, discard the pods, but leave the seeds in the saucepan, and all it to cool.
- Remove 5 apricots from the saucepan and tear them in halve, to give you 10 flat halves. Set them aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F. Grease and flour an 8 in springform pan, or equivalent.
- Scrape everything from the saucepan, syrup, apricots and cardamom seeds, into a food processor.
- Mix the polenta and salt into the almonds and add that to the processor.
- Pour in the lemon juice and the rose water and blitz again to mix them in.
- Add in the sugar and eggs too. Then blitz them all together for about 2 minutes.
- Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level off.
- Place the 10 halves of apricot around the edge of the mixture.
- Bake the cake for 40 minutes, until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean. If the cake starts to brown too much cover it, loosely, with some aluminium foil.
- Transfer the cake to a wire rack and brush apricot jam over the top. Then sprinkle the pistachios over a well.
- Leave the cake to cool competely before serving.