Tunisian Orange Almond Cake

I found this recipe in Sarah Raven's terrific cookbook, In Season: Cooking with vegetable and fruits. It's interesting because instead of flour it calls for bread crumbs and ground almonds (or Trader Joe's almond flour which is pure ground almonds.)

I found that using a bit more bread crumbs didn't hurt because I use fresh crumbs from a sourdough boule. They are airy and light so I use about a cup instead of 1/2 cup. Superfine sugar can be made at home but processing the granulated sugar in a food processor for a few minutes.I also doubled the recipe for a pan of small bundt cakes.

1/2 - 1 cup slightly stale breadcrumbs
1 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup ground almonds
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, melted 4 eggs
Finely grated zest of 1 large orange
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

For the syrup:
Juice of one orange and one lemon
1/2 cup sugar
2 - 4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick

Mix the breadcrumbs with the sugar, almonds, and baking powder in a food processor. Add the melted butter and eggs and beat well. Stir in the citrus zests.

Pour into a greased 8-inch cake pan - or into other molded cake pans. Put the filled pan into a cold oven and set the heat to 375 degrees. Bake until the cake is a rich brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This will be about 40 minutes in an 8 inch pan, more for a bundt pan, and less for individual pans.

When the cake is baking, make the syrup by placing all the ingredients into a pan and bringing it to a gentle boil stirring until all the sugar has dissolved. Simmer for 3 minutes and then remove the cloves and cinnamon stick.

Allow the baked cake(s) to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn out on a plate. Pierce holes in it with a skewer and pour over the syrup. Leave to cool. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.