Pomegranate Orange Almond Cake

I stumbled upon this recipe in the Wall Street Journal one morning while in professional mode- reading articles about mergers and acquisitions and takeovers and other riveting topics. I must have ‘accidentally’ clicked on the food section and a picture of a cake sprinkled with pomegranate seeds slapped me out of my working-mode stupor.

I must make this, I thought.

And I would have, on that workday morning, had I actually had breadcrumbs and almond meal and oranges and any of the other rather obscure ingredients this recipe calls for. (Well, I did have pomegranate molasses in the cupboard from a middle eastern dinner we made a couple of months ago… and I’ve been dying to use the stuff again because Have You Ever Smelled Pomegranate Molasses? You must.)

For some reason this cake doesn’t seem like a decadent choice, which is always nice when you’re already stuffed from a massive dinner. The Husband thought it tasted kind of healthy, actually, and it wasn’t meant to be an insult. The honeyed-yogurt served alongside makes a nice touch, too. Thanks, WSJ! Who knew I could turn to you for something other than corporate fodder?

Adapted from the WSJ recipe, which is really adapted from “A Change of Appetite” by Diana Henry…

CAKE:

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 cup packaged almond meal/flour

3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Finely grated zest of 2 oranges

1 cup fruity extra-virgin olive oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

GARNISH:

1 pint whole Greek yogurt

2 tablespoons honey

1 pomegranate, seeded

SYRUP:

Juice of 1 orange

½ cup pure pomegranate juice

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

2 tablespoons honey
1. Preheat oven to 350º and grease an 8 or 9″ springform pan. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine bread crumbs (finely mulched in a food processor), almond meal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in orange zest, oil and eggs until thoroughly combined. (You could aways just throw everything in the food processor after finely grinding your bread up for the fresh bread crumbs…)
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for about 45 minutes (until a cake tester comes out clean of crumbs).
4. Meanwhile, make syrup: In a small sauce pan over medium heat, gently simmer all ingredients, stirring, until honey dissolves and syrup reduces to about 1/2 cup, (about 10 minutes).
5. Poke holes in hot baked cake and slowly pour syrup over top, allowing it to sink into cake. Let cake cool in pan before transferring to a serving plate. In a small bowl, whisk honey into yogurt.
6. To serve, scatter pomegranate seeds over cake. Serve cake slices with a dollop of honey yogurt.
Tips:
- Use day old bread for the breadcrumbs so they mulch up nicely in your food processor.
- Use whole wheat bread instead of white for the bread crumbs, if you want to be a healthier person.
- Buy almond flour in the bulk section of your market so you don’t have to spend $12.99 on the whole bag of it. I bought a cup for $3.33- perfect! (Whole Foods sells it in bulk, FYI.)
- “Placing the batter in a cold oven and baking it as the oven heats gives the cake a soft, dense texture”- so says the original author of the dessert. I forgot to try this or I’d have done it for sure. It defies all baking rules of reason but I’m willing to break a rule every now and then for a cause.
- This freezes well, assuming you don’t freeze the pomegranate seeds and honey. Duh.
- Enjoy!
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February 7th, 2015 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Cakes, Fruit, Nuts