Beautiful Cake

As I mentioned I was up in Aberdeen last weekend, visiting family.  On Saturday evening one of my cousins and his new wife came over for dinner and my poor sister was faced with catering for both a vegetarian and non-fish eater (me) in the same meal.

She and my brother in law produced amazing lamb kofta kebabs and homemade falafel, with wraps, a gorgeous herby salad and a delicious spicy yogurt.  

 I offered to make dessert and to keep in with the middle eastern theme decided to make Rachel Allen’s Lime, Pistachio and Rosewater yogurt cake.  I really love this cake.  It is so easy to make and tastes like Turkish delight in a light, moist, cakey form. And it’s really pretty.

Ingredients

•  225 g self-raising flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder 
•   1 pinch salt 
• 75 g ground almonds 
• 100 g caster sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 generous tbsp or 50g runny honey
•  250 ml natural yogurt 
• 150 ml sunflower oil 
• 1 lime, finely grated zest only 

Take the flour, baking powder, salt, ground almonds and sugar and sift together in a large bowl.  Then take the eggs, honey, yogurt, oil and lime zest and mix together in another bowl/measuring jug. 

 Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until completely combined.  Tip into a lined 22cm round tin and then bake in a preheated oven at 180 for 40-50 minutes.

My big sister’s oven is quite a lot hotter than mine, so I’ve got to admit I burnt the cake a tiny little bit.  But it turned out ok in the end.

For the syrup

• 150 ml water
• 100 g caster sugar
• 1 lime, juice only
• 1-2 tbsp rose water

Make up the syrup by mixing together the water and sugar and keeping on a gentle boil until the liquid reduces by half.  Add the lime juice and boil for two minutes longer.  Take off the heat and add the rosewater.

Then, using a skewer, make holes all over the top of the cake.  Slowly pour on the syrup and leave to settle for an hour.

For decorating

• 50 g unsalted pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
• rose petals, (optional)

Scatter on the pistachios and rose petals and serve.  We served it with some crème fraiche, with a lime zested over.

told you it was pretty