CC Orange, Lavender and Almond Syrup Cake

The past week has been full of catching up with old friends, eating out, visiting the cinema, a birthday and lots of good food.  I have much to share but today I will start with the best orange cake I have ever made, and possible ever eaten.  I've never been a huge fan of orange cake but this one was just amazing.

This was no ordinary orange cake.  It was an Orange, Lavender and Almond Syrup Cake from The Modern Vegetarian by Maria Elia.  The author is a chef and many of the recipes are too fussy for everyday cooking but they are full of innovative and inspirational ideas, as well as beautiful photos.

This cake is not the sort I usually make.  I tend to avoid syrup cakes because they seem full of citrus juice which is often too sour for my liking.  Yet I loved the picture of the cake in the cookbook with the glazed lavender scattered over the top.  (I have been asked where I got my lavender - I bought it at a food fair but it came from Warratina Lavender Farm.)

I also was intrigued by the addition of lavender.  I have had a packet of dried lavender in my pantry for about a year but just not got around to using it.  I was a little wary after I tried the lavender honey that I bought at the same time.  It tasted like I had smeared medicine on toast.  Far too herbal.  Possibly it was not meant to be eaten on toast.

Fortunately I made the syrup cake with my friend Yaz who was visiting from Hong Kong.  I was worried that we had a cake that had so much syrup it would just be a soggy mess.  Yaz had more experience, or at least faith in the theory of syrup cakes.  See the photo above of the syrup.  I thought it would never soak through but it did and then we ladled more over the cake.  How bizarre!

The lavender tended to go to the outside of the cake where most of the syrup was soaking in but it was as pretty as the photo in the book promised.  The cake tasted amazing.  It was full of sweet orange flavour with a dense moist crumb.  My concerns about the lavender overwhelming the taste were unfounded.  It merely added a subtle floral flavour.

We had our cake with the reserved syrup and honeyed yoghurt.  It seemed appropriate given that we were serving it for dessert.  We ate it accompanied by mugs of mulled wine, sitting on the rug in front of Bagpuss.  Sylvia refused to have a piece of cake but stood by my plate and scooped out chunks with her little chubby fingers.  I sent Yaz off with cake.  I had cake for morning tea at work.  I took it down to my parents' place on the weekend. However, I preferred it without the syrup and yoghurt. After the first piece, I ate it plain.

I highly recommend this cake and am happy to share it further because this is my contribution to this fortnight's Cookbook Challenge.  The theme is dessert.  To see what else my colleagues have made go here.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Lemon Slice and some Nostalgia
This time two years ago: A Tale of Carrot and Feta Dip
This time three years ago: Sparkles the Rabbit Cake
This time four years ago: The Worcestershire Sauce Puzzle

Orange, Lavender and Almond Syrup Cake
From Maria Elia's Modern Vegetarian

250g butter
200g (little less than a cup) of sugar
4 eggs
50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
juice and zest of 2 oranges
250g semolina
200g (2 cups) ground almonds
120g Greek yoghurt

Syrup:
zest and juice of 4 orange
8 tsp dried lavender
750ml water
2 cinnamon sticks
560g sugar

Preheat the oven to 170 C (325 F) and grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs (we did this by hand and it curdled). Add flour, baking powder, semolina, ground almonds, and orange zest. Add the orange juice and almonds to make a stiff batter. Spoon into the prepared cake tin. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out cleanly.

While the cake is baking, make the syrup by placing all the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until syrupy. (NB I am not that familiar with syrups and after 20 minutes it was not that syrupy but the cake had already been out of the oven for 20 minutes so we just used it.)

Remove cake from the oven and pierce all over with a skewer - this is great for getting out any frustrations you might have! Pour half the hot syrup over the warm cake. Cool cake to room temperature.

We then simmer the syrup while the cake cooked so the syrup was quite thick. We served the cake with the syrup and a honeyed yoghurt but I preferred the cake without the syrup and the yoghurt. Our cake lasted 4 days.

On the stereo:
Elton John's Greatest Hits