Pomegranate syrup cake

ingredients

• Pomegranate syrup cake

  • 125 gram butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
  • 1/2 cup (75g) plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 1/4 cup (35g) self-raising flour
  • 1/2 cup (60g) ground almonds
  • 1/3 cup (80g) sour cream
  • 1/2 cup (125g) pomegranate seeds pomegranate syrup

• Pomegranate syrup

  • 1/2 cup (125ml) pomegranate juice
  • 1/2 cup (110g) caster (superfine) sugar
  • 1/2 cup (125g) pomegranate seeds
  • 1/4 cup (60ml) water

method

• Pomegranate syrup cake

  • 1

    Have butter and eggs at room temperature.

  • 2

    Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease deep 20cm (8-inch) square cake pan; line base with baking paper.

  • 3

    Beat butter and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer mixture to large bowl; stir in sifted flours, ground almonds and sour cream.

  • 4

    Spread mixture into pan; sprinkle with pomegranate seeds. Bake about 1 hour 10 minutes.

  • 5

    To make pomegranate syrup, combine ingredients in small saucepan. Stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves; bring to the boil. Boil, uncovered, without stirring, 2 minutes.

  • 6

    Stand cake in pan 5 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto wire rack over tray; remove baking paper. Pierce cake all over with a skewer; pour hot syrup over hot cake. Sprinkle any leftover whole seeds over the top of the cake.

notes

You need two pomegranates to give a total of 1 cup of seeds. To remove the seeds, cut the pomegranate in half, hit the outside hard with a large spoon. Most of the seeds will fall out of a ripe pomegranate. Or, dig the seeds out of the fruit with a teaspoon. If you use fresh pomegranate for the juice ­use a citrus juicer to extract the juice, then strain it through a sieve to extract the juice and remove any solids; you can also buy the juice from health-food stores and major supermarkets.