Walnut And Almond Cake With Orange Pomegranate Compote Recipes

ALMOND CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour and baking powder. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla extract and slowly pour in confectioners' sugar. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Raise speed to high and add the egg yolks and whole eggs, one at a time. Reduce speed to medium and add the sour cream and dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula. Bake in the lower third of the oven for 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool. Remove from pan and dust with confectioners' sugar.

OLIVE OIL-WALNUT CAKE WITH POMEGRANATE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil sides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan or cake pan. Place a parchment circle in bottom of pan and lightly oil parchment. Dust with flour and shake off excess. Set pan aside.
• Add the walnuts to a food processor and grind to a coarse powder. Place ground walnuts in a bowl, and add 1 cup flour, baking powder and salt. Stir and set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. With a rubber spatula, transfer the whites to a sheet of parchment or to a separate bowl.
• Put egg yolks in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add sugar and whisk on low speed until sugar is dissolved. Then increase speed and continue beating, scraping down sides of the bowl as necessary, until the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 5 minutes.
• Beat in buttermilk, vanilla extract and orange zest, then slowly add the flour mixture at low speed. Slowly add 1/2 cup/120 milliliters olive oil and beat for a minute or so to combine. Using a rubber spatula, quickly fold in the reserved beaten egg whites. (First, fold in 1/3 of the whites to lighten the batter, then fold in remaining whites.) Scrape batter into prepared cake pan, put pan on a baking sheet and place in oven on middle shelf.
• Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack, then invert onto a cake plate.
• Meanwhile, make the syrup: In a small saucepan, put sugar, orange juice, cinnamon stick and cloves. Simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Let cool. Spoon half the syrup over top of cooled cake. Cut cake into wedges and serve with a dab of crème fraîche, if desired. Spoon more syrup over each portion. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

WALNUT AND ALMOND CAKE WITH ORANGE SYRUP

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Bring 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and 1/2 tablespoon orange peel to boil in heavy small saucepan, stirring often; boil 2 minutes. Refrigerate syrup uncovered.
• Finely grind all nuts, zwieback, cinnamon, and 1/3 cup sugar in processor. Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks, vanilla, 1/3 cup sugar, and remaining 1 tablespoon orange peel in large bowl until very thick, about 4 minutes. Using clean beaters, beat whites and salt in another large bowl to soft peaks. Gradually add 1 cup sugar; beat until stiff but not dry. Fold whites into yolk mixture, then fold in nut mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
• Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Spoon cold syrup over hot cake. Cool completely. Cover; let stand up to 1 day. Cut into squares or diamonds.