I don’t mind telling you that the past few days have been tough. It started with me feeling violently unwell at work and having to rush home early on Wednesday and my son getting a cold a day later. At least we thought it was a cold, but high fevers send us running to the emergency doctors at 2am on Thursday night. I don’t know why, but it is always 2-3am when you need a doctor or else it is always on a weekend or the holidays. But whatever the day/time I am so thankful that doctors are available and whatever they get paid it probably isn’t enough. Anyway, Sam had a throat infection for which he was prescribed antibiotics – but the taste made him gag and go into a tearful, fearful frenzy. We endured one day of that before begging for a new prescription and, fingers crossed, he seems to be on the mend. Naturally, this is not at all the kind of post I wanted to be writing on Valentine’s Day… but any plans I may have had for elaborate desserts (and I have pages worth of recipe ideas in my notebook) were abandoned.
But I did manage to rustle up this extremely simple cake instead and, even though it is distinctly lacking in chocolate, it makes up for that in both looks and taste. The sponge has pistachios, almonds and very little flour and is made tangy and delicious by being soaked with lime syrup while still warm from the oven. The pistachio and pomegranate seeds scattered over the top give it a beautiful finish and slightly exotic quality. I have also added rosewater and edible dried rose petals to the recipe which has been adapted from Belinda Jeffery’s Desserts* book. I had intended this to be a recipe for sharing on Valentine’s Day but in reality it will serve at least 6-8 and not just 2. Perfect for a family of four and a couple of friends then or just save the leftovers for another day.
By the way, the beautiful plates are from the Burleigh Pink Asiatic Pheasants line which uses a classic design which has been in production since 1862. It’s a lovely and very pretty design and if you scroll down to the end of the post there’s a giveaway to win a boxed 3-tier cake stand so you can display all your fabulous afternoon tea treats.
Pistachio and Lime Syrup Cake with Pomegranate
by Lucy Parissi February-14-2016
125g | 4.4oz unsalted butter at room temperature plus a little more to grease the cake tin
100g | 3.5oz caster sugar
2 medium eggs
60g | 2oz ground almonds
60g | 2oz pistachios, ground
3 level tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
1 tsp rosewater (optional)
1/2 tsp baking powder
zest of 2 limes
Lime syrup
Juice of 2 large limes
60g | 2oz granulated sugar
Method
Susan says
Lovely cake!
Helen Hodgson says
Superfragilistic prize & gorgeous recipes
amanda greensmith says
looks scrummy x
Zoey Deacon says
Yummy looks lovely
Mrs Broomfield says
Nice recipe. Going to try it out!