Honeyed Almond Cake with Roasted Plums and Crème Fraiche

Ingredients

Serves 8-10

Honeyed Almond Cake

100g honey

300g ground almonds

75g plain flour

75g castor sugar

75g polenta

1.5 tsp baking powder

185ml olive oil

150g butter

5 eggs

Zest of 1 lemon, juice of half

Zest of 1 orange, juice of half

Roasted Plums

15 plums

125g honey

1 tbsp castor sugar

20g butter

Squeeze of lemon juice

A few sprigs lavender

To serve

Icing sugar

Crème fraiche

Method

Honeyed Almond Cake

Mix the polenta, sieved flour, baking powder and ground almonds together.

Melt the butter and add olive oil. Add the honey to the butter and oil while whisking. Whisk the sugar and eggs together until pale then slowly whisk in the cooled oil and butter mix.

Add the juice and zests, then fold in the dry ingredients.

Transfer to a greased and lined shallow 23cm cake tin and bake in a preheated oven at 150C for around 35 minutes. Turn down the oven if the cake is starting to darken too much. The cake should be slightly underdone when removed from the oven.

Roasted Plums

For the plums, cut into quarters, discarding the stones, and place the quarters into a baking tray.

Add 2 or 3 buds of lavender, 4-5 knobs of butter, a squeeze of lemon juice, drizzle with honey and sprinkle with castor sugar.

Bake for 5-6 minutes until soft.

Serve

Cut your finished cake into wedges and dust with icing sugar.

Place on a plate with some of the roasted plums; add a spoon of crème fraîche and a sprig of lavender.