This wonderfully moist cake with sweet, spicy and bitter flavours is IDEAL for afternoon tea in the summer months.
RECIPE INFO
INGREDIENTS
- 1 large orange
- 100g soft apricots
- 250g butter, softened
- 250g caster sugar, plus 2 tbsp for the strawberries
- 4 medium Free Range Eggs
- 150g polenta
- 2 tsp baking powder (use a gluten-free variety to make this cake suitable for coeliacs)
- 200g pistachio kernels, finely ground in a blender
- 400g fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
1. Place the whole orange and apricots in a pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 1 hour until very soft, then drain. Cut the orange in half and remove any pips, then blitz in a blender with the apricots. Leave to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Butter and base line a 23cm deep, loose-bottomed cake tin with baking parchment. Cream the butter with 250g of the sugar until pale and light then beat in
the eggs one at a time. Fold in the polenta, baking powder and ground pistachio kernels, then the puréed orange and apricot mixture to give a soft batter.
3. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and level the surface. Bake for 50–60 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake emerges clean. Cool in the tin on a wire rack.
4. Place the strawberries in a bowl and scatter with 2 tbsp sugar and the black pepper. Leave to stand to allow the juices to run. Spoon onto the cake, and serve in slices with spoonfuls of crème fraîche.
Images and recipes courtesy of Waitrose.com/Summer