Pomegranate Cake

 

This pomegranate cake was as delicious as it was beautiful. I mean, almond meal, rosewater, cardamon, plus the pomegranate arils – what’s not to love?

For the icing, I didn’t have pomegranate juice to make it pink, so I improvised with freeze-dried raspberry powder, less icing sugar, and more rosewater (because I love it). The version below is mine.


For the cake
¾ cup (100 g) all-purpose flour (plain flour)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon sea salt
3 cups (300 g) almond meal (ground almonds)
¾ cup (200 g) unsalted lactose-free butter at room temperature
¾ cup (150 g) caster sugar
4 eggs
1 Tbsp. rose water
zest and juice of 1 lemon

For the pomegranate icing
½ cup (50 g) powdered icing sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp. freeze-dried raspberry powder
2 Tbsp. rose water

For decorating
pomegranate arils/seeds
1 Tbsp. chopped pistachios
dried culinary rose petals or buds, optional (candied petals would be great!)


Preheat the oven to 325 °F. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform cake pan and line with baking parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt, and ground almonds. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the rose water, lemon zest and juice. Stir in the dry ingredients.

Spoon the mixture into the cake pan, smooth to the edges, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Meanwhile, make the pomegranate drizzle by mixing the icing sugar, raspberry powder, and rose water together.

When the cake is completely cool, drizzle it with the pomegranate topping, then sprinkle with the pomegranate arils and chopped pistachios (and rose petals, if using).