Rain remedy baking: Orange and Almond Cake with Blueberry Compote

Ok so I do love a rainy day and yesterday was one of those rare days that I was home ALL DAY. We had guests for dinner last night, friends we hadn't caught up with properly in ages and I wanted to make a killer desert. This one was just what I was looking for as i was flicking through delicious, more please by Valli Little, and the taste.....oh the taste was to DIE FOR. You just HAVE to try this. It is worth it. Believe me. Oh, and it is GLUTEN FREE! So now there is no excuses for not baking this beauty.

I swear the more baking I am doing lately, means the more eating and the less running...oh well....someone has to be a taste tester right?!

Orange and Almond Cake with Blueberry Compote

Ingredients

3 cups almond meal

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

350g caster sugar

finely grated zest of 1 lemon and 2 oranges

8 eggs

400ml sunflower oil

6 whole cloves (I left these out)

1 cinnamon quill (I used ground cinnamon instead)

Method

Preheat oven to 170deg and grease a springform cake tin, line the base with baking paper.

Put the almond meal, cinnamon, baking powder, 300g of the sugar and citrus zest into a large bowl and mix to combine.

Make a well in the centre and add the eggs and oil and mix with wooden spoon. 

Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour until cooked. 

Meanwhile, while the cake is cooking, place the citrus juices in a small pan with the cloves, cinnamon and remaining 50g of sugar. Stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves and then increase the heat to a simmer for 3 minutes until slightly reduced.

When cooked, take the cake out of the oven and with a skewer, prick the cake all over. Spread the syrup over the cake and stand for 1 hour.

Blueberry Compote

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 cinnamon quill (I used cinnamon)

2 cups frozen blueberries

250ml water

Method

Place the sugar in a pan with 250ml water and stir over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add cinnamon and simmer until thickened slightly.

 Add the blueberries and cook for another 3-4 minutes. 

Remove the berries with a spoon and increase the heat and simmer the syrup for a further 5 minutes until thickened. pour over berries in a jar. 

When ready, pour berry compote (warmed) over the cake and serve with fresh cream or icecream.