Clementine, Almond, and Thyme Cake
Yield
One 8” cake.
Ingredients
Cake
- 4-5 clementines (about 375 g)
- 2 tsp thyme leaves
- 6 eggs
- 300 g ground almonds
- 250 g sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch salt
Syrup
- 2 clementines
- Juice of half a lemon
- 75 g sugar
- 4 large thyme sprigs
Steps
Cake
- Wash the clementines and pop them whole into a saucepan. Cover with cold water, then bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 1 hour, or until tender, then drain. When cold enough to handle, half the clementines and remove any pips.
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF/180 ºC. Grease and line the base and sides of a 8”/20 cm round springform cake tin. Place cake tin on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drippings.
- Throw the clementine halves, skin and pith included, into the bowl of a food processor. Pick in the thyme and whisk until you have an almost smooth puree.
- Lightly beat the eggs, then add to the processor along with the ground almonds, sugar, baking powder and a pinch of sea salt. Pulse to combine into a loose batter.
- Tip into the cake tin, even out with the back of a spoon, then bake for one hour, until golden and firm to the touch. A skewer inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. If the cake starts to take on too much color before it is cooked, cover with foil. Leave to cool on wire rack before removing from the tin.
Syrup
- With a paring knife, remove the skin from the clementines.
- Pop the skins into a small pan, then add the juice of the clementines, the lemon juice, the sugar, and the thyme sprigs.
- Stir over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat, simmer for 5 minutes, then take off the heat. Fish out the skins and the thyme sprigs and toss lightly in caster sugar, then set aside to use as decoration.
- Let syrup cool completely.
Serving
- Spoon the cooled syrup over the cake then scatter with the candied zest and thyme sprigs.